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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiimds d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seui clich6, il est fiimi d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. r- 1 t: 2 3 4 5 6 32X SECOND SERIES OF A DIAIIY IN AMERICA. WITH HEAFARKS ON ITS INSTITUTIONS. Bif CAPT. MARRY AT, C.B., I r;i:. < (I AUTHOR OF "PETER SIMPLE" JACOB FAITHFUL" "FRANK MILDMA Y,» &c. im COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. PHILADELPHIA: T. K. & P. G. COLLINS. I li: i i. •I 'I • •I y, 1 1840. n y/6 I BE own, 1( out sor who w be nati to was from a we nat theless conscic interest never s always seeing this de( left the That my wo tions q be fals prehen( from a althouj paths, eye or what I The in who pi ing in and cu The bad of pigtail "I ne\ VOL. MARRYAT'S DIARY. » CHAPTER I. TRAVELLING. I BELIEVE that the remarks of a traveller in any country not liis own, let his work be ever so trifling or badly written, will point out some peculiarity which will have escaped the notice of those who were born and reside in that country, unless thoy happen to be natives of that portion of it in which the circumstance alluded to was observed. It is a fact that no one knows his own country; from assuetude and, perhaps, from the feelings of regard which we naturally have for our native land, we pass over wliat never- theless does not escape the eye of a foreigner. Indeed, from the consciousness that we can always see such and such objects of interest whenever we please, we very often procrastinate until we never see them at all. I knew an old gentleman who having always resided in London, every year declared his intention of seeing the Tower of London with its curiosities. He renewed this declaration every year, put it off until the next, and has since left the world without having ever put his intention into execution. That the Americans would cavil at portions of the first part of my work, I was fully convinced, and as there are many observa- tions quite new to most of them, they are by them considered to be false; but the United States, as I have before observed, com- prehend an immense extent of territory, with a population running from a state of refinement down to one of positive barbarism; and although the Americans travel much, they travel the well beaten paths, in which that which is peculiar is not so likely to meet the eye or even the ear. It does not, therefore, follow that because what I remark is new to many of them, that therefore it is false. The inhabitants of the cities in the United States, (and it is those who principally visit this country,) know as little of what is pass- ing in Arkansas and Alabama as a cockney does of the manners and customs of Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man. The other day, one American lady observed that "it was too bad of Captain Marryat to assert that ladies in America carried pigtail in their work-boxes to present to the gentlemen;" adding, "I never heard or saw such a thing in all my life." Very pog- VOL. I. — 1 il i :1 i) 1 1 MARBYAT'S DIARY. sible; and had I stated that at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or Charleston, such was the practice, she then might have been justifiably indignant. But 1 have been very particular in my localities, both injustice to myself and the Americans, and if they will be content to confine their animadversions to the observations upon the State to which they belong, or my general observations upon the country and government, 1 shall then be content; if, on the contrary, their natural vanity will not allow any remarks to be made upon the peculiarities of one portion of society without con- sidering them as a reflection upon the whole of the Union, all I can say is that they must, and will be annoyed. The answer made to the lady who was "wrathy" about the pigtail was, '^Captain M. has stated it to be a custom in one ►State. Have you ever been in that State?" "No, I have not," replied the lady, "but I have never heard of it." So then, on a vast continent, extending almost from the Poles to the Equator, because one individual, one mere mite of creation among the millions (who are but a fraction of the population which the country will support,) has not heard of what passes thousands of miles from her abode, therefore it cannot be true] Instead of cavilling, let the American read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest all that I have already said, and all that I intend to say in these volumes; and although the work was not written for them, but for my own countrymen, they will find that I have done them friend- ly service. There is much comprehended in the simple word "travelling" which heads this chapter, and it is by no means an unimportant subject, as the degree of civilization of a country, and many im- portant peculiarities, bearing strongly upon the state of society, are to be gathered from the high road, and the variety of entertain- ment for man and horse; and I think that my remarks on this sub- ject will throw as much light upon American society as will be found in any chapter which I have written. In a country abounding as America does with rivers and rail- roads, and where locomotion by steam, wherever it can be applied, supersedes every other means of conveyance, it is not to be ex- pected that the roads will be remarkably good; they are, howev- er, in consequence of the excellent arrangements of the townships and counties, in the Eastern States, as good, and much better, than could be expected. The great objection to them is that they are not levelled, but follow the undulations of the country, so that you have a variety of short, steep ascents and descents which are very trying to the carriage-springs and very fatiguing to the tra- veller. Of course in a new country you must expect to fall in with the delightful varieties of Corduroy^ &c., but wherever the country is settled and the population sufficient to pay the expense, the roads in America may be said to be as good as under circum- stances could possibly be expected. There are one or two roads, I believe, not more, which are government roads; but, in general, the expense of the roads is defrayed by the States. But, 1 iravellir the hors appear t in Engl quence < wards w are ahno The dist without Thei^ refer to behind, horse th; the Tliir once we sidered t ed a mil miles pe Gate; nt again, could pe here ligl seat in tl and in tl trotting t twelve n did not a bent for\ The g horses; In a coui value \\\ years ol omnibus Talkii cities in Paris; tl busses, 1 London; the forni females, without The . out to b( ridden ii ing of f somethi * Mis: MARRY AT 9 DIARY. 3 !i But, before I enter into any remarks upon the various modes of travelling in America, it may be as well to say a few words upon the horses, which are remarkably good in the United States: they appear to be mori* hardy, and have much better hoofs, than ours in Enffland; throwint; a shoe therefore is not of the same conse- quence as it is with us, for a horse will go twenty mil«;s after- wards with little injury. In Virginia and Kentucky the horses are almost all thorough-bred, and from the best Knglish stock. — The distances run in racing are much longer than ours, and speed without bottom is useless. The Americans are very fond of fast trotting horses; I do not refer to rackors, as they term horses that trot befor(* and galloj> behind, but fair trotters, and they certainly have a description of horse that we could not easily match in England. At New York, the Tliird Avenue, as they term it, is the general rrndezvoiis. I once went out there mounted upon Paul Pry, who was once con- sidered the fastest horse in America; at his full sjired ho perform- ed a mile in two minutes and thirty seconds, ecjual to twenty-four miles per hour. He look me at this devil of a pace as far as Hell Gate; not wishing "to intrude," I pulled up there, and wenthonu? again. A pair of horses in harness were pointed out to me who could perform the mile in two minutes fifty seconds. They use here light four-wheeled vehicles which they call wagons, with a seat in the front for two persons and room for your luggage behind; and in these wagons, with a pair of horses, they think nothing of trotting them seventy or eighty miles in a day, at the speed of twelve miles an hour; I have seen the horses come in, and they did not appear to suffer from the fatigue. You seldom see a horse bent forward, but they are all daisy cutters. The gentlemen of New York give very high prices for fast horses; 1,000 dollars is not by any means an uncommon price. In a country where time is every Ihing, they put a proportionate value upon speed. Paul Pry is a tall grey horse (now thirteen years old); to look at, he would not fetch £10, — the English omnibusses would refuse him. Talking about omnibusses, those of New Y'ork, and the iner cities in America, are as good and as well regulated as those of Paris; the larger ones have four horses. Not only their omni- busses, but their hackney coaches are very superior to those in London; the latter are as clean as private carriages; and with the former there is no swearing, no dislocating the arms of poor females, hauling them from one omnibus to the other, — but civility without servility. The American stage-coaches are such as experience has found out to be most suitable to the American roads, and you have not ridden in them five miles before you long for the delightful spring- ing of four horses upon the level roads of England. They are something between an English stage* and a French diligence. .f! '•r t ' > t:i. * Miss Martineau in her work speaks of that most delighlfxtl of all 4 MAItRYAT .S DIARV. I)uilt willi all the panels open, on account of the excessive heat of the summer months. In wet weather these panels are covered with leatlu r aprons, which are fixed on with huttons, a very in- snlliciont protection in the winter, as the wind blows throujrli iho intornujdiatc spaces, whistlin|r into your ears, and rendering it more picrcinjr than if all was open. Moreover, they are no pro- tection a;i;;iinst the rain or snow, both of which find their way in to you. The couch has three seats, to receive nine passengers; those on the middle scat leaninir hack upon a stron<»' and hroad leather brace, which runs across. This is very disanreeahlc, as the centre passengers, when the panels are closed, dejjrivo the others of the light and air from the windows. JJut the most dis- agreeable feeling arises from the body of the coach not being upon si)rings, but hung upon leather braces running under it and sup- j)Qrling it on each side; and when the roads are bad, or you ascend or rapidly descend the pitches (a" they term short hills) the motion is very siujilar to that of being tossed in a blanket, often throwing you up to the top of the coach, so as to flatten your hat — if not your head. The drivers are very skilful, .although they are generally young men — indeed often mere boys — for they soon better them- selves as they advance in life. Very often they drive six in irand; and if you are upset, it is generally more the fault of the road than of the driver. I was upset twice in one half hour when I was travelling in the winter time; but the snow was very deep at the time, and no one thinks anything of conveyances — an American stage-coach; but Miss M. is so very pe- culiar in her ideas, that 1 am surprised at nothing llial she says. I will, liowevcr, quote the Reverend Mr. Ileid against her: — "1 had no sooner begun to enter the coach than splash went my iuot in jnud and water. I exclaimed with surprise. 'Soon be dry, sir,' was the reply; while he withdrew the light, that I might not ex- plore the cause of complaint. The iact was, that the vehicle, like the liotel and steam-buat, was not water-tight, and the rain had found an entrance. There was, indeed, in this coach, as in most others, a iirovision in the bottom, of holes, to let off both water and dirt; but here the dirt had become mud, and thickened about the orifices, so as to prevent escape. I found I was the only passenger; the morn- ing was damp and chilly; the state of the coacli added to the sensa- tion; and I eagerly looked about for some means of protection. I drew up the wooden windows; out of five small panes of glass in the sashes three were broken. I endeavoured to secure the curtains; two of them had most of the ties broken, and flapped in one's face. ThL've was no help in the coach, so I looked to myself. I made the best use I could of my garments, and put myself as snugly as I could in the coiner of a stage meant to accommodate nine persons. My situation just then was not among the most cheerful. I could see nothing; every where I could feel the wind drawn in upon me; and as for soiuids I had the calls of the driver, the screeching of the wheels, and the song of the bull-frog for my entertainment." — Rev. Mr. Reid's Tour, vol. i. p. 100. — Very delightful, indeed! an up< someti glectet passeuj »Some sued tl must public I themse lion propria the pas ])roprie the pu The much travelle i sivc lieat e covered 1 very in- •oiiah tho ideriiig it re no pro- ir way in ssenjjjers; rui I) road oabic, as j)rivo tliu most dis- ?iii{j upon and sup- 3U ascend le motion throwingp t — if not [generally ter thern- e six in fault of one half he snow thinjj of very pe- say's. I ivent my n be dry, t not ex- icle, like ad found others, a dirt; but ifices, so le morn- e sensa- 3tion. I ss in the nirtains; e's face, lade the I could IS, My )uld see ne; and ■ of the "—Rev. MARRVAT'S OIARV. 5 an upset in America. More serious accidents do, iiowever, sometimes happen. When I ^-as in New Hampshire, a ne- glected bridge broke down, and precipitated coach, iiorses, and passengers into a torrent which liowed into tho Connecticut river. »Some of the passengers were drowned. Those who were saved, sued the township and recovered damages; but these mischances must be expected in a new country. The great annoyance of these public conveyances is, that neither the proprietor or driver consider themselves the servants of the public; a stage-coach is a specula- tion by which as much money is to be made as possible by tho proprietors; and as the driver never expects or demands a foe from the passengers, they or their comforts are no concern of his. The ])roprietors do not consider that they are bound to keep faith with the public, nor do they care about any complaints. The stages which run from Cincinnati to the eastward are very much interfered with when the Ohio river is full of water, as the travellers prefer the steam-boats; but the very moment that the water is so low on the Ohio that the steam-boats cannot ascend the river up to Wheeling, double the price is demanded by the proprietors of the coaches. They are quite regardless as to the opinion or good-will of the public; they do not care for either, all they want is their money, and they are perfectly indifferent whether you break your neck or not. The great evil arising from this state of hostility, as you may almost call it, is the disregard of life which renders travelling so dangerous in America. You are completely at the mercy of the drivers, who are, generally speaking, very good-tempered, but sometimes (juite the contrary; and I have often been amused with the scenes which have taken place between them and the passengers. As for myself, when the weather permitted it, I invariably went outside, which the Americans seldom do, and was always very good friends with the drivers. They are full of local information, and often very amusing. There is, however, a great difference in the behaviour of the drivers of the mails, and coaches which are timed by the post-office, and others which are not. If beyond his time, the driver is mulcted by the proprietors; and when dollars are in the question, there is an end to all urbanity and civility. A gentleman of my acquaintance was in a mail which was be- hind time, and the driver was proceeding at such a furious pace that one jerk threw a lady to the top of the coach, and the teeth of her comb entering her head, she fainted with pain. The passen- gers called out to the driver to stop. "What for]*' "That last jerk has struck the lady, and she has fainted." "Oh, that's all! Well, I reckon I'll give her another jerk, which will bring her to again." Strange to say, he prophecied right; the next jerk was very violent, and t' e lady recovered her senses. Mr.E., an employe of the American government, was travelling in the state of Indiana — the passengers had slept at an inn, and the coach was ready at the door, but Mr. E. had not quite finished his 1* i ri[ (I H hb 'IV t i4 MAnnVAT 8 DIARV. toilet; llio driver dispatched the bar-keeper for him, and Mr, E. Hoiit word ho would bi> down iininediatuly. "What is he about]" said thu driver impatiently to the bar- keeper when he cauio down again. ♦•Cleaning his leoih." "(.7t«;i/«if his U'clh!^^ roared the driver, indi^rnantly; "by the ," and away went the horses at a gallop, leaving Mr. E. be- hind. Tht* other passengers remonstrated, but without avail; they told him that Mr. E. was charged with government despatches — he didn't care; at last, one of them oll'ered him a dollar if he would go back. They had proceeded more than a mile before the offer was made; the man immediately wheeled his horses round, and returned to the inn. The liev. Mr. Keid gives an anecdote very characteristic of Amorieau stage-coach travelling, and proving how little the con- venience of the public is cared tor. "When we stopped at Lowell to change horses, a female wished to secure a place onward. We were already, as the phrase is, more than full; we had nine persons, and two children, which are made to go for nothing, except in the way-bill. Our saucy driver oj)cned the door, and .♦.ddressing two men, who, with us, would have been outside passengers — 'Now, I say, I want one of you to ride with me, and let a lady have your seat.' The men felt they were addressed by a superior, but kept their places. 'Come, 1 say,' he continued, 'you shall have a good buffalo and umbreU and no- thing will hurt you.' Still they kept their places, and refused him^ His lordship was offended, and ready to lay hands on one of them; but, checking himself, exclaimed, »Well, if I can't get you out, hang it if I'll take you on till one of you gets out.' And there we stood for some time; and he gained his point at last, and in civiller terms, by persuading the persons on the middle seat to receive the lady; so that we had now twelve inside." I once myself was in a stage-coach, and found that the window glasses had been taken out; I mentioned this to the driver, as it rained in very fast — "Well, now," replied he, "I reckon you'd better ax the proprietors; my business is to drive the coach." And that was all the comfort I could procure. As for speaking to them about stopping, or driving slow, it is considered as an un- warrantable interference. I recollect an Englishman at New York telling me, that when in the Eastern States, he had expressed a wish to go a little faster — "Oh," said the driver, "you do, do you; well, wait a moment, and I'll go faster than you like." The fellow drove very slow where the road was good; but as soon as he came to a bad piece, he put his horses to the gallop, and, as my friend said, they were so tossed and tumbled about, that they hardly knew where they were. "Is that fast enough, Mister/' said the driver, leering in at the coach window. As for stopping, they will stop to talk to any one on the road I' MARRYAT 8 DIAHV. id Mr. E. ) the bar> "by the Ir. E. be- thoy told ches — he he would the offer lund, and pristic of the con- wished hrase is, v'hich are cy driver s, would )f you to felt they ;, I say,' and no< refused 3 on one an't get ■ And ast, and seat to window 3r, as it n you'd coach." iking to an un- when e faster oment, y slow piece, y were re they ring in B road about the price of the markets, the news, or any thing else; and the same aecoininudation is cheertully given to any paHseiigerwho has any business tu transact on the way. 'IMie Americans are ac< customed to it, and tlie passengers never raise any nbjections. There is a spirit of accommodation, arising from their natural good temper.* I was once in a coucli when the driver pulled up, and entered a small house on the road side; after he had been there some time, as it was not an inn, I expressed my wonder wliat he was about. **I guess 1 can tell you," said a man who was standing by the coach, and overheard me; "there's a pretty yirl in that house, and he's doing a bit of courting, I expect." ►Such was the fact: the passengers laughed, and waited for him very patiently. Ho re- mained about three-quarters of an hour, and then came out. The time was no doubt to him very short; but to us it appeared rather tedious. Mrs. Jarnieson, in her last work, says: "One dark niijht, I re- member, as the sleet and rain were falling fast, and our Kxtra was slowly dragged by wretched brutes of horses through what seem- ed to me 'Slouyhs of Despond,' some package ill stowed on the roof, which in the American stages presents no resting-place for man or box, fell otl". The driver aliglited to fish it out of the mud. As there was some delay, a gentleman seated opposite to mo put his head out of window to in(|uire the cause; to whom the driver's voice replied, in an angry tone, 'I say, you mister, don't you sit jabbering there; but lend a hand to heave these things aboard!' To my surprise, the gentleman did not appear struck by the in- solence of this summons, but immediately jumped out and render- ed his assistance. This is merely the manner of the people. The driver intended no insolence, nor was it taken as such; and my fellow-travellers could not help laughing at my surprise." I have mentioned these little anecdotes, as they may amuse the reader; but it must be understood that, generally speaking, the drivers are very good-natured and obliging, and tlie passengers very accommodating to each other, and submitting with a good grace to what cannot be ameliorated. CHAPTER II. TRAVELLING. In making my observations upon the rail-road and steam-boat * This spirit of accommodation produces what would at first ap- pear to be rudeness, but is not intended for it. When you travel, or indeed when walking the streets in the Western country, if you have a cigar in your mouth, a man will come up — "Beg pardon, stranger," and whips your cigar out of your moutn, lights his own, and then returns your's. I thought it rather cool at first, but as I found it was the practice, I invariably did the same whenever I needed a light. 8 MARRY AT'S DIARY. & travelling in the United States, I shall point out some facts with which the reader must be made acquainted. The Americans are a restless, locomotive people: whether for business or pleasure, they are ever on the move in their own country, and they move in masses. There is but one conveyance, it may be said, for every class of people, the coach, rail-road, or steam-boat, as well as most of the hotels, being open to all; the consequence is that the society is very much mixed — the millionaire, the well-educated woman of the highest rank, the senator, the member of Congress, the farmer, the emigrant, the swindler, and the pick-pocket, are all liable to meet together in the same vehicle of conveyance. Some conventional rules were therefore necessary, and those rules have been made by public opinion — a power to which all must submit in America. The one most important, and without which it would be impossible to travel in such a gregarious way, is an universal deference and civility shewn to the women, who may in consequence travel without protection all over the United States without the least chance of annoyance or insult. This deference paid to the sex is highly creditable to the Americans; it exists from one end of the Union to the other; indeed, in the Southern and more lawless States, it is even more chivalric than in the more settled. Let a female be ever so indifferently clad, whatever her appea'ance may be, still it is sufficient that she is a female; she has the first accommodation, and until she has it, no man will think of himself. But this deference is not only shewn in travel- ling, but in every instance. An English lady told me, that wish- ing to be present at the inauguration of Mr. Van Buren, by some mistake, she and her daughters alighted from the carriage at the wrong entrance, and in attempting to force their way through a dense crowd were nearly crushed to death. This was perceived, and the word was given — 'Make room for the ladies.' The whole crowd, as if by one simultaneous effort, compressed itself to the right and left, locking themselves together to meet the enormous pressure, and made a wide lane, through which they passed with ease and comfort. "It reminded me of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea with the wall of waters on each side of them," observed the lady. "In any other country we must have been crushed to death." When I was on board one of the steam-boats, an American asked one of the ladies to what she would like to be helped. She replied, to some turkey, which was within reach, and off of which a pasnenger had just cut the wing and transferred it to his own plate. The American who had received the lady's wishes, im- mediately pounced with his fork upon the wing of the turkey and carried it off to the young lady's plate; the only explanation given, *^For a lady, Sir!^^ was immediately admitted as sutficient. The authority of the captain of a steam-boat is never disputed; if it were, the offender would be landed on the beach. I was on board of a steam-boat when, at tea time, a young man sat down with his hat on. MARRY AT's diary. 9 facts with iricans are r pleasure, iy move in i for every as well as s that the 1-educated Congress, tocket, are nveyance. hose rules all must out which i^ay, is aa ho may in ted States deference it exists Southern I the more itever her nale; she man will in travel- lat wish- by some e at tiie trough a erceived, be whole If to the normous 3ed with passing I side of list have merican !d. She if which bis own les, im- key and n given, sputed; was on t down (( You are in the company of ladi'^s, Sir," observed the captain very civilly, "and I must request you to take your hat off." "Are you the captain of the boat?" observed the young man, in a sulky tone. "Yes, Sir, I am." "Well, then, I suppose I miret," growled the passenger, as he obeyed. But if the stewards, who are men of colour, were to attempt to enforce the order, they would meet with such a rebuff as I have myself heard given. "If it's the captain's orders, let the captain come and give them. I'm not going to obey a JVigger like you." Perhaps it is owing to this deference to the sex that you will observe that the Americans almost invariably put on their best clothes when they travel; such is the case whatever may be the cause; and the ladies in America, travelling or not, are always well, if not expensively dressed. They don't all swap bonnets as the two young ladies did in the stage-coach in Vermont. But, notwithstanding the decorum so well preserved as I have mentioned, there are some annoyances to be met with from gre- garious travelling. One is, that occasionally a family of interest- ing young citizens who are suffering from the hooping-oongh, small-pox, or any other complaint, are brought on board, in con- sequence of the medical gentlemen having recommended change of air. Of course the other children, or even adults, may take the infection, but they are not refused admittance upon such trifling grounds; the profits of the steam boat must not be interfered with. Of all travelling, I think that by railroad the most fatiguing, especially in America. After a certain time the constant coughing of the locomotive, the dazzling of the vision from the rapidity with which objects are passed, the sparks and ashes which fly in your face and on your clothes become very annoying; your only conso- lation is the speed with which you are passing over the ground. The railroads in America are not so well made as in England, and are therefore more dangerous; but it must be remembered that at present nothing is made in America but to last a certain time; they go to the exact expense considered necessary and no further; they know that in twenty years they will be better able to spend twenty dollars than one now. The great object is to obtain quick returns for the outlay, and, except in few instances, durability or permanency is not thought of. One great cause of disasters is, that the railroads are not fenced on the sides, so as to keep the cattle off them, and it appears as if the cattle who range the woods are very partial to take their naps on the roads, probably from their being drier than the other portions of the soil. It is impos- sible to say how many cows have been cut into atoms by the trains in America, but the frequent accidents arising from these causes hos occasioned the Americans to invent a sort of shovei, attached to the front of the locomotive, which takes up a cow, tossing her off right or left. At every fifteen miles of the rail- i ! -■ !if; ML.*' ('••i to MARRYAT^S DIARY. roads there are refreshment rooms; the cars stop, all the doors are thrown open, and out rush the passengers like boys out of school, and crowd round the tables to solace themselves with pies, patties, cakes, hard-boiled eggs, ham, custards, and a variety of railroad luxuries, too numerous to mention. The bell rings for departure, in ihey all hurry with their hands and mouths full, and olf they go again, until the next stopping place induces them to relieve the monotony of the journey by masticating without being hungry. The Utica railroad is the best in the United States. The general average of speed is from fourteen to sixteen miles an hour; but on the Utica they go much faster.* A gentleman nar- rated to me a singular specimen of the ruling passion which he witnessed on an occasion when the rail-cars were thrown off the road, and nearly one hundred people killed, or injured in a greater or less degree. On the side of the road lay a man with his leg so severely frac- tured, that the bone had been forced through the skin, and project- ed outside his trowsers. Over him hung his wife, with the utmost solicitude, the blood running down from a severe cut received on her head, and kneeling by his side was his sister, who was also much injured. The poor women were lamenting over him, and thinking nothing of their own hurts; and he, it appears, was also thinking nothing about his injury, but only lamenting the delay which would be occasioned by it. *'0h! my dear, dear Isaac, what can be done with your leg?" exclaimed the wife in the deepest distress. "What will become of my leg!" cried the man. "What's to become of my business, I should like to knowl" "Oh! dear brother," said the other female, "don't think about your business now; think of getting cured." "Think of getting cured — I must think how the bills are to be met, and I not there to take them up. They will be presented as sure as I lie here." "Oh! never mind the bills, dear husband — think of your precious leg." "Not mind the bills! but I must mind the bills — my credit will be ruined." "Not when they know what has happened, brother. Oh! dear, dear — that leg, that leg." "D — n the leg; what's to become of my business," groaned the man, falling on his back from excess of pain. Now this was a specimen of true commercial spirit. If this man had not been nailed to the desk, he might have been a hero. I shall conclude this chapter with an extract from an American author, which will give some idea of the indifference as to loss of life in the United States. *The railroads finished in America in 1835 amounted in length to 1,600 miles; those in progress, and not yet complete, to 1,270 miles more. The canals completed were in length 2,687 miles; unfinished, 500 miles. "Evel of the running! bones; head, lil writing 1 clined two leg| carried replied waiting I The the sam steam b( extent o of the p Missour Do. Mississi] Do. Arkansa St. Lawi Platte R Red Riv Ohio Ri Columbi Kanzas Yellows Tenness Alabam Cumber Susquel Illinois Appala( St. Johr Connec Wabasl Delawa James 1 Roanoh Great I San tee Potoms Hudsoi Altamt Savani MARRYAT^S DIART. 11 doors are of school, s, patties, Qf railroad departure, I off they to relieve g hungry, les. The miles an ?man nar- ivhich he ^n off the a greater rely frac- 1 project- le utmost ;eived on was also him, and was also ;he delay ar leg?" /^hat's to ik about \te to be ented as precious idit will h! dear, ned the If this a hero. nerican loss of ngth to miles nished, "Every now and then is a tale of railroad disaster in some part of the country, at inclined planes, or intersecting points, or by running off the track, making splinters of the cars, and of men's bones; and locomotives have been known to encounter, head to head, like two rams fighting. A little while previous to the writing of these lines, a locomotive and tender shot down the in- clined plain at Philadelphia, like a falling star. A woman, with two legs broken by this accident, was put into an omnibus, to be carried to the hospital, but the driver, m his speculations, coolly replied to a man, who asked why he did not go onl — that he was waiting for a full load.'*''* CHAPTER III. TRAVELLING. The most general, the most rapid, the most agreeable, and, at the same time, the most dangerous, of American travelling is by steam boats. It will be as well to give the reader an idea of the extent of this navigation by putting before him the lengths of some of the principal rivers in the United States. MILES. Missouri and Mississippi 4490 Do. to its junction with the Mississippi 3181 Mississippi proper, to its junction with the Missouri - - - 1600 Do. to the Gulf of Mexico 2910 Arkansas River, a branch of the Mississippi 2170 St. Lawrence River, including the Lakes 2075 Platte River, a branch of the Missouri 1600 - - 1500 - - 1372 - - 1315 - - 1200 - - 1100 - - 756 - - 575 Red River, a branch of the Mississippi - - - - Ohio River, Do. - - - Do. Columbia River, empties into the Pacific Ocean Kan zas River, a branch of the Missouri - - - - Yellowstone Do. ----- Do. - - - - - Tennessee Do, - - - - Ohio - - - - - Alabama River, empties into the Gulf of Mexico - Cumberland River, a branch of the Ohio 570 Susquehanna River, empties into Chesapeake Bay - - - 460 Illinois River, a branch of the Mississippi .---.. 430 Appalachicola River, empties into the Gulf of Mexico - - 425 St. John's River, New Brunswick, rises in Maine - - - - 415 Connecticut River, empties into Long Island Sound - ■• - 410 Wabash River, a branch of the Ohio 360 Delaware River, empties into the Atlantic Ocean - - - - 355 James River, empties into Chesapeake Bay 350 Roanoke River, Great Pedee River, Santee River, Potomac River, - Hudson River, - Altamaha River, Savannah River, Albemarle Sound ----- 350 - Atlantic Ocean ------ 350 Do. 340 - Chesapeake Bay 335 - Atlantic Ocean 320 Do. 300 Do. 290 ♦Voice from America. \'-:t\ l\ J. h It. I!" I w III '■■\ $ l:i 13 MARRY AT's diary. Many of the largest of these rivers are at present running through deserts — others possess but a scanty population on their banks; but, as the west fills up, they will be teeming with life, and the harvest of industry will freight many more hundreds of vessels than those which at present disturb their waters. The Americans have an idea that they are very far a-head of us in steam navigation, a great error which I could not persuade them of. In the first place, their machinery is not by any means equal to ours; in the next, they have no sea-going steam vessels, which after all is the great desideratum of steam navigation. Even in the number and tonnage of their mercantile steam vessels they are not equal to us, as I shall presently show, nor have they yet arrived to that security in steam navigation which we have. The return of vessels belonging to the Mercantile Steam Marine of Great Britain, made by the Commissioners on the Report of steam-vessel accidents in 1839, is, number of vessels, 810; ton- nage, 157,840; horse power, 63,250. Mr. Levi Woodbury's Report to Congress in December, 1838, states the number of American steam vessels to be 800, and the tonnage to be 155,473; horse power, 57,019. It is but fair to state, that the Americans have the credit of having sent the first steam vessel across the Atlantic. In 1819, a steam vessel, built at New York, crossed from Savannah to Liverpool in twenty-six days. The number of sea-going steam vessels in England is hvo hun- dred and eighty-iwOf while in the United States they have not more than ten at the outside calculation. In the size of our ves- sels also we are far superior to them. I here insert a table, shew- ing the dimensions of our largest vessels, as given in the Report to the House of Commons, and another of the largest American vessels collected from the Report of Mr. Levi Woodbury to Con- gress. Table — Shcwim^ some of the Dimensions, of (he Hull and Machinery of ike Five iarecst Ships yet built or building. Dimensions. Great Liverpool. British "resident. United Western. (iueen. Kingdom. Extreme lengtli - - • feet 236 223 275 265 .^ Do. under deck „ 212 216 245 238 206 Do. keel „ 205 209 Sin. 225 220 198 Breadth within the paddle-boxes 35 4 in. 30 10 in. 40 41 36 6 in. Do. including do. „ 69 Sin. 56 Sin. 64 64 — Depth of hold at midshipi „ 23 2 in. 19 8 In. 27 6 in. 23 6 in. 22 Tom of space ■ • • „ 679 1-2 5591-2 1,053 — Tonnage of engine-room „ 6111-2 581 9(i3 — — Total tonnage - - - tons l,32t 1,140 1-2 2,016 1,S40 1,400 Power of engines - horsa 450 468 500 640 450 Diameter of cylinders inches 73 75 77 1-2 80 73 Length of stroke - - fed 7 7 7 7 1-2 7 Diameter of paddle-wheels „ 28 9 in. 28 Sin. 30 6 in. 31 28 Total weight of engines, >,^. boilen.ihdwater, - - j'"^ 480 450 500 500 450 Total weight of coals, 20 } days' consumption, - . j » "iotal weight of cargo, - - „ 600 250 600 200 750 500 750 750 — Dnugbt of water, with *) tbe above weight of )■ fttt 16 Sin. 16 Sin. 18 Tin. 17 _- stores J Natcl Illino Madi Butia Ma.ssi Uncle Mogu Med it Nort St. Lo Butth cans, is 4Jnited I a list oft their tonr Acheron Adder Advice African Alban Ariel Asp Avon Beaver Blazer Boxer Carron Charon Columbia Comet Confiance Cuckoo Cyclops Dasher Dee Doterel Echo Alecto Ardent Dover I trust we are a their isol countries. VOL. I.' MARRY AT's diary. 13 t running 1 on their with life, jndreds of lead of us ; persuade ny means n vessels, avigation. m vessels have they B have, m Marine Report of 810; ton- ler, 1838, I, and the credit of In 1819, annah to hvo hun- have not our ves- le, shew- Report imerican to Con- ^achincry I'nited Kineclom. 206 198 36 6 in. 22 400 450 73 7 2S 450 Tons. Horse Power. Natchez . . . 800 300 C Between New Yorii \ and Mis;»i.ssippi. Illinois . . . 75.5 Lake Erie. Madison . . 700 Buffalo . . . G13 Ma.ssachusetts G2G Sound. Uncle Sam 447 " t Mississippi and Ohio \ Rivers. Mogul . . . 414 Mediterranean 41)0 )) North America 445 St. Louis . . 550 But the point on which we are so vastly superior to the Ameri- cans, is in our steam vessels of war. They have but one in the 4Jnited States, named the Fulton the Second. The following is a list of those belonging to the Government of Great Britain, with their tonnajje: — Acheron Adder Advice African Alban Ariel Asp Avon Beaver Blazer Boxer Carron Charon Columbia Comet Confiance Cuciioo Cyclops Dasher Dee Doterel Echo Alecto Ardent Dover Ton.s, 722 237 175 295 294 149 112 361 128 527 159 294 125 360 238 295 234 1190 . 260 704 723 298 Fearless Firebrand Fire Fly Flamer Fury Gleaner Gar go n Hecate Hecla Hermes Hydra Jasper Kite Lightning Lucifer Medea Medusa Megaera Merlin Messenger Meteor Monkey Tons. 165 Myrtle 495 Otter 550 Pha'nix 496 Pigmy 166 Piife 306 Pluto 1111 Prospero 815 Redwing 815 Radamanthus 716 Salamander 818 Shearwater 230 Spitfire 300 Sprightly 296 Strombolo 387 Swallow 835 Tartarus 889 Urgent 717 Vesuvius 889 Volcano 733 Widgeon 296 Wildfire 211 Zephyr Tons. 116 237 809 230 112 365 244 139 813 818 343 553 234 966 133 523 Government Steam Vessels Building. 799 Lizard * 282 Polyphemus 799 Locust 282 Prometheus Iron Medina 889 966 720 164 m\ 237 799 799 I trust that the above statements will satisfy the Americans that we are ahead of them in steam navigation. In consequence of their isolation, and having no means of comparison with other countries, the Americans see only their own progress, and seem VOL. 1. — 2 I '.■; ■'■> (>( If n' 14 marrtat's diary. to have forgotten that other nations advance as well as themselves. They appear to imagine that while they are going ahead all others are standing still: forgetting that England with her immense re- sources is much more likely to surpass them than to be left behind. We must now examine the question of the proportionate security in steam boat travelling in the two countries. The following table, extracted from the Report of the Commissioners on Steam boat Accidents, will show the casualties which have occurred in this country in ten years. Vessels. 40 23 17 12 92 Abstract of Winety-two Accidents. Ascertained Number of Lives lost. Wrecked, foundered, or in imminent peril - - - Explosion of boilers Fires from various causes Collisions Computed number of persons lost on board the Erin, Frolic, and Superb From watermens' and coroners' lists in the Thames, exclusive of the above, during the last three years From a list obtained in Scotland, exclusive of the above, being accidents in the Clyde during the last ten years 308 77 2 6B 453 120 40 21 634 The greatest ascertained number of lives lost at any one time occurred by the wreck of the Rothsay Castle, when .... 119 persons perished. The greatest number at any one time from collision 62 Do. The greatest number at any one time from explosion 24 Do. The greatest number at any one time from fire 2 Do. The principal portion of this loss of life has been occasioned by vessels having been built for sale, and not sea-worthy; an occur- rence too common, I am afraid, in both countries. The author of "A Voice from America" states the list of steam- boat disasters. On the waters of the United States, for twelve months out of the years 1837-38, by bursting of boilers, burning, wrecks, &c., besides numerous others of less consequence, com- prehends the total loss of eight vessels and one thousand and eighty lives. So that we have in England, >po* ^_^ „„„„ /.q loss in ten years . . IJ^-^^ one year, 63. In America, . one year, 1,080 The report of Mr. Woodbury to Congress is imperfect, which is not to be wondered at, as it is almost impossible to arrive at the truth; there is, however, much to be gleaned from it. He states, that since the employment of steam vessels in the United States, 1,300 have been built, and of them two hundred and sixty have been lost by accidents. i i The g Monmou Oronoka lives we hundred Thegi on the CO the grea hundred The t America, wreck; details o nesses, serve the in Mr. \ were pres the more "On Sj Sherrod,! to leave i sengers. was bus) they all 1 their jour and wou] tine lang that drew that boat musingly trunks, a passage and certa "The narrow ii called a ' cotton b< up from reach ab gers to *Indiai ♦The, deck on ( for stowi MXmtYkTB DIARY. 15 smselves. all others nense re- ft behind. 5 security following )n Steam !curred in certained umber of ives lost. 308 77 2 66 453 120 40 21 634 ;curred by ? perished. )o. )o. )o. ioned by n occur- )f steam- )r twelve burning, ce, com- td eighty ir, C3. ir, 1,080 The greatest loss of life by collision and sinking, was in the Monmouth,* in 1837, by which three hundred lives were lost; Oronoka, by explosion, by which one hundred and thirty or more lives were lost; and Moselle, at Cincinnati, by which from one hundred to one hundred and twenty lives were lost. The greatest loss by shipwreck was in the case of the Home, on the coast of South Carolina, when one hundred lives were lost; the greatest by fire, the Ben Sherrod, in 1837, by which one hundred and thirty perished. The three great casualties which occurred during my stay in America, were those of the Ben Sherrod, by fire; the Home, by wreck; and the Moselle, by explosion: and as I have authentic details of them, by Americans who were on board, or eye-wit- nesses, 1 shall lay them before my readers. The reader will ob- serve that there is a great difference in the loss of life mentioned in Mr. Woodbury's report and in the statements of those who were present. I shall hereafter state why I consider the latter as the more correct. LOSS OF THE BEN SHERROD, BY A PASSENGER. "On Sunday morning, the 6th of May 1837, the steam-boat Ben Sherrod, under the command of Captain Castleman, was preparing to leave the levee at New Orleans. She was thronged with pas- sengers. Many a beautiful and interesting woman that morning was busy in arranging the little things incident to travelling, and they all looked forward with high and certain hope to the end of their journey. Little innocent children played about in the cabin, and would run to the guards* now and then, to wonder, in infan- tine language, at the next boat, or the water, or something else that drew their attention. "Oh, look here, Henry — I don't like that boat Lexington." — "I wish I was going by her," said Henry, musingly. The men too were urgent in their arrangements of the trunks, and getting on board sundry articles which a ten days' passage rendered necessary. In fine all seemed hope, and joy, and certainty. "The cabin of the Ben Sherrod was on the upper deck, but narrow in proportion to her build, for she was what is technically called a Tennessee cotton boat. To those who have never seen a cotton boat loaded, it is a wondrous sight. The bales are piled up from the lower guards wherever there is a cranny until they reach above the second deck, room being merely left for passen- gers to walk outside the cabin. You have regular alleys left •Indians transporting to the West. ♦The guards of an American steam-boat are an extension of the deck on each side, beyond the paddle boxes; which gives great width for stowage. 16 MARRYAT'S DIARV. amid the cotton in order to pass about on the first deck. Such is a cotton boat carrying from 1,500 to 2,000 bales. "The Ben's finish and accommodation of the cabin was by no means such as would begin to compare with the regular passenger boats. It being late in the season, and but few large steamers being in port in consequence of the severity of the times, the Ben Sherrod got an undue number of passengers, otherwise she would have been avoided, for her accommodations were not enticing. She had a heavy freight on board, and several horses and carriages on the forecastle. The build of the Ben Sherrod was heavy, her timbers being of the largest size. "The morning was clear and sultry — so much so, that umbrellas were necessary to ward off the sun. It was a curious sight to see the hundreds of citizens hurrying on board to leave letters, and to see them coming away. When a steam-boat is going off on the Southern and Western waters, the excitement is fully equal to that attendant upon the departure of a Liverpool packet. — About ten o'clock a. m. the ill-fated steamer pushed off upon the turbid current of the Mississippi, as a swan upon the waters. In a few minutes she was under way, tossing high in air, bright and snowy clouds of steam at every half revolution of her engine. Talk not of your northern steam-boats! A Mississippi steamer of seven hundred tons burthen, with adequate machinery, is one of the sublimities of poetry. For thousands of miles that great body forces its way through a desolate country, against an almost re- sistless current, and all the evidence you have of the immense power exerted, is brought home to your senses by the everlasting and majestic burst of exertion from her escapement pipe, and the ceaseless stroke of the paddle wheels. In the dead of night, when amid the swamps on either side, your noble vessel winds her upward way — when not a soul is seen on board but the officer on deck — when nought is heard but the clang of the fire-doors amid the hoarse coughing of the engine, imagination yields to the vastness of the ideas thus excited in your mind, and if you have a soul that makes yon a man, you cannot help feeling strongly alive to the mightiness of art in contrast with the mightiness of nature. Such a scene, and hundreds such have I realised, with an inten- sity that cannot be described, always made me a better man than before. I never could tire of the steam-boat navigation of the Mississippi. "On Tuesday evening, the 9th of May 1837, the steam-boat Prairie, on her way to St. Louis, bore hard upon the Sherrod. It was necessary for the latter to stop at Fort Adams, during which the Prairie passed her. Great vexation was manifested by some of the passengers, that the Prairie should get to Natchez first. This subject formed the theme of conversation for two or three hours, the captain assuring them that he would beat her any how. The Prairie is a very fast boat, and under equal chances could have beaten the Sherrod. So soon as the business was transacted Such is vas by no passenger steamers I, the Ben ihe would enticing, carriages eavy, her jmbrellas Tht to see rs, and to )ff on the equal to . — About he turbid In a few id snowy Talk not of seven ie of the eat body Imost re- immense erlasting , and the Df night, q\ winds le officer ire-doors ds to the u have a gly alive ■ nature, jn inten- lan than 1 of the am-boat rod. It 2[ which jy some ez first, or three ny how. 3S could nsacted UARRTAT^S DIARY. 17 at Fort Adams, for which she stopped, orders were given to the men to keep up their fires to the extent. It was now a little after 11 P.M. The captain retired to his berth, with his clothes on, and left the deck in charge of an oflUcer. During the evening a barrel ' of whisky had been turned out, and permission given to the hands to do as they pleased. As may be supposed, they drew upon the barrel quite liberally. It is the custom on all boats to furnish the firemen with liquor, though a ditference exists as to the mode. But it is due to the many worthy captains now on the Mississippi, to state that the practice of furnishing spirits is gradually dying away, and where they are given, it is only done in moderation. "As the Sherrod passed on above Fort Adams towards the mouth of the Homochitta, the wood pil^d up in the front of the furnaces several times caught fire, and was once or twice imper- fectly extinguished by the drunken hands. It must be understood by those of my readers who have never seen a western steam- boat, that the boilers are entirely above the first deck, and that when the fires are well kept up for any length of time, the heat is almost insupportable. "Were it not for the draft occasioned by the speed of the boat it would be very difficult to attend the fires. As the boat was booming along through the water close in-shore, for, in ascending the river, boats go as close as they can to avoid the current, a negro on the beach called out to the fireman that the wood was on fire. The reply was, "Go to h — 1, and mind your own business," from some half intoxicated hand. "Oh, massa," answered ths negro, "if you don't take care, you will be in h — 1 before I will." On, on, on went the boat at a tremendous rate, quivering and trembling in all her length at every revolution of the wheels. The steam was created so fast, that it continued to escape through the safety-valve, and by its sharp singing, told a tale that every prudent captain would have understood. As the vessel rounded the bar that makes off from the Homochitta, being compelled to stand out into the middle of the river in consequence, the fire was discovered. It was about one o'clock in the morning. A passenger had got up previously, and was standing on the boiler deck, when to his astonishment, the fire broke out from the pile of wood. A little presence of mind, and a set of men unintoxicated, could have saved the boat. The passenger seized a bucket, and was about to plunge it overboard for water, when he found it locked. An instant more, and the fire increased in volumes. The captain was now awaked. He saw that the fire had seized the deck. He ran aft, and announced the ill-tidings. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than the shrieks of mothers, sisters, and babes, resounded through the hitherto silent cabin in the wildest confusion. Men were aroused from their dreaming cots to experience the hot air of the approaching fire. The pilot, being elevated on the hurricane deck, at the instant of perceiving the flames, put the head of the boat shoreward. She had scarcely got under good way in that direction, than the tiller ropes were 8* ■I) I I r \ 18 MARRY AT 8 DIARY. r ! burnt asunder. Two miles at least, from the land, the vessel took a sheer, and, borne upon by the current, made several revolutions, until she struck oil across the river. A bar brought her up for the moment. "The tlames had now extended fore and aft. At the first alarm several deck passengers had got in the yaul that hung suspended by the davits. A cabin passenger, endowed with sonje degree of courage and presence of mind, expostulated with them, and did all be could to save the boats for the ladies. 