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M 
 
DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS. 
 
, 
 
 I 
 
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 ■^ws 
 
7/U/U, 
 
 
 > ,4 " i 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS 
 
 CONTRIBUTED TO THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. 
 
 By SIR FRANCIS B. HEAD, BART. 
 
 '-''^<' 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. L 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1857. 
 
 \The right of TmHslatioii in reieneJ.} 
 
PHINTKb IIV 
 JOHN EUWAKO TAVLOR, LllTLB (jUKKN sTHKHT, 
 
 Lincoln's ikn hfi.us. 
 
IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOLUME 1. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ■—• ♦— 
 
 CORNISn MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 THE PRINTER'S DEVIL. 
 
 HE RET) MAN. 
 THE AIR WE LIVE IN. 
 MEMORANDUM ON THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 
 THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY. 
 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 
 THE BRITANNIA BRIDGE. 
 THE LONDON POST-OFFICE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This hrocxl of Literary Chickens, all of which, save 
 one, have been hatched in the ' Quarterly Review,' 
 now migrate from theii* coop, to fare, in the wide world, 
 for themselves. 
 
 The Proverb says. Birds of a feather flock together, 
 but in this motley group the Reader will find that, in 
 size, in substance, and in colour, there are no two of 
 them alike. 
 
 >tim«tfWtiHfi»iaiMi|Mm 
 
DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS. 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 We do not profess to euro insanity, and have tliorcfore 
 no ambition to persuade those who still rave about the 
 riches thcv arc to extract from the American mines, that 
 their speculations arc as visionary as Daniel O'lloiu'ke's 
 visit to the moon. Deeply aa we lament their situation, 
 wc offer no remedy to constitutions which require rather 
 blisters, bleeding, and water-gruel, than any treatment 
 which it is our province to administer. 
 
 The rational part of our community have now, wo 
 believe, come to the general conclusion, that these mining 
 speculations are absurd ; yet, as the foundation of this 
 opinion is not clearly defined, or, in other words, as the 
 question has not as yet been considered with the requisite 
 calmness and minuteness, we think we may do some 
 service by laying before our readers, — 1st, a short de- 
 scriptive sketch of the Cornish system of mining, with 
 the character of the Coniish miner ; 2dly, a similar out- 
 
 B 
 
 mmm 
 
CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 
 
 line of the Atnerican mines and miners; and, 3dly, a 
 brief review of the progress M'hioh our City Mining 
 Companies have made, and of the experience they have 
 gained. From tlicse data we conceive that every candid 
 person may collect ample reasons for adhering to the 
 opinion now generally prevalent on this subject. 
 
 I. THE CORNISH SYSTEM. 
 
 The largest mines in Cornwall are tho '~,\yiisolidated 
 Mines, the United Klines, the Poldice Mine, the Dal- 
 coath IMinc; all of which arc in hills of clay-slate or 
 killas, three or four hundred feet above the level of the 
 sea, and in the neighbourhood of the town of Redruth. 
 These mines run east and west ; and they are about half- 
 v,ay between the two shores of the British and Bristol 
 Channels. 
 
 To one unaccustomed to a mining country, the view 
 from Cairn IVIarth, which is a rocky eminence of seven 
 hundred and fifty-seven feet, is full of novelty. Over a 
 surface neither mountainous nor flat, but diversified 
 from sea to sea by a constant scries of low undulating 
 hills and vales, the farmer and the miner seem to be 
 occupying the country in something like the confusion of 
 warfare. The situations of the Consolidated Mines, the 
 United Mines, the Poldice Mine, etc. etc., are marked 
 out by spots a mile in length by half a mile in breadth, 
 covered with what are termed ' the deads ' of the mine ; 
 i. e. slaty poisonous rubbish, thrown up in rugged heaps, 
 which, at a distance, give the place the appearance of an 
 encampment of soldiers' tents. This lifeless mass follows 
 
THE COllMSII SYSTK?.r. 
 
 the course of the main lode (wliiclij as has been said, 
 generally runs east and west) ; and from it, in different 
 directions, minor branches of the same barren rubbish 
 diverge through the fertile country, like the streams of 
 lava from a volcano. The miner being obliged to have 
 a shaft for air at every hundred yards, and the Stannary 
 Laws allowing him freely to pursue his game, his hidden 
 path is commonly to be traced by a scries of heaps of 
 'deads,' which rise up among the green fields, and 
 among the grazing cattle, like the workings of a mole. 
 Steam-engines, and whims ('argc capstans Avorked by two 
 or four horses), are scattered about ; and in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the old, as well as of the new workings, are 
 sprinkled, one by one, a number of small whitewashed 
 miners' cottages, which, being neither on a road nor near 
 a road, wear, to the eye of the stranger, the appearance 
 of having been dropped down a-propos to nothing. — 
 Such, or not very dissimilar, is in most cases the su- 
 perficial view of a country the chief wealth of which is 
 subterraneous. 
 
 Early in the morning the scene becomes animated. 
 From the scattered cottages, as far as the eye can reach, 
 men, women, and children of all ages begin to creep out; 
 and it is curious to observe them all converging, like bees, 
 towards the small hole at which thev are to enter their 
 mine. On their arrival, the women and children, whose 
 duty it is to dress or clean the ore, repair to the rough 
 sheds under which they work j while the men, having 
 stripped and put on their imderyroimd clothes (which 
 are coarse flannel dresses), one after another descend the 
 
 b3 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 several shafts of the mine, hy perpendicular ladders, to 
 their respective levels or galleries — one of which is nine 
 hundred and ninety feet below the level of the ocean. 
 As soon as they have all disappeared, a most remarkable 
 stillness prevails — scarcely a human being is to be seen. 
 The tall chimneys of the steam-engines emit no smoke ; 
 and nothing is in motion but the great ' bobs ' or levers 
 of these gigantic machines, which, slowly rising and fall- 
 ing, exert their power, either to lift the water or produce 
 from the mine, or to stamp the ores; and in the tran- 
 quillity of such a scene, it is curious to call to mind the 
 busy occupations of the hidden thousands who are at 
 work: to contrast the natural verdure of the country 
 with the dead product of the mines, and to observe a few 
 cattle ruminating on the surface of green sunny fields, 
 while man is buried and toiling beneath them in dark- 
 ness and seclusion. — But it is necessary that we should 
 now descend from the heights of Cairn Marth, to take 
 a nearer view of the mode of working the mine, and to 
 give a skeleton plan of that simple operation. 
 
 A lode is a crack in the rock, bearing, in shape and 
 dimensions, the character of the convulsion that formed 
 it; and it is in this irregular crevice that Nature has, 
 most irregularly, deposited her mineral Avcalth ; for the 
 crack, or lode, is never filled with ore, which is distri- 
 buted and scattered in veins and bunches, the rest of 
 the lode being made up of quartz, muudic, and ' deads.' 
 Under such circumstances, it is impossible to say before- 
 hand, where the riches of the lode exist ; and therefore, 
 if its general character and appearance seem to authorize 
 
THE CORNISH SYSTEM. 
 
 the expense, the following is the simple, and, indeed, the 
 natural plan of working it usually resorted to. 
 
 A perpendicular pit, or shaft, is sunk, and at a depth 
 of about sixty feet a horizontal gallery, or level, is eut in 
 the iode, say both towards the east and towards the west 
 — the ore and materials being raised at first by a eommon 
 windlass. As soon as the two sets of miners have each 
 cut or driven the level about a hundred yards, they find 
 it impossible to proceed for want of air ; this being anti- 
 cipated, two other sets of miners have been sinking from 
 the surface two other perpendicular shafts, to meet them; 
 from these the ores and materials may also be raised; 
 and it is evident that, by thus sinking perpendicular 
 shafts a hundred yards from each other, the first gallery, 
 or level, may be prolonged ad libitum. But while this 
 horizontal work is carrying on, the original, or, as it is 
 termed, the ew^iwe-shaft, is sunk deeper ; and at a second 
 depth of sixty feet, a second horizontal gallery, or level, 
 is driven towards the cast and towards the west, receiving 
 air from the various perpendicular shafts which are all 
 successively sunk down so as to meet it. The main, or 
 engine-shaft, is then carried deeper still ; and at the same 
 distance — sixty feet, or ten fathoms — is driven a third, 
 and then a fourth gallery ; — and so on to any depth. 
 
 The object of these perpendicular shafts, and horizontal 
 galleries, is not so much to get at the ores which are di- 
 rectly procured from them, as to put the lode into a state 
 capable of being worked by a number of men, — in short, 
 to convert it into what may now be termed a mine ; for 
 it will be evident that the shafts and galleries divide 
 
6 
 
 CORNISH 5IINERS IN AMEUICA. 
 
 i 
 
 the lode into solid rectangular masses, or compartments, 
 each three hundred feet in length, hy sixty feet in height. 
 These masses of three hundred feet are again subdivided, 
 by small perpendicular shafts, into three parts ; and by 
 this arrangement, the lode is finally divided into masses 
 called pitches, each sixty feet in height, by about thirty- 
 three feet in length. In the Cornish mines, the sinking 
 of the shafts, and the driving of the levels, is paid by 
 what is termed tut-ivork, or task-work, that is, so much 
 per fathom ; and, in addition to this, the miners receive a 
 small percentage of the ores, in order to induce them to 
 keep these as separate as possible from the deads, which 
 they would not do, unless it were thus made their interest. 
 The lode, when divided as above described, is open to 
 the inspection of all the labouring miners in the countrj'^ ; 
 and by a most admirable system, each mass or compart- 
 ment is let by public competition, for two months, to two 
 or four miners, who may vvoi'k it as they choose. These 
 men undertake to break the ores, wheel them, raise them 
 to the surface, or, as it is termed, ' to grass,' and pay for 
 the whole -process of dressing the ores — which is bringing 
 tliem to a state fit for market. The ores are sold every 
 week by public auction, and the miner receives imme- 
 diately the tribute or percentage for which he agreed to 
 work, — which varies from sixpence to thirteen shillings 
 in the pound, according to the richness or poverty of the 
 ores produced. The owners of the mine, or, as they are 
 termed, the adventurers, thus avoid the necessity of over- 
 looking the detail of so many operations, and it is evi- 
 dently the interest of the miner to make them gain as 
 
THE CORNISH SYSTEM. 
 
 much as possible. Sliould the pitch, or compartment, 
 turn out bad, the miner has a right at any time to aban- 
 don his bargain, by paying a fine of t'venty shillings. At 
 the expiration of the lease, or whenever they may be aban- 
 doned, the pitches are anew put up for auction, and let 
 for two months more. Some may be getting richer, others 
 poorer, as the work proceeds ; — and thus public competi- 
 tion practically determines, from time to time, the proper 
 proportion of produce which the miner should receive. 
 The different rectangular masses, or pitches, into which 
 the lode is divided by the galleries and shafts, very sel- 
 dom turn out to be of similar value ; and they are of 
 course worked exactly in proportion to their produce. 
 In one compartment the whole of the ore is worked out ; 
 in another only a proportion will pay for working ; while 
 not a few turn out so poor, that no one will undertake to 
 work them at all. Tlie pitches are in most cases taken 
 by two miners, who relieve each other ; and one often 
 sees a father and son, who are in partnership, gradually 
 find the lode turn out poorer and poorer, until they are at 
 last compelled to pay their fine, and qu^'*- the ungrateful 
 spot. The lottery in which the tributei's engage abounds in 
 blanks and prizes. Sometimes the lode gets siuldenly ri(ih, 
 sometimes as suddenly poor, and occasionally a productive 
 lode altogether vanishes, or, as the miners say, has * taken 
 a heave ;' by which they mean, that some convulsion of 
 nature has broken the lode, and removed it off — some- 
 times two or three hundred feet — to the right or left. 
 In order to determine where to find it, those well ac- 
 quainted with the subject carefully observe the fracture 
 
! i 
 
 O C0HN18H MINEUS IN AMKUICA. 
 
 or broken extremity of the lode, and from its appearance 
 they ean determine on which side, and in what direction^ 
 to search for the lost prize. Sometimes, again, a lode 
 wliich is paying very well, is all of a sudden found ' to 
 have taken horse' which means, that it has split into two 
 lodes, separated from each other by an unproductive mass, 
 which the miners term a ' horse ;' and although the ag- 
 gregate of the two lodes frequently contains the same 
 (quantity of ore as the original single lode, yet as the ex- 
 pense of working is doubled, it often will not pay to work 
 them ; for in all mining operations it must be constantly 
 remembered, that it is not the quantity, or evea qua- 
 lity of the ores, that can induce a prudent man to work 
 them, if the expenses, from any circunistances, should 
 exceed the returns. 
 
 In explaining the above operations, we have delayed 
 to describe the draining of the mine, which, in a humid 
 climate like Cornwall, calls for very early attention. 
 The method, however, would suggest itself to any one 
 on very little reflection : for it is evident that, if in the 
 mine there be water which impedes operations, there 
 can be only two ways to get rid of it, — either to lift it 
 out, or to tap the hill. The latter is sometimes impos- 
 sible, and it then becomes necessary to employ pumps, 
 which are worked first by hand, then by horses, and 
 finally, if the mine will pay for the expense, by steam. 
 
 Without entering into further details, it will be evi- 
 dent that the system of tributers, in the Cornish mines, 
 encourages the miners to live by their wits. Great prac- 
 tice and experience alone can teach them to calculate the 
 
».-.-«*K„,. 
 
 i-"T--r" r^'Trtr ^ nwu iiifc 
 
 TUE CUUXISH SYSTEM. 
 
 
 
 value of the ores, and to speculate vt'itli tolerable accu- 
 racy on the capabilities of the lode which they are about 
 to work for a definite percentage of its produce; and 
 each miner thus finds it advisable not to undertake too 
 much, but, by a very natural division of labour, to con- 
 fine his sole attention either to tin or to copper. These 
 ores are completely diflcrent; the individual labourer 
 studies either the one or the other, not both. In the 
 proverbial language of the district, a copperer is not a 
 tinner ; and those w ho fancy that any Cornish miner is 
 able to work any lode, in any country, under any cir- 
 cumstances, will be surprised to hear that at the Poldice 
 mine, where a lode of copper runs absolutely touching a 
 lode of tin, no man who could ventm'c to take o. pitch 
 of the former on tribute, would ever pretend to have 
 the smallest notion of the value of the latter. Generally 
 speaking, the copper- man would no more think of un- 
 dertaking to work tin, or vice versd, than a London 
 plumber would undertake to do the task of a London 
 blacksmith. 
 
 * V 
 
 In working by tribute, the minor naturally does all 
 he can to enrich himself; but the system is so admira- 
 bly balanced and arranged by long practice and expe. 
 rience, that it is very dilHcult for him to enrich himself 
 vvitliout also enriching the owners or adventurers. Still, 
 however, there are modes by which he occasionally en- 
 deavours to defraud his employer. The miners m ill some- 
 times steal each other's ores. If they come to a very 
 good lode, they will occasionally hide their ore under 
 the rubbish, or deads, with the viev of making the profit 
 
 B 3 
 
 ^"^jT ''^--^^ *— 
 
10 
 
 CORNISH MINEKS IN AMERICA. 
 
 I 
 
 fi 
 
 they are getting appeal* to be inconsiderable, and, of 
 conrse, being able, at the end of their contract, to take 
 on their pitch, for anotlier two months, at an easy rate. 
 They perhaps succeed in this ; but ^vhcn they go to reap 
 tho benefit of their fraud, they sometimes find that a 
 ])rother miner, still more cunning than themselves, has 
 discovered tlieir hidden treasure, and has carried it ofl*. 
 The most usual mode of fraud, however, is a combination 
 between two trilmtcrs, one of vhom is working very 
 rich, and the other very poor, ores. The tributer who 
 is working poor ores has, perhaps, bargained that he is 
 to receive thirteen shillings out of every twenty shillings' 
 worth of ore ; while his friend, who is working the rich 
 ores, is to get only one shilling out of twenty. In the 
 dark chambers of the mine these two men secretly agree 
 to exchange some of their ores, and then to divide the 
 gross profits, Avhieh are, of course, very large; for, by 
 this arrangement, instead of one shilling they get thir- 
 teen shillings out of twenty for a portion of the rich 
 ores, while they lose but a trifle on a corresponding 
 portion of the poor ores. There arc a few other methods 
 of defrauding the adventurers ; but in the diamond-cut- 
 diamond system of the Cornish mines, a severe check 
 upon all such tricks is established by the appointment 
 of a number of excellent men, who are selected from 
 among the working miners, to superintend all their opera- 
 tions. These men, having been brought up in the mines, 
 are, of course, acquainted with the whole system. They 
 have fixed salaries of about eighty or ninety pounds a 
 year, and are termed captains of the mines. Each dis- 
 
THE COIIXISII SYSTEM. 
 
 11 
 
 trict of mines has three captains ; the senior of whom is 
 very properly entitled a grass captain, bccimse his duty 
 is on the surface, while his brethren, wlio overlook what 
 goes on within the mine, are styled underyround cap- 
 tains : — and underground we now beg to leave them, 
 while we say a few words on tlie mode of dressing the 
 ores, or preparing them for market. 
 
 These ores, or, as the miners term them, 'hures* are all 
 dressed by women and boys, who cob them, pick them, jig 
 them, buck them, buddle them, and splay them, as they 
 may require; — but as these terms of art may not be 
 altogether intelligible to some of our readers, we shall 
 describe the process in humbler words. In order to 
 prepare copper ores for market, the first process is, of 
 course, to throw aside the deads, or rubbish, with which 
 they are unavoidably mixed; and this operation is very 
 cleverly performed by little girls of seven or eight years 
 of age, who receive threepence or fourpcuce a day. The 
 largest fragments of ore are then cobbed, or broken into 
 smaller pieces, by women ; and after being again picked, 
 they arc given to what the Cornish miners term maidens, 
 — that is, to girls from sixteen to nineteen years of age. 
 These maidens buck the ores, — that is, with a bucking 
 iron, or flat hammer, they bruise them down to a size 
 not exceeding the top of the finger ; and the hares are 
 then given to boys, who jig them, or shake them in a 
 sieve under water, by which means the ore, or heavy 
 part, keeps at the bottom, while the spar, or refuse, is 
 scraped from the top. The part which passes through 
 the sieve is also stirred about in water, the lighter portion 
 
.^um. 
 
 ri'6'wni^M 
 
 12 
 
 COIINISII M1NKU8 IN AMUIUCA. 
 
 \l 
 
 is thrown from the surface, and the ores, thus dressed, 
 l)cing put into hu'ge heaps of about a hundred tons each, 
 are ready for the market. They then are forthwith 
 shipped for Waits (it being mueh cheaper to carry the 
 ores to the coals than the coals to the ores) ; and in 
 Wales, after undergoing another trifling operation, they 
 are ready to be smelted — a process of which no Cornish 
 coj)per-niiuer of any order has the slightest notion. 
 
 The dressing of tin ores is altogether a difl'erent pro- 
 cess, because not only are the ores perfectly dift'erent, 
 but the method of smelting them is also so dift'erent, 
 that it is necessary the tin should be reduced to the 
 finest powder, while copper ore is smelted in small 
 lumps. The tin ore, after being picked or separated 
 from the deads, is thrown into a stamping mill, where 
 it gradually falls under a number of piles or beams of 
 wood, shod with iron, which are worked vertically up or 
 down, — generally by a water-wheel, though at the Pol- 
 dice !Mine thirty-six of them are at once worked by steam. 
 As it is necessary that the ore should be bruised to a very 
 fine powder, the bottom of the stamp is surrounded by a 
 very fine copper sieve, and water being made constantly 
 to flow through this, the ore can only escape when it is 
 fine enough to pass with the water through the inter- 
 stices of the sieve. It then settles into a fine mud, 
 which is composed of metallic particles and powdered 
 quartz-rocks, etc. This mud undergoes a very ingenious 
 process, which the miners term buddling. The metallic 
 and other particles are all of different specific gravities, 
 and the dresser, being aware of this, places the mud at 
 
THE COHNI8II SYSTEM. 
 
 13 
 
 the top of uii inclined plane, and, gently working it 
 about, allows a small stream of water to run over it. In 
 a short time the inclined plane is all equally covered 
 with the mud, ami although, to any person who has not 
 been brought up to the business, the whole mass has the 
 same appearance, yet the dresser is able to distinguish, 
 and to draw a line between, the heavy metallic particles, 
 which have remained at the top of the inclined plane, 
 and the worthless ones, which, from being lighter, have 
 been washed towards the bottom. After separating the 
 one from the other, the worthless part is thrown away, 
 and the metallic part huddled again ; and the process is 
 repeated until the mass retained consists almost entirely 
 of metallic particles. But these particles, which are as 
 fiuo as flour, are not all tin ; generally many of them 
 are composed of mundic (the sulphuret of arsenic) ; 
 others arc copper; and as the ditt'crenee between the 
 specific gravities of these three metals is not sutficicut 
 to separate them by huddling, or washing, it becomes 
 necessary to roast the mass, an operation which the 
 dresser does not himself perform. As soon as the mass 
 is placed in a furnace, and sul.vjectcd to a proper degree 
 of heat, the sulphuret of arsenic goes oft' in white poi- 
 sonous fumes or smoke, and the specific gravities of the 
 different particles of copper and tin are so altered by 
 the action of the fire, that, upon being taken out of the 
 furnace, and again delivered to the dresser, he finds 
 that, in the course of carefully huddling the mass on 
 the inclined plane before described, the particles sepa- 
 rate, — the tin, which is the heaviest, being left upon the 
 
j» ^^i*^^!^**** 
 
 14 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 I#l 
 
 'm 
 
 upper part, while the copi)ei' is at the bottom. The tin 
 is thcu packed in liags and sold ; and, bein}^ nearly jjurc 
 ractal, it requires, in comparison to copper ore, so little 
 fuel, that it is all smelted in Cornwall. 
 
 Whoever compares together the two processes of 
 dressing copper and tin ores, must be satisfied that they 
 are completely ditferent attuirs ; and accordingly in 
 Cornwall it is ])erfectly well understood that they form 
 difl'erent trades. The ores are so dissimilar, and rcquuf^ 
 such different modes of treatment, that the experionec 
 which the labourer gains in dressing the one, is of no 
 possible use to him who dresses the other. It is true 
 that both sets of people are called dressers, but it does 
 not follow that, for that reason, they can all dress any- 
 thing ; and to desire a copper-dresser to dress tin ores 
 would, in Cornwall, be considered as preposterous as if 
 one were to send hiid to Aldersgatc Street to dress a 
 turtle, or to St. James's Square to dress a duchess. All 
 this is perfectly well known, and has been so for ages. 
 How strange then was the conduct of our City Mining 
 Companies, in sciidiiig out to America, at the enormous 
 salaries of fifteen guineas a month, so many Cornish 
 tin-dresscrs and copper-dressers, to instruct the native 
 miners in dressing silver ores, of the com^ ;^lti..u; cha- 
 racter, qualities, and treatment of whicu tho; c:q 
 totally ignorant ! 
 
 But it is time that the underground captains should 
 come to grass, and that the whole body of subterraneous 
 I'ibcarers sho\ Id be released ; and those who have at- 
 ten^'.'il tr their >bours through the day will scarcely 
 
 I > 
 
THL (-OUNISU ^^rrsM. 
 
 15 
 
 YO'^rct to sec thcra rising out of the earth, and issuing 
 in crowds from the difl'cnuit h«)le8 or shafts around, hot, 
 dirty, and jaded ; each with the rcuiainch'r of his huncli 
 of caiKHes hanging at the hottom of liis fliuniel gar'). 
 .'»s soon as the men come to yruss they repair to the 
 fMigine-house, wliere they generally leave their under- 
 f/round clothes to dry, wash themselves in the warm 
 water of the engine-pool, and pnt on their clothes, Avhich 
 are always exceedingly decent. By this time the ma'uiens 
 and little hoys have also washed their faces, and the 
 whole party (sixteen hundred persons arc employe i in 
 the Consolidated Mines) migrate across the fields in 
 groups, and in difl'crent directions, to their respective 
 homes. Generally speaking, they now look so clean 
 and fresh, and seem so happy, that one would scarcely 
 fancy they had worked all day in darkness and confine ■ 
 ment. The old men, however, tired with their work, 
 and sick of the fi)llies and vagaries of the ontside and 
 the inside of this mining world, plod their way iu sober 
 silence, probably thinking of their supper. The young 
 men proceed talking and laughing, and, where the grass 
 is good, they will sometimes stop and wrestle. The 
 big bins generally advance by playing at leap-frog; 
 little urchins run on before to gain time to stand upon 
 their lieads; while the 'maidens,' sometimes pleased aiul 
 sometimes offended with what happens, smile or scream 
 as eircumstauecs may require. As the different members 
 of the group approach their respective cottages, their 
 nuud)ers of course diminish, and the individual who lives 
 furthest from the mines, like the solitary survivor of a 
 
16 
 
 COllNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 large family, performs the last few yards of his journey 
 by himself. On arriving at home, the first employment 
 is to wheel a small eask in a light barrow for water ; 
 and as the cottages are built to follow the fortunes and 
 progress of the mine, it often happens that the miner 
 has three miles to go ere he can fill his cask. As soon 
 as the young men have supped, they generally dress 
 themselves in their holiday clothes, — a suit better than 
 the workiny clothes, in which they walk to the mines, 
 but not so good as their Sunday clothes. In fact, the 
 holiday clothes are the Sunday clothes of last year ; and 
 thus, including his underground jlannels, every Cornish 
 miner generally possesses four suits of clothes. 
 
 The Sunday is kept M'ith g/eat attention. Tiic mining 
 community, male and female, are remarkably well 
 dressed ; and as they come from the church or meetings, 
 there is certainly no labouring class in England at all 
 equal to them in appearance, for they are usually good- 
 looking. Working away from sun and wind, their com- 
 plexions are never Mcather-beaten, and often ruddy; 
 they are naturally a cheerful people, and indeed, when 
 one considers how many hours they pass in subterra- 
 neous darkness, it is not surprising that they should 
 look upon the sunshine of the Sabbath as the signal, not 
 only of rest, but of high and active natural enjoyment. 
 
 The ' ticketing,' or weekly sale of the ores, forms a 
 curious featm'c of the system of mining in Cornwall. 
 The ores, as before stated, are generally made up by the 
 tributers into heaps of about a hundred tons each ; and 
 samples, or little b;igs, from each heap are sent to the 
 
THE SOUTH AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 17 
 
 
 agents for the diffcreut copper companies. The agents 
 take these to the Cornish assayers, — a set of men who 
 (strange to relate) arc destitute of the most distant no- 
 tion of the theories of chemistry or metallurgy, but who 
 nevertheless can practically determine, with great ac- 
 curacy, the value of each sample of ore. As soon as 
 the agents have been informed of the assay, they deter- 
 mine what sum per ton they will ofler in the names of 
 their respective companies for each heap of ores at the 
 weekly meeting or ticketing. At this meeting (held for 
 the sale of tin ores every Tuesday, and for copper ores 
 every Thursday) all the mine-agents, as well as the 
 agents for the several copper companies, attend ; and it 
 is singular to see the whole of the ores, amounting to 
 several thousand tons, sold without the utterance of one 
 single ^vord. The figcnts for the copper companies, 
 seated at a long table, hand up individually to the 
 chairman a ticket or tender, stating what sum per ton 
 they ofler for each heap. As soon as every man has 
 delivered his ticket, they are all ordered to be printed 
 together in a tabular form. The largest sum offered 
 for each heap is distinguished by a line drawn under it 
 in the table ; and the agent who has made this offer is 
 the purchaser. 
 
 II. THE SOUTH AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 Having endeavoured to introduce to the acquaintance 
 of our reader the Cornish miner, and the system of mi- 
 ning established in his country, we shall now proceed 
 
 '<< 1 
 
 .- '' — ._ .. -v.- , 
 
18 
 
 CORNISH MIXERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 
 P ,1 
 
 to a general but faithful sketch of the miners and mining 
 of the Spanish colonics across the Atlantic. 
 
 It is certainly the case that nature has formed the 
 vast continent of America on a scale very different from 
 that of the Old "World. In point of grandeur and raag- 
 nificeuce the outline of the Western world is far superior 
 to that in Mhich it is our fortune to live. We cannot 
 boast of rivers one liundred or one Inmdred and fifty 
 miles in breadth ; nevertheless we have streams of much 
 narrower dimensions, free from the rapids of the St. Law- 
 rence, from the pamperos and sandbanks of the Rio 
 Plata, and broad enough for every purpose for which we 
 can require their aid. We have not, it is true, a range 
 of mountains to equal, in sullen magnificence, the stu- 
 pendous Andes ; but !Mont Blanc is quite high enough 
 for the scientific portion of our commimity, and Green- 
 wich hill quite steep enough for those who feel anxious 
 to roll down it. Wc have neither the dark impenetrable 
 forests of North America, nor the vast interminable 
 plains of tlie Pampas; but we possess, in their stead, 
 the snugger regions of civilized life, and we have beef 
 somewhat tenderer than that of the wild bull, with 
 plenty of good coal to cook it. In like manner, avc do 
 not possess mines of gold and silver to equal those which 
 are said to be deposited in the lofty Cordilleras of the 
 American mountains ; but we have in our own country, 
 in great aljundancc, huml)ler metals, which possess the 
 inestimable value of being within om' reach, and under 
 the protection of our own laws. 
 
 With respect to the value of the American mines 
 
 ait 
 
 |\ '"^• -•aa a a 
 
THE SOUTH AiMElllCAN SYSTEM. 
 
 19 
 
 mmiug 
 
 mines 
 
 hitherto diseovercil, there is now but too mueh reason to 
 bcheve that the popular estimate has been, all along, 
 greatly exaggerated. The unprecedented mass of pre- 
 cious metals poured into Europe after the discovery of 
 America, naturally led men to conceive that the ores 
 must have been obtained with great facility, and that, 
 consequently, they existed in great abundance in Ame- 
 rica; but it was not remembered that, for a large pro- 
 portion of these metals, the Spaniards, who dazzled us 
 with the display of them, had never paid the labour of 
 extraction ; in short, that they were gained at first by 
 open plunder, and long afterwards by dooming the In- 
 dians to a life of forced labour and misery, which caused, 
 in many places, all but the extinction of that unfortu- 
 nate race. There can however be no doidit that, I'or a 
 considerable time previous to the Revolution, some of 
 the mines in jNIexico did produce very large profits ; but 
 here again we quite forget that these profits proceeded 
 not from the whole of the mines, but from a very small 
 number. 
 
 During the Revolution, many of the richest mines were 
 burnt and ruined ; being, therefore, deserted, they gra- 
 dually became filled with water, and, because the natives 
 of America, under su ih circumstances, hesitated to under- 
 take the expense of re- working them, English Companies 
 were formed for the purpose of doing so, — the singu- 
 lar foundation on which all tiiese Companies principally 
 rested being a notion that the natives of America were 
 ignoratit of the proper mode of working their own mines. 
 
 This notion was radicallv absurd, and it has been acted 
 
 ."^■aaafcteMT J, fl>>ii ■ 
 
20 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 1 
 
 : * 
 
 upon with miserable consequences. It now turns out 
 that the American system Avas not only the result of in- 
 telligence, trial, and experience, but was adapted to the 
 character, habits, and state of civilization of the country ; 
 and of this the mode in which many of the poor mines 
 were worked gives, perhaps, the fairest example. A small 
 party of miners were engaged, who, with their tools in 
 their hands, and with a supply for some months of 
 charque, or hung beef, at their backs, ascended forth- 
 with the mountaiii, until they reached the lode, and 
 there, without hut or shelter of any sort, at once com- 
 menced their operations, by sinking small shafts on the 
 most promising points, and following the veins wherever 
 they were found to be richest. By these means they 
 often contrived to extract a small profit from the little 
 lode ; and certainly their mode of operations, under the 
 circumstances, Avas the best they could adopt ; for the 
 locality of the lode was sueh, that it could not bear the 
 expense of being worked on a more extended plan ; and 
 besides, the lode, after all, was so poor that it was only 
 the irregular system of taking its best parts that could 
 at all pay the miner for his labour. Ths native miner 
 therefore Avorked his lode after his OAvn Avay, and he 
 certainly managed to extract from it a profit Avhich no 
 foreigner could hope for. Any one Avho has travelled 
 among the mountains of America, will admit that there 
 are hundreds of spots from which silver has been ex- 
 tracted, Avhieh Avould not pay us for working, even if 
 they Avere in England ; and it seems to foUoAV that the 
 same credit is, in these cases, justly due to the native 
 
THE SOUTH AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 21 
 
 turns out 
 ult of in- 
 ed to the 
 country ; 
 )or mines 
 A small 
 tools in 
 lonths of 
 ed forth- 
 ode, and 
 nee com- 
 ts on the 
 wherever 
 ans they 
 the little 
 nder the 
 ; for the 
 bear the 
 Ian; and 
 was only 
 at could 
 ve miner 
 and he 
 k'hich no 
 travelled 
 lat there 
 )een ex- 
 even if 
 that the 
 e native 
 
 
 mii.er, which no man in England would refuse to the 
 local farmer who should extract a profit from land for 
 which no stranger would undertake to give any rent. 
 
 The plan adopted in the great mines of America was 
 not less suited — we speak from personal observation and 
 deliberate reflection — to the localities of the lodes, the 
 character of the country, and the habits of the popula- 
 tion. In Cornwall, as we have stated, neither miners 
 nor captains of mines, nor assayers, nor adventurers, pre- 
 tend to work upon scientific principles, or to possess any 
 but practical knowledge ; they have no books upon mi- 
 ning, and, until the present day, mining has never occu- 
 pied public attention in this country. But in Mexico 
 the Court of Spain, far from neglecting the mines, looked 
 towards them for its greatest revenue, and cared for 
 them accordingly. Besides many intelligent individuals 
 who went to the mines from Spain, German miners 
 were sent thither by the Court, to introduce, as far as 
 possible, their knowledge and experience ; and a college, 
 or " Tribunal de Mincria," was founded in Mexico, the 
 professor of minerology in which establishment (M, Del 
 Rio) had visited the most celebrated mines in Europe, 
 and made himself acquainted with all that they could 
 show. The working of the mines was also the natural, 
 indeed almost the sole object, to which the most intelli- 
 gent persons resident in Mexico had earnestly directed 
 their attention. They had more people at work in some 
 of their establishments than any of our mining compa- 
 nies in England ever employed ; they had worked some 
 mines to greater depths than have ever been explored, 
 
I' 
 
 I"; 
 
 \' 
 
 !' i 
 
 r» . 
 
 I! 
 
 h 
 
 22 
 
 COHNISII MINERS IN AMKRICA. 
 
 clown to the present hour, in Cornwall; anrl, as their 
 profits before the Revolution were very great, they not 
 only possessed capital enough to enable them to intro- 
 (luee whatever improvements they eonecived neeessary, 
 but they were quite liberal enough to exert it. To take 
 an example, we are assured tliat the works on Count 
 Regla's mine eost him €100,000. But although the 
 proprietors of the Mexiean mines were naturally anxious 
 to avail themselves of any improvements, which might 
 increase their jirofits or diminish their expenses, it was 
 impossible for them blindly to adopt the customs of the 
 mines in Europe, which all differed from each other, 
 exactly in proportion to the differences of locality, re- 
 sources, etc. etc. in the states where thev were worked. To 
 any one who has for a moment considered the subject of 
 mining, it must be evident that no one general system 
 can be pursued, even within the limits of one country. 
 In America, for instance, even supposing that two lodes 
 quite similar to each other existed on two mountains, of 
 the same altitude, dimensions, and geological construc- 
 tion, but widely separated from each other, it would by 
 no means follow that the same system could be adopted 
 in both of them. The one mine might be drained by 
 means of simjjlc machinery, to be worked by water which 
 might exist iu;ar the spot, or by mules which might be 
 supported in its neighbourhood; Mhile, from want of 
 roads, pasture, A\ater, and so forth, it might be abso- 
 lutely necessary to drain the other by means of an ex- 
 pensive adit. And again, snp})0sing the ores extracted 
 from the two mines to be of the very same class, yet 
 
 I 
 
THE SOUTH AMEKICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 23 
 
 it was 
 
 iss, vet 
 
 they might prohahly require to be treated in a different 
 way ; those near water and wood eould l)e easily dressed 
 and smelted, while the dressing of the others might en- 
 tail not only great tronhlc and cost, bnt also the process 
 of amalgamation ; and, nnder these cirenmstanees, the 
 ores wonld weekly increase or diminish in valnc, accord- 
 ing to the flnctnating prices of qnicksilver, conveyance, 
 and the like. On the other hand, it is natural and pro- 
 bable to conceive that there ivere some improvements in 
 mining which the ^Mexican projjrietor might have over- 
 looked, and which he might have introduced Avith advan- 
 tage ; yet the ^Icxican system, upon the whole, was far 
 from bad. Every one who has visited those mines must 
 admit, that the masonry in the shafts is admirably per- 
 formed ; that the woodwork, though not so neatly done 
 as in England, is strong and sutHcient ; that the arastras, 
 or mills for tlic trituration of the ores, have been brought 
 to great perfection, and that the native miner possesses 
 prodigious physical strength. 
 
 A great deal has been said against the system of car- 
 rying out the ore on the backs of men ; yet it must 
 be recollected that, where the population is so small, and 
 the lodes are so large, as in IMexico, the proprietors of 
 the mines are naturallv in the habit of searching after 
 the best ores only, instead of regularly working out the 
 lode, as is customary in England. Now, nnder this 
 mode of operations, it is often unavoidably necessary to 
 bring the ore through irregular serpentine galleries, for 
 which the American method of carrying the ores is pe- 
 culiarly adapted, as it saves the expense of sinking shafts ; 
 
24 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 and, upon the wliole, wlien it is considered that the In- 
 dian Tenateros carry upwards of three hundred pounds, 
 which is a fair hurdcn for a mule, it is easy to conceive 
 that the Mexican proprietor had deliberately calculated 
 the cost and produce of their services, and that, under 
 the circumstances of the case, he had foimd human 
 beings the cheapest machines he could use. In fact, it 
 was by hard labour and rigid economy alone that the 
 Mexican proprietor ever dreamt of reaping a harvest 
 from his mine. 
 
 When the Revolution took place the mines were burnt, 
 and, the timbers l)cing destroyed, the principal workings 
 and galleries fell in : on this the positive value of the 
 mines instantly sank, because the expense necessary for 
 working them was of course considerably increased. The 
 intelligent Mexican niiner, living on the spot, conver- 
 sant with the subject of mining, possessing many data 
 for calculating with considerable accuracy what average 
 wealth the lodes about him probably contained, and 
 what it would probably cost to extract that wealth, did 
 not think it worth his while to work the mines. 
 
 mj 
 
 S(!.j 
 
 mil 
 frj 
 
 CIT 
 
 to I 
 th^ 
 
 \ 
 
 u 
 
 III. THE LONDON SYSTEM. 
 The mines, thus lying idle, happened to attract the no- 
 tice of some individuals in London ; and an idea, which, 
 if it had been calmly taken up, might have proved not 
 altogether unworthy of attention, suddenly burst into 
 hasty plans and greedy speculations, which were carried 
 on in a manner little creditable to the prudence or cha- 
 racter of this country. 
 
 ^\-:mm 
 
THE LONDON SYSTEM. 
 
 25 
 
 the no- 
 Iwliich, 
 led not 
 ■it into 
 parried 
 r clia- 
 
 It was resolved at once to despateh Cornish miners, 
 machinery, and money, to mines whose situation was 
 scarcely known : indeed, several Companies sent their 
 miners from Falmouth before they had secured even the 
 frailest title to the mines in which the men were to be 
 employed. Tiie subject of working si/ver-mines was one 
 to which very few people in England had ever directed 
 their attention; and nothing can prove the profound 
 ignorance which prevailed among us, more than the 
 assortment of commissioners and miners that were now 
 omimrked for America. To command the Cornish 
 miners, and to conduct the whole speculation, one or 
 two commissioners were appointed by each of the new 
 Companies ; and as there was no class of people in this 
 coiuitry who could boast of any experience in working 
 silver-mines, the directors, who knew no more of the 
 business than the shareholders, were rather puzzled to 
 determine from what profession these commissioners 
 ought to be selected. One of the Companies considered 
 that, in order to guard their property, no person could 
 be better than an officer of the Guards ; other directors 
 resolved that, as engines were to be sent out, it would 
 be well to procure officers from the Engineers. Many 
 selected officers from the Artillery, because they heard 
 that gunpowder was to be required for the mines. Se- 
 veral determined that, for hauling up ores, water, etc. 
 from the depths of transatlantic mountains, officers of 
 his Majesty's navy would be singularly serviceable ; and 
 one Company, whose mines were filled with water and 
 widely separated one from another, concluded that to 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
26 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 'I 
 
 I i. 
 
 \l 
 
 encounter difficulties both on land and on water was in- 
 disputably the province of an ofliccr of Marines; and 
 therefore^ from every one of the above calliugs one or 
 more persons received the invitation to direct the opera- 
 tions of some mining company in America. The ho- 
 noiu'able professions to which these gentlemen belonged 
 aflbrdcd satisfactory pledges, that they would severally 
 conduct their undertakings with zeal and integrity ; but 
 perhaps none will now be more ready than themselves 
 to admit, that their education had in no way fitted them 
 for expounding the systems of raining, smelting^ nraal- 
 garaation, etc. ; and few of them can hesitate to confess 
 that, far from being acquainted with the nature of the 
 covmtry in which their administrations were to be carried 
 on, they were quite unable even to speak its language. 
 However, although they knewuothing, the shareholders, 
 if possible, knew less, and the whole system being that 
 of the blind leading the blind, these forlcrn-hope com- 
 missioners took their leave and started for the New 
 World. 
 
 The Cornishraen who accompanied them consisted of 
 copper-miners, tinners, copper-ore dressers, and tin-ore 
 dressers; and if these men had only been questioned, 
 we are quite sure they would all have said at once that 
 they did not profess to know anythhig either about 
 searching for silver ores, or about dressing them. The 
 copper-miner would have said, " If you will send me to 
 a copper-mine, and if the copper ores in that mine are 
 similar to the particular description of copper ores 
 which are to be met with in the neighbourhood of the 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 *> 
 
THE LONDON SYSTEM. 
 
 27 
 
 I 
 
 Dalcoath mine, where I have worked all my life, I will 
 undertake to tell you which are good ores, and whieli 
 are badj I will tell you whether the lode is kind/y or 
 not, — that is, whether it promises to improve. If you 
 will put me among people who speak English, I will 
 teach them all this, — if you can prevail ou them to 
 learn it ; and // you wish me to work upon tribute, I 
 tell you fairly, I will make the best bargain with you 
 I can." The copper-ore dresser would have said with 
 equal frankness, " I know nothing at uU about dressing 
 tin-hures, because that is a trade by itself; and I come 
 from a part of Cornwall where there are no tin-mines ; 
 but if you will give me copper-lmres, I will undertake to 
 buck them, and jig them, and dress them, and make 
 them in every way fit to be smelted in Wales. I know 
 nothing about silvery 'hures,' or about suiclting any 
 sort of ' hures •' and I don't know what amalgamation 
 means: however, as you oft'er me fifteen guineas a 
 month to go to America, and as I now can scarcely get 
 three, I am very willing to engage." 
 
 The captain of the Cornish mines would have said, 
 " I will engage to work your mines in America exactly 
 on the plan they are worked in Cornwall. I know all 
 the tricks of the Cornish miners, for I was l)rought up 
 among them ; and if there are the same tricks in Ame- 
 rica, I will do my utmost to put a stop to them : but as 
 I cannot understand what it is foreigners say when tliey 
 speak to each other, I will not answer to find out any- 
 thing beyond what I can see ; and with respect to the 
 foreign miners swallowing pieces of gold, and concealing 
 
 c2 
 
t 
 
 I :• 
 
 28 
 
 CORNISH MINIBUS IN AMERICA. 
 
 pieces of rich ore in their hair/ arms, tlii^rlia, etc., — 
 which I hear they do, to the amount of four tliouaand 
 pounds a yc ar in one mine, — these are tricks our miners 
 never practise, and I shoidd not know how to prevent 
 them : liowcver, as you oft'cr me one tlionsand poiuuls 
 a year, and as my present pay is ninety-six pomids, I 
 shall be exceedingly happy to go." 
 
 If any man of common sense, practically acquainted 
 with the character of the Cornish miners, had been con- 
 sulted, he would have said, " It is useless to make bar- 
 gains with these men, which are inconsistent with their 
 habits and experience; their signatures can be no se- 
 curity to you that they will perform more than their 
 nature can pcriwit. They are ignorant of the work you 
 are about to require from them; they are unable to 
 stand against a climate so uncongenial to their constitu- 
 tion. Consider moreover that in Cornwall, not only do 
 the laws of the country ensure protection to your un- 
 dertaking, but every branch of trade offers its support. 
 Fuel, candles, rope, iron, woodwork, machinery, tools, 
 provisions, everything that the miner can possibly re- 
 quire, is furnished him, and, like a spoiled child, he has 
 never known want. Accustomed to follow his own judg- 
 ment, you will find him obstinately bigoted to Cornish 
 customs and modes of working, which must be totally 
 inapplicable to the mountains of America. His experi- 
 ence has made him intelligent in Cornwall, and his own 
 interests have taught him to be cunning : but the latter 
 characteristic is the only one that will bear exportation ; 
 the former, like witchcraft, will vanish in crossing the 
 
 
 i 
 
THE LONDON SYSTKM. 
 
 80 
 
 moving ^vutl'rs of the Atlantic. In England, your miner 
 must work »r starve ; but you have yourselves annihi- 
 lated in him all inducement to labour, by the enormous 
 salary at which you have engaged him. By virtue of 
 your contract you may insist upon his going down to 
 the mine, but you cannot make him labour when he is 
 there; for, raised above his work by the independent 
 salary of one hundred and fifty pounds a year, which 
 you have been so inconsiderate as to ensure to him, he 
 will do little more than look about him and drink to your 
 health." Indeed, one of tho Cornish miners did w rite to 
 his brother in Cornwall, " You have no idea, IJill, how 
 thirsty this here hot, dry country do make us !" 
 
 The opinion of the native miners of America was 
 unfortunately never asked ; and assuredly the first ren- 
 contres that took place between them and their new 
 rivals were strange scenes. On one of these occasions 
 (we write as an eye-witness) a small i)arty of our tinners 
 (^ and copperers had at last, with great dilKculty, succeeded 
 
 in climbing to the summit of one of the lofty ranges of 
 the Aiules. The Cornish men, dressed in their holiday 
 clothes, were flushed with the fatigue of riding to such a 
 height, and their healthy, florid cheeks seemed ready to 
 burst with the blood dancing within them. They rode 
 on their mules to the mouth of a snudl mine, and had 
 scarcely arrived there, Avhcn aii old Indian gradually rose 
 from the earth beneath them. Excepting a small piece 
 of cloth round his middle, he was naked, and a fragment 
 of rock, weighing more than two hundredweight, rested 
 upon his bare back. His red frame was sinewy rather 
 

 ; 
 
 : 
 
 I 
 
 1 1 
 
 30 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 than muscular^ and there was not a line in liis Avithcrcd 
 countenance Avhich did not seem to tell its own tale of 
 suffering. He looked as if he had long wanted food, yet 
 betrayed no symptom of exhaustion. Standing firmly 
 under his gigantic load, the poor man gazed wildly 
 through the lank black hair that streamed and dangled 
 before his face, as if utterly surprised at the appearance 
 of the strangers, — to whom, could they have understood 
 him, he might justly have said: " For what purpose have 
 the inhabitants of the Old World come again among us? 
 Is it to relieve our wants, or to add to our misfortunes? 
 You have driven us fi'om our plains ; our ancient empires 
 are in your haiuls ; we have been, and we are, unable to 
 stand against you ; but do you still s;u'iously believe that 
 our whole race has neither judgment nor strength ? Do 
 you conceive that we could have procured you the pre- 
 cious metals in such abundance without gaining expe- 
 rience in the arts of scjirching for them ? Do yoii fancy 
 that they are here in profusion ? Enter the mine l)e- 
 ncath us, and you Avill perceive how trifling is its value 
 if you abstract from it our labour. In what do you 
 pretend to instruct ns ? Are you better acquainted with 
 our mountains than we ourselves? Or, are you prepared 
 to bear the sudden changes and rigour of this climate 
 with more firmnc^ ? How can you expect to work 
 cheaper than we do ? Will you live in a more humble 
 hovel than that before you, or will you subsist on coarser 
 food than it contains? Look around at the cheerless 
 snowy mountains by which we are imprisoned ! Is it in 
 your power to fertilize or to cidiven them? Do you 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ ~ 
 

 THE LONDON SYSTEM, 
 
 31 
 
 you 
 
 fancy that you are stronger than an Indian ? If so, uso 
 those M'cighty tools, or carry this rock which I support : 
 if you admit that you would sink under the fatigue of 
 doing either, you can be superior to us in nothing but 
 the faculties of your minds ; and if you be really miners, 
 you must know but too well that intellect need not be 
 very rapid, or bright, to keep pace with, or to enlighten 
 him who passes his dreary life in the rocky bowels of 
 these Avild mountains ; that to force one's way through 
 them is a much greater exertion of the muscles than the 
 brain. Finally, though you be children of the civilized 
 world, deign to profit by the experience of an old Indian, 
 when he assures you that the mine in which he has worn 
 out /lis life is incapable of giving any labourer clothes 
 such as you wear, or food such as it has apparently been 
 your good fortimc to subsist upon !" 
 
 Besides the instruction which the City Mining Com- 
 panies expected that their eomniissioners and Cornish 
 men were to impart to the Indian miner, they had 
 also calculated on great advantages which they w^ere to 
 receive, by introducing into America machinery and 
 capital : and upon these two points it is therefore ne- 
 cessary that we should make a very few observations. 
 JMachinery is the representative of labour, and it is 
 applied in England generall}^, and in our Cornish mines 
 in particular, because, upon calculation, it is found to be 
 an economical substitute for labour. The great ninety- 
 inch steam-engine on the Consolidated Mines in Corn- 
 wall, for instance, cost at the foundry two thousand 
 pounds ; the expense of putting it up was four thousand 
 
i 
 
 32 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 pounds, and the pit- work two thousand more. In 
 twenty-four hours it consumes about one hundred and 
 eighty Ijushels of coals, which are delivered at one shil- 
 ling a bushel. In return for this calculable expense, the 
 engine lifts sixty-four gallons of water per stroke, and it 
 can work twelve strokes in a minute. It is, we take it, 
 evident that the advantages of such an engine are scru- 
 pulously to be weighed against its expenses, and that it 
 can only be introduced with prudence when the former 
 exceed the latter. Now the engines sent to Mexico were 
 of seventy-inch cylinder, and being similar to those used 
 in Cornwall, their advantages, or rather powers, are 
 everywhere the same ; — that is to say, they are capable 
 of lifting a certain number of gallons per stroke, and of 
 working so many strokes in a minute ; but in America 
 what is to be the expense of this? Even at the first 
 glance it must appear that the cost of transporting a 
 seventy-inch engine to the mines even of jNIexico must 
 be something quite enormous. There is not only the 
 unhealthy climate of Vera Cruz to contend with, but the 
 Mhole country is one continued obstacle to the undctak- 
 iug. It is necessary to make roads, to construct bridges; 
 and such unnatural etforts are, and must be, attended 
 by unnatural expenses. Supposing, however, that all 
 these ditUcultics are, by dint of money, surmounted, and 
 that this unwieldy labourer does get to the mines, — at 
 what expense is he to be supported there ? What is to 
 be the price of his fuel ? and what are to be the salaries 
 of the artisans who must unavoidably be maintained for 
 the purpose of repairing every sort of accident that may 
 
 :* 
 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
THE LONDON SYSTEM. 
 
 33 
 
 happen to this many-limbed and most delicate colossus, 
 in his unnatural exile? Without attempting to calculate 
 the expenses of all these contingencies, we do not hesitate 
 to assert, that if the same, or similar, difficulties could 
 exist in Cornwall, there would not be at this hour one 
 steam-engine in that country. 
 
 Again, with respect to the benefit which the City 
 Mining Companies expected to derive flora iiitroducing 
 capital into America, it may justly be said that the ad- 
 vantage here was more evidently in favour of America 
 than of the English shareholder. It was asserted in 
 London, first, that the American mines were exceedingly 
 rich ^ and secondly, that they were lying idle for want of 
 capital ; but it was rather singular that the facts offered 
 in support of the first assertion contradicted the second. 
 To establish the riches of the ^lexican mines, for ex- 
 ample, Ave arc told how Josc[)h Laborde, a Frenchman, 
 who came into ]\Iexico very poor, suddenly acquired im- 
 mense wealth, by working one of the mines of Tlapujahua; 
 and how, having dissipated this money, the same Joseph 
 again realized one hundred and twenty thousand pounds 
 by workijAg a mine in the Intendencia of Zacatecas. The 
 fortunes acquired by ]M. Obregon, created Count Valen- 
 ciana — by Don Pedro Tereros, created Count Regla — by 
 the INIarquis del Apartado, etc. etc., are also quoted as 
 tests of the riches of the ]Mexican mines. B»it as these 
 immense fortunes were all made by i)ersons who com- 
 menced with little or no capital, it seems to follow as the 
 proper conclusion, from the very showing of the case, 
 that if tiiese mines are now as they were then, it is not 
 
 c 3 
 
I :l 
 
 3i 
 
 CORNISH MIXERS I\ AMERICA. 
 
 necessary to have large capitals to work them ; that if 
 they arc not as they were, the same profits cannot be 
 expected from them ; and, upon the whole, that if the 
 Mexican adventurers consider the niines, under existing 
 c-ircumstances, not worth their attention, they ought not 
 in prudence to engage ours. 
 
 In England, the advantages of great capital are evi- 
 dent. In all our large undertakings, money is as power- 
 ful as steam, because, like that power, we are enabled to 
 confine it, and to apply its force on the particular point, 
 and in the particular direction, which is required. But 
 take from us the laws of our country, and the advan- 
 tages of public competition, which bind and protect our 
 capital, and money, like steam, becomes as impotent as 
 moke. It required, surely, no extraordinary sagacity to 
 foresee that a large capital suddenly appearing in Mexico, 
 Chili, Buenos Ayrcs, etc., before we were acquainted with 
 the characters of those countries, — before our titles to the 
 mines were secured, — before the laws ol" these young 
 States were even strong enough to secure our titles, — 
 before we had taken any precautions to prevent the mo- 
 nopoly of the numerous articles wc should require, — 
 would only operate as a temptation to the Governments, 
 and to every class of society, to tax and plunder us ; in 
 sliort, would attract obstacles instead of removing them. 
 
 IV. RUINOUS RESULTS. 
 
 We have now endeavoured to show what, in theory, 
 might have been expected from the scheme of forwarding 
 
RUIXOUS RESULTS. 
 
 35 
 
 in 
 
 < 
 
 ' 
 
 i 
 
 English commissioners, miners, macliinery, and eapital to 
 the American mines ; and it only remains for us to lecord 
 a few of the events which have already attended the actual 
 execution of the project. 
 
 The confusion and hurry in which miners and miners' 
 wives, machinery, and conunissioners were huddled on 
 board, can hardly be forgotten. It may also be remem- 
 bered that these Companies were of such hasty growth, 
 that they were scarcely considered to exist at all, until it 
 could be reported " that the miners and machinery had 
 been (the phrase was ominous) despatched." As soon as 
 this was made known, the value of the shares rose rapidly, 
 though no rise, however unexampled, could keep pace 
 with the expectations of the people, who fancied that the 
 gold and silver was (as the secretary of one of these com- 
 panies admirably expressed himself) "glaring and glis- 
 tening, and jumping into their pockets." 
 
 However, -when the Cornish miners, assaycrs, doctors, 
 surveyors, etc. etc., had been confined on board ship a few 
 days, tiie mixture began to ferment. In a short time 
 two of the ships returned to Falmouth, the miners having 
 taken possession of the vessels, because the captain would 
 not give them fresh beef; and if these City Companies 
 had reflected for one moment — si mens non lava fuisset — 
 they would have learnt, from this trifling incident, the 
 folly of sending out, on such an errand, men who had 
 never known restraint, and who were evidently unpre- 
 pared to submit to the privations which must be required 
 of them amidst scenes and labours so entirely new. How- 
 ever, the captains were changed, the vessels were filled 
 
 •^ 
 
I III 
 
 36 
 
 COIIXISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 
 J 
 
 ! 
 
 with better provisions, off again they sailed, and, when 
 well away from land, their murmurs were soon hushed 
 by the wild winds that howled ai'ouud them. One vessel 
 had weathered Cape Horn, when the commissioner, re- 
 solving to save the French brandy, delivered to each of 
 the miners, per day, a quart of light claret, which had 
 been purchased on the voyage. The Cornish men, for 
 some days, were pleased with the change ; but they soon 
 declai'cd that it was cold — that there was no warmth in 
 it — that it was poor stuff — finally, that it was sour. After 
 some days, the miners, in a body, all came aft. The 
 spokesman who was to address the Commissioner held 
 in one hand a quart mug of claret, and in the other a 
 basin, which had evidently contained brown sugar, and, 
 with an unusual acidity of countenance, he said to the 
 Commissioner, " Sir, I will drink no more of this elarcty 
 wine! I have put all this here sugar into this here stuff*, 
 and it is sour yet ! " By degrees however these little 
 gripings and fermentations subsided, and the different 
 vessels at last landed their passengers and cargoes at their 
 respective destinations. 
 
 The fate of most of the South American Companies 
 was very rapidly decided. On the arrival of the Cornish 
 miners, headed by their military, naval, or marine com- 
 missioner, etc., it was, in most cases, found that the 
 mines which the shareholders expected to have had for 
 nothing, were in the hands of persons who had exceed- 
 ingly well calculated on the distress in which these Com- 
 panies were about to be involved. Enormous sums were 
 accordingly asked for mines which, upon inspection. 
 
 i 
 
RUINOUS RESJLTS. 
 
 37 
 
 J proved to be poor, without resources, and adapted only 
 
 to operations upon a very small scale. !Many of the 
 commissioners, at exorbitant prices, purchased such 
 mines, at distances of seven hundred or eight hundred 
 miles from each other; and, while the natives were 
 smiling at the Cornish tinners, who were standing on 
 the suiuiy sides of the streets, devoured ])y mosquitoes, 
 and cutting water-melons the wrong way — the Govern- 
 ments began to ask for loans ! Although the object of 
 these Companies was to make money, and not to spend 
 it, yet one hundred thousand dollars were lent to one 
 Goverimient, and smaller sums to others, until the ca- 
 pitals were expended. In short, one plethoric London 
 hobby after another was bled to death ; and, after agents 
 and governors had, like vampires, sucked its vitals, the 
 hide and carcase, being of no value in South America, 
 were, with due form, delivered over to the shareholders, 
 who, gazing in groups at the melancholy spectacle before 
 them, and comparing their defunct favourite with his 
 cock-tailed picture, taken as he trotted out of Corrdiill 
 but a yeai' before, mentally exclaimed, " Heii ' quantum 
 mutatus !" 
 
 On the arrival of the different mining parties in Mexico, 
 they too, with all diligence, prepared to carry into exe- 
 cution their respective plans. The miners and machinery 
 were landed, but of one com[)any of forty-four indivi- 
 duals, almost the first act which twenty-six of them 
 performed was — to die. They were buried chiefly on 
 Mullan beach, at Vera Cruz, eight of them in one grave. 
 AVe possess an elegy, written at Vera Cruz, by one of 
 
38 
 
 COKNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 '/■ 
 
 1 
 
 Im 
 
 the survivors of the party ; but the subject is too serious 
 to admit of its publication. However, as the reader may 
 be curious to see a specimen of a Cornish miucr's poetry, 
 we su])mit a few verses of a baUad, written by William 
 Simmons, of lledruth Highway, one of the individuals 
 in the service of the Famatina Mining Company. — 
 
 " Conic nil my friends and ueiglibours round, give eiir, while i disclose 
 The dangers of a foreign voyage, in which wo was oxposetl. 
 
 " Its of a mincing company, who left their native xhore, 
 And suil'd for South Amei'ica, in search of minend ore. 
 
 " We all embark'd at falmouth port, oiu' voyage for to proceed, 
 In the good ship Marquis of anglesea, a luuidsom ship indceu. 
 
 " Tiie thirtivnth of September, when our odcrs was for sea, 
 We hauled up oiu* topsails, and we soon got under way. 
 
 " Our friends they stood upon the hills, while ihey could have a view ; 
 
 We gave a cheer of three times three, and bade our isle adieu. 
 " We had not left our island long, before we was surjjrised 
 
 To sec oiu' burk so toss about, upon the swelling seas. 
 " The twenty-first of November a gale of wind came on ; 
 
 We lost one of our comrades here, he from the deck was blown, 
 " We saw our friend toss'd on the swells, that runs like moinituuis high ; 
 
 Sailors and men was active then, and eveiy means did try, 
 
 " The oders then was backen sails ; wo for a while lay to, 
 And after using every means, we bid our friend adieu, 
 
 " He simk beneath the heavy swells, near the Brazilian shore ; 
 The greedy sea inclos'd him in : we never seed him more. 
 
 " lie left a wife and "hild on board, to share their loss apart ; 
 
 The crys that echo'd tlu-ough the ship whould rend the hardes heart. 
 ******* 
 " Then on our yoyage wo did proceed, i'm sorry to relate, 
 
 We was drove on a bank of sand, that's in the River Plate. 
 
 " Sea after sea did drive us forth ; all hands was call'd on deck, 
 For to consult the best methode to save us from a wreck. 
 
 ' Wlien much exertion hero was used to git her off again ; 
 But after toiling all the day, we seed our work was vain. 
 
 c 
 
f 
 
 BUIX0U8 RESULTS. 39 
 
 " To tlu'ow the cargo overboard ; our lives was valued then, 
 
 And try to save our slmtter'tl hulk, to bear us sale to huid. 
 " When many thousands pounds value, was tlivown into the sea, 
 
 Wo had no hopes of gitting off, our ship so heavy lay. 
 " Expeeting ol" a gale of wind to blow from the south-west ; 
 
 The only means wo had to try, was to eut down our nuist. 
 " But while wo held a couneil here, our look-out did express 
 
 * A sail in sight ! a sail in sight ! and standing towards us.' 
 
 " Just at this time a schooner came, our wants for to relieve, 
 Part of our cargo for to save, though they was Potugees ;" etc. etc. 
 
 Attempts were made by the different companies to 
 transport their maehincry to their respective mines. 
 One Company, at an enormous expense of money and 
 life, succeeded in dragging their engines to their nearest 
 mines ; a second managed to transport the boiler in se- 
 parate plates, but the bobs were left on one ptirt of the 
 road, and the cylinder on another. Others were obliged 
 to abandon altogether so ruinous an undertaking ; and 
 their Birmingham steam-engines, and other ponderous 
 pieces of machinery, are now lying on the beach at Vera 
 Cruz, and, on ditfcrent parts of the road, miserable mo- 
 numents of the reign of this unexampled gullibility. 
 
 Instead of feeling their way, and confining their ope- 
 rations each to a single mine, these companies, as soon 
 as they broke loose from their dead weight of machinery, 
 ran riot over the country. Careless of the distances 
 which separated one mine from another, and led by the 
 nose by the crafty, intelligent natives, they travelled 
 about, and made such numerous purchases of mines, 
 that it was morally impossible even a small proportion 
 of them ever could be worked. For instance, one single 
 
 1 
 
|! 
 
 f 
 
 ; 
 
 40 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMKRICA. 
 
 Company engaged tlic whole or parts of thirty-fwe large 
 mines, besides smaller ones, nine haciendas, and three 
 hundred mills, Avhich last they took on leases for nine or 
 twelve years; and this same Company, after expending 
 about eight hundred thousand pounds, have now just 
 determined to abandon all their mines together, except- 
 ing four. Of the Cornish miners who went to Mexico, 
 a considerable proportion have been fortunate enough to 
 find their way back, and these men, who are now at 
 their old work in Cornwall, openly say that the native 
 miners, could labour harder and longer than they could ; 
 that they found them cunning and pilfering ; that they 
 were once seen diiving off twenty mule-loads of ore, but 
 in such numbers that the Cornish guard did not dare to 
 interfere ; that many people were imposing on the Eng- 
 lish Companies ; and that, after all, the mines, in their 
 opinion, were poor. These statements are corroborated 
 by many recent letters from Cornish miners, who arc 
 still in Mexico, and of which the following literal extract 
 may serve as a specimen : — 
 
 " The mines is very poor. Tlie engine is working at 
 
 Mine, and nearly in fork (i. e. dry), but for my part I believe 
 it would be so well if the water was running out to adit." 
 
 Having now laid before the reader data which, we 
 conceive, may enable him to form for himself some 
 opinion on the subject of Cornish mining in America, 
 we have but a few general observations to offer. In all 
 countries the fascinating speculation of mining is a lot- 
 tery, composed of more blanks than prizes. In fact, in 
 Cornwall, as cLsewhcrc, it is perfectly well known that 
 
 ■i^mp 
 
RUINOUS RESULTS. 
 
 41 
 
 we 
 
 mines, in the aggregate, arc a losing conecrn ; that the 
 quantity of copper, for instance, annually extracted in 
 Cornwall, is not worth the money annually spent in 
 Cornwall in copper mining. A nnmbcr of people there- 
 fore lose money by mining in Cornwall, and a few gain 
 very large profits. Now such being the case, no pru- 
 dent man, surely, would recommend a stranger to invest 
 money in mining generally, although, under certain cir- 
 cumstances, he might speculate in it to a very large 
 amount himself. Many of the proprietors, or, as they 
 are termed, the advent urertt, of the Cornish mines, sup- 
 ply the mine with coals, candles, rope, iron, or other 
 materials, and the ])rofit M'hich they thus gain collate- 
 rally, supports them in case the main speculation should 
 fail. Indeed, if a man has but a small share in a mine, 
 and furnishes it with a large quantity of materials, it 
 may be his clear interest to vote that operations should 
 continue, even though the mine itself be a losing con- 
 cern. — Again, if the mine is turning out badly, and if 
 the adventurers are privately desirous of getting rid of 
 their shares, it is not impossililc to give the mine a mo- 
 mentary appearance of doing well ; and lastly, if it is 
 doin^ well, it is sometimes for the int jrest of the adven- 
 turers to conceal that fact. From these and many other 
 circumstances, all people who are well acquainted with 
 the subject concur in advising a stranger to have nothing 
 to do with mining in Cornwall, unless he is himself to 
 be resident in that country, or unless he can implicitly 
 depend upon the judgment of some friend who is a resi- 
 dent ; lor, as some one must have the blanks, it requires 
 
43 
 
 COKNISH MINKRS IN AMKRICA. 
 
 M 
 
 % 
 
 consi(lcr.'il)lo iiitclligciiro ;in(l (Mumiii}^ to avoid tluMU. 
 It is from a practical kiio\vk'(i«^c of tliesc facts, that the 
 Cornish speculators ha\c all a very bad opinion of the 
 South American miiiinj^ companies. Without entering 
 into any long-winded argununit on the subject, these 
 people (we have had occasion to talk with not a few 
 of them) very significantly say, " J)o you think toe 
 would have anything to do with a mine, if we could not 
 look into it?" And the same general argument equally 
 a[)plies to Mexico ; for it is avcU known that the Mcalth 
 which was extracted from the Mexican mines, even be- 
 fore they were destroyed, biu'ut, and inundated, and 
 M'hen jjrovisions and labour were infiniti'ly cheaper than 
 they ai'e at present, proceeded from a very few mines j 
 that, although there were many speculations, yet, com- 
 paratively, only a very few advimturers were enriched. 
 
 The great question therefore is, — admitting that mi- 
 ning in America is a lottery in which prizes are again to 
 be gained, who are the individuals most likely to obtain 
 them? Without hesitation we reply, tlie natives of the 
 country. They have already shown their s\q)erior intel- 
 ligence and ability, by inducing us to make expensive 
 purchases, which we have since found it necessary to 
 abandon. They possess great practical experience and 
 local knowledge, and they can themselves supply their 
 mines with materials at a cheap rate. They imderstand 
 the mode of governing, rewarding, punishing, and watcli- 
 ing the Indian labourei's. They are acquainted with the 
 laws, good and bad, of their own country; and have 
 prol)ably influence enough to get the duty on one article 
 
IIUINOUS RKSULTS. 
 
 48 
 
 iiuTcascd, and on anotlicr diminislicd, as their interests 
 may rc(inirc. They liavc the natural goodwill of the 
 Government and of the conntry in their favour. And 
 yet if a eompany of the wealthiest of these foreigners, 
 ignorant or not, were to land in England, with men and 
 machinery, to possess themselves of our Cornish mines, 
 and set about working them, would thi'i/ succeed? — 
 would they carry off the i)rizes ? 
 
 In the expectations which our Companies have formed, 
 in the arrangements they have made, and in the failures 
 which they have encountered, they have already exposed 
 a measure of ignorance and absurdity which will surely 
 satisfy every reflecting mind, that mc arc the last people 
 who are capable of carrying off the mining prizes of 
 America, — that our share in that lottery are the Llanks. 
 
 We have possession of some mines, it is true, and it is 
 reported that wc inv grattiially succeeding in draining 
 the water from a few of them, and in obtaining ores ; 
 but at what priot arc the ores rising, and at what ex- 
 pense is the water sinking? 
 
 Supposing, even for a moment, that, after paying all 
 our exj)cnses, we should succcec' in jjrocuring silver at 
 less per ounce than wc can here purchase it at our 
 markets, is there no chance that we mii/ht, b^ so doing, 
 excite the jealousy of the natives or the a\ ariee of the 
 Government ? Might not the open enmit_\ of the one, 
 or the seei t impositions of the other, rob us of our 
 profits? li property could possuily exist in England 
 under circumstances at all similar, would it not, by 
 every prudent man, be considered in fearful jeopardy? 
 
 >-^'i>i* ^ ^.^ 
 
44, 
 
 CORNISH MINERS IN AMERICA. 
 
 .11 
 
 Ought we to be satisfied with the mere countenance and 
 professions of any Government, or any people, unless 
 they could offer us security which neither could dare to 
 attack ? 
 
 But it is argued that our City Mining Companies have 
 gone too far to retract ; that several of them have al- 
 ready spent from eight hundred thousand to a million 
 of sterling money; that they therefore must proceed; 
 and the shareholders are generally not unwilling to cling 
 to a doctrine which tends to save their shares from anni- 
 hilation — for we all know now that shares may flutter 
 about the Stock Exchange, though the speculation to 
 which they belong has been long defunct. In reply, we 
 must humbly remind these shareholders that the subject 
 is one m Inch cannot much longer be veiled in ignorance ; 
 tliat, if they have no rational hope of succeeding, they 
 may increase their loss, — they cannot hope to retrieve 
 it ; that to retire from a bad undertaking is one of the 
 first axioms among miners ; and that when the simplest 
 Cornisliman has taken a 'pitch' Avhich ceases to be 
 ' kindly,' he abandons his work, and pays his forfeit. 
 
 To conclude : we have avoided, as much as possible, 
 alluding to any particular Company or to any set of spe- 
 culators ; and we withhold from publication many curi- 
 ous enougli facts which we possess, solely because they 
 might tend to injure the interests, or hurt the feelings, 
 of particular individuals. Whether the directors of one 
 or two of these Companies have acted honourably or 
 not, — whether they have given to their shareholders cor- 
 rect or incorrect pictures of the reports actually trans- 
 
RUINOUS RESULTS. 
 
 45 
 
 raitted to them by their commissioners, — these are mat- 
 ters which we have no desire to discuss. We have 
 levelled our observations at the system in general ; and 
 we have done so, because we believe it to be one which 
 is bringing not oidy great loss, but very serious dis- 
 credit, upon this country. 
 
 r 
 
1(5 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 '■i 
 
 i ll^ 
 
 
 Ox the day the Poor-Law Amendment Act passed into 
 a law, it occurred to us, that were we to go personally 
 to any spot where it might he determined to hring the 
 new code at once into operation, we should l)e enahled 
 calmly to review the old condemned law in its full opera- 
 tion, as well as the first strife, stnigglc, or conflict be- 
 tween it and its infant antagonist ; and as the practical 
 working of the Act might possibly prove very different 
 from the theoretical intentions of its framers, on a point 
 of vital importance to all classes of our society, but es- 
 pecially to the poor, we resolved to judge for ourselves, 
 and gravely to form our opinion on a strict, impartial 
 analysis of facts. 
 
 With this serious object in view, we accordingly ac- 
 companied the Assistant Poor-Law Commissioner,* who 
 first sallied forth on his official errantry into one of the 
 most troublesome districts in the country. For four 
 months we never left him for a moment, — in fact, we 
 were his shadow. We inspected every poorhouse in 
 
 * Sir Francis B. Head. 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 47 
 
 East Kent, — attended all his public meetings of magis- 
 trates, parish oflicers, and ratepayers; observed how 
 and why he divided the whole of East Kent into Unions, 
 — remarked by what assistance he succeeded in eft'cct- 
 ing this object, as well as obtaining the consent in writing 
 of the Guardians for the dissolution of all the old ex- 
 isting Unions. We pored over his calculations, sifted 
 his dota, studied his reports : we listened to the sandy 
 arguments raised against him, — and, with equal impur- 
 tiality, we listened to his replies. By conversing with 
 the magistrates, yeomen, parish officers, peasantry, and 
 paupers, we made ourselves acquainted with public 
 o]^- • ■ V as well as private interests, and it will now be 
 oiT idcavour to lay before the public, in the unpve- 
 tcnding form of a few unconnected notes, a short review 
 of these proceedings. 
 
 THE OLl) SYSTEM. 
 
 To give our readers a full and correct notion of the 
 poorhouses in East Kent would be almost as diihcult 
 as to sketch him a pictiire of the vari(!gatcd surface of 
 this globe. We will however endeaAour to commence the 
 task by describing, first, the buildings, and then their 
 inmates. The River workhouse, on the great Do\er 
 road, about three miles from the town, is a splendid 
 mansion, which Mr. Robins would designate as " delight- 
 fully situate," and fit for the residence of a " county mem- 
 ber" or " NOULEMAN OF UANK." Modcstly retired from 
 the road, it yet proudly overlooks a meandering stream ; 
 
48 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 ! 
 
 nm\ the dignity of its elevation, the elegant ehasteness 
 of its architecture, the massive structure of its walls, its 
 broad double staircase, its spacious halls, its lofty bed- 
 rooms, and its large windows, form altogether " a delight- 
 ful retreat," splendidly contrasted with the mean little 
 rate-paying hovels at its feet, which, like a group of 
 wheelbarrows round the Lord Mayor's coach, are lost in 
 the splendour of the gilded spectacle. And though, to 
 be sure, it is not yet paid for ; — though many of its aged 
 paupers, unable to reach its summit, naturally enough 
 prefer to live "cheap and nasty" in a clinker-built shed 
 which adjoins it ; — yet not a bit the less on that account 
 does it stand a monument of our inexplicable wealth, a 
 top-heavy symbol of our prosperity, a picture of English 
 policy J it is, in short, the same sort of reward for the 
 pauper that Greenwich Hospital is for the sailor. 
 
 Many of the Kentish poorhouses, which about forty 
 years ago were simultaneously begotten by Gilbert's Act, 
 bear a strong family resemblance to the proud hero we 
 have just desr vibed. Some arc lofty, some low, but all 
 are massive and costly ; indeed, it Avould seem that, pro- 
 vided the plan was sufllciently expensive, no questions 
 were asked. A considerable number of poorhouses, 
 again, are composed of old farmhouses, more or less out 
 of repair. Some are supported by props, — many are 
 really unsafe, — several, living alone in a field, seem de- 
 serted by all but their own paupers, — some stand totter- 
 ing in a boggy lane, two miles from any dwelling, — and 
 in many eases they are so dilapidated, so bent by the 
 prevailing wind, that it seems a problem whether the 
 
 I 
 I 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 49 
 
 chasteness 
 5 walls, its 
 lofty bed- 
 a flelight- 
 lean little 
 group of 
 irc lost in 
 hough, to 
 f its agofl 
 y enough 
 milt shed 
 ,t account 
 wealth, a 
 f English 
 il for the 
 r. 
 
 out forty 
 rt's Act, 
 hero we 
 ', but all 
 hat, pro- 
 luestions 
 )rhouses, 
 less out 
 lany are 
 eem de- 
 i totter- 
 g,— -and 
 ; by the 
 her the 
 
 J # 
 
 i '':.-■■ 
 
 worn-out aged inmate will survive his wretched hovel, 
 or it him ! Now, without attempting to argue which of 
 all these buildings is the most sensibly adapted to its 
 object, we will only humbly observe, that all cannot be 
 right. We might even say, that, as they are diflcrent, 
 if one should happen to be right, it would folic w that 
 all the rest must be wrong. However, bidding adieu to 
 brick walls and mud ones, broad staircases and ladders, 
 slated roofs and thatch, we will proceed to enter thesi' 
 various dwellings. 
 
 In some of the largest of these habitatio ^ an attempt 
 has evidently been made to classify and arrange the in- 
 mates, and, generally speaking, every apartment is ex- 
 ceedingly clean. In one large room arc found sitting in 
 silence a group of motionless, worn-out men " with agf 
 grown double," but neither "picking dry sticks" nor 
 "mumbling to themselves." With nothing to do — with 
 nothing to cheer them — with nothing in this world to 
 hope for — with nothing to fear — gnarled into all sorts of 
 attitudes, they look more like pieces of ship-timber than 
 men, In another room are seen huddled together, in si- 
 milar attitudes, a number of old, exhausted women, clean 
 tidy, but speechless and deserted. Many, we learned, had 
 seen brighter days ; and in several instances we were in- 
 formed that their relations (we will not insult them by 
 calling tlmm friends) were "well off in the world ;" but 
 whenever we asked whether they were often visited, we 
 invariably received the same reply, "Oh, no ! people sel- 
 dom takes any notice of 'em after they once gets here." 
 
 In large, airy bedrooms (separate of course) were found 
 
50 
 
 ENGLISH CHAIUTY. 
 
 men and Avomcn all b(;(lri(ltlcu. As avo passed be- 
 tween two ranges of tivstles almost touching each other, 
 nothing was to be seen but a s(;t of wrinkled faces, 
 hieh seemed more dead than alive. Many had been 
 lyiug there for years ; many had been inmates of the 
 poorhouse for fourteen, fifteen, and eighteen years ; 
 few seemed to have any disorder : they were wanting no- 
 thing, asking for nothing, waiting for nothing, Imt their 
 death. As wc passed one poor man, he said he knew he 
 was dying, and, raising his head froui his pillow, he 
 beg<Tod hard that "little George" niiglitbe sent for; but 
 the master, accustomed to such scenes, would have con- 
 sidered the request inadmissible, had not the Assistant 
 Commissioner ventured rather strongly to enforce it. 
 
 The only instance, in all the poorhouses wc visite(1, 
 of any stranger attending upon its inmates, was in a 
 large room containing about thirty bedridden old fe- 
 males. On a trestle there was lying a woman who was 
 not well ; slio was ill — very ill ; — in fact, she was dying. 
 Her face was much flushed, she kept pulling at her bed- 
 clothes, and, excepting in one direction, turn which way 
 she would, slic seemed restless. The only attitude that 
 appeared for a moment to suit her was when she cast 
 her eyes upon a fine healthy peasant lad, dressed in a 
 smock frock saturated with brown clav, who sat bv her 
 bedside. It was her son. Syllabic by syllable, and 
 with his finger helping as he proceeded, he was attempt- 
 inj? to read to her the ]3ible. The job was almost more 
 than he could perform ; his eyes, however, never left his 
 book for a moment, but hers occasionally turned upon 
 
THE OLD SYSTKM. 
 
 51 
 
 aged 1)9 
 
 )} 
 
 yo 
 
 >> 
 
 90 
 
 )) 
 
 76 
 
 J5 
 
 75 
 
 liis face, and then upon the sacred volume in his hand, 
 tlic sight of both iniited seeming always to afford her a 
 momentary ease amounting almost to pleasure. 
 
 In the Coxlieath United Workhouse we found the fol- 
 lowing group seated round a small fire : — 
 
 David Kettle 
 
 William Pinson 
 
 John Hollands 
 
 Edward JJaldwin 
 
 John Latherby 
 They -were all leaning towards the lad Latherby, who, in 
 a monotonous tone of voice, was very slowly reading 
 the following prayer to them, out of a tract pid)lisheri 
 by the Society for Promoting ' ristiau Knowledge : — 
 
 " O Lord Almighty, who giveat to thy creatures health and 
 strength, and when Thou secst fit visitest tlieni with siclniess 
 and iufirinity, be pleased to hear the prayers of those who af 
 now afflicted by Thy hand. Look down from heaven, beho' 
 visit, and in Thine own good time reHeve them, and dispose 
 them to place all their trust and confidence in Thee, not in 
 the help of man !" 
 
 On our taking the pamphlet from his hands, to copy 
 the M ords into our note-book, the five men never altered 
 their attitudes, but during the M'hole operation sat like 
 the frozen corpses which, in Napoleon's retreat from 
 Moscow, were found still in the attitude of warming 
 their hands roiiiid the white dead embers of their de- 
 parted fire ! 
 
 From these sad pictures of decrepitude we were ge- 
 nerally conducted into the apai'tment belonging to the 
 
 ]j 3 
 
II 
 
 ! i 
 
 62 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 a1)lc-bodic(l women, who were ordered to rise from their 
 chain, in honour of the entraixce of strangers. In their 
 robust outlines certainly no ivrinkfe't were to be seen ; 
 whatever was their complaint they equally laboured 
 under it all, — Natui-e's simplest hieroglyphic suthciently 
 denoted their state, 
 
 " And coming events cast their slmdows before." 
 
 Adjoining this room there was alwiays a den of conva- 
 lescents, — a little land flowing with milk and honey, 
 easier imagined than described. 
 
 On descending the staircase, the next scene was a 
 room full of sturdy labourers out of work. In hob- 
 nailed half-boots and dirty smock-frocks, they were 
 generally sitting round a stove, with their faces scorched 
 and half-roasted; as we passed them they never rose 
 from their scats, and had generally an over-fed, a mu- 
 tinous, and an insubordinate appearance. A room full 
 of girls from five to sixteen, and another of boys about 
 the same age, completed the arrangement. In some 
 eases they were said to be " completely separated ;" that 
 is to say, they could not possibly meet without going up 
 stairs, Avhich "was forbidden." In other cases, they 
 were, strange to say, separated only "till dusk;" and in 
 many instances, although their rooms were " divided," 
 they met together, whenever it so pleased them, m the 
 yards. Such, prior to the ptassing of the New Poor 
 Law Act, was the general state of the lavffe poorhouses 
 of East Kent. 
 
 In the smaller ones, the minute classification we have 
 mentioned has been found impossible : all that is 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 53 
 
 m their 
 In their 
 le seen; 
 abourcd 
 ficieutlv 
 
 f conva- 
 honcy, 
 
 c was a 
 In hob- 
 cy were 
 scorched 
 ver rose 
 1, a mii- 
 oom full 
 ys about 
 In some 
 (1 ;" that 
 5oing up 
 ses, they 
 ' and in 
 ivided," 
 (1, 111 the 
 3w Poor 
 orhousea 
 
 effected, is to put the males of all ages into one room, 
 and all the females into another. In these cases, the 
 old are teazed by the children, who are growled at when 
 they talk, and scolded when they play, until they be- 
 come cowed into silence. The able-bodied men are the 
 noisy orators of the room ; the children listen to their 
 oaths, and, what k often much worse, to the substance 
 of their conversation ; while a poor idiot or two, hideously 
 twisted, stands grinning at the scene, or, in spite of re- 
 monstrances, incessantly chattering to himself. In the 
 women's hall, which is generally separated only by a 
 passage from the men's, females of all characters and of 
 all shapes live with infants, children, and young girls of 
 all ages. We could carry the description of these two 
 rooms much further, but it would be painful to do so. 
 
 We forgot to mention that we often found a large 
 attic in tlie roof, used as a dormitory for " able-bodied 
 labourers and their wives." Each bed was separated 
 from its neighbour by an old blanket. In this society 
 of "low life above stairs," — in this chance-medley of 
 " Ics frercs et Ics soeurs de la charite," — it must be sup- 
 posed that the ladies first modestly retired to their nests ; 
 yet we could not help fancying that if husband A should 
 happen unintentionally to make a mistake, the iwsition 
 of his shoes might perchance throw B, C, D, and the 
 rest of the connubial alphabet, all wrong. Whether 
 such a higgledy-piggledy arrangement be creditable or 
 not to a civilized country, it is not our present intention 
 to inquire ; sutHce it to say, that it only formc'i part and 
 parcel of the Old System. 
 
. 
 
 54 
 
 ENGLISH CHAUITV. 
 
 I'l 
 
 
 til 
 
 
 Ai 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 In the small, tottci'ing hovels wc hiivc mentioned, wc 
 f;cncrally found seven or eight aged people at the i)oint 
 of death, an able-bodied labourer or two, with a boy or 
 a young girl, who, in answer to our inquiries, was gene- 
 rally, before its innocent faee, said to be " only a love- 
 (iuild." Sometimes we diseovered but two or three 
 inmates; in tliese diminutive poor-huts, however, there 
 was always a being termed "The Governor;" although 
 in one case wc found only two i)aupers, one being " llis 
 Excellency" and the other his guest : — 
 
 "And so llis man Fridav Jii'pt his house nent and tidy. 
 For you know 'twas his duty to do so ; 
 Like brother and brother, wliu live one with another, 
 So lived Friday and Robinson Crusoe." 
 
 In these poorhouscs, so falsely called workhouses, 
 we found that the cost of keeping the paupers varied as 
 widely as the character of the dwellings. As there at 
 present exist in England about 50(),()()U in-door poor, 
 the reader can calculate for himself that a single far- 
 thing per day, profusely expeiuled upon each, amounts 
 to rather more than £o20 a year : one woidd conceive 
 therefore that something like a fixed sum Mould have 
 been determined upon ; but from the reports of tu o 
 hundred and eighty parishes, which arc now lying before 
 us, it a})pears that the cost of maintaining a pauper in 
 Kent varies from 2s. 2d. a week to 4s. Gd.; and, strange 
 to add, these sums are, in general, granted equally for 
 all inmates, — men, women, children, and even infants a 
 month old; sucking-babies being, by pauper law, as 
 costly and as consumptive as full-grown ploughmen. 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 55 
 
 )ne(l, M'c 
 lie point 
 I boy or 
 as gouc- 
 II lovc- 
 )r three 
 cr, there 
 ilthough 
 
 A; houses, 
 
 aried as 
 
 there at 
 
 or poor, 
 
 iiglc far- 
 
 amoimts 
 
 conceive 
 
 ihl have 
 
 of two 
 
 g before 
 
 uiper in 
 
 strange 
 
 tally for 
 
 nfauts a 
 
 law, as 
 
 ghmen. 
 
 ^. 
 
 !5v this avrangciufnt it is evident that it is made the in- 
 tcrcst of the governor, who is generally the contractor, 
 that there should exist as many babies in his dominion 
 as can conveniently be produced. 
 
 However, although there is this wide difference in the 
 cost of the various poorhouses, yet throughout these 
 receptacles the diet differs but little. \Vhilc the inde- 
 pendent laboiu'cr is subsisting, in nuuiy localities, on 
 little more than bread and water, almost evervwhcre the 
 Kentish pauper has what are called three meat-days a 
 week, in many cases four incat-days, and in some cases 
 live; his bread is many degrees better than that given 
 to our soldiers; he has vegetables at discretion; and, 
 (^specially in the large workhouses, it is declared with 
 great pride that "there is no stinting," but that "we 
 (fives 'em as mtir^ victuals as ever then can eat." It 
 should howe\er be observed that we detected a clauoC in 
 this Act whii.'h it is only fair should be explained. It is 
 very true that the ploughman in the workhouse receives 
 as much as ever ho can eat, "provided always," says 
 the miwritten code, " that he clears his plate before he 
 asks for more." In order therefore to obtain a thii'd 
 edition of meat, he must previously manage to swallow 
 greens and potatoes enough to choke a pig ; and as he is 
 confined to the stye, with no other work to perform, oiir 
 reader will not perhaps be surprised at our previous 
 statement, that the able-bodied pauper in the poorhouse 
 has the tight appearance of being over-fed. 
 
 But casting the ledger aside, admitting that poor- 
 houses of all shapes are cqiudly good, — that it is beneath 
 
> m 
 
 56 
 
 ENOLISII rirARlTY. 
 
 the cli<;riitv ofu wealthy nation to care wlictlicr tlio nation 
 pays 2.V. 2^/. or l.v. Od. for a pauper's fare, or whether such 
 a l)ein<? bursts himself or not, — supposing even that the 
 poor-rates of this country were to l)e paid by our satellite 
 the Man in the Moon, — let us for a moment consider 
 what is the efl'eet of this system of stall-fed charity, and 
 what truth there is in those lines which pathetically 
 declare 
 
 " How \vi(li> tho limits stniid 
 Btlwivn IV spleiulitl unci u Imppj lund." 
 
 \Vc have stated that, in viewing with considerable at- 
 tention some hundred workhouses, we found aged ])eoplo 
 of all descriptions, — those who had basked in prosperity 
 as well as those who had known of this world nothing 
 but its adversity, — alike deserted ; and while they stood 
 or rather lay Ijcfore om* eyes, we could not help ftvling 
 at each spot how mistaken had been the kindness which, 
 by the smell of hot joints, had attracted so many poor 
 helpless parents to enter the gates of their parish poor- 
 house, over which might too justly be inscribed, " La- 
 sciate ogni speranza, voi eh' intratc." As we gazed upon 
 the poor dying jjauper, lying deserted on his trestle, 
 always (with the solitary exception we have mentioned) 
 had we thought — 
 
 " Had he no friend, no daugliter dear, 
 Jlis trembling voice to soothe and cheer? 
 Had he no son? " 
 
 We wished we could have added — 
 
 " Ay, once he had, 
 But he was dead ! " 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 67 
 
 The coarRC fact, however, was, that th(^ fellow, far from 
 hvAi\<f (Icud, was in a heer-shop, pointed out to him hy a 
 hoard which very imperfectly explains to us whether it is 
 the heer or t\\c peamtit which is requinul hy Act of Par- 
 liament " TO UK DIIUNK ON TUK IMIKMISES." 
 
 The infant, we all know, must he weaned from its mo- 
 ther, the apron-strin;? that tethers the hoy to her side 
 must he cut, l)ut that filial hand hy which nulure hinds 
 a man to his aged j)arent should only he severed hy her 
 death : like the white wand of (larter King-at- irms, it 
 should never he hroken until it is dropped into the grave, 
 upon the hollow-sounding eolKn-lid of its monarch. It 
 seems, however, consistent with that stall-fed system -f 
 English charity, which, as shall soon he shown, posses ics 
 Hfty-four governors for encouraging women to desert 
 their infant offspring, that there should also exist in the 
 country a premium on the opposite vice, namely, for 
 every ploughman who will consent to desert his aged mo- 
 ther. Were it not for this application of our poor-rates, 
 there can he no douht that the English peasant, and 
 ahove all, the Kentish peasant, would feel an honest pride 
 in lahouring for the support of his parents, and that, in- 
 stead of expending his sturdy powers in hiiiwclf digesting 
 meat, cabhage, and potatoes in a poorhoi'.>.e, he would 
 most willingly wear himself down in the noble duty of 
 providing for his mother's comfort, ]jy repaying to her 
 in decrepitude the sustenance which in his infancy he 
 had borrowed of her; for, can Government beer-shops 
 offer him enjoyment superior to this, which Nature has 
 implanted in his heart? But to give her five meat- days 
 
 d3 
 
I 
 
 I) 
 
 •I 
 
 
 :l • 
 
 'II ^ 
 
 
 i. \ 
 
 58 
 
 ENGLISH CIIAlllTY. 
 
 a week, to maintiiiu lier in the style iu which the parish 
 trough feeds its guests, is totally beyond his humble 
 po\vers, and thus he is actually encouraged to leave her 
 to her fate. \VlKni once the filial tie is broken, — when 
 once, emigrating from her chimney-corner, she has en- 
 tered that painted sepulchre the parish poorhousc, filial 
 duties appear to her son to be at an end. She has a 
 better dwelling, better clothes, better food, better fires, 
 than he couUl possibly provide for her; and little does 
 he or she think of that horrid chasm, of those countless 
 hours which, witli no ostensible cause of complaint, must 
 intervene l)etween her first parish meat-day and her death. 
 Those who weigh moi'al happiness against food, — who 
 measure intellectual enjoyment by the imperial gallon, — 
 who consider that misfortune means a half-empty sto- 
 mach, and that jjcrfect contentment is feeling "chock 
 lull," — will (Uuy tlie force of the foregoing arguments; 
 ])ut we ho[)c tlu re are still many who will keenly feel 
 that to end one's career by fourteen or eighteen years' 
 neglected bauishiucnt in a poorhousc ; — to close a morn- 
 ing's activity by a long dreary evening of woe ; — for the 
 mind to he l)uricd alive so long before the bo^y be in- 
 terred ; — to be (Ungraded in a parish iu which it was once 
 one's pride to be distinguished ; to be abandoned by those 
 whose helj;lcss iuiancy one had laboured to support, is 
 not only to be an English "pauper," but to be " poor in- 
 deed ! '' 
 
 The misfoitune to the parent and son is mutual, — 
 both sink; the Ix^er-shop and the poorhousc are alike 
 destructive, they play into each other's bauds ; — the one 
 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 59 
 
 entices tlie lad to desert his motlier, the other fatally 
 induces the mother to leave her son : ahsolved from the 
 duty of providing for his p.arent, he tries, encouraged hy 
 Parliament, to distil "on the premises;" — happiness from 
 sti'ong beer J she, etpially encouraged by the parish, ex- 
 pects in the workhouse to extract filial consolation from 
 hot meat. Both are deceived : he becomes brutal, mu- 
 tinous, demoralized, — she lingers without happiness, and 
 (lies deserted. V/c have painfully witnessed and deeply 
 leflcctcd on tlie scenes just described ; and we have no 
 liesitation in declaring that, in our humble opinion, the 
 late pauper system of in-door relief (totally regardless of 
 its enormous expense) has, in the case of our aged poor, 
 created infinitely more misery than it has alleviated. 
 
 Firmly believing that there exists on the surface of 
 this earth no soil more congenial to the growth of every 
 domestic virtue than the breast of the Engl:..n peasant, it 
 is but too true, that if thorns be found growing there 
 instead of fruit, — if the crop be poisonous instead of 
 Ijeing nutritive, — our political labourers, not the land, 
 must be cursed. The ancient Greeks revered even the 
 bones of their ancestors; we have taught our peasantry 
 to bequeath their parents, blood, body, and bones, to the 
 workhouse ! 
 
 AVith respect to the manner in which children have 
 l)een systematically demoralized in many of our small 
 poorhouses, the error, we conceive, speaks so clearly for 
 itself, that we need not oft'er to be its advocate. A mix- 
 ture, in about equal parts (never mind a scruple or two), 
 of boys and girls, idle men, and abandoned women can 
 
m 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 J • ^ 
 
 •i 
 i 
 
 w 
 
 only by a miracle he unproductive of evil to society ; wc 
 will therefore content ourselves with repeating a practi- 
 cal opinion which was thus expressed to us by a governor 
 of twenty years' experience : — " When children" said 
 Mr. Cadell, "have been brought up in a ivorkvs, they 
 have never no disposition to shun a workus." It appears, 
 therefore, that in all cases where children might have 
 been made to provide for themselves, or might have 
 been thrown on their relations for support, the parish 
 has culpably attracted them to their ruin. 
 
 Having now treated of those two extremes — the aged 
 pauper and the children of the poorhouse, — we Avill offer 
 a few remarks on the mode by which the Kentish poor- 
 hougcs cunningly manage to get possession also of their 
 able-bodied inmates. 
 
 To induce a fine athletic fellow to barter independence 
 for dependence, to exchange voluntarily liberty for con- 
 finement, and honest Mork for idleness, was not only the 
 last, but tlie hardest job which stall-fed Charity had to 
 perform ; and her exertions to gain this darling object 
 have been proportionally great. To have persuaded the 
 Kentish ploughman to become a pauper, by appealing to 
 his brains, would, she knew, have been hopeless, but his 
 stomacli was a house of easier access: — "La barri(/a," she 
 exultingly exclaimed, " lleva los pies ! tripas Uevanpies /" 
 She accordingly, in Kent, in order to bait the workhouse 
 trap, arranged, printed, and published a bribe, which we 
 consider as one of the most astonishing documents in the 
 pig-stye history of our poor-laws. 
 
 Before we submit a few extracts from this ludicrous 
 
 m 
 fki 
 
 4 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 61 
 
 :l 
 
 '» 
 
 proclamation, we should mention that, having entered 
 within the last few months a vast numhcr of cottages, 
 having quietly conversed with the inhahitants, and seen 
 and sat down with them at their meals, we are enabled 
 to assure our readers, that we have met ^vith many 
 instances of laboui'crs' families (we do not allude to those 
 who steal corn for their pigs) subsisting a whole week 
 without meat, — nay, of there often being scarcely food 
 enough of any sort for the children. In one instance, 
 wishing to have a model of a workhouse executed, we 
 called upon an artist of considerable merit. Although 
 he was preparing some works for a public exhibition, 
 it was evident, from his look, as well as from the sunken 
 features of his family, that they not only were, but long 
 had been, badly fed. The man of genius, however, was 
 soaring high above his stomach ; in fact, his outline, like 
 our own, showed scarcely any stomach at all. We found 
 it impossible, in fact, to divert his conversation from his 
 favourite subject. But while he mounted for a moment 
 into his attic, in search of a new specimen of his art, we 
 quietly observed to his wife, who sat surrounded by four 
 children, that we feared they were badly off. The woman, 
 with tears in her eyes, pointing to a basket of potatoes 
 in the corner of the room, assured us, that excepting a 
 sheep's-head among them all, they had tasted since 
 Sunday week nothing but potatoes and bread. 
 
 We admit this sad picture to be an extreme case ; yet, 
 in every country it is unavoidably necessary that the in- 
 dependent (and honest) labourer, who, besides himself, 
 has a large family to support, must, to a certain degree, 
 
 ■^■A 
 
-gi ;: 
 
 i 
 
 lij 
 
 w 
 
 
 i ■' 
 
 i i 
 
 ji 
 
 (>2 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 he poorly fed; but, on that aceount, he need not si'\k 
 in his own estimation, he ought not to he allowed to 
 sink in the estimation of the world. If, however, the 
 pauper be unjustly elevated many degrees above this man, 
 the latter bof lom's in faet relatively degraded ; and he Avill 
 not feel tliib the less, although it may be declared by 
 all the political economists in Europe that he has been 
 left untouched and absolutely at rest. 
 
 Now, supposing a large body of labourers, subsisting 
 principally on bread, potatoes, and water, should, in going 
 to their work, stop for a moment to read the following 
 proclamation, which we lately tore from the walls of one 
 of the Kentish Morkhouses, we only ask, what effect would 
 it naturally produce ? — 
 
 " Conditions of Contracts. 
 
 " 1. The contractors to furnish ivarm, wholesome, siccet, 
 dean, comfortcddc l)e(ls, bedding, blankets, and slieets, and 
 good, sufficient shoes, hats, bonnets, caps, and wearing "ppiirel 
 of all kinils, as well linen as woollen ; two things of each sort 
 for every j)oor person admitted into the workhouse, suitable to 
 tiieir age and sex. 
 
 " 2. The contractors to provide as many servants as shall 
 be necessary for cooking and servimj up the victuals ; for 
 vvdshing, cleaning, and keeping in order the workhouses and 
 premises, and the poor therein, and attending on them when 
 necessary. 
 
 " 3. The contractors to provide and supply good, sweet, 
 wfiolesome, fat meat, and other articles of diet, in sufficient 
 quantities for the consumption of the poor. The meat to con- 
 sist of good fat beef, leg-of-mutton pieces, and chucks of good 
 ox-beef, and good wether mutton. 
 
 " 4. The beer to be good sound small beer. 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 63 
 
 " 5. The flour to be the heat household flour. 
 
 " 6. The biead to be the best second wheateu bread. 
 
 " 7. The cheise to be good Gloucester cheese. 
 
 " 8. The butter to be good and clean. 
 
 " 9. All the other articles to be good in their respective 
 kinds. 
 
 " 10. No pork is to be given to the paupers (!), and no salt 
 meat, only such as shall have been salted to preserve it from 
 spoiling, and which shall be dressed within four days from the 
 time of salting." 
 
 But lest the })anper, becoming tired of this homely 
 fare, should threateu to quit the poorhouse, the con- 
 tractor is occasionally to fuiniish a nice little variety for 
 him, as follows : — 
 
 " For every poor person, the following, instead of the usual 
 dinner allowance, shall be provided, viz. : — 
 
 "11. On Christmas-day, fourteen ounces, before cooked, of 
 good baked beef with vegetables, one pint of strong l>eer, and 
 one pound of plum-pudding. 
 
 " 12. On two days, in the summer, six ounces of bacon with 
 green peas, 
 
 " 15. On two other days, six ounces of bacon with oeans. 
 
 " 16. On four other days, good mackerel. 
 
 " 17. On four other days, good fresh herrings. 
 
 " 18. On six other days, good salt-flsh instead of meat. 
 
 " 19. The poa-soui) to be made according to the following 
 receipt ; and the Assistant Overseer to see that the stiijulated 
 ingredients are all put in." 
 
 Here follow the weights oi the ingredients of this 
 national sottpc maiyre, wliich is to be made merely 
 of " beef, peas, potatoes, locks, onions, and Scotch 
 barley." 
 
 
m»^Ki 
 
 'm^iw 
 
 i.U ', 
 
 61 
 
 ENGLISH CHAIUTY. 
 
 "19. The contractors to provide firing for vVivrnnnij, und 
 candles for ligi ting the rooms of the workhour^o, anil ffoodvouX 
 fires in the gen< ral room, from the 1st of October uiitil the lat 
 of May , and during tlie time when Mres are v:,t ^ttinn^ tod to 
 keep ;/ood coal fives in fourteen rooms, at the usual huv»r, in 
 the morning and evening, for tiie paujx *'s to b(.!" the water in 
 their tea-kettles." 
 