'Tvvas useless. One took out his knife and cut away the forward tackle. The next instant and they were all, to the number of twenty or more, launch- ed into the angry waters. They were seen no more. "The boat being lowered from the other end. Ailed and was useless. Now came the trying moment. Hundreds leaped from the burning wreck into the waters. Mothers were seen standing on the guards with hair dishevelled, praying for help. The dear little innocents clung to the side of their mothers and with their tiny hands beat away the burning llames. {Sisters calling out to their brothers in uneartlily voices — sSave me, oh save me, brother!' — wives crying to their husbands to save their cinldren, in total forgetfulness of themselves, — every second or two a desperate plunge of some poor victim falling on the appalled ear, — the dash- ing to and fro of the horses on the forecastle, groaning audibly from pain of the devouring element — the continued pulling of the engine, for it still continued to go, — the screaming inotlier who had leaped overboard in the desperation of the moment with her only child, — the flames mounting to the sky with the rapidity of lightning, — shall I ever forget that scene — that hour of horror and alarm] Never, were I to live till the memory should forget all else that ever came to the senses. The short half hour that sepa- rated and plunged into eternity two hundred human beings has been so burnt into the memory that even now I think of it more than half the day. "I was swimming to the shore with all my might, endeavoured to sustain a mother and her child. She sank twice, and yet I bore her on. My strength failed me. The babe was nothing — a mere cork. 'Go, go,' said the brave mother, *save my child, save my ' and she sunk to rise no more. Nerved by the resolu- tion of that woman, I reached the shore in safety. The babe I saved. Ere I had reached the beach, the Sherrod had swung off the bar, and was floating down, the engine having ceased running. In every direction heads dotted the surface of the river. The burning wreck now wore a new, and still more awful appearance. Mothers were seen clinging, with the last hope to the blazing timbers, and dropping off one by one. The screams had ceased. A sullen silence rested over the devoted vessel. The flames be- came tired of their destructive work. ? "While 1 sat dripping and overcome upon the beach, a steam boat, the Columbus, came in sight, and bore for the wreck. It t seemed of that I the Stat "A m the cin( another come, tain cor sank wi mortal t was th member "My pain, brother, heart, babe at "Aga sullenly her svva efforts to save 1 "Cap argue, lives of he was bodies o father of it. His "I cm of a stoi to excite occurren thy had my bed relief, ai than ev( "In tl But wh( christiai may In "I sb of build been jei and rog Itwil was occ the Mis strange essel took volutions^ ler up for Irst alarm suspended dejrree of uiddid all .^ss. One The next e, launch- and was ped from standing The dear A'ilh their ng out to , brother!' 1, in total desperate •thedash- T audibly nj; of tiie itlicr who with her ipidity of orror and forget all rat sepa- igs has it more avoured nd yet I thing — a ild,save resolu- e babe I vung off running, r. The earance. blazing ceased, mes be- a steam ;ck. It MARRVAT S mARV. 19 seemed like one last ray of hope gloaming across the dead gloom of that night. Several wretclif s were saved. And still another, the Statesman, came in sight. More, more were saved. "A moment to vie had only elapsed, when high in the heavens the cinders flew, and the country was lighted all round. Still another boat came booming on. 1 was happy that more help had come. After an exchange of words with the (.'olumbus, the cap- tain contiiuied on his way under full steam. Oh, how my lujart sank within me! The waves created by his boat sent many a poor mortal to his long, long home. A being by the name of Dougherty was the captain of that merciless boat. — Long may he be re- membered! "My hands were burnt, and now I began to experience severe pain. Tiu! scene before me — the loss of my two sisters and brother, whom 1 had missed in the confusion, all had steeled my heart. I could not wecj) — I could not sigh. The cries of the babe at my side were nothing to me. "Again — another explosion! and the waters closed slowly and sullenly over the scene of disaster and death. Darkness resumed her sway, and the stillness was only interrupted by the distant efforts of the Columbus and Statesman in their laudable exertions to save human life. "Captain Caslleman lost, I believe, a father and child. Some argue, this is punishment enouoh. No, it is not. He had the lives of hundreds under his eharjie. lie was careless of his trust; he was guilty of a crime that nothing will ever wipe out. The bodies of two hundred victims are crying out from the depth of the father of waters for vengeance. Neither society nor law will give it. His punishment is yet to come. May 1 never meet him! "I could tell of scenes of horror that would rouse the indignation of a stoic; but I have done. As to myself, I could tell you much to excite your interest. It was more than three weeks after the occurrence before I ever shed a tear. All the fountains of sympa- thy had been dried up, and my heart was as stone. As I lay on my bed the twenty-fourth day after, tears, salt tears, came to my relief, and I felt the loss of my sisters and brother more deeply than ever. Peace be to their spirits! they found a watery grave. "In the course of all human events, scenes of misery will occur. But where they rise from sheer carelessness, it requires more than christian fortitude to forgive the being who is in fault. I repeat, may I never meet Captain Castleman or Captain Dougherty! "I shall follow this tale of woe by some strictures on the mode of building steam-boats in the west, and show that human life has been jeopardized by the demoniac spirit of speculation, cheating and roguery. The fate of the Ben Sherrod shall be my text." It will be seen from this narrative, that the loss of the vessel was occasioned by racing with another boat, a frequent practice on the Mississippi. That people should run such risk, will appear strange; but if any of my readers had ever been on board of si steam f* 1/ 1'\ ?<' MARRY AT^8 DURV. n-; p Teasel in a race, they would not be surprised; the excitement pro- duced by it is the most powerful that can be conceived-- 1 have myself experienced it, and can answer for the truth of it. At first, the feeling of danger predominates, and many of the passengers beff the captain tu desist: but he cannot bear to bo passed by and leii astern. As the race continues, so do they all warm up, until even those who, most aware of the danger, were at first most afraid, are to be seen standing over the very boilers, shouting, huzzaing, and stimulating the fireman to blow them up; the very danger gives an unwonted interest to the scene; and females, as well as men, would never be persuaded to cry out "Hold, enough!" Anotherproof of the disregard of human life is here given in the fact of one steam-boat passing by and rendering no assistance to the drowning wretches; nay, it was positively related to me by one who was in the water, that the blows of the paddles of this steam-boat sent down many who otherwise might have been saved. When I was on the Lakes, the wood which was piled close to the fire-place caught fire. It was of no consequence, as it hap- pened, for it being a well-regulated boat, the firo was soon extin- guished; but 1 mention it to show the indilTerence of one of the men on board. About half an hour afterwards, one of his com- panions roused him from his berth, shaking liim by the shoulder to wake him, saying, "Get up, the wood's a-firc — quick." "Well, I knew that 'fore I turn'd in," replied the man, yawning. The loss of the Home occasioned many of the first families in the states to go into deep mourning, for the major portion of the pas- sengers were highly respectable. I was at New York when she started. I had had an hour's conversation with Professor Nott and his amiable wife, and had made arrangements with them to meet them in South Carolina. We never met again, for they were in the list of those who perished. LOSS OF THE HOME. "The steam-packet Home, commanded by Capt. White, left New York, for Charleston, S. C, at four o'clock, p. m., on Satur- day, the 7ih Oct. 1837, having on board between eighty and nine- ty passengers, and forty-three of the boat's crew, including otii- cers, making in all about one hundred and thirty persons. The weather at this time was very pleasant, and all on board appeared to enjoy, in anticipation, a delightful and prosperous passage. On leaving the wharf, cheerfulness appeared to fill the hearts and enliven the countenances of this floating community. Already had conjectures been hazarded, as to the time of their arrival at the destined port, and high hopes were entertained of an expeditious and pleasant voyage. Before six o'clock, a check to these delu- sive expectations was experienced, by the boat being run aground on the Romer Shoal, near Sandy Hook. It being ebb tide, it was found impossible to get off before the next flood; consequently, the fires were I flood tide at night. As the we| posed that ibis accidc no other n) side. Th{ day,) a m\ were sprc; rapid, was noon, whel At sunset,! ing the niJ During th< into the b( passengers "Vhe sc caused a g appeared i cers, — sup for the pre ed to those day, land ^ posed to \y after this southerly 1 the day, tl the boat w by a sea, r ceiling we hinges, w; the day, tl could be (] "It has was, durii called the Late in th fathoms o terly. S( changed, that the cause for suspense; called on mediatelj standing eluding e and gave MARRY AT 8 DIARY. 81 fires were allowed to burn out, and the boat remained until the flood tide took her oflf, wbirh was between ten and rlrven o'clock at night, making the time ot d- ••^ntion about four or five hours.— As the weather was pj^rfcctly culm, it cannot, reasonably, be sup- posed that the boat could huve received "ny material injury from this accident; for, during the limf that it reJi/ m«>(l aground, it had no other motion than an < "nsional roll on thu lo v\ from side to side. Tlio night continued pip 'sant. The next morning, (Sun- day,) a moderate breeze prevailed from the norlh-tast. The sails were spread beforo the wind, and tlu; "ipeed of the boat, ilready rapid, was much accelerated. All went on pleasantly till about noon, when the wind had increased, and the sea lircaine rough.— At sunset, the wind blew heavily, and continued to iik n ise dur- ing the night; at daylight, on Monday, it had become a gale.— During the night, much complaint was made that the water came into the berths, and before the usual time of rising, some of the passengers had abandoned them on that account. "The sea, from the violence of the gale, raged frightfully, and caused a general anxiety amongst the passengers; but still, they appeared to rely on the skill and judgment of the captain and ofll- cers, — supposing, that every exertion would be used, on their part, for the preservation of so many valuable lives as were then entrust- ed to those who had the charge of this frail boat. Karly on Mon- day, land was discovered, nearly ahead, which, by many, was sup- posed to be False Cape, on the northern part of Ifatteras. Soon after this discovery, the course of the boat was changed fronni southerly to south-easterly, which was the general course through the day, though with some occasional changes. The condition of the boat was now truly alarming; it bent and twisted, when struck by a sea, as if the next would rend it asunder: the panels of the ceiling were falling from their places; and the hull, as if united by hinges, was bending against the feet of the braces. 'J'hroughout the day, the rolling and pitching were so great, that no cooking could be done on board. "It has already been stated, that the general course of the boat was, during the day, south-easterly, and consequently in what is called the trough of the sea, — as the wind was from the north-east. Late in the afternoon, the boat was reported to be in twenty-three fathoms of water, when the course was changed to a south-wes- terly. Soon after this, it was observed that the course was again changed, to north-westerly; when the awful truth burst upon us, that the boat must be filling; for we could imagine no other cause for this sudden change. This was but a momentary suspense; for within a few minutes, all the passengers were called on to bale, in order to prevent the boat from sinking. Im- mediately, all were employed, but with little effect; for, notwith- standing the greatest exertion on the part of the passengers, in- cluding even many of the ladies, the water was rapidly increasing, and gave most conclusive evidence, that, unless we reached the ■ f ''", I. ■ il If ' n yi W MABRYAT'S DIARIT. shore within a few hours, the boat must sink at sea* and probably not a soul be left to communicate the heart-rending intelligence to bereaved and disconsolate friends. Soon after the boat was headed towardis the land, the water had increased so much, as to reach the fire under the boilers, which was soon extinguished. Gloomy indeed was the prospect before us. With one hundred and thirty persons in a sinking boat, far out at sea, in a dark and tempestuous night, with no other dependence for reaching the shore than a few small and tattered sails, our condition might be considered truly awful. But, with all these disheartening circumstances, hope, delusive hope, still supported us. Although it was evident that we must soon sink, and our progress towards the land was very slow, still we cherished the expectation that the boat would finally be run on shore, and thus most of us be delivered from a watery grave. Early in the afternoon, the ladies had been provided with strips of blankets, that they might be lashed to such parts of the boat as would afford the greatest probability of safety. "In this condition, and with these expectations, we gradually, but with a motion nearly imperceptible, approached, what to many of us was an untried, and almost an unknown shore. At about eleven o'clock, those who had been employed in baleing were compelled to leave the cabin, as the boat had sunk until the deck was nearly level with the water, and it appeared too probable that all would soon be swallowed up by the foaming waves. The heaving of the lead indicated an approach to the shore. Soon was the cheering intelligence of 'Land! land!' announced by those on the look-out. This, for a mowi.i, aroused the sinking energies of all, when a general bustle ensued, in the hasty, but trifling, preparations that could be made for safety, as soon as the boat should strike. But what were the feelings of an anxious multitude, when, instead of land, a range of angry breakers were visible just ahead; and land, if it could be seen at all, was but half perceptible in the distance far beyond. "As every particular is a matter of interest, — especially to those who had friends and relatives on board, — it may not be improper to state, that one individual urged the propriety of lowering the email boats, and putting the ladies and children into them for safety, with suitable persons to manage them, before we struck the break- ers. By this arrangement, had it been effected, it is believed that the boats might have rode out the gale during the night, and have been rescued in the morning by passing vessels,, and thus all, or nearly all, have been saved. But few supported this proposition, and it could not be done without the prompt interference of those who had authority to command, and who would be obeyed. "Immediately before we struck, one or two passengers, by the aid of some of the spr.nen, attempted to seek safety in one of the boats at the quarter, v hen a breaker struck it, swept it from the davits, and carried with it a seaman, who was instantly lost. A similar attempt was madm a watery •ovided with parts of the 6 gradually, irhat to many about eleven e compelled : was nearly at all would laving of the [he cheering ie look-out. all, when a rations that trike. But I, instead of i; and land, he distance illy to those le improper wering the I for safety, : the break- slieved that and have hus all, or roposition, e of those yed. 3rs, by the one of the from the r lost. A the upper was filled with several passengers, and some of the crew; but, as we were already within the verge of the breakers, this boat shared the fate of the other, and all on board (about ten in number) perished. "Now commenced tb j most heart-rending scene Wives cling- ing to husbands,— children to parents, — and women who were without protectors, seeking aid from the arm of the stranger; all awaiting the results of a moment, which would bring with it either life or death. Though an intense feeling of anxiety must, at this time, have filled every breast, yet not a shriek was heard, nor was there any extraordinary exclamation of excitement or alarm. A slight agitation was, however, apparent in the general circle. Some few hurried from one part of the boat to another, as if seeking a place of greater safety; yet most, and particularly those who had the melancholy charge of wives and children, remained quiet and calm observers of the scene before them. "The boat, at length, strikes, — it stops, — as motionless as a bar of lead. A momentary pause follows, — as if the angel of death shrunk from so dreadful a work of slaughter. But soon the work of destruction commenced. A breaker with a deafening crash, swept over the boat, carrying its unfortunate victims into the deep. Al the same time, a simultaneous rush was made to- wards the bows of the boat. The forward deck was covered. Another breaker came, with irresistible force, — and all within its sweep disappeared. Our numbers were now frightfully reduced. The roaring of the waters, together with the dreadful crash of breaking timbers, surpasses the power of description. Some of the remaining passengers sought shelter from the encroaching dan- gers, by retreating to the passage, on the lee side of the boat, that leads from the after to the forward deck, as if to be as far as pos- sible from the grasp of death. It may not be improper here to re- mark, that the destruction of the boat, and loss of life, was, doubt- less, much more rapid than it otherwise would have been, from the circumstauce of the boat heeling to windward, and the deck, which was nearly level with the water, forming, in consequence, an inclined plane, upon which the waves broke with their full force. "A large proportion of those who rushed into this passage, were ladies and children, with a few gentlemen who had charge of them. The crov/d was so dense, that many were in danger of being crushed by the irresistible pressure. Here were perhaps some of the most painful sights ever beheld. Before introducing any of the closing scenes of individuals, which the writer witness- ed, or which he has gathered from his fellow passengers, he would beg to be understood, that it is not for the gratification of the idle curiosity of the careless and indifferent reader, or to pierce afresh the bleeding wounds of surviving friends, but to furnish such facts as may be interesting, and which, perhaps, might never be' obtained through any other channel. "As the immediate connections of the writer are already inform- ed of the particulars relating to his own unhappy bereavement, fi .1 I i I 34 MARRY AT*S DIARY. 1': 1' there is no necessity for entering in a minute detiiil of this melan- choly event. "This passage contained perhaps thirty or more persons, con- sisting of men, women and children, with no apparent possibility of escape; enclosed within a narrow aperture, over which was the deck, and both ends of which were completely closed by the frag- ments of the boat and the rushing of the waves. While thus shut up, death appeared inevitable. Already were both decks swept of every thing tbat was on them. The dining cabin was entirely gone, and every thing belonging to the quarter-deck was com- pletely stripped off, leaving not even a stanchion or particle of the bulwarks; and all this was the work of about five minutes. "The starboard wheel-house, and every thing about it, was soon entirely demolished. As much of the ceiling forward of the star- board wheel had, during the day, fallen from its place, the waves soon found their way through all that remained to oppose them, and were in a few minutes' time forcing into the last retreat of those who had taken shelter in the passage already mentioned. "Every wave made a frightful encroachment on our narrow limits, and seemed to threaten us with immediate death. Hope- less as was the condition of those thus hemmed in, yet not a shriek was heard from them. One lady, unknown to the writer, begged earnestly for some one to save her. In a time of such alarm, it is not strange that a helpless female should plead with earnestness for assistance from those who were about her, or even offer them money for that aid which the least reflection would have convinced her it was not possible to render. Another scene, witnessed at this trying hour, was still more painful. A little boy was plead- ing with his father to save him. 'Father,' said the boy, 'you will save me, won't youl you can swim ashore with me, can't you, father?' But the unhappy father was too deeply absorbed in the other charges that leant on him, even to notice the imploring ac- cents of his helpless child. For at that time, as near as the wri- ter can judge, from the darkness of the place they were in, his wife hung upon one arm, and his daughter of seventeen upon the other. He had one daughter besides, near the age of this little boy, but whether she was at that time living or not, is uncertain. "After remaining here some minutes, the deck overhead was split open by the violence of the waves, which allowed the writer an opportunity of climbing out. This he instantly did, and assisted his wife through the same opening. As he had aow left those below, he is unable to say how they were finally lost; but, as that part of the boat was very soon completely destroyed, their further sufferings could not have been much prolonged. We were now in a situation which, from the time the boat struck, we had considered as the most safe, and had endeavoured to attain. Here we resolved to await our uncertain fate. From this place we could see the encroachment of the devouring waves, every one of which reduced our thinned numbers, and swept with it parts of our crumbling boat. For several hours previous, the gale had been sensibly abating; and, for a moment, the pale moon br( of terroi tims the many w moon y( the stert tlie dock liis form to reach him, — ar heads of appearet violence They su "Duri ring the ed, indee before, p in this s prepared the appc abaft the the deck perilous i have fall( who had to raise h and, with to a larg( maining (Mrs, Sh the two lady the pi(?ce of was alm( wiiich ini water, to cling 1 washed 1 he came seemed \ an exhai boat, the Shrocdei bia ; and "On I but after proved l( of the ph island, g this melan* arsons, con- possibility ich was the by thefrag- le thus shut ks swept of as entirely was com- ticle of the [tes. t, was soon of the star- the waves pose them, I retreat of ntioned. »ur narrow h. Hope- ot a shriek er, begged ilarm, it is arnestness offer them convinced tnessed at ^as plead- 'you will can't you, )ed in the oring ac- the wri- re in, his upon the this little incertain. lead was he writer did, and aow left oat; but, red, their We were , we had attain, lis place s, every ;pt with trevious, the pale marryat's diary. 25 ! moon broke through the dispersing clouds, as if to witness this scene of terror and destruction, and to show to the horror-stricken vic- tims the fate that awaited them. How few were now left, of the many who, but a little before, inhabited our bark ! While the moon yet shone, three men were seen to rush from the middle to the stern of the boat. A wave came rushing on. It passed over the deck. One only, of the three, was left. He attempted to gain his former position. Another wave came. He had barely timo to reach a large timber, to which he clung, when this wave struck him, — and he too was missing. As the wave passed away, tho heads of two of these men were seen above the water; but they appeared to make no effort to swim. The probability is, tiiat tho violence with which they were hurled into the sea disabled them. They sunk to rise no more. "During this time, Mr. Lovegreen, of Charleston, continued to ring the boat's bell, which added if possible to the glootn. It sound- ed, indeed, like the funeral knell over the departed drad. Never before, perhaps, was a bell tolled at such a funeral as this. While in this situation, and reflecting on the necessity of being alvvay? prepared for the realities of eternity', our attention was arrested by the appearance of a lady, climbing upon the outside of the boat, abaft the wheel near where we were. Her head was barely above the deck on which we stood, and she was holding to it, in a most perilous manner. She implored help, without which she inust soon have fallen into the deep beneath, and shared the fate of llio many who had already gone. Tho wr'.t(>r ran to her aid, hut wfis uiinblo to raise her to the deck. Mr. VVoodburn, of New York, now came, and, with his assistance, the lady was rescued; sho was then lashed to a large piece of timber, by the side of another lady, tho only re- maining place that afforded any prospect of saft.'ty. Tho former lady (Mrs. Shroeder) was washed ashore on this piece of wreck, one of the two who survived. The writer having rclinquislied to this lady the place he had occupied, was cofnpelled to net upon a largo pi(>co of the boat, that lay near, under the lee of the wheel; this was almost immediately driven from its place into the breakers, which instantly swept him from it, and plunged him deep into the water. With some difficulty he regained his raft, llo continued to cling to this fragment, as well as he could, but was repeatedly washed from it. Sometimes when plunged deep into the water, he came up under it. After encountering all the difficulties that seemed possible to be borne, he was at length thrown on shore, in an exhausted state. At the time the writer was drivee from the boat, there were but few left. Of these, four survived, liz. Mrs. Shroeder and Mr. Lovegreen, of Charleston; Mr. Cohen, of Colum- bia ; and Mr. Vanderzee, of New York. " On reaching the beach, there was no appearance of inhabitants; but after wandering some distance, a light was discovered, which proved to be from Ocracoke lighthouse, about six miles south-west of the place where the boat was wrecked. The inhabitants of tho island, generally, treated us with great kindness, and, so far a& 3 ( r n ! ' Hi ,M f\ '■ I ilu r gr ■' iii; li- Hi '! 86 HARRYAT'S DIARY. their circumstances, would allow, assisted in properly disposing the numerous bodies thrown upon the shore. " The survivors, after remaining on the island till Thursday af^ ternoon, separated, some returning to New York, others proceeding on to Charleston. Acknowledgment is due to the inhabitants of Washington, Newborn, and Wilmington, as well as of other places through which we passed, for the kind hospitality we received, and the generous offers made to us. Long will these favours bo grate- fully remembered by the survivors of the unfortunate Home." Even if the captain of the Home was intoxicated, it is certain that the loss of the vepsol was not occasioned by that circumstance, but by the vessel not having been built sea-v/orthy. The narrative of the loss of the Moselle is the last which I shall give to the reader. It is written by Judge Ilall, one of tlie best of tiie American writers. LOSS OF TIIE MOSELLE. "The recent explosion of tlie steam-boat Moselle, at Cincinnati, affords a most awful illustration of t'.ie danger of steam navigation, when conducted by ignorant or carclei-:r>iiien: and fully sustains the remark made in the precodinir paijes, that, 'the accidents arc al- iuost wholly confined to insiifacient or hi;l!y managed boats.' " The Moselle wa:^ a new boat, intended to ply regularly between Cincinnati and St. Lonis. Slie had inado but two or three trips, lint had already established a hi:',h rc^pntalion for speed; and, as is usual in sucli cases, tlio^c by whom she was owned and command- racter. 'J'lie newspapers noticed the i/nick trips of the l^iosel'e, and jmspongers chose to embark in this boat in preference to otiior.^-. Iter capiain was an enterprising yonng man, without much e.\perience, bent upon gaining tor his lioat, at all liazards, the distinction of being tiio fasle.-^t upon the river, and not I'ully aware, porha])s, of the inevitable danger which attended this rash experiment. " On Wednesday the 2.jtli of April, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, this shocking catastrophe occurred. Tlie boat was crowded with passengers; and, as is usually the case on our western rivers, in regard to ves^sels passing westerly, the largest proportion were emigrants. They were mostly deck passengers, many of whom were poor Germans, ignorant of any language but Iheir own, and the larger portion consisted of families, comprising ])ersons of all ages. Although not a large boat, there were eighty- live passengers in the cabin, which was a much larger number than could be comfortably accommodated ; the number of deck passen- gers is not exactly known, but, as is estimated, at between one hun- dred and twenty and one hundred and fifty, and the officers and crew umounted to thirty, making in all about two hundred and sixty souls. " It was a pleasant afternoon, and the boat, with steam raised, delayed at the wharf, to increase the number — already too great — of her pa nies, ail passage tions — tl of his r seeking indigent in purse tier. *'On 1 to take chore foi course d( a suburb stopped the pecu usual he Mosel le- thal the wliich hi eclat to "The the shore forepart were un particula spectator past the was unpi of a mir eimultan human 1 Fragmer to the K latter, s( quarter found dr with sue roof of £ Of then before, i water, by the e saw eixt reached "The city, the prompt! as were had pen "Th( hood of JttARHYAT S PIARV, 27 disposing Thursday af^ rs proceeding- nhabitants of f other places received, and iirs ha irrate- IJOME." s certain that imstance, but which I shall jf the best of Lt Cincinnati; n naviijation, / sustains the dnnts arc al- boats.' 'iY]y between r tliree trips, d; and, as is lil command- ,' and ppared noticed the nhark in this entcrprisini: :ninnf tor his !r^t npon the ani,rcr which Jfiveo'cloci; The boar case on our , the largest passengers^ nguagc but comprising .vere eighty- number than lock passen- len one hun- rs and crew I sixty souls. ;eam raised, too great-— ■;l of her passengers, who continued to crowd in, singly or in compa- nies, all anxious to hurry onwards in the first boat, or eager to take passage in the fust-running Moselle. They were of all condi- tions — the military officer hastening to Florida to take command of of his regiment — the merchant bound to St. Louis — the youth seeking a field on which to commence the career of life — and the indigent emigrant with his wife and children, already exhausted in purse and spirits, but still pushing onward to the distant fron- tier. "On leaving the wharf, the boat ran up the river about a mile, to take in some families and freight, and having touched at tue chore for that purpose, for a few minutes, was about to lay her course down the river. The spot at which she thus landed was at a suburb of the city, called Fulton, and a number of persons had Flopped to witness her departure, several of whom remarked, from the peculiar sound of the steam, that it had been raised to an un- usual height. The crowd thus attracted — the high repute of the Moselle — and certain vague rumours which began to circulate, that the captain had determined, at every risk, to beat another boat which had just departed — all these circumstances gave an unusual tclat to the departure of this ill-fated vessel. "The landing completed, the bow of the boat was shoved from the shore, whiin an explosion took place, by which the whole of the forepart of the vessel was literally blown up. The passengers were unhappily in the most exposed positions — on the deck, and particularly on the forward part, sharing the excitement of the spectators on shore, and anticipating the pleasure of darting rapidly past the city in the swift Moselle. The power of the explosion was unprecedented in the history of steam; its effect was like that of a mine of gunpowder. All the boilers, four in number, were simultaneously burst; the deck was blown into the air, and the human beings who crowded it hurried into instant destruction. Fragments of the boilers, and of human bodies, were thrown both to the Kentucky and the Ohio shore; and as the boat lay near the latter, some of these helpless victims must have been thrown a quarter of a mile. The body of Captain Perry, the master, was found dreadfully mangled, on the nearest shore. A man was hurled with such force, that his head, with half his body, penetrated the roof of a house, distant more than a hundred yards from the boat. Of the number who had crowded this beautifurboat, a few minutes before, nearly all were hurled into the air, or plunged into the water. A few, in the after part of the vessel, who were uninjured by the explosion, jumped overboard. An eye-witness says that he saw sixty or seventy in the water at one time, of whom not a dozen reached the shore. hro " The news of this awful catastrophe spread rapidly t ugh the city, thousands rushed to the spot, and the most benevolent aid was promptly extended to the sufferers — to such, we should rather say, as were within the reach of human assistance — for the majority had perished. " The writer was among those who hastened to the neighbour- hood of the wreck, and witnessed a scene so sad that no languagQ M. ■'< I ii I m 28 MARRYAT S DIARY. can dopict it with fidelity. On the shore lay twenty or thirty inangled and still bleeding corpses, while others were in the act of beinsr drafrfrod from the wreck or the water. There were men carrying: away the woundod, and others gathering the trunks, and articles of wearing apparel, that strewed the beach. " The survivors of this awful tragedy presented the most touch- ing objects of distress. Death had torn asunder the most tender lies; but the rupture had been so sudden and violent, that as yet none knew c rtainly who had been taken, nor who had been spared. Fathers wore inquiring for children, children for parents, husbands and wives for each other. One man had saved a son, but lost a wife and five chiltir mi. A father, partially deranged, lay with a wounded child on one side, a dead daughter on the other, and his wife, wounded, at his feet. One gentleman sought his wife and children, who were as eagerly seeking him in the same crowd — they met, and were re-united. " A female deck passenger, that had been saved, seemed incon- solable for the loss of her relations. To every question put to her, she would exclaim, ' Oh my father ! my mother! my sisters!' A little boy, about four or five years of age, whose head was much bruised, appeared lo be regardless of his wounds, but cried continu- ally for a lost father; while another lad, a little older, was weeping for his whole family. "One venerable looking man wept a wife and five children; another was bereft of nine members of his family. A touching dis- play of maternal afl^ection was evinced by a lady who, on being brought to the shore, clasped her hands and exclaimed, 'Thank God, I am safe !' but instantly recollecting herself, ejaculated in a voice of piercing agony, ' where is njy child I' The infant, which had been saved, was brought to her, and she fainted at the sight of it. *' A public meeting was called in Cincinnati, at which the mayor presided, when the facts of this melancholy occurrence were dis- cussed, and among other resolutions passed, was one deprecating ' the great and increasing carelessness in the navigation of steam vessels,' and urging this subject upon the consideration of Congress. No one denied that this sad event, which had filled our city with consternation, sympathy, and sorrow, was the result of a reckless and criminal inattention to their duty, on the part of those having the care of the Moselle, nor did any one attempt to palliuiie their conduct. Committees were appointed to seek out the sufferers, and perform the various duties which humanity dictated. Through the exertions of the gentlemen appointed on this occasion, lists were obtained and published, showing the names of the passengers as far as could be obtained, and giving the following result: — Killed Si • Badly wounded 13 Missing 55 Saved . . 117 "I MARRYAT S DIARY. 29 r or thirty I the act of were men ruiiks, and K)3t tonch- u)st tender that as yet had been ir parents, a son, but mofed, lay the other, ioujrht his the same ned incon- put to her, sters!' A was much d coritinu- s weeping children ; ching dis- on being- 'Thank lated in a nt, which the sight he mayor were dia- precating of steam Congress, city with I reckless se having Idle their jrers, and ■ough the ists were ers asfar "As many strangers entered the boat but a few minutes before hs departure, whoso names were not registered, it is probable that the whole number of souls on board was not less than two hundred find c'ishty. Of the missing, many dead bodies have since been found, but very few have boon added to the list o^ saved. The ac- tual number nf lives lost, therefore, docs not vary much from one hundred undfiftyy The fallowing observations are made in the Report of the Com- miltee, relative to the tremendous force of the steam : "Of the inmiense fcjrce exerted in this explosion, there is abun- dant evidence; still in this extraordinary occurrence in the iiistory of steam, I deem it important to be particular in noting the facts, JuiJ fur that purpo-se I Jiave m:ule some measurements and calcula- tions. The boat was one hundred and sixteen feet ti'onj the waters edge, one hundred and ninety-two from the top of the bank, which was forty-three feet in perpendicular height above the water. The Hiluations of projoctcJ bodies ascertained were as follows: Part of tlie body of a man, throv.'n nearly horizontally into a skitT at the v.ater's gA^^g^ on;; hundred and sixteen feet. The body of the cap- tain thrown nearly to the top of the bank, two hundred feet. Tiie hody of a mati thrown through the roof of a house, at the distance of one hundred ami twelve feet, and fifty-nine feet above the wa- ter's {2i\f^Q. A portion of the boiler, containing about sixty square feet, and weighing about four hundred and fifty pounds, thrown one hundred and seventy feet, and about two-thirds of the way up the hank. A second portion of the boiler, of about thirty-five square feet, and v.'oi^himr about tv.'o hundred and forty-five pounds, thrown four huntired and fifty feet on the hill side, and seventy feet in alti- tude. A third portion of the boiler, twenty-one square feet, one iiundred and forty-seven pounds, tiirown three hundred and thirty I'eet into a tan yard. A fourth portion, of forty-eight square feet, and weifihing throe hundred and thirty-six pounds, thrown four hundred and eighty feet into the garret of a back-shop of a tan- yard; having broken down the nxjf and driven out the gable-end. The last portion must have been thrown to a very great lieight, as it had entered the roof of an angle of at least sixty degrees. A fifih portion, weighing two hunilred and thirty-six pounds, went oblique- ly up the river eight hundred feet, and passing over the houses, landed on the side walk, the bricks of which had been broken and driven deeply into the ground by it. This portion had encountered some individual in its course as it came stained with blood. Such was the situation of the houses that it must have fallen at an angle as high as forty-five degrees. It has been stated, that bodies of per- sons were projected quite across the river into Kentucky. I can find no evidence of the truth of this: on the contrary, Mr. Kerr in- forms i«e, that he made inquiries of the people on the opposite shore, and 'could not learn that any thing was seen to fall farther than half way acrosg the river,' which is at that place about sixteen hundred feet wide." I was at Cincinnati some time after the explosion, and examined I > 'I i i\ ti ' 3 i U 80 MARRYAT S DIARY. *"* 1 .(Hi!. hi the wreck which still lay on the Ohio shore. After the report was drawft up it was discovtred that the force of the explosion had bcert even greater than was supposed, and that portions of the engine and boilers had been thrown to a much greater distance. It is to bo remarked, that Mr. Woodbury's report to Congress states from one hundred to one hundred and twenty persons as having been killed. Judge Hall, in the report of the committee, estinmtes it atone hundred and fifty; but there is reason to believe that the loss on this occasion, as well as in many others, was greater thar. even in the report of the committee. The fact is, it is almost im- possible to state the loss on these occasions; the only data to go upon are tho books in which the passengers' names are taken down wfien the fiire is paid, and this is destroyed. In a country like America, there are thousands of people unknown to any body, mi* grating here and there, seeking the far west to settle in; tiicy como jind go, and nobody knows any thing of them; there might have been one hundred more of them on board the Moselle nt the time that she exploded ; and as I heard from Captain Pcarce, liie harbour- master, aiui others, it is believed that such was the case, and that many more were destroyed than was at first supposed. The American steam-boats are very different from our's in ap- pearance, in consequence of the engines being invariably on deck. The docks also are carried out many feet wider on each side than the hull of the vessel, to give space; these additions to the deck are called guards. The engine being on the first deck, there is a second deck for the passengers, state-rooms, and saloons; and above this deck there is another, covered with a white awning. They have something the appearance of two-deckers, and when filled with company, the variety of colours worn by the ladies have a very novel and pleasing effect. The boats v/hich run from New York to Boston, and up the Hudson river to Albany, are very splendid vessels; they have low-pressure engines, arc well commanded, and I never heard of any accident of any importance taking place ; their engines are also ve'v superior — one on board of the Narangassett, with a horizontal stroke, was one of the finest I ever saw. On the Mississippi, Ohio, and their tributary rivers, the high-pressure en- gine is invariably used ; they have tried the low-pressure, but have r<)und that it will not answer, in consequence of the great quantity (yf mud contained in solution on the waters of the Mississippi, which destroys all the valves and leathers; and this is the principal cause of the many accidents which take place. At the same time it must be remembered, that there is a recklessness — an indifference to life — shown throughout all America ; which is rather a singular feature, inusmuch as it extends East as well as West, It can only be accounted for by the insatiate pursuit of gain among a people who consider that time is money, and who are blinded by their ea- gerness in the race for it, added to that venturous spirit so naturally imbibed in a new country at the commencement of its occupation. It is communicai l.to the other sex« who appear equally indifferent. The Moselle had not been blown up two hours, before the other ^steamboats were qr^wded with women, who followed their rqlations on bu>i the mo go a-h(; I wa; a steair to jumj) recklcs re Fitly leapt o\ The reeled iHli-^, a pa^st'iii: as the rods foi be the be prov; ropes, could C( rapid t.i 170, R< out. iuiy .board. It 13 act of t to Irave limes, boats, n I read ii liii MARRYAT S PIAUY. 81 report was ) hud been lie engine It is to itates from \\ng been 5ti mates iK a that the sater than ilmost im- data to go iken down Lintry like body, mi* they come light liavc L tiie time c harbour- 3, and that ur's in ap- f on deck. I side than ) the deck there is a and above g. They filled with ve a very ^ew York splendid ndcd, and ice; their mgassett, On the esiire en- but have quantity ipi, which pal cause le it must jrence to singular can only a people their ea- naturally cupation. different. the other riQiat^ons on business or pleasure, up and down the river. " Go a-head," is the rnotto of the country; both sexes join in the cry; and they do go a-h(.';i(l — thnCs a fact I r* ltl( wari aiiiusou with a story told me by an American gfiiiieman a steairihoat caught tire on the Mississippi, and the passcnirors had to jiim|) overboard and e^ave themselves by swimming. OMcot'lho.se reckless characters, a gambler, who, was on board, havuiL,' appa- rently a V(!ry good idea ot* his own merits, went all, and b-'lbre he leapt overboard, cried out, " Now, gallows, claim your own!" The attention of the American legislature has at longtii bsen di- rected to the want of t^ocurity in steam navigation; and in July, 183S, an act was passed to provide for the better socnrity 8pectability, until you .rive at the farni-liouso entertainment of Virf,Mnia and Ken- tucky; the grocery, or mere ffrog:-shop, ( r the loff-liDUse of tho Far West. The way-side inns are remarkable for their uniformity; the furniture of the bar-room is invariably the same: a wooden ch)ck, map of the United States, map of the State, the Declaration of Independence, a lookinfj-jjlass, with a hair-bruah and comb hanf»- ing" to it by etrinfjs, pro bono publico;*' sometimtis with the extra embellishment of one or two miserable pictures, such as General Jackson scramblinjr upon a horse, with fire or steam cominjif out of his nostrils, goingr to the battle of New Orleans, «fcc. &.C. lie wlio is of the silver-fork school, will not fmd much comfort out of the American cities and largo towns. There are no neat, quiet little inns, as in Enj^land. It is all the "rough and tumble" tjystcm, and when you stop at humble inna you must expect to eat peas with a two-pronged fork, and to sit down to meals with people whose exterior is any thing but agreeable, to attend upon yourself, and to sleep in a room in which there are three or four other beds ; (I have slept in one with nearly twenty,) most of I'.iem carrying double, even if you do not have a companion in your own. A New York friend of mine travelling in an Extra with his fa- mily, told me that at a western inn he iiad particularly requested that he might not have a bcd-fellow, and was promised that he should not. On his retiring, he found his bed already occupied, and he went down to the landlady, and expostulated. " Well," replied 1 ehc, " him!" Anot Snake's chen-flr scvenioi togcthe is a sou I muf of eat in; country respects this is true, but in the cities the custom has V)ccomc very pre- valent, A man who attends a larffc dinner-table, will of course pay more attention to tiiosc who jjivo liim something', than to those who do not; one gives him sninclhing, and another, if he wishes for attcn- lion and civility, is obliged to do the same thing'. In some of the hotels at New York, and in the principal cities, you not only must fee, but you must fee much higher than you do in England, if you want to be comfortable. *If I am rigiitly informed, there are very unpleasant cutaneous dis- eases to wiiieli the Americans are subject, from the continual use of the same brush and comb, and from sleeping together, &,c., but it is a general custom. At Philadelphia, a large ball was given, (called, I think, the Fireman's Ball,) and at which about 1,500 people were pre- sent, all the fashion of rhiladelphia; yet even here there were six combs, and six brushes, placed in a room with six looking-glasses for the use of aW the gentlemen. An American has come into my room in New York, an sans ctrimonie taken up my hair-brush, and amused himself with brushing his head. They are certainly very unrefined in the toilet as yet. When I was travelling, on my arrival at a city I ojMined my dressing case, and a man passing by my room when tho door was open, attracted by the glitter, I presume, came in and looked at the apparatus which is usually contained in such articles — " Pray, Sir," said he, " are you a dentist?" Vcrmicc iJoilcd C Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. MARRYAT S DIARY. t, and tlio lur^rc and rc(|ucnlt'(i, ility, until luul Ken- use of iho nilurtnity; a wooden cclarution t)rnl) hanjT- llie extra 8 General liiifj out of :lj comtort 3 no neat, J tumble" ►ect to eat ith people n yourself, Iher beds ; I carrying I. ith his fa- requested d that he |upicd, and 1," replied very pre- ourse pay tliosc who for attcn- me of the only must nd, if you ncous die- ual use of but it is a (called, I were pre- were six glasses for ly room in d amused refined in t a city I when the nd looked -" Pray, Bho, " it's only your own driver ; I thought you wouldn't mind him !" Another {jcntleman told mc, that havinjf arrived nt n place called Snake's Hollow, on fbo MissisHippi, the hetl waH niach? on the kit- chen-floor, and the w olo family and travellers, ainountin;; in oil to Hcvcfiloen, of all nfjcs and both sexes, turned into the Hurno bod nl- to;jctlinr. Of course this must be expected in a new country, and is a source of amusrrnnnt, rather thnn of annoyance. I must now enter into a very important ([ucstion, which is tint ofeatiufjand drinK f. Mr. ('oopor, in his rt'iiiarks upon lii.>; own countrymen, says, very ill-naturedly — "The Americans are the ijropscst feeders of any civilized nation known. Ah a nation, tI»oir food is heavy, course, and imli;;ostibIe, while it is taken in the least artificial forms that cookery will allow. The; predominance of fjrease in the American kitchen, coupled with the habits of hearty eating-, and of constant expectoration, are the causes of the diseases of the stotnacli which are so common in America." This is not correct. The cookery in the United States is exact- ly what it is and must he every where else — in a ratio witlitliede- prce of relinement of the population. In the principal cities, you will meet with as fjfood cuokery in private houses as you will in London, or even I'aris; indeed, considering the i^rcat ditlicnlty which the Americans have to contend with, from the almost impos- tiibility of ohtainiiif'' f;ood servants, I have often bc^en surfirised that it is so 200(1 as it is. At Delmonico's, and the (Jlobo Hotel at Xew York, where you dine from the Carte, you have excellent Freiicli cookery; so you have at Astor IIouho, ])articularly at private par- tics; and, irrnerally spcukinq', the cookinij at all the larixe hotids may bo t-aid to he f^ood ; indeed, when it is Cf)nsi(ler(Ml that the Ame- rican tabIe-(l'liot(^ lias to provide for tn> many people, it is (juite siir- prisiniT how well it is done, 'i'he daily dinner, at these larijo ho- tels, is infinitely superior to any I have ever sat down to at \hv. j»th- lic entertainments p-iven at the Free-Masons' Tavern, and oiber,-^ in London, and the eompany \a usually more numerous. Tlie bill of thro of the table-d'hole oftlie Astor House is printed rvcnj d) 03 I—I — ^J <_. m > CO 3 rt .So d"2o o U O fcc *j o Ti -^ .= b w --^ —^ .^ ^ '^ o a i: ^.2 tia g.Ei o-g »" H^ Cj ^/2 M r/} a o •3 o rS a > 3 O r» o o o o o oooooooooooco oo»ooooooooc;oo o o (?} ffl fTi 71 (7i a ::i en n en n n -r)* Tjt un 00 •^ 00 1^ M O m oo S5 00 u o s ^ 00 00 ^ ,t, 00 ."^ kM -a o ^S£5c:5 i-i o "^ ^^ o o -a TS :3 3 00 -Q 00 ^ «^. o ^ ed <= S ^ § S b o ■•-• "2 o c o o Pi a C 00 bJD fcfl u o he u CO O O 3 B XI -a m in 3 3 o (TO S? f?J — Sags ft ,o S >- o « « o O S -^ -O M '^ O ca rt 3 o t-s ^^.S Si's 5 3 td C °*' c la O c c I ( G o it ' O lO t^ o o o MARRY at' 8 DIART. 39 OOOOOiOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOJiOO'-'SOOOOOO o o o O O i.^ o o o o o o »o »c • ft' i tin -1 1-1 1-< (?} (N (M Old GiOK^iciOi ciam nmn n '^ ffi c< oj a ciotoi UQ •• c o o o . o . T3 T3 -O IH o •»*»»<> s 00 00 ^ t7i OJ CO 00 00 00 6 J ..2 S > ■ ■ y c o • 3 O -PmKh, > 3 rt ^ O C3 J oi w (/5 H^ s; D O C O 3 O O O O o 4 PS H q -3 ,o c '^. >- S rt rt o 5 S o o o o s u el uo CO CO 00 TS o . c c do "3 3 c o O n — Cj CO n O t» »^ •^ *-• -4 ^ ^ I- -^ ,Q S.O u ^ 0|.S 02 Sec S o c a 3 Q u o 3 -3 3 rt O o o oooooooooo O O »0 O lO lO O L^ lO o o o o o o o O O "O >o *rs o o o o lO »o o th Tjl T*< IC 00 CI CJ CJ (M (M Ol CO «rj CM CO Ci «?l Ol CJ .H g o to o CO ; c3 ej a o nij i 2 2 *.^ w 0) c - 3 ^ >-• n-, en w "3 C 3 3 "rt "C O "3 ■^ be s e n C oococooo ■t^'0'3n3'0'0'3'3 o OOoot-l—QOOOt^QO CJ ct (TJ oj cj ffi • o o S3. •s § S ^ Jo 3 C- 3 -r C o rt X 3 3 » 3 3 a ^ a ei ** ♦^ '•' c C8 go rt es •« .x: S x: ^ "^ oooo • O Oh ea CO rt ■felo -3 u hi o a o ' c "* 3 5 fcx) « na 3 '3 (3D .41^ ^ u o op; Oh 00 CJ 00 -3 U ^* -3 o "o ja ^ #• 'M o U* et CJ O rf< 3 ^ •-» n ^ *3 u rt ti 1^ •is B ^ o PS p; t- S .A c 3 rt t E JS o o li i P ■4 ; 1 r 40 MARRYAT S DIARY. o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o m in io ui k/i in in in in »o ^"i 'JiiO t- 00 Cs fO '" O CO Im O ^ > o o ,u CO o 'fcJo • o o u o o -3 o 'o C3 • r" ^ O r" c s S U — ^ o m rt ;» 00 w ^ Lrt -4 r-> k- ^^ o CJ o t^ a. o '* rt -a "-I i^hi - '^ 3 C ;= g.sT ► 3 W c Q « ■ = > o 2 !> * So a. o B 1— c ». • • • *J rs m O CS O a a: 10^ -o ^ ' o ► o J= ^£1 ■*-! 3 A. zabc old, Murdock, Nabob Brahmin, Mary Eli Red Seal, C o HH ca .Ijq ed c ^ CO "^ rt ^ <-. « ea to <« |2^ SQ 2 00 ••-» ^ •'^ • ^^ • '3 3 O • « • • .5 U •3 -2 K 01 C 00 i3 CO r^ "3 D.,« ■ _- a • (X CS o cd ,_: go- I 00 O 1—. 13 B-jr E ,-> "^ .£ ro h (d ed >"•. O ^ ^ 00 MARRYAT'S DIARY. 41 C But the Americans do not confine themselves to foreign wines or liquors; they have every variety at home, in the shape of com- pounds, such as mint-julep and its varieties; slings in all their va- rieties; cock-tails, — but I really cannot remember, or if I couW, it would occupy too much time to mention the whole battle array against one's brains. I must, however, descant a little upon the mint-julep; as it is, with the tliormomctor at 100°, one of the most delightful and insinuating potations that ever was invented, and may be drank with equal satisfaction when the thermometer is as low as 70". There are many varieties, such us those composed of Claret, Madeira, &c. ; but the ingredients of the real mint-julep are as follows. I learnt how to make them, and succeeded pretty well. Put into a tumbler about a dozen sprigs of the tender shoots of mint, upon them put a spoonful of white sugar, and squal pro portions of peach and common brandy, so as to fill it up one third, or perhaps a little les-s. Then take rasped or pounded ice, and fill up the tumbler. Epicures rub the lips of the tumbler with a piece of fresh pine-apple, and the tumbler itself is very often incrustcd outside with stalactites of ice. As the ice melts, you drink. I once overheard two ladies talking in the next room to me, and one of them said, " Well, if I liave a weakness for any one thing, it is lor a mint-julep — '' a vt;ry amiable weakness, and proving iier good sense and good taste. They are, in fact, like tlie American ladies, irresistible. The Virginians claim the merit of having invented this su- perb compound, but 1 must disjinte it f()r my own country, although it has been forgotten of bite. In tiie tinief; of Charles i. and If. it must have been known, fur Milton expressly rei'ers to it in his Co- rn us: — 09 O " ]3cliold the cordiii] julep here AV'iiich iluints and dunces in its crj'stal bounds Willi spirits o\' iulni und frafrra7)t si/rups mixed. Not that NciK'ntlies, wliicii the wile ol'Tlioac In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena Is of such power to stir vip joy like this, To life so iriendly, or so cud to ^•.i/■s<." Sir I ^j ^H s KI u ■s o- 1 ot 1 00 u I—, c ro ^ If that don't mean mint-julep, I don't know the English language. The following lincy, however, which I found in an American newspaper, dates its origin very lar back, even to the period when the heathen gods were not at a discount as tliey are now. ORIGIN OF MINT.JULEP. " 'Tis said that the gods, on Olympus of old, (And who, the bri§;lit legend profanes, with a doubt,) One night, 'mid their revels, by Bacchus were told That his last butt of nectar had somewhat run out! r r ■ But determined to send round the goblet once more^ They sued to the fairer immortals for aid 4* 42 marryat's diary. U<'\ In composing a draught which, till drinking were o'er, Should cast every wine ever drank in the shade. Grave Ceres liersclf blithely yielded her corn, And the spirit that lives in each ambcr-hued grain, And which first had its birth from the dews of the morn, Was tauglit to steal out in bright dew drops again. Pomonn, whose choicest of fruits on the board, Were scattered profusely in every one's reach. When called on a tribute to cull from the board. Expressed the mild juice of the delicate peach. The liquids were mingled while Venus looked on With glances so fraught with sweet magical power, Tiiat the honey of Ilybia, e'eu when they were gone. Has never been missed in the draught from that hour. Flora, then, from her bo:?om of fragrancy shook, And wilii roseate fingers pressed down in the bow All dripping and fresh as it came from the brook, Tiic iicrb who:-'e aroma should flavour the whole. 1, The draught was delicious, each god did exclaim, Tliough something yet wanting tliry all did bewail, Cut Ji'i.F.rs the drink of immortals beeaiue, When Jove himself added a handful of hail." I have nipntionod the principal causes to which must bo assiirncd the propensity to drink, so universal in America. This is an unde- niable fact, asserted by every other writer, acknowledged by the Americans themselves in print, and proved by the labours of their Temperance Societies. It is not confined to the lower classes, but pervades the whole mass: of course, where there is most refinement, there is less intoxication, and in the Southern and Western States, it is that the custom of drinking^ is most prevalent. I have eaid that in the American hotels there is a parlour for the ladies to retire to: there is not one for the gentlemen, who have only the reading-room, where they stand and read tiie papers, which are laid out on desks, or the bar. Tlie bar of an American hotel is generally a very large room on the basement, fitted up very much like our gin palaces in London, not so elegant in its decorations indeed, but on the same system. A long counter runs across it, behind which stand two or three bar- keepers to wait upon the customers, and distribute the various potations, compounded from the contents of several rows of bottles behind them. Here the eye reposes on masses of pure crystal ice, large bunches of mint, decanters of every sort of wine, every variety of spirits, lemons, sugar, bitters, segars and tobacco; it really makes one feel thirsty, even the going into a bar.* Here you meet every body and every body meets you. Here the senator, the member of Congress, the merchant, the store-keeper, travellers from the Far • Erery steam-boat has its bar. The theatres, all places of public amusement, and even the capitol itself, as I have observed in my Diarj. I "a West, ar chase g( Most business confiden politics, occasioni Mansion is no dri would a to retire the most Thee that thci cohol, an drink wi with a St acquaint Mr. A, you r'— ' "Well,] Touch g sling, am you r—' — what tail."— '• down on Then ] my frienc the acqui somethin a julep. Mr. A. y — drink. Now, ] fair samp They s a dinner. If you m ance, yoi tlieirdrir is hot; th drink am early in early in 1 To use 1 caution.' long to tl "it's vei So mu » Itw low-spiril rii, 10 assiirncn s an iinde- red l)y the rs of their lasses, but efinernont, 3rn States, Dur f(.)r the who liave ers, which e room on n London, le eystem. three bar- He various of bottles rystal ice, ry variety illy makes leet every tiember of n the Far s of public my Diary. I MARRY AT B DIART. 48 West, and every other part of the country, who have come to pur- chase goods, all congregate. Most of them have a eegar in their mouth, some are transacting business, others conversing, some sitting down together whispering confidentially. Hcreyouobtain all the news, all the scandal, all the ^olitics, and all the tim; it is this dangerous propinquity, which occasions so much intemperance. Mr. Head has no bur at the Mansion-House in Philadelphia, and the consequence is, that thero is no drinking, except wine at dinner; but in all the other hotels, it would appear as if they purposely allowed the frequenters no room to retire to, so that they must be driven to the bar, which is by far the most profitable part of the concern. The consequence of the bar being the place of general resort, is, that there is an unceasing pouring out, and amulgamation of al- cohol, and other compounds, from morning, to late at night. To drink with a friend when you moot him is good follovvship, to drink with a stranger is politeness, and a proof of wishing to be better acquainted. Mr. A. is standing at the bar, enter B. " My dear B, how are you?"— "Quite well, and you ]"—" Well, what shall it bo ]"— " Well, I don't care — a gin sling." — " Two gin slings, Bar-keepor." Touch glasses, and drink. Mr. A. has hardly swallowed his gin slino", and replaced his segar, when, in comes Mr. D. *' A. how are you?" — ''Ah! D, how goes it on with you ?" — " Well, I thankey — what shall we have J" — Well, I don't care ; I say brandy cock- tail." — "Give me another," both drink, and the shilling is thrown down on the counter. Then B. comes up again. "A. you must allow me to introduce my friend C." — " Mr. A."— shake hands — "Most happy to make the acquaintance. J trust I shall have the pleasure of drinking something with you ?" — " With great pleasure, Mr. A., I will take a julep. Two juleps, bar-keeper." — " Mr. C. your good health — Mr. A. yours; if you should come our way, most happy to see you," —drink. Now, I will appeal to the Americans themselves, if this is not a fairsaniple of a bar-room. They say that the English cannot settle anything properly, without a dinner. I am sure the Americans can fix nothing, without a drink If you meet, you drink; if you part, you drink; if you make acquaint- ance, you drink ; if you close a bargain you drink ; they quarrel in tlieir drink, and they make it up with a drink. They drink, because it is hot; they drink because it is cold; If successful in elections, they drink and rejoice; if not, they drink and swear; — they begin to drink early in the morning, they leave oflTlate at night; they commence it early in life, and tiiey continue it, until they soon drop mto the grave. To use their own expression, the way they drink, is "quite a caution."* As for water, what the man said, when asked to be- long to the Temperance Society, appears to be the general opinion, " it's very good for navigation." So much has it become the habit to cement all friendship, and * It was not a bad idea of a man who,.genera>]]y speaking, was very bw-Bpirited,,on. being asked th& cause,, regliedvthat he did not knovr,, - f ; :J^ 44 MARRYAT S DfARV. m^ commence acquaintance by drinking, that it is a cause of serious of- fenco to refuse, especially in a foreigner, as the Americans like to call the English. I was always willing to accommodate the Americans in this jyarticular, as tiir as I could; (there at least, they will do me justice;) that at tunes I drank much more than I wished is certain, yet still I gave mo^t serious offence, especially in the West, be- cause I would not drink early in the morning, or before dinner, which is a general custom in the States, although much more pre- valent in the South and West, where it is literally, "Stranger, will you drink or fight 1" This refusal on my part, or rather ex- cusing myself from drinking with all tjjose who were introduced to n»e, was eventually the occasion of much disturbance and of great animosity towards me — certainly, most unreasonably, as I was in- troduced to at least twenty every forenoon ; and had I drunk with them all, I should have been in the same state as many of them were — that is, not really sober for three or four weeks at a time. That the constitutions of the Americans must suffer from this habit is certain ; they do not, however, appear to suffer ^so much as we should. They say that you may always know the grave of a Virginian; as fnim the quantity of juleps he has drunk, mint invariably springs up where ho has been buried. Ijut the Vir- ginians are not the greatest drinkers, by any means. 1 was once looking for an Aniorican, and asked a friend of his, where I should find i)im. " Why," replied he, poin'ing to an hotel opposite, " thai is his li('/ihii>- place, (a term borrowed from deer roi^orling to lick the salt:) we will rcc if he is there." lie was not; the bar-keep- er said ho Iind Icfi about trn minutes. " Well, then, you had bet- ter remain hero, ho is certain to be bock in ten more — if not sooner." The American judged his friend rightly ; in five minutes he was back again, and we had a drink together, of course. I did not see it myseli", but I was told that somewhere in Mis- souri, or thereabouts, west of the Mis-^sissippi, all the bars have what they term a kichiug-boanU it being the custom with the people who live there, instead of touching glasses when they drink to- gether, to kick sharply with the side of the foot against the board, and that after this coremony you are sworn friends. I have had it mentioned to me by more than one person, therefore I presume it is the case. What the origin of it is I know not, unless it intends to imply, "I'm your's to the last kick.''''* i3efore I finish this article on hotels, I may as well observe here that there is a custom in the United States, which I consider very demoralizing to the women, which is that of taking up permanent residence in large hotels. but he thought "that he had been born with three drinlis too little in hwn." * In a chapter which follows this, I have said that the women of America are physically superior to the men. This may appear contra- dictory, as of course they could not be born so; nor are they, for I have often remarked how very fine the American male children are, especi- ally those lads who have grown up to the age of fourteen or sixteen. Que could hardly belifve it possible that tt\e men are the same youths^ There very earl dant exp( than to k taining s( have the cstablisht ciety, arij ding at tl you will that the I could i blishment marked ; who are comments "The I economy c provided t wondered tion provic come acqi: pose his d( saw the el mon drawi house afle " I have which gen and domes wives, ami for the ge noisv hous sence of a taste, are 1 and cares ( their wivei refinement from the i keeping." advanced ii pose that it thrown ofl young mer mulusof dr I Americans, serious or- likctocall \mcricana ^vill du inc is certain, West, be- >re dinner, more pre- Slranger, rather ex- rod uccd to 1 of jjreat I was in- runk witli y of tliern at a time, from this ' ,so much tlio jirave link, mint ; the Vir- wiis once e I should site, " that niT to lick bar- keep- had bel- li sooner." s he was in Mis- uvo what 10 people drink to- le board, ve had it ;ume it is ntends to rve here ider very irmanent > Utile in omen of \r contra- br I have ?, especi- [* sixteen, le youtb&<. MARRTAT^S DIARY. 45 There are gcveral reasons for this: one is, that people marry so very early that they cannot afford to take a house with the atten- dant expenses, for in America it is cheaper to live in a large hotel than to keep a house of your own ; another is, the difficulty of ob- taininjr servants, and, perhaps, the unwillinnrness of the women to have the fatigue and annoyance which is really occasioned by an establishment in that country : added to which is the want of so- ciety, arising from their husbands being from morning to night plod- ding at their various avocations. At some of the principal hotels you will find the apartments of the lodgers so permanently taken, that the plate with their name engraved on it is fixed on the door. I could almost tell whether a lady in America kept her own esta- blishment or lived at an hotel, the difference of manners was so marked ; and, what is worse, it is chiefly the young married couples who are to be found there. jVIiss Martineau makes some very just comments upon this practice : — •' The uncertainty about domestic service is so great, and the economy of boarding-house life so tempting to people w!io have not provided themselves.with house and furniture, that it is not to be wondered at that many young married people use the accommoda- tion provided. But no sensible husband, who could beforehand be- come acquainted with the liabilities incurred, would willingly ex- j pose his domestic peace to the fearful risk. 1 saw enough when I " saw the elegantly dressed ladies repair to the windows of the com- mon drawing-room, on their husbands' departure to the counting- house afler breakfast. *' I have been assured that there is no end to the difficulties in which gentlemen have been involved, both as to their commercial ■ and domestic affairs, by the indiscretion of their thoughtless young wives, amidst the idleness and levities of boarding-house life. As for the gentlemen, they arc much to be pitied. Public meals, a noisy house, confinement to one or two private rooms, with the ab- \ sence of all gratifications of their own peculiar convenience and taste, are but a poor solace to the man of business, after the toils and cares of the day. When to these are added the snares to which their wives are exposed, it may be imagined that men of sense and refinement would rather bear with any domestic inconvenience from the uncertainty and bad quality of help, than give up house- * keeping." advanced in Vifb. How is this to be accounted for? I can only sup- pose that it is fVom their plunging* too early into life as men, having thrown off parental control, and commencing the usual excesses of young men in every country at too tender an age. The constant sti- mulus of drink must, of course, be another powerful cause; not that the Americans often become intoxicated, on the contrary, you will see many more in this condition every day in this country than you will in America. But occasional intoxication is not so injurious to the consti- tution as that continual application of spirits, which must enfeeble the , stomach, and, with the assistance of tobacco, destroy its energies. The I Americans are a drinking but not a drunken nation, and, as I have be- jfcse observed, the climate operates upon tliemvety powerfully. Ml it, i f u ti'J t ■ f 'i ^ 'I wi 'I! I 46 MARRYAT S DIARY. 1 tv, ;'.■, - J i fore it sank, and, on ripping it up, it was found to contain, sewedi up in it, upwards of fitly sovereigns and gold eagles. The same captain narrated to me the particulars of one instance in which ^ about one hundred Irish were on board, who when asked for pay- ^ ment, commenced an attack upon the captain and crew with< their bludgeons; but, having before experienced such attempts, he was prepared for them, and receiving assistance from the thote^ the * I donH know why, but there b no scrutiny of th^iwtes in Ameri- can elections, or if there be, I never heard of one bejor made.. 5 * ul ii ! - ■ f ¥'■' I ii 111 50 MARRYAT S DIARY. Irishmen were worsted, and then every man paid his fare. Th6 truth is that they are very turbulent, and the lower orders of the Americans are very much enraged against them. On the 4th of July there were several bodies of Americans, who were out on the look'Out for the Irish, atler dark, and many of the latter were severe- ly beaten, if not murdered ; the Irish, however, have to thank them* selves for it. The spirit of the institutions of the States is so opposed to ser- vitude, that it is chiefly from the emigrants that the Americans obtain their supply of domestics; the men servants in the private houses may be said to be, with few exceptions, either emigrants of free people of colour. Amongst other points upon which the Ame- ricans are to be pitied, and for which the most perfect of theoreti- cal governments could never compensate, is the misery and annoy-* ance to which they ere exposed from their domestics. They are absolutely slaves to them, especially in the western free States; there are no regulations to control them. At any fancied affront they leave the house without a moment's warning, putting on their hats or bonnets, and walking out of the street-door, leaving their masters and mistresses to get on how they can. I remember when I was staying with a gentleman in the west, that, on the first day of my arrival, he apologized to me for not having a man servant, the lellow having then been drunk for a week ; a woman had been hired to help for a portion of the day, but most of the iaoour fell upon his wife, whom I found one morning cleaning my room. The fellow remained ten days drunk, and then (all his money be- ing spent) sent to his master to say that he would come back on condition that he would give him a lirtle more liquor. To this proposition the gentleman was compelled to assent, and the man returned as if he had conferred a favour. The next day, at dinner^ there being no porter up, the lady said to her husband, " Don't send ■ ' " ■ for it, but go yourself, my dear; lie is so very cross again that I fear he will leave the house." A lady of my acquaint- ance in New York told her coachman that she should give him warning; the reply from the box was — '♦ I reckon I have been too long in the woods to be scared with an owl." Had she noticed this insolence, he would probably have got down from the box, and have left her to drive her own cattle. The coloured servants are, generally speaking, the most civil; after thern the Germans; the Irish and English arc very bad. At the hotels, &c. you very often find Annericans in subordinate situations, and it is remarkable that when they are so, they are much more civil than the imported servants. Few of the American servants, even in the large cities, understeiifi their business, but it must be remembered that few of them have ever learnt it, and, moreover, tljey are expected to do three times as mivcb as a servant would do in an English house. The American ihouses are much too large ^)r the nutWber of ser- vant s.Cimployed) iwhich is aQotlier cau«e for service* bciiig' so much It ts,tMii|;uiar that I have not found in any one book, written by English, French, or German travellers, any remarks made upon a cust;^ \vh]ic^iibe:kAnNeNCliA8rl)ave offlhnoatfCiDtirdyrlieviiii^' I roaf £ay, in the ^MKmcoA of niheiri houses^ r«niI.-wbich'^T0QcMn»n«d4^ =3 MARRYAT^S DIART. 51 their difficulties in housekeeping with their insufficient domestic establishments. I say custom nf the Americans, as it is the case in nine houses out of ten; only the more wealthy travelled, and refined portion of the community in their cities deviating from the general practice. I have before observed that, from the wish of display, the Ame- rican houses are generally speaking, too larjre for the proprietors and for the domestics which are employed. Vying with each other in appearance, their recei""j;i; ''~)ms are splendidly furnished, but they do not live in them. The basement in the front area, which with us is usually appro- priated to the housekeeper'g-room and offices, is in most of their houses fitted up as a dining-room; by no means a bad plan, as it is cool in summer, warm in winter, and saves much trouble to the servants. The dinner is served up in it, direct from the kitchen, with which it communicates. The master of the house, unless he dines late, which is seldom the case in American cities, does not oflen come home to dinner, and the preparations for the family are of course not very troublesome. But although they go on very well in their daily routine, to give a dinner is to the majority of the Americans really an effort, not from the disinclination to give one, but from the indifference and ignorance of the servants ; and they may be excused without being taxed with want of hospitality. It is a very common custom, therefore, for the Americans to invite you to come and *' take wine " with them, that is to come afler din- ner, when you will find cakes, ices, wine, and company, already prepared. But there is something unpleasant in this arrangement; it is too much like the bar of the tavern in the west, with — " Stran- ger, will you drink 1" It must, however, be recollected that there are many exceptions to what I have above stated as the general practice. There are houses in the principal cities of the States where you will sit down to as well-arranged and elegant a dinner as you will find in the best circles of London and Paris; but the proprietors are men of wealth, who have in all probability been on the old continent, and have imbibed a taste for luxury and refine- ment generally unknown and unfelt in the new hemisphere. I once had an instance of what has been repeatedly observed by other travellers of the dislike to be considered as servants in this land of equality. I was on board of a steam-boat from Detroit to Buffalo, and en- tered into conversation with a young woman who was leaning over the taffrail. She had been in service, and was returning home. "You say you lived with Mr. VV." ♦'No, I didn't," replied she, rather tartly; "I said I lived witli Mrs. W." *' Oh ! I understand. In what situation did you live 1" "I lived in the house." "Of course you did, but what asl" " What as] As a gal should live.'* "I mean what did you do?" " F helped Mrs. VV." "And now you are tired of helping others T" " Guess I am." 52 MARRYAT S DIARY. n ••Who is your father]" " He's a doctor." "A doctor 1 and he allows you to go out?" "He said I might please myself." " Will he be pleased at your coming home again 1" " I went out to please myself, and I come home to please nr.yself. Cost him nothing fur four months; that's more tlian all gals can say. *' And now you're going home to spend your money ]" " Don't want to go home for that, it's all gone." I have been much amused with the awkwardness and noncha- lant manners of the servants in America. Two American ladies who had just returned from Europe, told me that shortly after their arrival at Boston, a young man had been sent to them from Vermont to do the duty of footman. He had been a day or two in the house, when they rang the bell and ordered him to bring up two glasses of lemonade. He made his appearance with the lemonade, which had been prepared and given to him on a tray by a female servant, but the ladies, who were sitting one at each end of a sofa and con- versing, not being ready for it just then, said to him — "We'll take it presently, John." — "Guess I can wait," replied the man, delibe- rately taking liis seat on the sofa between them, and placing the tray on his knees. When I was at Tremont House, I was very intimate with a fa- mily who were staying there. One morning we had been pasting something, and the bell was rung by one of the daughters, a very fair girl with flaxen hair, who wanted some water to wash her hands. An Irish waiter answered the bell. " Did you ring, ma'am 1" — " Yes, Peter, I want a little warm water." "Is it to shave with, miss]" inquired Paddy, very gravely. But the emigration from the old continent is of little importance compared to the migration which takes place in the country itself As I have before observed, all America is working west. In the north, the emigration by the lakes is calculated at 100,000 per an- num, of which about 30,000, are foreigners; the others are the na- tives of New England and tlie other eastern States, who are ex- changing from a sterile soil to ono "flowing with milk and honey." But those who migrate are not all of them agriculturalists; *he western States are supplied from the north-eastern with their mer- chants, doctors, schoolmasters, lawyers, and, I may add, with their members of congress, senators, and governors. New England is a school^ a sort of manufactory of various professions, fitted tor all pur- )K)ses — a talent bazaar, where you have every thing at choice; in fact, what Mr. Tocquevillo says is very true, and the Stales fully deserve the compliment : — " The civilization of New England has been like a beacon lit upon a hill, which, after it has difliised its warmth around, tinges the distant horizon with its glory." From the great extent of this emigration to the west, it is said that the female population in the New England states is greater than the male. In the last returns of Massachusetts the total popu- lation was given, but males and females were not given separately, an omission which induces one to believe that such was the truth."^ « it The young men of New England migrate in large numbers to But it place ; specula nesa of tied in States, suppose since th takes pi while of black the mas As tl Mississi and unc and that 80 long ' nies, rer derness ritance. Here my opini Soutberr that whi much ini their bat and whic eion of tl; TheS of slaver fore: but become, control tl are fast v first mari ihe Quee will com must be c Western This may sidcred b; that ten ) pros per it) may soon States wi the populi are draini increase i tixc west, 1 of which I credible th than men i marryat^s diary. 5a ease ir.yself. ?als can say. and noncha- ;rican ladies y after their Qm Vermont n the house, two glasses nade, which lale servant, ofa and con- ' We'll take man, delibe- placing the e with a fa- leen pasting ters, a very wash her ig, ma'am 1" shave with, importance untry itself, est. In the 000 per an- are the na- Nho are ex- and honey." ralists; *he 1 their mer- with their Ingland is a for all pur- choice; in States fully beacon lit und, tinges it, it is said is greater total popu- separately, the truth.* numbers to t But it is not only from the above States that the migration takes place; the fondness for ** shifting right away," the eagerness for speculation, and the by no means exaggerated reports of the rich- ness of the western country, induce many who are really well set- tled in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and other fertilo States, to sell all and turn to the west. The State of Ohio alone is supposed to have added many more than a million to her population since the last census. An extensive migration of white population takes place from North and South Carolina and the adjacent States, while fiom the eastern Slave States, there is one continual stream of black population pouring in, frequently the cavalcade headed by the masters of their families. As the numerous tributary streams pour their watery into the Mississippi, so do rivers of men from every direction continually and unceasingly How into the west. It is indeed the promised land, and that the whites should have been detainf'd in the eastern States so long without a knowledge of the fertile soil beyond the AUegha- nies, reminds you of the tarrying of the Jewish nation in the wil- derness before they were permitted to take possession of their inhe- ritance. Here there is matter for deep reflection. I have already given my opinion upon the chances of the sepantion of the northern and Soutbern.States upon the question of slavery; but it appears to me, that while the eyes of their legislators have been directn.! with so much interest to the prospects arising from the above question, that their backs have been turned to a danger much more imminent,, and which may bo attended by no less consequences than a convul- sion of the whole Union. The Soutiiern and Northern States may separate on the question of slavery, and yet be in reality better friends than ihey were be- fore : but what will be the consequence, when the Western States become, as they assuredly will, so populous and pov/erful, as to control the Union; for not only population, but power and wealth,, are fust working their way to the west. New Orleans will be the first maritime port in the universe, and Cincinnati will not only bo the Queen of the West, but Queen of the Western World. Then will come the real clashing of interests, and the Eastern States must be content to succumb and resign their present power, or tl»e Western will throw thenn off, as an useless appendage to her might. This may at present appear chimerical to some, and would be con- sidered by many others as too far distant; but be it remembered, that ten years in America, is as a century; and even allowing the prosperity of the United States to be checked, as very probably it may soon be, by any quarrel with a foreign nation, the Western Slates will not be those who will suffer. Far remavcd from strife, the population hardly interfered with, when the Eastern resources are draining, Mey will continue to advance in population, and to increase in wealth. I refer not to the Slave States bordering oa tlie west, leaving an over proportion of female population, . the amount of which I ne\^cr cculd learn. Statements were made to me, but so iur credible that I withhold Uxcm. Suffice it, that there were more womeu than men in from six to nine Slates in the Union.^" — Mii». Mortineav^ 5* if ' il irii: If 'r II ^'i 54 MA:iRTATVDrART. the Mississippi, although I consider that they would suffer little from a war, as neither England, nor any other nation, will ever be 80 unwise in future as to attack in a quarter, where she would have extended the olive branch, even if it were not immediately accepted. Whether America is engaged in war, therefore, or re- mains in peace, the Western States must, and will soon be the arbi- ters, and dictate as they please to the Eastern. At present, they may be considered as infants, not yet of age, and the Eastern States are their guardians; the profits of their pro- duce are divided between them and the merchants of the Eastern cities, who receive at least thirty per cent, as their share. This must be the case at present, when the advances of the Eastern capitalists are required by the cotton growers, who are precisely in the same position with the Eastern States, as the West India plant- ters used to be with the merchants of London and Liverpool, to whom they consigned their cargoes for advances received. But the Western States (to follow up the metaphor) will soon be of age, and no longer under control : even last year, vessels were freighted direct from England to Vicksburg, on the Mississippi; in a few years, there will be large importing houses in the far West, who will have their goods direct from England at one half the price which they now pay for them, when forwarded from New York, by canal, and other conveyances.* Indeed, a very little inquiry will prove, that the prosperity of the Eastern free States depends in a great measure upon the Western and Southern. The Eastern States are the receivers and transporters of goods, and the carriers of most of the produce of the Union* They advance money on the crops, and charge high interest, commissions, &c. The transport and travelling between the Eastern, Southern, and Western States, are one great source of this prosperity, from the employ- ment on the canals, rail roads, and steam boats. All these are heavy charges to the Western States, and can be avoided by shipping direct from, and sending their produce direct to, the Old Continent. As the Western States advance in wealth, so will they advance in power, and in proportion as they so do, will the Eastern States recede, until they will be lefl in a small mino- rity, and will eventually have little voice in the Union. Here, then, is a risk of convulsion ; for the clashing of interests, next to a war, is the greatest danger to which a democracy can be exposed. In a democracy, every one legislates, and every one legis- lates for his own interests. The Eastern States will still be wealthy and formidable, from their population ; but the commerce of the principal Eastern cities will decrease, and they will have little or no staple produce to return to England, or elsewhere ; whereas the Western States can produce every thing that the heart of man can desire, and can be wholly independent of them. They have, in the West, every variety of coal and mineral, to a boundless extent; a rich alluvial soil, hardly to> be exhausted by bad cultivation, and wonderful facilities of transport; independent | * To give the reader some idea of the price of European articles in the Western country, I will mention cloth. A coat which costs jC4 in England, is chb-'ed £1. IQs. at New York; and at Cincinnati, iu the West» upwards oif JCIO. '•'^■■- n: MARRY AT S DIARY. 55 yet of age, )f their pro- the Eastern liare. This he Eastern precisely in India plant- liverpool, to ed. But the be of age,, re freighted ; in u few West, who If the price ;w York, by inq^uiry will spends in a 'he Eastern the carriers bney on the le transport d Western he ennploy- and can be iduce direct } in wealth, r so do, will small mino- )f interests, racy can be ^ one legis- ill still be commerce ' will have jlsewhere ; ig that the It of them. ncral, to a lausted by idependent articles in h costs jC4 neinnati, ia of the staple produce of cotton, they might supply the whole world with grain; sugar they already cultivate; the olive flourishes; wine is already produced on the banks of the Ohio, and the prospect of raising silk is beyond calculation. In % few days, the manufac- tures of the Old World can find their way from the mouth of the Mississippi by ita thousand tributary streams, which run like veins through every portion of the country, to the confines of Arkansas and Missouri, to the head of navigation at St. Peter's, on again to Wisconsin, Michigan, and to the northern lakes, at a much cheaper rate than they are supplied at present. One really is lost in admiration when one surveys this great and glorious Western country, and contemplates the splendour and riches to which it must ultimately arrive. As soon as the Eastern States are no longer permitted to remain the factors of the Western, they must be content to become manu- facturing states, and probably will compete with England. The Western States, providentially, I may say, are not likely to be ma- nufacturers to any great extent, for they have not water powers; the valley of the Mississippi is an alluvial flat, and although the Missouri and Mississippi are ewift streams, in general the rivers are sluggish, and, at all events, they have not the precipitate falls of water necessary for machinery, and which abound in the North- eastern States; indeed, if the Western States were to attempt to manufacture^ as well as to produce, they would spoil the market for their own produce. Whatever may be the result, whether the Eastern States submit quietly to be shorn of their greatness, (a change which must take place,) or to contest the point until it ends in a separation, this is certain, that the focus of American wealth and power will eventually be firmly established in the Free States on the other side of the Alleghany mountains CHAPTER VI. NEWSPAPER PRESS. Ma. TocQUKViLLE observes, " that not a single individual of the twelve millions who inhabit the territory of the United States has as yet dared to propose any restrictions upon the liberty of the press." This is true, and all the respectable Americans acknow- ledge that this liberty has degenerated into a licentiousness which threatens the most alarming results; as it has assumed a power, which awes not only individuals, but the government itself. A due liberty allowed to the press, may force a government to do right, but a licentiousness may compel it into error. The American au- thor, Mr. Cooper, very justly remarks : " It may be taken as a rule, that without the liberty of the press there can be no popular liber- ty in a nation, and without its licentiousness, neither public hones- ty, justice^ or a proper regard for character. Of the two, perhaps, that people is the happiest which is deprived altogether of a free press, as private honesty and a healthful tone of the public miad ! li . I I i "ii u 5» HARRTAT^S DIAUT. I' ■1'1 1 h I' V i I'! •J J! I* II ^'1 m arc not incompatible with narrow institutions, though neither can exist under the corrupting action of a licentiousness press." And again — •• As the press of this country now exists, it would seem to be c.: pressly devised by the great agent of mischief, to depress and de< «troy all that is good, and to elevate and advance all that is evil in the nation. The little truth which is urged, is usually urged coarsely, weakened and rendered vicious by personalities, while those who live by falsehoods, fallacies, enmities, partialities, and the Cichemes of the designing, find the press the very instrument that devils would invent to effect their designs." A witty, but unprincipled statesman of our own times, has said, that "speech was bestowed on man to conceal his thoughts;" judging from its present condition, he might have added — " tho press, in America, to pervert truth,^^ But were I to quote the volumes of authority from American and English writers, they would tire the reader. Tho above are for the present quite sufficient to establish the fact, that the press in the United States is licentious to the highest possible degree, and defies control; my object is to point out the effect of tlii? despotism upon society, and to show how injurious it is in every way to tho cause of morality and virtue. Of course, the newspaper press is the most mischievous, in con- sequence of its daily circulation, the violence of political animosity, and the want of respectability in a large proportion of the editors. The number of papers published and circulated in Great Britain, among a population of twenty-six millions, is calculated at about three bundrec' and seventy. The nu'nber published in tlie United States, among thirteen millions, are supposed to vary between nine and ten thousand. Now the value of newspapers may be fairly calculated by the capital expended upon them; and not only is not one-quarter of the sum expended in England, npon three hundred and seventy newspapers, expended upon the nine or ten thousand in America; but I really believe that the expense of the 'Times' newspaper alone, is equal to at least^j;e ( These are the assertions of the Americans, not my own ; that in many instances they are true, I have no doubt. In a country so chequered as the United States, such must be expected; but I can also assert, that there are many very highly respectable and clever editors in the United Slates. The New York papers are mostof them very well conducted, and very well written. The New York Courier and Enquirer, Colonel Webb; the Evening Star, by Noah; the Albion, by Doctor Bartlett; Spirit of the Times, and many others, which are too numerous to quote, are equal to many of the English news- papers. The best written paper in the States, and the happiest in its sarcasm and wit, is the Louisville Gazette, conducted by Mr. Prentice of Kentucky; indeed, the western papers, are, generally speaking, more amusing and witty than the eastern; the New Or- leans Picayune, by Kendall, is perhaps, after Prentice's, the most amusing; but there are many more, which are too numerous to mention, which do great credit to American talent. Still the ma- I jority are disgraceful not only from their vulgarity, but from their 1 odious personalities and disregard to truth. The bombast and ig- norance shown in some of these is very amusing. Here is an ex- . tract or two from the small newspapers published in the less popu- I lous countries. An editor down East, speaking of his own merits, ! thus concludes — " Pm a real catastrophe — a small creation ; Mount Vesuvius at the top, with red hot lava pouring out of the crater, and routing nations — my fists are rocky mountains — arms, whig liberty poles, with iron springs. Every step I take is an earthquake — every blow I strike is a clap of thunder — and every breath I breathe is a tornado. My disposition is Dupont's best, and goes off at a flash — when I blast there'll be nothing left but a hole three feet in circumference and no end to its depth." Another writes the account of a storm as follows : — "On Monday afternoon, while the haymakers were all out gathering in the hay, in anticipation of a shower from the small cloud that was seen hanging over the hilly regions towards the .;• south-east, a tremendous storm suddenly burst upon them, and # forced them to seek shelter from its violence. The wind whistled ' outrageously through the old elms, scattering the beautiful foli- age, and then going down into the meadow, where the men had just abruptly \eft their work unfinished, and overturning the half- made ricks, whisked them into the air, and filled the whole after- noon full of hay." " 1 copied the following from a western paper: *' Yes, my countrymen, a dawn begins to open upon us; the cre- pusculous rays of returning republicanism are fast extending over the darkness of our political horizon, and before their brightness, those myrmidons shall slink away to the abode of the demons who have generated them, in the hollow caves of darkness." Again — "Many who have acquired great fame and celebrity in the world, began their career as printers. Sir William Blackstone, the learned English commentator of laws, was a printer by trade. King Charles III. was a printer, and not unfrequently worked at the trade after he ascended the throne of England." - ii- • n u M ! 1 68 MARRY AT^S DIARY. 1^;:' 'i . Who Charles III. of England was I do not know,'as he is not yet mentioned in any of our histories. The most remarkable newspaper for its obscenity, and total dis- regard for all decency and truth in its personal attacks, is tho Morning Herald of New York, published by a person of the nam of Bennett, and being published in so largo a city, it affords a con- vincing proof with what impunity the most licentious attacks upon private characters are permitted. But Mr. Bennett is suigenerh and demands particular notice. He is indeed a remarkable man. a species of philosopher, who acts up to his tenets with a mora courage not often to be met with in the United States. His maxim appears to be this — -" Money will find me every thing in this world, and money I will have, at any risk, except that of my life, as, if 1 lost that, the money would be useless." Acting upon this creed. he has lent his paper to the basest and most malignant purposes, to the hatred of all that is respectable and good, defaming and invent- ing lies against every honest man, attacking the peace and happi- ness of private families by the most injurious and base calumny. As may be supposed, he has been horse-whipped, kicked, trodden under foot, and spat upon, and degraded in every possible way; but all this he courts, because it brings money. Horse-whip him, and he will bend his back to the lash, and thank you, as every blow is worth so many dollars. Kick him, and he will remove his coat tails, that you may have a better mark, and he courts the applica- tion of the toe, while he counts the total of the damages which he may obtain. Spit upon him, and he prizes it aa precious ointment, for it brings him the sovereign remedy for his disease, a fever for specie. The day after the punishment, he publishes a full and particular account of how many kicks, tweaks of the nose, or lashes he may have received. He prostitutes his pen, his talent, every thing for money. His glory is, that he has passed the rubicon of shame; and all he regrets is, that the public is at last coming to the unanimous opinion, that he is too contemptible, too degraded, to be even touched. The other, and more respectable editors of newspapers, avoid him, on account of the filth which he pours forth ; like a pole- cat, he may be hunted down ; but no dog will ever attempt to worry him, as soon as he pours out the contents of his foetid bag. It is a convincing proof of the ardent love of defamation in this country, that this modern Thersites, who throws the former of that name so immeasurably into the back ground, has still great sway over men in office; everyone almost, who has a character is afraid of him, and will purchase his silence, if they cannot his good will. During the crash at New York, when even the suspicion of in- solvency was fatal, this miscreant published some of the most re* spectable persons of New York as bankrupts, and yet received no punishment. His paper is clever, that is certain; but I very much doubt if Bennett is the clever man — and my reason is this, Bennett was for some time in England, and during that time the paper, so far from falling oflT, was better written than before. I myself, be- fore I had '^wretch, ai email note /Btopped "■ Captain .Bays — I " In ore |j)ors from |tible, in pc |cite a fee Ipublic wl)i } know nc people mu circuinstai In the , "Our n Rgainst pr( But its vio *jcities are gracious iliigland, e |A hint — a >— such thi met by pre but in Air Aveapons. requisition . It may L «8' permit are vendee Bupport of and lower find hardly ing to gov the string worst feeli too apt to when the opinions, t with these before obs and but tc might lia\ The other ^^end, I obs 4]>robably t ~a cheap p try called • Some luntry. uUtion^ ] hc^eail MARRYAT S DIARY. 59 ( n 3 he is not yet and total (lis- ttacks, is the 1 of the name afTords a con- I attacks upon s sui generis larkable man. with a moral His maxim in this world, y life, as, if i )n this creed, t purposes, to g and invent- ze and happi- )ase calumny. ;ked, trodden ible way; but I'hip him, and every blow is love his coat 8 the applica- ges which he 3us ointment, ie, a fever for nd particular shes he may ery thing for f shame; and e unanimous to be even newspapers, like a pole- npt to worry bag. lation in this rmer of that great sway Iter is afraid ot his good )icion of in- he most re- received no very much his, Bennett ie paper, so myself, be- ? ore I had been six weeks in the country, was attacked by this retch, and, at the same time, the paper was sent to me with this mall note on the margin : — " Send twenty dollars, and it shall be topped " — " I only wish you may get it," said I to myself.* Captain Hamilton, speaking of the newspaper press in Amcricai ays — " In order to form a fair estimate of their merit, I read newspa- ers frum all parts of the union, and found them utterly contemp- iblc, in point of talent, and dealing in abuse so virulent, as to ex- cite a feeling of disgust, not only with the writers, but with the ubiic which afforded them support. Tried by this standard — and know not how it can be objected to — the moral feeling of this people must be estimated lower than in any deductions from other circumstances I have ventured to rate it." In the following remarks, also, I most cordially agree with him. " Our newspaper and periodical press is bad enough. Its sins figainst propriety cannot be justified, and ought not to be defended. }3ut its violence is meekness, its liberty restraint, and even its atro- ijcities are virtues, when compared with that system of brutal and ferocious outrage which distinguishes the press in America. In %Ingland, even an insinuation against personal honour is intolerable. jA hint — a breath — the contemplation even of a possibility of tarnish •—such things are sufficient to poison the tranquillity, and, unless met by prompt vindication, to ruin the character of a public man; but in America, it is thought necessary to have recourse to other Aveapons. The strongest epithets of a ruffian vocabulary are put in requisition." It may be asked, how is it possible that an " enlightened nation " ca* permit such atrocity. It must be remembered, that newspapers are vended at a very low price throughout the States, and that the support of the major portion of them is derived from the ignorant and lower classes. Every man in America reads his newspaper^ and hardly any thing else; and while he considers that he is assist- ing to govern the nation, he is in fact, the dupe of those who pull the strings in secret, and by flattering his vanity, and exciting his worst feelings, make him a poor tool in their hands. People are too apt to imagine that the newspapers echo their own feelings; when the fact is, that by taking in a paper, which upholds cerlair> opinions, the readers are, by daily repetition, become so impressed with these opinions, that they have become slaves to them. I have before observed, that learning to read and write is not education* and but too often is the occasion of the demoralization of those, who might have been more virtuous and more happy in tlieir ignorance. |The other day when I was in a steam-vessel, going down to Graves- end, I observed a foot-boy sitting on one of the benches — he was ,])robably ten or eleven years old, and was deeply engaged in reading |a cheap periodical, mostly confined to the lower orders of this coan- '|try called the Penny Paul Pry. Surely it had been a blessing to * Some of the invented caluinniea against me found their way to this juntry. I consider the contents (tf this chapter to be a stifficientre. 'utationt not only of what has been, but of what will in all probability ~ hereafter asserted against me by the American press. -]' (( ^H , ! I M' I li. i! 64 MARRYAT S DIARY. *, 1.'