 There n,re about fourteen or iHiecu v^jtlicr clause's ia 
 this ourioUcS contract, wliich relate to minor lip 'ries 
 scarcely worth attention, such as — ' 22. The<'nitractors 
 io have the paupers' hair cut once in six weeks;" and 
 " 2''i, 1 iio co)iti'actors to provide wigs for such as wear 
 thci^i or require them." ! ! ! 
 
 A desire to pull down the aristocracy of a country 
 proceeds only from jealousy ignorant oi' human nature ; 
 for almost every one who has ever lived among republics 
 (particularly among those of the New \A'orld) has been 
 sufficiently convinced that a spit-on-the-earpet equality 
 is very far from desirable ; still many may honestly fancy 
 that it might be a blessing ; but to disorganize society 
 ))y reversing our system — by elevating the pauper above 
 the labourer, is a pot-bellied philanthropy which one 
 cannot sufficiently despise. Of all seductions it is the 
 nastiest, for it is the swinish government of the belly. 
 We read of luxury and effeminacy having created na- 
 tional imbecility and premature decay ; but there is no 
 other instance on record of a wealthy country, in rude 
 health, bursting its social band by such false principles 
 of arrant gluttony. 
 
 How can we possibly conceive that the lower orders of 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 65 
 
 this country will stand against tlic storm ? How can we 
 expect that they will be foolish enough, mad enough, to 
 gain their bread by the sweat of their I)row, so long as 
 we publicly notify to them, that there is roast-beef and 
 plum-pudding, bacon and beans, green peas and mackerel, 
 strong beer, fresh herrings, and warm wigs, for those Avho 
 will cowardly fly from their work ? What authority can 
 a parochial officer, the Assistant Overseer, have in their 
 eyes, when they find that he is ordered to mix their soup, 
 and to take special care that the Scotch barley, the leeks, 
 the beef, and the onions, are duly congregated V 
 
 It happened that Avhen we visited the poorhousc of 
 Canterbury, which is conducted under a proclamation 
 very similar to that we have just quoted, we witnessed a 
 scene worth relating. The city is composed of fourteen 
 united parishes, each of which furnishes t,"o citizen- 
 Guardians. The government of the poor belongs also to 
 the mayor and corporation, who are, generally speaking, 
 liberal, well-educated men ; but as the citizen Guardians 
 outvote them, they have long agreed to absent them- 
 selves from the workhouse court. The vulgar pride of 
 this " court" is to stuft' the lusty pauper at the expense 
 of the lean ratepayer ; and on the day of our visiting 
 their workhouse we found that little puddle in a storm. 
 The contractor had happened to furnish a batch of bread, 
 nutritive, wholesome, and, to any hungry man, most ex- 
 cellent, but a shade darker than w as deemed fit for a 
 pauper. AVe will not say how much softer it Avas than 
 ship-biscuit, or how very many degrees whiter it w as than 
 the bread we have eaten with the Russian and Prussian 
 
 ' "1' 'I 
 
 i I' 
 
 t, 
 
 i] 
 
06 
 
 EN'QLISII CHAlllTY. 
 
 ii 
 
 ! I 
 
 armies ; wc will merely ohsorvo, it was considerably 
 whiter than the "broion tommy" of onr own soldiers, or 
 than that speeies of luxnry known in onr fashionable 
 world by the enticing appellation of brown bicad. The 
 (^autcrl)ury Guardians, however, had declared it to be 
 luifit for paupers, and the Governor had conseqncntly 
 been obliged to furnish them with white bread from one 
 of the bakers of the town. The Assistant Commissioner, 
 happening to be hungry, not only greedily ate of this re- 
 jected bread, but respectfully forwarded a loaf of it to the 
 Poor-Law Board, who probably requested Mr. Chadwick 
 to digest it and report thereon. The contractor, however, 
 having the whole batch on his hands, and from pride not 
 choosing publicly to dispose of it, ordered it to be given 
 to his pigs. On proceeding to the styes, we found these 
 sensible animals literally gorged with it. All but one 
 were lying on their sides in the straw, grunting in dreams 
 of plethoric ecstasy : a large, hungry, piebald hog had 
 just received his share, and as, looking at the Poor-Law 
 Commissioner, he stood crunching and munching this 
 nice bread, there was something so irresistiljly comic in 
 his eye, something so sarcastic and satirical, something 
 in its twinkle that seemed to say, De guslibus noii est 
 disputaudum ! — " Citizen Guardians for ever, and down 
 with the New Poor-Law Amendment Act !" — that the 
 contractor himself was seen to smile, — 
 
 " And the Devil he smiled, for it put him in mind 
 Of England's connnereial pi'osperity !" 
 
 The general ellccts produced by this ignorant system 
 may be sufficiently explained by a very few instances. 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 07 
 
 Mr. Curling, the governor of ^largate workhouse, de- 
 clared in our hearing, — 
 
 " I am an eye-witness tliut, by over-feeding the pauper, we 
 have made the labouring classes discontented." 
 
 lie added, — 
 
 " During the fashionable season at Margate, the donkey- 
 drivers, the fly-drivers, and hundreds who are employed by 
 the London ladies, generally receive '2-is. a week, but it is all 
 hpent in beer, — there is no i)rudence, nothing saved ; for the 
 cant jdu'ase among them is, We have alivays tlie Matmoii-houae 
 to go to." 
 
 We may observe that the cost of 201 in-door paupers 
 at Margate has amounted to about .C2000 a year. An 
 (iverseer near Canterbury told us that a youug man had 
 lor nearly a year been receiving 1*. 6d. a week from the 
 liarish, every Friday ; — that he always spent this money 
 in hiring a gun to shoot with on Siuuluy ; — and that, 
 whenever he received his money, he returned laui^hing 
 with it in his hand to his fellow-workmen, saying, with 
 much less elegance than truth, " What a set of d — d 
 fools they are !" ]Mr. John Davies, the overseer of St. 
 Peter's, at Sandwich, said, — 
 
 " They only wants to thrust themselves into the workus, 
 to get a bellyfull of good victuals, and do nothing, but I 
 won't hi 'em /" 
 
 It will sound incredible that the overseers themselves, 
 as well as the governors of the workhouses, are perfectly 
 sensible of the vice of this shocking system ; but that 
 such is the case the following extracts from certificates, 
 addressed to the Assistant Commissioner by several of 
 
 If 
 
 f 
 
68 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 11 
 
 the most respectable of the governors, etc., on the l)th of 
 February hist, will clearly show : — 
 
 " Huvhjg been Governor of the poorhouse of this ])arisii, 
 antl also clerk to the Guurdiuns, for fourteen years, I have 
 had an oi)portunity of witnessing tlmt the paupers in this 
 house live a ^ijreat deal hotter than many who are trades- 
 people, and who help to support them ; and I am eortain 
 of the fact, that many of the independent labourers do not 
 get meat once a week. The boatmen of this place, at present, 
 are in a very distressed situation ; antl I think it is very often 
 the case that they have no meat in the course of the week. 
 
 " (Signed) A. B." 
 
 " I have been Guardian of this parish for seven years, 
 and I ain (piite sure tlie paupers in the workhouse live better 
 than one-third of the ratepayers of this parish ; and I have 
 very frequently said to parishioners, the people of our house 
 live much too well, and that they are better off than half 
 the inhabitants ; but the rejdy was, ' That is no business of 
 yours.' " (Signed) C. D." 
 
 "Having tilled the situation of Governor these fourteen 
 years past, as also superinteu»lent of the unemployed poor, I 
 am sure, from the experience that I have had of witnessing 
 much of the distress of the industrious ratepayer, that he can- 
 not in any degree live e(iual, nor have those comforts, the 
 poor in our workhouse have ; which I have frecpiently stated 
 to our board of officers, but the reply has been, ' If the pa- 
 rishioners are satisfied, what need you trouble yourself about 
 it V " (Signed) E. F." 
 
 " I think that not one-half of the ratepayers of our parish 
 live as well as the )»oor in the house ; and none of our out- 
 poor live so well as the in-poor. I have often ex])ressed this 
 opinion in committee. 
 
 " (Signed) G. H." 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 69 
 
 "I really bclkvc tliiit many of the poor ratepayers do not 
 live lu'tter, or have meat so often in tlieir family, as the people 
 in the poorliouse, as I have been freqiiontly given to under- 
 stand hy the (liifert-nt colleotors of the i)oor'H rates ; and am 
 sure that, out oF the five iuindred boatmen, mmv. of thorn live 
 so well as the people in our workhouse, and very few of the 
 boatmen get meat at all. 
 
 " (Signed) K. L." 
 
 But, if these letters do not, the Kentish fires throw 
 quite liglit enough on tlie eHcets of this system. In no 
 region it has been our fortune to visit have we ever seen 
 a peasantry so eoiupletely disorganized. In no enemy's 
 country that wc have seen, liave we ever encountered the 
 ehurlish demeanour which tliesc men, as one meets 
 them in tlieir lanes, now assume. Perfectly unedu- 
 cated, — ncitiier mechanics, manufacturers, nor artisans, 
 — in point of intellect little better than the horses they 
 drive, they govern in a manner which is not very credit- 
 able to their superiors. Their system of robbing corn 
 for their horses has, they believe, been almost sanctioned 
 by custom into law ; and as, with something like jus- 
 tice, they conceive they are entitled to be higher fed 
 than the scale established for the pauper, nothing they 
 ran honestly gain can possibly he sufficient tu make 
 them contented. And yet the countenances of these 
 country clods arc strangely contrasted Avith tueir con- 
 duct. We would trust them with our life, — in no coun- 
 try in the world are there to be seen infants, boys, and 
 lads of more prepossessing appearance, — honesty, sim- 
 plicity, and courage adorn them ; proving that they are 
 
 
 1 
 
Ml' 
 
 ■ t 
 
 70 
 
 KN(iMSII ClIAItlTY. 
 
 the (Icserndaiits of tlioso who were oiic<^ complimented 
 by th(! remark, that they Averc "non An^li, sed An- 
 geli." Their women, hke tlieir hops, have ten thousand 
 clinginj;, elaspin;^^ nnchdating, hloominj; beauties; and 
 there seems to be no rivison Avhy, of tlieir lov(;ly native 
 county, it should not still be said, "Ex his, qui Cantium 
 ineolunt lonji^e sunt beatissimi." But it is not of their 
 materials we complain, it is only of our own workman- 
 ship : — our Ponr-luv's have mined them ! 
 
 The curate of a Kentish villajife told us, that while he 
 was that morninu; earnestly exhorting a poor family to 
 abandon their depraved habits, the labourer rose from 
 liis ehimney-eorner, and told him, that " If he did not 
 quit the cottage that moment, he would kick him out." 
 
 An association is at this monumt forming among them 
 to resist the Poor-Law Amendment Act, and, in fact, 
 all other acts and deeds, as will appear by the following 
 extract from a eommnnieatiou recently sent to London, 
 by the rector, ehurehwardens, and overseers of Witters- 
 liam. After stating that " the unions are in the habit 
 of holding their meetings very frequently at various 
 places in this neighbourhood," they proceed to detail 
 the following evidence, which a labourer had just given 
 to his master : — 
 
 " He says, two men stand, one on each side of the door, 
 with drawn swords in iheir hands : they that intend to he 
 members are sworn in, blindfolded, to fight if they are wanted ; 
 and that two of the greatest men in London are at the head, 
 and they send others into the country ; and they say that they 
 have enough men to crush all the rest now, if they like to do 
 
Tin; ()I.I> SYSTEM. 
 
 71 
 
 
 it. TIio man snyw, tliiit lu> oxpoctM, boforo a liiontli's time, thnt 
 nearly all tin; parish will have joined it, and what do not like 
 to join, they intend to compel : n(» parish relief to ho received 
 hy a member. The nnm nays, that they inteiid that the Kiiij^ 
 shouhl have less, the parsons less, and the ]»oor people more, 
 to live on ; and when I said that it was out of their power to 
 nndtc that alteration, he said he expected it would cause war. 
 I asked the nuiu if he thought they would take in any farmers 
 as mend>ers of the Union ; he said, they wonhl not admit 
 farmers into the room, for they were a<.;ainat farmers." 
 
 It is impossible to read tlic rustic proiiraiinnc of this 
 hob-nailed Pjirliununit without a sense of ridieulc ami 
 disgust : hut ought there not to l)c also a deeper feeling 
 of our own responsihility, in having, hy our sins of omis- 
 sion and commission, so hu'gely contributed to the de- 
 gradation of tlu>se uneducated and misguided uuni ? 
 
 The Assistant Connnissioner, having witnessed more 
 of these scenes than we luive tinuj or inclination to de- 
 tail, felt it his duty respectfully to address to the Poor- 
 Law Commissioners a letter, froui which wo shall now 
 make some extracts. 
 
 "During the inspection which I have made of one hundred 
 and ninety-one parishes, I have very earnestly endeavoured to 
 inform myself of the relative scale of diet between the pauper 
 and the independent labourer ; and tlu^ result of my own ob- 
 servations having been in every instance corroborated, without 
 any hesitation, by the magistiates and j)arochial officers whose 
 opinions I have asked, I feel that I have now sufficient autho- 
 rity to state to you, that as far as regards diet in this county, 
 the following is a fact which cannot be denied : — 
 
 Poor is the diet of the pauper in the poorhouse ; 
 Poorer is the diet of the small ratejtayer ; 
 Poorest is the diet of the independent labourer. 
 
73 
 
 ENOLISU CHARITY. 
 
 ' % ., 
 
 "In many instances I have found that the hard-working 
 independent labourer (and even the small ratepayer) has great 
 difficulty in getting sufficient food for the seventh day in the 
 week, while at the workhouse (take that of Swanscombe and 
 Stone for instance) the pauper who sits almost the whole day 
 in indolence, scorching himself before a stove, receives — 
 
 Four hot meat meals per week, 
 
 Half-a-pound of butter per week, 
 
 One pound of bread per day, 
 
 Vegetables of various sorts, as much as he can eat. 
 
 One i)int of beer per day. 
 
 Pudding on Sundays. 
 " So far therefore as diet is concerned, the independent la- 
 bourer, as well as the small ratejiayer, exist with the pauper 
 ahoi'e them, instead of beloto them ; and although a sense of 
 honest pride induces them still to cling to their independent 
 .station, yet the double error of such a vicious system is — 
 
 " 1st. That it encoun ges the labourer to be'^ome a pauper ; 
 and, 
 
 " 2dly. That it discourages the pauper from becoming an 
 independent labourer. 
 
 " I feel confident that the parish officers, as well fft the ma- 
 gistrates, in all directions, would, if called upon, fully corrob()- 
 rate the foregoing statement, many of them having declared 
 to me, that though their parish pays an annual subscri[)tion to 
 a Union, or receiving poorhouse, yet they are afraid to send 
 any labourers out of work there ; the reason being, that the 
 able-bodied paupers are fed so well in the workhouse, that if 
 once labourers are sent there, they won't Icive it. 
 
 " It will, I am sure, be evident to you, that were we to be 
 totally regardless of the enormous expense of this system, yet, 
 so long as it is permitted to exist, so long must the scale re- 
 main disorganized^^so long will the number of paupers in- 
 crease — the number of independent labourers diminish, — until 
 the fabric of our society, like a cone resting on its apex instead 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 73 
 
 of its bai=ie, sliixll faU to the ground. But the remedy is, fortu- 
 nately, as simple as the disorder is complicated ; for, without 
 interfering with the independent labourer or the small rate- 
 payer, if we will but resolutely place the pauper hpJon^ him, 
 instead of allowing him to exist (tbove him, he can thus only 
 rise by gaining his own independence ; while the in(lc[)endcnt 
 labourer will no longer have an inducement to rise by becom- 
 ing a pauper. 
 
 "Having had occasion, last week, to speak separately to the 
 overseers of sixteen parishes, I took the opportunity of jiuttirs'.'' 
 to them the following question ; to which everj- individual, 
 without hearing what others had said, replied without hesita- 
 tion as follows : — 
 
 " (2.— Supposing the pauper were hencefi>rward to receive 
 porridge for breakfast, bread and cheese or potatoes fi>r dinner, 
 and porridge for supper, do you consider lie would, on such a 
 diet, be as well off as independent labourers with large families * 
 
 " A. — Yes ; Jte would he better off. 
 
 " My own observation enables me most deliberately to con- 
 cur in the above evidence ; and seeing the mischievous effects 
 as well as the injustice of such a system, I feel it my duty re- 
 spectfully to recommend that public notice should as early aa 
 possible be given in this county, that from and after — say the 
 Ist of May next, the diet of the pauper in the workhouse 
 should no longer be better than that of the independent la- 
 bourer, and accordingly, that from the period stated it should 
 consist of bread, porridge, cheese, and vegetables, with an 
 Mllowance of meat only for people oi above fifty-five yearg of 
 age, or for such paupers as the medical attendant may recom- 
 mend it. 
 
 " If what are commonly called the 'poor ' were really the 
 poorest members of society, I feel confident that this county 
 would strongly oppose the slightest reduction in their diet ; 
 but I have found the magistrates, farmers, and especially the 
 
 VOL. I. i; 
 
 It- 
 
 • ;! 
 
 ^¥ 
 'I 
 
 Ht 
 
 
74 
 
 ENGLISH CHAllITY. 
 
 yeomen of Kent, so sensible of the vice of the present system, 
 that I am confident tliey entertain the manly feeling that it is 
 ftilse benevolence to disorganize society by forcibly obliging 
 the small ratepayer to feed the pauper better than himself; 
 and that it is injustice, and not charity, to raise men living in 
 idleness and dependence above the labourer who is maintain- 
 ing his independence by the sweat of his brow. 
 
 " In most of the towns in this county (people there not 
 being aware of what is passing in the country) I have observed 
 that public charity has ignorantly bestowed its affections on 
 * the 2^001' ' instead of on * the poore?' ' and on ' the 2worest ' 
 members of society ; and accordingly, in such towns I hear 
 great sympathy everywhere expressed for the pau[)er — very 
 little for the indei»endent labourer — and none at all for the 
 small ratepayer, although, as I have already stated, the two 
 latter classes are actually subsisting on less food than the idle 
 inhabitant of the poorhouse. By this class of townspeo[»le 
 considerable clamour would consequently be raised ; but with 
 so just and honest an object in view, such opposition, I con- 
 ceive, need not be feared ; particularly as it would cease so 
 soon as the beneficial effects of the adjustment should have 
 proved the reasons for which it had been ordered. 
 
 " With respect to the formation of large Unions, you are 
 aware that I am still prosecuting that object ; at the same 
 time it must be evident that no possible arrangement of bricks 
 and mortar Ci''i possibly cure the evil of the late administra- 
 tion of the Poor-laws, so long as you shall allow the dietary of 
 the pauper to be superior to that of the small ratepayer and 
 labourer. "(3igned) F. B. Head." 
 
 The simple act of lowering the diet of the poorhoiisc 
 to at least the level of the iudependciit labourei^'s fare, 
 wonkl, we believe, without any other assistance, be siifti- 
 cient, placidly, to correct almost every disorder to which 
 
THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 75 
 
 our late Poor-law system has subjected us ; for as soon 
 as the poorhousc shall cease to be attractive, the whole 
 of the physical as well as moral machinery for repelling 
 applicants must at once become useless luinber ; and if 
 a healthy reluctance can only be created among the in- 
 dolent (never mind whether it proceeds from the dictates 
 of their heads or stomachs) to enter the parish gates, it 
 must unavoidably follow (action and reaction being equal 
 and contrary) that a manly desire to support themselves 
 Avill instantly burst into being. Again, if the robust, 
 well-disposed peasant does not like i)oorhouse fare for 
 himself, neither will he like it for his aged mother ; and 
 he will consequently prefer the pleasr<re of labouring for 
 her support, to the drunken enjoyment of Government 
 beer-shops. 
 
 As soon as workhouse life shall become j)<^^' se whole- 
 somely repulsive, the rude, amorous ploughman will 
 pause a little before he contracts a marriage which must, 
 ere long, make him its inmate ; whereas, if (as in the 
 Old System) his parish insists on ottering him, not only 
 the blooming girl of his heart, but heavy ir.inps of sa- 
 voiuy food, the warm bribe, like the bride, must be irre- 
 sistible. As soon as we shall liave fortitude enough to 
 make workhouse diet " low " instead o^ high, not only 
 will the labouring classes find a hundred excuses and in- 
 genious expedients for not coming into " tlie mansion," 
 but even among its inmates there will be invented simi- 
 lar excuses and similar expedients for quitting it; no one 
 will come, no one will remain, if he can possibly help it. 
 Society will thus be restored to a healthy state ; in short, 
 
 e2 
 
 Hi! 
 
 li llf 
 
 1 
 
 AWm^ 
 
'Ii: 
 
 If 
 
 t :l. 
 
 76 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 i:| 
 
 wc appeal to every man of common sense, — avc go still 
 higher — wc ask, is there a philosopher or a mathemati- 
 cian in existence who can deny the pure truth of the two 
 folloAving axioms: — 1st, That in the creation of every 
 sensi/Ae Poor-law system, the workhouse ought to possess 
 a centrifugal, and not a centripetal, influence ; 2nd, That 
 in every country under the sun, if x denote the situation 
 of the iiulependent lahourer, x minus 1, and not x plus 
 1, ought to be the condition of the pauper; and that the 
 only legitimate mode of bettering him is by raising the 
 value of ^ ? Simple as these trutlis are, yet we have 
 violated them both. We have made all our workhouses 
 ceutripptal instead of centrifugal; wc have raised the 
 condition of the pauper, not only to ^+1, but in many 
 cases to a^-f 21 ; and we seriously ask, has not the pu- 
 nishment of our oftcnce gradually become an annual fine, 
 in the form of poor-rates, of more than seven millions ? 
 
 " But," exclaimed a Metropolitan orator the other day, 
 his hand constantly striking his stomach (i)rol)aljly mis- 
 taking it for his heart), " shall it be said, Gentlemen, that 
 v)e feed our paupers on coarse food ? God forbid ! Is 
 the cruel triumvirate of Somerset House to determine the 
 minimvni on ivhich our trembling nature can subsist ? God 
 forbid!" 
 
 We would ask tlie defenders (and, icgion-like, they are 
 many) of these pvg-nosed principles, whether it ever 
 occurred to them, instead of speechifying, to relieve the 
 poor, — by which expression we mean the industrious and 
 hard-working poor, — for in such a charity they, as well 
 as all of us, might most benaficentiy combine? Will 
 
 k 
 
 -Tr..^ 
 
TiiE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 
 tliey enter into a subscription for raising the coiulitiou 
 of the independent la))ourer? Oh no ! on the contrary, 
 they drive their bargaias wHh him, if it be mciely for 
 digging a sooty garden eighteen leet by seven, as hard 
 as they are able. " Wliat lias a peasant's fanJly to do," 
 they exclaim, " with the price of fowls, eggs, butter, 
 pork, or anything else that he brings to market from 
 his cottage or his stye?" But if they have to deal with 
 tlie iHiuper instead of the labourer, — if the parish purse, 
 and not the orator's, be doomed to pay, — if parish con- 
 tracts are to be increased in proportion to tlie demands 
 on pai'ish charity, then it is manfidly argued in the ves- 
 try, — " Gentlemen, as Britons, let us be Uueral ; as Em/- 
 Jishmen, let us be profuse ! Shall it be othenvise ? God 
 forbid /" Of all the ioathsome vices that disgrace our na- 
 ture, none appeal- more odious and repulsive than when 
 they dare to assume the mask of a virtue ; and, con- 
 trasted with such gouty charity and such self-interested 
 philanthropy as this, how simply beautiful do those 
 words of truth and religious benevolence sound to us, 
 which sternly declare, " For even when we were with 
 you, this we commanded you, that if any woidd not 
 work, neither should he eat;" again, "Tlie industrious 
 eateth to the satisfaction of his apijctite, but the belly of 
 the sluggard shall want ;" and again, " The sluggard will 
 not plough because it is cold ; tlierefoi'c shall he beg iu 
 harvest, and hav? nothing," 
 
I' li r 
 
 1V, *<1 
 
 1 i ■ ! 
 
 ^ i '■ ■ 
 
 
 5' 
 
 78 
 
 ENGLISH CHAUITY. 
 
 NIGGERFUL JOIIX. 
 
 In one of the visits we made to a very large poor- 
 house in East Kent, we particularly remarked, among the 
 motley group that surrounded us, a tall, slender boy of 
 about fourteen, whose eccentric history having just flitted 
 across our memory, we shall place it here as an episode. 
 
 Some fifteen years ago, there entered the family of a 
 wealthy individual, a young, industrious, Ilclxvlooking 
 Kentish girl, who embarked in life in the menial capa- 
 city of a housemaid. Her tables shone ; her sfairs grew 
 cleaner and cleaner ; not a si)idcr could exist in her do- 
 minions ; nothing couiplained of her but mops and soap. 
 Some praised licr for one excellence, some for another ; 
 but all agreed that so charming a complexion had never 
 been seen; it was a mixture, infusion, or suffusion of red 
 roses and white ones, the colours of Avhich seemed alwavs 
 on the move. The slightest fear made her look pale j 
 the smallest joy turned her all red ; ami as she was 
 cither friglitcncd or delighted at everything she saw, her 
 changes were as beautiful and as evanescent as those in 
 the dying dol[)liiu. With all these blooming flowers at 
 her command, it seemed natural enough that a steady 
 gardening-man in the neighboiu'hood shoidd ca^ officio 
 fall in love witli her ; and after a long, tedious, pro- 
 tracted co\irtship, the happy day of their marriage ar- 
 rived. Her dinn{)y fellow servant, the cook, clumsily 
 danced at tlivj wedding ; while the great black ^'ootnian, 
 his arms flying round his head, was seen ea])ering Inside 
 \v.iv like a mad scaramouch. Poor degraded wretch ! in 
 
 il 
 
lU 
 
 NIOOEUFUL JOHN. J'J 
 
 pjjite of his colour, lie belonged to an affectionate race, 
 and was not the less a man because his eyes were j'cllow, 
 his nose flat, his mouth l)road, his skin coarse as an ele- 
 phant's, and because his arms and legs seemed made of 
 whalebone. 
 
 In a certain number of months — avc regret to say that 
 the tail of the figure hap[)cned to point upwards instead 
 of downwards — (it was perhaps better it should do so 
 tiiau have no tail at all) — the wife Mas suddcidy but safely 
 delivered of a child, which the fond gardener hastened 
 to caress the instant he heard its faint cry. It was, of 
 course, duly presented to him ; but when the blanket 
 was unfolded, — " Aiiycls and miimtcrs of (j race defend 
 us!" — ins BAuv WAS A ULACK onk! Tlic phcnomcnoii 
 Avas inexplicable. A hundred tinu's had the gardener 
 grafted white ro. v3s on red ones, and ) ellow ones on pink 
 ones, but never before had he heard of any of hiis trade 
 succeeding in making the lovely flower black ! 
 
 For five years the child lived with its parents, and 
 pros])ered. The honest gardener loved it ; he laboured 
 for its support; on returning from his work, he longed 
 to hear its cheerful voice ; . . . anci yet . . . there was 
 a bilious look about its eyes ; it had an elast c trick of 
 throwing about its arms ; there m as something so cold 
 and clammy in its skin ; at times it felt so like a toad, 
 that the father liimself began to croak ! 
 
 Time would probably have mellowed these hoarse notes, 
 but his fellow-hdunu'ers incessantly tt)rnu>nted him, imtil 
 the i.ian at last, in a state alnu)st of frenzy, ai)peared 
 before the vestry to declare that, unless the parish would 
 
y ■ \ 
 
 I. t 
 
 rrn 
 
 t>' I. 
 
 80 
 
 KXGl.ISH CHAUITY. 
 
 accept the child, he Mouhl fly to America, leaving it and 
 its mother hehiud him^ for that to live witli it any longer 
 he could not ! The parish Guardians, for some time, at- 
 tempted by reasoning to repel the expense; but no sooner 
 did they make use of tlic blooming mother's own simple 
 argument, namely, that just a week before her confine- 
 ment she had mifortunately been frightened, dreadfully 
 frightened by a l)lack man, than tlie gardener started 
 forwards, dashed the cap from tlu> head of tlie boy, and 
 loudly exclaimed, " Look here. Gentlemen, do you mean 
 to say that fear could turn liair into tvool?" The a])peal 
 was mianswerable. The parish olHcei's at once received 
 the child, and for nine years Hioy have very kindly sup- 
 ported it, under the name of ' I\iggerful John.' 
 
 THE SEPARATION OF MAN AND WIFE. 
 
 n Si 
 
 In several of the poorhouses of East Kent, the se[)a- 
 ration of man and wife has, without any disturbance, 
 long been carried into effect ; but wherever the rule had 
 not been estaljlislied, the Commissioner was sturdily as- 
 sailed by peo})le of education, as well as of no education, 
 who, with consideral)le ability, opposed the unpopular 
 arguments by which he resolutely insisted on its neces- 
 sity. The following is a specimen of the doctrines on 
 both sides ; in fact, it is a long-winded argument on the 
 subject, between a young, ruddy, healthy Kentish la- 
 bourer, and the emaciated representative of the Poor- 
 Law Amendment Act : — 
 
 " Labwirer. — Sir, I am out of work. I appear before you 
 to beg relief. 
 
THE SEPAIIATIOM OF MAN AND WIFE. 
 
 81 
 
 you 
 
 Assidfant Commissioner. — In the ouuvsc of the hist six 
 nioaths, how much money, which might have beuu saved, have 
 you spent in gin or heer-shops ] 
 
 JLob. — I decline to answer that question, I have now nei- 
 ther money nor work ; I therefore, Sir, respectfully demand 
 relief. 
 
 As. Com. — What relief do you require 1 
 
 Lab. — Food, clothes, lodging, and tiring. 
 
 As. Com. — They shall be inmiediately granted to you. \re 
 you satisfied 1 
 
 L(d). — No, Sir ; for I have also a wife, who is as destitute 
 myself. 
 
 As. Com. — At what age did you marry % 
 
 L(th. — I married at eighteen. 
 
 As. Com. — AVhat age was your wife when you married 
 her? 
 
 Lnb. — She was just seventeen. 
 
 /■Is. Com. — At the time you married her, 1 ad you the means 
 of providing for her, in case you should, for a short peritid, be 
 (as you now are) thrown out of work, or forced for a time to 
 work for wages only sufficient to supjjort yourself? 
 
 Lab, — I decline answering that (piostion : we are now both 
 destitute. Besides relief for myself, I demand it also for her. 
 
 As. Com. — What relief do you require for her 1 
 
 Led). — Food, clothes, lodging, and tiring. 
 
 As. Com. — They shall be immediately granted to you both. 
 Are you satisfied ? 
 
 Lab. — No, Sir ; for I have five young children, who are as 
 destitute as ourselves. 
 
 As. Com. — Previous to your marriage, did you ever calculate 
 whether or not you had the means of providing for such a 
 young family ? 
 
 Lab. — I decline to answer that question ; it has nothing to 
 do with my present case. We are all destitute ; we are there- 
 fore, I conceive, legally entitled to relief. 
 
 E 3 
 
^' I 
 
 H 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 \i 
 
 i ! 
 
 
 82 
 
 ENOLISII ClIAHITY. 
 
 J.'i. Com. — Ai'i! you aware that the nli y<ii( require can 
 only he nttonU'd you hy a rate, which iuunc he levied on the 
 industrious elasses of socicl .■ ? Arc vou aware that, if vour 
 ])etition he granted, the indepemlent lahourcr of yoiu* own j)a- 
 rish must he ol)li;,'ed to ;j;ive u]) a portion of his hard i'aniinc;s ; 
 in fact, that he nuist work a certain jicMJod every day to sup- 
 port you ? Do you think this just towards him 1 
 
 Lab. — I decline answering any of these questions; hut re- 
 s]>ectfully demand food, clothes, lodging, and tiring for myself, 
 my wife, and niy five young children. 
 
 As. Com. — Tluy shall immediately he granted to you all : 
 are ycm satisfied I 
 
 Lat>. — No, Sir , I require moreover that I should he per- 
 mitted to continue to sleep with my wife. 
 
 As. Coin. — On what grounds do you mnke this a<lditional 
 rofpicst ? 
 
 Liil). — Pieeause it is written, "Those whom Llod hath joined, 
 let no man put asunder." 
 
 J.'.v Com. — Have you any other reason 1 
 L'l},. — No, Sir. I consider, that in a Christian country, Mf/^ 
 .i:").;U!i'ent is umuiswerable. 
 
 .iv Com. — It is my painful duty most deliberately to refuse 
 your retincst. 
 
 Lab.— \Nhy, Sir 1 
 
 As. Com. — I might, I conceive — quite as fairly as yon have 
 done — decline to answer that question ; hut I prefer explain- 
 ing to you, my friend, calmly and rationally, the grounds of a 
 decision which, I rejjcat to you, is a painful one. The sentence 
 of Holy Scripture, which you liave very correctly quoted, only 
 alludes to divorce ; it does not bear the interpretation you have 
 given to it, — namely, that a man, under all circumstances, is to 
 sleep with his wife every night of his life ; for, wer<' that to 
 be the casi3, it would be wicked, "in a Christian country," to 
 imprison or transport a criminal without also imprisoning or 
 transporting his wife. 
 
 l: 1 
 
 ii! 
 
TIIK SEPAIIATIO.V OF MAX AMI WIFE. 
 
 83 
 
 Ltih. — Sir, I nm not tt criminiil ; iiiisfnrtmie is not guilt. 
 
 Aa. Com—\onv obHcrvutiou is pcrlectly just, but as an ar- 
 gument, it is falMc ; for you did not duuiand j»t'ri>iission to 
 sleep with your wile Iteeausc you had been sober, beeuuse you 
 had b> en eareful, because you had been provident, but, pro- 
 perly enou;;h, <leclininy on these points to prove your own 
 chunicter, you claimed the riyht as oix nerall) belongin;^ to 
 all men by Seripture law ; and nrely see that you 
 
 deserted your own arifunient, whci. .. ly from Serip- 
 
 lure to your ])rivote eharacter. On se two founda- 
 
 tions are you disposed to continue to -iippoiL your ar<,'unient 1 
 There is surely no \iolatiou of Scripture iu ofi'erinjj^ food, 
 clothes, hxlgiii;,', and tiring to yourself, to your wife, and to 
 your children ! I'ermit me also to add, that in trying to prove 
 to you that your ({notation did not bear tlie general interpre- 
 tation you have given to it, it was m>t my intention to class 
 you among criminals. I only menlitmed their case, to show 
 you that your own argument (namely, that because you and 
 your wife had been married, y ni could not, by any human law, 
 be ])Ut asunder) was false. 
 
 Lab. — Weil then. Sir, I dennind it on the score of liuma- 
 nity. It is possible L may have been thoughtless, but it is 
 certain I am now unfortunate. 
 
 As. Com. — And in terms of Immanity and reason I will 
 reply to you. If you will observe and reilect for a moment 
 on the artilicial state of our society, you will see not only that 
 a large })roportion of men, from the highest down tt) the low- 
 est, are occasionally separated from their wives ; but that, if 
 what you demand almost as a right, were even as a rule to be 
 inflicted on society, it would be impossible for the business of 
 this country to be carried on. Mendiers of both housea of 
 Parliament, noblemen as well gentlemen, who have estates and 
 business in various counties, — all people employed by Govern- 
 ment iu missions at home and abroad, with their secretaries 
 
 
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 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 and uitendauts — carriers of despatches, commercial men, com- 
 mercial travellers, bag-mcu, and even Assistant Commissioners 
 of the Poor-Laws, are all obliged occasionally to quit their 
 families for a longer or shovter time. Respectable servants, 
 who have married, are, generally speaking, rarely enabled to 
 spend all their nights at home. On foreign service, officers as 
 well as soldiers are not only completely separated from their 
 families, but they often embark ciioerfuily for climates and for 
 dangers which render it very probable they will never return. 
 In his Majesty's navy, not even the officers are allowed to sail 
 with their wives. The best seafaring men are, I am sorry to 
 say, after long voyages, forcibly torn from their wives ; and it 
 is a fact which, if you are reasonable, you cannot deny, that 
 there is no class of people in England, who, generally speak- 
 ing, more enjoy the uninterrupted blessings of living in their 
 own climate with their families than the very labouring 
 class to which you belong. Supposing, therefore, that t^^v new 
 law, incomprehensible to the peasantry, were to have the ef- 
 fect of obliging a small proportion of them to be separated for 
 a short period from their wives, do you conceive that they 
 could reasonably complain of it, seeing that it is an imposi- 
 tion which is fairly levied on all other classes 1 
 
 Lab. — But there sounds something like a reason for the 
 weparation from their families of all those you have mentioned ; 
 but I am not a soldier, I am not a Member of Parliament — 
 I only wish I was, — and I ask, what necessity is there, Sir, 
 for separating me from Elizabeth 1 
 
 As. Com. — I will tell you. If you were able to provide for 
 Elizabeth ; if (to say nothing of beer-shops) you were able to 
 provide for the children you already possess, no person would 
 have any disposition, indeed there exists nowhere any power, 
 to separate you j and believe me, that the Poor Law Amend- 
 ment Act is framed to cheer, reward, and elevate the indepen- 
 dent labourer ; but you must remember, it has been already 
 
THE SEPARATION OF MAN AND WIFE. 
 
 85 
 
 settled between us, that you, Elizabeth, and your five children 
 are to be supported by the sweat of other men's brows ; and 
 you must therefore keep in mind, that while you are thus sup- 
 ported, there nmst be some firm engine at work to make you 
 all anxious to relieve the hard-working, independent labourer 
 from the heavy tax you ai imposing upon him ; and if you 
 admit that a portion of the labouring classes might fairly, like 
 other people, be occasionally for a short period sei)arated from 
 their wives, do you not think it reasonable that those should 
 be especially selected who come forward, of their own accord 
 to declare that they are unable to provide for their said wives, 
 and that they must consequently be supported by others 1 Can 
 you be dependent and independent at the same time 1 For 
 the welfare of society, is there to be no difference between the 
 domestic happiness of the one state and that of the other 1 
 
 Lab. — Well, then. Sir, am I to understand that I and my 
 wife are to be separated from each other merely to punish us 
 because we are poor ? Have you ever, Sir, known what it is 
 to want food yourself? 
 
 As. Com. — Perhaps I have ; but that can have nothing to 
 do with your case ; for I repeat to you, that you, your wife, 
 and your five children, are to have not only food, but fire, 
 clothes, and lodging, at the expense of others. But while the 
 Poor-La ws of England are thus generous to you, they must 
 also be just to those who are forcibly obliged to support you ; 
 and therefore, while we relieve you, it is our duty, at the same 
 time, to satisfy them that there exists a coercion of some sort 
 to induce you to relieve them from poor-rates, which, you 
 must know, amount to twelve, eighteen, twenty, and, in some 
 cases, even to twenty-five shillings in the pound. But, my 
 friend, the stern justice of acting towards you oa this prin- 
 ciple is not the only thing that we and you too ought to bear 
 in mind. Instead of building huge Union Workhouses, we 
 are going, in East Kent, economically to avail ourselves of 
 
86 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 111! 
 
 ■]:. 
 
 I i' 
 
 those which already exist. The rooms of our old house are 
 generally large, and to give one of these immense apartments 
 to every pauper and his wife would, you must admit, be per- 
 fectly im ossible. Supposing we were, therefore, to allow you 
 to choose for yourself, you could only continue with your wife 
 by an arrai>gpment whif'' \aH been very common in the old 
 workhouses ; that is to say, by dividing your bed by a blanket 
 from the beds of ten or twelve other lusty labourers, who are 
 as uxorious, which means that they are as fond of their wives, 
 as you are. Now if you value, as I am sure you do very highly, 
 Elizabeth's modesty, I ask you, my friend, whether you ought 
 even to consent to such a disgusting arrangement ? What- 
 ever may be her poverty, do you think it advisable that she 
 should be introduced to a scene, such as among savages would 
 scarcely be tolerated 1 Do you think it proper for your little 
 children to be contaminated by such an existence 1 And 
 lastly, leaving your own feelings out of the question, do you think 
 that aui/ Poor-Law Amendment Act could honestly consent 
 to sanction an arrangement which, you must know, has long 
 long tended to demoralize the poor ? Even supposing that an 
 immense new i)oorhouse was to be built, composed of innu- 
 merable little cells, suited to the various sizes of different 
 families, do you think it would be possible to '^ -'regate two 
 or three hundred men, women, boys, girls, ar, ants, with- 
 
 out creating wickedness of every sort ? Sup|>o iing that, in 
 consequence of having taken a few nights' refuge in such a 
 den, an honest jjcasant should lope for ever the affections of 
 his wife, — or, for the remainder cl his life, have occasion to 
 look with shame upon his daughter, — do you not think he 
 would pay very dearly for the poisonous relief which his 
 country, under the mask of charity, had insidiously adminis- 
 tered to him 1 Is it not much better for the poor themselves, 
 and much wiser in the government under which they live, 
 that the inmates of every poorhouse should be judiciously and 
 
 !; 
 
THE SEPARATION OF MAN AND WIFE. 
 
 87 
 
 sensibly clussified, so as to ensure that misfortune be not pro- 
 ductive of guilt 1 Ought they not to be restored to indepen- 
 dence at least as virtuous as when, for a moment, they became 
 dependent ? But to return to your own case. You are young, 
 healthy, and you seem to be an honest man. Your desire to con- 
 tinue with your wife certainly is no discredit to your character ; 
 but you have been guilty of imprudence. In a moment of 
 sunshine you embarked in marriage ; — the storm has now 
 come upon you ; — you seek for a harbour, not with the inten- 
 tion of anchoring there all your life, but only until the blue 
 sky shall again appear. Take the harbour therefore as it is ; 
 enter it without abusing its regulations ; and be thankful for 
 the security it offers to you and to your cargo, llemember 
 that without it you would have foundered ; and should its 
 calm monotony induce you to determine never again to be 
 caught flying before the storm ; and should it instil into the 
 minds of your little children, that by caution, sobriety, thought- 
 fulness, and by ever keei»ing a good look-out ahead, they also 
 may avoid these harbour-dues, depend upon it you will never 
 regret the sound moral it has taught you. 
 
 Lab. — Sir, I am not satisfied yet. If you do not allow me 
 to sleep with Elizabeth, I will appeal to the public. 
 
 As. Com. — You will do quite right. It will support you 
 and as loudly revile me ; but, my friend, I clearly see my 
 duty, and, until I am ordered to abandon it, that duty shall 
 be performed. I deliberately refuse your request." 
 
 In tlie country villages, the advocates for rewarding 
 improvidence were not all quite as eloquent as the honest 
 labourer whose claim lias just been dismissed. " Poor 
 folk," said one great lumbering yeoman, " have as much 
 right to bread as the rich, and that they never can have 
 till every man has land enough to keep a cow ! How is 
 a poor man, let me ax, to keep i. wile and eight children 
 
88 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 ■ 
 
 I 
 
 f: 
 
 on his wages?" "But," it was replied, "why does he 
 marry and get eight chihlren, without any likely means 
 of supporting them ? " " Why do folk marry ? you 
 maught as well ax why they do catch the smallpox, or 
 aught of that ! Nay, Zur, that's a matter o' God's 
 own ordering, and man can't mend it. His very first 
 command was ' Increase and multiply,' and there's nao 
 gooing agin it !" 
 
 THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 
 
 By far the most difficult task the Assistant Commis- 
 sioner had to perform was to reply to those who in- 
 veighed against the cruelty of (we must unavoidably 
 call it by its name) the Bastardy Clause of the Poor- 
 Law Amendment Act. Indeed he scarcely met with 
 one advocate in its favour. The Kentish ladies were all 
 silently against it ; but their lords, particularly after 
 dinner, Avei'e loud in deprecating its harshness, and in- 
 sisting on the necessity of its abrogation. Some espe- 
 cially pitied the poor women, some the poor children; 
 but all abused the Law, and many its Assistant Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 For the sake of both, we will therefore allow him to 
 say a few words on the subject ; and as the clause is 
 decidedly, to say the least of it, one of apparent severity, 
 we shall, we hope, be excused if we permit him to pre- 
 face his arguments by wandering, for a moment, beyond 
 the boundaries of East Kent. 
 
 He says in his note-book now before us, " The merest 
 
 1 I' 
 
THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 
 
 89 
 
 sketch of the History of the London Foundling Hos- 
 pital, established by Royal Charter in the year 1739, 
 shows very remarkably that charitable error, like the 
 acorn, is easily planted, but before it has attained a 
 century's growth, how difficult it is to grub it up ! AVhat 
 was established as a foundling-hospital, now no longer 
 dares to call itself an hospital for foundlings. Still it 
 exists ; still its ' fifty-four governors,' its ' six vice-presi- 
 dents,' its ' treasurer,' and its ' secretary,' like Dervishes 
 in their dance, pompously bow to each other ; still the 
 ' organist ' plays his tunes ; still the ' chaplain,' * readers,' 
 and 'preachers' go through their services; still the 
 ' clerk ' mutters his Amen ; still the ' vergers' wear their 
 gowns ; still the ' building committee,' the ' sub-com- 
 mittee,' the 'house-committee,' gravely perform their 
 inexplicable functions : still [vide the printed Report 
 of the Hospital) ' Miss Bellchambers, Miss Lloyd, Mr. 
 Goulden, INIr. Pyne, Mr. Atkins,' etc., form 'the choir;' 
 still they chant, with glee and harmony, appropriate 
 melodies, all set to the tune of ' j£42 per annum ;' still 
 the ' house-apothecary' mixes his drugs ; still the ' store- 
 keeper' arranges his cheques. In this small creation, 
 'the medical officers, steward, matron, porter, watch- 
 man, master of the boys, gardener, messenger, tailor, 
 two cooks, laundress, housemaids, nurses of the wards, 
 mistresses of the girls, and gown- maker,' are still seen 
 mathematically moving in their rcsi)cctive orbits. 
 
 " Between an institution and the house, be that barn 
 or palace which contains it, there exists this important 
 difference, namely, that the former can live long after 
 
.1 
 
 00 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 it has nothing whatever to rest on j whereas, so soon as 
 you destroy tlie foundation of the latter, down it lionestly 
 falls prostrate on the ground. If that splendid building, 
 curiously called ' the Foundling Hospital,* because it 
 now refuses to receive foundlings, and does not contain 
 them, had had its basis only half as much exploded as 
 the fallacy of the institution has already been exposed, 
 the fifty-four governors, in their respective committees, 
 would have been seen mournfully wandering together 
 about our streets, like Christmas gardeners following a 
 frozen cabbage ; but the vitality of error is like that of 
 the snake, and though you cut it into pieces, still it lives ! 
 " Now that experience has sternly taught us the prac- 
 tical results of a public receptacle for fatherless and 
 motherless children, it is curious to look back at the fol- 
 lowing solemn decision of the House of Commons, dated 
 Gth April, 173G:— 
 
 " ' Resolved, — That the enabling the Hospital for the main- 
 teunnce and education of exposed and deserted young children, 
 to receive all the children that shall be offered, is the only me- 
 thod to render that charituhle institution of lasting and general 
 utility. . . . That to render the said Hospital of lasting and 
 general utility, the assistance of Parliament is necessary. . . . 
 That to render the said Hospital of general utility and effect, 
 it should be enabled to appoint proper places in all counties, 
 ridings, or divisions of this kingdom for the reception of all 
 exposed and deserted young children.' 
 
 " On the House of Commons voting to the Hospital, 
 as its first donation, the sum of ten thousand pounds, 
 the gates of the charity were instantly thrown open ; and 
 on the 2ud of June, being the first day of general recep- 
 
THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 
 
 91 
 
 tion, one hundred and seventeen babies were handed in ; 
 and from this time to the 31st of December of the 
 following year, a fruitful harvest of five thousand five 
 hundred iiiid ten little babies were safely gathered into 
 our metropolitan barn, which, among its ornaments, still 
 boasts of a grand picture painted by Willis, and inscribed 
 mth the 16th verse of the 18th chapter of Luke, * Suffer 
 little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.' 
 The corporation, chuckling with delight, and encouraged 
 by a Parliament which, with paternal pride, exultingly 
 crowed at its own performances, extended its views the 
 following year to distant counties ; county hospitals were 
 instantly esta])lished over tlic kingdom, while large rolls 
 of county governors, county committees, etc. etc., were 
 created for the management of these subordiuate esta- 
 blishments. 
 
 " Like fiddle-strings in damp weather, apron-bands 
 now began to snap in all directions, white tape and stay- 
 laces rose in value, pap and caudle bore a premium, ba- 
 bies' cauls were ' all the fashion.' In less however than 
 three years the House of Commons saw its error, and 
 manfully endeavoured to correct it, but the system couh 
 not at once be arrested ; the little babies who, summoned 
 by Parliament, had most innocently aiTived, could not 
 be put to death j those on the march could not easily be 
 stopped J nevertheless, as quietly as possible, Parliament 
 drew in the horns of its charity, by gradually withhold- 
 ing its support, but not until Old England had purchased 
 sucking babies and experience at the enormous national 
 cost of i^450,000 ! 
 
92 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 f i' 
 
 nl : 
 
 "The Foundling Hospital, dt'sertcd by tlic Legislature, 
 suddenly changed its course, and, falling from the frying- 
 pan into the fire, it adopted its present plan, which is 
 even more hoodwinked than the first. Retaining its 
 High-sounding name, it resolved that foundlings (the ex- 
 pressed objects of the charity) should no longer be ac- 
 cepted; and it gravely decreed that, as babies really 
 ought to have mothers, so from henceforward from none 
 but their avowed mothers should babies be received. All 
 honest women are now denied admittance, on the ground 
 that * the design of the foinulation was to hide the 
 shame of the mothers ;' but those who happen to have 
 children without husbands are rigidly examined by the 
 committee, and if they can succeed in showing that they 
 are really guilty, a day is appointed on which they are 
 doomed painfully to produce and abandon their offspring, 
 to be re-christened, to be re-named, and, so long as they 
 remain in the institution, never by their mothers to be 
 seen again ! 
 
 " We do not object to cutting through the Isthmus of 
 Panama, or even through that of Suez, but to sever the 
 connection between a mother and her child is a work of 
 ingenuity, we humbly conceive, culpable exactly in pro- 
 portion to its success. As no animal but man could in- 
 vent such an arrangement, so no creature in existence 
 but a wretched, fallen, lost woman could bear to assist, 
 even under momentai y anguish, in carrying it into effect. 
 What woidd the tigress do if, even by a charter, one 
 were to attempt to deprive her of her cub ? Under what 
 mask of charity could one approach the wolf, to ask her 
 
THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 
 
 98 
 
 for her young? What clops the scream of the most timid 
 hird mean when the urchin is robbing her of her nest '( 
 why, as he hurries homewards, does she hover round liis 
 thoughtless liead ? and why docs she press daily against 
 the iron cage that, hanging on the outside wall of a cot- 
 tage, imprisons her chirping brood V But it seems that 
 not only men, but grave associations of men, can devote 
 themselves to degrade a poor woman's heart. 
 