^' h choose to pay them ; and tl»e impression of the majority sti/I isj tliat 1 insulted Mr. Clay. The affair being one of the many connected with myself, I should not have mentioned it, excepJ to prove how lijrhtly such a practice is estimated. VVhatever society permits, people will do, and moreover, will not think that tliey are wrong in so doing. In England, had a person been guilty of a deliberate and odious lie, he would have been .scouted from society, his best friends would have cut him ; but how was this person treated for his conduct ? When I showed INIr. ('lay's letter, one said, " Well now, that was rery wrong of A." — Another, " 1 did not believe that A. would have done so" — A third, " that A. ought to be ashamed of himself;'* but they did not one of them, on account of this falsehood, think it necessary to avoid him. On the contrary, he was walking arm-in-arm with the men, dancing and flirting with the women just as before, although his slander, and the refutation of it, were both well known. The reader will now perceive the great moral evil arising from this vice, which is, that it habituates people to falsehood. 'I'he lie of slander, is the basest of all lies ; wini the practice of it, the most demoralizing to the human heart. Those who will descend to snch deliberate and malignant falsehood, will not scruple at any other description. The consequence is, that what the Americans have been so often taxed with, is but too preva- lent, "a disregard to truth.'*'' To what must we ascribe the great prevalence of this demo- ralizing habit in the United States 1 That the licentiousness of the press feeds it, it is true; but I am rather inclined to imagine that the real source of it is to be found in the peculiarity of their institutions. Under a democracy, there are but two means by which a man can rise above his fellows — wealth and character; and when all are equal, and each is struggling to rise above the other, it is to the principle that if you cannot rise above another by your own merit, you can at least so far equalize your condi- tion by pulling him down to your own level, that this inordinate appetite for defamation must be ascribed. It is a state of un- generous warfare, arising from there being no gradation, no scale, no discipline, if I may use the term, in society. Every one asserts his equality, and at the same time wishes to rise above his fellows : and society is in a stale of perpetual and disgrace- ful scullle. Mr. Tocqueville says, "There exists in the hu- man heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and induces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." In po! itics, especial ly, character becomes of much more import- ance than wealth, and if a man in public life can once be ren- dered odious, or be made suspected, he loses his supporters, and there is one antagonist reirioved in the race for pre-eminence. iSuch is one of the lamentable defects arising from a dem.ocrati- marrtat's diary. 65 I f hu- cal form of Government. How different from Ennrland, and the settled nations of the old world, where it may be said that everything and everybody is comparatively speaking in his place ! Althouorh many will, and may justifiably, attempt to rise beyond his circumstances and birth, still there is orderand regu- larity ; each party knows the precise round in the ladder on which he stands, and the majority are content with their position. It is lamentable to observe how many bad feelings, how many evil passions, are constantly in a state of activity from this unfortunate chaotical want of gradation and discipline, where all would be tirst, and every one considers himself as good as his neighbour. The abtre-mentioned author observes — •' The surface of American society is, if I may use the expres- sion, covered with a layer of democracy, from beneath which the aristocratic colours sometimes peep." In a moral sense, this is also t/ue, the nobler virtues which are chiefly produced in the fertile field of aristocracy do occa- sionally appear; but the whole surface is covered with a layer of democracy, which like the lava which the volcano continually belches forth, has gradually poured down, and reduced the country round it to barrenness and sterility.* * This chapter was in the press, when a paragraph, cut out of the Baltimore Chronicle, was received from an anonymous hand at New York. Whether with a friendly intention or otherwise, I am equally oliJiGTcd to the party, as it enables me to further prove, if it were necessary, the vituperation of the American press. " Many persons in our country had an opportunity of becominj^ acquainted with the Captain. The fast-anchored isle never gave birtii to a more unmitigated blackguard. His awkward, unwieldly misshapen body, was but a fair lodging for a low, depraved, licentious soul. Although liberally educated, he seemed insensible to any other enjoyments iiian those of sense. No human being could in his de- sires or habits approach more near to the animal than him. No gentleman ever sat down with him an hour without a sensation of loathing and disgust. 'What kind of man is Captain Marryat?' was once asked in our presence of a distinguished member of Con- •Tfess, who had sojourned with him at the White Sulphur Springs. ' He is no man at all,' was the reply, ' he is a beast.' " This is really " going the whole hog" himself, and making me go it too. Now, if I reerivc such abuao for my first three volumes, in which I went into little or no analysis, what am I to expect for those which are about to appear 1 To the editor of the Baltimore Chroni- cle / feel indebted : but I suspect that the respectable portion of tho American community will be very much annoyed at my thus giving his remarks more extensive circulation than he anticipated. 6» • -M ' f t ■» i ' 4 . li t. ► 66 marryat's diary. :f^ !' t^ CHAPTKR VII. AUTHORS, ETC. The best specimens of American writintj are to be found in their polilicul articles, which are, jjenerally speaking, clear, argumentative, and well arranged. The President's annual mes- sage is always masterly in composition, although disgraced by its servile adulation of the majority. If we vvere to judge of the de;ression. At that period there were many white men who had either joined, or, having Iieen captured, had been adopted into, the Indian tribes. All these Judge Hall would make out to be English emissaries, especially one whom he very correctly designates as the " infamous Girty.^^ Unfortu- nately for Judge Hall the infamous Girty was an American, and born in Philadelphia, as is proved by American authority. ( This Ihem alo in Enyl offensive not print narrows the penp up to tilt thus the The rd as all h Where i certain it America " It is arrive in cliques i the medi presental opinions estimatec their owt the grate "This found in sions as t women. " She ( does our I publicatic best wor ('ooper '1 unwarrar the reput Such \ termed t oracles \ America, More is I She sa has neve be. In J and she too Iwld 1 best socii rooms on the table Siie SJ MARRYAT S DIARY. 69 This obliiration to wrifn for their own countrymrn, anrl for them alone, has very mu("h injured the sale of American works in Kn^land, for publishers having read them find no many otiensive and untrue remarks upon this country, that they will not print ihrm. Uut it does more harm, as it cramps t^enius, narrows their idear,, and instead of leadinjj in the advance, and the people lookinnr up to them, they follow in the rear, and look up to the people, whom they Hatter to obtain popularity; and thus the pen in America, as a moral weapon, is at present *'nit/- The remarks of Miss Martineau on American literature are, as all her other remarks, to be received with great caution. Where she obtained her information I know very well, and certain it is that she has been most egregiously deceived. An American critic observes very truly : — " It is the misfortune of professed book writers, when they arrive in the United States, to fall into the hands of certain cli(|ues in our principal cities and town, who make themselves the medium of interpretation — their own modes of life, the re- presentation of those of the. elite of the country ; their own opinions, the infallible criterion by which all others must be estimated. They surround the traveller with an atmosphere of their ow n, and hope to shine through it on the future pages of the grateful guest. "This accounts satisfactorily for many things which are to be found in Miss Martineau's work, for her numerous misapprehen- sions as to the character, taste, and occupations of the American women. " She evidently mistakes the character of our merchants, and does our literature but meagre jsistice. To hold up some obscure publications from the pens of mere literary adventurers as the beat works she has seen, and at the same time pronounce Mr. ('ooper 'a much regretted failure,' is a stretch of boldness, quite unwarranted by anything Miss Martineau has yet achieved in the republic of letters." Such was really the case; Miss Martineau fell into what was termed the Slockbridge clique, and pinned her faith upon the oracles which they poured into her ears. She says that in America, Hannah More is best known; on the contrary, Ilunnah More is hardly known in the United States. Sjic says that Wordsworth is much read. Mr. Wordsworth has never even in this country been appreciated as lie ought to bo. In America it may almost be said that he has not been read ; and she adds to this, that Byron is little known ; this is really too l)old an assertion. Miss Martineau was everywhere in the best society in America; and I believe that in nine drawing- rooms out often, she must have seen a copy of Byron lying on the table. She says Mr. Cooper is a failure. With the exception of Mi'^ ' \r% 70 marryat's diary. h i- 1 I. ]' 4 tV •H 1 *l !■ 1 ■i ,1 i •1 ! ■?i i !i Washington Irving, there never was an American writer so justly popular in America as ('ooper. It is true that latterly'hp has displeased the majority, by pointing out to them their taultB, and that he is not always in a good humour when he wrilej* about England. But to state the author of such works as the Pilot, the Last of the Mohicans, and the Prairie, a failure, is really too absurd. The cause of this remark is said to be thai had a quarrel with Miss Martineau's particular There is only one remark in the whole of whicli is in itself true. She says Bulwer is Mr. Cooper friend Mr. S her observations much read. Here she is correct : but the cause which she gives for his being so much read, is not the real one. She asserts it is on account of his liberal opinions; it is not on that account, it is from the interest of his stories, and the beauty of his writing. But the assertion that seemed to me the most strange in Miss Martineau's work, was, that Mr. Carlisle, the author of Sartor Resartus, was the most read of any English autlior. Without intending to depreciate the works of Mr. Carlisle, I felt con- vinced from my own knowledge, that this could not be a fact, for Mr. Carlisle's works are not suited to the Americans. 1, therefore, determined to ascertain how far it was correct. I went to the publishers, and inquired how many of Mr. Carlisle's works had been printed. They replied that they had printed one edition of six hundred copies, which they had nearly sold ; and were considering whether it would be worth their while to print a second ; and in consequence of Miss Martineau's asser- tion, that Byron was little known, 1 applied to the largest pub- lishers in New York and Philadelphia, to ascertain, if I could, how many copies of Byron had been published. Tfie reply was, that it was impossible to say exactly, as there had been so many editions issued, by so many different publishers, but that they considered that irom one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand copies, must have been sold ! so much tor the accu- racy of Miss Martineau.* I am afraid, that notwithstanding the eloquent and energetic exertions of the author of " Ion," we shall never be able to make the public believe that the creations of a man's brain are his own property, or effect any arrangement with foreign countries, so as to secure a copyright to the English author. As on my arrival in America it was reported in the newspapers that I had come * Miss Martineau talks of Dr. Follett as one of the greatest men in America. I was surpiscd at this, as I never heard of his name, so I inquired—" Who is Dr. Follett 1" •' I don't know."—" Do you know Dr. Follett ?" " Never heard of him."—" Do you ?" " No." I asked so many people that at last I became quite tired ; at last I found a man who knew him, his answer was — " Oh, yes ; he's an Abolitionist .'" As the American critic justly observes, " He shines in the future pages of his grateful guest." out to a up the fore, cof an inter the saim The { espouse! thing w of w hie it, and was broi marryat's diary. 71 vriter so tterly'he :ir faults, le writes ks as the iiilure, is be that larticular whole of Julwer is slie gives iserts it is )unt, it is •iting'. 3 in Miss of Sartor Without felt con- be a fact, cans. I, irrect. I Carlisle's d printed irly sold ; while to u's asser- gest pub- f I could, eply was, so many hat they hundred 16 accu- inergetic to make his own es, so as y arrival ad come test men IS name, * Do you "i\o." at last I he's an e shines out to ascertain what could be done in that respect, and to follow up the petition of the ?]nglish authors. The subject was, there- fore, constantly introduced and canvassed ; and I naturally took an interest in it. Every one almost was for granting it; but, at the same time, every one told mo that wo should not obtain it. ThepetJion of the English authors to Congreys was warmly espoused by Mr. Clay, who invariably leads the van in every- thing which is liberal and gentlemanlike. A select committee, of which Mr. Clay was chairman, was formed to consider upon it, and the following was the result of their inquiry, and a bill was brought in, upon the report of the committee : — " In Senate of the United Sta'es, Feb. 16, 1887. •* Mr. Clay made the following report- ** The select committee to whom « ^s referred the address of certain British and the petition of c. Miin Amcican authors, have, according to order, had the same under consideration, and beg leave now to report : " That, by the act of Congress of 185^1, being the law now in force regulating copyrights, the benefits of the act are restricted to citizens or residents of the United Slates ; sc that no foreigner, residing abroad, can secure a copyright in the United States for any work of which he is the author, however important or valu- able it may be. The object of the address and petition, there- fore, is to remove this re.stricti(m as to British authors, and to allow them to enjoy the benefits of our law. " That authors and inventors have, according to the practice among civilized nations, a property in the respective productions of their genius is incontcstible; and that this property should he protected as cficctually as any other property is, by law, follows as a legitimate consequence. Authors and inventors are among llic greatest benefactors of mankind. They are otlen dependent, exclusively, upon their own mental labours for the means of subsistence ; and are frequently, from the nature of their pur- suits, or the constitutions of their minds, incapable of applying that provident care to worldly affairs which other classes of society are in the habit marryat's DIARir. ,«p. v\. the works of authors are exposed to daily violation, without the possibility of their invokinir the aid of the lawH. "'J'he cointnittee think that this distinction in the condition of the two descriptions of property is not just ; and that it oujifht to be remedied by some s;itt) and cautious amendment of the law. Already the principle has been adopted in the patent laws, of extondinjr their benefits to forcig-n inventions and improvements, it is but carrying out the same principle to extend the benefit of our copyriorht laws to foreirrn authors. In relation to the siibjfjct of Great Britain and France, it will bo but a measure of reciprocal justice; for, in bolh of those countries, our authors may enjoy that proteotion of their laws for literary property which is denied to their subjects here. ♦* Entertaining these views, the committee have been anxious to devise some measure which, without too ftreat a disturbance of interests or alTectinjr too seriously arrangements which have grown out of the present state of thintrs, niay, without hazard, be subjected to the test of practical experience. Of the works which have heretofore issued from the foreiijn press, many have already been republished in the United Stales; others are in a progress of republication, and some probably have been stereo- typed. A copyright law which should embrace any of these works, might injuriously alfeci American publishers, and lead to collision and litigation between them and foreign authors. "Acting, then, on the principles of prudence and caution, by which the committee have thought it best to be governed, the bill which the committee intend proposing provides that the protection which it secures shall extend to those works only which shall be published after its passage. It is also limited to the subjects of Great Britain and France; among other reasons, because the committee have information that, by their laws, American authors can obtain there protection for their productions; but they have no information that such is the case in any other foreign country. But, in principle, the committee perceive tio objection to considering the republic of letters as one great community, and adopting a system of protection for literary property which shoula be common to all parts of it. The bill also provides that an American edition of the foreign work for which an American copyright has been obtained, shall be published within reasonable time. "If the bill should pass, its operation in this country would be to leave the public, without any charge for copyright, in the undisturbed possession of all scientific and literary works pub- lished pr'jr to its passage — in other words, the great mass of the scirr.ce and literature of the world ; and to entitle the British or French author only to the benefit of every copyright in re- spect to works which may be published subsequent to the pas- sage of the law. "The committee cannot anticipate any reasonable or just ob- jection to deed, he c chargpil w into the \\< would be i no means when thi^ fully an exlranrdin hurried pu compptilio cheaply a? prove to b pay a few by which itself? II tinn, of ini into existe mittee ihi would not lions, to a tion being the bale ol It; and he when it sc book now preservatif " With posed bill, before sta Congress by securin elusive riu is no limi country, object of t progress o lar country that the s genius, in and the ai offers to tl "Thec( which ace Let it n ported hy of it espoii manner, ir of more a( MARRY AT S DIARY. 73 jpction to a mpasure thus jjunrded and r»'stricted. Ft may, in- deed, lie onnfpnd(Ml, and it is possible that a nrw work, when charjfed with the expense incident ti) the enpyrii;ht, may come into thp hiinds of the piirehaser at a small afivance beyond what wonid be its price, it' there were no such charixe; but this is by no means certain. It is, on the contrary, hiiihly probable that, when the American pii!)lisber has adc(iuafe time to issue care- fnlly an edition of the forei^-n work, without inciirrinjr the extraordinary expense which he , o\v has to sustain to make a hurried publication of it, and toijiiiird himself'a^rainst dangerous oompetiiion. he wi'l be able to bring it into the market as cheaply as if the I)ill were not to pass. Miit, if that should not prove to be the case, and if the American reader should have to pay a few cents to corni)ensat<' the author for composiiifT a work by which he is iristructed and profited, would it not be just in itself? Mas any r-^ader a ri<4hl to the use, without remunera- tion, of iniellectu II productions which have not yet hern brouo[ht into existence, but lie buried in the mind of genius'? The com- mittee think not; and they believi; that n) American citizen would not feel it quite as unjust, in reference to futurt; publica- tions, to a|)prcipriate to bitnself their use, without any considera- tion beinnr |)aid to ll.?ir foreijrn proprietor?, as he would to take the bale of mercbnulise, in th(^ case stated, without payinij for it ; and he would the r>iore readily make this IriMinfj contribution, when it secured to him, instead of the injperfect and slovenly l>ook now often issued, a neat and valuable work, worthy of preservation. " With respect to the constitutional power to pass the pro- posed bill, 'he committee entertain no doubt, and Compress, as before stated, has acttid on it. 'J'he constitution authorizes Conjrress ' to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, f)r limited times, to authors and inventors, the ex- clusive riijhl to their respective writings and discoveries.' There is na limitation of the power to natives or residents of this country. Such a limitation would hav.^ been hostile to the object of the power granted. That object was to promote the progress of science and useful arts. They belong to no particu- lar country, but to mankind generally, And it cannot be doubted that the stimulus which it w'as intended to give; to mind and genius, in other wor(U, the promotion of the pronress of science and the arts, will be increased by the motives which the bill offers to the inhabitants of Great Britain and France. *' The com'.'ittee (!on(!lude by asking leave to introduce the Wll which accompanies this report." Let it no«, however, be supposed that Mr. Clay was unsup- ported by the American press; on the contrary, a lar:je portion of it espoused the cause of the Knijlisb author in the most liberal manner, indeed the boon itself, if granted, would in reality be of more advantage to America than to us; as many of then^ 7 r ' JMi f: i li 71 maruyat's DiAur. 'h ' if> h: ii argued. The New York Daily F^xprcss observes, ♦' But another great evil rcsultintj from the present law is, that most of the writers of our own country aro ult«'rly preclucied from advancing our native lileriiture, since they can derive no emolument or eomfiensnliot) lor their labours; and it is idle to urge that the Jevoiees of literature, any more than the ingenious artizan or mechanic, can he indilferent to llie ultimate advantages which should result alike to both from the diligent use and studious application of their mental energies. V\ e patronize and read the works of foreign writers, but it is at the exjiense of our own, — the books of the English author being procured free of all cost, supersede those wliich would otherwise be produced by our own countrymen, — thus the forc^igneris wronged, while the same wrong acts again as a tariff upon our American author: — and nil this manifest injury is perpetuated without its being qualified by the most remote advantage to any of the parties concerned." The [Joston Atlas re&pondcd to this observation ir//,id ; iii»reven then, if .soiiUM'pluMueral novel had started ii|) whi'di jirouiised to sell b( Iter. " N'lr i-. it corliin that the price of bonk'? would be seriously aiigineiiled by the passage ol' the eopyrigbl law. It iniisl be refneiiiliered. that a great minibfr of writers would thus beealled into the field at once, Hiitjiisb as well as Aiiieriean writers; for. if Kiiglisli authors could enjoy this beiielit, tliey would soon liegio to write e.\[)r(>ssly for Ainericni; and the coinpeiiiion would become so great, as to reifulate the prices of boidis to a proper standard. But, even supposing the prict; to be ecnsiderably raised, it would certainly be better to |)ay two dollars for a hand- some volume, which is worth keeping, and worth reading ajjaiii, tbaii to pay only one dollar for a book, wbi(di in five years will be worth no more than the same amount of brown paper. And, finally, there is the consideration of a native literature, which will, we presume, be placed by all reasonable and inlelligeni persons above that of cheap books." Nevertheless, a large portion of the press took up the other side of the (pieslion, as may be inferred frcfn a rejily which I have inserted in the note beneath.* * " Thk Intkuxationai- Coi'viuniiT Qikstiox. — One of the most imftortant tjucstions, upon principle, that ever was mooted, has for some time placed in juxtaposition the various editors of the corps critical, accordinj^ly as their interests or feelings have been worked upon. Uur ebief object in these remarks ie to hold up to the scorn and derision that it riebly merits the assumption of an editor, that an author has no right to the emanations of his own mind — to the pro- ductions of Ills own pen. We do not mean to answer the many and gross absurdities whii-li this talented jjfentleman's sophi.'.try has palmed upon the public, it would l)c a work of supererogation, inasmuch as his • airy vision' has already been completely ' dissolved' by the breath of that eminent gentleman, well known to us, who has so completely annihilated the wrong which he is so anxious to continue. But the shameful assumption that a writer, universally allowed to be the worst paid artist in creation, should not have — is not eiitiiled to have, by every principle of courtesy and honour, a sole and undivided right to, and in his own productions is so monstrous, that every editor imbued with those feelings, which through life, should be the rule of his conduct, is iti duty bound to come forward and express bis dissent from such a doctrine, and his abhorrence of a principle so flagitious. " We avail ourselves of the opportunity this numlwr affords of up- holding the poor author's right, of censuring the greedy spoliation of the publishing tribe, who would live, batten, and fatten upon the despoiled labours of those whom their piracy starves — snatching the scanty crust from their needy mouths to pamper their own insatiate maws. " This matter lies between the publisher aod the author. Tb« r 1 •!■ 76 MAUUVAT 5 DIA ur. ^t I • I 1- I Tlio bill lirouprht in wiinlost. Strnnjo tosny, the Soiithcrncrii votpd iij,'fiinst, tin tlip <,'r()iiniJs iliut llu-y would n<»l ^ivo a copy- right to Mi.vs .MurtitKMiii, to propajrato her nliolition doctrines in that coutitr\ — ror:,a'lliny, lliiit. as a copyriiilil would increase the price ot'u work, it wouiil he the means of ciuckinj^ its circulation, rather tlnn ofrxtendifitj it. Wlicn I iirriveil at \V!isliiii;rton, I thought it would he worth wiiilt? t(» iisccrluin tin; opinion of any of the MKMnhersorConfjresH I niiLjht meet; and one line niornini;, I put. the(pieslion tooneof the i,()Co loco dele-fates; when the li)llowinj; conversation took plaen : — " Why, t.'aptain, there is much to hr said on thi.s subject. Vonr authors have petitioned our Congress, I perceive. The petition was read last session." (.Many of the Americans appeared to bo hi<.Mily jrratified at the idea ot'an Finy;lish peiilion having,' been sent to (.'onjjress.) " I believe it was." " Well, now, you see. (.\iptaiii — you will ask ns to let you have yotu' copyriijht in this country, as you allow our authors their eopyriL^lit in yours; and I suppose you mean to say that if wo do not, that our authors shall have no eo[)yriirlit in your country. We'll allow that, but still I eonsich-r you ask loo much, as the balance is on our ^i»le most consi tirst and last tiiiio thai 1 broached the subjtjci when at Wasliiii^flon ; but at\or many conversations with Aniorician <^ciitl(Mnan on the Mibject, and examination into the real merits of the case, I came to the conclusion, that the Knplixh authors never would obtain a copyri;,'lit in tin; United fcJtatoy, and aH lon<,' as the present |)arty arc; in power. Their principal ar^miiient rai.scd a«,'ain8l the copyright, is ai follows: — *' It is only by the onli;;hteninp and education of the people, that we can expect our institutions to hold to ";; ■ ■% ll,'H C'dpica printed. Trade price. Fielding 2,50() i04 cents, many left unsold Prior's Life of Gold- smitli 7')0 200 " sold. Arethusa 1,250 70 " all sold. Abel Alluut .... 1,200 52 " almost all sold. Fellow Coiiimuner 2,(>00 70 " many on Imnd. Ritlo Brio^ade . . . 2,000 HI " many on hand. Sharpe's Essays . . 1,000 54 " one halt' sold. Now, as there are one hundred cents to a dollar, and the expenses of printing, paper, and advertisinfj have to he deducted,, as well as the copies left on hand, it will he evident, that the profit on cacli of the above works, would bo too small to allow the publishers in America to give even £20 lor the copyright; tlie consequence of a co|)yright would therefore be, that the major portion of the works printed would not be published at all, and better works would be substituted. Of course, such authors as Walter Scott, Byron, Bulwer, &c., have a most e>;tensive sale ; and tiie profits are in pro[)ortion, but then it must be re- membered that a great many booksellers publish editions, and the profits are divided accordingly. Could Sir Walter Scott have obtained a copyright in the United States, it would have been worth to him by this time at least £100,000. The Americans talk so much about their being the most enlightened nation in the world, that it has been generally re- ceived to bo the case. 1 have already stated my ideas on thi? subject, and I think that the small editions usually published, of works not standard or elementary, prove, that with the exception of newspapers, they are not a reuding nation. The fact is, they have no time to read; they are all at work; and if they get through their daily newt^paper, is quite as much as most of them can ellect. Previous to my arrival in the United States, and even for some t me allerwards, I had an idea that there v/as a much larger circulation of every class of writing in America, than there really is. it is only the most popular English authors, as Waller Scott, or the most fashionable, as Byron, which have any extensive circulation; the works which at present the Americans like best, are tliosc of fiction in which there is anythi.Mglo excite or amuse them, which is very natural, considering how actively they are employed during the major portion of their existence, and the consccjuent necessity ot occasional relaxation. When wo consider the extreme cheap- ness of books in the United Staff^s, and tLo enormous price of them in this country, the facilities of reading them there, and the difficulty attending it here from the above causes, I have no hesitation in saying, that as a reading nation, the United States canHot enter into coniparison with us. As I am upon this subject, I cannot refrain from making a few remarks upon it, as connected with tliis country. The price of a book now published is enormous, when '^e prime cost o( I Tradt , { I :: i mahryat's diary. 79 Linrr a paper and printing is ronsidered ; the actual value of each three ▼oluines of a mod. rate edition, which are sold at a guinea and a half, being about /oi/rA/i/Z/i/zifs and sixpence^ and wiion the edition is large, as the outlay lor putting up the type is the same in both, of course it is even less; hut the author must be paid, and upon the present smulleditions he hddscoiisiderablytothe price charged upoji every volume; then ctmes theeX|)ense ofadvertising, which is very heavy; the profits of the publisher, and the profits of the trade in general ; for every book for w hich the public pay a guinea and a half, is delivered by the publisher to the trade, that is, to the booksellers, at dt'l \s. lUf. 'I'lje allowance to the trade, there- fore, is the heaviest tax of all; but it is impossible for book- sellers to keep establirhmoiits, clerks, &c., v\i:hout having in- demnification. In all the abcjvc items, which so swells up the price of the hook, there taimot well be any deduction made. Let us examine into the division of profits. I am only making an approximalion, but it is (juite near enough for tho purpose. An edition of 1,000 copies at JCI ll.s. Gd. will give i;l,575. Posiliic Exjnriscs lu Publisher, Trade allowance of lO.s. ;}ing, etiual to 2.s. per copy I'resontations to Universities and Reviewers, say i^O copies The author if he is well known, may be said to receive 7s. per copy Leaving for the publisher . . 575 225 100 10 47 5 250 277 Total jL' 1,575 All the first expenses being p<*sitive, it follows that the strug- gle is between the publisher nrul the author, as to what division shall be made of the remainder. The publishc points out tho risk he incurs, and the author his time and necessities ; and when it is considered that many autlwrs take more than a year to write u hook, it must be acknowledged that the sum paid to them, us I have put it down, is not too great. Tiie risk, however, is with the publisher, and the great profits with the trade, which is per- haps the reason why booksellers often make Ibrtunes, and pub- lishers as often become bankrupts. Cienerally speaking, however, the two are combined, the sure gain of the bookseller being as a set off'against the speculation of the publisher. Bu* one thing is certain, the price of books in this country is much too high, and what are the consequences I First, tliat in- stead of purchasing books, and putting tliem into their libraries, people have now formed themselves into societies and book* 1 t I i: ;: i { i \. I: II ; fio marhyat's diary. 1> 4 » I' clubs, or trust entirely to obtaining tliem from circulating libra- ries. VViiliout a book is very ixjpiilar, it is known by the pub* lisher what the sule is likely to be, within perhaps ht'ty copies; for the lKX)k-clubsan(l libraries will, and must have it, and hardly anybody else will ; lor who will |)ay a truinea and a half for a oook wJiich may, after all, prove not worth reading ! Secondly, it has the etfecl of the works being reprinted abroad, and sent over to this country, which, of course, decreases the sale of the English edition. At the lic would (jain, the author would {jain, and the publisher would tiain : nor would any party lose; the profits of the trade would not b(» (piite so fjreat, beiiiL'" C.')00. instead of £575 ; but it musl be remembered, that there are many who, not heintr subscril)ers, would [)urchase the book as soon as they found that it was approved ol' — indeed, there is no saying to what extent the sale mi-s of America, as 1 have described it, is all powerful ; but still it must be borne in mind, tliat it is but the slave of the majority ; which, in its turn, it dare not oppose. Sucli is its tyranny, that it is the dread of the whole commu- nity. No one can — no oiie dare ojipose it; whosoever falls under its displeasure, be he as innocent and as pure as man can be, his doom is sealed. Hut this power is only delegated by the will of the majfirity, lor let any author in America oppose that will, and he is denounced. Yon must drink, you must write, liot according to your own opinions, or your own tlioughts, but as the majority will.]- Mr. 'roc(]U(,'ville observes, "I know no country in which there is so little true independence of n»ind, and freedom of discussion, as in America." CHAPTER VIII. THE MI.-SSISSllTI. 1 H.WE headed this chapter with the name of the river which llows between the princi|)al Stales in which the society I am about to depict is to be found ; but, at the same time, there are other southern States, such a.^^ Alabama and (Jeorgia, which must be included. I shall attempt to draw the line as clearly as I can. for allhoiicfh the territory comprehended is enormous, the population is not one-third of that of the United States, and it would be a great injustice if the description of the society I am about to enter into should be supposed to refer to that of the States in general. It is indeed most peculiar, and arising fronn circunist-.mces which will induce me to reler back, that the causes may he exj)lained to the reader. Never, perhaps, in the * One of those works was Abbott's Young Christian, or some other work by author. i indeed, one cannot help beincf reminded of what Beaumarchais makes Figaro say upon the liberty of the press in another country. " On me dit que pendant ma relraitc econoniique il scsst etabli dans Madrid un systenie de liberie sur la vente dcs pioductions, qui s'^tend meme a celles de le presse; et que, jiourvu que je ne parie en me« ecrits, ni v. i'autoritc, ni du culte, ni de la politique, ni de la Fnorale, ni des gens en place, ni des corps en credit, ni de {'opera, ni des autrce spectacles, ni de personne qui tienne a quelque chose, je puis tout ifuprimer Ubrement sous i'inspection de deux on Iroia censeurt.^^ l i I !l 'I I ■'}■ 84 MARRVAT S DIARV. 1:1 records of nnlions was thpro an instanre of a rrntury of such unvaryinjj and unmili<;;Upd crimo as is to I>p rolloctrd from ihr history of the tiirhr.lpiit and hlood-strtincd Mississippi. The stream iisolf appears as if appropriate for the deeds which have been fnmmittrd. Ft is tint like most rivers, heaiitifiil to the sight, ht'^tdwiiijr ftTtiliiy in iis course; not one that the eye loves to «Iwell \ipon as it sweeps alonty, nor ran yon wander on its hank, or trust yourself without d iiitjcr to its stream. It is a furious, rapid, desolatinjj torrent, loaded with alluvial soil ; and few of those who are received inti its waters ever rise ■ijrain,or can support themselves lonjr on it3 surface without assistance from some friendly lojr. Ji contains the coarsest and most nneatal)!e of fish, such as the cat-fish and such genus, and as yon descend its hanks are occupied with the fetid alligator, while the panther basks at its edge in the cane-hrakes, almost impervious to man. Pouring its impetuous waters through wild tracks, covered with trees of little value except for fire- wood, it sweeps down whole forests in its course, which dis- appear in tuniuliueus confusion, whirled away hy the stream now l.t;i(|c(| with the masses of soil which nourished their roots, often hidcking up and changing for a time the <'harMiel of the river, which, as if in anger at its being opposed, inundates and devastates tlin whole country round ; and ;is soon us it forces its way throiiirii its former channel, plants in every direct iuii the uprooted monarchs of the forest (upon whose hranchrs the bird will never again perch, or the racoon, the opossum, or tlie squirrel, climli) as traps to the adventurous iiavitjatorr. of its waters liv steam, wh?, home down upon these concealed dan- gers which pierce through the planks, very often have not time to steer for rod gain the shore before they sink to the bottom. There are no pleasing assoj-iations connccied with the great common sewer of the western Americr., which [loiirs nut its mud into the .M( .\ican (iulpii, polluting the clear hlne sea for many miles beyond its mouth. It is a river of desolation ; and in- stead of reminding you, like other beautiful rivers, of an angel which has descended tor the benefit of man, you imagine it a devil, who>(> energies has been only overcome by the wonderful power of ste.im. Tii(i early hi.storyof the Mississippi is ono of piracy and bucca- neerinir; its moutiis were frecp.eiited by thej-f; ninraiulers, as in the bayous and creeks they found protection and concealment for themselves and their ill-gotten wealth. Even imti! after the war of 1^14 tliesf^ ?(^a-robbers still to a certain extent Houru-hed. and the name of liufitte, the last of their leaders, is deservedly renowned for conrai'-e and tor crime; his vessels were usually secreted in the land-locked bay of Haritaria, to the westward of llie mouth of the river. They wr man. JSimh was his repu- tation, that no one hardly objected to heiiifr phiccfl in this pre- carious situation. It is even said that his wile, that is, his Missi/i- s!ppi wife, was accustomed to stand the fire ; this (cat was always performed for a wiger of a quart of spirits, made hy some stran- jrer, and was a source of ohtaininfr the necessary .-.iippli< s. One day the wajjer was made as usual, and a man with v/hou) Mik( had at one time heen at variance (althoni,'h the feud was now supposed to have hern forppotton) was the party who consented that the pot should he placed on his hc^ad. Whether it was that Mike was not quite sober, or that ho retained his ill-will towarii this mam four thou of detocti that couli si3lf, by m fclven if it was inurd for tiiey c vertised, i An adver property. When, th trust, not the prope was usel inquired, such circ is stated federates, gang who confederal which 1 s marryat's oiarv. 89 ibem soTTic new dupe fur llieir villiny. Tlifi slato of society was much worse than before — the knife was sulisiiiiiied for the rifle, and lite riv( r Ixiricd many a secret of atrocious murder. To 1)T0ve the extent to which these deeds of horror were; |)er[»eiraled, shall jjive to the Knijlish reader, in as sin-cinct a form as I can, the hi.story of John Murel, the land piralo, as he was termed. There is an octavo volume, published in the I nited Stales, givinn; a whole statement of the all'air; it was not until the year 1833 that il was exposed and Mure! sent to the I'eniientiary. Murel was at the head of a iartje b.uid, who iiad joined under his directions, for the purposes of steaiinfr horses and n(^ /^ v^^^ ">.^i^ ''^ '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 ^V % ) '^ & 90 marryat's diary. li VI' Ji 11 II, Si ' I I ■1 I ■ two classes: the heads or council, as they were called, who planned and concerted but seldom acted ; they amounted to about four hundred. The other class were the active agents, and were termed Strikers, and amounted to about six hundred and fifty. These were the tools in the hands of the others ; they ran all the risk, and received but a small proportion of the money ; they were in the power of the leaders of the gang-, who would sacrifice them at any time by handing them over to justice, or sinking their bodies in the Mississippi. The general rendezvous of this gang of miscreants was on the Arkansaw side of the river, where they concealed their negroes in the morasses and cane-brakes. The depredations of this extensive combination were severely felt: but so well were their plans arranged, that although Murel, who was always active, was everywhere suspected, there was no proof to be obtained. It so happened, however, that a young man of the name of Stewart, who was looking after two slaves which Murel had decoyed away, fell in with him and ob- tained his confidence, took the oath, and was admitted into the gang as one of the general council. By this means all was dis- covered ,- for Stewart turned traitor, although he had taken the oath, and having obtained every information, exposed the whole concern, the names of all the parties, and finally succeeded in bringing home sufficient evidence against Murel, to procure his conviction and sentence to the Penitentiary ; where he now is. (Murel was sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment; butas he will, upon the expiration of his time, be immediately prosecuted and sentenced again for similar deeds in other States, he will remain imprisoned for life). So many people who were supposed to be honest, and bore a respectable name in the different States, were found to be among the list of the Grnnd Council as pub- lished by Stewart, that every attempt was made to throw dis- credit upon his assertions — his character was vilified, and more than one attempt was made to assassinate him. He was obliired to quit the Southern States in consequence. It is however well ascertained to have been all true ; and although blame Mr. Stewart for having violated his oath, they no attempt to deny that his revelations were not correct. To un- derstand, to the full amount, the enormities committed by this miscreant and his gang, the reader must read the whole account published at New York ; I will however just quote one or two portions of Murel's confessions to Mr. Stewart, made to him when they were journeying together. I ought to have observed, that the ultimate intentions of Murel and his associates were by his own account on a very extended scale; having no less an object in view than raising the blacks against the whtes, taking possession of, and plundering New Orleans, and making them- selves possessors of the territory. The following are a few ex- tracts from the published work : — " I collected all my friends about New Orleans at one of our friend's hoftses in that place, and v\ e sat in council three days £3^ now some onger VVl if .; MARRYAT'S DIARY. 91 t: . before we got all our plans to our notion ; we then determined to undertake the rebellion at every hazard, and make as many- friends as we could for that [purpose. Every man's business being assigned him, I started to Naichez on foot, iiaving sold my horse in New Orleans, with the intention of stealing another after I started: I walked four days, and no opportunity offered for me to get a horse. The fifth day, about twelve, 1 had become tired, and stopped at a creek to get some water and rest a little. While I was sitting on a log, looking down the road the way that I had come, a man came in sight riding on a good-looking horse. The very moment I saw him, I was determined to have his horse, if he was in the garb of a traveller. He rode up, and I saw from his equipage that he was a traveller. 1 arose from a seat, and drew an elegant rifle pistol on him and ordered him to dismount. He did so, and I took his horse by the bridle and pointed down the creek, and ordered him to walk before me. He went a few hundred yards and stopped. I hitched his horse, and then made him undress himseltj all to his shirt and drawers, and ordered him to turn his back to me. He said, "If you are determined to kill me, let me have time to pray before I die." I told him I had no time to hear him pray. He turned round and dropped on his knees, and I shot him through the back of the head. I ripped open his belly and took out his entrails, and sunk him in the creek. I then searched his pockets, and found four hundred dollars and thirty- seven cents, and a number of papers that I did not take time to examine. I sunk the pocket-book and papers, and his hat, in the creek. His boots were brand new, and fitted me genteelly ; and I put them on and sunk my old shoes in the creek, to atone for them. I rolled up his clothes and put them into his portmanteau, as they were brand new cloth of the best quality. I mounted as fine a horse as ever I straddled, and directed my course for Natchez in much better style than I had been for the last five days. "Myself and a fellow by the name of Crenshaw gathered four good horses and started for Georgia. We got in company with a young South Carolina just before we got to Cumberland moun- tain, and Crenshaw soon knew all about his business. He had been to Tennessee to buy a drove of hogs, but when he got there pork was dearer than he had calculated, and he declined pur- chasing. We concluded he was a prize. Crenshaw winked at me, I understood his idea. Crenshaw had travelled the road be- fore, but I never had j we had travelled several miles on the mountain, when he passed near a great precipice ; just before we passed it Crenshaw asked me for my whip, whicli had a pound of lead in the butt; I handed it to him, and he rode up by the side of the South Carolinian, and gave him a blow on the side of the head and tumbled him from his horse ; we lit from our horses and fingered his pockets; we got twelve hundred and sixty-two dollars. Crenshaw said he knew of a place to hide him, and he gathered him under his arms, and I by his feet, and conveyed Mi ' M I V-.. ■■■•rii. 92 marryat's diary. I' i him to a deep crevice in the brow of the precipice, and tumbled him into it, he went out of sight; we then tumbled in his sad- dle, and took his horse with us, whicii was worth two hundred dollars. " We were detained a few days, and during that time our friend went to a little village in the neighbourhood and saw the negro advertised, and a description of the two men of whom he had been purchased, and giving his suspicions of the men. It was rather squally limes, but any port in a storm : we took the negro that night on the bank of a creek which runs by the farm of our friend, and Crenshaw shot him through the head. We took out his entrails and sunk him in the creek. '* He sold him the third time on Arkansaw river for five hun- dred dollars ; and then stole him and delivered him into the hand of his friend, who conducted him to a swamp, and veiled the tragic scene and got the last gleanings and sacred pledge of secresy, as agame of that kind will not do unless it ends in a mys- tery to all but the fraternity. He sold that negro for two thou- sand dollars, and then put him for ever out of the reach of all pursuers; and they can never graze him unless they can find the negro; and that they cannot do, for his carcass has fed many a tortoise and cat-fish before this time, and the frogs have sung this many a long day to the silent repose of his skeleton." It will be observed that in the account of his murders, by the cold-blooded villain, whenever he conceals hisvictim in thewater, he takes out the entrails. This is because when the entrails are removed, the body will not rise again to the surface from the generation of gas, occasioned by putrefaction. As it is but five years since the conviction of Murel, it may be supposed that society cannot be much improved in so short a period. But five years is a long period, as I have before observed in American history ; and some improvement has already taken place, as I shall hereafter show; still the state of things at present is most lamentable, as the reader will acknow- ledge, when he has heard the facts which I have collected. The two great causes of the present lawless state of society in the South are a mistaken notion of physical courage, and a total want of moral courage. Fiery and choleric in his dispo- sition, intemperate in his habits, and worked upon by the pe- culiarity of the climate, the Southerner is always ready to enter into a quarrel, and prepared with pistol and bowie-knife to defend himself. For the latter he cannot well be blamed, for in the present state of things, it is only being prepared in self- defence ; but at the same time, the weapons being at hand, is one great cause of such frequent bloodshed. To give the lie, or to use opprobious language, is considered sufficient justifica- tion for using the knife ; and as public opinion is on the side of the party who thus retaliates on an aff'ront, thefe is no appeal to law, as if there was, the majority would never permit the law to be put in force: the consequence is, that if a man is occa- sionally tiied for murder, if any witness will come forward to prove that the party murdered made use of an offensive epithet to evel affrl the! vidi thai of! thati as the I quaj sett and marryat's diart. 93 f ^ to the prisoner, (and there are always to be found plenty of people to do this act of kindness,) he is invariably acquitted. The law therefore being impotent, is hardly ever resorted to; every man takes the law into his own hands, and upon the least affront, blood is certain to be shed. Strange to say, I have heard the system of the South defended by very respectable indi- viduals. They say that, taking summary measures at the time that the blood is up, is much preferable to the general custom of fighting a duel the next day, which is murder in cold blood ; that this idea is supported by the laws of England is certain, as it resolves murder into manslaughter. But, unfortunately, the argument is not borne out, from the simple fact, that the quarrels do not with the cooling down of the blood, and if not settled on the spot, they remain as feuds between the parties, and revenge takes the place of anger ; years will sometimes pass away, and the insult or injury is never forgotten; and de- liberate, cold-blooded murder is the result; for there is no warning given. When I was in Kentucky, a man walked up to Mr. Prentice, the talented editor of the Louisville Journal, and without a word passing, fired a pistol at his head. Fortunately the ball missed him ; no notice was taken of this attempt to murder. But I have had many other examples of this kind, for if you quarrel with a person and the affair is not decided at once, it is consid- ered perfectly justifiable to take your revenge whenever you meet him, and in any way you can. An American gentleman told me that he happened to arrive at a town in Georgia with a friend of his, who went with him to the post-office for letters. This person had had a quarrel with another who resided in the town ; but they had not met with each other for seven years. The town resident was looking out of his window, when they went to the post-office on the opposite side of the street ; he recognised his enemy, and closing his shutters that he might not be seen, passed the muzzle of his rifie between them, and shot him dead, as he was with his back to him paying for his letters. But a more curious instance of this custom was narrated to me by an eye-witness ; a certain general had a feud with another person, and it was perfectly understood that they were to fight when they met. It so happened, that the general had agreed to dine at the public table of the principal hotel in the town with some friends. When the gong sounded, and they all hastened in, as they do, to take their places, he found his antagonist seated with a party of his own friends directly opposite to him. Both their pistols were out in a moment, and were presented. "Would you prefer dining first?" said the general, who was remarkable for coolness and presence of mind. " I have no ob- jection," replied the other, and the pistols were withdrawn. Some observation, however, occasioned the pistols to be again produced before the dinner was over ; and then the friends inter- ■i 1 ii: I' If \ i; m I!: I ! : I it I' 94 MARRY AT 'd DIARY. fered, each party removing so many feet above and below, so as to separate them. A day or two afterwards they again met at the corner of a street, and the weapons were produced ; but the general, who had some important business to transact, said, " 1 believe, sir, I can, and you know I can, cock a pistol as soon as any man. I give you your choice; shall it be now, or at some future meet- ing?" " At some future meeting'then," replied his antagonist, "for, to confess the truth, general, I should like to have you at an advantage ,' that is to say, 1 should like to shoot you, when your back is turned." I have observed that there is a total want of moral courage on the part of the more respectable population, who will quietly express their horror and disgust at such scenes, but who will never interfere, if the most barbarous murder is committed close to where they are standing. I spoke to many gentlemen on this subject, expressing my surprise; ihe invariable answer was, *' If we interfered we should only hurt ourselves, and do no good ; in all probability we should have the quarrel fixed upon ourselves, and risk our own lives, for a man whom we neither know nor care about." In one case only, the Southerners hang together, which is if the quarrel is with a stranger. Should the stranger have the best of it, all the worse for him; for, by their own understand- ing, the stranger must be whipped. (Whipping is the term for beingconquered, whether the contest is with or without weapons.) No stranger can therefore escape, if he gets into a quarrel ; al- though they fight with each other, on this point the Southerners are all agreed, and there is no chance of escape. A striking proof of indifference to human life shown by the authorities took place when I was in the West. Colonel C. returning with his regiment from Florida, passed through a town in the State of Tennessee. In a quarrel, one of his soldiers murdered a citizen ; and the colonel, who respected the laws, immediately sent the soldier as a prisoner, with a corporal's guard, to be handed over to the authorities. The authorities returned their thanks to the colonel for his kind attention, were very much obliged to him : but as for the man, they did not want him^ — so the soldier marched off with the rest of the detachment. It must not be supposed that in this representation of society, I chiefly refer to the humbler classes. I refer to those who are considered as, and who, if wealth, and public employment may be said to constitute gentility, are the gentlemen of the States bordering on the Mississippi. My readers may perhaps recol- lect a circumstance which occurred but a short time ago, when a member of the House of Legislature in the State of Arkansas, who had a feud with the Speaker of the House, upon his enter- ing the hall, was rushed upon by the Speaker, and stabbed to the heart with a bowie-knife. What was the result 1 What steps were taken on the committal of such a foul murder in the very hall of legislature ! such a precedent of example shown to ihel whj bar! marryat's diary. 95 ■It I- i to at i the State, by one of its most important members ? The follow- ing American account, will show what law, what justice, and what a jury is to be found in this region of unprecedented barbarism ! " Jl most Disgraceful Affair, " Our readers will perhaps recollect the circumstance which occurred in the legislature of Arkansas, when a member was killed by the Speaker. The Little Rock Gazette gives the following picture of the state of public feeling in that most civilized country : — "Three (lays had elapsed before the constituted authorities took any notice of this terrible, this murderous deed, and not even then until a relation of the murdered Anthony had de- manded a warrant for the apprehension of Wilson. Several days then elapsed before he was brought before an examining court; he then, in a carriage and four, came to the place ap- pointed for his trial. Four or five days were employed in the examination of witnesses, and never was a clearer case of murder proved than on that occasion. Notwithstanding, the court (Justice Brown dissenting) admitted Wilson to bail, and positively refused that the prosecuting attorney for the State should introduce the law, to show that it was not a bailable case, or even to hear an argument from him, and the counsel associated with him to prosecute Wilson for the murder. " At the time appointed for the session of the Circuit Court, Wilson appeared agreeably to his recognizance ; a motion was made by Wilson's counsel for a change of ue/iue, founded on the affidavits of Wilson and two other men. One staled in his affidavit, that ' nine-tenths of the people of Pulaski had made up and expressed their opinions, and that therefore it would be unsafe for Wilson to be tried in Pulaski ;' and the other, that, ♦ from the repeated occurrence of similar acts within the last four or five years in this country, the people w?re disposed to act rigidly, and that it would be unsafe for Wilson to be tried in Pulaski,' Tl;e court thereupon removed Wilson to Saline county, and ordered the sheriff to take Wilson into custody, and deliver him over to the sheriff of Saline county. "The sheriff of Pulaski never confined Wilson one minute, but permitted him to go where he pleased, without a guard or any restraint imposed upon him whatever. On his way to Saline he entertained him freely at his own house, and the next day delivered him over to the sheriff of that county, who con- ducted the prisoner to the debtors' room in the jail and gave him the key, so that everybody else had free egress and ingress at all times. Wilson invited everybody to call on him, and he wished to see his friends, and his room was crowded with visitors, who called to drink grog and laugh and talk with him. But this theatre was not sufficiently large for this purpose; he afterwards visited the dram-shops, where he freely treated all that would partake with him, and went fishing and hunting with others at pleasure, and entirely without restraint; he also ate at the same table with the judge while on trial. ' I I \ l! W J ■ . • i. \ 1 i J ; i i ^ ■ff (, 4 |. 1 * ■J-l • ; .' 1. H 'k ',' i . \ ! ii ; fn-t-' i il w- ! !■ . marryat's diary. " When the court met at Saline, Wilson was pnt on his trial. Several days were occupied in examining witnesses in the case; after the examination was closed, while Colonel Taylor was engaged in a very able, lucid, and argumentative speech on the part of the prosecution, some man collected a parcel of the rab- ble, and came within a few yards of the court-house door, and bawled, in a loud voice, ' Pan them — part them !' Everybody supposed there was an affray, and ran to the door and windows to see, and behold there was nothing more than the man and the rabble he had collected round him for the purpose of annoying Colonel Taylor while speaking. A few minutes afterwards this same person brought a horse near the court-house door, and commenced crying the horse, as though he were for sale, and continued for ten or fifteen minutes to ride before the court-house door, crying the horse in a loud and boisterous tone of voice. The judge sat as a silent listener to the indignity thus offered the court and counsel by this man, without interposing his authority '* To show the depravity of the times and the people, after the verdict had been delivered by the jury, and the court in- formed Wilson thai he was discharged, there was a rush to- wards him ; some seized him by the hand, some by the arm, and there was great and loud rejoicing and exultation directly in the presence of the court, and Wilson told the sheriff to take the jury to a grocery that he might treat them, and invited every body that chose to go. The house was soon filled to overflow- ing, and it is much to be regretted that some men who have held a good standing in society followed the crowd to the gro- cery and partook of Wilson's treat. The rejoicing was kept up till near supper time; but, to cap the climax, soon after supper was over a majority of the jury, together with many others, went to the room ihat had been occupied for several days by the friend and relation of the murdered Anthony, and commenced a scene of the most ridiculous dancing (as it is believed) in tri- umph for Wilson, and as a triumph over the feelings of the re- lation of the dei)arted Anthony. The scene did not end here. The party retired .o a dram-shop, and continued their rejoicings until about half-after ten o'clock. They then collected a parcel of horns, trumpets, &c., and marched through the streets blow- ing them till near day, when one of the company rode his horse into the porch adjoining the room which was occupied by the relation of the deceased. " These are some of the facts that took place during the pro- gress of the trial, and after its close. The whole proceedings have been conducted more like a farce than anything else, and it is a disgrace to the country in which this fatal, this horrible massacre has happened, that there should be in it men so lost to every virtue, of feeling and humanity, to sanction and give countenance to such a bloody deed. Wilson's hand is now stained with the blood of a worthy and unoffending man. The seal of disapprobation must for ever rest upon him in the e( munitl not wl Arkar the fr^ charac this ml stance! ofacq( To justice ever, tjpeakil noon, imr MARRYAT'S DIARY. 97 ihe estimation of the honest, well-meaning portion of the com munity. Humanity shudders at the bloody deed, and ages can- not wipe away the stain which he has brouofht upon his country. Arkansas, therefore, the mock of the other States on account of the frequent murders and assassinations which iiave marked her character, has now to be branded with the stain of this horrible, this murderous deed, rendered still more odious from the circum- stance that a jury of twelve men should h«ive rendered a verdict of acquittal contrary to law and evidence." To quote the numerous instances of violation of all law and justice in these new States would require volumes. I will, how- ever, support my evidence with tiiat of Miss Martineau, who, h^peakincr of the State of Alabama, says — " It is certainly the place to become rich in, but the state of society is fearful. One of my hosts, a man of jrreat gocxl-nature, as he shows in the treatment of his slaves and in his family rela- tions, had been stabbed in the back, in the reading-room of the town, two years before, and no prosecution was instituted. An- otlier of my hosts carried loaded pistols for a fortnight, just before I arrived, knowing that he was lam in wait for by persons against whose illegal practices he had given information to a magistrate, whose carriage was therefore broken in pieces and thrown into the river. A lawyer, with whom we were in company one after- noon, was sent to take the deposition of a dying inun, who had been sitting with his family in the shade, when he received three balls in the hack from three men who took aim at him from be- hind trees. The tales of jail-breaking and rescue were number- less; and a lady of Montgomery told me, that she had lived there four years, during which time no day, she believed, had passed without some one's life having been attempted either by duelling or assassination." The rapid increase of population in the far West, and the many respectable people who have lately migrated there, to- gether with the Texas having now become ''^e refuge of those whose presence even the Southern States ■ no longer toler- ate, promise very soon to produce a change The cities have already set the example by purifying themselves. Natchez, the lower town of which was a Pandemonium, lias cleansed herself to a very great extent. Vicksburg has by its salutary Lynch law relieved herself of the infamous gamblers, and New Orleans, in whose streets murders were daily occurring, is now one of the safest towns in the Union. This regeneration in New Orleans was principally brought about by the exertions of the English and American merchants from the Eastern States, who established an effectual police, and having been promised support by the State legislature, deter- mined to make an example of the very first party who should commit a murder. It so happened, that the first person who was guilty, was a Colonel or Mr. Whittaker of Louisiana, a per- son well connected, and of a wealthy family. In a state of in- toxication he entered the bar of an hotel, and affronted at the bar-keeper not paying immediate attention to his wishes, be 9 )f',\ !• r f 3, i I. - .'I i H i 98 MARRYAT S DIART. w it ■ ,i 1^ rushed upon the unfortunate man, and literally cut him to piece* witli his heavy Bowie knife. He was put in prison, tried and condemued. Every efTort was made to save him, both by force and perseverance, but in vain. Finding that he must really suffer the penalty of the law, his friends to avoid the disgrace of a public execution, provided him with the means, andhe destroyed himself in the prison the night before his execution. So unexpected was this act of jus- tice, that it created the greatest sensation ; it was looked upon as a legal murder ; his body being made over to his relations, was eecorted to his home with great parade; the militia were turned out to receive it with military honours, and General , who set up tor the governorship of Louisiana, pronounced the funeral eulogy !!! But this decided and judicious step was attended with the best results; and now that tliere is an active police, and it is known ' that a irmrderer will be executed, you may safely walk the streets of New Orleans on the darkest nights. To show, however, how difficult it is to eradicate bad habits, a gentleman told me ihat it being the custom when the Quadroon balls were given at New Orleans, for the police to search every person on entering, and taking away his bowie-knife, the young man would resort to the following contrivance. The knives of a dozen perhaps were confided to one, who remained outside ; the others entered, and being searched were passed ; they then opened one of the ball-room windows, and let down a string, to which the party left outside fastened all their knives as well as his own ; they were hauled up, he then entered himself, and each person regained his knite. The reason for these precautions being taken by the police was, that the women being all of colour, their evidence was not admissible in a court of justice ; and no evidence could be obtained from the young men, should a murder have been committed. But although some of the towns have, as I have pointed out, effected a great reformation, the state of society in general in these States is still most lamentable ; and there is little or no security for life and property ; and what is to be much deplored, the evil extends to other States which otherwise would much sooner become civilized. This arises from the Southern habits of migrating to the other States during the unhealthy months. During the rest of the year tney remain on their properties, living perhaps in a miserable log-house, and almost in a state of nature, laying up dollars and attending carefully to their business. But as soon as the autumn comes, it is the time for holiday, they dress themselves in their best clothes, and setoff to amuse themselves; spend their money and pass off for gentlemen. Their resorts are chiefly the States of Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio; where the springs, Cincinnati, Louisville, and other towns are crowded with them ; they pass their time in constant revelling, many of them being seldom free from the effects of liquor ; aad I must say, that I never in my life heard such awful swearing as many of them are guilty of. Every sentence is commenced with some tremendous oaih, wfiich MARRTAT'S DIAUY. 99 rcnlly liorrifieB you ; in fact, although in tire dress of gentlemen, m no other point can they lay any pretensions to the title. Of co'irse, I am now speaking of the mass; there are many excep- tions, but even these go with the stream, and make no efforts to resist it. Content with not practieing these vices themselves, tliey have not the courage to protest against thorn in (»ther«. In the Raslern States the »i8b of the knilift was opposed to general feeling, as it is, or as 1 regrfi to say* as it usui to he in this country. I was passing down IlroadwHy in New York, when a scoundrel of a carman flogged with his whip a young Southern who had a lady under his protection. Justly irritated, and no match for the sturdy ruffian in physical strength, the ■young man was so imprudent as to draw his knife, and throw it Indian fashion ; and for so doing, he was with difficulty saved from the indignation of the people. Ohio is chiefly populated by Eastern people; yet to my sur- prise when at Cincinnati, a row took place in the theatre, bowie- knives were drawn by several. I never had an idea that there was such a weapon worn there ; but as 1 afterwards discovered, they were worn in self defence, because the Southe»ners carried them. The same may be said of the States of Virginia and Kentucky, which are really now in many portions of them civil- ized States; but the regular inroad of the Southerners every year keeps up a system, which would before this have very probably become obsolete; but as it is, the duel at sight, and the knife, is resorted to in these States, as well as in the Missis- sippi. This lamentable state of society must exist for some time yet, as civilization progresses but slowly in some of the slave States. Some improvement has of late been made, as I have pointed out ; but it is chiefly the lower class of miscreants who have been rooted out, not the gentleman assassins ; for I can give them no other title. The women of the South appear to have their passions eqtiai- ly violent with the men. When I was at Louisville, a married lady for some fancied aff'ront insisted upon her husband whipping another gentlemen. The husband not wishing to get a broken head, expostulated, upon which she replied, that if he did not she would find some othe gentleman to do it for her. The hus- band who probably was aware that these services are not with- out their reward, went accordingly, and had a turn-up in obe- dience to the lady's wishes. It appears to me, that it is the Southern ladies, and the ladies alone, who can affect any reformation in these points. They have great sway, and if they were to form an association, and declare that they would not marry or admit into their company any n an who carried a bowie-knife or other weapons, that they would ■prevail, when nothing else will. This would be a glorious achievement, and I am convinced from the chivalry towards women shown by the Southerners on every occasion, that they might be prevailed upon by them to leave off customs so disgrace- ful, so demoralizing, and so incompatible with the true princi- ples of hojaour aad Christianity. iii ■i ' i In •• • m f f !■■! I i; V'Y h ; I I j ) Vi 100 maruyat's diauy. M \H CHAPTKR IX. SOCIETY. — WOMEN. The women of America are unqiipstionably. physically, a» far as beauty is eoncorneil, ami morally, of a hisiher standanl than the men ; nevoriheless Ihey have not that itifliience which they oufrht to possess. In my former remarks upon the women of Amenca I Ir.ive said, that they are ihe prelliesl in the world, and I have put the word prrtHest in italics, as I considered it a term peculiarly appropriate to the American women. In many points the Americans have, to a certain dejjrree, arrived at that equality which they profess to covet; and in no one, perhaps, more than in the fair distribution of jrood looks among the women. 'I'his is easily accounted for: there is not to be found, on the one hand, that squalid wretciiedness, that half-starved growing up, that disease and misery, nor on the other, that hereditary refinement, that inoculation of the beautiful, from the constant association with the fine arts, that careful nurture; and constant attention to health and exercise, which exist in the dense population of the cities of the Old World ; and occasion those variations from extreme plainness to the perfection of beauty which are to be seen, particularly in the metropolis of England. In the United States, where neither the excess of misery nor of luxury and refinement are known, you have, therefore, a more equal distribution of good looks, and, although you often meet with beatiful women, it is but rarely that you find one that may be termed ill-favoured. The coup-d'ail is, therefore, more pleasing in America — enter society, and turn your eyes in any direction, you will everywhere find cause for pleasure, although seldom any of annoyance. The climate is not, however, favourable to beauty, which, compared to tho English, is very transitory, especially in the Eastern States; and when a female arrives at the age of thirty, its reign is, generally speaking, over. The climate of the Western States appears, Iwwever, more favourable to it, and I think I saw more handsome women at Cincinnati than in any other city of the Union ; their figures were more perfect, and they were finer grown, not receiving the sudden checks to which the Eastern women are exposed. Generally speaking, but a small interval elapses between the period of American girls leaving school and their entering upon their duties as wives ; but during that period, whetever it may be, they are allowed more liberty than the young people in our country ; walkingout wiihoutc/zo/jcn/ws, and visiting their friends as they please. There is a reason for this: the matrons are compelled, from the insuflUciency of their domestics, to attend personally to all the various duties of housekeeping; their fathers and brothers are all employed in their respective money-making transactions, and a servant cannot be spared from American establishments ; if, therefore, they are to walk out and take exer- cise, it must be alone, and this can be done in the United States witlJ everl at 1( fiorttl eavi encel 8ho> marri be cl certal sels ex'^etl joritj they whic whic •4 marrtatS diary. 101 I ' ■■ with more (lAcurity than elsewhere, from the circumstance of everybody being actively employed, and there being no people at leisure who are strolling or idling about. 1 think that the f)ortion of time which elapses between the period uf a young girl eaving school and being married, is the happiest of her exist- ence. I have already remarked upon the attention and gallantry shown by the Americans to the women, especially to the un- married. This is carried to an extent which, in England, would be considered by our young women as no compliment; to a certain degree it pervades every class, and even the sable dam- sels have no reason to complain of not being treated with the express of politeness ; but in my opinion, (and I believe the ma- jority of the American women will admit the correctness of it,) they do notconf^ider themselves flattered by a species of homage which is paying no compliment to their good sense, and after which the usual attentions of an Englishman to the sex are by some considered as amounting to hauteur and neglect. Be it as it may, the American women are not spoiled by this universal adulation which thoy receive previous to their mar- riage. It is not that one is selected for her wealth or extreme beauty to the exception of all others; in such a case it might prove dangerous; but it is a flattery paid to the whole sex, given to all, and received as a matter of course by all, and therefore it does no mischief. It does, however, prove what I have said at the commencement of this chapter, which is, that the women have not that influence which they are entitled to, and which, for the sake of morality, it is to be lamented that they have not; when men respect women they do not attempt to make fools of them, but treat them as rational and immortal beings, and thiti general adulation is cheating them with the shadow, while they withhold from them the substance. I have said that the period between her emancipation from school and her marriage is the happiest portion of an American woman's existence; indeed it has remindexl me of the fetes and amusements given in a Catholic country to a young girl previ- ous to her taking the veil, and being immured from the world ; for the duties of a wife in America aie from circumstances very onerous, and I consider her existence afler that period as but one of negative enjoyment. And yet she appears anxious to abridge even this small portion of freedom and happiness, for n)arriage is considered almost as a business, or, I should say, a duty, an idea probably handed down by the first settlers, to whom an increase of population was of such vital importance."" How- ever much the Americans may wish tq deny it, I am in- * Bigamy is not uncommon in the United States from the wo- men being in too great a hurry to marry, and not obtaining suffi. cient information relative to their suitors. The punishment is chip- ping stone in Sing Sing for a few years. It must, however, be ad- mitted, that when a foreigner is the party, it is rather difficult to as- certain whether the gentlemen has or has not left an old wife or two in the Old World. ■If \ ■f I i; t-l 102 marryat's diart. W 4 in: l! r: mi Mf H '\ clined to think that there are more marriages of convenance in the United States than in most other countries. The men begin to calculate long before they are of an age to marry, and it is not very likely that they would calculate so well upon all other points, and not upon the value of a dowry ; moreover, the old people "calculate some," and the girls accept an offer without their hearts being seriously compromised. Of course there are, exceptions: but I do not think that there are many love matches made in America, and one reason for my holding this opinion is, my having discovered how quietly matches are broken off and new engagements entered into ; and it is, perhaps, fron a know- ledge of this fact, arising from the calculating spirit of the gen- tlemen, who are apt to consider 20,000 dollars as preferable to 10,000, that the American girls are not too hasty in surrender- ing their hearts. I knew a young lady who was engaged to an acquaintance of mine ; on my return to their city a short time afterwards, I found that the match was broken off, and that she was engaged to an- other, and nothing was thought of it. 1 do not argue from this simple instance, but because I found, on talking about it, that it was a very common circumstance, and because, where scandal is so rife, no remarks were made. If a young lady behaves in a way so as to give offence to the gentleman she is engaged to, and sufficiently indecorous to warrant his breaking off the match, he is gallant to the very last, for he writes to her, and begs that she will dismiss him. This I knew to be done by a party I was acquainted with; he told me that it was considered good taste, and I agreed with him. On the whole, I hold it very fortunate that in American marriages there is, generally S|)eaking, more prudence than love on both sides, for from the peculiar habits and customs of the country, a woman who loved without pru- dence would not feel very happy as a wife. Let us enter into an examination of the married life in the United States. All the men in America are busy; their whole time is en- grossed by their accumulation of money; they breakfast early and repair to their stores or counting-houses; the majority of them do not go home to dinner, but eat at the nearest tavern or oyster- cellar, for they arenerally live at a considerable distance from the business part of the town, and time is too precious to be thrown away. It would be supposed that they would be home to an early tea; many are, hut the majority are not. After fagging, they require recreation, and the recreations of most Americans are politics and news, besides the chance of doing a little more busi- ness, all of which, with drink, are to be obtained at the bars of the principal commercial hotels in the city". The consequence it, that the major portion of them come home late, tired, and go to bed; early the next morning they are off to their busmess again. Here it is evident that the women do not have much of their husband's society ; nor do I consider this arising from any want of inclination on the part of the husbands, as there is an absolute necessity that they should work as hard as others if tliey wish to do well, and what one does, the other must do. MARRYAt's DIARi'. 103 Even frequenting the bar is almost a necessity, for it is there that they obtain an the information of the day. But the result is that the married women are left alone ; their husbands are not their companions, and if they could be, still the majority of the husbands would not be suitable companions for th« following reasons. An American starts into life at so early an age that what he has gained at school, with the exception of that portion brought into use from his business, is lost. He has no time for reading, except the rfewspaper ; all his thoughts and ideas are centred in his employment; he becomes perfect in that, acquires a gr .'at deal of practical knowledge useful for making money, but for little else. This he must do if he would succeed, and the major portion confine themselves to such k nowledge alone. But with the momen it is different; their education is much more extended than that of the men, because they are more docile, and easier to control in their youth ; and when they are married, although their duties are much more onerous than with us, still, during the long days and evenings, during which they wait for the return of their husbands, they have time to finish, I may say, their own educations and improve their minds by reading. The consequence of this with other adjuncts, is that their minds become, and reslly are, much more cultivated and refined than those of their husbands; and when the universal practice of using tobacco and drinkinor amongf the latter is borne in mind, it will be readily admitted that they are also much more refined in their persons. These are the causes why the American women are so uni- versally admired by the English and other nations, while they do not consider the men as equal to them either i'l manners or personal appearance. Let it be borne in mind that I am now speaking of the majority, and that the exceptions are very nu- merous ; for instance, you may except one whole profession, that of the lawyers, among whom you will find no want of gen- tlemen or men oi" highly cnltivated minds; indeed, the same may be said with respect to most of the liberal professions, but only so because their profession allows that time for improving themselves which the American in general, in his struggle on the race for wealth, carmot atFord to spare. As 1 have before observed, the ambition of the American is from circumstances mostly directed to but one object — that of rapidly raising himself above his fellows by the accumulation of a fortune; to this one great desideratum all his energies are directed, all his thoughts are bent, and by it all his ideas are en grossed. When I first arrived in America, as I walked down Broadway, it appeared strange to me that there should be such a remarkable family likeness among the people. Every man I met seemed to me by his features to be a brother or a connec- tion of the last man who had passed me; I could not at first comprehend this, but the mystery was soon revealed. It was that they were all intent and engrossed with the same object ; all were, as they passed, calculating and reflecting; this pro- duced a similar contraction of the brow, knitting of the eye- brows, and compression of th3 lips — a similarity of feeling had ' (■! ! 1 -i ■ I I ' ! m M- 104 marryat's diary. fir !:^ produced a similarity of expression, from the same muscles be- ing called into action. Even their hurried walk assisted the error: it is a saying in ihe United States, " that a New York merchant always walks as if he had a good dinner before him, and a bailiff behind him," and the metaphor is not inapt. Now, a man so wholly engrossed in business cannot be a very good companion if he were at home ; his thoughts would be elsewhere, and therefore perhaps it is better that things should remain as they are. But the great evil arising from this is, that the children are left wholly to the management of their mothers, and the want of paternal control I have already commcitted upon. The Americans have reason to be proud of their women, for they are really good wives — much toogood for them ; I have no hesitation in asserting this, and should there be any unfortu- nate difference between any married couple in America, all the lady has to say is, "The fact is. Sir, I'm much too good for you, and Captain Marryat says so." (I flatter myself there's a little mischief in that last sentence.) It appears, then, that the American woman has little of her husband's society, and that in education and refinement she is much his superior, notwithstanding which she is a domestic slave. For this the Americans are not to blame, as it is the effect of circumstances, over which they cannot be said to have any control. But the Americans are to blame in one point, which is, that they do not properly appreciate or value their wives, who have not half the iniluence which wives have in England, or one quarter that legitimate influence to which they are entitled. That they are proud of them, flatter them, and are kind to them after their own fashion, I grant, but female influence extends no farther. Some authors have said, that by the morals of the wo- men you can judge of the morals of a country ; generally speak- ing, this is true, but America is an exception, for the women are more moral, more educated, and more refined than the men, and yet have at present no influence whatever in society. What is the cause of this ] It can only be ascribed to the one great ruling passion which is so strong that it will admit of no check, or obstacles being thrown in its way, and will listen to no argument or entreaty ; and because, in a country when every- thing is decided by public opinion, the women are as great slaves to it as the men. Their position at present appears to be that the men will not raise themselves to the standard of the women, and the women will not lower themselves to the standard of the men ; they apparently move in difierent spheres, although they repo.se on the same bed. It is, therefore, as I have before observed, fortunate that the marriages in America are more decided by prudence than by affection; for nothing could be more mortifying to a woman of sense and feeling, than to awake from her dream of love, and dis- cover that the object upon which she has bestowed her affection, is indifferent to the sacrifice which she hns made. If the American women had their due influence, it would be fortunate ; they might save their country, by checking the tide MARRTAT S DIARY. 105 :!. t i! " i; i of vice and immorality, and raising the men to their own standard* Whether they ever will effect this, or whether they will con- tinue as at present, to keep up the line of demarcation, or gra- dually sink down to the level of the other sex, is a question which remains to be solved. That the American women have their peculiarities, and in some respects they might be improved, is certain. Their priiici- pal fault in society is, that they do not sufficiently modulate, their voices. Those, faults arising from association, and to which both sexes are equally prone, are a total indifference to or rather a love of change, " shiftingr ritjht away," without the least regret, from one portion of the Union to another; a remark- able apathy as to the sufferings of others, an indifference to loss of life, a fondness for politics, all of which are tinfeminine; and lastly, a passion for dress carried to too great an extent; butthis latter is easily accounted for, and is inseparable from a society where all would be equal. But, on the other hand, the American women have a virtue which the tnen have not, which is moral courage, and one also which is not common with the sex, physi- cal courage. The independence and spirit of an American woman, if left a widow without resources, is immediately shown; she does not sit and lament, but applies herself to some employ- ment, so that she may maintain herself and her children, and seldom fails in so doing. Here are faults and virtues, both proceeding from the same origin. I have already in my Diary referred to another great error in a portion of the American women. Lady Blessington, in one of her delightful works, very truly observes, "I turn with disgust from that affected prudery, arising, if not from a participation, at least from a knowledge of evil, which induces certain ladies to cast down their eyes, look grave, and show the extent of their knowledge, or the pruriency of their imaginations, by discover- ing in a harmless jest notliing to alarm their experienced feel- ings, I resnect that woman whose innate purity prevents those around her from uttering aught that can arouse it, much more than her whose sensitive prudery continually reminds one, that she is au fait of every possible interpretation which a word of doubtful meaning admits." The remarks of Miss Martineau upon the women of America are all very ungracious, and some of them very unjust. That she met with affectation and folly in America, is very pro- bable— where do you not? There is no occasion to go to the United States to witness it. As for the charge of carrying in their hands seventy-dollar pocket-handkerchiefs, I am afraid it is but too true ; but when there is little distinction, except by dress, ladies will be very expensive. I do not know why, but the American ladies have a custom of carrying their pocket-hand- kerchiefs in their hands, either in a rootn, or walking out, or travelling; and moreover, they have a custom of marking their names in the corner, at full length, and when in a steamboat or rail-car, I have, by a little watching, obtained the names of \ V, It. I Of) mauryat's diary. Mm A w v. m li: n ■ S I ladies sitting near me, in consequence of this custom, which of course will be ascribed by Miss Martineau to a wish to give infor- mation to strangers. The remark np(ui tlie Washington belles,* I am afraid is too true, as I have already pointed out that the indifference to human life in America extends to the softer sex; and 1 perfectly well remember, upon my coming into a room at New York with the first intelligence of the wreck of the ' Home,' and the dreadful loss of life attending it, that my news was received with "'adear rae !" from two or three of the ladies, and there the matter dropped. There is, however, much truth in what Miss Martineau says, relative to the manner in which the women are treated by their lords and masters, in this new country. The following quotation from the work is highly deserving of attention: — " If a test of civilization be sought, none can be so snre as the condition of that half of society over which the other half has power, — from the exercise of the right of the strongest. Tried by this test, the American civilization appears to be of a lower order than might have been expected from some other symptoms of its social state. The Americans have, in the treatment of women, fallen below, not only their own demo- cratic principles, but the practice of some parts of the Old World. " The unconsciousness of both parties as ta the injuries suffered by women at the hands of those who hold the power, is a suffi- cient proof of the low degree of civilization in this important par- ticular at which they rest While woman's intellect is confined, her morals crushed, her health ruined, her weakness encouraged, and her strength punished, she is told that her lot is cast in the paradise of women: and there is no country in the world where there is so much boasting of the 'chivalrous' treatment she en- joys. That is to say, — she has the best place in stage-coaches : when there are not chairs enough for every body, the gentle- men stand : she hears oratorical flourishes on public occasions about wives and home, and apostrophes to woman : her husband's hair stands on end at the idea of her working, and he toils to in- dulge her with money : she has liberty to get her brain turned by religious excitements, that her attention may be diverted from morals, politics, and philosophy ; and, especially, her morals are guarded by the strictest observance of propriety in her pre- sence. Jn short, indulgence is given her as a substitute for justice." If Mis^ Martineau had stopped here, she had done well ; but she follows this up by claiming for her sex all the privileges of our own, and seems to be highly indignant, that" they are not ♦ " A Washington belle related to me the sad story of the death of a young man who fell from a small boat into the Potomac in the night, — it is supposed in his sleep. She told me where and how his body was found ; and what relation she had left ; and finished with <* he will be much missed at parties." marryat's diart. 107 permitted to take their due share of the government of the coun- try, and hold the most important situations. To follow up her ideas, we should have a "teeming" prime minister, and the Ijord Chancellor obliged to leave the wool-sack to nurse his baby; Miss M. forgets that her prayer has been half granted already, for we never yet had a ministry without a certain pro- portion of old women in it; and we can, therefore, dispense with her services. There is, however, one remark of Miss Martineau's which I cannot pass over without expressing indignation ; I will quote the passage. f " It is no secret on the spot, that the habit of intempera^jjce is not unfrequent among women of station and education in the most enlightened parts of the country. I witnessed some in- stances, and heard of more. It does not seem to me to be re- garded with all the dismay which such a symptom ought to ex- rite. To the stranger, a novelty so horrible, a spectacle so fearful, suggests wide and deep subjects of investigation. If women, in a region professing religion more strenuously than any other, living in the deepest external peace, surrounded by prosperity, and outwardly honoured more conspicuously than in any other country, can ever so far cast off self-restraint, shame, domestic affection, and the deep prejudices of education, as to plunge into the living hell of intemperance there must be something fearfully wrong in their position." Miss Martineau is a lady ; and, therefore, it is difTicult to use the language which I would, if a man had made such an asser- tion. 1 shall only state, that it is one of the greatest libels that ever was put into print: for Miss Martineau implies that it is general habit, among the American women j so far from it, the American women are so abstemious that they do not drink sufficient for their health. They can take very little exercise, and did they take a Httle more wine, they would not suffer from dyspepsia^ as they now do, as wine would assist their digestion. The origin of this slander I know well, and the only ground for it is, that there are twoor three ladies of a certain city, who having been worked upon by some of the Evangelical Revival Ministers, have had their rninds crushed by the continual excitement lo which they have been subjected. The mind affects the body, and they have required, and have applied to, stimulus, and if you will inquire into the moral state of any woman among the higher classes, either in America or England, who has fallen into the vice alluded to, nine times out often you will find that it has been brought about by religious excitement. Fanaticism and gin are remarkable good friends all over the world. It ie surprising to me that, when Miss Martineau claims for her sex , the same privilege as ours, she should have overlooked one sim- ple fact which ought to convince her that they are the weaker vessels. I refer to what she acknowledges to be true, which is, that the evangelical preachers invariably apply to women for proselytes, instead of men ; not only in America but everywhere else ; and that for one male, they may reckon at least twenty females among their flocks. According to Miss Martineau's fi !:;l m^ H lOS marryat's diart. ■}. '^. !<.' if- i) • \f\ I published opinions, there can be no greater weakness than the above. In the United States, divorces are obtained without expense, and without it being necessary to commit crime, as in England. The party pleads in forma pauperis, to the State Legislation, and a divorce is granted upon any grounds which may be con- sidered as just and reasonable. Miss Martineau mentions a divorce having been granted to a wife, upon the plea of her husband being a gambler; and I was myself told of an instance in which a divorce was granted upon the plea of the husband being such an " awful swearer ;" and really, if any one heard the swearing in some parts of the West- ern country, he would not be surprised at a religious woman requesting to be separated. I was once on board of a steam- boat on the Mississippi, when a man let off such a volley of execrations, that it was quite painful to hear him. An Ameri- can who stood by mc, as soon as the man had finished, observed, " Well, I'm glad that fit^llow has nothing to do with the engines: [ reckon he'd burst the biler.''^ Miss Martineau observes, " In no country I believe are the marriage laws so iniquitous as in England, and the conjugal re- lation, in consequence, so impaired. Whatever may be thought of the principles which are to enter into laws of divorce, whether it be held that pleas for divorce should be one, (as narrow inter- preters of the New Testament would have it;) or two, (as the law of England has it;) or several, (as the Continental and U. Stales' laws in many instances allow,) nobody defends the arrange- ment by which, in England, divorce is obtainable only by the very rich. The barbarism of trranting that as a privilege to the ex- tremely wealthy, to which money bears no relation whatever, and in which uU married persons whatever have an equal in- terest, needs no exposure beyond the mere statement of the fact. It will be seen at a glance how such an arrangement tends to vitiate marriage : how it offers impunity to adventurers, and en- couragement to every kind of mercenary marriages; how abso- lute is its oppression of the injured party, and how, by vitiating marriage, it originates and aggravates licentiousness to an incal- culable extent. To England alone belongs the disgrace of such a method of legislation. I believe that, while there is little to be said for the legislation of any part of the world on this head, it is no where so vicious as in England." I am afraid that these remarks are but too true; and it is the more singular, as not only in the United States, but in every other Protestant community that I have ever heard of," divorce can be obtained upon what are considered just and legitimate grounds. It has been supposed, that should "the marriage tie be loosened, that divorces without number would take place. It was considered so, and so argued, at the time that Zurich (the only Protestant canton in Switzerland that did not permit divorce, except for adultery alone,) passed laWs similar to those of the other cantons; but oo far from such being the case, only one divorce took place, with- in a year afler the laws were amended. What is MARRYAT's DIARr. 109 Ihe reason of thisi It can, in my opinion, only be ascribed to the chain being worn more lightly, when you know that if it oppresses you, it may be removed. Men are naturally tyrants, and they bear down upon the woman who cannot escape from their thraldom; but, with the knowledge that she can appeal against them, they soften their rigor. On the other hand, the woman, when unable to escape, frets with the feeling that she must submit, and that there is no help or hope in prospect; but once aware that she has her rights, and an appeal, she bears with more, and feels less than otherwise she would. You may bind, and from assiietude and time, (putting the better feelings out of the question,) the lies are worn without complaint, but if you bind too tight, you cut into the flesh, and after a time the pain becomes insupportable. In Switzerland, Germany, and, I be- lieve, all the protestant communities of the old world, the grounds upon which divorce is admissible are as follows: — adultery, condemnation of either party to punishment considered as infamous, madness, contagious chronic diseases, desertion and incompatibility of temper. The last will be considered by most people as no ground for divorce. Whether it is or not, I shall not pretend to decide, but this is certain, that it is the cause of the most unhappiness, and, ultimately, of the most crime. All the great errors, all the various schisms in the Christian church, have arisen from not taking the holy writings as a great moral code, (as I should imagine they were intended to be,) which legislates upon broad principles, but selecting particular passages from them upon which to pin your faith. And it cer- tainly appears to me to be reasonable to suppose that those laws by which the imperfection of our natures were fairly met, and which tended to dimirnsh the aggregate of crime, must be more acceptable to our Divine Master than any which, however they might be in spirit more rigidly conformable to his precepts, were found in their working not to succeed. And here I cannot help observing, that the heads of the church of England appear not to have duly weighed this matter, when an attempt was lately made to legislate upon it. Do the English bishops mean to assert that they know better than the heads of all the other pro- testant communities in the world — that they are more accurate expounders of the gospel, and have a more intimate knowledge of God's will? Did it never occur to them, that when so many good and virtuous ecclesiastics of the same persuasion in other countries have decided upon the propriety of divorce, so as to leave them in a very small minority, that it might be possible that they might be wrong, or do they intend to set up and claim the infallibility of the papistical hierarchy? Any legislation to prevent crime, which produces more crime, must be bad and unsound, whatever may be its basis: witness the bastardy clause in the New Poor Law Bill. That the former arrangements were defective is undeniable, for by them there was a premium for illegitimate children. This required 10 1- 1 it' ;:p 1:11' If'i l^r A' .!