 " As impressed with these feelings, we lately stood in 
 the splendid square of this mistaken institution, we were 
 politely informed by its secretary, that we had before our 
 eyes one of the topmost feathers in the cap of the British 
 nation ; that its immediate object was to seek out young 
 women who had been seduced, and by accepting their 
 oftspring, to give them what, with an air of triumph, he 
 called a second chance ! ! 1 Now, if the subject were 
 not almost too serious, it might excite a smile to reflect 
 for a moment on the very comical mistakes into which 
 we invariably fall whenever we presume to condenm and 
 alter the wise arrangements of Nature. It would no 
 doubt have been in her power to have bestowed upon all 
 women this ' second chance ;' she could moreover have 
 granted to a lady's character as many lives as the cat is 
 said to possess, — but for hcv own reasons she decreed it 
 otherwise; her law is beneficently irrevocable, — no charter 
 can erase it, no Act of Parliament has power to evade it. 
 
 " But let us consider how this ' second chance ' system 
 practically works. The young woman, after depositing 
 her offspring and her secret, modestly retires to some 
 distant county. That her maternal feelings must pursue 
 
94 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 lior no one can deny, but her beauty also she carries with 
 her, and in due time she bcf^ius to observe that her siglts 
 and her countenance are alike admired. In short, to 
 end a tedious story, she at last finds herself at the altar, 
 blushinj^ obedience to some sober ger\tleman sentenced 
 by charter to become initiated in this newfangled doc- 
 trine of the ' second chance.' That such a trick in all 
 countries has occasionally befallen very honest men is 
 rather to be lamented by us than denied but that in 
 the great metropolis of England there should exist an 
 incorporated association of fifty-four governors, an or- 
 ganist, a chaplain, three preachers, a building-committee, 
 a sub-committee, six choristers, an apothecary, a matron, 
 a tailor, two cooks, and a gownmaker, for the avowed 
 purpose of inflicting upon us by wholesale, and by charter, 
 these ' second chances,' indisputably proves that, at least 
 in London, our notions of charity are as mystified as our 
 climate." 
 
 THE BASTARDY CLAUSE. 
 
 By far the most angry arguments urged against the 
 Poor- Law Amendment Act were, as we have stated, 
 against its Bastardy clauses ; and, as these arguments 
 have all appealed to the sympathy of our nature, they 
 have naturally enough been apparently triumphant. The 
 Commissioners and our Assistant Commissioner however 
 remain unshaken. " It is so much easier," writes the 
 latter, " to excite the passions than convince the judg- 
 ment ; it is so much more popular to preach what is 
 agreeable than what is right ; to reward error than to 
 
 I I 
 
THE FOUNULINU HOSPITAL. 
 
 05 
 
 punish it, that it is not at nil surpriHin<!: that the cliivnli ic 
 weapons, whieh have flown from ten thousand scabbards 
 to defend the weaker, the lovelier, and the JKjtter sex, 
 
 1) 
 
 the field. 
 
 should luivc ended the contest Dy possession 
 But the army is not always beaten tiiat retires, and 
 troops before now have proclaimed tlumiselvcs to be 
 'covered with glory, little thinking that by the simple 
 elements of nature they were sentenced very shortly to 
 become wanderers, fijgitives, and vagabonds ! It has not 
 only been argued, but preached ; not only senators, but 
 divines, have boisterously contended that, in cases of bas- 
 tardy, to relieve the man from punishment, and to leave 
 his unhappy victim to shame, infamy, and distress, is a 
 law discreditable to our national character, impious, cruel, 
 ungenerous, unmanly, and unjust. In some remarks 
 published by a charitable association^ it is beautifully 
 stated by the Rev. T. Hewlett : — 
 
 " ' Could we portray a mother's sufferings, what forms of 
 agony should we not exhibit ! At the time when the lungunr 
 of the body and the growing anxiety of the mind [Mtvverfully 
 eUiim, and in general receive, additional tenderness, she is 
 obliged to endure the severe t affliction that fear could imagine 
 or unkinduess produce. If she look forward into futurity, 
 l)overty and hunger pursue her, or, at least, her melancholy lot 
 is daily to eat the bread of affliction, and to drink the tears of 
 remorse.' " 
 
 We confess that we feel very deeply the force of 
 these observations ; at the same time it must be evident 
 that Mc should have dreaded to have stated (we hope we 
 may say so fairly) one side of the question, unless mc 
 felt convinced that there was something to be said on 
 
 ;■' > 
 
 li 
 
 ,1 
 

 f 
 
 ^ 
 
 4L • 
 
 :' f 
 
 96 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 the other. That the virtues of the weaker sex are the 
 ])urest blessings which this world affords us, — that they 
 were so intended to be by Nature, — and that, like all her 
 works, they have not been ereated in vain, it is not even 
 necessary to admit. From our cradle to our grave, — in 
 our infancy, our Iwyhood, — our zenith and our decline, 
 — rejoicing at our prosperity, ever smiling iu our ad- 
 versity, there is, we all know, a satellite a*-* nding our 
 orbit which, like our shadow, never leaves us, and which 
 too often becomes itself a shadow when we are gone ; 
 but as the satellite shines with borrowed lustre, so does 
 the character of a woman much depend upon the eon- 
 duct of him whose fate she follows ; and if this be 
 true, how deeply important it is for a nation to take es- 
 pecial care lest, by too much human legislation, it may 
 (as ours has too often done) interfere with the wise 
 arrangements of Nature, whose motto, with all her kind- 
 ness, has ever been. Nemo me hnpune lacesset ! 
 
 Universally adored as woman is, yet it is an anoma- 
 lous fact, which no one can deny, that in every climate 
 under the sun man appears as her open, avowed enemy ; 
 indeed, strange as it may sound, the more he admires 
 the treasure she possesses, the more anxious he is to de- 
 prive her of it. 
 
 " The lovely toy, so keenly sought. 
 Has lost its charms by being caught ; 
 And every touch that wooed its stay 
 Has brushed its brightest hues away!" 
 
 Now, if this arrangement were totally incomprehensible 
 to us, yet surely it would not be altogether discreditable. 
 
 , 1 
 
 i I 
 
THE BASTARDY CLAUSE. 
 
 97 
 
 ■rave, — m 
 
 were we to feci assured that the mystca-ious dispensation 
 was benevolent and just. 
 
 We have ah-eady observed, that with all her kind- 
 ness, the punishments by Avhich Nature preserves her 
 laws are irrevocably severe. Bcstowiufij on us, Avitli one 
 hand, the enjoyment of health, with Avhat severity docs 
 she, with the other, punish every intemperance which 
 would destroy it ! What human eastij>;ation, we beg leave 
 to ask of some of our opponents, is C([ual to a fit of their 
 gout? Compare a healthy peasant's cheeks with the 
 livid countenance of a gin -drinkt r, and who can say that 
 a magistrate's fine for drurdicnness is as severe as hers ? 
 What adaionition of a pi'cacher is equal to the reproof 
 of a guilty conscience? Although the sentence of death 
 is what many of the meanest among us have forti- 
 tude enough in silence to endure, the first murderer's 
 punishment was ' greater than he could bear ! ' and 
 after all, what was this punishment but simply a voice, 
 crying to him in the wilderness of his paradise, * Cain ! 
 Cain ! ivhere is thy brother ?' If abstinence be neces- 
 sary for the recovery of our health, can any physician 
 enforce it like the fever which robs us of our appetite ? 
 Can the surgeon explain to the man who has broken a 
 limb the necessity of rest, in order that the bone may 
 knit, as sternly as the excruciating puiu which punishes 
 him if he moves it ? Now, if in these eases it be ad- 
 mitted that Nature, though her lips be motionless, main- 
 tains our real welfare by a judicious system of rewards 
 and punishments, surely it would follow that it is pro- 
 bable she would consistently pursue a similar course in 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
 \ ' \ 
 

 I i 
 
 i| 
 
 
 '•I' 
 
 i 
 t 
 
 
 4 
 
 ! \\ 
 
 K 
 
 
 98 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 protecting female virtue, on which the happiness of all 
 individuals, as well as of all nations, mainly depends. 
 If she alone receives the reward M'hich adorns its pre- 
 servation, is it not a sensible argument that she should 
 likewise be the sole sufferer for its loss ? Would it be 
 prudent to entrust it to any but her own keeping ? Could 
 any better arrangement be invented ? In common affairs 
 of life, do we not invariably act on the same principle ? 
 Have we not one officer to command our army in the 
 field, on purpose to ensure a responsibility which would 
 not practically exist, were it to be subdivided ? But it is 
 loudly argued, ' Nature is wrong : a woman ought not 
 to be the sole guardian of her own honour ; let us there- 
 fore make it, by English law, the joint-stock property of 
 the sexes ; let the man be punished for its loss as much 
 as herself, and luider this clever and superior arrange- 
 ment, which will make it the interest of both parties to 
 preserve the treasure, it will remain inviolate ; depend 
 upon it, no bankruptcy will take place ! ' 
 
 Well, this theory has long been reduced to practice, 
 and what, we ask, has been the result ? Have the lower 
 orders, to whom it has been exclusively applied, become 
 more or less moral than their superiors in station ? Has 
 the fear of punishment had its promised effect ? Has it 
 intimidated the enemy ? Has it strengthened or ruined 
 the fortress ? Has it preserved the citadel ? Is there 
 now, as there used to be, but one seducer, or are there 
 two ? Has it become the interest of the woman, instead 
 of opposing, to go over to the enemy ? For consenting 
 to do so, has not the law almost invariably rewarded her 
 
THE BASTARDY CLAUSE. 
 
 99 
 
 Could 
 
 with a husband ? Has it not forcibly provided for her ? 
 Has not the oath it has extorted from her been frequently 
 productive of perjury ? Before the altar do the ceremo- 
 nies of marriage, churching, and christening, respectfully 
 follow each other at due intervals, or are they not now 
 all jumbled together in a bag ? Are the peasantry of 
 England a more moral people in this respect than the 
 Irish, among whom no Poor-laws exist ? Has it not 
 been indisputably proved that our domestic servants are, 
 as to this matter, by far the most moral among our lower 
 classes? and has not this been produced by our own 
 unrelenting rule of turning them out of our houses, — 
 in short, like Nature, abandoning those who misbehave ? 
 Has not that severity had a most beneficial effect ? Can 
 there be any harm in our acting nationally as we con- 
 scientiously act in our own homes ? 
 
 If it should be impossible for the defenders of the 
 old law, and the revilers of the Poor- Law Amendment 
 Act, satisfactorily to answer these questions, surely it 
 must follow that our theory, having been unsuccessful, 
 is false ; and standing before the world as we do, con- 
 victed of being incapable, on so delicate a subject, to 
 legislate for ourselves, surely we ought, in penitence and 
 submission, to fall back upon that simple law of Nature, 
 which has most sensibly decreed that a woman, after all, 
 is the best guardian of her own honour, and that the 
 high rewards and severe punishments which naturally 
 attend its preservation and its loss are the beneficent 
 means of securing our haj)piness, and of maintaining the 
 moral character of our country. That we have erred 
 
 F 2 
 
 W' 
 
 I 
 41 
 
m 
 
 
 ll;: ) 
 
 II 
 
 , i 
 
 TOO 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 from a mistaken theory of charity and benevolence — that 
 we have demoralized scciety, kindly desirous to improve 
 it — that in scrubbing our morality we never meant to 
 destroy its polish — that^ by our old bastardy laws, wo 
 nobly intended to protect pretty women, just as we oneo 
 thought how kind it would be to nurse infants for thcni 
 in our national baby-house, the Foundling Hospital, 
 and just as we thought how benevolent it would be to 
 raise the pauper above the independent labourer, — it 
 is highly cousolingto reflect; but the day of such follies 
 has passed. This country has no longer the apology of 
 youth and inexperience, — it is deeply stricken in years ; 
 age has brought with it experience, and, by experience 
 most dearly purchased, it enacted, in the Poor-Law 
 Amendment Bill, the clause to which so much obloquy 
 has attached, bat which, we humbly conceive, rests on u 
 foundation that cannot now be undermined by the weak 
 tools of mistaken sympathy, or reversed, by explosions of 
 popular clamour." 
 
 GEORGE PniLLPOTTS. 
 
 Having been assured by various classes of people, as 
 well as convinced by documents, that the Deal boatmen 
 were in a state almost of famine, we felt it our duty to 
 look with considerable attention into their case. " How 
 they manage to live," said the overseer of the parish, 
 " God only knows .'" " / can solemnly assure you they 
 are starving," exclaimed one of the magistrates. " It's 
 them floating lights that Government has put on the 
 
 \ 
 
GEOllGE PHILLPOTTS. 
 
 101 
 
 Good'in Sands ivhich has ruined 'em,^' observed a short, 
 fat, puffy shopkeeper, a radical advocate for what he called 
 the freedom of mankind. Finding that all people in 
 different terms corroborated the same evidence, we 
 strolled doAvn to the beach, and endeavoured to get into 
 conversation with the boatmen themselves j but from them 
 we could not extract one word of complaint ; yet their 
 countenances told plainly enough what their tongues 
 disdained to utter, that they were subsisting on low diet. 
 
 Dressed in blue jackets and trousers, they were sitting 
 before their houses of call, loitering in groups on the 
 l)each, or leaning against the boats, while their tarred 
 canvas clothing, apparently stiff enough to have walked 
 alone, was hanging against the low clinker-built hovels 
 which sheltered their best sails, oars, etc. from the 
 weather. Excepling a wind-bound fleet, riding at anchor, 
 with heads, like cavalry horses, all pointing the same 
 way, there was not a vessel in sight, and their prospects, 
 altogether, certainly did appear about as barren as the 
 shingle under their feet. " I am afraid you are badly 
 off nowadays, my men," we said to four able-looking 
 seamen, who were chewing (instead of toijacco, which 
 tliey would have liked much better) the cud of reflection. 
 We received no answer — not even a nod or a shake of 
 the head. " Quanto sono insensibili quest I Inglesi !" we 
 muttered to ourselves. 
 
 Finding there was no wisdom in the multitude, we 
 returned to the inn, and having previously learnt that 
 George Phillpotts was one of the most respectable, most 
 experienced, as well as most daring of the Deal boatmen, 
 

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 ! 
 
 '! 
 
 
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 I! 
 
 I 
 
 ^'1 
 
 102 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 we sent a messenger for him ; and in about twenty mi- 
 nutes the door of our apartment opened, and in walked 
 a short, clean-built, mild-looking old man, who, in a 
 low tone of voice, very modestly observed that he had been 
 informed we wished to speak with him. 
 
 At first we conceived that there must have been some 
 mistake, for the man's face did not look as if it had ever 
 seen danger : and there was a benevolence in it, as well 
 as a want of animation in his small blue eyes, that ap- 
 peared totally out of character with his calling. His 
 thin white hair certainly showed that he had lived long 
 enough to gain experience of some sort ; but until he 
 answered that his name was Phillpotts, we certainly did 
 think that he was not our man. 
 
 " Well, George, what shall it be ?" we said to him, 
 pointing to a large empty tumbler on the table. Pie 
 replied that he was much obliged, but that he never drank 
 at all, unless it was a glass of grog or so about eleven 
 o'clock in the morning ; and, strange as it may sound, 
 nothing that we could say could induce him to break 
 through this odd arrangement. As the man sat per- 
 fectly at his ease, looking as if nothing could either 
 elate or depress him, we had little difficulty in explaining 
 to him what was our real object in wishing to know 
 exactly how he and his comrades were faring. On our 
 taking up a pencil to write down his answers, for a 
 moment he paused ; but the feeling, whatever it Avas, 
 only dashed across his mind \ik: the spray of a sea, 
 and he afterwards cared no more for the piece of black- 
 lead, than if it had been writing his epitaph. 
 
 o 
 h 
 
 t- 
 r 
 
 i 
 
 I III " 
 
GEORGE PHILLPOTTS. 
 
 103 
 
 In answer to our queries, he stated that he was sixty- 
 one years of age, and had been on the water ever since 
 he was ten years ohl. He had himself saved in his life- 
 time, off the Goodwin Sands, rather more than a hundred 
 men and women ; and on this subject, no sooner did he 
 enter into details, than it was evident that his mind was 
 rich in pride and self-satisfaction. Nothing could be 
 more creditable to human nature, nothing less arrogant, 
 than the manly animation with which he exultingly de- 
 scribed the various sets of fellow-creatures, of all nations, 
 he had saved from drowning. Yet on the contra side of 
 his ledger he kept as faithfully recorded the concluding 
 history of those whose vessels, it having been out cf his 
 power to approach, had foundered on the quicksands 
 only a few fathoms from his eyes. In one instance, he 
 said, that as the ship went down, they suddenly con- 
 gregated on the forecastle like a swarm of bees; their 
 shrieks, as they all together sank into eternity, seemed 
 still to be sounding in his cars. 
 
 Once, after witnessing a scene of this sort, during a 
 very heavy gale of wind, which had lasted three days, 
 he stretched out to the southward, thinking that other 
 vessels might be on the sands. As he was passing, at 
 a great distance, a brig, which had foundered two days 
 before, with all hands on board, its masts being how- 
 ever still above water, he suddenly observed and ex- 
 claimed that there was something " like lumps" on the 
 foremast which seemed to move. He instantly bore 
 down upon the wreck, and there found four sailors alive, 
 lashed to the mast. With the greatest difficulty he 
 
 
:'! 
 
 I. 
 
 10 i. 
 
 ENGLISH CIIAlllTY. 
 
 jiud his crew saved tlicm all. Their thirst (and he had 
 nothing in the boat to give them) was, he said, quite 
 dreadful. There liad been with them a fifth man, but 
 '' his heart had broken;" and his comrades, seeing this, 
 had managed to unlash him, and he fell into the 
 breakers. 
 
 In saving others, Phiilpotts had more than once lost 
 one or two of his own crow; and in one case he ex- 
 plained, with a tear actually standing jn the corner of 
 each eye, that lie had lately put a couple of them into 
 a vessel in distress, which in less than ten minutes was 
 on the sands. His men, as well as the w'hole crew, 
 were drowned l)eforc his eyes, all disappearing close to 
 him. By inconsiderately pushing forward to save his 
 comrades, his l)oat got between two banks of sands, the 
 Avind blowing so strong upon them that it was utterly 
 impossible to get back. For some time the three men 
 who were with him insisted on trying to get out. " But," 
 said Phiilpotts, who was at the helm, " I told 'em, my 
 lads, we're jnly prolonging our misery — the sooner it's 
 over the better !" The sea was breaking higher than a 
 ship's mast over both banks, but they had nothing left 
 but to steer right at their enemy. 
 
 On approaching the baidi, an immense wave to wind- 
 ward broke, and by the force of the tempest was carried 
 completely above their heads ; the sea itself seemed to 
 pass over them, or rather, like Pharaoh, they were be- 
 tween two. " How we ever got over the bank," said 
 Phiilpotts, who, for the first time in his narrative, 
 seemed lost, confused, and incapable of expressing hira- 
 
 a. 
 
^J.A- 
 
 GEORGE PIIILLPOTTS. 
 
 105 
 
 self, " I can tell no man ! " After a considerable pause, 
 he added, "It was just God Almighty that saved us, 
 and I shall always think so." 
 
 On the surface of this globe, there is nowhere to be 
 found -so inhospitable a desert as the " wide blue sea." 
 At any distance from land there is nothing in it for man 
 to eat; nothing in it that he can drink. His tiny foot 
 no sooner rests upon it, than he sinks into his grave ; 
 it grows neither flowers nor fruits ; it offers monotony to 
 the mind, restless motion to the body; and when, be- 
 sides all this, one reflects that it is to the most fickle of 
 the elements, the wind, that vessels of all sizes are to 
 supplicate for assistance in sailing in every direction to 
 their various destinations, it would almost seem that the 
 ocean was divested of charms, and armed with storms, 
 to prevent our being persuaded to enter its dominions. 
 But though the situation of a vessel in a heavy gale of 
 wind appears indescribably terrific, yet, practically speak- 
 ing, its security is so great, that it is truly said ships 
 seldom or never founder in deep water, except from acci- 
 dent or inattention. How ships manage to get across 
 that stiil region, that ideal line, whif;h separates the 
 opposite trade-winds of each hemisphere ; how a small 
 box of men manage, unlabelled, to be buffeted for 
 months up one side of a wave and down that of another; 
 how they ever get out of the abysses into which they 
 sink; and how, after such pitching and tossing, they 
 reach in safety the very harbour in their native country 
 from which they originally departed, can and ought only 
 to be accounted for by acknowledging how truly it has 
 
 F 3 
 
106 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 !i! 
 
 been written, " that the spirit of God moves upon the 
 face of the waters." 
 
 It is not therefore from the ocean itself that man has 
 so much to fear ; it can roar during tlie tempest, but its 
 l)ark is worse than its bite ; liowever, althouj^h the earth 
 and water each afford to man a life of considerable se- 
 curitv, vet there exists between these two elements an 
 everlasting war, — a dog-and-cat battle, a husband-and- 
 wifc contention, — into which no passing vessel can enter 
 with impunity ; for of all the terrors of this world, there 
 is surely no one greater than that of being on a lee-shore 
 in a gale of wind and in shallow water. On this ac- 
 count, it is luitural enough that the fear of land is as 
 strong in the sailor's heart as is his attachment to it ; 
 and when, homeward-bound, he day after day approaches 
 his own latitude, his love and his fear of his native 
 shoi'cs increase as the distance between them diminishes. 
 Two fates, the most opposite in their extremes, are 
 shortly to await him. The sailor-boy fancifully pictures 
 to himself that in a few short hours he will be once 
 again nestling in his mother's arms. The able seaman 
 better knows that it may be decreed for him, as it has 
 been decreed for thousands, that in gaining his point 
 he shall lose its object, — that England, with all its ver- 
 dure, may fade before his eyes, and 
 
 "\^^lilo he sinks, without an arm to save, 
 His country blooms, a garden and a grave!" 
 
 And yet there exists, on the shores of Deal, a breed 
 of amphibious human beings, whose peculiar profession 
 it is to rush to the assistance of every vessel in distress. 
 
GEORGE PHILLPOTTS. 
 
 107 
 
 In moments of calm and snnsliinc, they stand listlessly 
 on the shore, stagnant and dormant, like the ocean hc- 
 fore them ; but when every shopkeeper closes his door, 
 when the old woman, with licr umbrella turned inside 
 out, feels that she must either lose it or go with it to 
 heaven ; when the reins of the mail-eoaehman are nearly 
 blown from his hand, and his leaders have scarcely 
 blood or breeding enough to face the storm ; when the 
 snow, drifting across tiic fields, is seeking for a hedgerow 
 against which it may sparkle and rest in peace ; when 
 whole families of the wealthy suddenly stop in their dis- 
 course to listen to the wind rumbling in their chim- 
 neys ; when the sailor's wife, at her tea, hugs her infant 
 to her arms, and, looking at its father, silently thanks 
 Heaven that he is on shore; — tuks has the moment 
 arrived for the Deal boatmen to contend, one against 
 another, to sec whose boat shall first be launched into 
 the tremendous surf. As the declivity of the beach is 
 very steep, and as the greased rollers over which the keel 
 descends arc all placed ready for the attempt, they only 
 wait a moment for what they call " a lull," and then 
 cutting the rope, the bark, as gallantly as themselves, 
 rushes to its native element. The difficulty of getting 
 from broken into deep water would amount sometimes 
 almost to an impossibility, but that word has been blotted 
 from their vocabulary; and although some boats fail, 
 others, with seven or eight men on board, are soon seen 
 stretching across to that very point in creation which 
 one would think the seafaring man would most fearfully 
 avoid — the Goodwin Sands. To be even in the neigh- 
 
 
108 
 
 KNGMSII CIIAIUTY. 
 
 !!! 
 
 boiirliood of such a spot in the stoutest vessel, niul witli 
 the nbU'st crew thut ever sailed, is a fate whieli Nelson 
 himself would have striven Lo avoid; but that these poor 
 nameless heroes should not only be williu}^ but ea^er 
 to go there in a hurricane in an open boat, shows very 
 clearly that, with all his follies and all his foibles, man 
 really is, or rather can be, the lord of the creation, aiul 
 that within his slight frame there beats a heart eajjable of 
 doing M'hat every other animal in creation would shud- 
 der to perforuj. The lion is savage, and the tigei U 
 ferocious, but where would their long tails be, if they 
 were to fiml themselves afloat with luuglish boatmen? 
 
 It must be evident to our readers that the Deal boat- 
 men often incur these dangers without any remuneration, 
 and in vain, and that half-;i dozen boats have continually 
 to return, their services after all not being required. So 
 long as a vessel can kcej) to sea, they are specks on the 
 ocean, insiguiricant, unvalued, and lumoticed ; but when 
 a ship is drifting on the sands, or has driick, then there 
 exists no object in creation so important as themselves. 
 As soon as a vessel strikes the sand, the waves in suc- 
 cession break upon as they strike and pass her. Under 
 such circumstances, the only means of gettii);rhcr afloat, 
 is for the shore-boat to eon:e under her bows and <i." y oflf 
 her anchor; which, being dropped at sobh- rli .'i.ii' to 
 w indward, enables her to haul herself into deep water. To 
 describe the danger which a small open boat experiences, 
 even in approaching a vessel to make this attempt, is be- 
 rcad the povcr of anj^ painter; in fact, he has never 
 w'.v ■x'gt'^.' It, an'l even were he to be granted the oppor- 
 
 
GKOIIGE Pl( II.POTTS. 
 
 iro 
 
 timity, it is quite certain that, thou^'i he hhonhl paint, 
 to use a sailor's phrase, " till all was blue," the artist 
 would himself look ten times hluer than his pieture. 
 
 ( H. iill the most unwieldy {guests that could »eek lor 
 l(idg;!i" in a snudl boat, a larj^e ship's anchor is perhaps 
 l^e worst; to receive or swallow it is almost death — 
 to get rid of it or disgorge it is, if possible, still worse. 
 Eacu in a calm, take it by Avhich end you will, it is an 
 awkward customer to deal with ; and though philosophers 
 have said, "Le\e fit quod l)ene fertiu' onus," yet if it 
 weighs sixteen or eighteen hundredweight, carry it in 
 a gale of wind which way you will, it is heavy. ^Vhen 
 a vessel, from bumping on the sands, has become unable 
 to float, the last and only resource is to save some of the 
 crew, who, lashed to a rope which has been thrown 
 aboard, are one by one dragged l)y the boatmen through 
 the surf, till the boat, being able to hold no njore, they 
 cut the only thread on which the hopes of the remainder 
 had depended, and departing with their cargo, the rest 
 are left to their fate. 
 
 But our readers will probably exclaim, "What can all 
 this have to do with the three Poor-Law Comnnssioners 
 for England and Wales?" We reply, "Is George Phill- 
 potts, then, so soon forgotten? we have only verbally 
 digressed from him — he sits still at our side." 
 
 "Tinu's have now altered with us!" with a look of 
 calm mt'laneholy he observed; * vessels now don't get 
 S>1 a ton, where a few years ago they got £37." Wc 
 asked him what a crew received for going oft' to a vessel. 
 "The lw)at that first gets to her," he said, "receives 25*. 
 
 K;i 
 
110 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 >i 
 
 for going back and bringing off a pilot; if it blows a 
 gale of wind it's three guineas ; the other boats get no- 
 thing." 
 
 " Well, Phillpotts," v/c observed, " we now want you 
 to tell us honestly how it is you all manage to live ?" 
 He replied (we are copying verbatim from our Note- 
 book), "Many don'i live at all! They only, as I call it, 
 breathe ! We often don't taste meat for a week together! 
 Many that knock about for a covple of days, and when 
 they come home they have nothing — that's the murder : 
 single men can just live ; for myself, I have not earned a 
 shilling (it was then the 2nd of February) this year." 
 After sitting in silence sone time, he added, "But I 
 shan't be able to hold on much longer." By this he 
 meant that he should be forced to end his days in Deal 
 workhouse, which already contains nineteen old weather- 
 beaten boatmen, whom that same morning we had found, 
 like other paupers confined to the house, sitting silently 
 round a stove. 
 
 The total number of Deal boatmen, or, as they are 
 nicknamed, "Ilovelers," amounts to about five hundred; 
 of these, none but the aged will consent to enter the 
 workhouse ; about seventy of their families arc now 
 receiving from the parish a weekly allowance, but the 
 overseer stated that, in many instances, individuals ac- 
 cepting relief had sent to say that they coidd now do 
 without it. It used, for about two years, and until two 
 years ago, to be the custom for any wives or children of 
 the boatmen who required relief, to be admitted into the 
 workhouse twice every day, at meal-times : this arrange- 
 
GEORGE PHILLPOTTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 lows a 
 
 [Ct 110- 
 
 ment, however, was found to encourage dcpeiiclence, and 
 it was tlierefore changed for the present weekly allow- 
 ance of bread and potatoes. 
 
 It is to be hoped that, while the Poor-Law Commis- 
 sioners perform the painful duty of keeping the improvi- 
 dent sturdy pauper below the situation of the indepen- 
 dent labourer, they will in no instance neglect to bring 
 before the attention of the public every case of merit 
 which has hitherto lain neglected in the mass ; and, 
 strongly impressed with this feeling, we earnestly sub- 
 mit to our readers in general, and to the Government 
 in particular, that something better than the confine- 
 ment of a workhouse should be the fate of the few vete- 
 rans who have exhausted their strength in so brave, so 
 useful, and so honourable an occupation as we have been 
 now describing. So long as they are young, and can 
 keep to sea, it matters comparatively but little on what 
 they subsist ; for as their power lies in their hearts, it 
 may truly be said that that engine requires little fuel; 
 and to the credit of human nature, most true it is, that 
 the worse a young man fares, the less value does he 
 place on the bauble of existence. But when a Deal boat- 
 man grows old, when the tempest gets too strong for 
 him, the Avaves too many for him, and when he is driven 
 from his element to the shore, for the sake of those he 
 has saved, his old-age, like his youth, should be gilded 
 with honour; and, by a wealthy and generous country, 
 ought he not to be raised above the idle, the profligate, 
 and the improvident pauper — particularly now that float- 
 ing lights have, fortunately for all but him, blighted the 
 
 f! ' 
 
113 
 
 ENGLISH CIIAllITY. 
 
 ) ^ 
 
 harvest l)y wliicli he once might have provided for his 
 own retirement ? 
 
 Whether or not sueh a man as George Phillpotts 
 wonld shed lustre or discredit on Grecnwieh Hospital; 
 whether or not he woidd he welcomed or spurned be- 
 neath such a roof l)y those who still talk of the tempest, 
 and who well know what is due to those who possibly 
 have saved many among them from a watery grave, may 
 be a subject deemed fit for discussion ; but that these 
 men should at least enjoy their liberty, that they should 
 be enabled in their old-age to pace the beach, and help 
 at all events to launch their children into the surf, is 
 what, we fervently trust, no English legislator will deny. 
 
 ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING THE OLD SYSTEM. 
 
 I> I 
 
 It : 
 
 One fine morning the Assistant Commissioner called 
 upon the overseer of a parish near Ash ford, to in(iuire 
 why he had not filled up the new return which had been 
 required of him, and which all the other overseers had 
 completed. The poor man, who was dressed in a dirty 
 smock-frock, actually shed tears as he delivered his ex- 
 planation, verbatim as follows : — 
 
 " Sir, tlie Captain wants lo go to church in his carriage 
 tbrougli the little gate tlmt the cori)ses go through — there's a 
 great gate agin the little one — the altlernian won't let it he 
 unlocked, and there's no friendship atween them. We never 
 has no vestry in no furni ; two or three of us come grumbling 
 about what we don't understand, and then 'tis postponed 
 a week, and we never settles nothin— we can't do nothin iu 
 no form, because the genuneu won't attend. I'm no scholar 
 
ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING THE OLD SYSTEM. 113 
 
 myself, the sclioolniaster's adoing it for me — aud I beg your 
 pardon, Sir." 
 
 One other example of Poor-Law administration under 
 the Old Svsioiu we will offer to our readers. We feel 
 lauch pain in doing so, as the inquiry to A\hich it relates 
 has ended tragically. 
 
 From several parishes a petition was forwarded in 
 November last to the Poor-Law Commissioners, for the 
 ibrmation of a Union. On the Assistant Commissioner 
 repairing to the spot, he was received with acclamation 
 by all classes of society ; hut, without any reason being 
 known or assigned, a strange prejudice seemed every- 
 where to exist among these amorous parishes against 
 any matrimonial connection with the parish A. The 
 mayor of the most influential parish in the proposed 
 Umon assured the Conunissioncr that he would do any- 
 thing to facilitate the project, provided his dominions 
 were not to be united with the parish A. Go where he 
 would, the Conmiissioner met with the same answer, the 
 blooming parishes all saying, " Wc w ill do anything you 
 Mant, but piiAV don't unite us with parish A. !" No 
 one however had any reason to assign, except that so 
 often used 1)y man, namely, that neighbour A. was a 
 being much more den: oraliy-ed than himself. 
 
 The Commissioner being ivuluced by these objections 
 to direct his attention to the common enemy, found 
 that, during the last five years, four members of poor 
 jarish A. had been hung j — that nine had been trans- 
 ported for fourteen years ; — and that the number of con- 
 victions, in proportion to their population, had trebled 
 
114 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 ■I '. 
 
 • V. 
 
 that of any of the contiguous parislies. With a popula- 
 tion of eight hundred and fifty, the poor-rates amounted 
 to c£1300 a year, being about £1. lis. 6d. per head on 
 the number of inhabitants ! 
 
 On inquiring who might be the overseer, the Com- 
 missioner learnt that this unpaid individual had virtu- 
 ally reigned ten or eleven years ; that he lived at his 
 farm-house, and was himself a large landholder. On 
 calling upon and demanding an inspection of the parish 
 books, the overseer appeared confused, and said he would 
 send for them ; but Mahomet insisted on going to the 
 mountain, and accordingly the Commissioner and. the 
 overseer proceeded together to a large shop (in the 
 village), on the counter of lohich lay the volume. This 
 shop was kept by the overseer's brother, who was also 
 his servant, and on passing the threshold it was evident 
 to the Commissioner that he had reached a bazaar of 
 considerable importance. Three hundred loaves were 
 sitting on the shelves, — more than two slieep were hang- 
 ing in joints, — bacon, groceries, and draperies of all 
 sorts filled up the interstices, — and with these articles 
 arrayed in evidence against him, the officer confessed 
 that, besides being overseer of the parish, he was a 
 farmer, a n\iller, a baker, a butcher, a grocer, a draper, 
 and a general dealer in all sorts of provisions and cloth- 
 ing. With this scene before his eyes, it was impossible 
 for the Commissioner to help silently comparing in his 
 own mind the thriving business of the overseer with the 
 profuse expenditure and consumptive symptoms of the 
 parish funds; and indeed the parochial books, as they 
 
 n '/ 
 
ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING THE OLD SYSTEM. 115 
 
 This 
 
 lay on the counter, clearly hinted that between the pa- 
 rish account and the shop account there existed a con- 
 sanguinity, — in fact, that they Avere cousins barely once 
 removed. Accordingly, a few days afterwards, the Com- 
 missioner unexpectedly appeared at the vestry, held as 
 usual at tlic public-house, and as soon as the pipes and 
 ale were finished, the business of the day commenced. 
 As the paupers successively appeared, their cases were 
 heard, and in every instance they were desired to attend 
 " at the shop" the following morning, when the decision 
 of the vestry woixld be communicated to them : — this 
 had been the constant practice. 
 
 On arriving " at the shop," the pauper was freely per- 
 mitted, if he chose, to receive the whole of the relief 
 ordered by the parish for his support in money; but, 
 odd as it may sound, he generally found out that some- 
 how or other he happened to be in debt at this very 
 shop. ]Jy all of his class, moreover, it had long been 
 remarked, that they were dealt with by the vestry ac- 
 cording to their docility at the shop. The sum of j£1200 
 a year transferred from ratepayer to rate-receiver had 
 thus annually passed over the overseer's own counter; 
 and if, as was generally said, his goods had been sold at 
 forty per cent, above the usual price, it was not surpris- 
 ing he had made no complaint against the inconvenience 
 of such an arrangement. 
 
 The overseer himself confessed, that the paupers were 
 sometimes in his debt for half-a-year's wages ; but as on 
 his counter there was also lying the book of " casual re- 
 lief," the parish was the shopman's security, and so what 
 
 ,,;,: 
 
m 
 
 1 
 
 ' i • 
 
 ,) 
 
 1 * 
 
 i; 
 
 
 / i 
 
 '■?; ■ 
 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 116 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 the vestry did not decree to him as a creditor, he himself 
 had the power to award ! 
 
 The overseer, besides tlms picking up the crumbs 
 wliich fell from the rich table of the parish, was also the 
 proprietor of fourteen cottages, the rent of which was 
 paid by the parish, that is to say, by himself to himself! 
 
 It may appear strange, and " passing strange it is," 
 that this man should have managed to maintain his iu- 
 fhience m the vestry ; but the paupers becoming depen- 
 dent upon him, in proportion to their insubordination 
 and degradation, their aggressions were successfully 
 lu'ged by him as a plea for gaining the confidence of 
 tliose whose concurrence he required. In short, he had 
 the entire control over the colleetion as well as distribu- 
 tion of the rate; and when the little shopkeepers became 
 occasionally indignant at seeing their fair-dealing profits 
 thus absorbed by their overseer, thoy were bribed to si- 
 lence by being left out of the rate altogether ; nay, even 
 the vicar of the parish honestly declared to the Commis- 
 sioner that, thougli but too well aware of the existing 
 oppression, he also had been left out of the rate, on the 
 distinct understanding that he was not to interfere in 
 any of these concerns. In fact, so completely was the 
 overseer triumpliant, that he had even dispensed with the 
 usual form of making a rate, but when he wanted more 
 cash, laconically stuck on the church-door the following 
 official notification : — "A rate wanted." In obedience 
 to this mandate, "a rate was granted;" and the said 
 rate was then collected by his brother and servant, who 
 Mas also the paid servant of the parish ! 
 
ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIN'G THE OLD SYSTEM. 117 
 
 As a sample of this overseer's conduet to his inferiors, 
 the following ease may be selected. 
 
 A man with his family, consisting of a wife and four 
 children, many years ago, solicited permission to live in 
 a hovel belonging to the parish, with an understanding 
 that he should pay no rent, but shoidd support himself 
 by his OAvn exertions. He performed his contract, vmtil 
 at last a small sum was requested and allowed him for 
 the maintenance of his ninth child, aiv idiot. The poor 
 man kept his dwelling in tenantable repair, and for 
 eighteen years spent his money in "the shop." At 
 length having ascertained that half-a-crown would go 
 elsewhere as far as four shillings there, he deserted " the 
 shop ;" however, no sooner did the stream of his earnings 
 cease to flow over that counter, than a sheriff's officer 
 demanded from him the sum of ,£1 for forty weeks' 
 rent in arrear. The debtor w as insolvent, and his very 
 bed was sold to satisfy his creditor. On hearing this 
 tale the Commissioner again inspected the overseer's 
 books, and he there found, in his own handwriting, a 
 single charge of £1(5. 10a\, for rents paid by himself to 
 himself! 
 
 The above facts, duly attested, being forwarded to the 
 Poor-Law Commissioners for England and Wales, they 
 deemed it their duty to order that this overseer should 
 instantly be dismissed. No sooner did he fall from 
 his exalted station, than the base feelings which his own 
 demoralizing system had created, unkindly turned upon 
 him. Among the loAver orders there was left lio senti- 
 ment of generosity to pardon his errors, — no disposition 
 
 i' -t 
 
118 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 ) 1 
 
 i ,i;' 
 
 f '^ 
 
 '■ • 
 
 to overlook liis frailty, — no reluctance against trampling 
 on a fallen foe; — the poor wretch fell a victim to vices 
 of his own creation, his life became a burden to him, 
 and, with regret we add, he has ju^it ended his career by 
 suicide ! 
 
 In many eases, on calling on the overseers, the Assis- 
 tant Commissioner found that the parish aecoinit was 
 kept by their wives ! In one instance, on his insisting 
 to see the " Laird his-sel'," the old lady answered that 
 he was forty niiles off at sea, fishing ; and it turned out 
 that this was the overseer's regnlar trade. 
 
 In another instance, calling on a fine healthy yeomau 
 who had neglected to make out his return, the Commis- 
 sioner found he was out ; but a man with a flail in his 
 hand, protruding his red-hot face from a liarn-door, ex- 
 plained that the yemman might easily sec the parish ac- 
 counts, as the person who kept them was within. The 
 gcmman accordingly dismounted, entered a most excel- 
 lent house, and in less than five mimites found himself 
 in a carpeted parlour, seated at a large oak table, with 
 the parish accountant on a bench at his side. She was 
 the yeoman's sister, a fine ruddy, healthy, blooming, 
 bouncing girl of eighteen. As her plump red finger 
 went down the items, it was constantly deserting its 
 official duty to lay aside a profusion of long black cork- 
 screw ringlets, which occasionally gambolled before her 
 visitor's eyes. She had evidently taken great pains to sepa- 
 rate, as cleverly as she could, the motley claimants on the 
 parish purse, just as her brother had divided his lambs 
 from his pigs, and his sheep from his cows. She had 
 
ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING THE OLD SYSTEM. 119 
 
 one long list of "labonrcrs with families;" "widows" 
 were deninrcly plaeed in one corner of her ledger; 
 "cesses" stood in another; "vagrants or trampers" 
 crossed one page ; those receiving " constant relief" sat 
 still in another ; at last the accountant came to two very 
 long lists, — one was composed of what she called " loio 
 women" — the other, veiled by her curls, she modestly 
 muttered were " hilly jittimites." 
 
 The Assistant Commissioner observing, in a parish 
 book, constantly repeated, the charge of " for sparrows 
 2s. i\(l.," ventured to inquire what was allowed for de- 
 stroying them. "Why, fourpence a dozen !" the over- 
 seer instantly replied ; but how it happened that the 
 parish gun always killed exactly half-a-erown's Morth, 
 never more or less, the man in office could only explain 
 l)y observing, as he scratched his head, "Yes, and we're 
 eaten up by 'em still !" One parochial item was — 
 
 "To John Bell, for cutting his throaght, 12s." 
 
 The following is, verbatim et literatim, the copy of an 
 overseer's answer to a printed circular of grave inquiries 
 forwarded to all the parishes by the Poor Law Board : — 
 
 " It will never do we any good to alter the law in our parish, 
 as our parish is very small, and there is no probabilits of alter 
 our kcarse at all. There is no persons titter to manage the 
 parish better than ourselves. T. T., oversear." 
 
 "Why have you so long continued this charge of a 
 shilling for tolling the church-bell at the death of eveiy 
 pauper?" said the Assistant Commissioner to a parish 
 overseer. "Why, Sir," replied the small man, in a 
 
'■ 
 
 m 
 
 U 1 
 
 (( 
 
 u i 
 
 Id 
 
 M 
 
 120 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 whisper, " the clerk is a clre.'ulful man, and always 
 threatens to fight me, whenever I wants to stop that 'crc 
 charge !" 
 
 Ahont five weeks ago a parish clerk gave notice, 
 chu'ing divine service, of a rate, and then added, "And 
 T am further desired, hy the poor of this parish, to give 
 notice, that they mean to hold a meeting this evening, 
 at seven o'clock, nnder the rook-trees, to consider on the 
 best means of doing for themselves." The mcciing was 
 accordingly held in the dark, and its ohscure atte^idants 
 resolved inianimonslv "to do no more work." 
 
 In one parish it appeared that there existed a person 
 in the community almost fit to rival ]\[r. ^Mathews or 
 Mr. Yates : — 
 
 Q. WIu) is the overseer 1 . . . . 
 Q. Who is assistant overseer ? . . 
 Q. Who is the warden ? . . . . 
 Q. Who colleets the rate ? . . . 
 Q. Who is master of the workhouse 1 
 Q. Who determines on the rates 1 . 
 
 A. Mr. Parker. 
 
 A. Mr. Parker. 
 
 A. Mr. Parker. 
 
 A. Mr. Parker. 
 
 A. Mr. Parker. 
 
 A. Mr. Parker. 
 
 Besides these trifling duties, Mr. Parker performed also 
 in the public characters of butcher, a farmer, a qnarrier, 
 a carman, and a constable. " Well, Mr. Parker !" said 
 the Assistant Commissioner, "you seem to have got all 
 the parish affairs on your hands ; I only hope you take 
 care of these poor children, and give them a good educa- 
 tion ?" " No, Sir/' replied Mr. Parker, " God forbid ! 
 all the six-and-thirty years I have been overseer, I never 
 gave children no /«rwe»^." "Why not?" "Why, l^ir, 
 it be a thing quite injurious; wc have no long-legged 
 
ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING THE OLD SYSTEM. 121 
 
 children in our parish turned out of school; wlicu I 
 finds a promising child I sets him to work." Aeeord- 
 ingly it turned out that there was not one of the poor 
 children in Mr. Parker's parish that could write or 
 read. 
 
 The master of a Avorkhouse was asked by the Com- 
 missioner for how many persons he was serving up 
 dinner; in fact, how many paupers there were in his 
 house. The man could not tell, but he said he would 
 " send and ask Mrs. Smith, because she be got a won- 
 derful memory, and will recollect all about it." This 
 Mrs. Smith was an old blind pauper, who at the moment 
 was up two pair of stairs. On descending, and on hob- 
 bling into the room, she instantly solved the problem, 
 by stating that there were thirty-seven people in the 
 house. 
 
 In one instance, an assistant overseer replied, repeated, 
 and persisted, to the Commissioner, that his parish had 
 "no population.'* It turned out he did not know the 
 meaning of the abstruse word. 
 
 In a large poorhouse, the Commissioner, wishing to 
 know exactly how the paupers were fed, desired the go- 
 vernor to produce his " dietary." His Excellency hesi- 
 tated so much, that the Commissioner suspected he had 
 not got one; the governor persisted that he had, but 
 said he could not possibly bring it into the vestry-room, 
 for it was a fixture ! " Well," said the Commissioner, " if 
 the dietary cannot come to us, let us go to the dietary ! " 
 The governor slowly led the way, until lie reached the 
 great hall, when, pointing to a thing about eighteen feet 
 
 VOL. I. a 
 
 ;;;.! 
 
 !ti 
 
122 
 
 ENGLISH CIIAllITY. 
 
 i-\ 'n 
 
 h '\ 
 
 lit. 
 
 by four he said, " Here it is, Sir! " It was the paupers' 
 dining-table ! 
 
 As a national jest-book, the history of our parishcn, 
 aiul the contents of their kulgers, stand, we must confess, 
 in iri vailed ; but when we reflect that the sum-total of 
 this expenditure has annually exeeed(;d seven millions, 
 that the Poor-rates of any country are the symbol of its 
 improvidence, and the sure signal of its distress, we must 
 also admit that there exists in the history of our king- 
 dom nothing more sorrowful, nothing more diacrcditable, 
 than our late Poor-law system. Suj>posing that any 
 person were gravely to inform a serious, sensible, right- 
 minded body of commercial men, — say, for instance, the 
 partners in Coutts's bank, — that there existed, in a cer- 
 tain part of this globe, an establishment, the annual re- 
 ceipts of which amounted very nearly to the enormous 
 sum of eight millions, to be collected as well as expended 
 in small sums, as changeable as, and actually influenced 
 by, the weather ; — that this immense establishment had 
 no officers of any sort at its head, no well-educated re- 
 sponsible people to overlook its general management, to 
 govern or control its expc" liture; — that there were no 
 people appointed to audit these accounts, but that the 
 whole capital, left to the dictates of almost any one's 
 heart, was governed by no man's head; — that in exe- 
 cuting the duties of this immense business, particularly 
 as regarded both the collection and expenditure of its 
 income, it was exceedingly popular to act wrong, exces- 
 sively unpopular to act right, yet that such duties were 
 imposed upon unpaid men, who were often extremely un- 
 
 in 
 
THE NEW SYSTEM. 
 
 123 
 
 willing to servo at all; that these impressed accountants 
 were often grossly illiterate, and in many eases, dressed 
 in hobnailed shoes and common smock-frocks, were 
 scarcely able to read or write; — that, lest by practice 
 they should U'cirn the business, it had been established 
 as a nde that they should be changed (nery year ; — that 
 in all eases they had also their own private ])usiness to 
 attetul to, and that the good account was consequently 
 often left to their wives, and even to their young j)layful 
 daughters ! Now, if Messrs. Coutts and Co. were re- 
 quested to be so good as, from the above data, to state 
 what, in their opinion, would be the result of this vast 
 establishment, can there be any doubt but that their ver- 
 dict would unanimously be — Inevitable Bankkuptcy? 
 and, after death, what sentences could the coroner pro- 
 nounce over such a carcase, but those of " Imaniti/" and 
 "Felodese"? 
 
 W 
 
 THE NEW SYSTEM. 
 
 HaAang submitted to our readers a few plain sketches 
 illustrating the Old Pauper System, we will now inform 
 them in what manner the Assistant Commissioner pro- 
 ceeded cautiously to carry into eflfeet the Poor-Law 
 Amendment Act in East Kent. 
 
 We need hardly observe to our readers that the 
 county of Kent is one of the most favoured regions on 
 the surface of the habitable globe. Sit\iated between 
 the steep Surrey hills and the flat land of Essex, its un- 
 dulating surface enjoys a happy medium, alike avoiding 
 
 g2 
 
124 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 1 ! 
 
 U hi 
 
 i ' 
 
 the abrupt inconvenience of the one landscape, or the 
 dull insipidity of the othci'. Its villages, and the houses 
 of its gentlemen and yeomen, shaded by the surrounding 
 trees, are scarcely perceptible; and from any eminence, 
 looking arc and in all directions, there is a tranquillity 
 in the scene which is very remarkable. It seems to be 
 a country without inhabitants, — it looks like Paradise, 
 M'hen Adam and even Eve were asleep. Its hop-gardens, 
 in the winter season, resemble encampments of soldiers ; 
 its orchards ornament the rich land, as its woods do the 
 barren. Little is seen in motion but the revolving sails 
 of white windmills, which, on various eminences, are in- 
 dustriously grinding the produce of the season's harvest. 
 The low, unassuming, flint-built village church possesses, 
 in its outline and architectiu*e, an antiquity and a sim- 
 plicity peculiarly appropriate to its sacred objec , while 
 the white tombstones, and the dark gnarled yew-trees 
 that surround it, seem to be silent emblems, speechless 
 preachers, of death and immortality. 
 
 After traversing the county in various directions, and 
 comparing its actual state with the reports of the popu- 
 lation, poor-rates, number of people out of employment, 
 etc. of each individual parish, it appeared evident that, 
 as the population of the parishes was eccentrically un- 
 equal, it would be quite impossible strictly to bring them 
 under the New System, or under any one system which 
 could be devised. In one instance there were but seven 
 individuals in the whole parish, in another only fifteen ; 
 three other parishes united did not amount to a hundred 
 souls J twenty of the parishes were below 100 ; there were 
 
 \ 
 
THE NEW SYSTEM. 
 
 125 
 
 fifty-one below 300 ; while in the larger parishes the po- 
 pulation amounted to 1200, 1900, and in some cases to 
 5000. 
 