■ I itjiii ( ("m J,:. \ a f - ■ ' ^1. r 110 MARRTAT^S DIART. amendment: but the remedy has proved infinitely worse than the disease. For what has been the result] That there have been many thousands fewer ille^r'nimate children Wn, it is true; but has the progress of immorality been checked? On the contrary, crime has increased, for to the former crime has been added one much greater, that of infanticide, or producing abor- tion. Such has been the effect of attempting to legislate for the affections; for in most cases a woman falls a sacrifice to her bet- ter feelings, not to her appetite. In every point connected with marriage, has this injurious plan been persevered in; the marriage ceremony is a remarkable instance of this, for, beautiful as it is as a service, it is certainly liable to this objection, that of making" people vow before God that which it is not in human nature to control. The woman vows to love, and to honor, and to cherish; the man to love and (jherish until death doth them part. Is it right that this vow should be madeT A man deserts his wife for another, treats her cruelly, separates her from her chil- dren, (^an a woman love, or honor, or cherish such a mani — nevertheless, she has vowed before God that she will. Take the reverse of the picture when the fault is on the woman's side, and the evil is the same; can either party control their affec- tions? surely not, and therefore it would be better that such yows should not be demanded. There is another evil arising from one crime being the only allowable cause of divorce, whi»h is that the possession of one negative virtue on the part of the woman, is occasionally made an excuse for the practice of vice, and a total disregard of her duties as a wife. I say negative virtue, for chastity very often proceeds from temperament, and as often from not being tempted, A woman may neglect her duties of every kind — but she is chaste; she may make her husband miserable by indulgence of her ill-temper — but she is chaste; she may squander his money, ruin him by expense— but she is chaste; she may, in short, drive him to drunkenness and suicide— but still she is chaste; and chastity, like charity, covers the whole multitude of sins, and is the scape-goat for every other crime, and violation of the mar- riage vow. It must, however, be admitted, that although the faults may occasionally be found on the side of the women, in nine times out often it is the reverse; and that the defects of our marriage laws have rendered English women liable to treatment which ought not to be shown towards the veriest slaves in existence. I must now enter into a question, which I should have had more pleasure in passing over lightly, had it not been for the constant attacks of the Americans upon this subject, during the time that I was in the country, and the remarks of Mr. Carey in his work, in which he claims for the Americans pre-eminence in this point, as well as upon all others. Miss Martineau says, "The ultimate and very strong impres- Mon on the mind of a stranger, pondering on the morals of so- MARRTAT^S DIARY. Ill [I * cirty in America, is that human nature is much the same every where " Surely Miss Martiiieau need not have crossed the At- lantic to make this discovery; however I quote it, as it will serve as a text to what is to follow. The Americans claim excessive purity for their women, and taunt us with the exposees occasionally made in our newspapers. In the first place — which shows the highest regard for morality, a country where any deviation from virtue is immediately made known, and held up to public indignation? or one which, from national vanity, and a wish that all should appear to be correct, instead of publishing, conceals the facts, and permits the guilty parties to escape without censure, for what they consider the honor of the nation? To suppose there is no conjugal infidelity in the United States is to suppose that human nature is not the same every where. That it never, to my knowledge, was made public, but invaria- bly hushed up when discovered, I believe; so is suicide. But one instance came to my knowledge, during the time that I was in the States, which will give a very fair idea of American feel- ing on this subject. It was supposed that an intrigue had been discovered, or, it had actually been discovered, I cannot say which, between a foreigner and the wife of an English gentle- man. It was immediately seized upon with ecstacy, circulated in all the papers with every American embellishment, and was really the subject of congratulation among them, as if they had gained some victory over this country. It so happened that an American called upon the lady, and among other questions put to her, inquired in what part of England she was born? She replied, "that she was not an English-woman, but was born in the States, and brought up in an American city." It is impossible to imagine how this mere trifling fact affected the Americans. She was then an American — they were aghast —and I am convinced that they would have made any sacrifice, to have been able to have recalled all that they had done, and have hushed up the matter. The fact is, that human nature is the same every where, and I cannot help observing, that if their community is so much more moral, as they pretend that it is, why is it that they have consi- dered it necessary to form societies on such an extensive scale, for the prevention of a crime from which they declare themselves (comparatively with us and other nations) to be exempt? I once had an argument on this subject with an elderly American gen- tleman, and as I took down the minutes of it after we parted, I think it will be as well to give it to my readers, as it will show the American feeling upon it. '* Why, Captain M., you must bear in mind that we are not so vicious and contaminated here, as you are in the old country. You don't see our newspapers filled, as yours are, with crim. cons, in high life. No, sir, our institutions are favourable to virtue and morality, and our women are as virtuous as our men arc brave." - :n '. li'i I - 1. 113 MARRY AT'S DIART. I ! "I have no reason to deny either one assertion or the other^ as far as I am acquainted with your men and women; but still I do not judge from the surface, as many have done who have visited you. Because there are no crim. cons, in your papers, it does not prove that conjugal infidelity does not exist. There are no suicides of people of any station in society ever published in your newspapers, and yet there is no country where suicide is more common." " 1 grant that, occasionally, the coroner does bring in a verdict 80 as to save the feelings of the family." " That is more than a coroner would venture to do in England, let the rank of the party be of the highest. But if you hush up suicides, may you not also hush up other oftences, to save the feelings of families'? I have already made up my mind upon one point, which is, that you are content to substitute the appear- ance for the reality in your moral code — the fact is, you fear one another — you fear society, but you do not fear God." " I should imagine, captain, that when you have conversed, and mixed up with us a little more, you will be inclined to re- tract, and acknowledge what I have said to be correct. I have lived all my life in the States, and I have no hesitation in saying that we are a very moral people. Recollect that you have prin- cipally confined yourself to our cities, during your stay with us; yet even there we may proudly challenge comparison." " My opinion is, that unless you can show just cause why you should be more moral than other nations, you are, whether in cities or in the country, much the same as we are. I do not require to examine on this point, as I consider it to be a rule-of- three calculation. Give me the extent of the population, and I can estimate the degree of purity. Mankind demoralize each other by collision; and the larger the numbers crowded together, the greater will be the demoralization, and this rule will hold good, whether in England or the United States, the Old World or the New." " That argument would hold good if it were not for our insti- tutions, which are favourable to morality and virtue." " I consider them quite the contrary. Your institutions are beautiful in theory, but in practice do not work well. I suspect that your society has a very similar defect." "Am I then to understand, captain, that you consider the American ladies as not virtuous]" " I have already said that I have had no proofs to the contra- ry; all I wish is to defend my own country, and I say that I consider the English women at all events quite as moral as the Americans." " I reckon that's no compliment, captain. Now, then, do you mean to say that you think there is as much conjugal infi- delity in New York, in proportion to the population, as there is in London] Now, captain, if you please, we will stick to that point." MARRY AT's DIART. 113 " I answer you at once. No, I do not believe that there is; but " " That's all I want, captain — never mind the 6m/s." *^ Hut you must have the buls. Itecollect, I did not say that your society was more moral, although 1 said that there was in my opinion less infidelity." " vVell, how can that bel" " Because, in the (irst place, conjugal infidelity is not the only crime which exists in society; and, secondly, because there are causes which prevent its being common. That this vice should be common, two things are requisite — time and opportunity; neither of which is to be found in a society like yours. You have no men of leisure, every man is occupied the whole day with his business. Now, suppose one man was to stay away from his business for merely one day, would he not be missed, and inqui- ries made after him; and if it were proved that he stayed away to pass his time with his neighbour s wife, would not the scan- dal be circulated all over the city before nightl I recollect a very plain woinau accusing a very pretty one of indiscretion; the reply of the latter, when the former vaunted her own purity, was, ' Were you ever asked]' Thus it is in America; there is neither time nor opportunity, and your women are in consequence sel- dom or never tempted. I do not mean to say that if they were tempted they would fall; all I say is, that no parallel can in this instance be drawn between the women of the two countries, as their situations are so very different. I am ready to do every justice to your women; but I will not suffer you to remain in the error, that you are more moral than -..'e are." " Why, you have admitted that we are from circumstances, if not from principle." *' In one point only, and in that you appear to be, and I have given you a reason why you really should be so; but we can draw no inference of any value from what we know relative to your better classes of society. If we would examine and calcu- late the standard of morality in a country, we must look else- where?" " Where?" " To the lower class of society, and not to the highest. I pre- sume you are aware that ther^ is a greater proportion of unfortu- nate females in New York, taking the extent of the populations, than in London or Paris? I have it from American authority, and I have every reason to believe that it is true." " I am surprised that any American should have made such an admission, captain; but for the sake of argument let it be so. But first recollect that we have a constant influx of people from the Old Country, from all the other States in America, and that we are a seaport town, with our wharves crowded with ship- ping," " I admit it all, and that is the reason why you have so many. The supply in all countries is usually commensurate with the 10* ;i I fUf M H. lii. B 114 MARRYAT'S DIARY. demand; but the numbers have nothing to do with the argu- ment." "Then T cannot si^e what you aro driving at; for allow me to say that, admitting the clasH to ho as numerous as you state from American authority, still tht'y are vvry ordi-rly and well behaved. You nevor see them drunk in the streets; you never hear swearing or abusive languagr; and you do in London and your sea-ports. There is a decorum and sense of propriety about them which, you must admit, speaks well, even for those unfor- tunate persons, and shows some sense of morality and decency even in our most abandoned." " You have brought forward the very facts which I was about to state, and it is from these facts that I draw quite contrary con- clusions. If your argument is good, it must follow that the women of Paris are much more virtuous than the women of London. Now, I consider that these facts prove that the stand- ard of morality is lower in America and France than it is in England. A French woman who has fallen never drinks, or uses bad language; she follows her profession, and seldom sinks, but rises in it. The grisette eventually keeps her carriage, and retires with sufficient to support her in her old age, if she does not marry. The American women of this class appear to me to be precisely the same description of people; whereas, in Eng- land, a woman who falls, falls never to rise again— sinking down by degrees from bad to worse, until she ends her days in rags and misery. But why sol because, as you say, they become reckless and intemperate — they do feel their degradation, and cannot bear up against it — they attempt to drown conscience, and die from the vain attempt. Now, the French and the American women of this class apparently do not feel this, and, therefore, they behave and do better. This is one reason why I argue that the standard of morality is not so high in your country as with us, although from circumstances, conjugal infi- delity may be less frequent." " Then, captain, you mean to say that cursing, swearing, and drinking, is a proof of morality in your country T* " It is a proof, not of the mora! iiy of the party, but of the high estimation in which virtue is held, shown by the indifference and disregard to every thing else after virtue is once lost." This is a specimen of many arguments held with the Ameri- cans upon that question, and when examining into it, it should be borne in mind that there is much less excuse for vice in America than in the Old Countries. Poverty is" but too often the mother of crime, and in America it may be said that there is no poverty to offer up in extenuation. Mr. Carey appears to have lost sight of this fact when he so triumphantly points at tlie difference between the working classes of both nations, and quotes the Report of our Poor Law Com- missioners to prove the wreichedness and misery of ours. I cannot, however, allow his assertions to pass without observa- MARKY\T^8 DIARY. 115 tion, rsppclally as Engliali nnd Vrciioh travellers linvo hern equally content to admit witliout due exaniin.ition the claims of the Americans; 1 refer more particularly to the larj^e manufac- tory at Lowell, in Massachusetts, which from its assj-rled purity has heen one of the boasts of Anterica. Mr. (.arey says — ♦'The fi»n "wing passage from a statement, furnished hy the manager of ouf* of the principal establishments in Lowell, shows a very gratifying staiv of things; — 'There have only occurred three instances in whu h iv apparently improper connection or intimacy had tak«'n plnce, and in all those cases the parties were married on the discovery, and several months prior to the birth of their childrc"; so that, in ii legal point of view, no illegiti- mate birth has tak^n place among tip females employed in the mills under my direction. Nor have I known of but one case among all the females engaged in Lowell. I have said known — 1 should say heard of one case. 1 am just informed, that that was a case where the female had been employed but a few days in any mill, and was forthwith rejected from the corporation, and sent to her friends. In point of female chastity, 1 believe that Lowell is as free from reproach as any place of an equal popula- lation in the United States or the world.' " And he winds up his chapter with the following remark: — "The eflect upon morals of this state of things, is of the most gratifying charactrer. The number of illegitimate children born in the United States is small; so small, that we should suppose one in fifty to be a high estimate. In the great factories of the east- ern states there prevails a high degree of morality, presenting a most extraordinary contrast to the immorality represented to ex- ist in a large portion of those of England." Next follows Miss Martineau, who says— "The morals of the female factory population may be expected to be good when it is considered of what class it is composed. Many of the girls are in the factories because they have too much pride for domestic service. Girls who are too proud for domestic service as it is in America, can hardly be low enough for any gross immorality, or to need watching, or not to he trusted to avoid the contagion of evil example. To a stranger, their pride seems to have taken a mistaken direction, and they appear to deprive themselves of a respectable home and station, and many benefits, by their dislike of service; but this is alto- gether their own affair, they must choose for themselves their way of life. But the reasons of their choice indicate a state of mind superior to the grossest dangers of their position." And the Rev. Mr, Reid also echoes the praise of the factory girls given by others, although he admits that their dress was above their state and condition, and that he was surprised to see them appear " in silks^ with scarf s^ veils^ and parasols.''^ Here is a mass of evidence opposed to me, but the American evi- dence must be received with all due caution; and as for the Eng- lish, I consider it rather favorable to my side of the question than otherwise. Miss Martineau says that " the girls have too much I H yi l< .! i i| ! ■I 1 1 1 1 1 :r^;i ^ \ ' . - : ; 1 1 !l i; ! t' m 116? marryat's diary. 4 {■ V »fii % I ■,■;!' Kl- Hi; pride for domestic service," and therefore, argues that they will not he immoral; now, (he two great causes of women falling off from virtue, are poverty and false pride. What difference there is between receiving money for watching a spinning-jenny, and doing household work, I do not see; in either case it is sevitude, although the former may be preferred, as being less under con- trol, and leaving more time at your own disposal. I consider the pride, therefore, which Miss Martineau upholds, to he false pride, which will actuate them in other points; and when we find the factory girls vying with each other in silks and laces, it be- comes a query whether the passion for dress, so universal in America, may not have its effect there as well as elsewhere. I must confess that I went to Lowell doubting all I had heard — it was so contrary to human nature that five hundred girls should live among a population of fifteen hundred, or more, all pure and virtuous, and all dressed in silks and satin. When I went to Lowell I travelled with an American gentle- man, who will, 1 have no doubt, corroborate my statement, and I must say that, however pure Lowell may have been at the time when the encomiums were passed upon it, I have every reason to believe, from American authority as well as my own observa- tion, that a great alteration has taken place, and that the manu- factories have retrograded with the whole mass of American society. In the first place, 1 never heard a move accomplished swearer, east of the Alleghanies, than one young lady who ad- dressed me and my Amejican friend, and as it was the only instance of swearing on the part of a female that I ever met wi4h in the United States, it was the more remarkable. I shall only observe, that two days at Lowell convinced me that " human nature was the same every where," and thus I dismiss the subject. Mr. Carey compels me to make a remark which I would gladly have avoided, but as he brings forward his comparative statements of the number of illegitimate children born in the two countries as a proof of the superior morality of America, I must point out to him what I suspect he is not aware of. Public opinion acts as law in America; appearances are there substi- tuted for the reality, and provided appearances are kept up, whether it be in religion or morality, it is sufficient; but should an exposure take place, there is no mercy for the offender. As those who have really the least virtue in themselves are always the loudest to cry out at any lapse which may be discovered in others, so does society in America pour out its anathemas in the inverse ratio of its real purity. Now, although the authority I speak from is undoubted, at the same time I wish to say as little as possible. That there are fewer illegitimate children born in the United States is very true. But why so? because public opinion there acts as the bastardy clause in the new poor law bill has done in this country; and if Mr. Carey will only inquire in his own city, he will find that I should be justified if 1 said twice as much, as I have been compelled in defence of my own country to say, upon so mpleasant a subject. MARRY AT*S DIARY. 117 li I ■ CHAPTER X. PUBLIC OPINION, OR THE MAJORITY. The majority are always in the ri{i;ht, so says Miss Mar- tineau, and so have said greater people than even Miss Mar- tineau; to be sure Miss Martineau qualifies her expression after- wards, when she declares that they always will be right in the end. What she means by that I do not exactly comprehend; the end of a majority is its subsiding into a minority, and a mi- nority is generally right. But I rather think that she would imply that they will repent and see their folly when the conse- quences fall heavily upon them. The great question is, what is a majority? must it be a whole nation, or a portion of a nation, or a portion of the population of a city; or, in fact, any plus against any minus, be they small or be they large. For instance, two against one are a majority, and, if so, any two scoundrels may murder an honest man and be in the right; or it may be the majority in any city, as in Baltimore, where they rose and mur- dered an unfortunate minority;* or it may be a majority on the Canada frontier, when a set of miscreants defied their own go- vernment, and invaded the colony of a nation with whom they were at peace — all of which is of course right. But there are other opinions on this question besides those of Miss Martineau, and we shall quote them as occasion serves. * A striking instance of the excesses which may be occasioned by the despotism of the majority, occurred at Baltimore in 1812. At that time the war was very popular in Baltimore. A journal, which had taken the other side of the quqslion, excited the indignation of the in- habitants by its opposition. The populace assembled, broke the printing, presses, and attacked tfte houses of the ncws|)aper editors. The militia was called out, but no one obeyed the call, and the only means of saving the i>oor wretches, who were threatened by the frenzy of the mr)b, were to throw them into prison as common malefactors. But even this precaution was ineffectual; the moh collected again during the night, the magistrates again made a vain attempt to call out the militia, the prison was forced, one of the newspaper editors was killed upon the spot, and the others were leflt for dead; when the guilty par- tics were brought to trial, they were acquitted by the jury. PI' ^k. ;f ; i " ■ 1 ' *• *1 I . IIS MARRY AT S DIARY< h'\. '. 1 have before observed, that Washingfton left America a re- public; and that in the short space of fifty years it has sunk into a democracy. The barrier intended to be raised aofainst the encroachmerits of the people has been swept away; the senate (which was in- tended, by the arrangements for its election, to have served as the aristocracy of the lejrislature, as a deliberative check to the impetus of the majority, like our House of Lords) having latterly become virtually nothing more than a second congress, receiving instructions, and submissive to them, like a pledged representa- tive. This is what Washington did not foresee. Washington was himself an aristocrat; he slwwed it in every way. He was difficult of access, except to the higher classes. He carried state in his outward show, always wearing his uni- form as general of the forces, and attended by a guard of honor. Indeed, one letter of Washington's proves that he was rather doubtful as to the working of the new government shortly after it had been constituted. He says — "Among men of reflection few will be found, I believe, who are not beginning to think that our system is better in tlieory than in practice^ and that notwithstanding the boasted virtue of America, it is more than probable we shall exhibit the /as/ melaiir choly proif^ that mankind are incompetent to their own govern- ment without the means of coercion in the sovereign.^^* This is a pretty fair admission from such high authority; and fifty years has proved the wisdom and foresight of the observa- tion. Gradually as the aristocracy of the country wore out, (for there was an aristocracy at that time in America,) and the peo- ple became less and less enlightened, so did they encroach upon the constitution. President after president gradually laid down the insignia and outward appearance of rank, the senate became less and less respectable, and the people more and more autho- Titative. M. Tocqueville says, " When the American revolution broke out, distinguished political characters arose in great numbers; for public opinion then served, not to tyrannise over, but to di- rect the exertions of individuals. Those celebrated men took a full part in the general agitation of mind common at that period, and they attained a high degree of personal fame, which was reflected back upon the nation, but which was by no means bor- rowed from it." It was not, however, until the presidency of General Jackson, that the democratic party may be said to have made any serious inroads upon the constitution. Their previous advances were indeed sure, but they were, comparatively speaking, slow"; but raised as he was to the office of President bv the mob, the de- magogues who led the mob obtained the offices under govern- » Washington's letter to Chief Justice Jay, 10th March, 1787. li marryat's diary. 119 ment, to the total exclusion of the aristocratic party, whose doom was then seal-ed. Within the last ten years the uHvance of the people has been like a torrent, sweeping and levelllnof all before It, and the will of the majority has become not only absolute with the government, but it defies the government itself, which is too weak to oppose it. Is it not strange, and even ridiculous, that under a govern- ment established little more than fifty years, a government which was to be a lesson to the whole world, we should find political writers making use of language such as this: " We are for re- form^ sound pro If ressive reform^ not subversion and destruction." Yet such is an extract from one of the best written American periodicals of the day- This is the language that may be ex- ftected to be used in a country like England, which still legis- ates under a government of eight hundred years old; but what a failure must that government be, which in fifty years calls forth even from its advocates such an admission!! M. Tocqueville says, "Custom, however, has done even more than laws. A proceeding which will in the end set all the guarantees of representative government at nought, is becoming more and more general in the United States: it frequently hap- pens that the electors who choose u delegate, point out a certain line of conduct to him, and impose upon him a certain number of positive obligations, which he is pledged to fulfil. With the exception of the tumult, this comes to the same thing as if the majority of the populace held its deliberations in the market- place." Speaking of the majority as the popular will, he says, "no obstacles exist which can impede, or so much as retard its pro- gress, or which can induce it to heed the complaints of those whom it crushes upon its path. This state of things is fatal in itself, and dangerous for the future." My object in this chapter is to inquire what effect has been produced upon the morals of the American people by this ac- knowledged dominion of the majority! 1st. As to the mass of the people themselves. It is elear, if the people not only legislate, but, when in a state of irritation or excitement, they defy even legislation, that they are not to be compared to restricted sovereigns, but to despots, whose will and caprice are law. The vices of the court of a despot are, therefore, practised upon the people; for the people become, as it were, the court, to whom those, in authority, or those who would be in authority, submissively bend the knee. A despot is not likely ever to hear the truth, for moral courage fails where there is no law to protect it, and where honest advice may be rewarded by summary punishment. The people, therefore, like the despot are never told the truth; on the contrary, they receive and expect the most abject submission from their courtiers, to wit, those in office, or expectants. Now, the President of the United States may be considered Ml I! 1 r I t fM 4 > . ( ( -^ ■ r- ' . : M' \ 1: ^i h\ m m 120 MARRY AT's diary. the Prime Minister of an enlightened puhlic, who govern them- selves, and liis communication with them is in his annual mes- sage. Let us examine what Mr. Van Buren says in his last mes- sage. First, hehnmhly acknowledges their power. *'A national hank," he tells them, *' would impair the rightful supremacy of the popular wiliy And this he follows up with that most delicate species of flat- tery, that of praising them for the very virtue which they are most deficient in; telling them they are "A people to whom the truths however unpromising, can alwiiys he told with safety.''^ At the very time when they were defying all law and all government, he says, " It was reserved for the American Union to test the advantage of a government entirely dependent on the continual exercise of the popular will, and our experience has shown that it is as beneficent in practice, as well as it is just in theory.'''* At the very time when nearly the whole Union were assisting the insurrection in Canada with men and money, he tells them "That temptations to interfere in the intestine commotions of neighboring countries have been thus far successfully resisted." This is quite enough; Mr. Van Buren's motives are to be re- elected as president. That is very natural on his part; but how can you expect a people to improve who never hear the truth? Mr. Cooper observes, " Monarchs have incurred more hazards from follies of their own that have grown up under the adulation of parasites, than from the machinations of their enemies; and in a democracy, the delusion that still would elsewhere be poured into the ears of the prince, is poured into those of the people. The same system is pursued by all those who would arrive at or remain in place and power; and what must be the conse- quence] That the straight-forward, honorable upright man is rejected by the people, while the parasite, the adulator, the de- magogue, who flatters their opinion, asserts theii supremacy, and yields to their arbitrary demands, is the one selected by them for place and power. Thus do they demoralize each other; and it is not until a man has, by his abject submission to their will, in contradiction to his own judgment and knowledge, proved that he is unworthy of the selection which he courts, that he is peimitted to obtain it. Thus it is that the most able and conscientious men in the States are almost unanimously rejected. M. Tocqueville says, " It is a well-authenticated fact, that at the present day the most talented men in the United States are very rarely placed at the head of affairs; and it must be acknow- ledged that such has been the result in proportion as democracy has outstepped all its former limits; the race of American states- men has evidently dwindled most remarkably in the course of the last fifty years." Indeed, no high-minded consistent man will now offer himself, and this is one cause among many why Englishmen and fo- roigne States The retiree rathei M. Marry at's diary. 121 rmgners have not done real justice to the people of the United States. The scum is uppermost, and they do not see below it. The prudent, the enlightened, the wise, and the good, have all retired into the shade, preferring to pass a life of quiet retirement, rather than submit to the insolence and dictation of a mob. M. Tocqueville says, "Whilst the natural propensities of de- mocracy induce the people to reject the most distinguished citi- zens as its rulers, these individuals are no less apt to retire from a political career, in which it is almost impossible to retain their independence, or to advance without degrading themselves." Again, " At the present day the most affluent classes of society are so entirely removed from the direction of political affairs in the United States, that wealth, far from conferring a right to the exercise of power, is rather an obstacle than a means of attaining to it. The wealthy members of the community abandon the lists, through unwillingness to contend, and frequently to con- tend in vain, against the poorest classes of their fellow-citizens. They concentrate all their enjoyments in the privacy of their homes, where they occupy a rank which cannot be assumed in public, and they constitute a private society in the state which has its own tastes and its own pleasures. They submit to this state of things as an irremediable evil, but they are careful not to show that they are galled by its continuance. It is even not uncommon to hear them laud the delights of a republican go- vernment, and the advantages of democratic institutions, when they are in public. Next to hating their enemies, men are most inclined to flatter them. But beneath this artificial enthusiasm, and these obsequious attentions to the preponderating power, it is easy to perceive that the wealthy members of the community entertain a hearty distaste to the democratic institutions of their country. The populace is at once the object of their scorn and of their fears. If the maladministration of the democracy ever brings about a revolutionary crisis, and if monarchical constitu- tions ever become practicable in the United States, the truth of what I advance will become obvious/' It appears, then, that the more respectable portion of its citi- zens have retired, leaving the arena open to those who are least worthy: that the majority dictate, and scarcely any one ventures to oppose them; if any one does, he is immediately sacrificed; the press, obedient to its masters, pours out its virulence, and it is incredible how rapidly a man, unless he be of a superior mind, falls into nothingness in the United States, when once he has dared to oppose the popular will. He is morally bemired, be- spattered, and trod under foot, until he remains a lifeless carcase. He falls, never to rise again, unhonored and unremembered. Captain Hamilton, speaking to one of the federalist, or aristo* cratical party, received the following reply. I have received similar ones in more than fifty instances. " My opinions, and I believe those of the party to which I belonged, are unchanged; and the course of events in this country has been such as to im- U f • J; ■ '. ! \ ^ . ' hi . 1 ■ i^' ll lit 132 MARRVAT'S DIARF. e;;- • I iyl :\ i press only a deeper and more thoroug-h' conviction of their wis- dom; but, in the present state of public feeling, we dare nut express them. An individual professirigr such opinions would not only find himself excluded from every office of public trust wiihin the scope of his reasonable ambition, but he would be regarded by his neighbors and fellow-citizens with an evil eye. His words and actions would become the objects of jealous and malignant scrutiny, and he would have to sustain the unceasing attacks of a host of unscrupulous and ferocious assailants." Mr. Cooper says, " The besetting, the degrading vice of Ame- rica, is the njoral cowardice by which men are led to truckle to ■what is called public opinion, though nine times in ten these opinions are mere engines set in motion by the most corrupt and least respectable portion of the community, for the most unwor- thy purposes. The English are a more respectable and constant [unconstanti] nation than the Americans, as relates to this peculiarity." To be popular with the majority in America, to be a favourite with the people, you must first divest yourself of all freedom of opinion; you must throw off all dignity; you must shake hands and drink with every man you meet; you must be, in fact, slo- venly and dirty in your appearance, or you will be put down as an aristocrat. 1 recollect once an American candidate asked me if I would walk out with him? I agreed ; but he requested leave to change his coat, which was a decent one, for one very shabby; " for," says he, " I intend to look in upon some of my constitu- ents, and if they ever saw me in that other coat, I should lose my election." This cannot but remind the reader of the custom of candidates in former democracies — standing up in the market- place as suppliants in tattered garments, to solicit the " voices" of the people. That the morals of the nation have retrograded from the total destruction of the aristocracy, both in the government and in society, which has taken place withm the last ten years, is most certain. The power has fallen into the hands of the lower orders, the of- fices under government have been chiefly filled up by their favor- ites, either being poor and needy men from their own class, or base and dishonest men, who have sacrificed their principles and consciences for place. I shall enter more fully into this subject hereafter; it is quite sufficient at present to say, that during Mr. Adams' presidency, a Mr. Benjamin Walker was a defaulter to tlie amouftt of ^18,000, and was in consequence incarcerated for two years. Since the democratic party have come into power, the quantity of defaulters, and the sums which have been em- bezzled of government money, are enormous, an.-^ no punishment of any kind has been attempted. They s^.v n is only a breach of trust, and that a breach of trust is not punishable, except by a civil action; which certainly in the United States is of little avail, as the payment of the money can always be evaded. The ^i|i ■, ■ 1 marryat's diary. 123 ronseqiience is that you meet with defaulters in, I will not say the very best society grenerally, but in the very best society of some portions of the United States. I have myself sat down to a dinner party to which I had been invited, with a defaulter to r < 11* lU i.: h n .1 u I f • i'Jl 1. ; \ ' ' ' ' . r is I :■ ill If 1 [ i t; I 12G MARRYAT S DIARY. CHAPTER XI. PATRIOTISM. m' I This is a word of very doubtful meaning; and until we have the power to analyze the secret springs of action, it is impossi- ble to say who is or who is not a patriot. The Chartist, the White Boy, may really be patriots in their hearts, although they are attempting revolution, and are looked upon as the enemies of good order. Joseph Hume may be a patrici, so may O'Connell, so may ; but never mind; I consider thnt if, in most cases, in all countries, the word egotism were substituted it would be more correct, and particularly so in America. M. Tocqueville says, " The inhabitants of the United States talk a great deal of their attachment to their country; but I con fess that I do not rely upon that calculating patriotism which is founded upon interest, and which a change in the interests at stake may obliterate." The fact is, that the American is aware that what affects the general prosperity must affect the individual, and he therefore is anxious for the general prosperity; ho also considers that ho assists to legislate for the country, and is therefore equally in- terested in such legislature being prosperous; if, therefore, you attack his country, you attack him personally—you wound his vanity and self-love. In America, it is not our rulers who have done wrong or right: it is we (or rather I) who have done wron^ or right, and the consequence is, that the American is rather irritable on the sub- ject, as every attack is taken as personal. It is quite ridiculous to observe how some of the very best of the Americans are tickled when you praise their country and institutions; how they will wince at any qualification in your praise, and actually writhe under auy positive disparagement. They will put ques- tions, even if they anticipate an unfavorable answer; they can- not help it. What is the reason of thisl Simply their better sense wrestling with the errors of education and long-cherished fallacies. They feel that their institutions do not work as they would wish; that the theory is not borne out by the practice, and they want support against their own convictions. They « ' MARRY AT's U^mf* 127 cannot bear to eradicate deep-rooted pr* 'dices, wl >-h have been from their earliest days a source of prid > and vain ^Mory; and to acknowledge that what they have considered as most pc'ect, what they have boasted of as a lesson to other nations, wha' ley have suffered so much to uphold, in surrendering their 1 erty of speech, of action, and of opinion, has after all proved U, e a miserable failure, and instead of a lesson to other natioub^a warnmg. Yet such are the doubts, the misgivings which fluctuate in, and irritate the minds of a very large proportion of the Ameri- cans; and such is the decided conviction of a portion who retire into obscurity and are silent; and every year adds to the number of both these parties. They remind one of a husband who, having married for love, and supposed his wife to be perfection, gradually finds out she is full of Aiults, and renders him any thing but happy; but his pride will not allow him to acknow- ledge that he has committed an error in his choice, and he con- tinues before the world to descant upon her virtues, and to conceal her errors, while he feels that his home is miserable. It is because it is more egotistical that the patriotism of the American is more easily roused and more easily affronted. He has been educated to despise all other countries, and to look upon his own as the first in the world; he has been taught that all other nations are slaves to despots, and that the American citizen only is free, and this is never contradicted. For although thousands may in their own hearts feel the falsehood of their assertions, there is not one who will venture to express his opinion. The government sets the example, the press follows it, and the people receive the incense of flattery, which in other countries is offered to the court alone, and if it were not for the occasional compun'itions and doubts, which his real good sense will sometimes visit him with, the more enlightened American would be happy in his own delusions, as the majority most cer- tainly may be said to be. M. Tocqueville says, " For the last fifty years no pains have been spared to convince the inhabitants of the United States that they constitute the only religious, enlightened, and free people. They perceive that, for the present, their own democratic insti- tutions succeed, while those of other countries fall; hence they conceive an overweening opinion of their superiority, and they are not very remote from believing themselves to belong to a distinct race of mankind." There are, however, other causes which assist this delusion on the part of the majority of the Americans; the principal of which is the want of comparison. The Americans are too far removed from the old continent, and are too much occupied even if they were not, to have time to visit it, and make the com- parison between the settled countries and their own. America is so vast, that if they travel in it, their ideas of their own im- portance become magnified. The only comparisons they are able i I ' i; I i i ;; ,1 i 1 »t f > i ■ •r' %. ■ Mh f^: m 128 MAHRYAT 9 PIARY. to make are only as to the quantity of Hqiraro acres in each coan- try, which, of course, is vastly in thoir favor. Mr. Sanderson, the American, in his clever Sketches of Paris, observes, '* It is certainly of much value in the life of an Ameri- enn gentleman to visit these oM countries, if it were only to form a just estimate of his own, which he is continually liable to mis- take, and always to overrate without objects of comparison; * nimium sc ststimet nercsse cs/, quise ncinini cumparat.^ He will always think himself wise who sees nobody wiser; and to know the customs and institutions of foreign countries, which ono cannot know well without residing there, is certainly the com- plement of a good education." After all, is there not a happiness in this delusion on the part of the American majority, and is not the feeling of admiration of their own country borrowed from ourselves] The feeling may be more strong with the Americans, because it is more egotistical; but it certainly is the En But Id us 1)0 fair; America is tluj country of enthuniusm and Ijcpe, and wo must not bo too sovero upon what from a virgin «< il has sprunfT up too luxuriantly. It it) but the Kngliah amor vatn'iL' carried to to») sr<'i»t an excosH. The Americans arc great l)oa8ters; but are wo far behind thcnil One of our most popular songs runs as follows:— •' Wo ne'er see our foes, but wo wish them to stay; They never see us, but tiiey wi«h us awuy." What can bo more bragging, or more untrue, than tho words «»f these lines'? In tho same way in Kngland tho common people hold it as a proverb, that "one Englishman can beat three Frenchmen," but there are not many Englishmen who would succeed in the attempt. Nor is it altogether wrong to encourage these feelings; although arrogance is a fault in an intlividnal, in a national point of view, it often becomes tho incentive to great actions, and, if not excessive, insures the success inspired by confidence. As by giving people credit for a virtue which they have not, you very often produce that virtue in them, 1 think it not unwise to implant this feeling in the hearts of the lower classes, who, if they firmly believe that they can beat three Frenchmen, will at all events attempt to do it. That too groat success is dangerous, and that the feeling of arrogance produced by it may lead us into the error of despising our enemy, we our- selves showed an example of in our first contest with America during the last war. In that point America and England have now changed positions, and from false education, want of com- parison, and unexpected success in their struggle with us, they are now much more arroirant than we were when most flushed with victory. They are blind to their own faults and to the merits of others, and while they are so, it is clear that they will oflfend strangers, and never improve themselves. 1 have often laughed at the false estimate held by the Hiajority in America as to England. One told me, with a patronizing air, that "in a short time, England would only be known as having been tho mother of America." " When you go into our interior, captain," said a New York gentleman to me, " you will see plants, such as rhododendrons, magnolias, and hundreds of others, such as they have no con- ception of in your own country." One of Jim Crow's verses in America is a fair copy from us: " Englishman he beat Two French or Portugee; Yankec-doodle come down, Whip them all three.'* But an excellent specimen of the effect of American education was given the other day in this country, by an American lad of ill, ii if- ill r . ! I'. I*. ( fir-' 1*1 m § F ; ' i .' t. %■'. I 9 t! ■ it \ Wl 130 MVRRVAT S DIARY. fonrteen or fifteen years old. He was at a dinner party, and after dinner the conversation turned upon the merits of the Dnke of Wellinorton. After liearing the just eneomiums for some tiroe with fidtretty impatience, the lad rose from his chair, " You talk ahout your Duke of Wellinnrton, what do you say to Wash- inopton: do you pretend to compare Wellington to Washington? -Now, I'll just tell you, if Washington could he standing hero now, and the Duke of Wellington was only to look him in the face; why, Sir, W^^llington woiild drop down dead in an instant." This I was told by the gentleman at whoso table it occurred. Even when they can use their eyes, they will not. I ovc- heard a conversation on the (h>ck of a steam-boat between a man who had just arrived from England and another. "* Have they much trade at Liverpool?" inquired the latter. " Yes, they've some." "And at London?" " Not much there, I reckon. New \rr\{, Sir, is the emporium of the whole world." This national vanity is fed in every possible way. At one of the museums, I asked the subject of a picture representing a naval engagement; the man (supposing I was an American, I presume) replied, " that ship there," pointing to one twice as big as the other, "is the Macedonian English frigate, and that other frigate," pointing to the small one, "is the Constitution Ameri- can frigate, which captured her in less than five minutes." In- deed, so great has this feeling become from indulgence, that they will not allow any thing to stand in its w^ay, and will sa- crifice any body or any thing to support it. It was not until I arrived in the United States that I was informed by sever?! people that Captain Lawrence, who commanded the Chesapeake, was drunk when he went into action. Speaking of the action, one man shook his head, and said, "Pity poor Lawrence had his failing; he was otherwise a good officer." I was often told the same thing, and a greater libel was never uttered; but thus was a gallant officer's character sacrificed to sooth the national vanity. I hardly need observe, that the American naval officers are as mucii disgusted with the assertion as I was myself. That Lawrence fought under disadvantages — that many of his ship's company, hastily collected together from leave, were not sober, and that there was a want of organisation from just coming out of harbor — is true, and quite sufficient to account for his defeat; hut I have the evidence of those who walked with him down to his boat, that he was perfectly sober, cool, and collected, as he always had proved himself to be. i3ut there is no gratitude in a democracy, and to be unfortunate is to be guilty. There is a great deal of patriotism of one sort or the other in the American women. I recollect once, when conversing with a highly-cultivated and beautiful American woman, I inquired if she knew a lady who had been sometime in England, and who was a great favourite of mine. She replied, "Yes." "Don't you like her?" "To confess the truth, I do not," re- pllC( like rcpli MARRY AT's diary. i:]i :l. re- pliod she; " she is loo English for me." "That is to say, shr likes England and the Knglish." "That is what 1 mean." [ replied, that "had she been in Enjrland, she would probably have become loo English also; for, with her cultivated and ele- gant ideas, she must naturally have been pleased with the re- finement, luxury, and established grades in f?oci(>ty, which it had taken eight hundred years to produce." " If that is to be the case, I hope 1 may never go to England." Now, this was true patriotism, and there is much true patriotism among the higher classes of the American women; with them there is no alloy of egotism. Indeed, all the women in America are very patriotic; but I do not give them all the same credit. In the first place, they are controlled by public opinion as much as the men are; and with- out assumed patriotism they would have no chance of getting husbands. As you descend in the scale, so are they the more noisy; and, I imagine, for that very reason the less sincere. Among what may be termed the middling classes, I have been very much amused with the compound of vanity and igno- rance which I have met with. Among this class tliey can read and write, but almost all their knowledge is confined to their own country, especially in geography, which I soon discovered. It was hard to beat them on American ground, but as soon as you got them off that they were defeated. I wish the reader to understand particularly, that I am not speaking now of the well- bred Americans, but of that portion which would with us b« considered as on a par with the middle class of shop-keepers; for I had a very extensive acquaintance. My amusement was, to make some comparison between the two countries, which I knew would immediately bring on the conflict 1 desired; and not with- out danger, for I sometimes expected, in the ardor of their pa- triotism, to meet with the fate of Orpheus. I soon found that the more I granted, the more they demanded: z\A tnat the best way was never to grant any thing. I was once in a room full of the softer sex, chiefly girls, of all ages; whe« the mamma of a portion of them, who was sitting on the sofa, as we mentioned steam, said, " Well now, captain, you will allow that we are a-head of you there." " No," replied I, " quite the contrary. Our steam-boats go all over the world— your's are afraid to leave the rivers." "Well now, captain, I suppose you'll allow America is a bit bigger country than England 1" " It's rather broader — but, if I recollect right, it's not quite so long." "Why, captain!" " Well, only look at the map." " Why, isn't the Mississippi a bigger river than you have in England 1" " Bigger % Pooh ! haven't we got the Thames 1" , " The Thames 1 why that's no river at all." ' J: i i •tU ;i . n i' ( |, i ; |r Pi:! my i'-: \ \ Elf :■■*■ m i m. 132 marrvat's niARV. "Isn't it? Just look at the map, and mcasaro them." " Well now, captain, I tell you what, you call your Britain the mistress of the seas, yet we whipped you well, and you know that." "Oh! yes — you refer to the Shannon and Chesapeake, don't you 1" " No ! not that time, because Lawrence was drunk, they say; but didn't we whip you well at New Orleans]" "No, you didn't." " No ] oh, captain !" "I say you did not. If your people had come out from behind their cotton bales and sugar casks, we'd have knocked you all into a cocked hat; but they wouldn't come, so we walked away in disgust." " Now, captain, that's romancinjr — that won't do." Here the little ones joined in the cry, "We did beat you, and you know it." And hauling me into the centre of the room, they joined hands in a circle, and danced round me, singing, " Yankee doodle is a tnne, Which is nnlion handy, Ml the British ran nway At Yankee doodle dandy." I shall conclude by stating that this feeling, call it patriotism, or what you please, is so strongly implanted in the bosom of the American by education and association, that wherever, or when- ever, the national honor or character is called into question, there is no sacrifice which they will not make to keep up appearances. It is this which induces them to acquit murderers, to hush up suicides, or any other offence which may reflect upon their as- serted morality. I would put no confidence even in an official document from the government, for I have already ascertained how they will invariably be twisted, so as to give no offence to the majority; and the base adulation of the government to the people is such, that it dare not tell them the truth, or publish any thing which might wound its self-esteem. I shall conclude with two extracts from a work of Mr. Cooper* the American: — " We are almost entirely wanting in national pride, though abundantly supplied with an irritable vanity^ which might rise to pride had we greater confidence in our facts." " We have t'le t,onsitiveness of provincials, increased by the consciousness of having our spurs to earn on all matters of glory and renown, and our jealousy expends even to the reputations of the cats and dogs.