 It being impossible, therefore, advantageously to give 
 to each parish any government which could enable it inde- 
 pendently to take its part in a general system of amended 
 administration, it apjxjared advisable — particularly for 
 the small parishes, which could afford no independent 
 government whatever — that the whole county should be 
 grouped into convenient unions of parishes, which, by a 
 subscription from each, to be fairly levied only in pro- 
 portion to its late actual cxjxjnditure, might be governed 
 with a due regard to economy, and with a sensible but 
 humane provision for the poor ; in short, it seemed that 
 it would be generally advantageous that the parishes, 
 which, like loose sticks, were lying scattered over the 
 country, should be gathered together in faggots for the 
 benefit of all parties. But there ap^Kjared, at first, to be 
 many difficulties in carrying this plan into execution; 
 for, l)csidcs the eccentric shapes of tlie parishes, there 
 were other lines equally jagged, which, to a certain 
 degree, it seemed necessary to attend to. AVe allude to 
 the divisions of the Lathes, the divisions of the Hundreds, 
 the dominion of the Cinque-Ports, the corporate boun- 
 daries, and last, though not least, the magisterial divi- 
 sions of the county. The Island of Sheppey, the Isle of 
 Thanct, Oxney Island, and Ilomnoy Marsh, had also 
 limits which it appeared equally advisable to attend to. 
 On entering into a scrutiny of all these various divisions 
 and subdivisions, it turned out, however, that several 
 
 1' 
 

 1 1 'If 
 
 ^'.^i- 
 
 '/i I 
 
 •1., 1^ 
 
 ''ii' 
 
 ,« ! 
 
 % f 
 
 w 
 
 B.^1 
 
 126 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 were of little importance. The boundaries, for instance, 
 of the hundreds were in many cases rlmost obsolete. 
 Some of the corporate proved to possess a smaller popu- 
 lation than many of the county parishes. With the 
 (Cinque-Ports, from their locality, it would not be neces- 
 sary to interfere, and the boundaries of the Lathes and 
 of the magisterial divisions proved to be in many cases 
 identical. The boundaries, therefore, which on reflec- 
 tion it seemed most advisable to follow, were the magis- 
 terial divisions of the county. In grouping the parishes 
 into Unions, it seemed not only advantageous, particularly 
 for the poor, that they should continue to remain under 
 the parental government of their own magistrates — of 
 those they had all their lives l)cen accustomed to respect 
 — ^but that it would be exceedingly inconvenient to the 
 parish officers of a Uiiion if they had weekly to transact 
 business with two benches of magistrates, each separated 
 at a considerable distance, and each holding its meeting 
 on a different day from the other. 
 
 For these reasons it appeared proper that the magiste- 
 rial divisions of the county of Kent shoidd be the gu>'lj 
 for the Assistant Commissioner, and, accordingly, that he 
 should form each into a Union or Unions, to be submitted 
 by him for aj)proval to the Board in Whitehall. But 
 there arose in Kent an insuperable objection to an arbi- 
 trary execution of this drrangeraent ; for although the 
 Poor-Law Amendment Act, by clause 26, enacts — 
 
 " That it shall he lawful for the said Conunissioners, by order 
 under their hands and seals, to declare so many parishes as 
 they may think fit to be imitcd for the administration of the 
 
 111 
 

 THE NEW SYSTEM. 
 
 127 
 
 laws for the relief of the poor, and such parishes shall thereupon 
 be deemed a Union foi- such purpose ;" 
 
 Yet the Commissioners are strictly denied the power of 
 altering or dissolving existing Unions ; it being by clause 
 33 distinctly declared — 
 
 " That no such dissolution, alteration, or addition, shall take 
 place or be made, unless a majority of not less than two-thirds 
 of the Guardians of such Union shall also concur (by consent 
 in writing) therein." 
 
 Why the Legislature gifted the Poor- Law Commis- 
 sioners with the bump of ' philoprogenitiveness,' and 
 withheld from them the organ of ' dcstructiveness/ — 
 why it granted them the power of forcing alliances be- 
 tween parishes without granting them the power of 
 divorcing bad matches, — need not be argued, it being 
 sufficient to state that such is the law of the land. 
 
 As there existed eight large Unions in East Kent, 
 formed under the 22nd of George IIL, it was evidently 
 impossible that the Assistant Commissioner could, under 
 the authority of the Poor-Law Amendment Act, carry 
 into cflect his proposed Unions, without first obtaining 
 the consent in writing of the respective Guardians for the 
 dissolution of these existing Unions. But the reader may 
 possibly feel disposed to ask, what necessity was there for 
 the dissolution of these old Unions? Why might not 
 they exist, and the remaining parishes follow by matri- 
 mony their example? A map of the localities of the 
 parishes comprehended in the old Unions, would, at a 
 single glance, show not only that the old Unions were 
 evidently, for their own interests, and especially for the 
 
 If 
 
128 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 i :•:' 
 
 interests of tlic poor, most inconveniently formed ; but 
 that, instead of forming a dense phalanx or congrega- 
 tion of interests, they madly straddled over the country 
 without any apparent rule whatever. For instance, the 
 pauper of Swingfield parish lives only three miles and a 
 half from the gi-eat River Union Workhouse, and only 
 seven from tlie ^Martin Union Workhouse ; and yet, after 
 passing the former workhouse, he had eight miles further 
 to walk before he could get to his own Union at Eastry ! 
 Again, the pauper from Walmer, after walking above 
 three miles, actually passed the gate of the Martin Union 
 Workhouse, axid then had five more weary miles to trudge, 
 in order to get to the workhouse at River, to which he 
 has been irrationally sentenced to belong. One of the 
 old Unions belonged to three different benches of magis- 
 trates ; and a number of parishes were so remote from 
 their poorhouses, that it was banishment to the pauper 
 to send him there. 
 
 The Assistant Commissioner had consequently the 
 double duty of forming and nnforming Unions; and 
 though it at first appeared that the regular mode of pro- 
 ceeding would be to attempt to level the old Unions 
 before it should be proposed to build up the new ones, 
 yet, on reflection, for the following reason, it was de- 
 termined on pursuing the contrary course. It was per- 
 fc'tly evident to the Commissioner, and indeed to every- 
 body, that there existed in the county a considerable 
 prejudice against, or rather an utter ignorance of, the 
 new law ; and in order to encounter that prejudice, it 
 seemed better that he should appeal to large bodies of 
 
I 
 
 THE NEW SYSTEM. 
 
 129 
 
 but 
 
 men, among wliom he would, at least, have the ad- 
 vantage of meeting with many well-educated persons, 
 whose presence Mould probably smother the expressions 
 of narrow interests, than to risk an application to the 
 petty tribunal of the Guardians of the old Unions. It 
 appeared better he should commence his labours by 
 recommending the formation of new Unions, armed by 
 the power he openly possessed under the new Act of 
 carrying them (uidess good reasons were shown io the 
 contrary) into eft'ect, than defeneelessly to sue, in. 
 formd pauperis, for permission to dissolve existing 
 Unions, some of which might, or might not, be cemented 
 by private rather than public interests. It was evident 
 that if he should happen to succeed in large meetings, 
 his success would carry with it considerable weight in 
 the minds of the Guardians, whereas their approbation 
 M'ould avail him nothing before the county at large; 
 while, on the other hand, their rejection of his proposi- 
 tion would practically amount to its final condenmation. 
 
 His project being to divide the magisterial divisions 
 into Unions, by circular letters he separately collected 
 together the magistrat(.'s, parochial officers, and principal 
 ratepayers of every division in East Kent. 
 
 As the subject was one of intense interest, these 
 meetings were attended by almost every magistrate in 
 the county, by many of the clergy, by all the parish 
 officers ; and when it is stated that the magisterial divi- 
 sions in East Kent are composed of fifty-six, fifty, forty- 
 two, twenty-five, and twenty-six-parishes, it may easily 
 be conceived that the assemblage was so large, that it 
 
 G 3 
 
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 li 
 
130 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 'J I > W 
 
 P^ 
 
 I ;-: 
 
 was, in general, necessary to repair to the National 
 Sehool, to obtain admittance for eveiy one. Among the 
 parish otficcrs the feeling towards the Poor-Law Amend- 
 ment Act was generally hostile ; and not only did most 
 of them leave their houses, intenduig individually to 
 oppose the measure, but before the meeting took place 
 they in many instances met together, talked the alfa'r 
 over, and, having no idea of the plan to be proposed, 
 several of them collectively agreed together that they 
 would hold up their hands against it. The Commissioner, 
 being perfectly aware of the existence of these feelings, 
 knowing also they were engendered only by ignorance, 
 as soon as the meetings were assembled, requested the 
 magistrates to pardon him if he should commence his 
 duty by endeavouring to explain to the parish officers — 
 what he was .sensible the magistrates much better under- 
 stood than himself, namely, the real object of the Poor- 
 Law Amendment Act; and, with their permission, he 
 then read to the overseers a memorandum, which, he truly 
 enough stated, had been hastily written, under the idea 
 that in the disturbed parts of Kent he might at once 
 come into collision with the labouring classes, to whom 
 it might be very desirable he should clearly explain his 
 object. From his address " To the Labouring Classes 
 of the County of Kent," which he then read, we extract 
 what follows. 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE LABOUEINa CLASSES. 
 
 " In old times, the English law punished a vagrant by cut- 
 ting oif his ear ; and, said the ancient law, 'if he have no ears* 
 

 ADDRESS TO THE LABCtJRINO CLASSES. 
 
 131 
 
 (which means, if the law should have robbed him of both), 
 ' then he .shall be branded with a hot iron ; his city, town, or 
 village being moreover authorized to punish him, according 
 to its discretion, with chaining, beating, or otherwise.' The 
 Legislature, driven by the progress of civilization from this 
 cruel extreme, most unfortunately fell into an opposite one, 
 wearing the mask of charity. Instead of mutilating indivi- 
 duals, it inflicted its cruelty on the whole fabric of society, by 
 tlie simple and apparently harmless act of raising the pauper 
 a degree or two above the honest, hard-working, hard-earning, 
 and luird-faring peasant. The change, for a moment, seemed 
 a benevolent one, but the prescription soon began to under- 
 mine the sound constitution of the labourer ; — it induced him 
 to look behind him at the workhouse, instead of before him at 
 his plough. 
 
 " The poison, having paralyzed the lowest extremity of 
 society, next made its a[»pearance in the form of outdoor 
 relief, and it thus sickened from their work those who were too 
 proud to wear the livery of the pauper. In the form of labour- 
 rate, the farmers next began to feel that there was a profitable, 
 but unhealthy, node of cultivating their land by the money 
 levied for the support of the poor. He who honestly scorned 
 to avail himself of this bribe, became every day poorer than 
 his neighbour .fho accepted it : until, out of this disteinpered 
 system, there grew up in every parish petty laws and customs 
 which, partly from ignorance and partly from self-interest, 
 actually threatened with punishment those who were still un- 
 contaminated by the disease. 
 
 " To the provident labourer they exclaimed, * You shall 
 have no work, for your dress and decent appearance show 
 that you have been guilty of saving money from your 
 labour ; subsist, therefore, upon what you have saved, until 
 you have sunk to the level of those who, by having been 
 careless of the future, have become entitled more than you to 
 our relief!' 
 
 l \ I l 
 
 'I 
 
 'l 
 
132 
 
 ENOLISH CHARITY. 
 
 V' 
 
 f! 
 
 " * You Imve no faniily,' they said +,o the prudent lahourcr, 
 who had refrained from marrying because he had not the 
 means of providing for children ; 'you have no family, and the 
 farmer therefore must not employ you until we have found 
 occupation for those who have children. Marry without 
 means ! — prove to us that you have been improvident ! — sa- 
 tisfy us that you have created children you have not power to 
 support ! — and the more children you produce, the more you 
 shall receive !' 
 
 " To those who felt disposed to set the laws of their country 
 at defiance, ' Why fear the laws ] — the English panjjer is better 
 fed than the independent labourer ; the subjected thief receives 
 in jail considerably more food than the jxiuper ; the convicted 
 tJhief receives still more ; and the transported felon receives 
 every day very nearly three times aa much food as the lionest, 
 indejjemlent peasant ! ' 
 
 " While this dreadful system was thus corrupting the prin- 
 ciples of the English labourer, it was working, if possible, still 
 harder to effect the demoralization of the weaker sex. On re- 
 turning home from his work, vain was it for the peasant to 
 spend his evening in instilling into the mind of his child that 
 old-fashioned doctrine, that if she ceased to be virtuous she 
 would cease to be respected ; — that if she ceased to be respected 
 she would be abandoned by the world ; — that her days would 
 pass in shame and indigence, and that she would bring her 
 father's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
 
 " ' No such cruelty shall befall you,' whispered the Poor-laws 
 in her ear : ' abandoned, indeed ! you shall not be abandoned : — 
 concede, and you shall be married ; and even if your seducer 
 should refuse to go with you to the altar, he or your parish 
 shall make you such an allowance, that if you will but repeat 
 and repeat the offence, you will at last, by dint of illegitimate 
 children, establish an income which will make you a market- 
 able and a marriageable commodity. With these ad- 
 
 s 
 
ADDRESS TO THE LABOURING CLASSES. 
 
 133 
 
 one 
 
 vantages before you, do not wait for a seducer — be 
 yoiu'self ! ' 
 
 " To tlie young female who recoiled with horror from thia 
 advice, the following arguments were used : — ' If you do insist 
 on following your parents' jirecepts instead of ours, don't wait 
 till you can provide for a fanuly, but marry ! — the parish shall 
 support you ; and remember that the law says, the more 
 children you bring into the world, without the means of pro- 
 viding for them, the richer you shall l)e !' 
 
 " To the most depraved portion of the sex : — ' Swear ! — we 
 insist upon your swearing — who is the father of your child. 
 Never mind how irregular your conduct may have been ; fix 
 upon a father ; for the words, ' Thou sluilt not hear false witness 
 ayainst thy neif/hbour,' are not parish law — what's lorouy be- 
 fore the altar, we have decreed rlyht in the vestry ! Swear, 
 therefore ; and though you swear ever so falsely, you shall 
 immediately be rewarded !' 
 
 "I have now endeavoured to explain to you the two eX' 
 tremes of error under which the English Poor-laws have hitherto 
 existed : the ancient error having proceeded from the vice 
 called cruelty ; the modern one, from false virtues assuming the 
 name of charity. Of these two extremes, there can be little 
 doubt that the latter was the worst. However, it is useless to 
 argue, — both are now at an end. The new Act reigns in their 
 stead, and we have therefore now only to consider what this 
 really is. . . . Those who arc enemies to its meclianism tell 
 you, that this new Act has '; grinding propensity ; but so has 
 the mill which gives us our bread. The Act truly enough does 
 grind ; but before we condenm it, let us clearly understand who 
 and what it is that will be ground by it. 
 
 " The Act rests upon that principle which, whether ad- 
 mitted or not by law, is indelibly imprinted in the head 
 and heart of every honest person in this country, namely, 
 that no individual, wlather ahle-hodied, impotent, or vicious, 
 
 \ 
 
 11 v^ 
 
 ■i ■ 
 
 5'i \ 
 
 i 
 
 if 
 
 m 
 
 w 
 
134 
 
 ENGLISH ClIAllITY. 
 
 "i 1« 
 
 '11 
 
 i' 
 
 sltoiM he lefl to siiffivfrom ahsohite want. To tliis principle of 
 common social justice there is uttached a liberal feeling almost 
 aH universal, namely, that the poor of this wealthy country 
 shouhl not only he barely supported, but, totally regardless of 
 expense, they should receive as many comforts and as much 
 alleviation as can by any man's ingenuity jjossibly be invented 
 for them, without injuring, corniptiny, or devioralixhuj ot/ier 
 memlters of society. 
 
 " Upon this liberal principle — upon this Christian-like feel- 
 ing, but with this salutary coution always in mind, — the Act 
 of Parliament in question has been framed. . , . The Cen- 
 tral Board has no power to punish the vicious, — no right to 
 revile the improvident, — no authority to neglect the impotent. 
 Their wants alone constitute their legal passport to relief, 
 which is to be administered to them with an equal atten- 
 tion to generosity on the one hand, and justice on the other. 
 Every comfort, every accommodation which the indigent 
 can name, they are strictly entitled to, jn'omded it does not 
 raise them above the provident and independent labourer : — 
 but if a pauper, improvident and dependent, should insist on 
 being placed higher up on the scale of society than an inde- 
 pendent labourer, — then, indeed, the Bill becomes a grinding 
 one, and it will continv.*; lo grind imtil it has reduced this man 
 to his projter level. The Central Board has no power to pre- 
 vent a lad without a shilling from marrying a girl without a 
 sixpence ; the couple and their offspring, the moment they are 
 in want, are strictly entitled to relief; — but if, not satisfied 
 with this, they moreover demand (according to the late system) 
 that the unmarried, hard-working, prudent labourer is to lose 
 his employment, and to take a berth in the workhouse instead 
 of tliem, then the Bill will grind down their pretensions. The 
 Central Board cannot discard the most abandoned women who 
 solicit support for themselves and their illegitimate otfsjjriug ; 
 — their prayer for relief will at once be granted ; but if such 
 
ADDRESS TO THE LADOUHINO CLASSES. 
 
 135 
 
 
 pi oplc presume to (Hsorgninze society l»y raising their guilty 
 heads above the honest, virtuous peasunt-wonian and her 
 children, then the Bill will grind them down, but only till they 
 reach their ])roper station. With the same impartial justice 
 should people in a much higher class endeavour to maintain an 
 exalted station, and at the same time draw illicit assistance 
 from the rt)or-rates, tims secretly existing on money which has 
 been collected from ratepayers infinitely poorer than them- 
 selves, — then will the machinery of the new Bill come quickly 
 into action, while exclamations against its grinding nature will 
 be uttered and advocated in vain. To every sober, reflecting 
 mind, it must surely be evident that the substitution of the 
 present Act of Parliament for the late one, will slowly, but 
 most surely, confer inestimable advantages on our society in 
 general, an I on the provident, industrious, and independent 
 labourer in particular. All that he gains will in future be 
 his own ; — he will no longer be afraid of appearing decent 
 and ckanly in his person ; — with honest pride he may now dis- 
 play the little earnings of his industry, without fear that they 
 will throw him out of work, — and from his examjde his children 
 will quickly learn that, in England, honesty has become once 
 again the best i)olicy. 
 
 " In gradually withdrawing, even from suspected impostors, 
 out-door relief (offering them as a test the workhouse instead), 
 individual cases of real as well as of apparent hardship nnist 
 occur ; bui deeply as such cases ought to be lamented by us, 
 yet, on the other hand, it should always be kept in mind that 
 the greatest degree of misery which in its very worst form can 
 exist under the New Poor-Law Amendment Act, amounts, 
 after all, to food, raiment, bedding, fuel, and shelter ; and the 
 man can have seen but little of this world, — he must be sadly 
 ignorant of tlie state of its immense population, — he can him- 
 self have suffered very little from adversity, if he presume to 
 declare that such relief is absolute misery. But whatever may 
 
186 
 
 ENQLISH CIIAIIITY. 
 
 I i 
 
 be its clinraotor, I horr Icftvo, in cnnoliuliiig, mont partieulnrly 
 to iniprt'Srt upon you, that this relief (iiad as it may he called) 
 is piven as charity, and is hy no means inflicted as a ]mnish- 
 mont ; all benevolent people, who really wish to raise tho 
 situation of the lower classes, have now only to bestow their 
 charity on tho independent labourer, and by doinj^ so they 
 will instantly enable the Central IJoard to better, exactly in 
 the same proportion, the situation of the pauper ; for tlio 
 Central Board will always be happy to raise the condition 
 of the pauper as high as it can be raised without dis- 
 organizing society. The independent labourer is entitled, 
 in coni.non justice, to rank above, and not below, him who is 
 dependent on bis parish for support, for that simple reason 
 which every just man must admit, namely, that the luDujer-oa 
 oitijht not to be raised hlyher than him on whom fie hanf/s. 
 
 "(Signed) F. B. HEAD." 
 
 tfi 
 
 t t'te 
 
 Hi :)! 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE RATEPAYERS. 
 
 On concluding tins Address, the Assistant Commis- 
 sioner explained to his audience that, as the whole 
 country was under the New Poor-Law Amendment 
 Act, it was now only for parishes to determine whether 
 each would still endure the expense of a separate poor- 
 house, separate officers, etc., or \>hether, by congrega- 
 tion, it would be most for their interest to avail them- 
 selves of the immense advantages of the wholesale 
 management. He observed, that the Poor-Law Board 
 had neither made the law, nor were responsible for its 
 existence, — their only duty was to accommodate it, as 
 far as it alloAved them, to all existing interests; — 
 that to attend, de die in diem, to the complaints of all 
 
ADDRESS TO THK RATKPAYKHS. 
 
 187 
 
 tlic paupers of 1 1,()()() distinct imrishcs would bo utterly 
 impossible ; bi\t tliiit it' JCiist Kent, for instanee, sliouUl 
 approve of being grouped into conipaet luiions of pa- 
 rishes, it would then be perfectly in the power of tho 
 I'oor-Law (^onunissioners to attend to their colleetivc 
 interests, and to take an especial care that the poor of 
 each Union were sensibly and humanely provided for. 
 As far as regarded tlu; interests of the ratepayers, ho 
 shoM'cd them what an immense diminuti(m of expen- 
 diture had invariably taken place wherever a body of 
 steady, j)ractical men had zealously uiulertakeu the ma- 
 nagement of their own parochial interests ; — that though 
 no one little parish of seven, twenty, or a hiuidred 
 individuals could produce this jury, yet the Guardians 
 of each Union wo\dd form such a body; — that that body 
 would have the pleasure as wcdl as the popidarity of ex- 
 pending every shilling collected for the poor ; — while, on 
 the other hand, all that was unpopular would fall upon 
 the Poor-Law Amombnent Act, upon the Poor-Tjaw 
 Commissioners for Kn^I.ind and Wales, and upon their 
 Assistants; — that undvr theOldSystem, theOversecrsand 
 Guardians, they well knew, had been looked upon as the 
 composci's as well as the executors of the Poor-law ; — and 
 that they must be perfectly sensible that not only had 
 they themselves been reviled by the laboiu'crs, unless the 
 law, as well as the relief proceeding from it, had beeu 
 modelled to meet their demands, — but that labourers 
 who had beeu rct'used relief had been heard to leave their 
 vestries saying, almost aloud, " You all want a few more 
 youd jires !" That intimidation, however ashamed they 
 
 : \ 
 
 •J . 
 
138 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 1 
 
 .». 
 
 I 
 
 might be to confess it, in many cases had been success- 
 fully exerted, and accordingly that designing men were 
 at that moment endeavouring to promulgate to the dis- 
 affected that tire would produce relief, and that relief 
 alone could extinguish fire ; but that henceforth, in a 
 iinion of parishes under the new law, the Guardians would 
 stand before the poor in the same situation as county 
 magistrates, who, having been enabled to refer to and 
 actually to read aloud the law to every oficndcr, had been 
 able to carry all its severest sentences into execution, 
 without losing their well-earned popularity; — that if men 
 for pleasure could walk, in order to go to fairs, five miles 
 (which was about the greatest distance any pauper in any 
 of the new pro])Osed Unions could live from its centre) ; — 
 that if they thought it no hardship to go the same dis- 
 tance to their market-towns ; — that if they cheerfully 
 went a still greater distance to ask for relief at the ma- 
 gisterial beuch ; — there was neither hardship nor injus- 
 tice in requiring them to proceed a similar distance to a 
 Union Workhouse, to be there clothed and supported by 
 the sweat of other men's brows ; — that although their 
 diet, Avhen they got there, might be what in this country 
 alone would be termed low, yet, after all, would they be 
 fed there better than the Russian peasant, the Prussian 
 peasant, the French peasant, — than almost every inde- 
 pendent labourer in Europe ; — in fine, that to feed its 
 paupers better than the independent labourer of Europe 
 was what no comitry in the world could afford ; — that 
 our having weakly attempted to do so, without at the 
 same time increasing the fare and condition of our 
 
ADDRESS TO THE RATEPAYERS. 
 
 139 
 
 
 honest labourers, had brought us to a condition in which 
 the farmer was now scarcely able to cultivate his land, — 
 and that, if we should continue to pride ourselves on such 
 a sin, we should soon, as a nation, be deservedly humbled 
 to the dust. 
 
 With respect to the houses of the proposed Union, 
 the Commissioner suggested, that, for the interest of 
 the lowest orders, it would be highly advantageous that 
 classification to a certain extent should be eft'ected. He 
 detailed to the parish officers the various scenes he had 
 witnessed, and the melancholy results of depravity which 
 a promiscuous intercourse was even still creating. He 
 appealed to them as fathers, whether they did not think 
 that it was their duty, at least, to shield the rising gene- 
 ration from the vices and errors of the present day ; — 
 whether it was not benevolent, and not cruel, that the 
 children of those who Avere unable to support their 
 offspring should receive education as well as food ; and 
 that, if improvident paupers called upon an enlightened 
 country to support their progeny, it should be permitted 
 for the public good, to insist on mingling moral instruc- 
 tion with the sustenance Avhich, in the name of charity, 
 they received : — whether, in fact, it was more cruel for 
 a pauper's child to be sent to school than for the chil- 
 dren of our most wealthy classes ? 
 
 As to the provision for the aged, the Commissioner 
 submitted to the opinion of the meetings, that, in- 
 stead of being thrown among children and young 
 men and women, their comforts would be materially 
 increased by their being kept together. He asked 
 
 In 
 
 , ' i- 
 
 *i! 
 
140 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 „ ( l^f; 
 
 'I! 
 
 ii 
 
 whether quietness was not one of the kindest cha- 
 rities which couhl be bestowed on age? whether a 
 diet as well as a home miglit not be provided for them 
 properly suited to their infirmities ; — and last, though 
 not least (if there was no one to deprive them of this 
 benefit), whether many additional comforts and indul- 
 gences might not be granted to old people, beyond what 
 could or should be aftbrded for every description of 
 applicants ? 
 
 He observed, that for the aged, as well as for the 
 children, no expensive government was requisite, inas- 
 much as a respectable pauper and his wife could always 
 be found capable of superintending the children, while 
 the aged, if they enjoyed but rest and quietness, scarcely 
 required any government at all ; — that consequently it 
 was not only demoralizing to the children, and dis- 
 tressing to the old people, but destructive of the powers 
 which would be necessary to control the able-bodied 
 labourers, to think of congregating all classes together 
 in one large building; that such a building would dis- 
 figure the face of an agricultural county, and would 
 unavoidably assume the revolting appearance of a prison 
 or a jail. 
 
 With respect to the government of the able-bodied 
 paupers, the Assistant Commissioner submitted, that, 
 for the welfare of society, the whole powers of their 
 parochial resources ought in prudence to be concentrated 
 on that difficult object, and not to be unscientifically 
 spread over a vast promiscuous assemblage of all the 
 paupers in the Union. He contended that all the able- 
 
ADDRESS TO THE RATEPAYERS. 
 
 141 
 
 if 
 
 bodied paupers ought to receive sufficient food, clothing, 
 firing, lodging ; that arrangements ought to be made for 
 giving them also work ; but that, with every disposition 
 to be charitable to them, their situation on the whole 
 ought, in spite of clamour, unavoidably to be made such 
 that they should be unwilling to come and anxious to 
 go, — that they should feel disposed in the New System 
 to break rather out of the workhouse, than, according 
 to the Old System, to break into it, — that to create such 
 a feeling was the only solid basis of social life, and that 
 if we wished to restore the invaluable distinction which 
 once existed between the English labourer and the 
 pauper, could only eflect that object by resolutely 
 creating a ''/j'erence between them. 
 
 In regard to able-bodied paupers haughtily refusing 
 to go fiv3 miles to the proposed New Union Poorhouse, 
 or rather to the old existing poorhouscs, — for he was 
 anxious, if possible, to erect no new buildings, — the 
 Commissioner observed, that a vessel in distress ought 
 thankfully to go to the harbour, not to expect that the 
 harbour is to come to it ; that when an able-bodied man 
 asks for relief, to use an old adage, "the beggar should not 
 be a chooser ;" that, even after a long day's march, our 
 soldiers abroad had occasionally five miles to trudge to 
 get to their billets for one night's rest ; and most espe- 
 cially, that in East Kent such an objection should not 
 be urged against the Toor-Law Amendment Act, inas- 
 much as in the Old Unions many of the parishes were 
 nine and twelve miles from the Union Workhouse ; in- 
 deed, at the old Coxheath Union, paupers had been, and 
 
!l) 
 
 142 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 m 
 
 
 fi 
 
 V'i 
 
 9 I were, sent by parishes to poorhouses situated twenty 
 miles distant ! 
 
 The Commissioner's Addresti was generally followed 
 by very long and anxious discussions. 
 
 There was however one great practical question which 
 at all the meetings Avas invariably addressed to him, 
 namely, " Does the new proposed system offer us any 
 means of employing the immense number of labourers, 
 who, with every desire to seek employment, are now 
 totally out of work?^or that is our sole evil." To 
 this all-important question, which appeared uppermost 
 in every one's mind, the Commissioner replied, that he 
 conceived the Poor-Law Amendment Act did not pre- 
 tend to find these men employment ; — that the new law 
 was a system against a system ; — that it was the Old 
 System, and not the new one, that had created more 
 labourers than M'ork ; — that any man of common sense 
 might, twenty years ago, have prophesied that such 
 would be its r-'jsult ; — and that it required no gift of pro- 
 phecy to foretell, that if the Old System were to continue, 
 the most dreadful of all revolutions would shortly ensue, 
 — namely, that the upper classes would lose all they 
 possessed, while the lower classes would gain nothing 
 but depravity and demoralization ; — that if intimidation 
 had not arrived, it was at least clearly in view ; — and that 
 the instant the lower orders succeeded in establishing 
 that, property and instittitions of all sorts would be at 
 an end. That to arrest this system was the avowed and 
 determined object of the Poor-Law Amendment Act ; — 
 that if a vessel v/ere sinking, it would be a false argu- 
 
ADDRESS TO THE RATEPAYERS. 
 
 143 
 
 wenty 
 Uowed 
 
 , which 
 
 o him, 
 
 us any 
 
 bourers, 
 
 ire now 
 
 I." To 
 
 )permost 
 
 , that he 
 
 not pre- 
 
 ! new law 
 
 s the Old 
 
 ited tnore 
 
 non sense 
 
 ithat such 
 
 riftofpro- 
 
 » continue, 
 
 rtly ensue, 
 all they 
 n nothing 
 itimidation 
 and that 
 ■stablishing 
 rould be at 
 avowed and 
 lent Act ; — 
 false argu- 
 
 *. 
 
 ment to use against the carpenter, .vho was ordered to 
 stop the leak, to say, that he should not do so unless he 
 could tell what was to be done with the water which 
 wa«3 already in the hold ; for that, in the execution of 
 his duty, it mattered to him not one straw whether there 
 was five feet of water aboard or ten. What would be 
 ;he carpenter's reply, but " Pump it out or drink it, if 
 you choose; my duty is to stop the leak"? It would be 
 for the Legislature, by other Acts, to provide for the alle- 
 viation of the evil to which these inquiries so natiu-ally 
 referred. Emigration to the colonies might and should 
 be encouraged ; the Allotment System might and should 
 be encoui'aged; but that even the Poor- Law Amend- 
 ment Act, though it could not undertake directly to 
 meet the evil, would, if it had fair play given to it, so 
 operate as indirectly to diminish the evil to an enormous 
 extent. He appealed to the parish officers whether it 
 was not undeniable that every farm in the county could 
 employ many more labourers than it did, if the farmer 
 had it in his power to threaten the labourer with his 
 discharge ; — that hedges might be put into order; — that 
 even a different style of husbandry might be introduced, 
 and that the necessity of overlookmg ever;' labourer 
 would cease if the farmer could only .say to him, " If you 
 will not serve me faithfully, I will discharge you !" But 
 he asked them whether at present the very best labourer 
 did not often say, "Master, I have no complaint; but 
 I don't see why I should be working hai'd for you, when 
 1 can live better and work more lightly for the parish ! " 
 The Assistant Comm' sioner read to the meetings a 
 
144 
 
 ENGLISH CHARITY. 
 
 ill 
 
 P' il 
 
 ' nmunication which the Poor-Law Board had lately 
 i jived from Manchester, earnestly begging for la- 
 bjurers, and saying, 
 
 " When a family in a Sussex village is starving on 7*. per 
 week, or living hardly in a workhouse, a letter from some 
 friend settled in Lancashire, stating that he is getting 25s. and 
 30». weekly, will electrify him into the means of arriving at 
 the land of promise. Give the wish, and the means he will 
 find himself" 
 
 But he asked whether it was likely that the labourer 
 would take the trouble of migrating (not to a foreign 
 climate, but even to a neighbouring shire in liis own 
 native kingdom), — whether it was likely that he would 
 take the trouble even to cross a hedge, — so long as there 
 was nothing to oblige him to do so ; in short, so long as 
 his energies were undeveloped by necessity ? He asked 
 why it Avas that the Irish managed to rob the English 
 labourer of his employment. Was it by over-working 
 him ? No ! but it was by under-living him ; and so 
 long as the diet of our poorhouses created indolence and 
 pampered sloth, so long would the English peasant be 
 beaten out of his own field by his inferior. 
 
 As soon as the discussion had worn itself out, the 
 Assistant Commissioner declared to the meetings that 
 having concluded his endeavours to show what advantages 
 society in general, and the poor in particular, would de- 
 rive by the formation of the new proposed Unions, he 
 would now beg leave to take the opinion of the magi^i- 
 trates and parochial officers of the division on the sub- 
 ject. Before doing so, he would only observe, that 
 
ADDRESS TO THE RATEPAYERS. 
 
 145 
 
 although it was not with him to meddle with, alter, or 
 pi'esurae to avert the Amendment Act, which had just 
 become the law of the land, — although the Poor-Law 
 Commissione-s had power arbitrarily to create the 
 Unions he had submitted to their consideration, — yet 
 ^hat, without going against it, he had so far the means 
 of evading the law, that in ease a majcn-ity of those pre- 
 sent should, after all he had said, deliberately express a 
 Avish to remain as they were, he could, and if the Puor- 
 Law Commissioners for England and A\'alcs should 
 permit him, he would, meet their wislies by proceeding 
 at once to some of those districts in England which 
 were eagerly requesting to be reformed. They had 
 therefore now to determine whet! .e should remain in 
 East Kent, with every desire to forward its interests, or 
 at once proceed elsewhere. 
 
 The Assistant Commissioner then produced and read 
 to the meetings the following paper : — 
 
 " Sir Francis B. Head, Assistant Poor-Law Commissioner, 
 being desirous to obtain the sentiments of the Mugistrates and 
 
 Parochial Officers of the Division of the County of Kent, 
 
 on the important subject of a Union, or Unions of Purishes, re- 
 (piests the sense of this meeting on the following i)ropositiou : 
 
 "It is Proposed, That the Division of , in the 
 
 County of Kent, should (subject to the approbation of tlie Poor- 
 Law Commissioners for England and Wales) consent to resolve 
 itself into Unions of Parishes, for the purpose of establishing 
 within each of the said Unions classified and well-regulated 
 workhouses, in which the paupers (especially those that are 
 able-bodied) may be set to work. 
 
 " (Signed) F. B. Head." 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
 ni 
 
 ;!i"M 
 
146 
 
 ENGLISH CHAUITY. 
 
 ■I 
 
 On tlio sense of the meetings being taken on the above 
 proposition, the following was the result : — 
 
 Meetings. 
 
 Nunilier 
 
 of 
 Parishes. 
 
 I'opiihition. 
 
 No. of Miipis- 
 
 ti'iitcH, Piu'lnh 
 
 OlIlctTH, olc. 
 
 present. 
 
 For the 
 I'ropu. 
 Hition. 
 
 AgiiiiiMt 
 it. 
 
 Upper Division of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tlio Lath of Scrav 
 
 50 
 
 35,510 
 
 197 
 
 191 
 
 3 
 
 Archbishop's Pahico, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cantorburv . . 
 
 25 
 
 0,071 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 Wiiigliam Division 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of St. Augiistino 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Latli .... 
 
 5(5 
 
 2G,fi(?l 
 
 19G 
 
 195 
 
 1 
 
 Ashford Division . 
 
 12 
 
 22,()()!> 
 
 171 
 
 170 
 
 1 
 
 Elhani Division 
 
 2G 
 
 11,899 
 
 lai 
 
 101 
 
 
 
 
 199 
 
 101,8-13 
 
 710 
 
 705 
 
 5 j 
 
 n 
 
 h 
 
 CONCLUDINa OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In the history of the Poor-Law Amendment Act, it is 
 with pleasure Ave record, that every magistrate who Avas 
 present at these meetings (as well as every clergyman 
 not a magistrate) not only refrained from opposing the 
 proposition, but gave to the Assistant Poor-Law Com- 
 missioner the most generous support."*^ " Clearly seeing," 
 he says, " that I was both incompetent and unqualified 
 for the arduous duty I had to perform, in every instance 
 they generously crowded around me, encouraged me by 
 their speeches, maintained me by their intlueuce, and 
 nothing can be more true than that, without their assist- 
 
 * Tlie Ciiairmen of the several meeting.^, namely Lord Har/is, Bev. C. 
 Ilallelt, T. P. riuiutrce, Esq., M.P., E. Knight, Esq., W. Deedes, Esq., 
 and tlie Earl Amherst, most particularly supported him by their speeches 
 and arguments. 
 
CONCLUDING OUSEKVATIONS. 
 
 U7 
 
 le 
 u- 
 1. 
 
 A((iiin.sl 
 it. 
 
 ' 
 
 3 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 » 
 
 1 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 5 
 
 fincc, I could not liave succeeded in any object." On 
 entering East Kent, it had more than once been hinted 
 to him by several individuals that the magistrates were 
 .igainst the new law, because, depriving them of- the ex- 
 penditure of the Poor-rates, it would leave them nothing 
 but painful duties to pc form. The tlicory was certainly 
 a plausible one ; but those; who jealously urged it little 
 knew that it is by disregarding petty interests and paltry 
 distinctions tliat he who is really a gentleman invariably 
 disap[)oints the calculations of the vulgar ! The magis- 
 trates of England have, we believe, been very unjustly 
 accused of having been the cause of the profuse expendi- 
 ture of our Poor-rates. That thev have been the instru- 
 ments, we do not deny ; but with no controlling power, 
 with no public accountants, with no assistance, with no 
 support, and with the storm of false luimauity against 
 them, we contend it was utterly impossible for them to 
 govern a vessel which had neither rudder, compass, nor 
 pilot ! That they Avould willingly have done their duty 
 in this matter, as they have done it in all others, is in- 
 disputably proved (at least as far as regards East Kent) 
 by the manner in which they unanimously supported 
 the New Poor-Law Amendment Act; and should that 
 Act eventually confer on society the blessings which its 
 framers contemplate, we conceive that 'these Kentish 
 magistrates will, by having set this example, be allowed 
 optim^ meruisse rei/mblica. 
 
 The Assist.\nt Commissioner, having obtained from 
 the magistrates and parochial officers their approbation 
 of his project, protocded to the Guardians of the respcc- 
 
 2 
 
 1,4! 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I., 
 
 '). 
 
 1 > 
 
 iil 
 
 r 
 
148 
 
 K.NOLISil CHARITY. 
 
 lil 
 
 tivc Unions, Avhieh had all been formed nnd(T the .'ijind 
 of George III, Wc will not tire our readers by detailini; 
 the very great dittieidties he encountered in persuading 
 these people to put hand to paper, signing the death- 
 warrant of their own authority : in several instances ho 
 was obliged to have three meetings on the sulyect ; but 
 the snp})ort he had met with was eventually irresistible, 
 and the (iuardiansof nine Unions, comprehending ninety- 
 nine parishes, at last signed the paper submitted to them, 
 and their dissolution was immediatelv declared. 
 
 In the whole of Kast Kent there was one little Union 
 of three parishes, which alone resisted every argument 
 that the Assistant Commissioner could use. We will 
 not even mention its name, it being quite sufKeient to 
 observe that the governor of the workhouse, ordered by 
 Gilbert's Act to be appointed by the Guardians, received 
 his salary without even living in the poorhouse, and 
 that this said governor was actually one of the Guardians ; 
 in fact, the good man had appointed himself. With this 
 trifling exception, the old Unions in East Kent having 
 been, by consent of their Guardians, all levelled to the 
 ground, and the whole district having willingly submitted 
 itself to the recommendation of the Poor-Law Board, 
 it was divided into sixteen new Unions, most of which 
 comprehend, w khin a circle of about ten miles' diameter, 
 a population of nearly ten thousand. 
 
 Although a general fear to undertake the novel duty 
 naturally exists, several most respectable Guardians for 
 these Unions have already been appointed, and the As- 
 sistant Commissioner is now attending on each, to lend 
 
'(5 
 
 (leatli- 
 
 C«)NCLUDING OnSEHVATIONS. 
 
 149 
 
 liis assistance in their first steps, wliicli must unavoid- 
 ably 1x3 attended with considerable difficulties. That 
 many little embarrassments will at first occur, — that 
 those most competent to discharfjc the duties of (juar- 
 dians will at first hang hack, — that some incom[x;tcnt to 
 the duty will be appointed, — that prejudice aiul ignorance, 
 that the narrow-minded, that men of sickly judgment, 
 that false philanthropists, in short that all descriptions 
 of " Second -chance men" will do their utmost to im- 
 jiedc the progress of the Pooi-Law Amendment Act, 
 there can be no doubt whatever; but as our readers pro- 
 l)ably, like ourselves, are sleepy, and for the moment 
 dead tired of the subject, we will conclude by observing 
 that, if a dozen or two sensible Guardians of a compact 
 Union, supported by the strong powers of a Ceuti'al 
 ]?oard, shall provi: incapable to govern their own affairs, 
 it is perfectly evident that no Inmian jxjwcr can assist 
 them. 
 
 With respect to the I*oor-Law Commissioners for 
 England and Wales, we know but little of them, but 
 what little we do know we will stale. Out of about two 
 thousand applications which tliey have received for the 
 situation of Assistant Commissioner, they have selected 
 twelve individuals, to at least ten of whom they were 
 ])reviously total strai.gers. Their ui'banity has already 
 gained for them the zealous co-operation of their ser- 
 vants, and, since their own appointment, they have un- 
 remittingly devoted themselves to the laborious duties 
 of their office. 
 
 The creation of a Central Board for the adniinistra- 
 
 S ! 
 
 ! 
 I 
 
 a 
 
 ! i 
 
 k i 
 
 
 m\ 
 
150 
 
 ENGLISH CIIAUITV. 
 
 tion of the Poor-Law was strongly and repeatedly nrgcd 
 in the ' Quarterly Review,* h)ng hcfore the new Act had 
 been framed, or, we believe, thought of: we are of opinion 
 now, as we were then, that sneh a Hoard, if judieiously 
 constituted, must eventually act on the best possible in- 
 Corniation ; that this information must become better 
 than any opinion of any individual, of any parish, or of 
 any district ; and that it is particularly for the interest 
 of the poor that a corps of Assistant Commissioners 
 should henceforward be circulating among them, ready 
 to listen to their complaints, and eager to remedy their 
 grievances. 
 
 ; ; 
 
131 
 
 1 
 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 Thkrk is, wc humbly tliink, something impressively ap- 
 [)alling ill the reflection that everything in ereation has 
 been immutably fixed, by a strict entail, save and except 
 the march, jjrogrcssive or retrograde, of human reason. 
 
 The velocity of lightning, the sound of thunder, the 
 power of the wi:ul, which still goeth where it listeth, 
 do not increase. The heat of the sun, the blueness of 
 the sky, the freshness of mountain air, the solemn 
 grandeur of the trackless ocean, remain xuialtered. The 
 nest of the bird improves no more than its plumage, — 
 the habitation of the beaver no more than its fur, — 
 the industry of the bee no more than its hone. ; aid, 
 lo\ely as is the melody of the English lark, yet tlic un- 
 changed accents of its morning hymn daily proclaim to 
 us, from the firmament of heaven, that in tue conjuga- 
 tion of the works of Nature there are no distinctions of 
 tenses, for that what is, what was, and what will be, are 
 the same. 
 
 But it is not so with human reason. Man alone has 
 the power to amass and bequeath to his posterity what- 
 
 I' 
 
 1)1 
 
 rfn 
 
 
153 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 y J 
 
 'li 
 
 ever knoAvlodgc he acquires, and thus our condition on 
 earth may be improved ad injinitum by the labour, intel- 
 ligence, and discoveries of those who have preceded us. 
 
 Human reason being therefore a fluctuating series, 
 while brute instinct is a fixed quantity, there is some- 
 thing encouraging in reflecting that the high degree of 
 instinct with which animals are gifted, coupled with our 
 promised dominion over every beast of the field, foretell 
 the superior eminence which human intelligence sooner 
 or later is destined to attain. For instance, the powerful 
 eyesight of the eagle might have almost led a philosopher 
 to prophesy the invention of the telescope, by which we 
 have been permitted to siirpass it. The astonishing in- 
 stinct of those birds of America, which from the luxury 
 of a southern latitude annually return to a wilderness 
 nearly a thousand miles di.-tant, to build their nests on 
 the very trees upon whose branches they were reared, 
 might have led hira to foretell the discovery of the 
 compass, whi(!h enables men, not only in one direction, 
 but in all directions, to probe their way to the rem« .est 
 regions of the earth. 
 
 The strength and ferocity of the lion, the tiger, and 
 the rhinoceros, might have foretold the invention of fire- 
 arms, which have empowered us, with fearless confidence, 
 to seek rather than avoid every beast of the field. 
 
 The immense size of the whale, so fortified by the 
 boisterous element in Avhieh it lives, might have led a 
 man to prognosticate the simple apparatus by which it 
 is now captured. 
 
 The speed of the horee, — the strength of the ox, — tho 
 
LOCOMOTION nV STEAM. 
 
 153 
 
 acute sense of smell in the dog, — the patient enduranee 
 of "the ship of the desert," the camel, — the stupendous 
 power of the elephant, — and the; swiftness of the cnrricr- 
 pigeon's Aving, have already, by the ex(>i*tion of the hu- 
 man mind, one after another, been made subservient to 
 the interests of man, for whose dominion they were 
 created ; and, though we cannot deny that in certain 
 instances human reason has not yet surpassed brute in- 
 stinct, yet we should rememl)cr that in science, as well 
 as in religion, it has beneficently been declared to us, 
 " Seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
 imto you." 
 
 If this train of reasoning had been applied to the sud- 
 den discovery of America, as well as to our almost simul- 
 taucous acquaintance with other immense uninhabited 
 regions, whose mountains, ])lains, lakes, rivers, and cata- 
 racts, on a scale of stupendous magnificence, totally un- 
 snitcd to the means wc then possessed, had apparently 
 been created altogether too large for us to grapple with ; 
 — if the same train of reasoning had becji applied to 
 the fearful increase of population, simultaneously observ- 
 able among every nation on the globe ; — it would surely 
 only have been placing due confidence in the wisdom of 
 that Providence which " knoweth our necessities before 
 we ask," had wc from these data prophesied the advent 
 among us of some new gigantic power, strong enough 
 to enable us not only to travei'sc these new countries, 
 but to mingle with their inhabitants with a facility pro- 
 portionate to the increased wants of the human family. 
 
 This new gigantic power has very lately arrived ; and, 
 
 II 3 
 
 
 ip;;' 
 
! . 1 
 
 'I; 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 » ', 
 
 111 
 
 I 
 
 154 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 although the distances as well as difficulties wc have to 
 soiitend with have, during the last three centuries, 
 greatly increased, yet most true it is that we are at this 
 moment more competent than ever we were before the 
 discovery of America to contend with the amount of 
 dangers which assail us by land and sea. In truth, we 
 have attained more power than at the present moment 
 we have courage to wield ; and, instead of being alarmed 
 at the distances which separate us from remote nations, 
 we actually tremble at the means we possess of approach- 
 ing them, by sudden subjugation of elements which have 
 hitherto proverbially been invincible. Time and tide 
 once waited for no man. Now no man waits for them. 
 Of the long-bewailed tyranny of the winds, it may truly 
 be said, " Le congres est dissous." Science has, at last, 
 ended the quarrel which since the beginning had existed 
 between fire and water, and by the union, or belle alli- 
 ance, of these two furious elements, she has created that 
 gigantic power of steam which the subject at present 
 before our mind leads us for a few moments to consider. 
 
 I. stea:m power on the aqueous surface of 
 
 THE GLOBE. 
 
 If the wild tribes of Lake Huron were even at this 
 moment to be told that the white man's recipe for con- 
 quering the waves of the great fresh-water sea before 
 them was to take up a very small portion of it and boil 
 it ; — if sixty years figo Dr. Johnson had been told (as, 
 exhausted by a hard day's literary labour, he sat rumi- 
 
 
AQUEOUS SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 [Oii 
 
 
 nating at his fireside \vaiting for his favourite heverage) 
 that the tiny volume of white smoke he was listlessly 
 gazing at, as it issued from the spout of his black iron 
 tea-kettle, was a power competent to r. bukc the waves, 
 and to set even the hurricane at defiance, — the red 
 children of Nature would listen to the intelligence with 
 no greater astonishment than our venerable lexico- 
 grapher would have received it. 
 
 To credit such a statement, hoM'evcr gravely uttered, 
 would have been almost impossible ; indeed how many 
 among us can now scarcely l)ring our minds to believe 
 it, though we see it? Not only at its birth did the 
 vigorous infant run alone, but, quickly breaking the 
 apron-string that tethered it to our side, it fled we 
 hardly know where. Let us, thcrefoi'c, for a moment 
 endeavour to follow it. 
 
 Those who have traversed the Pacific, as well as the 
 great Atlantic and Indian Oceans, have ever been ac- 
 customed to observe a small, dark line or thread which 
 every here and there perpendicularly connects the clouds 
 with the waters. We need scarcely say that we allude 
 to waterspouts, which, especially in fine weather, when 
 siuldonly summoned into existence, leave the human 
 mind in doubt whether they are messengers descending 
 to us from heaven, or spirits rising from the vasty deep 
 on which we sail. In addition to these symbols, whose 
 antiquity is coeval with creation, a modern hieroglyphic 
 lias become one of the well-known characteristics of the 
 ocean, and now on almost every portion of the aqueous 
 globe the appearance of a slight horizontal stain in the 
 
 
 
 rfS 
 
 I m 
 
 ) 1 
 
 
15G 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 ^).I 
 
 i . 
 
 ,M' V 
 
 atmosplicrc dcsignarLS, according to its colour and its 
 form, that a steam «i' is or has been beneath it. 
 
 These self-proprllea vessels have not only made their 
 way round the Cajjc of Good Hope to Iiuiia, where the 
 new power is regularly plying on the Ganges, but our 
 readers are aware they have just successfully crossed the 
 Atlantic, in consequence of which not only are immense 
 vessels — one of them thirty feet longer than the largest 
 linc-of-battle ship in the Britisli service — now building 
 on both sides of the water, in order to establish a regu- 
 lar steam-communication between the Old World and 
 Amr>vica, but arrangements have been commenced and 
 companies formed for connecting our trade across the 
 Isthmus of Daricn with steamers which are to ply on the 
 great Pacific Ocean between Valparaiso and Panama, a 
 distance of about :i500 miles; — by whicli means the 
 voyage round Cajjc lloi'u to Lima, which has hitherto 
 occupied our trading-vessels about four months, will, it 
 is said, be reduced to about thirty days, 
 
 T'> the Mediterranean, steam-vessels are used by 
 Christians, Jews, and Turks. Our garrisons of (Gibral- 
 tar, INIalta, aiul Zante, no longer, as in old times, are 
 doomed to lie becalmed without letters from England, 
 although two or three packets might be due ; but to a 
 day, and almost to an hour, they calculate upon the arri- 
 val of the welcome messenger ; and, whether the wind be 
 too great or too little, whether it be gregale or potiente, 
 the prediction in the almanack is verified by the appear- 
 ance through the telescope of the distant black breath 
 of the English postman, — we mean, of the approaching 
 steamer, which is bringing them their mail. 
 