^^' \'f ■m. MARRY AT's diary. 133 CHAPTER XII. ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES. Captain Hamilton has, in his work, expressed his opinion that the, Americans have no feeling of ill-will against this coun- try. If Captain Hamilton had stated that the gentlemen and more respectahle portion of the Americans, such as the New York merchants, &c., had no feelinj^ acrainst this country, and were most anxious to keep on good terms with us, he would have been much more correct. You will find ail the respecta- ble portion of the daily press using their best endeavours to re- concile any animosities, and there is nothing which an Ameri- can gentleman is more eloquent upon, when he falls in with an Englishman, than in trying to convince him that there is no hos- tile feeling against this country.* I had not been a week at New York before I had this assurance given me at least twenty times, and I felt inclined at first to believe it: but I soon dis- covered that this feeling was only confined to a small minority, and that the feelings towards England of the majority, or demo- cratic party, were of (kep irreconcilable hatred. I ain sorry to assert this; but it is better that it should be known, that we may not be misled by any pretended good-will on the part of the gov- ernment, or the partial good will of a few enlightened individ- uals. Even those who have a feeling of regard and admiration for our country do not venture to make it known, and it would place them in so very unpleasant a situation, that they can scarcely be blamed for keeping their opinions to themselves. With the 'English they express it warmly, and I believe them to be sincere; but not being openly avowed by a few, it is not com- municated or spread by kindling similar warmth in the hearts of others. Indeed it is not surprising, when we consider the na- tional character, that there should be an ill-feeling towards Eng- * Soon after I arriwcl at New York, the nrival officers very kindly sent me adijilorna as honorarj- member of their [iVcenni, over at Brook- lyn. I went over to visit the Lyceum, and auioiio^ dther portrait-?, in the most connpicuous part of the room, was that ot VViihim IV., with the "Sailor King" written undcrnrath it in larjrc cn|)it;il«. As for the present Queen, her health has hccn repeatedly dran!; in my prepcnco ; indeed her accession to our throne appeared to have put a large portion of the Americans in good hnmnnr with monarchy. Up to the present siic has been quite a pet of theirs, and they are con- tinually a^'king questions concerning her. Tlin fact is, that the Ameri- cans show such outward delerencc to the other sex, that I do not think they wouid have any objox'ition themselves to be governed by it; and if ever a monarchy were attempted in the United States, the fir»5t reigning sovereign ought to be a very pretty woman. 12 M- f; 'if M' f ' 134 MARRY AT S DIARV. land; it would be much more strange if the feelin«r did not ex- ist. That the Americans should, after their strugofle for inde- pendence, have felt irritated against the mother country, is natu- ral; they had been oppressed — they had successfully resented the oppression, and emancipated themselves. But still the feel- ing at that time was different from the one which at present ex- ists. Then it might be compared to the feeling in the heart of a younger son of an ancient house, who had been compelled by harsh treatment to disunite from the head of the family, and pro- vide for himself— Ptill proud of his origin, yet resentful at the remembrance of injury — at times vindictive, at others full of ten- derness and respect. The aristocratical and the democratical impulses by turns gaining the ascendant it was then a manly, fine feelingf. The war of 1814, the most fatal event in the short American history, would not have been attended with any in- crease of ill-will, as the Americans were satisfied with their suc- cessful repulse of our attempts to invade the country, and their unexpected good fortune in their naval conflicts. Tliey felt that they had consideration and respect in the eyes of other nations, and, what was to them still more gratifying, the respect of En- gland herself. In every point they were fortunate, for a peace was concluded upon honourable terms just as they were begin- ning to feel the bitter consetpiences of the war. But tlie efl'cct of this war was to imbue the peoj)le with a strong idea of their military prowess, and the national glory became their f^ivourite theme. Their hero. General Jackson, was raised to the presi- dency by the democratical party, and ever since the Americans have been ready to bully or quarrel vvith anybody and about everything. This feeling becomes stronger every day. They want to whip the whole worhL The wise and prudent perceive the folly of this, and try all they can to produce a better feeling; but the ma- jority are now irresistible, and their fiat will decide upon war or peace. The government is powerless in opposition to it; all it can do is to give a legal appearance to any act of violence. This idea of their own prowess will be one cause of danger to their institutions, for war must ever be fatal to democracy. In this country, during peace, we become more and more demo- cratic; but whenever we are again forced into war, the reins will be again tightened from necessity, and thus war must ever in- terfere with free institutions. A convincing proof of the idea the Americans have of their own prowess was when General Jackson made the claim for compensation from the French. Through the intermediation of England the claim was adjusted, and peace preserved; and the Americans are little aware what a debt of gratitude they owe to this country for its interference. They were totally ignorant of the power and resources of France. They had an idea, and I was told so fifty times, that France paid the money from /ear, and that if she had not, they m ould have ** whipped her into the little end of nothing." I do not doubt that ilie Americans would have tried their best; MARRY AT^8 DIARY. 135 I but lam of opinion^ (notwithstanding the Americans would haro been partially, from their acknowledged bravery, successful,) that in two years Trance, with her means, which are well known to, and appreciated by, the Ennrlish, would (to use their own terms again,) have made "an everlasting smash" of the United States, and the Americans would have had to couclude an igno- minious peace. I am aware that this idea will be scouted in America as absurd; but still 1 am well persuaded that any pro- tracted war would not only be their ruin in a pecuniary point of view, but fatal lo their institutions. But to return. There are many reasons why the Americans have an invete- rate dislike to this country. In the first place, they are educated to dislike us and our monarchical institutions; their short history points out to them that we have been their only oppressor in the lirst instance, and their opponent ever since. Their annual cele- bration of the independence is an opportunity for vituperation of this country which is never lost sight of. Their national vanity is hurt by feeling what they would fam believe, that they are not the "greatest nation on earth;" that they are indebted to us, and the credit we give them, for their prosperity and rapid ad- vance; that they must still look to us for their literature and the fme arts, and that, in short, they are still dependent upon Eng- land. I have before observed, that this hostile spirit against us is fanned by discontented emigrants, and by those authors who, to become popular with the majority, laud their own country and defame England; but the great cause of this increase of hostility against us is the democratic party having come into power, and who consider it necessary to excite animosity against this coun- try. Whenever it is requisite to throw a tub to the whale, the press is immediately full of abuse; everything is attributed to England, and the machinations of England; she is, by their ac- counts, here, there, and everywhere, plotting mischief and injury, from the Gulf of Florida to the Rocky Mountains. If we are to believe the democratic press, England is the cause of every- tliing offensive to the majority — if money is scarce, it is England that has occasioned, it — if credii is bad, it is England— if eggs are not fresh or beef is tough, it is, it must be, England. They remind you of the parody upon Fitzgerald in Smitli's humorous and witty "Rejected Address," when he is supposed to write against Buonaparte: — " Who made the quartern loaf and Luddites ri>e, Who fills the butchers' shops with larc^e bhie files; With a foul earthquake ravaged the ('arraccas, And raised the price of dry goods and tobaccos?" Why, England. And all this the majority do steadfastly be- lieve, because they wish to believe it. How, then, is it possible that tb*: lower classes in the United States, (and the lower and unenlightened principally compose the majority,) can have other than feelings of ill-will towards this country? and of what avail is it to us that the high-minded and sensible portion think otherwise, when they are in such a If' 1 n «:*M iW'ii !■' i I !! I ' 136 MARRVAT'S DIARY. -V! ii m i If I" ' ■ ■ ■■%. X :■ ';■'■; Ji? ^ri ^ j^- ■ ■i ■■*■ ■--■f ,t, " : ' Ji^t trifling minority, and afraid to express their sentiments'? When we talk about a nation, we look to the mass, and that the mass are hostile, and inveterately hostile to this country, is a most undeniable fact. There is another cause of hostility which I have not adverted to, the remarks upon them by travellers in their country, such as I am now makiiiy; but ?.s the Americans never hear the truth from their own countrymen, it is only from forei<]fners* that they can. Of course, after havijiorlion with the increase of the popular sway. mn ■1 :N 1 ■ ,' i ■f: ;■ »5 CHAPTER xnr. SOCIETY. — GENERAL CHARACTER, &C. The character of the Americans is that of a restless, uneasy people — they cannot sit still, they cannot listen attentively, un- 140 MARRY AT*S DIARY. Rl'l ■| !■' 44 '' n.'*' t > >' ii.;i > II ,14*1 less the theme be politics or dollars— they must do something', and, like children, if they cannot do any thing else, they will do mischief — their curiosity is unbounded, and they are very ca- pricious. Acting upon impulse, they are very generous at one moment, and without a spark of charity the next. They are gfood-tempered, and possess «rreat energy, ingenuity, bravery, and presence of mind. Such is the estimate I have formed of their general character, independent of the demoralising effects of their institutions, which renders it so anomalous. The American author, Mr. Sanderson, very truly observes of his countrymen, that *' they have grown vici«us without the refinements and distractions of the fine arts and liberal amuse- ments." The Americans have few amusements; they are too busy. Athletic sports they are indifferent to; they look only to those entertainments which feed their passion for excitement. The theatre is almost their only resort, and even that is not so well attended as it mipht be, considering their means. There are some very good and well-conducted tlioatrcs in America: the l)GSt are the Park and National at New York, the Tremont at IJoston, and the Chcsnut Street Theatre at Philadelphia. The American s/orA actors, as they term those who are not considered as sfars, are belter than our own; but were the theatres to depend upon stock actors they would he deserted — the love of novelty is the chief indhcenient of the Americans to frequent the theatru, and they look for importations of star actors from tliis country as regularly as they do for our manufactured goods, or the fashions from Paris. In most of the large cities they have two theatres, one fur legitimate drama, and the other for mclo-drama, Ace; as the Bowery Theatre at New York, and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia; these latter are seldom visited by tlie aristocraiical portion of tlie citizens. The National Theatre at New Yoek was originally built as an opera house, and the company procured from tlie Havannah; but the opera, from want of support, was a failure. It has since been taken by Mr. .Tames Wallack, in opposition to the Park 'J'heatre. The first two seasons its success was indifferent; the Park having the advantarre in situation, as well as of a long- standing rcj)utation. But latterly, from the well-known talent and superior management of Mr. Wallack, and from his unwea- ried exertions in providing novelties for the American public, it has been very successful; so nmch so, that it is said this last year to have decidedly obtained the superiority over its rival. 1 have seen some splendid representations in the National Theatre, with a propriet}^ in scenery and costume which is sel- dom exceeded even in our jjreat theatres. Indeed, in three seasons, Mr. Wallack has done much to im- prove the national taste; and from his exertions, the theatres in general in America may be said to have been much benefitted. But there is one objection to this rivalry between the Park and National; which is, that the stars go out too fast, and they will soon be all expended. Formerly things went on very regularly; Mr, Price sent out to Mr, Simpson, duly inToiced, a certain porti very desp the I him, upon work the d luiin ancc th( m agaii and tbrtu favoi a sec for t •.my is "th of marryat's diary. 141 portion of talent for every season; and Mr. SinipMon, who is u very clever nianafjor, first worked it up at New Yorlv, and then despatched it to Boston, Phi'.adelphi'.i, and the other theatres in the (Inion. Rut, now, if Mr. Simpson has two starH sent to him, .lames Walhick conies home, and takes out three; w liere- iip )ii, Mr. Price sends out a hi;T(jrer star; and yo tht-y iio on; workiii}^ up the stars so fast, that the supj)ly will never eciual thi^ demand, 'riierc; an; not more? than two or three actors of iiniiience in Eujjiand, who have not already made their iippear- anee on the American lioards; and next season will pruhahly usu ilum up. It is true, that some actors can reinrn there aoain and aq^ain; as Power, who is most deservedly a l'avourit(> with tlu-m, and hillen Tree, who is equally so. ('(dcstc has realised a l.irne fortune. Mrs. Wood, aniilation which I one day went to S(>e — that of the " Infernal Retiions." There were two or three of these shown in the different cities in the States. I saw the remnants of another, myself; hut, as the inuseuin-lceeper very appropriately observed to me, " It was a fine thintr once, but now it had all ijone to h — 11" You entered a dark room; where, railed olf with iron railinjL]rs, you beheld a lontr perspective of caverns in the interior of the earth, and a molten lake in the distance. In the forejrround were the niost liorrible monsters that could be invented — l)ears with men's heads, ;j^rovvlin II ! (■\ iia MARRYAT 8 DIARY. 4': Pil if ■ t ; V : 1 1 p ', < sional people. I have already mentioned them, and liio attempts which have been made to get rid of them. Indeed, they nre not only gamesters who practise on the unwary, hut they combine with ganibliiicr the professions of fortrery, and uttering of base money. If they lose, they only lose forjrcjl notes. Thrre is no part of the world where forgery is carried on to such an extent us it is in the United States; chiefly in the western country. The American banks are particularly careful to guard airainst this evil, but the ingenuity of these miscreants is surprising, and they will imitate; so closely as almost to escape detection at the banks tbenisclvcs. Hank-note eiigraviiijj is cfrtainly carrifd to the highest state of perlcMUion in tin; IJiiittul Stales, but almost in vain. 1 have myself read a notice, posted up at iJoston, which may appcr strange to us. " Hank notes made h(>r(^ to any pattern." Hut the eastern banks are seldom forgrnl upon. Coun- terfeit money is also very |)lentiful. When I was in the west, I bad occasiju to pay a few dollars to a frieiul: when 1 saw liiui a (lay or two afterwards, be said to nie, " Do you know that three dollars you gave me were eouiiterfeits'?" 1 apoloyised, and olfered to replace them. " Ob ! no," replied be; "it's of no eon- sequence. 1 gave tiuMn in payiniuit to my poo|)le, who told me that they were counterfeit; but tbey said it was of no conseiiuenee, as tbey could easily |)ass them." In sonu; of ibe states lotteries have been abolished, in others tbey are still permitted. 'I'bey aru upon the French principle, and arc very popular. There is one very remarkable point in the Aniericaii character, which is, that tliey constantly change their professions. 1 know not whether it j)roceeds simply from their love of change, or Irom their eujbracing professions at so early a period, that tbey have not discovered the line in which from natural talents tbey are best calculated to succeed. I have beard it said, that it is seldom that an American succeeds in the profession which he had first taken up at the commencement of bis career. An Ame- rican will set up as a lawyer;' quit, and go to sea for a year or two; come back, set up in another profession; get tired again, go as clerk or steward in a steam boat, merely because he wishes to travel; then apply himself to something else, and begin to amass money. It is of very little consequence what he does, the American is really a jack of all trades, and master of an}' to which he feels at last inclined to apply himself. In Mrs. Butler's clever journal there is one remark which really surprised me. She says, "The absolute absence of im- agination is of course the absolute absence of humor. An American can no more understand a fanciful jest than a poetical idea; and in society and conversation tlie strictest matter of fact prevails," &c. If there was nothing but " matter (fjact^^ in society and con- versation in America or elsewhere, 1 imagine that there would not be many words used; but I refer to the passage, because she says that the Americans are not im aginative; whereas, I think that there is not a more imaginative people existing. It is true that they prefer broad humor, and delight in the hyperbole, bat MARRTAT^fl DIARV. in this is to he exprctpd in a young nation; rspocially as their fducalion is, pronerally sprakinjT, not of a kind to make thorn pcnsiblc to very rrfincd wit, whioh, I acknowlcdcrc, is thrown away upon tht; majority. What is tnrmrd tho nndor ciirrpnt of humor, as dedicate raillery, for instanee, is eertnirdy not under- stood. When they rend Snm Sliek, they did not perceive tliat the author was hniirhinjr at them: and the letters of Mnjnr Jnek Downing arc mueli more appreeiated in this country than they are in America. Hut as for saying that they are not imaginji- tive, is a great error, and I have no doubt that Mrs. iJ. has dis- covered it hy this time. Mi.^s Mnrtineau says, and very truly, "The Americans appear to me an eminently imngiuative people." Indeed, it is only ne- C(>ssary to read the newspnpers to 1)0 convinced it is the case. 'I'he hyperholo is their jnincipal forte, hut what is lying hut imnginalion'? and why do you find that a child of promising talent is so prone to lyingl JJccauso it is the first eflbrt of a strong imagination. V\*ii requires refinement, which the Ame- ricans have not: hut they have excessive humor, although it is!, generally speaking, coarse. An American, talking of an ugly woman with a very large mouth, stiid to me, " Why, sir, when slu; yawns, you can sco right down to her garters;" and another, speaking of his being very sea-siek, d(\.Iared "That he threw (very thing uj), down tu his knee-pans." If there required any proof of the dishonest feeling so preva- lent in the United States arising from the desire of gain, it would be in the fact, that almost every good story whieh you hear ol an American is an instance of gnat ingenuity and very little principle. So many have been told alri^adv, that I hesitate to illustrate my observation, from fear of being accused of uttering stale jokes. Nevertheless I will venture upon one or two. "An American' (down east, of course,) when his father died, found his patrimony to consist of several hundred dozen ot' boxes of ointment for the cure of a certain complaint, said (by us) to be more common in the North than in England. He made up his pack, and took a round of nearly op.e hundred miles, going from town to town and from village to village, ofl'ering his remedy for sale. But unfortunately for him no one was afflicted with the complaint, and they would not purchase on the chance of any future occasion for it. lie returned back to his inn, and having reflected a little, he went out, inquired where he could find the disease, and having succeeded, inoculated himself with it. When he was convinced that he had it with sufiicient virulence, he again set forth, making the same round, and taking advantage of the American custom, which is so prevalent, he shook hands with every body whom he had spoken to on his former visit, declaring lie was ♦ 'tarnal glad to see them again.' Thus he went on till his circuit was completed, when he repair- ed to the first town again, and found tiiat his ointment, as h'? expected, was now in great request; and he continued his rout« as before, selling every box that he possessed." fl f.> I : r I 1.1 H I vl'C } \ • I'; If "i W h. k 144 MARRY AT S DIARY. There is a story of a Yankee clock-maker's ingenuity, that I have not seen in print. He also " made a circuit, having a hun- dred clocks when he started; they were all very bad, which he well knew; but by ' soft sawder and humfm natur,' as Sarn Slick says, he contrived to sell nincty-nino of them, and reserve the last for his intended 'ru.se.' lie went to the house where he had sold the first clock, and said, ' WdH, now, how does your clock gol very well, I guess.' The answer was as he anticipated, * No, very bad.' ' Indeed! Well, now, I've found it out at last. You see, 1 had one clock which was I know a bad one, and I said to my boy, 'you'll put that '"lock aside, for it won't do to sell such an article.' W(!ll, the boy didn't mind, and left the clock with the others; and I found out afterwards that it had been sold somowlierc. Mighty uiikI I was, I can tell you, for I'm not a little particular about uiy credit; so I have asked here and there, everywhere almost, how my clocks went, and they all said that 'they actually regulated the sun.' But I was del. r- mined to find out who had the bad clock, and I am most partic- ular glad that I have done it at last. Now, you see I have but one clock left, a very superior article, worth a matter often dol- lars more than the others, and 1 must (jive it you in change, and rU only charge you five dollar^i uillerence, as you have been annoyed with the bad article.' The man who iiad the bad clock thought it better to pay five dollars more to have a good one; so the exchange was made, and then t!io Y.^nkee, proceeding with the clock, returned to the next house. 'Well, now, how does your clock go] very well, I guess.' The same answer — the same story repeated — and another five dollars received in ex- change. And thus did he go round, exchanointj clock for clock, until ho had recaived an extra five dollars for every one which he had sold." Logic. — "A Yankee went into the bar of an inn in a country town: ' Pray wliat's the price of a pint of shrub]' 'Haifa dol- lar,' was the reply of the man at the bar. 'Well, then, give it me.' The shrub was poured out, v»hen the bell rang for dinner. ' Is that your dinner-bell]' ' Yes.' ' What may you charge for dinner]' ' Half a dollar.' ' Well, then, I think I had better not take the shrub, but have some diimer instead.' 'j'his was con- sented to. The Yankee went in, sat down to his dinner, and when it was ovTr, was going out of the door without paying. 'Massa,' said the negro waiter, 'you not paid for your dinner.' 'I know tliat; I took the dimicr instead of the shrub.' 'But, massa, you not pay for the shrub.' ' Well, I did not have the shrub, did I, you nigger]' said the Yankee, walking away. The negro scratched his head; he knew that something was wrong, as he had got no money; but he could not make it out till the Yankee was out of sight." I do not think that democracy is marked upon the features of the lower classes in the United States; there is no arrogant bear- ing in them, as might be supposed from the despotism of the majority; on the contrary, I should say that their lower classes are nnuch more civil than our own. 1 had a slqp of equality on MARRYAT's DIART. 145 i . ' my first landing at New York. I had hired a truckman to take up my luggage from the wharf; I went a-head, and missed him when I came to the corner of the street where I had engaged apartments, and was looking round for him in one direction, when I was saluted with a slap on the shoulder, which was cer- tainly given with good-will. I turned, and beheld my carman, who had taken the liberty to draw my attention in this forcible manner. He was a man of few words; he pointed to his truck where it stood with the baggage, and then went on. This civil bearing is peculiar, as when they are excited by politics, c other causes, they are most insolent and overbearing. In his ur.v:>\x " meanour, the citizen born is quiet and obliging. The insolence you meet with is chiefly from the emigrant class- es. I have before observed, that the Americans are a good- tempered people; and to this good temper I ascribe their civil bearing. But why are they good-tempered? It appears to me to be one of the few virtues springing from democracy. When the grades of society are distinct, as they are in the older insti- tutions, when difference of rank is acknowledged and submitted to without murmur, it is evident that if people are obliged to control their tempers in presence of their superiors or equals, they can also yield to them with their inferiors; and it is this yielding to our tempers which enables them to master us. But under institutions where all are equal, where no one admits the superiority of another, even if he really be so, where the man with the spade in his hand will beard the millionaire, and where you are compelled to submit to the caprice and insolence of a domestic, or lose his services, it is evident that every man must from boyhood have learnt to control his temper, as no ebullition will be submitted to, or unfoUowed by its consjequences. I con- sider that it is this habitual control, forced upon the Americans by the nature of their institutions, which occasions them to be so good-tempered, when not in a state of excitement. The Ameri- cans are in one point, as a mob, very much like the English; make them laugh, and they forget all their animosity immediately. One of the most singular points about the lower classes in America is, that they will call themselves ladies and gentlemen, and yet refuse their titles to their superiors. Miss Martineau mentions one circumstance, of which I very often met with simi- lar instances. " I once was with a gentleman who was build- ing a large house; he went to see how the men were getting on; but they had all disappeared but one. * Where are the people?' inquired he. ' The gentlemen be all gone to liquor^' was the re- ply." I bought one of the small newspapers just as I was setting off in a steamboat from New York to Albany. The boy had no change, and went to fetch it. He did not come back himself, but another party made his appearance. " Are you the r/mn who bought the newspaper?" " Yes," replied I. " The young gen- tleman who sold it to you has sent me to pay you four cents." A gentleman was travelling with his wife, they had stopped 13 Hi.: f :i', '■'■; ! 1 1 !•: '1 iy 1 1 1 I. 146 MARRY AT'S DIART. *■, Wii I M[i § :;: n ii ft i'.'./j I at an inn, and during the gentleman s momentary absence the lady was taken ill. The lady wishing for her husband, a man Tcxy good-naturedly went to find him, and when he had succeed- ed he addressed him, " I say, Mister, your woman wants you; but I telled the young lady of the house to fetch her a glass of water." There was no insolence intended in this; it is a peculiarity to be accounted for by their love of title and distinction. It is singular to observe human nature peeping out in the Americans, and how tacitly they acknowledge by their conduct how uncomfortable a feeling there is in perfect equality. The respect they pay to a title is much greater than that which is paid to it in England; and naturally so; we set a higher value upon that which we cannot obtain. I have been often amused at the variance on this point between their words and their feelings, which is shown in their eagerness for rank of some sort among themselves. Every man who has served in the militia carries his title until the day of his death. There is no end to gene- rals, and colonels, and judges; they keep taverns and grog shops, especially in the Western States; indeed, there are very few who have not brevet rank of some kind; and I being only a captain, was looked upon as a very small personage, so far as rank went. An Englishman, who was living in the State of New York, had sent to have the chimney of his house raised. The morning afterwards he saw a labourer mixing mortar before the door. " Well," said the Englishman, •' when is the chimney to be finished?" " I'm sure I don't know, you had better ask the colonel." "The colonel? What colonel?" " Why, I reckon that's the colonel upon the top of the house, working away at the chimney." After all, this fondness for rank, even in a democracy, is very natural, and the Americans have a precedent for it. His Satanic Majesty was the first democrat in heaven, but as soon as he was dismissed to his abode below, if Milton be correct, he assumed his title. CHAPTER XIV. ARISTOCRACY. If the Americans should imagine that I have any pleasure in writing the contents of this chapter, they will be mistaken; I have considered well the duty of and pondered over it. I would not libel an individual, much less a whole nation; but I must speak the truth, and upon due examination, and calling to my mind all that I have collected from observation and otherwise, I consider that at this present time the standard of morality is newer in America than in any other portion of the civilised globe. MARRTAT^S DIART. 147 I say at this present time, for it was not so even twenty years ago, and possibly may not be so twenty years hence. There is a change constantly going on in every thing below, and 1 believe, for many reasons, that a change for the better will soon take place in America. There are even now many thousands of virtuous, honourable, and enlightened people in the United States, but at present virtue is passive, while vice is active. The Americans possess courage, presence of mind, perse- verance, and energy, but these may be considered rather as en- dowments than as virtues. They are propelling powers which will advance them as a people, and, were they regulated and tempered by religious and moral feeling, would make them great i and good, but without these adjuncts they can only become great and vicious. I have observed in my preface that the virtues and vices of a nation are to be traced to the form of government, the climate, and circumstances, and it will be easy to show that to the above may be ascribed much of the merit as well as the demerits of the people of the United States. In the first place, I consider the example set by the govern- ment as most injurious: as I shall hereafter prove, it is insatiable in its ambition, regardless of its faith, and corrupt to the highest degree. This example I consider as the first cause of the de- moralization of the Americans. The errors incident to the volun- tary system of religion are the second: the power of the clergy is destroyed, and the tyranny of the laiiy has produced the effect of the outward form having been substituted for the real feeling, and hypocrisy has been but too often substituted for religion. To the evil of bad example from the government is superadded the natural tendency of a democratic form of government, to excite ambition without having the power to gratify it morally or virtuously; and the debasing influence of the pursuit of gain is every where apparent. It'shows itself in the fact that money is in America every thing, and every thing else nothing; it is the only sure possession, for character can at any time be taken from you, and therefore becomes less valuable than in other countries, except so far as mercantile transactions are concerned. Mr. Cooper says — not once, but many times — that in America all the local affections, indeed every thing, is sacrificed to the spirit of gain. Dr. Channing constantly laments it, and he very truly asserts, "A people that deems the possession of riches its highest source of distinction, admits one of the most degrading of all influences to preside over its opinions. At no time should money be ever ranked as more than a means, and he who lives as if the acquisition of property were the sole end of his exist- ence, betrays the dominion of the most sordid, base, and grovel- ling motive that life offers;" and ascribing it to the institutions, he says, " In one respect our institutions have disappointed us all: they have not wrought out for us that elevation of character which is the most precious, and, in truth, the only substantial blessing of liberty." I have before observed, that whatever society permits, men I I ! il 148 MARRY AT'S DIARY. I'll" J >r- .1' ' I ! will do and not consider to be wrong, and if the government con- siders a breach of trust towards it as not of any importance, and defaulters are permitted to escape, it will of course become no crime in the eyes of the majority. Mr. Cooper observes, " An evident dishonesty of sentiment pervades the public itself, which is beginning to regard acts of private delinquency with a dangerous indifference; acts too that are inseparably connected with the character, security, and right administration of the state." Such is unfortunately the case at present; it may be said to have commenced with the Jackson dynasty, and it is but a few years since this dreadful demoralisation has become so appa- rent and so shamelessly avowed. In another work the American author above quoted observes: " We see the effects of this baneful influence in the openness and audacity with which men avow improper motives and im- proper acts, trusting to find support in a popular feeling, for while vicious influences are perhaps more admitted in other countries than in America, in none are they so openly avowed." Surely there is sufficient of American authority to satisfy any reader that I am not guilty of exaggeration in my remarks. Nor am 1 the only traveller who has observed upon what is in- deed most evident and palpable. Captain Hamilton says: " I have heard conduct praised in conversation at a public table, which, in England, would be attended, if not with a voyage to Botany Bay, at least with total loss of character. It is impossi- ble to pass an hour in the bar of the hotel, without being struck with the tone of callous selfishness which pervades the conver- sation, and the absence of all pretensions to pure and lofty prin- ciple." It may indeed be fairly said, that nothing is disgraceful with the majority in America, which the? law cannot lay hold of.* ' \; i» ,!♦• Tr^;* * English Capital Invested. — It is but fair to give the English who have invested their money in American securities, some idea of what their chance of receiving their principal or receiving their inte- rest may be. As long as it depends upon the faith of those who have contracted the debt, their money is safe, but as soon as the power is taken out of their hands, and vested in the majority, they may consider their money as gone. I will explain this — at present the English have vested their capital in canals, rail-roads, and other public improve- ments. The returns of these undertakings are at present honorably employed in payinsr interest to the lenders of the capital, and if the returns are not sufficient, more money is borrowed to meet the de- mands of the creditor; but there is a certain point at which credit fails, and at which no more money can be borrowed; if then no more mo- ney can be borrowed, and the returns of their rail-roads, canals, and other securities fall off, where is the deficiency to be made good? In this country it would be made good by a tax being imposed upon the population to meet the deficiency, and support) he credit of the nation. Here is the qnestion: — Will the majority in America consent to be taxed? I say, no — if they do, I shail be surprised, and be most happy to recant, but it is my opinion that they will not, and if so the English capital will be lost ; and if the reader will call to mind what MARR7AT*8 DIARY. 149 1 ill You are either in or out of the penitentiary; if once in, you are lost for ever, but keep out and you are as good as your neijjh- bor. Now one thing is certain, that where honesty is absolutely necessary, honesty is to be found, as for example, among the New York merchants, who are, as a body, highly honorable men. When, therefore, the Americans will have moral courage sufficient to drive away vice, and not allow virtue to be in bond- age, as she at present is, the morals of society will be instantly restored— and how and when will this be effected ] I have said that the people of the United States, at the time of the declara- tion of independence, were perhaps the most moral people exist- ing, and I now assert that they are the least so; to what cause can this change be ascribed? Certainly not wholly to the spirit of gain, for it exists every where, although perhaps nowhere so strongly developed as it is under a form of government which admits of no other claim to superiority. I consider that it arises from the total extinction, or if not extinction, absolute bondage, of the aristocracy of the country, both politically as veil as so- cially. There was an aristocracy at the time of the independence — not an aristocracy of title, but a much superior one; an aristo- cracy of great, powerful, and leading men, who were looked up to and imitated; there was, politically speaking, an aristocracy in the senate which was elected by those who were then inde- pendent of the popular will; but although a portion of it remains, it may be said to have been almost altogether smothered, and in society it no longer exists. It is the want of this aristocracy that has so lowered the standard of morals in America, and it is the revival of it that must restore to the people of the United States the morality they have lost. The loss of the aristocracy has sunk the Republic into a democracy — the renewal of it will again restore them to their former condition. Let not the Ame- ricans start at this idea. An aristocracy is not only not incom- patible, but absolutely necessary for the duration of a democratic form of government. It is the third estate, so necessary to pre- serve the balance of power between the executive and the people, and which has unfortunately disappeared. An aristocracy is as necessary for the morals as for the government of a nation. Society must have a head to lead it, and without that head there will be no fixed standard of morality, and things must remain in the chaotic state in which they are at present. Some author has described the English nation as resembling their own beer — froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, and in the middle excellent. There is point in this observation, and it has been received without criticism, and quoted without contradic- ! ! j-l: m ill r 1 1 .■« .11 I have peintcd out as to the probable efTect of the power of America working to the westward, and the direct importation which in a few years must take place, he will see that there is every prospect of a rapid decrease in the value of all their securities, and that the only ultimate chance of their recovering the money is by this country com- pelling payment of it by the federal government. 13* '\k'' 150 MARRYAT'S DIARY. 1 '1 rjl ?.'i rii^ tion : but it is in itself false; it may be said that the facts are directly the reverse, there being more morality among the lower class than in the middling, and still more in the higher than in the lower. Wc have been designated as a nation of shopkeepers, a term certainly more applicable to the Americans, ./here all are engaged in commerce and the pursuit of gain, and who have no distinctions or hereditary titles. Trade demoralizes ; there are so many petty arts and frauds necessary to be resorted to by every class in trade, to enable them to compete with each other; so many lies told, as a matter of business, to tempt a purchaser, that almost insensibly and by degrees the shopkeeper becomes dishonest. These demoralizing practices must be resorted to, even by those who would fain avoid them, or they have no chance of competing with their rivals in business. It is not the honest tradesman who makes a rapid fortune; indeed, it is doubtful whether he could carry on his business; and yet, from assuetude and not being taxed with dishonesty, the shopkeeper scarcely ever feels that he is dishonest. Now, this is the worst state of demoralization, where you are blind to your errors and conscience is never awakened, and in this state may be consi- dered, with few exceptions, every class of traders, whether in England, America, or elsewhere. Among the lower classes, the morals of the manufacturing districts and of the frequenters of cities, will naturally be at a low ebb, for men when closely packed demoralize each other; but if we examine the agricultural classes, which are by far the most numerous, we shall find that there is much virtue and good- ness in the humble cottage; we shall there find piety and resig- nation, honesty, industry and content more universal than would be imagined, and the Bible pored over, instead of the day-book or ledger. » But it is by the higher classes cf the English nation, by the nobility and gentry of England, that the high tone of virtue and morality is upheld. Foreigners, especially Americans, are too continually pointing out, and with evident satisfaction, the scan- dal arising from the conduct of some few individuals in these classes as a proof of the conduct of the whole; but they mistake the exceptions for the rule. If they were to pay attention, they would perceive that these accusations are only confined to some few out of a class comprehending many, many thousands in our wealthy isle, and that the very circumstance of their rank being no shield against the attacks made upon them, is a proof that they are exceptions, whose conduct is universally held up to public ridicule or indignation. A crim. con. in English high life is exulted over Hy the Americans ; they point to it and exclaim, *' See what your aristocracy are!" forgetting that the crime is committed by one out of thousands, and that it meets with the disgrace which it deserves, and that this crime is, to a certain degree, encouraged by our laws relative to divorce. Do the Americans imagine that there is no crim. con. perpetrated in the United States ] Many instances of suspicion, and some of actual discovery, came to my knowledge even during my short resi- MARRY AT'S DIARY. 151 acts are le lower than in ieepers, e all are have no lere are ?d to by h other; rchaser, becomes )rted to, have no ! not the ed, it is ^et, from )pkeeper he worst rors and »e consi- lether in 'acturing be at a h other; y far the nd good- nd resior- an would day-hook 1, by the irtue and I, are too the scan- in these r mistake ion, they I to some ds in our nk being roof that jld up to high life exclaim, crime is with the a certain Do the ed in the of actual iiort resi- i dence there, but they were invariably, and perhaps judiciously, hushed up, for the sake of the families and the national credit. I do not wish, nor would it be possible, to draw any parallel between the two nations on this point; I shall only observe that in England we have not considered the vice to have become so prevalent as to think it necessary to form societies for the pre- vention of it, as they have done in the United States. It has been acknowledged by other nations, and I believe it to be true, that the nobility and gentry of England are the most moral, most religious, and most honorable classes that can be found not only in our country, but in any other country in the world, and such they certainly ought from circumstances to be. Possessed of competence, they have no incentives to behave dishonestly. They are well educated, the finest race of men and women that can be produced, and the men are brought up to athletic and healthy amusements. They have to support the honor of an ancient family, and to hand down the name untar- nished to their posterity. They have every inducement to noble deeds, and are, generally speaking, above the necessities which induce men to go wrong. If the Americans would assert that luxury produces vice, I can only say that luxury infers idleness and inactivity, and on this point the women of the aristocracy in this country have the advantage over the American women, who cannot, from the peculiarity of the climate, take the exercise so universally resorted to by our higher classes. I admit that some go wrong, but is error confined to the nobility alone; are there no spendthrifts, no dissolute young men, or ill brought up young women, among other classes? Are there none in America! More- over, there are some descriptions of vice which are meaner than others and more debasing to the mind, and it is among the mid- dling and lower classes that these vices are principally to be found. The higher classes invariably take the lead, and give the tone to society. If the court be moral, so are the morals of the nation improved by example, as in the time of George III. If the court be dissolute, as in the time of Charles II., the nation will plunge into vice. Now, in America, there is no one to take the lead; morals, like religion, are the concern of nobody, and therefore it is that the standard of morality is so low. I have heard it argued that allowing one party to have a very low standard of morality and to act up to that standard, and another to have a high standard of morality and not to act up to it, that the former is the really moral man, as he does act up to his principles such as they are. This may hold good when we examine into the virtues and vices of nations: that the American Indian who acts up to his own code and belief, both in morality and religion, may be more worthy than a Christian who neglects his duty, maybe true; but the question now is upon the respective morality of two enlight- ened nations, both Christian, and having the Bible as their guide —between those who have neither of them any pretence to lower the standard of morality, as they both know better. M. Tocque* ville observes, speaking of the difiference between aristocratical and democratical governme'Us— ;Hi i ■] ■ H ii.i. 152 MARRTAT^S DIARY. '■J tVl' 1'. '*''!; .'< " In aristocratic governments, the individuals who are placed at the head of affairs are rich nmen, who are solely desirous of power. In democracies statesmen are poor, and they have their fortunes to make. The consequence is, that in aristocratic states the rulers are rarely accessible to corruption, and have very little craving for money; whilst the reverse is the case in democratic nations." This is true, and may be fairly applied to the American de- mocracy: as long as you will not allow the good and enlightened to rule, yoa will be governed by those who will flatter and cheat you, and demoralise society. When you allow your aristocracy to take the reins, you will be better governed, and your morals will improve by example. What is the situation of*^ America at E resent] the aristocracy of the country are either in retirement or ave migrated, and if the power of the majority should continue as it now does its despotic rule, you will have still further emi- gration. At present there are many hundreds of Americans who have retired to the old continent, that they may receive that re- turn for their wealth which they cannot in their own country; and if not flattered, they are at least not insulted and degraded. M. Sanderson, in his " Sketches from Paris," says — "The American society at Paris, taken altogether, is of a good composition. It consis ^ of several hundred persons, of families of fortune, and young men of liberal instruction. Here are lords of cotton from Carolina, and of sugar-cane from the Missis- sippi, millionaires from all the Canadas, and pursers from all the navies; and their social qualities, from a sense of mutual de- pendence or partnership in absence, or some such causes, are more active abroad than at home. "They form a little republic apart, and when a stranger ar- rives he finds himself at home; he finds himself also under the censorial inspection of a public opinion, a salutary restraint not always the luck of those who travel into foreign countries. One thing only is to be blamed: it becomes every day more the fashion for the elite of our cities to settle themselves here permanently. We cannot but deplore this exportation of the precious metals, since our country is drained of what the supply is not too abund- ant. They who have resided here a few years, having fortune and leisure, do not choose, as I perceive, to reside any where else." This is the fact; and the wealth of America increases every day, so will those who possess it swarm off as fast as they can to other countries, if there is not a change in the present society, and a return to something like order and rank. Who would re- main in a country where there is no freedom of thought or ac- tion, and where you cannot even spend your money as you pleasel Mr. fiutler the other day built a house at Philadelphia with a porte-cochere, and the consequence was that they called him an aristocrat, and would not vote for him. In short, will enlightened and refined people live to be dictated to by a savage and ignorant majority, who will neither allow your character nor your domestic privacy to be safel MARRY AT a DIARY. 