AQUEOUS SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 157 
 
 by 
 
 In 182 i the 'Hugh Lindsay' steamer, of 411 tons, 
 made four successive voyages Ijctwecn Bombay and Suez ; 
 and, notwithstanding the south-west monsoon, — notwitli- 
 standing that the vessel req\iircd to be propelled, without 
 her engine being stopped, 3000 miles against a strong 
 wind, lieavy sea, and lec-eurrcnt, — the voyage has been 
 made against the monsoon to Suez from Bombay. Tlie 
 intricacy of the passage of the lied Sea, — the local and 
 unusual difficulties which characterize it, — the savage 
 ])assions of some of the nations which inhabit its coast, — 
 add to the triumph of the ethereal power whicli has suc- 
 cessfiilly wormed its way through all these dangers, for 
 the important object of communicating prompt intelli- 
 gence to those hundred millions of inhabitants who ani- 
 mate the eastern portion of the British empire. 
 
 The number of steamers which from the port of Lon- 
 don alone radiate in almost every direction, is a fact which 
 a few years ago could not have been conceived possible. 
 
 The old Leith, as also the Aberdeen smacks, whose un- 
 certain passage to London w as from three days to a fort- 
 night, have been now nearly superseded (as far as passen- 
 gers arc concerned) by steamers, which perform the dis- 
 tance w ith such regularity, that — whether the wind be 
 fair or foul — families at Edinburgh, vhen the appointed 
 hour arrives, drive to Newhaven to greet their expected 
 liondon friends, who, if they have not actually arrived, 
 will, they know, almost immediately be seen, perspiring 
 in the offing. 
 
 The steamers which ply from England to Calais, 
 Boulogne, Havre, Diejjpc, Granville, St. ]Malo, Dublin, 
 
158 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 / ii 
 
 Mr ■ 
 
 Bonlciiux, R' ttcrdam, Cologne, ]\Tcntz, Cobleiitz, !MaT)- 
 heim, and to the various towii;- and villu^xs on the biuiks 
 of the llhinc, perform their respective passage * with 
 equal punctuality ; and. ospeciall; at tlie latter places, 
 the hurried ringing of the bell, which announces their 
 close approach to their r(>;pective liu'/ens, eoiueiiles very 
 ncai'lv with th*' slow striking of the parish elock, whici , 
 in simple jnono3yllal)les informs the little coniniiiuity 
 that tho hoiiv apjKiated for the appearance of their 
 snioke-i.(/ .V has arrived. 
 
 With similar precision do steamers within the Conti- 
 nent of Europe (which may almost be sniJ to be girt 
 round with a chain of them) ply to Antwcj), Ostend, 
 Hamburg, Zwolle, Amsterdam, Saardam, Strasburg, 
 Kiel, Copenhagen, LUbeek, Gothenburg, St. Petersburg, 
 Dobberan, Stockholm, Christiania, Bergen, Schaffhau- 
 sen; — across the Lakes of Constance, Ziirich, Wallen- 
 stadt. Lucerne, Thun, NeufchAtel, Morat, Lago Mag- 
 giorc, Como, Guarda, etc.; — on the Danube, from Galatz 
 to Pesth, Vienna, Linz and Ratisbon; — on the Save, from 
 Belgrade to within eighty miles of Fiume, an Austrian 
 seaport on the Adriatic ; — from Drontheim to Hammer- 
 fest; far within the Polar Circle, in latitude 70° ; — from 
 Stockholm to Upsala, Tornea (the most northern town 
 in Europe), Abo, Revel, Cronstadt, etc. etc. 
 
 In the Thames alone, steamers are plying in all direc- 
 tions. Almost every five minutes throughout the day, a 
 communication is going on between Hungerford Stairs, 
 London Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, 
 Kew, Richmond, and Twickenham. Below London 
 
AQUEOUS SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 159 
 
 Bridge, tlie tortuous course of the river is, dux'iug every 
 day of the week, singularly designated by innumerable 
 dashes of horizontal smolce; and, as the steamers from 
 ■which they have proceeded — reckless of wind or tide, 
 and with velocities proportionate to their different horse- 
 ])owers — pass and repass the noble Hospital where the 
 elite of our weather-beaten sailors are reposing in peace, 
 one can hardly help reflecting with what astonishment 
 their old admiral. Nelson, if he could be conjured up 
 among them, would gaze upon this wonderful picture of 
 the march and progress of human reason ! 
 
 The Irish Sea, in various directions, is traversed by 
 steamers; and between Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, 
 Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Donegal,' London- 
 derry, Belfast, Isle of Man, Liverpool, Holyhead, Bristol, . 
 etc., there is a never-ceasing communication. In the 
 inland lakes of Ireland, from Shannon Harbour to Ath- 
 lonc, Lough Ree, Carrick, and by Limerick to the sea, 
 these waters are partially navigated for 150 miles by 
 steam- vessels, carrying goods and passengers, or acting 
 as tugs. From below Limerick, steamers now ply to 
 Clare, Kilrush, and Tarbert ; the immber of passengers 
 between those places having amounted, in the year 1830, 
 to 23,851. In short, so rapid has been the increase in 
 steam-vessels throughout the British empire, at home 
 and abroad, that, although in 1814 mc possessed only 
 two, the united tonnage of which was 450 tons, we have 
 now a fleet of GOO, whose tonnage amounts to 07,909 
 tons. 
 
 The victory which the power of steam has gained upon 
 
160 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 i' 
 
 iil 
 
 h i 
 
 the aqueous surface of North America is even j^foatcr 
 than that Avliich we have already dcseribed. Thirty 
 years ago the United States had but one steamer — tlioy 
 have now between 500 and 600. Mr. David Stevenson, 
 in his late narrative, states that abreast of New Orleans 
 may be seen numerous tiers of steamboats, of gigantic 
 dimensions, just arrived from, or preparing to start for, 
 tlie upper countries, through mIucIi passes the Missis- 
 sippi, whose tributary streams Mould, it is said, in length 
 twice encircle the globe. Mr. Stevenson says — " At 
 every hour, I had almost said at every mirnite of the 
 day, the magnificent steamboats which convey passen- 
 gers from New Orleans into the heart of the western 
 country fii'c off their signal guns, and dash away at a 
 rate which makes me giddy even to think of." Steamers 
 were first introduced on the Mississippi in 1811; and 
 by 1831, 318 had been built for the navigation of the 
 western waters. 
 
 In the very heart of the continent of America, at Pitts- 
 burg, may be seen moored in the river Ohio a fleet of 
 thirty or forty steamers, some of which have meandered 
 from New Orleans (about 2000 miles) through the waters 
 of the Mississippi and Ohio. The deck of the ' St. Louis,' 
 which plies on the former of these streams, and carries 
 about 1000 tons, is 230 feet. 
 
 On the Hudson River, the passage from Albany to 
 New York is regularly performed at the rate of 15 miles 
 an hour. The steamboats which ply between New 
 York and the ports of Providence and Charleston are of 
 stupendous dimensions. The Narragausett's keel is 210 
 
AQUEOUS SURFACE OF THE OLOIIE. 
 
 161 
 
 
 feet in leuf?tli. These sea-stcamcrs aflbrd moat cxecllcivt 
 accommodation, and often contain about four hurulrcd 
 berths. The cabins are from IGO to 175 feet in length ; 
 and it is not unusual to see nearly two hundred people 
 dining together. The power of the engines is propor- 
 tionally great : that of the ' Narragansett ' equals 773 
 horses ; that of the ' Rochester,' 748. 
 
 The great North American lakes, or rather seas, of 
 fresh water, are so admirably adapted to steamers, that 
 they are there seen, as might be expected, in vast num- 
 bers. They are strongly built vessels (furnished with 
 masts and sails), propelled by powerful engines, some of 
 which act on the high-pressure and some on the low- 
 pressure principle. liuke Eric alone is traversed by be- 
 tween forty and fifty, from 200 to 700 tons register. 
 
 The St. Lawrence steamers, all of which are owned 
 by Ikitish subjects, are also fine, powerful vessels. Mr. 
 Stevenson fovnid the deck of one, the ' John Bull,' to be 
 210 feet in length. In this vessel he passed from Quebec 
 to Montreal, a distance of 180 miles, in forty hours, 
 against a current averaging three miles an hour. Upon 
 this occasion the * John IJull' had a fleet of five vessels in 
 tow, — one drawing 12^, another 10 1, two 9, and one 7 
 feet of water ; and it is not uncommon to sec a steamer, 
 with 1200 or 1500 passengers, towing (or, as it is termed, 
 tiiyyiny) through the Scylla and Charybdis difficulties of 
 the St. Lawrence, six of such vessels, against the current 
 of a river which is supposed annually to discharge into the 
 sea 4,277,880 millions of tons of water ! 
 
 Of the various modes of water-conveyance to which 
 
 li 
 
1G2 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 m 
 
 ii'iii 
 
 
 J- 
 
 'i ' 
 
 the traveller on this glohe is suhjectcil, thcTC is perhaps 
 T10 one more curious than tliat Avhieh wc lately enjoyed 
 of descending one of the great rapids of America, in a 
 small bark-canoe, under the command, as is customary, 
 of two Indians; and the anxiety to witness this spectacle 
 is perhai)s not at all disagreeably spiced by that still, 
 warning voice of reason, which gravely admonishes the 
 adventurer that his undertaking, interesting as it may 
 be, is not altogether divested of danger. 
 
 For lK->ide8 the rocks, shoals, and snags which are to 
 be avoided, unceasing attention must be given to innu- 
 merable logs of hewn timber, which, having been wafted 
 by the hunbcrers to the commencement of the rapid, 
 have been left to be hurried for eight or nine miles to- 
 wards their market, — sometimes 8ei)arately, sometimes 
 hustling each other, sometimes floundering, and some- 
 times, if anything irritates or obstructs their passage, 
 rearing up in the water until they almost reel over. As 
 soon as a berth or clear phiee is observed between these 
 masses of floating timber, the elder Indian, who is seated 
 at the head of the canoe, his yoimger comrade being at 
 the stern, and the passenger in the middle, calmly lets 
 go his hold of the bank, and the two Indians, each fur- 
 nished with a single paddle, immediately standing up, 
 the frail bandbox which contains them floats indolently 
 until it reaches the r Ige or crest of the rapid, — which is 
 no sooner passed, than the truth rushes upon the mind 
 of the traveller that all possibility of stopping has ceased, 
 and that this "hubble-bubble, t( 1 and trouble" must 
 continue until the eight or nine miles of the rapids shall 
 be passed. 
 
 I ^ 
 
 
AQUKOUS SURFACE OF THE OLOBE. 
 
 103 
 
 In the apparent turmoil of this seene, in wliieli the 
 canoe is preceded, as well as followed, by masses of heavy 
 timber, tlie slightest touch of Avhieh would annihilate 
 it, — the icy-cold judjj^nient of the old Indian, — his 
 collected but lightning-like decision, — the simplicity 
 and trancpnllity of his red, beardless face, thatched over 
 ])y his blulT-cut, black, lank hair, — his total absenco 
 of either fear or bravado, — his iuimutable presence of 
 mind, — and, in places of the greatest possible noise and 
 confusion in the waters, the mild tone of voice with 
 which he softly utters to his young comrade the mono- 
 syllable that directs him to steer the stern of the canoe 
 in the direction opposite to that which he himself gives 
 to its head, — form altogether a most striking contrast 
 with the boisterous scene, the sudden kaleidoscope- 
 changes of which it is utterly impossible to describe; — 
 for one danger has no sooner been avoided than, instead 
 of having time to reflect on it for a moment, the eye is 
 attracted to a second, as sn.ddculy passcid and as in- 
 stantly succeeded by a third. Sometimes the canoe 
 rapidly dashes over a sunken rock, or between two 
 barely-covered fragments, which to have touched wouhi 
 have been ruin. In avoiding these a snag is passed, which 
 would have spitted the canoe had it impinged on it. 
 Sometimes the middle of the stream is the safest. Some- 
 times the Indian steers close to the steep, rocky bank, 
 where it becomes evident the velocity of the current is 
 so great, that if the canoe were to be upset, its passen- 
 gers, even if they could snatch hold of the bough of a 
 tree, coulil not hang on to it, without being suffocated 
 
. >' 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 \ : 
 
 ti ^ 
 
 f 
 
 'i 
 
 ' ! 
 
 16i 
 
 LOCOMOTION HY STEAM ON TUB 
 
 by the resistance wliidi in that position they wouhl ofl'ci' 
 to the rushin}jj waters. Sonietinu>s, at a moment when 
 all is apjjarently prosperous, md the water, on account 
 of its }j,reater depth or breadth, has become eoniparatively 
 tranquil, some of the timber ahead, proceeding; encUforc- 
 most, strikes either against the side, or some sunken rock 
 in the middle of the stream, in which case tlic tree sud- 
 denly halts, and, veering round, impedes the rest of the 
 timber until the congregated mass, forcing its way, clears 
 the passage, perhaps just before the canoe, which cannot 
 stoj), reaches it. At other times, in traversing the stream 
 to avoid dithcultics, the pursuing tind)cr approaches the 
 canoe nearer than is agreeable. In some places the river 
 suddenly narrows, and here, the waves are not only tre- 
 mendous, but the whole character of the torrent seems 
 to be changed, for the water ai)parently ceases altogether 
 to descend the channel, doing nothing but as it were boil- 
 ing and bubbling up from the bottom. In approaching 
 this cauldron, the case seems hopeless, and often con- 
 tinues so until the canoe is close ujjon it, when the In- 
 dian's eagle-eye searches out some little aqueous furrow, 
 through which his nutshell vessel can pass, and, though 
 his countenance is as traucjuil as ever, yet the muscular 
 exertion he makes to attain this passage will not easily 
 be forgotten by any passenger whose fortune it has ever 
 been to observe it. As soon as the declivity of the 
 rapids has ended, the water instantly becomes tranquil, 
 the two Indians sit down in the canoe, and, on reacshing 
 the shore, one of tlu^m with perfect ease carries it on his 
 shoulders during the remaiiuler of the day. 
 
 ^ i 
 
AQUEOUS SUIIKACK OF THE ULOIIE. 
 
 105 
 
 1(1 ofUu' 
 
 t wl»(Ml 
 
 iccount 
 •ativclv 
 
 ft 
 
 i(l-forc- 
 cii rock 
 •oc siul- 
 t of tlio 
 ^, elciira 
 L cannot 
 ? stream 
 :;hcs the 
 the river 
 )nlv tre- 
 \i sccnis 
 together 
 ere boil- 
 roach in g 
 ten con- 
 the In- 
 i furrow, 
 , thongh 
 iniiscnlar 
 ot easily 
 has ever 
 T of the 
 tranqnil, 
 rea(!hing 
 it on his 
 
 It would, of course, be inipossibh; for any vessel to 
 nneend a torrent siniilar to that down which, by a digres- 
 sion that we hope will be pardoned, onr readers have 
 just unexpectedly been precipitated ; yet on the St. Law- 
 rence it is not unusual to sec a steamer cliiiib a long 
 ra[)i(l of very considerable violence. From the deck of 
 a vessel in this situation, it is very iiitercstiug to deter- 
 mine, by the relative bearing of fixed objects on shore, 
 the slow but sure conqui'st which the power of steam is 
 nudving over the elements of wind and water, both of 
 which are occasionally seen eond)ining to oppose its pro- 
 gress. In places where the current is the strongest the 
 ascent for a time is almost imperceptible; every moment 
 we expected that the engine would l)c beaten, and that 
 the vigorous strength of the steam would be exhausted 
 by the untiring force of its adversaries ; but no, — the hot 
 water in the long-run beat the cold ; the fire conquered 
 the wind. — And, though the liquid element was continu- 
 ously slipping from luiderueath the vessel, and though 
 the air in close column was unceasingly charging to 
 oppose it, yet — " at spes infracta" — in spite of all these 
 dittieulties, the steamer triimq)hantly reached the sum- 
 mit of the rai)ids, and then merrily glided forward on its 
 course. 
 
 Until last year's disturbances in the Canadas it had 
 been considered impracticable for steamers to navigate 
 the great fresh-water seas of America in winter. The 
 Lakes Huron and Ontario, which, from their iinmcnsc 
 depth, arc never frozen over, are subject to sudden and 
 most violent gales of wind ; and, as soon as all the rivers, 
 
 '( 
 
 , *L!6 
 
1G6 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 mil 
 
 li'm 
 
 m I. 
 
 liarboiirsj and bays become hard enough to bear the pas- 
 sag3 even of artillery, no liaven is left in which a vessel 
 can seek refuge from the storm. For the coast, which, 
 generally speaking, is in summer of easy access, becomes 
 gradually incrustcd ■with ice ; against ihis barrier the 
 ■waves break, and, as the water is no sooner motionless 
 thun it freezes, the whole shelving beach gradually be- 
 comes, and, until the hot season melts it, remains, a 
 reef of rocky ice of a most forbidding and inhospitable 
 appearance. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the 
 steamers of Upper Canada conti'ived last winter to navi- 
 gate the lake until the 4th of February, when, after a 
 short refit, they again went out, and patiently contimied 
 their services until " the sun strengthened and the days 
 lengthened;" in short, until, their rppuMlican invaders 
 having been everywhere repulsed, warm, peaceful weather 
 arrived. 
 
 Nothing, but the imminent danger which threatened 
 the Canadas from the perfidious conduct of the United 
 States' authorities, in allowinq the artilU^ry and muskets 
 of their public arsenals to be hostilely turned against a 
 high-minded, generous nation with which they wer.3 
 trading under a solemn treaty of peace, could have war- 
 ranted the desperate experiment of trying to transport 
 arms, artillery, and troops during the winter from Kings- 
 ton to Toronto, Niagara, and Hamilton. It was confi- 
 dently predicted that the paddles would become clogged 
 Avith ice, that the boilers would burst, and that the ves- 
 sels would even become water-logged from the weight of 
 the frozen element on their bows; however trip after 
 
AQUEOUS SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 167 
 
 .e pas- 
 I, vessel 
 wliich, 
 ecomes 
 ier the 
 tioiilcss 
 allv be- 
 laiiis, a 
 suitable 
 5CS, the 
 to navi- 
 , after a 
 jntiniied 
 the days 
 iiwaders 
 I weather 
 
 eatened 
 United 
 muskets 
 gainst a 
 icy wcr-i 
 ave war- 
 Lransport 
 n Khigs- 
 as confi- 
 clogged 
 the ves- 
 ■weight of 
 np after 
 
 trip was effceted with impunity, and the important ser- 
 vices required from the captains of the steamers were 
 thus manfully performed. 
 
 In traversing the lake at this inclement season, the 
 helmsman stood upon the upper deck in a glass lantern 
 or case. Above us was the clear, exhilarating, deep blue 
 Canadian sky, into which the suddenly-condensed white 
 steam rapidly disappeared. Around in all directions 
 were waters of the same dark ethereal hue, diversified 
 every here and there with different-sized white patches 
 of floating ice. The American and Canadian shores, 
 covered with sparkling snow, were bounded by the dark, 
 bristling outline of the pine-forest. 
 
 On approaching the points at which the guns or sol- 
 diers were to be disembarked, much embarrassment and 
 even danger were caused by the undulating surface of 
 floating ice ; but the greatest apparent difficuliy was, for 
 these steamers, which always during the night became 
 firmly frozen in, to break their fetters in the morning, 
 and regain their liberty. The manner in which this ope- 
 ration was daily effected, was as follows : — As soon as 
 two or three of the vessels lying close togothci could get 
 their steam up, the ice was cut away by axes just sufli- 
 cient to allow the paddles to turn. Tliis having Ix^eu 
 done, the vessels simultaneously worked their paddles, 
 which by all revolving together caused such a hubbub 
 and tiirmoil, that the water, forming into angry waves, 
 wrenched up the ice for a considerable distance. The 
 steamers being thus enabled to get headway, and their 
 bows being shod Mith iron, they charged the ice, and, by 
 
 1 1 . 
 
 ;■ 
 
168 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 T'i 
 
 the crew continually running in a body across the deck 
 irom starboard to larboard, a rocking motion was also 
 created which, with the impetus of the vessel, enabled it 
 to force its prow through the ice into the clear water. 
 
 By these means the lake, for the first time in its life, 
 was not only in winter traversed by day, but on several 
 occasions, during the most tempestuous weather, by night. 
 AVith every harbour closed, — with the air, the concen- 
 trated essence of cold, feeling as if it would freeze the 
 blood in the veins, ^ — it may easily be imagined that there 
 Wcas something very appalling, even in a calm winter's 
 night-passage — as the red embers of various sizes slowly 
 descended from the invisible top of the funnel, till, on 
 reaching the water, they suddenly vanished — in reflecting 
 that the British steamer was a solitary vessel on the lake. 
 
 In heavy Mcather, however, such trifles were unno- 
 ticed, the whole attention of the crew being occupied in 
 searching through utter darkness for that friendly red 
 shore-light, which no vessel but one under the powerful 
 and providential protection of steam could have ventured 
 to approach. As a striking contrast to this frozen scene, 
 let us view the following vivid description, by a very 
 young travell(!r, of his passage up the burning river of 
 Calcutta. 
 
 ill] 
 
 " We have been steaming up the Ganges for about eight 
 days, and we have seventeen more before us. Fancy a set 
 of people belonging to the most civilized nation in the world, 
 surrounded by European luxuries and machinery, living in 
 a little world of itself, which, with its crew of inhabitants, 
 is whizzing along iu the torrid zone, for upwards of GOO 
 
 thcrd 
 

 3 deck 
 IS also 
 bled it 
 iter, 
 its life, 
 several 
 yniglit. 
 coneen- 
 3CZC tlie 
 ^at there 
 winter's 
 3s slowly 
 , till, on 
 fcflccting 
 the lake. 
 [re unno- 
 
 ipied in 
 lly red 
 
 powerful 
 
 ventured 
 zcii scene, 
 
 jy a very 
 river of 
 
 ibout eight 
 uiicy a set 
 the world, 
 , living iu 
 Buhabitants, 
 (Is of GOO 
 
 im 
 
 AQUEOUS SURFACK OF THE fiLOHE. 
 
 1G9 
 
 miles, through a perfectly uninhahited country — sonietinios 
 traversing a river twice or three times as broad as the llliinc. 
 and sometimes stealing along a creek so nurrow, that tlu- 
 thick bamboo jungle overhung on both sides of the deck. 
 This tract (the Sunclerbmul) we have however passed, and w<' 
 iire now scuflling up the broad, rapid Ganges. Tlic country on 
 each side is cultivated, but as flat as a table, while tlie banlvs 
 are constantly crowded with the natives, wlio rush out to see 
 fite ^re-shlp pass " 
 
 Ou salt water as well a^ on fresh ; — rocking and funuiig 
 under the Line, as well as in frozen re gions ; — on crowded 
 rivers, as well as on those whose shores are desolate ; — 
 on large streams as avcII as on small ones; — in hays, har- 
 boiu's, friths, estuaries, channels ; — on the small lakes of 
 Ireland, Scotland, and Switzerland ; — on tlie large ones 
 in America; — on the Red Sea; — on the Black Sea; — 
 on the Mediterranean; — an the Baltic; — in fair wea- 
 ther, — in foul weather, — in a calm as well as in a hurri- 
 cane, — with the current or against it, — this power, when 
 tested, has most successfully answered the great puri^i^jie 
 for whioh it was hcnietieially created ; and it is ini|)os- 
 sihle to reflect on the thousands of human beings who 
 at this moment arc being trans])orted by it \t is im- 
 possible to summon before the imagination the various 
 stcinners, large and small, wliich in all directions, in spite 
 of wind and weather, are going straight as arrows to their 
 targets, — without feeling most deeply that, after all, 
 there is nothing new in the discovery that " t/te Sjjirif 
 <if God moves upon the face of the waters.'" 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
170 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM ON THE 
 
 'I- ^ 
 
 ht. 
 
 f' 
 
 II. STEAM POWEE OX THE TRERESTRIAL SUEFACE 
 OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 Although the power of steam lias not, geographically 
 spedviiig, made the same extensive progress on land as 
 on the aqueous surface of the glohe, yet in science it has 
 established a simple fact, the utility and importance of 
 ■which almost surjjass the value of the steamer. 
 
 Although ]\PAdam's roads are the best on the globe, — 
 although our horses (bone, l)reeding, and condition Ijcing 
 duly considered) are the most powerfid in the world, — 
 although capital, experience, competitiou, and an unpa- 
 ralleled propensity among Anglo-Saxons to travel fast, 
 have, during the lapse of ages, united in creating a 
 system which, without being guilty of national vanity, 
 we may say has nowhere been etpialled, — aiul which, with 
 humility we acknowledge, we had often fancied could not 
 be surpassed, — yet, by the application of the locomotive 
 engine on the railway, the infant power of steam, by its 
 first earthly stride, has suddenly trebled, even in England, 
 the speed of our ordinary conveyance for travellers, and 
 has more than three times trebled the s})eed of our heavy 
 goods by the public v.aggon ! 
 
 On the results, even to ourselves, of the sudden gift of 
 this new velocity, it is almost awfid to reflect ; but when 
 we consider that the railroad principle is very nearly as 
 applicable to every region of the globe as it is to our own, 
 and consequently that countries Mhieh have bad roads, 
 and even that coiuitries which have no roads at all, with- 
 out passing through the transitionary processes to which 
 
 man's 
 
 •ftratc! 
 
 out o' 
 
 course 
 
 lft| 
 
 ibr a ij 
 
 curioul 
 
 W'hicli| 
 
 with if 
 
TERRESTRIAL SUHF-M^K OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 171 
 
 'ACE 
 
 hically 
 iuu\ as 
 B it has 
 auce of 
 
 rlobc,— 
 3u being 
 rtorlii,— 
 lu uupa- 
 ivcl fast, 
 •eating a 
 v\ vanity, 
 lieh, with 
 couhl not 
 eoniotive 
 mi, hy its 
 England, 
 filers, and 
 our heavy 
 
 \\cn gift of 
 hut when 
 ' nearly as 
 lo our own, 
 bad roads, 
 |t all, with- 
 es to which 
 
 ive have been siibjccted, may suddenly travel with this 
 velocit}', we cannot but admit that the power of steam on 
 land, as on water, is prodigious. 
 
 There are no doubt many of our readers who have yet 
 to receive those connnonplai'e impressions whieh are made 
 upon the mind of the traveller m lien for the first time he 
 sees and heSrs the engine, as from a point in advnnce on 
 the railway it slowlv retroj^rades iu order to he hooked 
 on to a train, composed, us on the London and Liver- 
 pool line, of eighteen or twenty huge ears, besides private 
 carriages on runners, caravans full of horses, waggons of 
 heavy goods, etc. etc. etc. Th(» immense weight, upwards 
 of eighty tons, to be transported at such a pace to such a 
 distance, when compared with the slight, neat outline of 
 the engine, the circumference of whose black fnnnel-pipe 
 woixkl not twice go round the neck of the antelope, and 
 whose bright copper boiler would not twice ecpial the 
 girth or barrel of a race-horse, nn'ght induce the stranger 
 to apprehend for a moment that the approaching power 
 must prove totally inadequate to its task; l)ut the tear- 
 ing, deafening noise with whieh ti.'s noble animal of 
 man's creation advances to his work very quickly demon- 
 strates that it has itself no fear, but, as a bridegroom 
 (mt of his chamber, is rejoieing, like a giant, to nm his 
 course. 
 
 If the character of this powerfid creature be considered 
 for a moment with that of a horse, the comparison is 
 curious. With sufficient (,'oals and w^ater in his manger, 
 whieh, it must be observed, Avhcrever he travels he takes 
 with him, he can, if the aggregate of his day's work be 
 
 r 2 
 
 i * 
 
 
 
 _^»^Z._i_._i 
 
172 
 
 LOCOMOTION lU' STEAM ON THE 
 
 m '' ' ■ 
 
 if.i^ 
 
 vf 'I 
 
 considered, earry every day for ten miles, at tlie rDte of 
 sixteen miles an hour, tlie weight of an arinj' of 21,501 
 men, of 10 stone 10 lbs. caeli ; uhereas a good liorse 
 could not, at the same pace, and for the same distance, 
 continue to carry every day more than one such man. 
 For a distance of eighty miles he can carry the v.'cight of 
 2G88 men at a rate (sixteen miles an Iiour) that neither 
 the hare, the antelope, nor the race-horse could keep up 
 with him. No journey ever tires him ; he is ne^ ( r heaixl 
 to grumhle or hiss hut for want of work ; the faster he 
 goes, the more ravenously he feeds ; raid for two years 
 he can thus travel without medicine or surgery. It re- 
 quires, however, ahout €2000 a year to support him. 
 We might to these observations add the graver reflec- 
 tion, that, as hy the invention of the telescope man has 
 extended his vision heyond that of the eagle, so by the 
 invention of the locomotive engine has he now surpassed 
 in speed every quadruped on the globe ; we will, however, 
 detain the engine no longer, but for a few moments will, 
 with our readers, accomuTiv the train with which it has 
 now started. 
 
 On recovering from the confusion consecpient on pass- 
 ing rapidly through the air, one of the most pleasing 
 novelties which first attract the attention of the railway 
 traveller, as seated in his elbjw-chair he joyously skims 
 across the green fields jf merry England, is to see the 
 horses grazing at liberty, in rich pastui'c ; for it reminds 
 him that the power of steam has at last emancipated 
 those noble quadrupeds from the toilsome dutie> which, 
 in the service of our mails and coaches, they have so 
 
 I, (' 
 
TiniKESTHTAL SUKFACE OF Tllli GLOllE. 
 
 173 
 
 3 to <lf 
 
 horse 
 .taiice, 
 I man. 
 i<^!;1it of 
 icithcv 
 pep up 
 r heard 
 ?ter he 
 vcars 
 
 It rc- 
 rt him. 
 
 reilec- 
 fian has 
 ) hy the 
 irpassecl 
 lowevor, 
 uts -will, 
 i\\ it has 
 
 oil pass- 
 pleasinu; 
 > railway 
 (Iv skims 
 see the 
 reminds 
 lueipatcd 
 |cs which, 
 have so 
 
 luiig and so gallantly undergone, — in fact, that he is tra- 
 velling on land, withont the slightest infliction of animal 
 suffering. 
 
 Although everyhody comprehends perfectly well in 
 theory ^^hat moving in a carriaj;e at the rate, occasion- 
 ally, of thirty or forty miles an hour means, yet, luitil a 
 person /iun performed it on a railroad, he can scarcely 
 conceive the sensation he experiences in practically find- 
 ing every hoiu' that he is gliding past some place which 
 in ordinary travelling he wonld scarcely have reached 
 under fonr or perhaps live hours' labour. The dashing 
 at full steam-speed into the small black orifices of the 
 tunnels, — the midnight darkness that prevails there, — 
 the flashes of light which occasionally denote the air- 
 shafts, — the sudden retnrn to the joyous sunshine of 
 this world, — the figures of the company's green servants, 
 who, as the train whisks past them, stand all in the 
 same attitude, motionless as statues, Mith white flags 
 (the emblem of safety) in their extended rig] t-hands, — 
 the occasional shrill, plaintive whistle ending in a scream, 
 by which the engine, whenever ucccssary, scares the 
 workmen from the rails, — the meteor-like iiieeting of 
 a retnrn train, of which, in traislta, no nu)re is seen 
 than of the coloured figures on one of the long strips 
 of painted glass, which, after flow exhibition before 
 children, arc by tlu^ showman rapidly draMU across the 
 lens of his magic lantern, — all these sensations unite 
 in making the traveller |rjaetically sensible of the asto- 
 nishing velocity with which not only he and his fellow- 
 passengers, each seated in his arm-chair, but heavy goods, 
 can now be transported. 
 
 %l 
 
 . t 
 
 M 
 
 ' l! 
 
 fii' 
 
 
 m 
 mm 
 
174 
 
 LOCOMOTION UV STK.VM ON THE 
 
 ^ , 
 
 ft 
 
 ■ ; 4 
 
 
 r 
 
 But let us descend from the train, seriously to consider 
 Avhat is the amount of danger attendant upon this nc^v 
 mode of travelling ; for there can be no doubt, if it be 
 suicidal, it ought not to be continued. 
 
 That death is everywhere, — that he levels his shafts 
 at the throne, the bench, and the cottage, — that the rich 
 and the poor, the brave and tlie timid, are alike the vic- 
 tims of his power, no one will \)c disposed to deny ; and 
 it is, perhaps, ecpially true that, where he is oftencst en- 
 countered, he is, generally speaking, the least feared, and 
 that, on the contrary, he is invarv..bly the most dreaded 
 where he is least known. The human mind becomes 
 callous to dangers to which it has been long accustomed, 
 while, on the other hand, it is often over-sensitive re- 
 specting those which are new ly born. That these obser- 
 vations arc peculiarly applical)le to the dangers attendant 
 upon railroad travelling, will appear Iroin the I'oUowing 
 comparison between it and that to which the public had 
 been hitherto accustomed. 
 
 The dangiMs of travelling by either mode may be divided 
 into four heads, namely : — 
 
 1. The dangers of the road. 
 
 2. The dangers of the carriage. 
 
 3. The dangers of the locomotive power. 
 
 4. The dangers arising from momentum, or from the 
 M-eight of the burden, multiplied by the velocity at which 
 it is conveyed. 
 
 As regards the first of these, wc are certainly of 
 opinion that, cuiteris punhit.s, a railroad nmst be less 
 dangerous than a high-road ; because it is fiat instead of 
 hilly ; because a surface of iron is smoother than a sur- 
 
 hors 
 of 
 cert 
 T 
 
 be 
 
 
TEHRESTRIAL SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 175 
 
 divulcd 
 
 face even of broken stones ; hccausc the lip of the rail 
 which confines the wheels is an extra security which the 
 common road docs not possess; and because waggons, 
 vans, carts, private carriages, and all other vehicles, as 
 well as liorses and cattle, belonging to individuals, are 
 rigorously excluded. 
 
 As regards the second of these dangers, we submit that 
 a railway car must be less dangerous than a stage or 
 mail-coach, 1)ecausc its centre of gravity, when empty, is 
 low instead of high ; because its passengers sit low in- 
 stead of high, inside and not outside ; l)ecause its axles, 
 receiving no jerks, arc less liable to break ; and conse- 
 quently because altogether it is less liable to ovc'sct. 
 
 As regards the third of these dangers, we conceive 
 there can be no doubt whatever that a locomotive engine 
 must be less dangerous than four horses, because it is 
 not liable to run away, tiunble down, or shy at strange 
 objects or noises ; because it has no vice in it ; because 
 it is not, like a horse, retained and guided by numberless 
 straps and buckles, tlip breaking of any one of which 
 might make it take fright. And lastly, because by 
 the opening of a valve its daring, restless, enterprising 
 spirit can at any moment be turned adrift, leaving no- 
 thing behind it but a dull, harmless, empty copper-vessel. 
 
 It is true that it is possible for the boiler, unlike the 
 horse, to ex[)lodc ; yet, as the safety-valve is the line 
 of least resistance, that accident, Avith mathematical 
 certainty, can be easily provided against. 
 
 Witli respect to the fourth of tlujsc dangers, it must 
 be admitted that both the speed and the weight of a 
 
 I 'i 
 
I re 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM OX THC 
 
 h ! 
 
 I 
 
 railwjiy-truiii arc iiifiaitcly greater tluiu the momciituui 
 of II luuil or stage coach ; yet if the latter, in case of 
 serious accitlcuts, ])e sulHcieut to cause the death of the 
 jjasseiigers, it might be suggested that tlielornier can do 
 at) more, just as it is practically argued Ijy old soldiers, 
 when tliey rebuke recruits for dreading artillery, that a 
 uuisket-ball kills a man as dead as a cannon-shot. If 
 ii "ailway-traiu at fidl speed were to run against the 
 solid brickwork of the tunnel, or to go over one of the 
 steep cmljaukments, the eli'ect would nu'eiianieally be 
 iuliuitely greater, but perhaps not tnorc fatal to the ])as- 
 scngers, than if the mail at its eummon pace were to 
 do the same .— besides which, it iuust always be remem- 
 bered that, though the stage may profess to travel at the 
 safe lukewarm pace of eight miles an horn", yet anything 
 that f!'if:,'iu is its hordes may suddenly accelerate or boil 
 uji it s^sCL'd to that of the railroad, uacier which cireum- 
 
 staucc; i!ic carriage becomes ungovernable. 
 
 In going 
 
 downhill, if a link of the polc-chaius break, — if ,'ie reins 
 snap, — or if the tongue of a li^ttlc bucldr bends, thu 
 scared cattle run away : and it is this cataMrophc, it is 
 the latent i)ropensities and not the ordinary appearance 
 of the horses, which should be fairly considered, when a 
 comparison is made between railroad and common-road 
 travelling; for we all know thci'c is infinitely less danger 
 in galloping ahorse that obeys the bjidle at thirty miles 
 an hour, than there is in demurely trotting at the rate 
 of eight on a runaway brute that is only waiting for the 
 shade of the shadow of an excuse to place his rider in u 
 ].redicament almost as unenviable as ^Nlazcppa's. 
 
 < i 
 
TEIUIKSTIMAL SURl'ACK OV THE flLfJlIE. 
 
 177 
 
 ^loiH^ovcr, wo hiivc^ iili'caily slinwn tliat the o1):it:' ic- 
 tioiis which exist on a raih'oacl are iiiiinitelv less tiiau 
 those uhieh exi-^t on a liigh-ioad, — inasmuch as from 
 the former is cxehuled every human ' ■' animai, and 
 veliielc (e\(;epting those safdy inel '^le train). 
 
 It is true tliat in case of an unforc.- i tion u 
 
 coach eau pull uj), s; y in twenty yan .u a train 
 
 at full speed cannot he stopped in less than, say two 
 hundred ; but, on the other hand, it must he recollected 
 that, assisted by the signal-men, who by tla;4's or Ituglcs 
 (especially in a fog) can eommuuicate, like telegraphs, 
 one with another, the conductor of a train may be said 
 to see considerably more than ten times further before 
 him than the driver of a mail-coach, and he is therefore 
 better able to avoid the obstrr.etion. Indeed, if any 
 one would take the trouble to watch the sinndtaneous 
 depariure from the London Post-oflice of our mails, in 
 a foggy or sn(^wy winter's night, he would probably 
 feel that nothing short of a miracle could enable the 
 men ami horses, against wind, weather, and all obstruc- 
 tions on the road, to keep their time ; in short, that the 
 danger of travelling by such a conveyance Avas infinitely 
 greater than in a railroad train, flying along the iron 
 groove of its Avell-proteeted orbit. 
 
 So much for theory. In practice the precise amount 
 of the danger of railroad travelling, even at the com- 
 mencement of the experiment, will at once appear, from 
 the following official reports, to have been about ten 
 jMissetif/cru killed out of more than forty-four vulUous ! 
 
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 RESULTS. 
 
 179 
 
 Our readers have now, we conceive, sufficient data to 
 enable them to form their own conclusions on the com- 
 parative danger between railroad and highroad travelling. 
 
 III. RESULTS OF THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER OF STEAM. 
 
 What will be the advantages and disadvantages to 
 mankind of the locomotive power by steam, on the 
 aqueous and terrestrial surface of the globe, we submit 
 that it is impossible for philosophy accurately to define, 
 for the simple reason that the power in question is 
 undetermined. 
 
 When Archimedes in his study hud calculated, 1st, 
 the amount of requisite power, and, 2nd, the weight of 
 the world, he did not fear to declare, that with sufficient 
 lever and fulcrum he could move the globe ; he would not 
 however have said this had his power been, as is termed 
 in mathematics, an unknown quantity. In tliis latter 
 predicament we stand; for though we have seen the 
 birth of our new-born power, we have yet to leai-n what 
 is its real strength. 
 
 jMr. Booth (Secretary to the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Railway Company) observes, that a speed of thirty miles 
 an hour, with the luxury of the smoothest motion which 
 springs and cushions can afford, is considered by many 
 as merely our starting-point. We ourselves humbly 
 believe that that rate will ere long be doubled ; and, if 
 travellers can fly backwards and forwards at the rate of 
 sixty miles, one can hardly say why infinitely lighter 
 engines (on the tooth-aiad-pinion system for instance) 
 
 n 1] 
 
11 
 
 1 
 
 ' 
 
 1 il 
 
 ft 
 
 If 
 
 180 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 might not, Avith larger driviug-Avht'cls, ti'uvcl on this 
 iron orbit at the rate of a hundred miles au hour ; for, 
 to return to our old argument, au accident at that pace 
 could hardly do a passenger moie mischief than at the 
 rate to which we are already accustomed. 
 
 It will be evident that tlie lirst eltcct of this increas- 
 ing series niust be the gradual annihilation, approaching 
 almost to the iinal extinction, of that space and of those 
 distances which have hitherto been supposed unalterably 
 to separate the various nations of the globe ; and that 
 in proportion as this shall be cfi'ected, the centralization, 
 whether for weal or woe, of the human family, must be 
 accomplished. For instance, supposing that railroads, 
 even at our present simmering rate of travelling, were 
 to be suddenly established all over England, the whole 
 population of the country might, speaking metaphori- 
 cally, be said to have at once advanced en masse, and to 
 have placed their caairs nearer to the fireside of their 
 metropolis 1) )-thirds of the time which but lately 
 
 separated th. . ^rom it j they m ould also sit nearer to 
 one another by two-thirds of the time which now re- 
 spectively alienates them. If the rate were to be again 
 as greatly accelerated, this process would be repeated ; 
 our harbours, our dockyards, our towns, the whole of 
 our rural population, wouhl again not only draw nearer 
 to each other by two-thirds, but all would proportionally 
 approach the national hearth. As distances were thus 
 annihilated, the snrl'ace of our country would, as it were, 
 shrivel in size until it became not much bigger than one 
 immense city, and yet by a sort of miracle every man's 
 
RESULTS. 
 
 181 
 
 field would be found not only where it always Avas, but 
 us large as ever it was ! 
 
 This magic process would be as applicable to all oilier 
 countries as to our own. In Germany, for instance, 
 ii'om time out of mind, men as well as mile-posts have 
 been reared \ip inider the idea that a league and an 
 hour are synonymous. Indeed, in some parts of that 
 country dihtances are still expressed by the number of 
 pipes which it has invariably taken men to smoke in 
 going from plag(j to ]ilace : thus the midwife is said 
 to live " two pipes otl," tlic doctor " three pipes," and 
 so on. If railroads at the rate of thirty miles an hour 
 were suddenly to be established, the small family of 
 one hour (cine Stuntic) or "two-pipe" men, who now 
 live not exceeding sixty minutes from their metropolis, 
 or from any great city, or from one another, would sud- 
 denly be fratei-nally increased by the two-hour, three- 
 hour, and four-hour men, with whom previously they had 
 been but very distantly connected ; in short, circles being 
 to each other as the squares of their diameters, the one- 
 hour area would, as a hen gatheis her chickens, collect 
 within its circumference all the men and all the mile- 
 posts of sixteen times its original space. 
 
 While this Birnhani-wood-eoniing-to-Dunsinanc pro- 
 cess was gradually congregating the population of each 
 particular country on earth into a national family, our 
 steamers, by the same process, would unite into one huge 
 society all the nations of the globe. 
 
 Since the brown leaves, now rustling on the ground, 
 burst into verdant existence, we have seen the power 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 

 
 f 
 
 r ' 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 t 
 
 1 1 
 
 183 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 of steam suddenly dry up the great Atlantic Ocean to 
 less than half its breadth ; and thus, to the British as 
 well as to the American mcrelKiut, who for the advan- 
 tage of communicating with each other have hitherto 
 paid to Neptune his customary charge of thirty-five 
 days* passage. Science has proclaimed, " For thirty-five, 
 write sixteen .'" Our communication with India has 
 received the same blessing. The Indian Ocean is not 
 only infinitely smaller than it used to be, but the Indian 
 mail, under the guidance of steam, has been granted 
 almost a miraculous passage through the waters of the 
 Red Sea. The Mediterranean, Mhich is now only a 
 week from us, has before our eyes shrunk into a lake ; 
 our British and Irish Channels have become scarcely 
 broader than the old Frith of Forth : the Rhine, the 
 Danube, the Thames, the Medway, the Severn, the 
 Shannon, the Hudson, the IVIississippi, the Ohio, the 
 Ganges, etc., have contracted their streams to infinitely 
 less than half their lengths and breadths, and the great 
 lakes of the world are rapidly drying into ponds ! 
 
 The ideas which rush into the mind when it attempts 
 to contemplate this astonishing congregation of the 
 human race, are so vast and overpowering, that it is 
 almost imjjossible to think of the future but as an 
 undiscovered country totally beyond our ken; and, as 
 children feel disposed to be frightened whenever they ai'e 
 in the dark, so it Mould not be diflicult to conjure up in 
 this new region apparitions of a ghastly and terrific 
 figure. AVe entertain, however, a firm reliance that so 
 great a power as steam would not have been let loose 
 
IlESULTS. 
 
 183 
 
 upon us, but for our advantage. AVhcu a congregation 
 of cannon-balls of various sizes, each covered not only 
 with the mud and dirt of different countries, but with the 
 rust and scoriie which are common to all, are shut up, 
 and made very quickly to revolve together in a large, 
 hollow, iron-lined cylinder, the operation, though rude, 
 rough, and productive of no little noise and internal 
 confusion, invariably ends by their quietly coming forth 
 to the world clean as from the hands of the founder. 
 jMau is capable of being polished by a similar process ; 
 and though the prescription may or may not be agree- 
 able, yet there is nothing we hold dear in our insti- 
 tutions that we should tremble to see subjected to that 
 state of the world in which it has been prophesied by 
 Daniel, that " men shall run to and fro, and knowledge 
 shall increase." 
 
 The disadvantages we notoriously labour under from 
 national ignorance no one can be more anxious to see 
 removed than ourselves ; and as we believe nothing can 
 be more true than that a people will never accept the 
 advantages of experience until they have purchased them 
 for themselves, avc hail rather than apprehend that sa- 
 lutary intercourse with our fellow-creatures which the 
 power of steam is about to introduce. 
 
 For instance, if we look to Ireland, we find ourselves, 
 by all practical men, constantly taunted with our igno- 
 rance of that country. AVe do not allude to the opinions 
 of the party opposed to the present Administration ; but 
 we will take the deliberate verdict of their own servants, 
 selected and appointed by themselves. 
 
1 ,' 
 
 I 
 
 !l 
 
 tiir 
 
 18A 
 
 LOCO.MOTION 1»Y «'n;A.M. 
 
 The Raihvav ConnnissioiuTa for Iri.'ljnul, in their 
 second report, iuldres^sed " lo the (iueeu's ^Mosst ]!xeel- 
 lent ^Majesty," and " 15y I'onuuand of lier Maji'sty pre- 
 sented to both Houses of rarliaineiit," after minutely 
 examining tlie moral, statistical, and politieal state of the 
 country, boldly iiiform her ^Majesty (, ce page '.):2) that — 
 
 " IrcUuul, tliDUgh for years past u siilijcct of anxious atten- 
 tion and disuiJssion in public, is iikally vkhy m i'ti-k known 
 TO TUK BiUTisu rEoi'Lii ; (iitd till' dhudvantofie to both coun- 
 ti'ieti, arlsliKj j'rotn thiif circiiinntuuce, is much yrealer than Is 
 (jenerally siijtjMsed." 
 
 We might offer many other instances of the general 
 advantages which society is likely to derive from the 
 application of the new-born power of steam ; but if our 
 readers will only relleet on the immense improvement 
 which, since the last Peace, has taken place in the man- 
 ners of our eoimtrymen, who, within these i'vw years 
 only, have left off hard-driid\ing, attending prize-fights, 
 bull-baits, wearing Beh'her licekeloths, aft'ecting to 
 dress, nod, spit, and meet each other like st;ige-coach- 
 mcn, etc. etc. etc., — thev niav calculate for themselves 
 tliC aggregate advantages which the whole world will de- 
 rive when, by the power of steam, every nation is enabled 
 to see, without ilatlery, its own faults clearly reflected in 
 its neighbour's mirror. >, 
 
 Among the various problems of minor importance 
 which have arisen from a consideration of the general 
 results of railroads, it is constantly asked. In lohat 
 manner ivill they affect our Metropolis ? There are many 
 who argue that the facility ^ith which people who are 
 
HKSULTS. 
 
 185 
 
 HOW iminurod in London will be cniibk-d to gut into the 
 country must have the cU'eet of diminishing the popula- 
 tion of the Mi'tropoli.s. "We must however difl'er from 
 this opinion. 
 
 As travelling has been found by the Irish Railroad 
 Commissioners invariably to inerease in proportion to 
 the facility with whieh it can be ell'eeted, it would follow 
 that so many railroads, converging upon Lcnulon as a 
 centre, must, at all events, daily bring thilher large 
 crowds of passengers; besides whieh the railways would 
 inject provisions in such quantities that their price 
 would inevitably iall. On looking at those statistical 
 tables whieii show the prices of provisions idl over the 
 United Kingdom, it is vi ry curious to ol)serve with what 
 exactness these prices decline on the dillerent roads, in 
 proportion to the distance from the capital, — so that if a 
 man with these tables in his pocket were to fall from the 
 clouds upon any given ruad, by simply asking the iirst 
 person he met to tell him the price of butter, for in- 
 stance, and by then looking at his tables, he would be 
 able to determine very nearl; iis precise distauce from 
 the Metropolis. Now, when L( ndon, ius.tead of being 
 supplied with expensive milk, fruits, and vegetables, pro- 
 duced on land and gardens of an exorbitant rent, can be 
 readily furnished with these articles from a distance; — 
 when bullocks, instead of being driven at great expense, 
 " larding tlie lean earth" as they proceed, can be killed 
 100 or 2U0 miles otf, and be thus despatched to, instead 
 of in, tlie ^Metropolis, and when all sorts of provisions 
 can be forwarded thither with equal facility, it must 
 
 ^ 
 
 ♦I I i 
 
.1 >l 
 
 
 18G 
 
 LOCOMOTION UV STKAM. 
 
 ^-i 
 
 inevitably follow that the prices of these commodities 
 will be more equally adjusted throughout the country 
 than they hitherto have been. London must thus be- 
 come a plaee of much cheaper residence; and we think 
 there can be no doubt that, in proportion as the pecu- 
 niary objections to living in it are removed, its po- 
 pulation must increase. When a powder-magazine by 
 exploding creates a vacuum in the atmosphere, the 
 windows of the adjacent houses are not, as most people 
 would be led to expect, forced inwards, but the air 
 within their rooms breaks the glass outwards in rushing 
 to restore the equilibrium of the atmosphere. On similar 
 principles, the population of the country will, we con- 
 ceive, rush towards the London markets, whenever by 
 any commercial convulsion the price of provisions is 
 suddenly lowered; and thus will the eft'cet of the rail- 
 roads upon the Metropolis be, wc conceive, centripetal, 
 and not, as has been siq)posed by many, centrifugal. 
 