153 The Americans, in their fear of their institutions giving way, and their careful guard against any encroaciimcnts upon the lib- erty of the people, have fallen into the error of sacrificing the most virtuous portion of the community, and driving a large por- tion of them out of the country. This will eventually be found to be a serious evil; absenteeism will daily increase, and will be as sorely felt as it is in Ireland at the present hour. The Ameri- cans used to tell me with exultation, that they never could have an aristocracy in their country, from the law of entail having been abolished. They often asserted, and with some truth, that in that country property never accumulated beyond two generations, and that the grandson of a miUionaire was invariably a pauper. This they ascribe to the working of their institutions, and argue that it will always be impossible foranyfamily to be raised above the mass by a descent of property. Now the very circumstance of this having been invariably the case, induces me to look for the real cause of it, as there is none to be found in their institu- tions why all the grandsons of millionaires should be paupers. It is not owing to their institutions, but to moral causes, which, although they have existed until now, will not exist for ever. In the principal and wealthiest cities in the Union, it is difficult to spend more than twelve or fifteen thousand dollars per annum, as with such an expenditure you are on a pai with tlie highest, and you can be no more. What is the consequence? a young American succeeds to fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year, the surplus is useless to him; there is no one to vie with — no one who can reciprocate— he must stand alone. He naturally feels care- less about what he finds to be of no use to him. Again, all his friends and acquaintances are actively employed during the whole of the day in their several occupations; he is a man of leisure, and must either remain aloneor associate with other men of leisure; and who are the majority of men of leisure in the towns of the United States'? Blacklegs of genteel exterior and fashionable appearance, with whom he associates, into whose snares he falls, and to whom he eventually loses property about which he is indifferent. To be an idle man when every body else is busy, is not only a great unhappiness, but a situation of great peril. Had the sons of millionaires^ who remained in the States and left their children paupers, come over to the old Con- tinent, as many have done, they would have stood a better chance of retaining their property. All I can say is, that if they cannot have an aristocracy, the worse for them; I am not of the opfnion, that they will not have one, although they are supported by the strong authority of M. Tocqueville, who says: " I do not think a single people can be quoted, since human society began to exist, which has, by its own free will and by its own exertions, created an aristocracy within its own bosom. All the aristocracies of the Middle Ages were founded by mili- tary conquest: the conqueror was the noble, the vanquished be- came the serf. Inequality was then imposed by force; and after it had been introduced into the manners of the country, it main- ft ■ I . I \ \ i i- :'ri Vi. i\ 154 MARRY AT^S DIARY. n':. Mm ^ :'Ri>' '; ' ,V n il '11 tained its own authority, and was sanctionnd by the legialation. Communities have existed which were aristocatric from their earliest oritjin, owing to circumstances anterior to that event, and which became more democratic in each succeeding age. Such was the destiny of the Ronrans, and of the barbarians after them. But a people, having taken its rise in civilisation and democracy, which should greatly establish an inequality of conditions, until it arrived at inviolable privileges and exclusive castes, would be a novelty in the world; and nothing intimates that America is likely to furnish so singular an example." I grant that no single people has by its own free will created an aristocracy, but circumstances will make one in spite of the people; and if there is no aristocracy who have a power to check, a despotism may be the evil arising from the want of it. At present America is thinly peopled, but let them look forward to the time when the population shall become denser; what will then be the effect? why a division between the rich and the poor will naturally take place; and what is that but the foundation if not the formation of an aristocracy. An American cannot entail his estate, but he can leave the whole of it to his eldest son if he pleases; and, in a few years, the lands which have been pur- chased for a trifle, will become the foundation of noble fortunes;* * "At the time of the first settlement of the English in Virginia, when land was to be had for little or nothing, some provident persons having obtained large grants of it, and being desirous of maintaining the splendor of their families, entailed tlieir property on their descend- ants. The transmission of these estates from generation to generation, to men who bore the same name, had the effect of raising up a distinct class of families, who, possessing by law the privilege of perpetuating their wealth, formed by these means a sort of patrician order, distin- guished by the grandeur and luxury of their establishments. From this order it was that the king usually chose his councillors of state. "In the United States, the principal clauses of the English law re. specting descent have been universally rejected. Tiie first rule that we follow, says Mr. Kent, touching inheritance is the following:— If a man dies intestate, his property goes to his heirs in a direct line. If he has but one heir or heiress, he or she succeeds to the whole. If there are several heirs of the same degree, they divide the inheritance equally amongst them, without distinction of sex. "This rule was prescribed for the first time in the State of New York, by a statute of the 23d of February, 1786. {See Revised Sta- tuteSf vol. iii,* Appendix, p. 48.) It has since been adopted in the revised statutes of tiie same State. At the present day this law holds good throughout the whole of the United States, with the exception of the State of Vermont, where the male heir inherits a double portion. Kent's Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 370. Mr. Kent, in the same work, vol. iv. p. 1 — 22, gives an historical account of American legislation on the subject of entail; by this we learn that previous to the revolu- tion the colonies followed the English law of entail. Estates tail were abolished in Virginia in 1776, on motion of Mr. Jefferson. They were suppressed in New York in 1786; and have since been abolished in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri. In Vermont, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina and Louisiana, entail was MARRY AT's DIARV. 155 hut even now their law of non-entail does not work as they would wish. M: Tocquevillo says — "The laws of the United States are extremely favorahle to the division of property; hut a cause which is more powerful than the laws, prevents property from heing divided to excess.* This is very perceptihle in the States which are bejrinninjj to he thickly peopled. Massachusetts is the most populous part of the Union, but it contains only eighty inhabitants to the square mile, which is much less than in France, where a hundred and sixty- two are reckoned to the same extent of country. But in Massa- chusetts estates are very rarely divided; the eldest son takes the land, and the others go to seek their fortune in the desert. The law has abolished the rightsofprimogenittire, but circumstances have concurred to re-establish it under a form of which none can complain, and by which no just rights are impaired." And Chancellor Kent, in his "Treatise upon American Law," observes — " It cannot be doubted that the division of landed estates must produce great evils when it is carried to such excess as that each parcel of land is insufficient to support a family; but these disadvantages have never been felt in the United States, and many generations must elapse before they can be felt. The extent of our inhabited territory, the abundance of adjacent land, and the continual stream of emigration flowing from the shores of the Atlantic towards the interior of the country, suffice as yet, and will long suffice, to prevent the parcelling out of estates." never introduced. Those States which thought proper to preserve the Enghsh law of entail, modified it in such a way as tu deprive it of its most aristocratic tendencies. ' Our general principles on the subject of government,* says Mr. Kent, ' tend to favor the free circulation of property. •' It cannot fail to strike the French reader who studies the law of inheritance, that m tlicsc questions, the French legislation is infinitely more democratic even than the American. "The American law makes an equal division of the father's pro- perty, but only in the case of his will not being known, • For every man,' says the law, • in the State of New York, {Revised Statutes, vol. iii., Appendix, p. 51,) has entire liberty, power and authority, to dis- pose of his property by will, to leave it entire, or divided in favor of any persons he chooses as his heirs, provided he do not leave it to a political body or any corporation.' The French law obliges the tes- tator to divide his properly equally, or nearly so, among his heirs. " Most of the American republics still admit of entails, under cer- tain restrictions; but the French law prohibits entail in all cases. " If the social condition of the Americans is more democratic than that of the French, llie laws of the latter are the most democratic of the two. This may be explained more easily than at first appears to be the case. In France, democracy is still occupied in the work of destruction; in America, it reigns quietly over the ruins it has made.'* — Democracy in America, by A. De Tocqueville, * In New England the estates are exceedingly small, but they are rarely subjected to further division. 1 156 MARRY AT 8 DIARV. m : ' Thorn is, tliorororo, no want of prppanition for an aristopracv in America, and, altlioiijrii at prcncnt llir rich arc so tniicli in tlio minority that tlioy cannot coalesce, such will not he the cane, perhaps, in twenty or thirty years; they Jiave hut to rally and make a stand when lliey heconie more uutneroiis and powerful, and they have (;very chance of aiicctiss. 'i'iio f.jct is, that an aris- tocracy is ahsolntcdy necessary for America* both politically and morally, if the Americans wish their instilu tions to hold tofrether, for if some stop is not nut to the rapidly advancing power of tho people, anarchy must be the result. 1 do not mean an aristo- cracy of title; I mean such an aristocracy of talent and power which wealth will tfive — an aristocracy which shall lead society and purify it. How is this to he obtained in a democracy] — simply by purchase. In a country where the suflrage is con- fined to certain classes, as in Kngland, such purchase is not to be obrained, as the people who have the right of suffrage are not poor enough to be bought; but in a country like America, where the suffrage is universal, the people will eventually sell their birth-right; and if by such means an aristocratical government is elected, it will be able to amend the constitution, and pass what laws it pleases. This may appear visionary, but it has been proved already that it can be done, and if it can be done now, how much more easily will it be accomplished when tho population has quadrupled, and the division commences between the rich and the poor. I say it has been done already, for it was done at the last New York election. The democratic party made sure of success: but a large sum of money was brought into play, and the whole of ihe committees of the democratic party were bought over, and the Whigs carried the day. The greatest security for the duration of the present institu- tions of the United States is the establishment of an aristocracy. It is the third power which was intended to act, but which has been destroyed and is now wanting. Let the senate be aristo- cratical — let the congress be partially so, and then what would be the American government of president, senate, and congress, but mutato nomine^ kings, lords, and commons? I cannot, perhaps, find a better opportunity than of pointing out what ought to be made known to the English, as it has done more harm to the American aristocracy than may be imagined I refer to the carelessness and facility with which letters of in- troduction to this country are given, and particularly by the American authorities. I have drawn the character of Bennett, the editor of the Morning Herald of New York, and there is not a respectable American but will acknowledge that my sketch of him is correct; will it not surprise the English readers when I inform them that this man obtained admittance to Westminster Hall at the coronation, and was seated among the proudest and purest of our nobility! ! Such was the fact. Bui it will be as well to revert back a little to what has passed. During the time that England was at war with nearly the whole of Europe, the Americans were to a great degree iso- lated and unknown, except as carriers of merhcandize under the MARRY AT S DIARY. 157 nciutral f\»ff', but tlxy wcro rnpidly advanriiifr in iinportdiirc and wealth. At tlio cdiiclijsidn ot' the luKt Aiiuricari wiir, durinjf which, by tlicir rosnhilo aiitJ occasionally nuccr8sful hifriig'fifirs, tlii'v had drawn tJH! fycs of Kuropj towards IIkmii, and hid advanccHJ many (!('})r(!(:8 in the jTfMicral c'&tiin ition of thoir iinpurtunco as a nation, the* Americans occnHionally mado their a|)|»carance as travellers, both on thet'ontincnt and in Mnyland ; but they found thai they were not ho well received as their own ideas of their iinporlance induced thcni to imagine they were entitled to be; especially on Ihe Continent. The first {rreat personage who shewed liberality in tins respect, was (ieorge the Fourth. Hearing that sonic American ladies of good tiimily had eoniplaincd that, having no titles, no standing in society they did not meet with that civility to which, from descent and educu tioii, they were entitled, he received them at Court most graciously and those very ladies arc new classed anmng the peeresses of (ireat Britain. Still the ditUculty remained, as it was almost impossible for the aristocracy, abroad or at home, to ascertain the justness of the claims which were made by those of a nation who professed theequali- ty of all classes, and of whom many of the pretenders to be well re- ceived did not by their appearance warrant the supposition that their claims were valid. It being impossible to give any other rank but that of office, tlw! American Government hit upon a plan which was at- tended with very evil consequences. They granted supernumerary a ttac he -Hh\\ia to those Americans who wished to travel ; and as, on the Old Continent, the very circumstance of being an attache to a foreign minister warranted the respectability of the party, those who obtained this distinction were well received, and, unfortunately, sometimes did no credit to their appointments. 'I'he fact was that these favours were granted without discrimination, and all who received them being put down a« specimens of American gentlemen, thecharacter of the Ameri- cans lost ground by the very eflbrts made to establish it. The true American gentlemen who travelled (and there is no lack of them) were supposed to be English, while the spurious were put down as samples of the gentility of the United States. That the principles of equality were one great cause of the indis- criminate distribution of those marks of distinction by the highest (juarters in the Union, and of the ficility of obtaining letters of recom- mendation from them there is no doubt; but the principal and still ex- isting causes, are the extended and domineering power of the press, and the high state of excitement of the political parties. Those in power are positively afraid to refuse literary men, or those who have assisted them in their political career ; they have not the moral cou- rage to do so, however undeserving the parties may really be. But, as is generally the case, they really do not knov\r the parties ; it is suf- ficient that the favour, considered trifling, is demanded, and it is in« 14 •I I ^1 I i ;i ' ^■1 ■if .1 158 MARRYAT S DIARY. 'h'-:! : • I- li .i J '■}. ?l stantly granted. Now, as at the ncccs^sion of General Jackson, and the subsequent raising of Mr. Van Buren to t!io prcsideney, the demo- cratical, or Loco Foco party came into power, it is to their friends and Bupporters the least respectable portion of the American community, to whom these favours have been granted ; whicli of course has not assisted the claims of the Americans to respectability. An instance of this sort occurred to me after I had been a ^oduce, until the whole is collected into one mass. The principle of the American Gov- ernment is good; the p iwer that puts it in motion is enormous, and 14* i! ' :|! 163 MARRYAT S DIARY. \M- therefore, like the complicated machinery I have compared rt to, it re- quires constant attention, and proper regulation of the propelling pow- er, that it may not become out of order. The propelling power is the sovereignty of the people, otherwise the will of the majority. The motion of all propelling powers must be regulated by a fly-wheel, or corrective check, if not, the motion will gradually accelerate, until tlie machinery is destroyed by the increase of friction. But there are other causes by which the machinery n)ay be deranged ; as, although the smaller portions of the macliine, if defective, may at any time be taken out and repaired without its being necessary for the machine to stop ; yet if the larger wheels arc by chance thrown out of their equi- librium, the machinery may be destroyed just as it would be by a loo rapid motion, occasioned by the excess of propelling power. Further, there are external causes which may endanger it : and the machine may be thrown out of its level by a convulsion, or shock, which will cause it to cease working, if even it does not break it into fragments. Now, the dangers which threaten the United States are, the Federal Government being still weaker than it is at present, or its becoming, as it may from circumstances, too powerful. The present situation of the American Government is that the fly- wheel, or regulator of the propellinji;' power (that is to say the aristoc- racy, or power of the senate,) has been nearly destroyed, and tlie con- sequences are that the motion is at this moment too much accelerated, and threatens in a few years to increase its rapidity, at the risk of the destruction of the whole machinery. But, although it will be necessary t(» point out the weakness of the Federal Government, when opposed to the States or the majority, inas- much as the morality of the people is seriously affected by this weak- ness, my object is not to enter into the merits of the government of the United States as a working government, but to enquire how far tlie Americans are correct in their boast of its being a model for other countries. Let us considir what is the best form of government.. Certainly that which most contribut(\s to security of life and property, and ren- ders those happy and moral who are submitted to it. This 1 believe will be generally acknowledged, and it is upon these grounds tlmt the government of the United States must be tested. They abjured our monarchy, and left their country for a distant land, to obtain freedom. They railed at tlie vices and imperfections of continental rule, and pro- posed to themselves a government which should be perfect, under which every mun should have his due weight in the representation, and prove to the world that a people could govern themselves. Dis- gusted with the immorality of the age and the disregard to religion, they anticipated an amendment in the state of society. This new, and supposed perfect, machinery has been working for upwards of ■f MARRY AT S DIARY. 163 sixty years, and let us now examine Iiovv far the theory has been sup- ported and borne out by the practical result. I must first remind the reader Ihut I have already shewn the weak- ness of the Federal Government upon one most important point, wfiich is, that there is not sutVieient security fur person and property. \\ hen such is the case, thi.re caimot be that adequate punishment for vice so ne.-essary to uphold the morals of a people. I will now proceed to prove tlie weakness of the Federal Government whenever it has to combat with the several States, or with the will of the majority. It will be ])erceived, by an examination into the C^onstitution of the Ignited States, that the States have reserved for themselves all the real power, and that the Federal Union exists but upon their surt'erance. — Eiieli State still insists iipon its riirht to witlidr.iw itsell' *ioin the Union whenever it pleases, and the consequence of this riirht is, that in every eontliet with a State, Ihe Fideriil Governnient has invariably to suc- comb. i\l. Tofqneville observes, " If the sovereijrnty of the Union were to en^a(;e in a strup^'le vvitli that of the States, at its present day, itfl (k'ieat may be confidently i)redieted ; and it is not probable that HUf'li a strngtrle would be serio\isIy undertaken. As often as a steady resistance is offered to the Federal (jrovernment, it will be lound to yield. Kxperienee has hitherto shuvvn that whenever a State has de- miiiided ;in^ thin;if willi per3<;veranee and resolution, it has invariably sueeteucd ; and that if a separate trovernment has distinctly refused to act, it was left to do as it thoujlit tit.* " ihit even it" the ifovermnent of the Union had any strength inhe- rent ill ilsi It" the physical situation r)f the country would render the exercise of that strength very ditficult.t The United States cover an immense territory ; they are separated from each other by great dis- tances: and the population is disseminated over the surface of a coun- try which is still half a wilderness. If the I 'nion were to undertake to enforce the allegiance of the confederate States by military means, it would be in a position very analagous to that ot England at the time of the War of liidependen;H\" The Federal (ioveniment never displayed more weakness than in the ([uestion of the tariff put upon JOnglish goods to support the manu- facturers of the Northern States. The Southern States, as producers and exporters, complained of tlii;5 as prejudicial to their interests. South Carolina, one of the smallest States, led the van, and the storm i . k\.l ">i •f * Soe 'he conduct of itie Nnrtliern Slates in the war of lsi-2. " Diirin? that war." siiys Jetlbrson in a lotter to General l^iifiyi'tic, "fmir of tlie Kaslern Slates were only alliicUtd to tiic Union, like sj many inaniniaic bodies to living men." t The prof uind peace of the Union aHorils no pretext for a standinir army ; and whhoul a staiulins army a covernnmet is not prepared lo profit by a fa- vouratile opportunity to comiuer resistance, and lake the sovereign power by surprise. ; i I n :l 164 MARRYAT 8 DIARY. rose. This State passed an act by convention, annvUing the Federal Act of the tariff, armed her mihtia, and prepared for war. The consc. qucnce was that tiie Federal Government abandoned tiie principle of the tariff, but at the same time, to save the diHgracc of its defeat, it passed an act warrantinj^ the President to put dourn resistance Inj force, or, in other words, making the Union compulsory. South Carolina annulled this law of the Federal Government, but as the State gained its point by the Federal Government having abandoned the princi])lc of the tarifl", the matter ended. Another instance in which the Federal Government showed its weakness when opposed to a State, was in its conflict with Georgia. The Federal Government had entered into a solemn, und what ought to have been an inviolable treaty, with the Cherokee Indi ms, securing to them the remnant of their lands in the State of Georgia. The seventh Article of lli.it treaty says, " The United Stales solemnly guarantee to the Cherokee nation all their lands not hitherto ceded."' The State of Georgia, when its population increased, did not like the Indians to remain, and insisted upon their removal. What was the result ? — that the Federal (Jovcrnment, in violation of a solemn treaty and the national honour, submitted to the dictation of Georgia, and the Indians were removed to the other side of the Mississippi. These instances are sufficient to prove the weakness of the Federal Government wl.en opposed to the Slates; it is still weaker wlicn op- posed to the will of the majority. 1 have already quoted many in- stances of the exercise of this uncontrolled wi.l. I do not refer to Lynch law, or the reckless nmrders in the Southern States, but to the riots in the most civilized cities, such as Boston, New York, and Balti. more, in which outrages and murders have been committed without the Government ever presuming to punish the perpetrators ; but the strongest evidence of the helplessness of the Government, when opposed to the majority, has been in liie late Canadian troubhs, which, 1 fear, have only for the season subsided. If many have doubts of the sin- cerity of the President of the United States in his attempts to prevent the interference of the Amorieans, there can be no doubt but that General Scott, Major Worth, and the other American officers sent to the frontiers, did their utmost to prevent the excesses which were com- rnittcd, and to allay the excilcnwnt ; and every one is aware how un- availing were their efi'orts. The magazines were broken open, the field-pieces and muskets taken possession of; large subscriptions of money poured in from every (piartcr ; farmers sent waggon-loads of pigs, corn, and buffalos, to support the insurgents. No one would, in- deed no one could, act against the will of the majority, and these offi- cers found themselves lefl to their individual and useless exertions. The militia at Detroit were ordered out : they could not refuse to obey the summons, as they were individually liable to fine and imprir- MARRYAT S DIARY. 165 sonment; but as they said, very truly, "You may cnll ua out, but when we come into action we will point our muskets in which fiirec- tion we piciise," Indeed, they did assist the insurgents and fire at our people; and when the insurgents were delcated, one of tiie drums wliich they had with thorn, and which was captured by our troops, was marked with the name of the militia corps which had been called out to repel them. When the people are thus above the law, it is of very little conse- quence whether the law is more or less weak; at present the FtdjTul Government is a mere cypher wlien o|>posc(i by tl)e majority. Have, then, the Americans iuiproved upon us in tliis point .' It is generally admitted that a strong and vigorous government, which can act when it is necessary to restrain the passions of men under excitement, is most favourable to social order and happiness; but, on the ctnifrury, when the dormant power of the executive should be brought into ac- tion, all that the Federal Govemmfnt can do is to become a passive spectator or a disregarded suppliant. ■■ I i H CHAPTER XVI. The next question to be examined into is, has this government of the United Slates set an example of honour, good, faith and moral principle, to those who are subjected to it ? — has it, by sfj behaving, acted favourably upon the morals of the people, and corrected the vices and errors of the monarchical institations wliich the Americans hold up to such detestation .' The Americans may be said ta have had, till within the last twenty years, little or no relation with other countries. They have had lew treaties to make, and very little diplomatic arrangements willj the old Continent. But even if they had had, they nmst not be judged by them ; a certain degree of national honour is necessary to every nation, if they would have the respect of others, and a dread of the conseciuences would always compel them to adhere to any treaty made with great and powerful countries. The question is, has the Federal Govern- ment adhered to its treaties and promises made with and to those who have been loo weak to defend themselves? Has it not repeat- edly, in the short period of their existence as a nation, violated the national honour whenever without being in fear of retaliation or exposure it has been able to do so. Let this question be an- swered by an examination into their conduct towards the unhappy In- dians, who, to use their own expression, are "now melting away like suow before the white men." We arc not to estimate the morality of 1.ii ■U. ■ ! ( ',1 ! 1 I'M ! i: J?- 'i ■■I , , • 1.* 1 ■.* Ill ii i . -' i 166 MARKYAT 8 DIARY. a guvernmcnt by \U strict adherence to its compacts with tho powerful, but by its strict moral setise ot justice towards the weak and defence- Icsh; and it should be borne in mind, thut one example ofa breach of fuith on the part of a democratic government, is more injurious to the morals of the people under that government than a thouaand instances of breach of fuilh which may occur in soci'ty ; for a people who have no ari»tocracy to set the example, must naturally look to the conduct of their rulers and to their decisions, as a standard fur their guidance- To enumerate the nuiltiplied breaches of tiiith towards the Indians would swell out thiii work to an extra volume. It was a bitter sarcasm of the Scminule chief, who, referring to the terms used in the treaties, told the Indian agents that the white man^a *^for ever'* did not last long (Tiough. Even in its payment of the trifling sums for the lands sold by the Indians and re-suld at an enormous profit, the American Go* vernment has not been willing to adhere to its agreement ; and two years ago, when the Indians came for their money, the American Go- vernment told then), like an Israelite dealer, that they must take half money and half goods. The Indians remonstrated ; the chiefs rephed, " Our young men have purchased upon credit, as they are wont to do ; they require the dollars, to pay honestly what they owe." " Is our great father so |K)or ?** said one chief to the Indian egent ; " I will lend him some money ;" and he ordered several thousand dol- lars to be brought, and oflered them to the agent. In the Florida war, to which I shall again refer, the same want of faith has been excrci.sed. Unable to drive the Indians out of their swamps and morasses, they have persuaded them to come into a coun- cil, under a flag of truce. This Hag of truce has been violated, and the Indians have been thrown into prison until they could be sent away to the Far West, that is, if they survived their captivity, which the gal- lant O.scenla could not. Let it not be supposed Uiat the officers employed are the parties to blame in these acts; it is, generally speaking, the In- dian agents, who are employed in these nefarious transactions. Among these iigents there are Many honourable men, but a corrupt govern- ment will always find people corrupt enough to do anything it may wish. But any language that I can use as to the conduct of the American Government towards the Indians would be light, compared to the comments made in my presence by the officer* and other Ame- rican gentlemen u|)on this subject. Indeed, the indignation expressed is so general, that it proves there is less morality in the Government than there is in the na*.ion. With the exception ot' the Florida war, which still continues, the last euntest whieh the Americjin Government had with the Indians wus with the Sacs and Foxes, commanded by the celebrated chief, Black Hawk. The Socs and Foxes at that period held a large tract of land on Rock river, in the U-ritory of loway, on the east side of the Missis- sippi, which the Government wished, perforce, to take from them. •f iSj: MARRYAT S DIARY. 167 Mwcrful, defence- >rcach of 18 to the tances of I have no ;t of their ice- To ins would )in of the jties, told last long ands sold ican Go' and two rican Go- take half fs replied, )nt to do ; an agent ; isand dol- B want of t of their to a coun- ilated, and sent away h the gal- \ employed ng, the In- Among pt govern- ng it may ict of the compared ither Ame- expressed ovcrnment tinues, the iidians was hief, Black ict of land the Missis- rom them. 1 The following is Black Hawk's account of the mean?, by which this land was obtained. The war was occasioned by Black Hawk disown- ing the treaty and attempting to rcpot)snss the territory. "Some moons after this young chief (Lit-Hlcnant Pike) descended the Mississippi, one of our people killed un Acnerican, and w&s confined in the prison at St. Louis for the offence. We held a council at our vil- lage to see >vhat could be done for him, which determined that Quash- qua-me, Pa-shc-paho, Ou-che-qua-ha, and Hu-she-quar-hi-qua, should go down to St. Louis, and see our American father, and do all they could to have uur friend released ; by paying lor the person killed, thus covering the bloud and satisfying the relations of the man murdered ! This being the only means with us of saving u person who had killed another, and we then thought it was the same way with the whites. " The party started with the good wishes of the whole nation, hop- ing they would accomplish the object of their mission. I'lie relations of the prisoner blacked their faces and fasted, hoping the Great Spirit would take pity on them, and return the husband and the father to his wife and children. " Quash-qua-me and party remained a long time absent. They at length returned, and encamped a short distance below the village, but drr fifltird utiSy fxist.s ty need be iiidueed to would tbtii iduce llicin St icro?'^!*, bar uloiie." sase of tlic fourpal, the ; it appears 1, whenever ! hereditary against the oux nation, eqnire, that ri destroyed king of the jIv adverted )on tiiJ^ t»o- ime to -iine, Id be neces- iy Congress ountry. By- ■acts merely nciple alone (ve the want id it may he Texas, and with whom ihcy were on termu of amity, but who was unfortunately too weak to bel]> herself. In this instance the Am«'ric»n (Joverniufnt had no ex- cuse, as it actually had an army on the irontier, and could have oom. [•ellcd the insurgents to go Imck ; but no; it perceived that the 'IVxas, if in its hands, or if in(ie|)cndent of Mexico, would bcconjc a murt for their extra nlave population, that it was the finest country in the world tur producing cotton, and that it would be an immense addition of valuable territory. Dr. Channing's letter to Mr. Clay is so forcible on this ()ueslioii, enters so fully into the merits of the case, and poinlH out so clearly the nefariousness of the transaction, that I shall now quote I few passages fiom this best of American authority. Indeed, I con- jiider that this letter of Dr. Channing is the principal cause why the Xiiicrican (Government have not as yet admitted Texas into the I'nion. The eiforis of the Northern States would not have prevented it, but it has actually been shamed by Dr. Chaiming, who says — "The United States have not been just to Mexico, Our citizens did iH)t steal singly, silently, in disguise into that land. Their purpose of dismembering Mexico, and attaching her distant province to this coun- try, was not wrapt in mystery. It was proelaiiiied in our [)ublic prints. I'lxpcditions were openly fitted out within our borders tor the Texan war. Troops were organized, ((luipped, and mareiied for the scene of action. Advertisements for volimteen-i, to be enrolled and conducted to Texas at the expense of that territory, were insertei you iiiuy, if yon [tlnise, help ynurHclf." Wliut has l)ccn the result of this coiiiliict u|K)n •ocicty / — that ns the ^ovcrniiii'tit (Ioi-h not consider a br< ach of f.iilh an dcittrviti},^ of piiniNhiiicnt, Hoeit'ty dot's not Ihiuk so ci'hir; und thutt are the |hm)|>1(; dcniorulizcd, not only hy tin ('Xiiiii|)le of irovcminont in its foreign relations, but by its leniency towards those individuals who arc regardlesH of I'uilb a^ the jjovernnuiit has piovcd to he it>i'll'. Indeed, it may be boldly asserted, that in every nieasiire taUcu bj the Federal (iovernmcnl, the nu)ral etl'eet of that measure upon the people has never been thought worthy of n uiuuicul'ti cuusidcrution. CHAPTER XVII. I I f I ! We must now examine into one or two other points. The Ameri- cans Cf)nsitjer that thuy an^ the only people on earth who govern thtm- selves; they assert that ic« have not a tree juic perfect representation. We will luA dispute that point; the ([ucslion is, not what the case in England nuiy be, but what America may have trained. This is certain, that if they have not a free impartial reproentalion, they do not, an they suppose, govern themselves. Have they, with universal sutlVagc, ttbtiiined a repreaentation free from brilury a'sd corruption? If they have, they certainly have gained their point ; if they have not th«y have Hicrificed much, and have obtained nothing. By a calculation which I nuide at the time I was in the United States of all the various elections which took place atmually, bienni- ally, and at longer dates, including those l()r the Federal (jovernnient, the separate governments of each State, and many other elective of- fices, there are about two thou.-iaiid five hutidnd elections of different descriptions every year ; and if I were to add the civic elections, which are equally political, 1 do not know what amoimt they would arrive at. In this country we have on an average about two hundred elections per annum, so that, in America, for thirieen millions, they have two thousand ilve hundred elections, and in England for twenty-seven mil- lions, two hundred, on the average, during the year. It must, however, be admitted, that the major portion of these elections in the United States pass off quietly, prot)ably from the com- paritive want of interest excited by them, and the continual repetition which takes place ; but when the important elections are in progress the case is very different ; the excitjismeot tlien becomes universal ; the i I • ■) #11 4 I ijrrr ! .J •M m Iff li|i V-. 1. 172 MARRY AT S DIARY. coming election is the theme of every tonirue, tlic all-engrossing' topic, and nothing else is listened or paid attention to. It must be remembered, that the slriigglc in America is tor place, not for principle; for vvliiehever party obtains power, their principle of ac- ting is much the same. Occasion il!y a (juestion of moment will come forward and nearly convulse the Union, but thi^ is very rare ; tl)e ge- neral course of k'gi^liiliiti is in a veiy narrow compass, and is seldom more than a mere routine of business, VVith the majority, who lead a party, (parlicidarly the one at present in power), Ihe contest is not. tlicr fore, lor |)iinciplc, but, it may almost be said, for bread ; and this is one great cause of the virulence accouipanyrng their election strug- gles. 'J'hc election of the ['resident is of course the most important. M. Toe»iuevil!e has well desfribed it, " For a long while before the ap- point! d time is at hand, the election becomes the most important and the all-eu2'roseing topic of discussion. The iirdour of faction is re- doubled ; and all the artificial j):issio:!S which the imnginalion can create i.i llie bosom of a happy and peaceful land are agitati-d an(i brought to light, Tlie President, on Ihe other hand, is absorlx d l>ytlic cares of selfldi'i'enee. Me no lofiger governs for the inten st of the State, but for that of his re-cleclioji ; he does homage to the majority, and instead of clicekinif its passions, as his duty commands him to do, lie frequently courts its worst caprices. As the election draws near, the activity of intrigue and the agitation of the populace increase ; thc citizens arc divided into hostile camps, <'ach of which assumes the name ot" its fivmirite caiidiilate ; ihc whole nation glows with llnerisli- excitemeiit ; the election is the daily theme of the public pa|M'ps, the subject of private conversalion, the end of every thought and everj action, the sole int( rest of tfie prc'^ent.'' Of course the elc^'tifins in llej larijc cities are those which next oc- cupy the public attention. I havi; before stated, that at the lastelcctioM in New York the coinmillees of the opp((sif(,> paitv were brought over by the W'iiigs, and th n by tliis brib(!ry the election was gained ; but I will now (piote from (lie Ameiicans ihemselves, and let the reader then decide in which country, England or Amt;riea, there is most purity of election. "On the I'llli, lOfh, and 1 1th irstaiit, a local election for tnayor and v-hi'fter-ofriccrs was held in this city. It resulted in th(! dei'eat of the Whig party. The Loco-tbeos had a majority of about one thousand and fifty for their mayor. Last April the Wliigs had a majority of about five hundred. 'I'liere are seventeen wards, and seventeen polls were opened. The out, or sub.'rb, wards presented the most disgraceful scenes of riot, fraud, corruption, and pe,jury, that were ever witnessed in this or any other country on a similar occasion. The whole num- ber of votes polled was ff)rty-one thousand three hundred. It is a no- toripus fact, that there are not forty thousand legal voters residing i/> I Ill ' MARRY at' S DIARY. 173 the cily. In the abstract this election is but of little importance. Iti moral influence on other sections of the country remains to be seen. Generally, the effect of such a triunDph is unfavuiirable to the defeated party in other places; and it would be so in the present instance, if the conttst had been an ordinary contest, but the circuinslances to which I have relerrcd of fraud, corruption, and perjury, may, or may not, re- act upon the alleged authors of these shamt less proceedings." Again, "The moderate and thinking men of both parties — indeed, we n)ay say every honourable man who has been a sjiectator of recent events — (eel shocked at the frauds, perjury, and corruption, which too evidently enabled the administration party to poll so powerful a vote. What are we coming to in this country ? A peaceable contest at the polls in a peaceable test of party — it is to ascertain the opinions'and views of citizens entitled to vote — it is a fair and honourable party ap- peal to the ballot-box. We are all Americans — living under the same constitution and laws ; each boasting of his freedom and equal rights — our political differences are, after all, the differences between members of the same national family. What, therefore, is to become of our free- dom and rights, our morals, safety, and religion, if the administration of our government is permitted to embark in such open, avowed, pal- pable schemes of fraud and corruption as those recpntly exhibited in this city ? More than fine thousand strangers, having no inferest and no domicil, are introduced by the partisans of the administration into the city, and brf»ught up to the polls to decide who shall make our municipal laws More tiia*? four himdrtd votes over and above the ascertained votes of a warH, are polled in such ward. Men moved from ward to ward to sleep one night as an evasive qualification. More than two hundred sailors, from United States' vessels of war, brought over to the city to vote — sloops and small craf\, trading down the north and east rivers, each known never to have more than three hands, turning out thirty or forty voters from each vessel. Men turned from the polls for want of legal qualifications, broujilit back by administra- tion partisans and made to swear in their vote. Hundreds with the red clay of New Jersey adhering to their thick-soled shoes, presenting themselves to vote as citizens of New York, and all this fraud and per- jury set on loot and justified to enable Mr. Van Buren to say, ' I have recovered the city.' But he h:s been signally defeated, as he ought to be, notwithstanding all his mighty efforts. 'I'here is this day a clearly ascertained Whig majority in this city offive thousand. " It is, therefore, a mockery to call a contest with persons from other States, hired for the occasion, an election. We must have a registry of mtes, in order to sweep away this vast system of perjury andfrtud; and every man who has an interest at stake in his person, his children, or his property, must demand it of the legislature, as the only means of coining to a fair decision on all such matters. This charter election 15* a I ' i ■ ^;| iJi I &1 Vi'i'V !•■ »!fe 174 MARRYAT S DIARY. should open the eyes of tin; honourable of all parties to the dangers that menace us, and a rcdicss |ir(n'idc'd in time." Afjain, " Tfic Alias, Moiiddij Moniimr, April 16, 1838 — (Triu7nphant Result of the Election in i\(w York). — We have rarely known un elec- tion wljicii, during ils continuance, has excited so lively a deg^ree of" in- terest as h;is been i'clt in regard to the contest just terminated in New York. From numerous ([iiartcrs we have received letters requesting us to transmit the carlicsl Mitclligcncc of the result, and an anxiety has been evinced among the Whigs of the country, which wc have hardlj' seen surpassed. Tlie trcmen(!ous onset of the Loco-fbcos upon the first day increased this anxiety, ;ind tears began to be entertained thai the miparalk'Ied and unscru[iuIons etrorls of our opponepts — their shameless resort to every sixcies of fraud, violence, and corruption — their imp serted ; and I have no hesitation in predicting, that if tlie people of the United States are ever involved in serious difficulties, its taxation will speedily be increased to the rate of that which prevails in the greater pp.rt of the aristocracioff and the monarchies ot Europe." MARRYAT S DIARY. 177 id of dru' any one en down IIS of the nly object carried oranct! of ■rs proves and un- every do- ry. ThvT ritten ac- i himself ar in ilie tness not oiii them. 18 : — less than urites, or y and in- dents, &.C. tliese are 2r to pro- reach the ed inhabi- t the war emporary, c satisfied blc; all I ney in the done they :t from M. ion. ic national nditure of irate coin- t prove in- 3 is not u tiesitation nvolved in the rate of » and the CHAPTER XVIII. TiiK Americans, and with justice, hold up Wasliiiicfion as one of the first otiMf'ii, ifso,\vliy will they not pay attention to his opinions ' because lli('_//;.s7 of men must not interfere with their prejudices, or, ii"lie(!oes, iie iiiiiiic(li;it('lv ill tlieir eyes becomes the last. Nevertheless, Wash- injrt'U proved his ability when he made the followiri^r observation, in his letttr to Chief . Justice Jay, dated iOth of March, ! 167 ; even at that early period he pereeived that the institutions of Americ;;, alt!ioui^''h !it the time much less democratical than at present, would not stand. Hear the words of Wasbinijtou, for they were a prnphrcy — " Amnnjr men of retleetion, tew will be found, I believe, who are no* 1 L'iimiiijr to think that our system is belter in flifon/ than In prar- lice ; and that, iiotwithstandinjr the boasted virtue of America, it is more than prubalile that we shall exhibit the last melancholy proof, that Mianl^ind are incompetent to their own government initlioiit the means (if fiU'rciim 111 the Koniriori.^^ Mow, if you were to put this extract into the hands of an American, his admiration of VVasliin^ton would immediately full down below Zero, and in all prob ibility he would say, as tlioy do of jioor Captain Lawrem t — "Why, sir, W'ashinjrton was a great man, but threat men have their fliilings. I (ruess he wrote that letter tiftrr dinnri y But Wa-liintrton has been supported in this opinion by a modern Anieiieau patriot, Dr. ('banning;, who, ass»'rtin{j that " (lur institutions liave (lisiippointed us all," has pointed out the real etfeetsof democracy upon the morals of the nation; and tKerc arc many other tfood and lionist m<'n in America who will occasionally tell the truth, although tlicy s( Idom venture to put their natnes to what they write. lu a raaiiittsto, published when I was in the States, the following bitter [lills for the deiuncrats were inserted, S()eakiiig ot' depei. deuce on the vir- tue and intelligrnce of the people, the manifesto says: — " A form of government which has no belter corrective of public disorders than this, is a i)urles(pjeon the reason and intelligence of men ; it is as inc(;uipatible with wisdom as it is with public prosperity and ha])piness. " 'J"he i)eo[)le arc, by principle and the Constitution, guarded against the tyranny uf kings, but not against their own passions, and ignorance, fiud delusions." / < ■ n.i <:.]: I I f !:!i i; iii. IP I ■i I' % ■■1 m 1 mu V'.f-' 1 1. ill %. * v^ I r I 178 MARRY AT S DIARY. The necessity of relying^ on some other power than tho people is therefore enforced : " Such facts have induced nations to abandon the practice of elec- ting' their (thief m.ijristrate ; prcferrinj* to receive that officer by here, ditary succession. Men have found that tlie chances of havinsf a good chief iniifjistrate by birtbj are about equal to tlic chances of obtaining one by popular election. And, boast as we will, that the superior intel- ligence of our citizens may render this jjoverninent an exception, time will show that tills is a inistiikc. No nation can be an exception, till the Ahniirhty sfiall chanirc tlio whole character of in;m. " It is a solemn truth, that when exuculive officers are dependent for their offices on annntil or frequent elections^ there will be no impar- tial or efficient admitiis(r.itif)ii of the laws. " It is in vaiu that nicn attempt to disfjnise the truth ; the fact, be- yond all debate, is that tlio disorders in our political aff.iirs are the genuine and natural conse(]ntnces of defects in the Cunstilutinn, and of the false and visionary opinions which Mr. JctTurson and his disciples have been procliiiinic.jr fir lorty years. " The mass of the people seem not to consider that the affairs of a great cornnierei.il nation require for their correct matugoment talents of the first order. •'Of all lliis, the 7nass of our pop'ilation appear to know little or nothinof. " The mass of the people, seduced and disciplined by their leaders, are still firUier deceived, by bei;itr taug^lit that, our piiiilic di-iorders are to be ascribed to other causes tlian the ignorance and pervt-rsity of their party. *' And yet onr citizens ;, re constantly boastina of the intellirrence oj the people ! Iiitelliufi iice ! The hi-tory of'n ilions cannot present an example of such total vjant of iriteUiircnc.c ?.» onr country now exhibits: and what is more, a icaiil of ii;tcpitliora, which threw ati undue weight and preponderance into the hands of the people. \iy this breach in the constittition, faction and corruption were let in and fomented. IMutareh, indeed, denies this, but both Polybius and Aris- totle are of a ditierent opinion: the latter says, that the power of tlm Ephori was so great as to amount to a perfect tyranny ; the kings themselves were neeesssiated to court their favour by such methods us greatly to hurl the constitution, which troni an aristocracy degenerated into absolute denioeracy. Sulon was called in to re-model the consti- tion of ihe Athenian repulilic. Ho had a more difficult task than Lycurgus, and did not so well succeed. He left too much power in the hands of the decnocracy, the decisions of the superior courts being liable to appeal, and to be rescinded by the nriss of the people. Ana- chasis, the Scythian philosopher, when he heard some points first debated in the Senate, and afterwards debated in the Assembly of IIk; people, very properly observed, that at Athens "Wise men debated, but fools decided." Tiie whole history of the Athenian republic is, there- fore, one of outrageous bribe ry and corruption among the higher class ; tyranny, despotism, and injustice on the part of the lower, or majority. The downfal of tiic Roman empire uiay equally be traced to the undue weight obtained by tlie people by the appointment of the tribunes, and so it vvdl be proved in almost every instance : the reason why the e.r- oess of power is more destructive wlien in ihe hands of the people is, that either they, by retaining the power in tlieir own hands, exercise a demo- MARRY AT ? DIARY. 181 of condition :(|uisitinn of mipellud all lie, brought jvcry citizen ! necessary ; 24, lib. 3. jibiteil navi- reiirners; lie try str-aiulus jr should be lice njuiility, doubt if the lis republic ! tiic creation icli threw an )pIo, Hy this i lot in and us and Aris- )o\vcr of the y ; the kings methods us degenerated L'l the consti- It task than :h power in courts being ?ople. Ana- points firi-l nd)ly of till! debated, but ilic is, there- lighcr class, or majority, raced to the the tribune?, why the c.x- (cople is, that cisc a demo- I I ralisiutT despotism, or if they have becomo siilKt'iont vorift!, they sell tlR'in.^elve.s to be lyraiiniyed over in their turn. I have made these reniarks, because I wish to corroborntc fnv opinion, that '* power once gained hy the people is never to be recovered, except by bribery and corruption, and that until then, every grant is only the Ibrerunner of an extension ; and that ai- thoujrh the undue balance of power of the higher classes occa- sionally inay hv, that in the hands of the people is invariably at- tended by tlie downfall of the institution. At the same time, I do not intend to deny the right of the people to claim an extension of their privileges, in proportion us they rise by education to the right of governing themselves; untbrtunately these privileges have been given, or taken, pre- vious to their being qualified. A republic is certainly, in theory, the most just form of government, but, up to the present day, Jiistory has proved that no people have been prepared to receive it. That there is something very imposing in the present rapid advance of the United States, I grant, but this grandeur is not ascribed by the Americans to its true source : it is the magnifi- oentand extended country, not their government and institutions, which has been the cause of their prosperity. The Americans think otherwise, and, as I have before observed, they are happy in their own delusions — they do not make a distinction between what they have gained by their country, and what they have gained by their institutions. Every thing is on a vast and ma-\\ '« ' . 1 > " 182 MARBYVl' H DIAKY. •Wl^ : i'i ^ guUhncf* and purity of mtinnera could onnblc tlicm ff* povprn thernsclvos, thoae wuro rio wiiu lirst estubliBlied the Amencttn independence. Fitly years have passed away, and the present state of Ame- rica I have already shown. From purity ot'mnnners, h , moral co