 It is true that the twenty minutes, thirty minutes, 
 and sixty minutes City-men (we mean those whose af- 
 fluent fortunes allow them now to live those periods of 
 time from the Metropolis) will, instead of residing at 
 Hackney, Putney, and other such retreats, rush away 
 to Maidenhead, Watford, Tunbridge, and other places 
 from ten to thirty miles from London. The houses 
 they abandon, falling in rent, will attract a new de- 
 scription of men, — besides which, inasmuch as, where 
 a man's treasure is, there is generally his heart, so, 
 wherever these gentlemen may sleep, they will still hnd 
 fide be actual inhabitants of the Metropolis ; indeed, in- 
 
RESULTS, 
 
 187 
 
 steatl of deserting the Mctroiiolis, it may be justly said 
 they will earry it with them, and that the real limits of 
 London will liecome, as indeed they now are, that radius 
 to which its population can at night conveniently retire 
 to their pillows. 
 
 If our sole object was to advocate the railroad and 
 steamboat system, we should now conclude our imper- 
 fect observations ; but, as our desire is to bring the im- 
 portant subject of steam locomotive power fairly before 
 the consideration of our readers, it is necessary that, 
 in the words of Portia, we should say, " Tarry a little, 
 there is somethiny yet !" 
 
 " Your Lordship will observe," wrote the Duke of 
 Wellington in his celebrated despatch from the iicld 
 of Waterloo, " that such a desperate action could not 
 be fought, and such advantages gained, without great 
 loss, and I am sorry to add, that ours has been im- 
 mense." In science, as in warfare, victories, however 
 brilliant they may appear to the public, invariably leave 
 behind them anguish and misery which even the flourish 
 of the trumpets cannot conceal from our ears. The 
 invention of any new machinery in our manufactories 
 has always, more or less, been productive of such re- 
 sults ; but the power of steam is about to produce eflccts 
 which it is not only painful but absolutely fearful to 
 contemplate. It is mideniable that the wooden walls 
 of Old England (we mean our mivy as it floated in 
 the days of Nelson) do not aflbrd the same protection 
 to our island, since the invention of vessels which, 
 against wind and tide, and especially in calm weather. 
 
188 
 
 LOCOMOTION IIY STl'.AM. 
 
 
 'ii ! 
 
 Clin penetrate' our fogs for tlio pm-jiosc of invasion. Our 
 insular dcfcnir, which, duriuj^ the rcifjn of Xapoloon, 
 uniountcd, in round muiihrrs, precisely to the (numtuni 
 of dilliculty that then existed in ii Heel's erossinj; the 
 IJritish Channel, has of course been suddi-nly weakened 
 exactly in the same ratio as that dilliculty has heen im- 
 mensely diminished ; ami when wc recall to mind with 
 what eonlidenee we have been accustomed to look to the 
 British navy for defence, it is melancholy to reflect that 
 men-of-war, whose names in letters brighter than gold 
 ure most gloriously recorded in the naval annals of our 
 country, might now, in u dead calm, hear the cannon of 
 our assailants, — without the power of i)ouring into them 
 British broadsides, in the old boatswain's phraseology, 
 " as hot us they could suck 'em." In short, the mari- 
 time defences of the country must be weakened. 
 
 On shore not oidv will the face of Old England be 
 scared and furrowed by railroads, re> ambling the straight, 
 cross-barred lines tattooed across the countenance of a 
 New Zealander, Imt some of our noblest establishments 
 have already received what may truly be termed their 
 sentence of death. 
 
 The first among these is our mail-coach establishment, 
 so long our just pride, and still the admiration and won- 
 der of all other countries. Those well-built carriages 
 which have hitherto with imerring uecuraey conveyed 
 our correspondence to the remotest points in the United 
 Kingdom; — those skilful eoaehmeu who, against all 
 weathers and in all seasons, have, with rarely an excep- 
 tion, kept their respective times; — those guards who, 
 
ni:sri,Ts. 
 
 1K() 
 
 an gold 
 
 v.itli uupi'C'tciuHii}; coura^'i!, have niitlifiilly protected tlio 
 eoimneirial ti'caaure ooniinitted to tlieir eli!ir}j;e, must, it 
 is {'oresecn, l)C soon east aside. Our iuinienso stage 
 system, witli all its eoaelies, enaelinieu, horses, aud 
 liorseUcepers, is nearly also on its last legs. Our post- 
 iuij system, with its expensive hotels, built at convenient 
 sl(>eping-plaees by enter|)rising people Tor the comfort 
 ami luxury of travellers, post-houses, post-horses, and 
 postilions, is luuloubtcdly in e([ual danger. Our i'»d)lie 
 roads, as well as our i)ri\ate roads, have scarcely, at an 
 enormous cxpciisc, been brought t(^ a stulf of perfection, 
 when it is notilied to us that the ^['Adam svstom has 
 been supplanted by a new power which is to leave it de- 
 serted. It is estimated that there arc about ^'( ),()()() com- 
 mercial t"avellers : — this intelligent body of uien will 
 be considerably injured. The connnunieation from Lon- 
 don to Leith and Aberdeen by smacks, which, at great 
 expense, had been* fitted up for public conveyance, is 
 alriady superseded by the power of steam ; and those 
 noble American packets, so beautifully built, so liberally 
 ])rovided, ami so ably navigated, ;ne now about to make 
 way for steamers, in the building of which tlie Bristol, 
 Liverpool, and New York merchants arc all combining 
 against the " old liner," that faithful and veteran servant 
 who has hitherto in all weathers transacted their business 
 witb credit and success. 
 
 Wc will now proceed to endca\"onr to apply the whole 
 of the foregoing general observations on the power, 
 progress, and probable cflccts of steam, to a iiscfid and 
 practical result. 
 
190 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 
 Civilization has never been granted an opportunity of 
 suddenly making such an immense step, or rather such 
 an incalculable stride, as is now offered ; nevertheless it 
 is humiliating to reflect how little apprehension we have 
 shown for the heavenly gift M'hieh has been imparted to 
 us ; — how strongly onr conduct respecting it exemplifies 
 the observatio'i. " Nescis, mi fili, quantulA, sapientM gn- 
 bernatur mundus !" 
 
 In private life a man would be considered as insane 
 who should begin to build for himself a house before he 
 had settled upon its plan ; and yet we have scarcely 
 become acquainted with the locomotive power of steam 
 on land, tlian wc have at once jumped upon its bare 
 back, riding it roughshod in all directions before the 
 breadth of the rails has been determined, or before the 
 nation has settled, or even considered, upon M'hat scien- 
 tific principles these immense new works ought to be 
 constructed. ♦ 
 
 In order to form some sort of notion of the responsi- 
 bility Avbich we arc thus taking on us, let us for a mo- 
 ment, by multiplying the amount of work in a single 
 railroad by the number which in such a hurry are to be 
 constructed, roughly estimate the quantum of expense 
 which either has been or is about to be incurred. Mr. 
 David Stevenson says, — 
 
 " The Americans now number among their many wonderful 
 artififiiil lines of communication a Mountain Railway, which, 
 in boldness of design and difficulty of execution, I can compare 
 to no modern work I have ever seen, excepting perhaps the 
 Passes of the Sinq)lon and Mont Cenis ; but even these remark- 
 
RESULTS. 
 
 191 
 
 nl)k' Passes, viewed as engineering works, did not strike mc as 
 l)cing more wonderful tlian the Allegliany Railway in the 
 United States." 
 
 ^Ir. Lccount, Civil Engineer, speaking of an under- 
 taking to which he has from the first been professionally 
 connected, Mritcs as follows : — 
 
 "The London and Birmingham Railway is unquestionably 
 the greatest jiublic work ever executed, either in ancient or 
 modern times. If we estimate its importance l)y the hxbour 
 aloiu v'hich lias bocu expended on it, perhaps the Groat 
 Chinese Wall might compete with it ; but when we consider the 
 inunense outlay of capital which it has required, — the great 
 and varied talents which have been in a constant state of re- 
 quisition during the whole of its progress, — together Avith the 
 unprecedented engineering difficulties, which we are hajipy to 
 say are now overcome, — the gigantic work of the Chinese sinks 
 totally into the shade. 
 
 " It may be amusing to some readers, who are imaequainted 
 with the magnitude of sucli an undertaking as the London and 
 Birmingham Railway, if we give one or two illustrations of 
 the above assertion. The great Pyramid of Egji)t, that stu- 
 pendous monument which seems likely to exist to the end of 
 all time, will aftbrd a comparison. 
 
 " After making the necessary allowances for the foundations, 
 galleries, etc., and reducing the whole to one uniform deno- 
 mination, it will be found that the labour expended on the 
 Great Pyramid was equivalent to lifting fifteen thousand seven 
 hundred and thirty-three million c\d)ic feet of stone one foot 
 high. This labour was performed, according to Diodorus Si- 
 eidus, by three hundred thousand, to Herodotus by one hundred 
 thousand men, and it required for its execution twenty years. 
 
 " If we reduce in the same manner the labour expended in 
 constructing the London and Birmingham Railway to one 
 
 !<1 
 
10-2 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 .1 ' 
 
 I,.' i' 
 
 I 
 
 f 1 
 
 i.i 
 
 w 
 
 Pdnimon dononiination, the result is twenty-five thousand mil- 
 lion cubic fi'ot of material (roiluccd to tlie same weight as that 
 used in constructing the Pyramid) lifted one foot high, or 
 nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven million cubic feet 
 more tlian was liftoil one foot high in tlio construction of the 
 Pyramid ; yet this innnen.sc undertaking has been performed 
 by about twenty thousand men in less than five years. 
 
 "From the above calculation have been omitted all the tun- 
 nelling, culverts, drains, ballasting, and fencing, and all the 
 he.avy work at the various stations, and also the labour ex- 
 pended on engines, carriages, waggons, etc. ; these are set off 
 against the labour of drawing the materials of the Pyramid 
 from the quarries to the spot where they were to be used, — a 
 much larger allowance than is necessary. 
 
 " As another means of comparison, let us take the cost of 
 the railway and turn it into pence, and allowing each penny 
 to be one inch and thirty-four hundredths wide, it will be 
 found that these ])encc laid together so that they all touch 
 would more than form a continuous band rcjund the earth at 
 the Equator. 
 
 " As a third mode of viewing the magnitude of this work, 
 let us take the circumference of the earth in round numbers 
 at one hundred and thirty million feet. Then, as there are 
 about four hundred milli<«i cubic feet of earth tf) be moved in 
 the railway, we sec that this quantity of material alone, with- 
 out looking to anything else, would, if spread in a band one 
 foot high and one foot broad, more than three times encom- 
 pass the earth at the Equator." 
 
 AVe havo lyiuf' before lis dcscriptioiis of a similar 
 iintuvc of the Liverpool aiul Birmingham, of the Great 
 Western, of the Brussels and Antwerp Railways, ete. 
 etc., but tlic two sketches we have just given will pro- 
 bably be deemed sufficient as multiplicands, and with 
 
RESULTS. 
 
 193 
 
 and nill- 
 t as that 
 high, or 
 ubic feet 
 )n of tlu> 
 erformed 
 I. 
 
 I the tun- 
 (1 all the 
 xhour cx- 
 irc set off 
 Pyramid 
 ! used, — a 
 
 i\c cost of 
 ich penny- 
 it will be 
 all touch 
 e earth at 
 
 this work, 
 1 numbers 
 there are 
 moved in 
 one, with- 
 baud one 
 103 enconi- 
 
 a similar 
 
 the Great 
 
 ways, etP. 
 
 will pro- 
 
 and with 
 
 these before the reader we will proeecd to show by what 
 immense figures they are about to be multipled. 
 
 In the United States we have already stated that there 
 were, in the year 1837, eompleted and in full operation, 
 no less than fifty-seven railways, whose aggregate length 
 amounted to upwards of 1600 miles; that thirty-three 
 railways were in progress, whieh, when completed, would 
 amount to 2800 miles ; and that, in addition to this, up- 
 wards of one hundred and fifty railway companies had 
 been incorporated. 
 
 In Great Britain, the Irish Railway Commissioners 
 state that the amount of capital authorized to be raised 
 for making railways, under Acts passed in 1833, 1834, 
 1835, and 1836, was £29,000,000. The estimate for 
 those for which bills were Petitioned in 1837 was very 
 near jE3 1,000,000. In France, the Government, on the 
 15th of February, 1838, proposed, in the Chamber of 
 Deputies, bills for a general system of railroads, which 
 was to extend in aggregate length to the enormous dis- 
 tance of 1100 leagues of railway, without reckoning 
 the branch-roads. The estimated expense mounted to 
 £40,000,000 sterling. In Belgium, it is proj)osed to 
 throw a network of railroads over the whole surface of 
 the country, and vast projects are in contemplation in 
 Holland, Prussia, and in various other countries in 
 Europe. 
 
 In the development of this enormous new power, 
 which is to compress the world quite as much as by a 
 very small application of the same power we compress 
 our hay and cotton for exportation, it cannot, we con- 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
-^emm 
 
 (. 
 
 ' 
 
 y. 
 
 |( 
 
 \ 
 
 n 
 
 m 
 
 •tl 
 iff. 
 
 ■ 'I 
 
 194 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 ceive, be denied that the British nation^ whether for good 
 or for evil, is furiously leading the way. 
 
 We do not mean, by this observation, to withhold from 
 the Americans the applause due to them for the activity 
 and enterprise which in their railroad undertakings have 
 distinguished that shrewd and industrious people, but 
 we have already shown that their railroad system is one 
 adapted only to their own peculiar political transitionary 
 state, and that, between their course and ours, there ex- 
 ists the same important difference as between field and 
 permanent fortification; and as it is our permanent, 
 and not their temporary system, which is adapted to 
 Europe, it would be with pride, if we could record that 
 we were ably, or even to the best of our ability, perform- 
 ing the duties of the high station which we have been 
 called upon before the world to occupy. 
 
 It is, however, with feelings of humiliation and re- 
 gret, we must acknowledge, that we have failed to re- 
 ceive the new power which has lately visited the earth 
 with the attention due to its importance. If an illus- 
 trious stranger had landed on our shores, considerable 
 expenses would have been incurred, and deliberate ar- 
 rangements would have been made, to have imparted to 
 our guest the honours suited to his rank : — but this 
 great mechanical Power which, without metaphor, we 
 may say has lately descended from Heaven, permanently 
 to reside with us on earth, has been most culpably neg- 
 lected. Against prejudice and ignorance it was at first 
 left to contend, unassisted and unattended ; and even 
 when^ having trampled both these enemies under its 
 
DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 195 
 
 3r good 
 
 lid from 
 activity 
 igs have 
 pie, but 
 n is one 
 iitionary 
 here ex- 
 Reld and 
 •manent, 
 apted to 
 ;ord that 
 perfonn- 
 ave been 
 
 and re- 
 id to re- 
 che earth 
 an illuB- 
 isiderable 
 lerate ar- 
 Iparted to 
 -but this 
 |phor, we 
 lanently 
 ibly ueg- 
 is at first 
 md even 
 Luder its 
 
 
 feet, it was seen in all directions moving triumphantly 
 among us, by the Legislature as well as by the Govern- 
 ment it was .""I'.ffcred for a considerable time to exist 
 totally unnoticed. 
 
 If we were gravely to be asked, before the woild, upon 
 what system and upon what principles the various En- 
 glish railroad bills have hurriedly been passed into laws, 
 with shame we have to confess that neither system nor 
 principle has been considered. In the animal frame. 
 Nature has not only, by great arteries, projected from 
 the heart to every part of the body, however remote, 
 nourishment exactly proportionate to its support, but, 
 by astonishing foresight and reflection, she has placed 
 these arteries in sheltered situations in which they are 
 admirably protected from outward accidents ; — the good 
 of every part has been scrupulously attended to, and yet 
 in no instance has the general welfare of the whole been 
 neglected. But in the arterial system of our raUroads, 
 no such considerations have for a single moment been 
 attended to. Disregarding all private suflering, the Le- 
 gislature has, on the face and surface of the country, 
 made incisions he.'c, and circumcisions there, of the 
 most serious and lasting consequcinccs. Unguided by 
 science, and without due attention to the general anatomy 
 of the country, we have decreed tliat a little artery shall 
 diagonally flow here, and a large one there ; — one lon- 
 gitudinally in this place, another latitudinally, almost 
 at right angles, in that. " It would be a good thing," 
 argues one company of specvdators before the Legislature, 
 " to grant us a railroad here ;" — " It would be a very 
 
 
■ pll - I M ,.~nl 
 
 I c 
 
 »l t 
 
 I 
 
 196 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 fine thing, indeed," argues another self-interested body 
 of engineers and attorneys, " to give us one there ;" — 
 the prayers of both have lieen conceded ! And thus 
 have monopolies been granted for ever to an incongru- 
 ous mob of inexperienced joint-stock, zigzag Companies, 
 who, strange to say, are to settle at what hours the 
 British public is to travel, — at what rate it is to travel, — 
 and, up to a certain point, at what price it is to travel ! 
 
 The details have been as little regarded as the outline 
 or building-plan. The width between the rails of one of 
 our railroads has been decreed to be four feet eight inches 
 and a half; of another, five feet; of another, four feet six 
 inches; of another, six feet; and of another, seven feet. 
 In the line from London to Liverpool, the space between 
 the double sets of rails has been fixed at four feet eight 
 inches and a half for the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Company, and six feet for the rest of the distance, be- 
 longing to the other two brother Companies. Again, the 
 driving-wheels of the engines of one Company are four 
 feet ; of another, four feet six inches ; of another, five feet ; 
 of another, six ; of another, seven ; and of another, ten 
 feet in diameter. In short, village lawyers, country sur- 
 veyors, and speculators of all descriptions, who knew but 
 little of the great principles upon which railroads should 
 be constructed, have appeared before the Legislature, who 
 knew less, to advocate the interest of the public, who, 
 taken collectively, absolutely knew nothing at all on the 
 subject. 
 
 That the blind have thus, not only in Europe, but in 
 America, been led by the blind, will appear from the fol- 
 lowing statement : — 
 
A body 
 !re;"— 
 id thus 
 congru- 
 (ipaiiies, 
 »ur8 the 
 ravel, — 
 travel ! 
 ! outline 
 )f one of 
 it inches 
 r feet six 
 ven feet, 
 between 
 eet eight 
 mchester 
 ance, be- 
 gain, the 
 
 are four 
 five feet ; 
 )ther, ten 
 ntry sur- 
 knew but 
 ds should 
 ture, who 
 
 ilic, who, 
 ill on the 
 
 pe, but in 
 m the fol- 
 
 DEPECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 197 
 
 On the 8th of May, 1837, the French Government 
 brought forward six bills for six railroads, whose united 
 length amounted to two hundred and thirty leagues, all 
 planned on the most different and inconsistent principles ; 
 and, on the 15th of February, 1838, a general system was 
 proposed, copying the British. In Belgium various pro- 
 jects are in embryo. In the United States, Mr. Ste- 
 venson says that no two railroads are constructed alike. 
 The fish-bellied rails of some, weighing forty pounds per 
 lineal yard, rest upon cast-iron chairs weighing sixteen 
 pounds each ; in others, plate rails of malleable iron, two 
 and a half inches broad and half an inch thick, are fixed 
 by iron spikes to wooden vafters, which rest upon wooden 
 sleepers ; in others, a plate-rail is spiked down to tree- 
 nails of oak or locust-wood, driven into jumper-holes 
 bored in the stone curb ; in others, longitudinal wooden 
 runners, one foot in breadth, and from three to four 
 inches in thickness, are embedded in broken stone or 
 gravel : on these runners are placed transverse sleepers, 
 formed of round timber with the bark left on ; and 
 wrought-iron rails are fixed to the sleepers by long 
 spikes, the heads of which are countersunk in the rail ; 
 in others, round piles of timber, about twelve inches in 
 diameter, are driven into the ground as far as they M'ill 
 go, about three feet apart ; the tops are then cross-cut, 
 and the rails are spiked to them. 
 
 The cost of the American railways, having generally 
 oidy a single pair of rails, which are almost every- 
 where of British manufacture, was from ^€6000 a mile 
 to £1800. 
 
 • lt\ 
 
 1.1 u 
 
 'Mk S! 
 
^Vfj 
 
 198 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 in fj 
 
 The cost of the Liverpool and Manchester M'as 
 €30,000 ; of the Dublin and Kingstown, .€10,000 : the 
 estimated cost of the French is about j£ 15,000 j of those 
 to be made in Ireland, about .€10,000 per mile. 
 
 This conflicting want of system was at last carried to 
 an extent which, as our readers must perceive, has be- 
 come truly alarming. Our unconnected projects received 
 the sanction of Parliament, and yet, during the scrutiny 
 which ought to have sifted these undertakings, there ex- 
 isted no master mind, no disinterested scientific autho- 
 I'ity, whose duty it was to collect and record the import- 
 ant facts which experience was daily eliciting, or to give 
 to the Government, to the Legislature, or to the public, 
 such scientific information or such sound advice as it 
 might be deemed advisable to require. 
 
 The House of Lords, becoming at last fully sensible 
 of the imminent danger of the course which had been 
 pvu-sued, resolutions and an address were moved by the 
 ^larquis of Lansdowne, in accordance with which his 
 late Majesty was pleased, on the 20th of October, 1836, to 
 appoint (after the mischief had been done in England) 
 a Commission " to inquire into the manner in which 
 railway communication could be most advantageously 
 promoted," and " to consider and recommend a general 
 system of Railways in IRELAND." 
 
 The Commissioners, Lieut. Thomas Drummond, R.E., 
 Colonel Sir John Fox Burgoyne, R.E,, Peter Barlow, 
 and Richard Griffith, Esquires, thus appointed, delivered 
 their first Report on the 1 1th of March, 1837; and their 
 second and final Report on the 13th of June, 1838. The 
 
IRISH RAILWAYS. 
 
 199 
 
 recommendations contained in these important docu- 
 ments are as follows : — 
 
 1. The Commissioners "come to the conclusion that 
 the two great lines which would open the country in the 
 most advantageous manner, confer the most extensive 
 accommodation at the smallest outlav, and afford the 
 greatest return on capital," would be — 
 
 A. A railway from Dublin to Cork, with branch lines 
 to Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford. 
 
 B. A railway from Dublin to Navan, at which point 
 the said railway is to fork into two directions, — the one 
 through Castleblancy and Armagh to Belfast, the other 
 through KcUs, Virginia, and Cavan, to Enniskillen. 
 
 2. The Commissioners recommend that a uniform 
 breadth should exist between the rails of the railway 
 lines in Ireland, and that this breadth be six feet two 
 inches. 
 
 The Commissioners state as their opinion, that, if the 
 utmost economy be observed ; that, if provision be made 
 by the Legislature, for reducing the great expense 
 hitherto commonly incurred in obtaining railway bills, 
 and for granting only a just and reasonable compensa- 
 tion to the Irish proprietors, .€10,000 (.^r ^612,000 a mile 
 may generally cover all the charges of construction and 
 appointments on the two lines they have recommended. 
 
 The Commissioners estimate that, under these circum- 
 stances, the main trunk-line from Dublin to Cork would 
 give a dividend of from 4*82 per cent, to 5*18 per cent.; 
 the Kilkenny branch, of twenty-six miles and a half, 
 one of two per cent. ; the Limerick branch, of thirty-five 
 
 ■•: I 
 
200 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 If ) 
 
 
 miles and a half, one of only yV P^^* ^c"*- Total dividend 
 of the main trnnk-linc and of these two branches, 3i 
 ])er ecnt. Ditto of the Watcrford and Limerick branch, 
 3'8 per cent. 
 
 As regards the great north line, the Commissioners 
 estimate tliat the dividend would be on an average about 
 4' 75 per cent. 
 
 3. The Commissioners consider that, under present 
 (Mrcumstauccs, Cork will answer every purpose for which 
 a winter-port can be required to promote a steam-com- 
 munication with America. 
 
 4. The Commissioners, after exposing several of the 
 serious errors which have been committed, as regards 
 the privileges granted to railroad companies in England, 
 examining the great principles by which a general sys- 
 tem of railways in Ireland should be regulated, and 
 laying down the lines which, in their opinion, would be 
 most beneficial to the country, offer very important sug- 
 gestions as to the means and the manner of carrying 
 these projects — cither altogether or in part — into execu- 
 tion, with some sensible observations upon the principles 
 on which railwav bills should be framed, for the common 
 benefit of the public and of the Companies, which we re- 
 gret ovxr limits do not allow us to extract. 
 
 It would of course have been possible, and there can 
 be no doubt it would have been the safer course, for the 
 Commissioners to have contented themselves with giving 
 their opinions, or, as it may be termed, passing their 
 judgment, on conflicting railway interests, without re- 
 vealing to the public the high-roads and bye-roads through 
 
 
 "-^l 
 
■»■ ■._ -J.1 -,. 
 
 
 IRISH RAILWAYS. 
 
 201 
 
 which tlicy had arrived at their decisions. Tlicy how- 
 ever determined on tlic opposite eonrsej and, although 
 giving reasons for difhcult decisions is always attended 
 with danger, especially where the verdict has hcen in- 
 fluenced by moral circumstances, which it is generally 
 almost impossible to describe, yet they determined to 
 throw before the public, without reserve, if not all, as 
 many of their data as could possibly be collected. With 
 this view, tliey appended to their Report a valuable mass 
 of original maps and documents. 
 
 We have no desire, and even if we had, it would alto- 
 gether exceed our limits, to attempt a discussion of the 
 various local objections which have been raised against 
 the recommendations of the Commissioners by those 
 whose latent expectations they have disappointed, as well 
 as by those whose private speculations they have in their 
 Report openly opposed. Without personally alluding to 
 any of these complainants, we will simply observe, that 
 one might as well expect that a deep incision could be 
 made in the human body without the infliction of pain, 
 as that any public line of railroad could possibly be 
 projected which would not give excruciating anguish in 
 some private direction or other : indeed, the more lustily 
 selfish theorists arc heard to cry out, the greater reason 
 is there for by-standers calmly to infer that the interest 
 of the public is receiving adequate attention. The 
 Commissioners have been blamed, especially by specula- 
 tors in railways, for estimating the dividend to be pro- 
 duced by the lines of railways they have themselves re- 
 commended, at the low amount of 3^ or 4 per cent. 
 
 K 3 
 
 : 
 
 '^'i 
 
 r 
 
 ' t' 
 
 :t 
 
 ( 
 
 i'lf 
 
m^mmitm 
 
 I I 
 
 
 I. ', 
 
 [j 
 
 ;»02 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 Had thoy felt themselves authorized to indulge in even 
 their own Et Dorado anticipations, they Mould prohably 
 have raised this dividend to a higher figure; Idt, an pub- 
 lic servants, it was undoubtedly their d"'y, in liu- •.''»'m 
 <^f speculation that was raging around tluim. to des'Tibo 
 no more than they could clearly sec ; and li, under this 
 conscientious feeling, they confined their calculations to 
 plain black and white, whf>ever may be dispntisfied is, of 
 course, at full liberty to colour their Indian-ink drawing 
 as highly and as gaudily as he may choose. 
 
 Time alone will show whether the Commissioners have 
 really underrated the profits of the great Irish railroads 
 or not. In the meanwhile we have no hesitation in say- 
 ing that, in our opinion, the anticipated profits of our 
 English railroads is " a false creation, proceeding from 
 the hcat-opprcssed brain." 
 
 Against the Commissioners' Report there have been 
 raised many other objections. On a consideration of the 
 whole, however, we own that Ave feel disposed to approve 
 of the two great lines they have proposed j and our rea- 
 sons for so doing arc positive and negative. First, their 
 recommendation appears to ua to be supported by facts 
 and calculations unanswerable, and by arguments and 
 observatioht, t-cii:- li^'^, and apparently disirtercsted. Se- 
 condly, wo ;'rc' t!iu, ,.s no indi lualcanbe in possession 
 of as mucii general information, united to as much locui 
 knowledge, as the Commission collectively has amanjHxl, 
 bad as may be its opinion, it is nevertheless, in our 
 present circumstances, the best we can possibly obtain. 
 Thirdly, we feel that we should appear before the civilized 
 
rrrrrrrr 
 
 
 IRISH »AILWAY«. 
 
 203 
 
 world in n moat cxtraoidinary position, wore we to cou- 
 tiiiiio, as wc hitherto liavc done, to proiJeed on our rail- 
 road career in utter darkness; not bccaviac, as former/ v, 
 want of liglit was luiavoidablc, but been use, when Scieii(> 
 had presented to us her lamp, wt- no sooner rcccivi?d it 
 than wc wilfully blew it out and cast it from us ! 
 
 The country may go wrong in following the two mcs 
 of railways recommended by the Commissioners, and it 
 may go wrong in not following them (^ouly one of these 
 catastrophes can happen) ; but c u supposing the chance 
 equal, yet, in the opinion of the |- resent age, as well as in 
 history, there would be great exci ><(• for the first error, 
 none whatever for the second. If , man-of-war, groping 
 its way through imknown waters ou a voyage of disco- 
 very, were to run upon rocks during' utter darkness, l)y 
 all liberal men would the captain be acquitted ; but it it 
 were proved that he had wilfully pro-ecuted his course, 
 after the man he himself had sent to t ic main-mast had 
 sung out, in clear daylight, "Breakers ahead!" the com- 
 mander's character, as well as his vessel, v ould be wrecked. 
 
 Although, however, wc arc disposed t ) approve of the 
 professional recommendations of the Co nmissioners, so 
 far as the two lines of railway are concericd, yet we cer- 
 tainly feel that their recommendations i especting what 
 amount of assistance ought or ought not to be granted 
 by Parliament to the undertaking, — as well as their 
 opinions whether the work should be pri\ate or public 
 property, — are questions extra-judicial. We therefore 
 beg leave to join with the public in freely discussing these 
 important questions. 
 
 n 
 
204 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 f 
 
 There can be no doubt that the interference of Go- 
 vernment in any speculation shouUl he tlie exception 
 rather than tlio rule. 
 
 In ordinary cases a wise (lovernment sliould eneoiirage, 
 rather than presume to contend witli, that daring spirit 
 which has so remarkably characterized British capitaUsts. 
 To check, to suppress, or to compete with it, would not 
 only involve the CJovernment in diificulty, and the nation 
 in ruin, but we can conceive nothing more distasteful to 
 our great capitalists than to be told that they can never 
 embark in a voyage of speculative discovery until they 
 shall have received from the Government its " passe- 
 avant." 
 
 Nay, it has become theoretically a maxim in political 
 economy, that a Government has a dull, heavy, lumber- 
 ing gait about it, — that in pursuit of small objects it is 
 practically incompetent to move with the activity or nim- 
 bleness of private speculators. 
 
 Indeed, nothing but a most violent competition between 
 man and man coidd have so lowered the prices, and so 
 hastened the pace at which the British public has hitherto 
 travelled. If any single capitalist had, a few years ago, 
 been offered by Government the exclusive privilege of 
 carrying heavy people every five minutes from Padding- 
 ton to the Bank for sixpence, he would most surely have 
 conceived that the secret object of her Majesty's Ministers 
 was to ruin him ; and if alone he had accepted the under- 
 taking, there can be no doubt he would have been ruined : 
 but when all our horse-keepers and coach-proprietors were 
 encouraged openly to compete for the job, such a variety 
 
as«4*6* 
 
 DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 205 
 
 of economical arrangements were invented, that the spe- 
 culation has not only answered, but the London public 
 has so materially benefited by it, that it is now truly ob- 
 served, " It has become cheaper to ride than to walk." 
 
 Again ; as regards the sea, how justly would the pub- 
 lic have complained if the Government had attempted to 
 monopolize, or even to interfere with, the transport of our 
 merchandise and of our passengers ? For it is a fact which 
 cannot be denied, that the IJritish merchant's steam-vessel 
 practically crossed the Atlantic before any Government 
 steamer dared to do so. And if the power of steam, 
 elicited by ])rivate enterprise, has just beaten Govern- 
 ment arrangements on the aqueous surface of the globe, 
 why, it may be boldly asked, should it not l)c permitted 
 to proceed equally free and unfettered on land ? With 
 no object in view, but to arrive, if possible, at a just 
 conclusion, we will endeavour to answer this important 
 q\U!stion. 
 
 If our present locomotive engines were like steam- 
 vessels, or like public or private carriages, there could 
 I)e adduced no more reason for Government interfering 
 Avith the former than with the latter ; but the eases are 
 widely different. If steam-vessels are badly constructed, 
 the pu1)lic cease to emliark in them. If they arc mis- 
 suited to one water, they can sail to another, just as the 
 ' Sirius-' steamer, when found too small for the New York 
 passage, was despatched to St. Peter.sl)urg. As new in- 
 ventions arise, this process can be extended; — vessels 
 which arc now on the ocean may ply in channels; — 
 those on channels may retire into rivers; and even if 
 
 vl'f!. 
 
 n 111 
 
 m 
 
 "hi ' 
 
 i 
 
 ll 
 
'OMaNntoMM 
 
 ilPT" 
 
 \H 
 
 206 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 S ,N* 
 
 they were all suddenly to vanish, the noble element on 
 which they had moved would be left uninjured, track- 
 less, and unaltered. 
 
 Again, if any description of land conveyance be found 
 to be dangerous, it can be avoided. If stages on any 
 particular road are no longer required, they, and their 
 horses, and their horse-keepers, may go where they are 
 wanted, or, in simpler terms, where they choose. If our 
 omnibuses should be superseded by a better conveyance, 
 the public can at once leave them to be sold or destroyed, 
 as their proprietors think best. The Strand, Oxford- 
 street, and Cheapside, would remain, however, as they 
 were; and in like manner if every public carriage in 
 England, in consequence of some new invention, were to 
 be suddenly removed, housed, and the horses turned out 
 to grass, there would, after the first shower, be left on 
 the roads scarcely a mark of the tires of the wheels, or 
 an impression of the horses' iron-shod feet. In all these 
 changes the public would continue, as they ever ought to 
 continue, on sea and land, the lords and masters of the 
 way on which they travel ; this right being unsurren- 
 dered, the competition of capitalists would always, as we 
 have shown, be made subservient to the interest, and 
 subject to the sovereign will and pleasure of the com- 
 munity; — and if steam -carriages eovild contend with 
 mails and stages on public roads, tliey would in like 
 manner take their chance of being either patronized or 
 condemned, as the community might think proper. But 
 on railways, the cas(>, regards the public, is essentially 
 different ; — and it is with pain we reflect that, when our 
 
■ J.-— I.IJ 
 
 ■OBi.'- 
 
 DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 207 
 
 English railway bills were brought forward, the Legisla- 
 ture as compietcly neglected to calculate what was to be 
 the real result of the simple-sounding petition before 
 them, as in common life two young people, barely able 
 to provide for themselves, come before the altar hand in 
 hand, without ever having reflected how fearfidly their 
 marriage must multiply their wants. 
 
 Tiic i)etitioners who most humbly applied for an Act 
 of Parliament in favour of their railroad, avowed their 
 desire to possess themselves of whatever private property 
 might stand in their Avay ; — but they did not avow, nor 
 did the country appear to perceive, that, in addition to 
 this request, the projectors hoped, expected, and indeed 
 perfectly m'cU knew, that they would draw all the passen- 
 ger traffic to their line, — or, in plainer words, that they 
 woidd ruin every mail-coach, stage-coach, chaise, and 
 public carnage in the neighbourhood; — in short, that 
 they Avcre about to desolate the M'Adam road, which, 
 for aught they cared, might be again " peopled with 
 wolves, its old inhabitants." 
 
 Now let us suppose for a moment that twenty years 
 ago any body of ignorant speculators, however respect- 
 able, had obtained from the Legislature an Act by which 
 the property in all the leading roads in the country, 
 with all the horses, carriages, waggons, and other means 
 of conveyance whatsoever, had been consigned to them, 
 to be dealt with as they might think proper : — that the 
 public were to travel on the said roads, at such pace as 
 the said " body" pleased, at such hours only as it pleased, 
 and very nearly at such prices as it pleased : — that this 
 
 4 m 
 
-»m» 
 
 ..»j§m»i ,'tiJ-!H.'""-i«J 
 
 :.i-«MH s ,..,. 
 
 .. M^ " -- 
 
 208 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 I'Kli 
 
 r: 
 
 .1-' 
 
 t' i 
 
 i ■ 
 
 I 
 
 monoply was to last, not for ten years, or for twenty 
 years, or for a hundred years, but for ever and over; 
 should we not now most reasonably complain of the im- 
 providence and injustice of this Act? Yet such is pre- 
 cisely what will take place, so soon as the English rail- 
 roads shall have superseded, as from their nature they 
 7nust supersede, all other modes of travelling on the lines 
 where they are established. 
 
 Again, suppose that on the discovery of some new sys- 
 tem of paving, the property in streets, which had hither- 
 to belonged to the public, had also by x\.ct of Parliament 
 been surrendered in like manner to the profit, caprice, 
 and exaction of another " body" of capitalists, we should 
 now be at its mercy to get out of our houses ; — ^just as 
 we shall soon be at the mercy of railroad companies to 
 get out of our towns. 
 
 If our English railway companies had petitioned Parlia- 
 ment to be allowed to avail themselves of an invention, 
 the Avhole and sole product of their own brains, still we 
 maintain that for no pecuniary advantage whatever should 
 the public have been directly or indirectly deprived ])y 
 Parliament of their right of way, which by competent 
 legal authorities has been thus defined : — " every way 
 from town to town may be called a highway, because it 
 is common to all the King's subjects ; the freehold of the 
 highway is in him that hath the freehold of the soil; 
 but the free passage is for all the King's liege people." 
 (I Haw. c. 70, § 1.) Again, "In books of the best au- 
 thority a river common to all men is called a highway." 
 (1 Russ, 418.) But the grand discovery, we mean the 
 
m nam^MM 
 
 DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 209 
 
 locomotive power of steam on the terrestrial surface of 
 the globe, which has secured to the English railway com- 
 panies an absolute monopoly of " the ivay from town to 
 town," was not their property, but the property of the 
 public, the gift of Heaven to mankind ; and the Legisla- 
 ture might as well have granted to a London company 
 the exclusive use of the compass, or to a Birmingham 
 company the exclusive use of daylight, as have granted 
 to a Stock Exchange railway company privileges over 
 private property amoimting in fact to the exclusive use 
 of the locomotive power of steam on land ; — and ye"" it 
 has been and still is gravely argued, on the lucus a non 
 lucendo principle, that because open competition on the 
 road has hitherto invariably been found to succeed, pri- 
 vate railroad monopolies ought to be established ! Tn 
 every point of view the contradiction is monstrous. 
 
 We are told that, to make way for a railroad, private 
 property of every description must be sacrificed and sur- 
 rendered to the 2>ublic ; and yet, seizing this property 
 under false pretences, we no sooner possess it, than, by a 
 mis-translation of the word respuhlica, we hand it over 
 to a company of private individuals, whose undisguised 
 object in obtaining it is to deprive by it, the public, of 
 their most ancient right ; in short, to make the public 
 the servants, instead of the masters, of the high-road or 
 " wav from town to town." 
 
 It is rumoured that some of these railroad companies 
 already talk of not allowing the public to travel on 
 Sundays. — Now suppose that the groat railway between 
 Loudon and Manchester were suddenly to become the 
 

 210 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 \4 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 i 
 
 property of wealthy Jews, who, under the same consci- 
 entious feeling, Avere to declare, on the day they had 
 purchased a majority of the shares, that they could not 
 think of allowing the British public to travel on Satur- 
 days : — could any of us plead that a Jew's Sabbath ought 
 not to be as sacred to him as a Christian's ? And if it 
 were attempted by force to persuade him to the contrary, 
 might he not, in demanding his right to stop the public, 
 exclaim with Shylock, — 
 
 " If you deny me, fie upon your laws ! 
 There is no force in tlie decrees of Venice ! " 
 
 Under controlling circumstances of this nature, in 
 what a predicament would the public be placed ! What 
 would become of the commercial correspondence of the 
 country, — or, in moments of emergency, of the transport 
 of our troops? A company of high-spirited sporting 
 young proprietors of railway stock might take a pride in 
 hurrying the mails and the public infinitely faster than 
 was safe ; a company of old gentlemen might, from over- 
 caution, convey them too slowly ; — and if the extremity 
 of a long line were to be found not to be profitable in 
 winter, any company might merely continue to work the 
 rich portion of their lode, and for half the year leave the 
 poorer vein very nearly untouched. 
 
 But let tis suppose that all these conjectures are vision- 
 ary, and that the railway companies, although there is 
 no locomotive poAver to compete with them, will honestly 
 carry the public as fast, as safely, and as cheaply as they 
 can aflford to do, still it is necessary to consider what 
 
 
DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 211 
 
 consci- 
 hey had 
 3uld not 
 n Satur- 
 th ought 
 Ud if it 
 jontrary, 
 e public, 
 
 ature, in 
 1! What 
 ice of the 
 transport 
 sporting 
 I pride in 
 ,ster than 
 om ovcr- 
 3xtrcmity 
 >fi table in 
 work the 
 leave the 
 
 ire vision- 
 1 there is 
 honestly 
 y as they 
 ider what 
 
 compensation the public can receive for the loss of their 
 right of way. 
 
 The advocates of our English monopolies answer -nis 
 question very shortly, by saying that the travelling com- 
 munity will be carried cheaper by what they oddly enough 
 term " public competition," than they could be carried if 
 the railroads were, as they are in Belgium [where the 
 fares are excessively low and the accommodation most 
 admirable), the property of the public; but when our 
 readers consider that (thanks to the power of steam) no- 
 thing can compete with the railroad, say from London to 
 Liverpool, and that this line is governed by three sets of 
 directors, who, with infinitely more respectability than 
 experience, may meet perhaps but for a few hours every 
 week; — sometimes one set of wealthy individuals, some- 
 times aiiother, — without responsibility or control, — and 
 well knowing that whatever may be the expenses they 
 incur, they can make the public pay for them all; — it 
 must surely be evident that a network of railroads, 
 under such a variety of systems, must in the end be in- 
 finitely mere expensive to the public, than if it were placed 
 under the control of scientific persons selected for the 
 purpose, having no other business to attend to, no inter- 
 est to consider but that of the traveller, and responsible 
 to Government, the Legislature, and public opinion, for 
 the safety, comfort, economy, and speed of the conveyance. 
 
 If the right of way thus belonged, as it ought to do, 
 to the piiblic, and if a control over the creation as well 
 as the management of our great arterial railroads were 
 thus vested, as in law it surely ought to be, in the 
 
212 
 
 LOCOMOTION nv 8TKAM. 
 
 / ' 
 
 Government, as largo, and pcrliaps a much larger field for 
 real eompctition might he opened to enterprising capi- 
 talists hy these railways hoing made, maintained, and 
 worked hy puhlic tender. We fully acknowledge that 
 the less Goverimient meddles with the details the hettcr : 
 all wc desire is, that the great arterial railroads of the 
 country should he the property of the puhlic : — wc mean 
 that they should he the Queen's and not the Company's 
 highways ; and that, for the protection of life and limb, 
 .ind for the maintenance of low fares, they should be 
 scientifically controlled l)y a responsible authority. 
 
 If all the great railroads in the country, instead of 
 being disjointed into separate interests, belonged to one 
 great body of capitalists, the latter desideratum, namely 
 their scientific management and responsible government, 
 might be, perhaj)s, as perfect as if they were the property 
 of the State ; l)ut it appears to us that one might as well 
 expect that our blood, instead of receiving one noble 
 impulse from the heart, could be healthily propelled 
 throughout our body by a variety of little independent 
 zigzag forwarding authorities, as that the mail and pas- 
 senger traffic of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain 
 and Ireland can be successfully transported by a verte- 
 bratlon of railroads, no one bone of which professes even 
 to think of any broader ol)jcct, interest, or profit, than its 
 own marrow. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the public ought to be 
 made to pay a fair remunerating price for the lu.vury of 
 travelling, or rather of flying, by railroads j and if these 
 gigantic concerns were under the supervision of one 
 
DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 213 
 
 field for 
 iig capi- 
 icd, and 
 Igc that 
 ; better : 
 9 of the 
 ive mean 
 mpany's 
 tid lirab, 
 lould be 
 
 istead of 
 3d to one 
 I, namely 
 ernment, 
 property 
 it as well 
 ne noble 
 propelled 
 ependcnt 
 and pas- 
 it Britain 
 f a verte- 
 ?sses even 
 t, than its 
 
 gilt to be 
 Inxnry of 
 d if these 
 n of one 
 
 authority, this price might everywhere be settled, if not 
 to the satisfaction, at least for the interest, of the public; 
 but if it be left to a series of disjointed authorities, those 
 speculators who by Act of rarliamcnt have cunningly got 
 possession of the great towns, with all their restless in- 
 habitant s,will be as much overpaid, as the proprietors 
 of railways passing through more remote, unpeopled 
 districts will be underpaid ; and if should hajjpen, as it 
 probably will, that the unprofitable portions must eventu- 
 ally be purchased and worked by the Government, shall 
 we not then deeply regret the narrow-sighted policy 
 which has so incautiously alienated from the public to 
 the Stock Exchange the profitable portions of oui' rail- 
 roads for ever ? 
 
 Again, in answer to those who strangely argue that 
 the interests of the public and of private monopolists 
 must necessarily be identical, wc beg leave to observe that 
 a toll is abstractedly a very imperfect measure of the 
 public utility of an undertaking, and, consequently, that 
 a railroad, though it does not "pay " its proprietors, may 
 be productive of immense revenue to the country. 
 
 Even common roads may be enormously beneficial to 
 the public, without being remunerative to those who 
 make them. For instance, a mile gained by cutting 
 through, say Highgate Hill, is a mile gained, not only to 
 the inhabitants of Barnct, etc., who pay for it, but to all 
 the inhabitants of every town and village between Lon- 
 don and John-o'-Groat's. Waterloo Bridge, as far as 
 the speculation aft'ccts its proprietors, has hitherto proved 
 a total failure; but let any one who recollects the swamps 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
214 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 ■ Si 
 
 and desolate places Avhich existed on the Surrey side of 
 the Thames, compare that picture with the wide hand- 
 some streets and lofty buildings which in all directions 
 have undeniably been created by the project of the new 
 bridge, and he will admit that that noble undertaking, 
 though as yet unfortunate for the proprietors, has in fact 
 been highly beneficial to the public. And if the addition 
 of one bridge to hai ' a-dozen, if the opening of a com- 
 munication of a f^w hundred yards, has been productive 
 of this immense benefit, how overwhelming are the ideas 
 which rush into the mind, of the incalculable advantages 
 which the public might derive from a scientific, well- 
 organized system of railways throughout the United 
 Kingdom, — never mind whether they everywhere paid 
 their ,'i >prietors or not ! 
 
 The trifling example of Waterloo Bridge might, we 
 are aware, possibly induce a person without reflection 
 to argue that " as fools build houses that wise men may 
 live in them," so we should allow capitalists to ruin 
 themselves in making railroads . c the public use. "\Vc 
 answer that, though Waterloo Bridge has not yet paid, 
 it is nevertheless firmly retained by its proprietors, who 
 would be enabled to obtain for it almost any price, if all 
 the other bridges (like our M 'Adam's "oads) could be 
 suddenly ruined. But, after all, the casts are not iden- 
 tical, for, however poor might be the proprietors of a 
 railway, and however inadequate their funds might be to 
 continue to work their line, yet there arc plenty of long- 
 headed people on the Stock Exchange, who know very 
 well that railroad shareholders can always hold out, or 
 
 
DEFECTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 215 
 
 r side of 
 Ic hand- 
 ircctions 
 the new 
 ?rtaking, 
 IS in fact 
 addition 
 ■ a com- 
 'oductivc 
 the ideas 
 Ivantages 
 fie, wcll- 
 e United 
 lierc paid 
 
 night, we 
 reflection 
 men may 
 to ruin 
 use. We 
 yet paid, 
 itors, who 
 rice, if all 
 could be 
 not iden- 
 tors of a 
 ight be to 
 y of long- 
 now very 
 d out, or 
 
 rather stand still, longer than the i)ublic ; — that, having 
 once tasted the speed of the locomotive engine, however 
 fiercely they might threaten it, the latter would never 
 relish returning to their old roads ; — and, consequently, 
 that every company which found their speculation did not 
 answer, eoidd always, with apparent fairness, offer it to 
 the country " for no more than it hnd cost." And thus 
 would every item of fraud, extortion, improvidence, and 
 ignorance, in all our railroad undertakings throughout 
 the empire, be eventually saddled upon the public at 
 prime cost, while all that was really profitable on the 
 different lines might be irrevocably withheld from them; 
 — by which system, not only would the general price of 
 travelling on our railroads be raised, ])ut, as it appears 
 from a very sensible letter addressed by jNIr. Loch, M.P., 
 to Lord Morpeth,* that high rates are repellent, and 
 low rates powerfully attractive, it would follow that the 
 country would lose by the friction of high fares a very 
 large proportion of the immense fiscal advantages which 
 the establishment of the cheapest possible system Mould 
 have obtained for it. 
 
 For the foregoing reasons, we must say, we cordially 
 agree with the Irish Railway Commissioners in their re- 
 commendations that the two arterial lines of railway they 
 propose should be treated as one great concern, and that 
 no monopoly of the most productive portions only should 
 be bestowed upon any party. We must also confess 
 oiu" opinion, that, although the execution and even the 
 
 * Appendix A. to tlie Second Report from the Kailwiiy Cominis- 
 sioncrs, Ireland, page 78. 
 
 iH 
 
216 
 
 LOCOMOTION DV STEAM. 
 
 working of these two linos should, as much na possible, 
 be oflercd to capitalists, yet that the property and con- 
 trol of these Irish railroads, instead of being taxed by 
 an animal profit to conipanics of specidators, should hv 
 vested in the State, for the sole benefit and protection 
 of the pid)lic. 
 
 Having now laid before our readers the reflections 
 which have occurred to us during an attentive perusal 
 of the Rei)orts of the Railroad Conunissioners for Ire- 
 land, we shall conclude our notice of these two public 
 documents by endeavouring to extract from them a use- 
 ful moral. 
 
 No one, we think, can read the many voluminous 
 Reports of the Parliamentary committees on railroad 
 bills, without appreciating the anxiety which both Houses 
 have evinced to investigate as deeply as possible the new 
 power suddenly forced upon their attention; but the 
 masses of evidence to which we allude, demonstrate that 
 much delusive as well as irrelevant matter was artfully 
 made the subject of reiterated discussions. 
 
 The enormous expenses (exceeding in many instances 
 .€1000 a mile) which railroad companies have incurred 
 before Parliament by the conflicting statements and opi- 
 nions of individuals more or less professionally interested 
 in the struggle ; — the repetition of these expenses in con- 
 sequence of a separate investigation being required before 
 each House; — the heavy bribes M'hich (concealed by a 
 fictitious valuation of the property required for the rail- 
 road) have been paid to people of large property in order 
 to secure their support, — the unconscionable demands 
 
 
DEKKCTIVE LEGISLATION. 
 
 217 
 
 \9 possible, 
 ^ and con- 
 j tiixcd by 
 , sliould hv 
 protection 
 
 reflections 
 ive perusal 
 
 rs for Ire- 
 two public 
 hem a use- 
 voluminous 
 an railroad 
 otli Houses 
 jIc the new 
 i; but the 
 iistratc that 
 ivas artfully 
 
 ly instances 
 vc incurred 
 its and opi- 
 y interested 
 iscs in con- 
 lired before 
 sealed by a 
 for the rail- 
 rty in order 
 Ic demands 
 
 for compensation which have been awarded ; — the ficti- 
 tious opposition, got up by interested parties, under the 
 names of landowners eariii}^ nothiu}^ about the matter; — 
 the illusory lines got up as competition lines witlumt any 
 intention of ever being nuide; — the common habit of 
 landowners disputing and even opposing a railroad merely 
 for the sake of getting an excessive price for their land, 
 notwithstanding they well know the measure will confer 
 great benefits on their property; — the erroneous esti- 
 mates which, though " imiovko" before Parliament, have 
 turned out (in one instance by more than a million and 
 a half) to be deficient ; — the extravagant haste with which 
 railroads have occasionally been constructed; — all these 
 unnecessary expenses must, it is evicK-ut, in the form of 
 a tax which to the jjoorest classes will almost amount to 
 prohibition, eventually fall as heavily upon the public, as 
 the responsibility of these measures must in history rest 
 upon the Parliament which sanctioned them. 
 
 In the racanwlule, the experience gained on railroads 
 which are actually to be paid for by public traffic, surely 
 ought to be national property ; whereas Mr. Joseph 
 Pease, M.P., in his honest letter to the Irish Railroad 
 Commissioners, states, " The Reports, Plans, and Acts 
 of Parliament, respecting the Stockton and Darlington 
 Railway, have long ago disappeared, having been bought 
 up at extravagant prices. Whither to go to find them 
 I should not know, though I have belonged to the under- 
 taking since the first prospectus. I am litei'ally stripped 
 of these documents." 
 
 To conclude. Under this miserable want of system 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
 a ' 
 
 !■■'!, 
 
 
218 
 
 LOCOMOTION BY STEAM. 
 
 f' 
 
 must the public suffer, so long as our Parliamentary com- 
 mittees shall continue to be unreasonably saddled with 
 the whole responsibility of deciding upon railroad bills, 
 without the assistance of an Official Board competent 
 (like the establishment of the " Fonts et Chaussees" in 
 France) to afford to the country such professional infor- 
 mation and reports as new measures may require. Not 
 only does our national character require that we should 
 scientifically, instead of ignorantly, govern and direct the 
 new power which has been bestowed upon us; but, as 
 railroad scars cannot easily be obliterated, surely it is 
 our duty to save the surface of our country from being 
 barbarously disfigured by any more rude unskilful inci- 
 sions. We desire not the creation of irrcsjjonsible power ; 
 but feeling confident that, under sound legislation, the 
 public would be in favour of, instead of being prejudiced 
 against, railways ; — that landowners would, under' a sen- 
 sible, honest system, come forward to assist, rather than 
 to oppose them ; — and that the revenue would be enor- 
 mously increased if the public were, under the aegis of 
 science, to be conveyed in the cheapest, safest, and 
 quickest possible manner ; — wc feel it our duty to urge 
 the absolute necessity of constituting, without further 
 delay, a Department, or Board of Government officers, 
 in Downing-street, competent, among other duties, to ex- 
 ercise, cautiously, firmly, and scientifically, such control 
 over the railroads of the Empire as the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment from time to time may think proper, pro bono 
 publico, to direct. 
 
219 
 
 ;ary com- 
 llcd with 
 oad bills, 
 ompetent 
 ssees" in 
 iml infor- 
 re. Not 
 vc should 
 direct the 
 ; but, as 
 rely it is 
 om being 
 ilful inci- 
 le power ; 
 ition, the 
 trejudiced 
 er ■ a sen- 
 ;lier than 
 be enor- 
 aegis of 
 fest, and 
 Y to urge 
 further 
 officers, 
 es, to ex- 
 h control 
 al Parlia- 
 pro bono 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 The laM'-officers of the CroAvn, in England, having re- 
 ported that a certain ordinance, issued at Quebec by 
 Lord Durham, was illegal — an opinion confirmed by 
 the highest legal authorities in the realm — her Majesty, 
 the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, deemed 
 it necessary, by an Act of Parliament, to screen or shel- 
 ter the Lord High Commissioner from the consequences 
 of his illegal proceeding. Not only, however, did their 
 Act of Indemnity carefully abstain from passing the 
 slightest censure upon his Lordship, but her Majesty's 
 Minister, in a despatch dated 15th August, 1838, gene- 
 rously, and, we think, very properly, transmitted the said 
 Act to his Lordship, with the following febrifuge : — 
 
 " I cannot conclude this despatch Avithout expressing the 
 deep regret Avhich her Majesty's Government have felt at the 
 embarrassment to which you will have been subjected by the 
 recent proceedings in Parliament, regarding the dilficult and 
 delicate question of the disposal of the persons charged with 
 treason in Lower Canada. On a deliberate review of the 
 whole case, her Majesty's Government are enabled distinctly to 
 repeat their approbation of the spirit in which those measures 
 
 L 3 
 
 .1 : 
 
220 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 ' 5 
 
 i>ll 
 
 I 
 
 were conceived, and to state his conviction that those measures 
 have been dictated by a judicious and enlightened humanity, 
 and were calculated, under your authority, to satisfy the ends 
 of justice, although in some respects they involve a departure 
 from its ordinary forms. The Government are also persuaded 
 that your Lordship will be equally anxious with themselves to 
 avoid, as far as possible, giving even a plausible ground of cavil 
 or objection to hostile criticism. 
 
 " It only remains for me to assure you of the undi- 
 minished confidence which her Majesty's Government repose 
 in you ; and of their earnest desire to afford you the utmost 
 support in the discharge of the arduous duties with which 
 you are entrusted. 
 
 " I have, etc., 
 
 " Glenelg." 
 
 On tlie receipt of the foregoing communication, it 
 must, of course, have been evident to Lord Durham 
 that if bis ordinance, wbicb on sucb liigli authority 
 liad been declared to be illegal, was legal, the Act of 
 Indemnity became null and void, its effect inoperative, 
 its protection worthless, and its provisions discreditable 
 to the Parliament from which it had proceeded ; and 
 as, proverbially, there is no finer sight than that of a 
 just man struggling with adversity, so there never was 
 offered to any individu al, conspicuously holding an ardu - 
 ous and important station, a nobler opportunity of duti- 
 fully submitting to an authority which he was bound to 
 obey those arguments by which truth and justice, in every 
 region of the globe, invincibly support a man labouring 
 in an honest cause. Had the Lord High Commissioner 
 adopted this course — however omnipotently and however 
 obstinately Parliament might have adhered to its deci. 
 
 
 ■':i 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 221 
 
 measures 
 minanity, 
 the ends 
 departure 
 persuaded 
 iiselves to 
 id of cavil 
 
 the undi- 
 !ut repose 
 he utmost 
 ith which 
 
 BNELO. 
 
 3ation, it 
 Durham 
 authority 
 e Act of 
 )perative, 
 ircditable 
 ied ; and 
 that of a 
 lever was 
 an ardv.- 
 j of duti- 
 bound to 
 , ixi every 
 abouring 
 missioner 
 however 
 its deci. 
 
 
 siou — tlie voice of the country would loudly have reversed 
 it by a verdict of acquittal. 
 
 But Lord Durham was pleased to adopt an opposite 
 course. Instead of appealing to the justice of his Sove- 
 reign, to the wisdom and liberality of Parliament, or to 
 the consideration of her Majesty's Government, his 
 Lordship determined, without authority, and in defiance 
 of authority, to abandon his post, although, in his own 
 opinion, and in the opinion of Parliament, the safety 
 and security of the Canadas rested upon his pro- 
 tection. 
 
 At a moment when the Lower Province was in open 
 rebellion against its Sovereign, and when it required 
 the presence of a powerful army to suppress the con- 
 spiracy, which existed not only in the Canadas, but in 
 the United States, to subvert the authority of the British 
 Crown, his Lordship was pleased, not intemperatcly and 
 abruptly to throw down his powers, but, with wilful mis • 
 chief and with malice prepense, deliberately to exercise 
 them, by issuing, under the Queen's Great Seal, a pro- 
 clamation, in which, as her Majesty's accredited repre- 
 sentative in the North American colonies, he directly 
 appealed, not unto Caesar, but against Caesar — to the 
 
 PEOPLE ! 
 
 In this document, as well ac in others of a similar 
 tendency, which we shall quote. Lord Durham strongly 
 contrasts a solemn Act of the Queen and both Houses 
 of the Imperial Parliament, which he reviles, with his 
 own conduct, upon which he passes the highest enco- 
 miums. 
 
 ! . I 
 
 Mkm 
 
I 
 
 h 
 
 
 it I i! I 
 
 S ' 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ! 
 il ' 
 
 222 
 
 BRITISH POLICY, 
 
 "A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 " In conformity with one of its provisions, I have this day 
 proclaimed the Act 1 and 2 Victoria, chap. 112. 
 
 " I have also to notify the disallowance by her Majesty 
 of the ordinance 2nd Victoria, chap. 1, entitled, *An Or- 
 <linance to provide for the security of the Province of Lower 
 Canada.' 
 
 " I cannot perform these official duties without at the same 
 time informing you, tlie people of British America, of the course 
 which the measures of the Imperial Government and Legisla- 
 ture make it incumbent on me to pursue." 
 
 After detailing in glowing terms the benefits he had 
 intended to perfect, his Lordship proeccds to address 
 the inhabitants of the British Ameriean Colonies vla 
 follows : — 
 
 " In these just expectations I have been painfully disap- 
 pointed. From the very commencement of my task, the mi- 
 nutest details of my administration have been exposed to inces- 
 sant criticism, in a spirit which has evinced an entire ignorance 
 of the state of this country, and of the only mode i»i which the 
 supremacy of the British Crown can here be upheld and exer- 
 cised. ... I also did believe," adds his Lordship, " that, even 
 if I had not the precedents of these Acts of Parliament, a 
 Government and a Legislature, anxious for the peace of this 
 unhappy country and for the integrity of the British Empire, 
 would not sacrifice to a petty technicality the vast benefits which 
 my entire i)olicy promised." 
 
 Instead of obeying the explieit recommendations of 
 her Majesty's Government, by concurring with the Spe- 
 
^. ^n 
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 223 
 
 'e this day 
 
 sr Majesty 
 
 'An Or- 
 
 ! of Lower 
 
 t the same 
 f the course 
 id Legisla- 
 
 its he had 
 ;o address 
 )louies ad 
 
 fiilly disap- 
 jk, the nii- 
 jd to inces- 
 e ignorance 
 
 which the 
 [1 and excr- 
 
 that, even 
 trliament, a 
 ace of this 
 sh Empire, 
 Qefits which 
 
 dations of 
 1 the Spe- 
 
 eial Coiincil in an ordinance to prevent the persons lie 
 had illegully banished to Bermuda from returning to the 
 province without the Royal permission, Lord Durham 
 thus deliberately, under the Great Seal, officially sanc- 
 tions their return : — 
 
 "Her Majesty having been advised to refuse her asRent to 
 the exceptions, the amnesty exists without qualification. No 
 impediment therefore exists to the return of the i)erson8 who 
 had made the most distinct admission of guilt, or who had been 
 excluded l)y me from the province on account of the danger 
 to wliich its tranquillity would be exposed by their pre- 
 sence. . . . 
 
 " If the peace of Lower Canada is to be again menaced, it 
 is necessary that its Government should be able to reckon on a 
 more cordial and vigorous support at home than has been ac- 
 corded to me." 
 
 Not satisfied with this appeal to the people of the 
 British North American colonies in general, against the 
 solemn Act of the British Legislature, and against the 
 deliberate instructions of her Majesty's Government, 
 Lord Durham, as the representative of his Sovereign, 
 addressed to the deputies of Nova Scotia, New Bruns- 
 wick, and Prince Edward's Island, a written proclama- 
 tion, of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 " I assumed the Government of the North American 
 provinces, with the pre-determination to provide for the 
 future welfare and prosperity of them all. ... In this, I 
 trust useful course, I have been suddenly arrested by the 
 interference of the British Legislature, in which the respon- 
 sible advisers of the Crown have deemed it their duty to 
 acquiesce." 
 
224 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 iiiv 
 
 ; 
 
 i 
 
 As the representative of his Sovereign, his Lordship 
 next addressed to the inhabitants of the capital of Lower 
 Canada a similar communication, of which the following 
 is an extract : — 
 
 " I do not return to England from any feelings of disguai 
 at the treatment I have personally experienced in the House 
 of Lords. If I could have been influenced by any such mo- 
 tives, I must have re-embarked in the very ship which 
 brought me out ; for that system of ParHame'niary perse- 
 cution, to which I allude, commenced from the moment I left 
 the shores of England. 
 
 " I return for these reasons, and these alone, — the proceed- 
 ings in the House of Lords, acquiesced in by the Ministry, 
 have deprived the Government, in this province, of all moral 
 power and consideration. They have reduced it to a state of 
 executive nullity, and rendered it dependent on one branch of 
 the Imperial Legislature for the immediate sanction of each 
 separate measure. In truth and in effect, the Government 
 here is now administered by two or three Peers, from tlieir 
 places in Parliament." 
 
 In re-publishing the above sentiments, the Toronto 
 ' Patriot' thus informs its readers of the effect they had 
 produced at Quebec : — 
 
 " Various placards have been posted in different parts of 
 the town, expressive of the feelings of disgust entertained 
 by the loyal portion of the inhabitants at the conduct of 
 the Lords who have assailed Lord Durham, and interfered 
 in his administration of the government of this country. As 
 a specimen of the spirit in which they are conceived, we select 
 the following : — 
 
 " * Tfie Earl of Durlutm proceeds to England to defend his 
 conduct froTi' unjust and cowardly aggression. The British 
 
 
 , .-.- ^. -^Snaf 
 
A STRANGE STOUY. 
 
 225 
 
 I 
 
 and IrisJi jx^mlatwn, covjident in the justice of their cause, 
 have all to hope, frmn his talents, his integrity, and hisjirm- 
 ness, lolien lie shall liave met his foes tmthin the walls of Par- 
 liament.'' " 
 
 As the representative of the Queen, Lord Durham 
 next addressed to the inhabitants of the capital of Upper 
 Canada a written communication, of which the following 
 are extracts : — 
 
 " Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, — For the reasons wliich have 
 induced me to return to England, I must refer you to my 
 proclamation of this day's date, in which they are fully set 
 forth, and the state and condition of the Canadas amply ad- 
 verted to. 
 
 " It is at the same time a great consolation to me to reflect, 
 that, notwithstanding my 1« iving heen so abruptly arrested by 
 the jyroceedlngs in t/ie House of Peers, in tlie arduous task of 
 restoring peace, and providing for your future prosperity, I 
 have yet done much to justify your confidence and gain your 
 approbation. What was the state of the Canadas when I 
 assumed the government ? Rebellion had been but recently 
 quelled — martial law had been proclaimed, and the Habeas 
 Corpus suspended! 
 
 " In three mantlis wltitt teas the cliange ? Martial law was 
 superseded, the Habeas Corpus restored, not a political criminal 
 remained in confinement in the Lower Province, nor was there 
 any symptom of the existence of any seditious or treasonable 
 movemnets until the arrival of the intelligence of the inter- 
 ference of the House of Lords" 
 
 As the Queen's representative, Lord Durham ad- 
 dressed to her Majesty's Secretary of State a despatch, 
 dated 25th September, 1838, of which the following are 
 extracts : — 
 
 L 3 
 
 \ ij 
 
 pn. ,), 
 
 ! I; 
 
 U: 
 
 LH'f i' 
 
 \S. 
 
 Wi 
 
ffT'' 
 
 226 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 If! : 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 ■M 
 
 " Tlie proceedings in the House of Lords, from the moment 
 of my leaving the sliores of England, showed but too distinctly 
 that the support so essential to m/ success was not extended 
 to me. I allude in i)articular to tlie speech o/t/te Ihihe of Wel- 
 lington on the 4 th July, and to the expressive silence of the 
 Prime Minister on that occasion. ... In forty-eight hours 
 after the speech attributed to the Duke of Wellington had been 
 j)ublished here, the tone of that part of the press which repre- 
 sents the disaffected exhibited a remarkable change ; — giving 
 evidence, no longer of submission, however unwilling, to 
 extraordinary powers unhesitatingly exercised, but of dis- 
 content, irritation, and seditious hopes. . . . You will easily 
 understand, therefore, that no sufficient allowance was made 
 here for the nature of those party motives which had dictated 
 the proceedings of t/ie Opposition and tlia Government in respect 
 to my mission." 
 
 This series of documents proves that Lord Durham did 
 not apoplcctically fall from his post in a fit of passion : 
 for it is undeniable that his Lordship could not have 
 penned the elaborate documents we have quoted without 
 liaving had ample time to reflect upon their consequences 
 as to his own character, as well as the colonies to which 
 they were to be addressed. 
 
 Lord Durham's proclamation and mischievous appeals, 
 not only to " the People" but to the officers of the 
 Queen's G uards, having been promulgated, — the seeds of 
 sedition having been sown and harrowed in, his Lordship 
 became of opinion that the hour for the abandonment of 
 his post had at last arrived, and accordingly, having by 
 an act of political arson set fire with his own hands to 
 his own authority, he took unauthorized possession of 
 
 '■' itvM 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 227 
 
 e moment 
 distinctly 
 extended 
 ke of Wel- 
 lee of the 
 gilt hours 
 I had been 
 lich reprc- 
 -giving 
 villi ng, to 
 it of dis- 
 will easily 
 was made 
 d dictated 
 in respect 
 
 irham did 
 passion : 
 not have 
 i without 
 sequences 
 to whicli 
 
 8 appeals^ 
 rs of the 
 c seeds of 
 Lordship 
 nment of 
 laving by 
 hands to 
 cssion of 
 
 one of her Majesty's ships of war, and then retiring 
 from the flames of a rebellion wliiob naturally enough 
 buret out only four days after his departure, as a private 
 gentleman functus officio, he sailed in the 'Inconstant* 
 from Quebec, and after a blustering passage arrived 
 off Plymouth, accompanied by a storm singularly em- 
 blematic of the political state of the provinces he had 
 abandoned, and of the boisterous reception in the House 
 of Lords which he was fairly entitled to expect. 
 
 Although in sight of an English harbour, the raging 
 elements for several days still claimed him as their 
 own. The thunder rolled around him; the lightning 
 flashed upon his brow ; the winds, as if proud of their 
 victim, refused to surrender him ; and certainly if the 
 Demon of Discord himself had majestically visited our 
 shores, he could not have come attended by more terrific 
 honours : but the gale at last subsided, the tempest at 
 last relented, and accordingly, after having been griev- 
 ously shaken both in body and soul, his Lordship safely 
 landed on British soil. 
 
 As Lord Durham's authority over the North American 
 colonics, having devolved upon Sir Jolui Colborne, could 
 not occapy two places at the same time, his Lordship in 
 England was no longer, as the representative of his So- 
 vereign, answerable for any opinions he migbt publicly 
 promulgate ; and being therefore undeniably as mucli 
 at liberty as any other nobleman or gentleman in the 
 country to utter whatever political sentiments he chose, 
 it is irrelevant to our present inquiry to consider what he 
 may have thought proper to say, after having railed the 
 
 I M 
 
228 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 . !,'i 
 
 i I 
 
 '■ it 
 
 Heal from his commission, he had returned i > and min- 
 gled with the community in " plain clothes :" still, how- 
 ever, a few short extracts, from his written replies to 
 addresses he received, may be adduced as being singularly 
 characteristic, not of the Lord High Commissioner, but 
 of the unquenchable vanity of " the man." 
 
 To an address from the borough of Plymouth his 
 Lordship read a reply, of which the following is an ex- 
 tract : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, — If I have, ns 1 Imve, more numerous testi- 
 monies of regard from all classes in the North American pro- 
 vinces than ever before were presented to any of their rulers, 
 it has been owing to my determination to recognize no pnrty 
 distinctions, to act with justice and impartiality to all, and to 
 lay the foundation of those wise and safe araelionitions in 
 the institutions of the Colonies, which were so imperatively 
 required. 
 
 " I have the happiness to know that, in effacing the remaiihu 
 of a disastrous rebellion, and administering justice, I have not 
 found it necessary to shed one drop of blood, or confiscate the 
 property of a single individual. 
 
 " I had conciliated tlie esteem of a great and powerful na- 
 tion, in which were to be found all the elements of danger or 
 security to our North American possessions ; I had seen com- 
 merce and enterprise revi,ving, public confidence restored, "tc. 
 etc. 
 
 " In this career of, I humbly but fearlessly venture to assert, 
 complete success, I have been suddenly arrested." 
 
 To the people of Devonport his Lordship read i<«com- 
 muuication, of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 I 
 
 " Mr. IVIayor and Gentlemen, — You will never have reason 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 229 
 
 
 to repent the confidence you liavc placed in me, or the declara- 
 tion which you have this day made, of your approbation of 
 my government in Britiwh North America. Upon that sub- 
 ject I shall, when Parliament meets, be prepared to make a 
 representation vi /ads w/iolli/ unknown here, and disclosures 
 of which the Parliament and people of this country have no 
 conception ; / shaH t/ien fearlessly demand frmn t/w, assevihlcd 
 Legislature that justice which neither they nor the people of 
 England will ever deny to a public servant who has faithfully 
 and honestly discharged the duties assigned to him." 
 
 But before Lord Durliam, the trumpet-major of his 
 own procession, could pompously reach Exeter, intelli- 
 gence had arrived from Quebec by a fast-sailing vessel 
 (propelled by the very gale which had prevented his 
 landing at Plymouth), detailing a general outbreak in 
 Lower Canada, and an invasion by the Americans, which 
 made it necessary for his Lordship immediately to change 
 his tone — not at all as regarded self-adulation, but, with 
 respect to the assertions he had made at Plymouth, that 
 " he had cftaccd the remains of a disastrous rebellion — 
 that he had conciliated the esteem of a great and 
 powerful nation — that he had seen commerce and enter- 
 prise reviving, and public confidence restored." Accord- 
 ingly, in his vvitten reply to the Corporation of Exeter 
 (of which the following are extracts), it will appear that, 
 while he still most affectionately lauded himself, — while 
 he still reiterated the circumstances, " deeply to be de- 
 plored," which had caused his return ; yet his Lordship 
 felt it prudent no longer to conceal the awkward truth, 
 that it was from the field of battle, and not from the 
 bosom of peace, that he had so suddenly decamped ! 
 
230 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 % 
 
 
 " I am i)rou(l," sftjR his Lordship, " to sny that my adminis- 
 tration of affairs in British America, which you arc pleased 
 to proise, fut» vjoii me, tlw reyard nntl conjulence of all the loyal, 
 well-affected, and enlightened classes in that vast country. 
 
 " You know, and have adverted to, the circumstances which 
 compelled me to terminate this course of action. They are, 
 indeed, deeply to be deplored. And the late intelligence from 
 Canada shows how injuriously the best interests of the empire 
 are affected by proceedings founded on party feeling and poli- 
 tical animosity. 
 
 " That the lamentable events in Canada would inevitably 
 take place vuts foreseen hy me; and every preparation was 
 made, consistently with the means at my disposal, for meetiwj 
 them vigorously and efficiently." 
 
 In Honiton, Totncss, Asliburton, and elsewhere, he 
 managed to address as many of a certain class of her 
 Majesty's subjects as could be induced to assemble : but 
 his march of glory came to an end, and his Lordship at 
 last found himself once again in Cleveland-row — " the 
 monarch of all he surveyed." 
 
 On his arrival at this residence, his Lordship haugh- 
 tily forbore personal communication with her Majesty's 
 Ministers; his noble consort resigned her appointment 
 in the Queen's household ; and these notes of war 
 having been sounded, his Lordship appeared to expect 
 that Parliament would immediately be convened to re- 
 ceive him. Many concurred in this opinion : indeed, 
 such was the excitement in the mother country, as well 
 as in the colonies, that the Queen's proclamation, ap- 
 pointing the meeting of Parliament at the usual period, 
 was treated by the newspapers as an affected calmness 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 S81 
 
 y adminifl- 
 irc pleased 
 I tlie loyal, 
 untry. 
 [ices which 
 They are, 
 [(cnce from 
 the empire 
 f and poli- 
 
 incvitahly 
 ration wan 
 "or meetiiuj 
 
 (vhcrc, he 
 ;8s of her 
 nhle : but 
 )rdship at 
 iw — " the 
 
 ip haugh- 
 Majcsty's 
 lointmoiit 
 s of war 
 to expect 
 icd to re- 
 
 : indeed^ 
 V, as well 
 ition, ap- 
 al period, 
 
 calmness 
 
 on the part of the Cabinet, strangely contrasted with the 
 fearful tempest which ragod Avithin it. 
 
 Now, if at this awful moment any man had dared to 
 prophesy that on the meeting of Parliament a single day 
 would be permitted to elapse without her Majesty's Mi- 
 nisters arraigning Lord Durham for the serious conse- 
 quences of the insults which from the Castle of Quebec 
 he had, under her Majesty's Great Seal, offered to the 
 Queen's authority, to the authority of Parliament, and 
 to themselves, would even their enemies have credited 
 so extraordinary a prediction ? Would any one but a 
 maniac have ventured to foretell that Parliament, taking 
 its regular holidays at Easter and Whitsuntide, would 
 remain in session seven months, without a single mem- 
 ber demanding of Lord Durham by what authority he 
 had re-appeared among them, by what authority he had 
 abandoned his post in the hour of da gcr, and in virtue 
 of what clause of his commission he had presumed to 
 appeal to " the people" of the Canadas against a solemn 
 Act of the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 When Lord Durham, on the very first day of the ses- 
 sion, with unexampled recklessness o])truding himself 
 upon notice, interrupted the grave consideration of the 
 Queen's Address by claiming the previous attention of 
 the House to his own personal ease ; when on following 
 nights his Lordshi[) again and again reiterated the same 
 demand for preee(icnce, with what breathless attention 
 would t\w House of Peers have listened, — with what 
 feelings \\n\\\A Lord Durham have shrunk for ever into 
 retirement, had the veteran leader of the House — that 
 
 
 m 
 
232 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 ■i ! 
 
 t^ • 
 
 ill 
 
 li 
 
 soldier of our empire who has ever yet faced mth tri- 
 umph the enemies of his Sovereign — risen from his seat 
 but calmly to exclaim, " Quousgue tandem abutere, Cati- 
 Una, patientid nostrd?" But neither by her Majesty's 
 Ministers, nor by their opponents, nor by either House 
 of the Imperial Parliament, was Lord Durham thus 
 arraigned or conjured : on the contrary, in the face of 
 all parties, and in flagrant violation of public pride and 
 public principle, a deed was imagined and perpetrated 
 by her Majesty's Ministers, which we venture to as- 
 sert stands unparalleled in the political history of the 
 world. 
 
 Of all the weaknesses which characterize human na- 
 ture, there is no one more common than tliat of linger- 
 ing over by-gone subjects which once strongly attracted 
 the attention. When a man has suddenly l)een divested 
 of authority, his mind almost invariably flies back to the 
 unwholesome food from which it has been weaned : and, 
 accordingly, it is proverbial, that, of all the button-hang- 
 ing bores who pester society, an ex-Governor of a Colony 
 is the most annoying : for until he has cleansed his mind 
 by the publication of some heavy book, or of a series of 
 pamphlets which, like a string of boils, eventually restore 
 him to health, it is in the nature of the animal unceas- 
 ingly to rave about his own abolished consequence, — 
 about what he might, could, should, or would have done 
 had he continued in power, and about some political 
 nostrum only to be obtained from the laboratory of his 
 own pocket. 
 
 This being the case (and that it is the case, our readers' 
 
mth tri- 
 ri his scat 
 ere, Cati- 
 Majesty's 
 or House 
 lam thus 
 face of 
 )ri(le and 
 irpetrated 
 re to as- 
 •y of the 
 
 aman na- 
 of linger- 
 attracted 
 1 divested 
 ick to the 
 led : and, 
 ton-hang- 
 ' a Colony 
 
 his mind 
 I scries of 
 ly restore 
 1 uneeas- 
 pience, — 
 lave done 
 
 political 
 >ry of his 
 
 r readers' 
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 233 
 
 experience as well as the records of the Colonial Office 
 will abundantly testify), it was reasonably to be expected, 
 that, inasmuch as Lord Durham's most unusual powers 
 had suddenly expired, a literary phoenix of magnitude 
 would ere long be seen to arise out of the pale ashes of 
 his extinguished authority. 
 
 Accordingly, the strangers who had accompanied him 
 employed the interval between his arrival in England and 
 the meeting of Parliament, in collecting from individuals 
 residing in the Canadas, motley opinions on various sub- 
 jects. On the meeting of Parliament a portion only of 
 these data had arrived; — several were " supposed" to be 
 on their passage ; — several actually had not left Quebec ; 
 however, his Lordship framed liis report without its foun- 
 dation, and having transmitted this omnium gatherum to 
 the Colonial Department, of which he well knew it might 
 justly be said, — 
 
 "Ante fores atri foccunda papavera florcnt," 
 
 and printed copies of it having been simultaneously trans- 
 mitted to the 'Times ' newspaper and to Lower Canada, he 
 next day stood up in the House of Lords, and before even 
 the amiable Secretary of State had read the Report, he 
 expressed his impatience that it should be immediately 
 considered by Parliament. 
 
 Now, without taking into consideration Lord Durham's 
 repeated acts of insubordination, we beg leave to observe 
 that very grave, and, we must add, insuperable primd 
 facie objections existed against even her Majesty's Go- 
 vernment receiving, as an official report from the ex- Lord 
 
 U . ( 
 
 \\ 
 
 \m 
 
234 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 il' 
 
 1 
 
 
 *il 
 
 High Commissioner of the Canadas (the government of 
 which had, by his own act and deed, devolved upon Sir 
 John Colborne) , a pamphlet signed, rather than written, 
 by Lord Durham — after he had been superseded in his 
 office, and of which the appendix actually had not arrived 
 from Quebec. 
 
 If Lord Durham had been relieved from his station 
 with the most honourable encomiums that ever were 
 heaped by a British Government upon a retiring Vice- 
 royj yet it would have established a bad precedent to 
 have continued to treat him as the Governor of the 
 Colony after his authority had been extiu -i: for, 
 setting all personalities aside, every man wl; , ^yielded 
 authority must surely know, that unless a public servant 
 be heavily laden with the responsibility of his station, he 
 can never safely declare what measures he would really 
 recommend. 
 
 If an ex-Governor can, as from his grave, continue 
 officially to report after his authority is defunct, there 
 seems to be no reason why Parliament should not con- 
 sider as Secretary of the Colonies, not the individual vir- 
 tually responsible for the Department, but him out of all 
 preceding secretaries — who may be deemed to be gifted 
 with the highest talent. But as regards my Lord Dur- 
 ham and his pamphlet, the case was altogether different : 
 for, instead of having bt^eu regularly relieved from a post 
 of high confidence, his Lordship had, without waiting to 
 be relieved, abandoned it ; instead of having received en- 
 comiums from his Sovereign and from Parliament, his 
 Lordship had unconstitutionally appealed to " the people" 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 235 
 
 >vernment of 
 'ed upon Sir 
 han written, 
 •seded in his 
 i. not arrived 
 
 1 his station 
 .t ever were 
 tiring Vice- 
 precedent to 
 nior of the 
 i: for, 
 ^ ^ »vielded 
 iiblic servant 
 is station, he 
 would really 
 
 ve, continue 
 jfunct, there 
 uld not con- 
 dividual vir- 
 im out of all 
 to be gifted 
 r Lord Dur- 
 er different : 
 from a post 
 it waiting to 
 received en- 
 liaraent, his 
 the people" 
 
 against the solemn act of both. His very appearance in 
 his place in the House of Lords was an act of insubordi- 
 nation, as well as a contempt of Sovereign authority; 
 and therefore, whatever might be the intrinsic value of 
 his unfinished pamphlet, even to receive it as an official 
 document, after he had su'cidally annulled his own coia- 
 mission, was, on the part of the Queen's Government, 
 to ratify desertion and sanction mutiny. But could any 
 one have believed that besides receiving among themselves 
 this pamphlet as a "Report," her Majesty's Ministers 
 would have advised a youthful, inexperienced, and con- 
 fiding Queen not only to accept )t — not only to pass 
 imnoticed Lord Durham's proclamation against her in 
 Canada — but, as if in approbation of his Lordship's 
 unauthorized return to England, herself to transmit his 
 opinions to both Houses of Parliament, as official in- 
 struction to the very Legislature whose character and 
 motives he had branded with reproach — whose solemn 
 Act of Indemnity he had publicly reviled ? 
 
 What were our Colonics to think of such a recommen- 
 dation from the British Crown ? What were the Courts 
 of Europe to think of it ? What was the civilized world 
 to think of it ? Could five months' experience possibly 
 enable Lord Durham to offer to Parliament any informa- 
 tion that could compensate for this irreparable violation 
 of just pride and principle? Would any mercantile body 
 of Directors, who had been openly denounced to their 
 shareholders by their agent, before as well as after he 
 had, witliout authority, abandoned their service, deign to 
 transmit to them his advice? Would any private gentle- 
 
 y 
 
 s 
 
 ■i 
 
 ? 
 
 Mi' I 
 
236 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 I, Ml 
 
 man in England, who upon hia own estate had been pub- 
 licly insulted by his factor, transmit to the consideration 
 of his tenants any opiuion, however valuable, written and 
 addressed to him by the said agent after he had con- 
 temptuously throvm up his trust ? 
 
 As there is no limit to the mercy o*' the British Sove- 
 reign, 80 Lord Durham's offences, whatever they might 
 have been, might, in her Majesty's wisdom, have been 
 graciously overlooked — forgiveness would perhaps have 
 been the most appropriate punishment that could have 
 been infli'^ted ; but for the Queen to force his Lordship 
 upon both Houses of Parliament as their legal and poli- 
 tical adviser, ought surely, as the act of Ministers, to 
 have been made (especially by the Peers) the subject of 
 immediate, respectful, but unflinching remonstrance. 
 
 Will posterity believe that in neither House of Parlia- 
 ment did there rise up a single member boldly to say to 
 the Ministers of the Crown, Why do you insult us by 
 requiring of us to participate in our own dishonour? 
 What reason have you to urge, for forcing upon our con- 
 sideration this posthumous Report, until at least we shall 
 have received from its pretended author some atonement 
 for the indignity he has publicly offered to the Sovereign, 
 to us, and to the public service? If Pope's maxim. ''How 
 can we reason but from what we know," be correct, upon 
 what is Lord Durham's claim upon our attention based? 
 Is it upon the legal ignorance he has shown in framing 
 ordinances which have been annulled, and which made it 
 necessary for Parliament to grant to him an Act of In- 
 demnity? Is it upon the unconciliatory disposition he has 
 
 m0t>' 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 237 
 
 1 been pub- 
 nsideration 
 written and 
 e had con- 
 
 ntish Sove- 
 they might 
 have been 
 rhaps have 
 could have 
 is Lordship 
 al and poli- 
 inisters, to 
 B subject of 
 strance. 
 le of Parlia- 
 ly to say to 
 nsult us by 
 dishonour ? 
 an our con- 
 ist we shall 
 atonement 
 Sovereign, 
 ixim, '-'How 
 irrect, upon 
 tion based? 
 in framing 
 ich made it 
 Act of In- 
 ition he has 
 
 evinced in removing twenty Special Councillors appointed 
 by his predecessor as possessing the highest character, 
 greatest experience, and largest stake in the country, and 
 replacing them by five of his own household or personal 
 staff, of whom, to say the least, it was perfectly impos- 
 sible that the people of the Provinces could feel the 
 slightest assurance that they either knew or cared for 
 their wants or interests? Is it upon the utter disregard 
 he has shown for the welfare of the British North Ame- 
 rican Colonies, by i^cserting them at a moment pregnant, 
 as he himself has avowed, with difficulties and dangers ? 
 Is it upon the want of deference he has shown to the 
 advice and injunctions of the Sovereign and of the 
 Ministers from whom he received his authority ? What 
 public principle has Lord Durham observed in his ephe- 
 meral governmeat of the Canadas, but an utter disregard 
 of the control of his superiors, an entire want of consi- 
 deration of any authority but his own ? Ought we, with 
 the eyes of the world upon us, even to listen to the ad- 
 vice of a public servant to whom her Majesty's Ministers 
 have declared in a despatch (which they themsehes liave 
 published), that the terms of l''s Lordship's proclamation 
 to the inhabi<^ants of our Colonics have " appeared to her 
 Majesty's Ministers calcidated to impugn the reverence 
 due to the Royal authority — to derogate from the charac- 
 ter of the Imperial Legislature — to excite among the dis- 
 affected hopes of impunity, and to enhance the difficul- 
 ties with which his Lordship's successor tvould have to 
 contend ? " 
 
 It is with the deepest regret we record that no such 
 
 at; ..■ 
 
"m^msr^^lfm 
 
 238 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 Il 
 
 '111 ^ 
 
 questions were asked — no such objections raised. Lord 
 Melbourne has since unblushingly declared (at a moment 
 when the houses of respectable inhabitants of Birming- 
 ham had been gutted and their chattels fired by the 
 Chartists) "that in his opinion a man's being a member of 
 a political union ought not to operate as a disqualification 
 for subsequent employment as a magistrate in the public 
 service!" On precisely the same principle her Majesty's 
 Ministers advised their Sovereign to transmit Lord Dur- 
 ham's Loudon Report to both Houses of Parliament. 
 
 " Faa est ab hoste doceri." 
 
 Let us now proceed to consider whether her Majesty's 
 Government and the Imperial Parliament have duly 
 considered the allegations contained in Lord Durham's 
 Report? 
 
 When an individual or a legislature departs from the 
 direct road of honour and principle, the angle of aberra- 
 tion is often so acute, that a considerable time elapses 
 before the error is detected. One petty offence insen- 
 sibly leads to the commission of another; and thus it 
 every year happens, that it is not until the criminal has 
 received the awful sentence of death, that, of his own 
 accord, he attributes his miserable fate to an early de- 
 secration of the Sabbath, to an unfortunate introduction 
 to a vicious companion, or to some small evil propensity 
 the consequences of which he had neglected to antici- 
 pate. It might, therefore, have happened that the ob- 
 jectionable presentation by her Majesty's Ministers to 
 Parliament of the pamphlet of a nobleman who had in- 
 
A STRANGE STURY. 
 
 239 
 
 lised. Lord 
 at a moment 
 of Birming- 
 fired by the 
 ' a member of 
 squalification 
 in the public 
 icr Majesty's 
 it Lord Dur- 
 arliament. 
 
 her Majesty's 
 it huve duly 
 ord Durham's 
 
 )art5 from the 
 igle of aberra- 
 ! time elapses 
 offence insen- 
 ■; and thus it 
 3 criminal has 
 it, of his own 
 o an early de- 
 te introduction 
 Gvil propensity 
 cted to antic i' 
 i that the ob- 
 's Ministers to 
 an who had in- 
 
 sulted the authority of the Legislature and of the Crown 
 might for a considerable time have been productive of no 
 serious inconvenience, and that those -who had weakly 
 argued, " What harm will it do?" might with equal 
 fallacy for a considerable time, have demanded, with 
 apparent triumph, " What harm has it done ?" Such, 
 however, has not been the case, for the fatal effects of 
 this misconduct have already become apparent ; — the 
 punishment has already followed thr offence ; — the cause 
 and effect are visibly in juxtaposition ; indeed, the thun- 
 der of heaven does not more surely follow the momentary 
 flash in the firmament, than the loud murmuring of 
 despair is now throughout our North American Colonies 
 foliv- ^ig that fatal, ill-advised message of her Majesty, 
 which transmitted to Parliament Lord Durham's posthu- 
 mous Report. 
 
 What in theory might have been expected from the 
 angry counsel of a proud radi. nobleman who had con- 
 tumaciously fled from difficulties he had neither time nor 
 temper to investigate, is an idle speculation, which it is 
 not now necessary to pursue, because the actual result is 
 before us to speak for itself. 
 
 We will not ofler to our readers anything so little 
 worthy of their attention as our own opinions of this ex- 
 traordinary document, of which we will merely say, that 
 it accurately fulfils what might have been expected from 
 its real authors ; but will simply state what have been the 
 official opinions of the most competent authorities on 
 the subject. 
 
 As regards Lord Durham's observations on Lower 
 
 f 1 
 
 
 
240 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 !! 
 
 V 
 
 Canada^ it seems to be generally admitted that his Lord- 
 ship i":, as accurate in his declaration, as voluminous in 
 his proofs, that the rebellion in that province " is a war 
 between races." Considering, however, that long before 
 Lord Durham left England I'or Quebec, the British po- 
 pulation and the British troops on one side were ranged 
 together, in open day and in open conflict, against Mon- 
 sieur Papineau and his deluded French adherents on 
 the other, it must be observed that it did not require a 
 magician, or even a politician, to make this sagacious 
 discovery. As regards his Lordship's Report on Upper 
 Canada — (that keystone of our North American Colo- 
 nies) — we must observe that his allegations against the 
 Lieutenant-Governor, Executive Council, Legislative 
 Council, Commons House of Assembly, and people, have 
 been unreservedly, and, in most instances, oflicially, de- 
 nied and disproved by the following competent authori- 
 ties, whom we will name in the order in which they have 
 expressed themselves : — 
 
 1. Sir F. Head, the late Lieut.-Governor of Upper 
 
 Canada. 
 
 2. The North American Colonial Association. 
 
 3. Sir John Colborne, Governor-General of the Ca- 
 
 nadas. 
 
 4. Sir George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Up- 
 
 per Canada. 
 
 5. The Executive Council of Upper Canada. 
 
 6. The Legislative Council of Upper Canada. 
 
 7. The Commons House of Assembly of Upper 
 
 Canada. 
 
A STKANOE STOllY, 
 
 241 
 
 at his Lord- 
 uraiiious iu 
 c" is a war 
 long before 
 I British po- 
 jvere ranged 
 gainst Mon- 
 iherents on 
 lot require a 
 lis sagacious 
 )rt on Upper 
 lerican Colo- 
 1 against the 
 Legislative 
 I people, have 
 officially, de- 
 tent authori- 
 ich they have 
 
 lOr of Upper 
 
 ation. 
 
 il of the Ca- 
 
 ernor of Up- 
 
 Eida. 
 
 lada. 
 
 ly of Upper 
 
 8. Ilor Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor General. 
 
 9. The Grand Jury of the Newcastle District. 
 
 10. Lieut. -Gen. Sir Peregrine jNlaitland, who was ten 
 years Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. 
 
 The following brief extracts will, we believe, suffi- 
 ciently show the nature of the evidence to which we have 
 referred. 
 
 1. Sir Francis Head, in his ' Narrative/ has thus re- 
 plied to Lord Durham's allegations : — 
 
 " With respect to Lord Diu'lmni's report to the Queen, that 
 my Kxeeutivo Couneil 'seem to hiive taken oflieo ulniost on 
 t/ie exjircss coiulUion of hvimj iiirri' cijihers,' I be<^ leave most 
 solemnly to deelare that aueh a eondition was neither expressed 
 nor understood. . . . 
 
 " With res])ect to the allefi;ation affeotinj^ my own character, 
 namely, that ' the elections were carried by the unscrupulous 
 exercise of tlie inflnence ot'tiie CJovernmcnt,' I beg leave calmly, 
 hilt imecpiivocally, ti- '^''>?y '<• . . . 
 
 " It would not be difficult to proceed with the whole of Lord 
 Durham's Report on Upper Canada as \ have commenced, but 
 as I have no desire unnecessaiily to hurt his Lordship, I have 
 sufficiently shown its inaccuracy, to vindicate my own character 
 from its attacks," etc. etc. 
 
 2. The North American Colonial Association, com- 
 posed of most respectable merchants in the City of Lon- 
 don, declared, in a scries of formal Kcsolntions, that Lord 
 Durham's — 
 
 " statements and opinions relative to the condition of parties 
 in Upper Canada and the other North American Colonies ap- 
 pear calculated to shock and irritate the great body of loyal 
 inhabitants, and to indu^j a belief iu the people of this couuJry 
 VOL. I. M 
 
 : . 
 
 '1 '■ 
 
 ■t 
 
 
 If 
 
 \m 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
i «, 
 
 242 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 r ■ 
 
 0. il 
 
 that tlic disloyal clnsa is rmnicrous nntl resppctiiMc, instond of 
 hoiiitr, lis it rciilly is, a ('((mpiirntivoly snmll mid contemptible 
 minority." 
 
 3. The prcaotit Tjicntcnant- Governor of Upper Ca- 
 nada, Sir (loorj^e Arthur, in a despatcli, dated Toronto, 
 J7th Ajn'il, 18.'M), says, with referenee to Tjord Durham's 
 Report — 
 
 " The Momhcra of both TTouscs, I find, {i;onornl1y consider 
 parts of tlio IJoport which refer to Upper Canada to ho in ninny 
 particulars incorrect; and a Coininittec of the House of Assem- 
 bly has been consofiuently ai>i!ointed to draw up a Report upon 
 the subject. 
 
 " Thci/ regard the Karl of Diivhavin scheme for the fnttire 
 governnient of Canada as essentUiIJi/ tin' same as that which teas 
 advocated h;/ Mr. IHdirell, Dr. lud^th, and Maclioizie^ and to 
 which the great' majority of the people of this Province ex- 
 pressed their xuiecpiivocal <lissont." 
 
 4. A Report from the Legislative Couneil of Upper 
 Canada states — 
 
 " After an attentive and disinterested consideration of this 
 subject, your Coniniittce arc led to the conclusion that the 
 adoption of the plan proposed by the Earl of Durham must 
 lead to the overthroii^ of the i/reat Colonial Kmjnre of En* fl and." 
 
 5. The Commons' House of Assembly of Upper Ca- 
 nada, in an Address to the Queen, dated 11th of INIay, 
 1839, and by her IMajestv's eommand laid before both 
 Houses of the Imperial Parliament, state — 
 
 "Since the commcncenient of the present Session of the 
 Provincial Parlian cut, the final I'eport of your Majesty's High 
 Commissioner on the affairs of Ih'itish North America has been 
 received iu this country. In this Report your Majesty's faithfnl 
 
A stuanok story. 
 
 243 
 
 , inRten<l of 
 mtemptiblo 
 
 Tppor Ca- 
 
 :1 Toronto, 
 
 Durham's 
 
 illy coiiHidor 
 > 1)0 in many 
 w of Asscni- 
 Ucport Mpon 
 
 rr the fithire 
 at ivliirh ini.f 
 p)iz!e, antl to 
 Province ex- 
 
 il of Upper 
 
 iition of this 
 
 (ion tliat tlio 
 
 )iirliaii» nnist 
 
 of Kwihmd." 
 
 Upper Ca- 
 
 tli of IMay, 
 
 before both 
 
 V'ssion of the 
 
 klajesty's High 
 
 erica has been 
 
 ijcsty's faithful 
 
 Huhjocts fiii<l ninny stiitcnionfs deeply nffecting the social and 
 political relations and conditions of Upper and Lower Canada, 
 and the reconnnendations of several iin|)ortant elumj^es in the 
 form and practice of the Constitution. It is with nuich con- 
 cern tliat your Majesty's faitid'ul sidijecta tind that your JSbt- 
 jcsty's 1 li;;h ConimiHsioner has strongly urufed the adoption 
 of these i'liang(S hy your Majesty and the Imperial Tarlia- 
 ment, without waiting for the opinion that may be formed 
 of them by tb<> ])eo]ile who arc to be nn)st deejily and im- 
 mcdiatclv nlTeeted bv them. Under those cireunistances, wo 
 have caused a l\e]iort ti> be drawn U]i by a Select Committee of 
 till' House of Assend)ly, which contains matter referring to this 
 subject, which we re.speclfuUy submit for your Majesty's cousi- 
 dcration." 
 
 Tlie Report above alluded to, submitted to the (iueeii 
 by the House of Assembly, states — 
 
 "A dociunent, purjiortiug to be the Ueitort of her Majesty's 
 liitc HI;^h Cummissioiur, the Karl of Durham, adihr.ssed to her 
 Majesty, on (he allairs of I'ritish North America, contains mat- 
 tor so deeply alTccting the social as well as political relations of 
 all the Provinces, csjiocially of Tapper Canada, that it would ill 
 become your Committee to jjhss it over in silence. At this lato 
 period of tlio Session, it is impossible to ^ive the statemeuta 
 and ojiinious advanced by his Lord.^hip the extensive investi- 
 yation thi'ir inii>ortaneo di iiiaiils ; but yiair Conuuittee will 
 ajiply themselves with ealnnicss to vindicate the peoi)lc of 
 Upjier ( 'inada. their (b)V('rnnicnt and Legisla lure, from charges 
 that imply a want of patriotism and integrity, which they 
 know to be unjust, which they did n»t expect, and which they 
 grieve to find advanced by a nobleman who had lieeu scut to 
 these Pn)vinct's to heal rather than foment dissensions, and who 
 certainly should have carefully gu.nded against giving currency 
 to i()iJi)/ni(/<-(f, tiilsr/iicntnn, iiml 'lUihcrat rinitutirs,J'or t/ie truth 
 of which he mhnlts loc is ninthly to vouch." 
 
 iki 2 
 
 \h 111 
 
2U 
 
 BHITISII POLICY. 
 
 M 
 
 The Committee coueliule their Report with the foUow- 
 in{? ohservations : — 
 
 " Your Coiniuittec will licrc close their remarks on the 
 viirious alU'j,'titions, in the lU'port of the lli;,'h Conuuissioner, 
 that apprarcMl to then) to ri'(|uiro particular aiiiinadversioii. If, 
 in the eourse of tlicir remarks, they have heen hetrayed into 
 too stroufif an expression of re])roaeh or in(li;,'!uint refutation, 
 they trust that it will not be ascribed to a wanton inditterence 
 to that courtesy and respectful deference that sliould mark the 
 proceedings of a piddic iiody towards those of hii^di rank and 
 station ; and, on the otiicr hand, they trust that they will n<tt 
 be denied the credit of having forborne to apply aninuidversions 
 of far greater severity than (hey have used to many j)arts of a 
 I»ci)ort which they can truly affirm, and which they believe 
 they have clearly jiroved lo fie, moat unjust itnd vnfoii ruled, 
 anil wliielb (ire cdlrnJnli'd fo luive <i most mlschievomt influence 
 on the future de.stlnleti of thene (^olonles. 
 
 " Your Committee, however, are not willing to believe that 
 the great nation to which these Provinces lielong, aiul which 
 has hitherto extended to them its powerful, its parental ])rotec- 
 tion, will hastily, and without the most full and amjle informa- 
 tion, adopt the opinions and act upon the recommendations of 
 any individual, however high his rank, or great his talents, 
 that involve the future destinies of her Majesty's faithful sub- 
 jects in these Provinces." 
 
 G. The Grand Jury of the Newcastle District (whicli 
 contains two counties, forming one of the most valuable 
 sections of Ui)i)er Canada) unanimously adopted a Pre- 
 sentment, of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 " District of Xeiccastk, 1 The Jurors of our Lady the Queen 
 
 TO wn : J upon their oaths present, that a 
 
 printed book or pamphlet, entitled ' Report ou the Affairs of 
 
IC 
 
 follow- 
 
 ks oi) the 
 lunisHioner, 
 tTsiou. If) 
 trayctl into 
 
 refutation, 
 indiftorcncc 
 (1 murk the 
 I rank un<l 
 u'y will not 
 nadversions 
 y jmrts of a 
 tln'y believe 
 
 7i'itJ'i)ii ruled, 
 (w injlaence, 
 
 liclieve that 
 f, and whieh 
 •ental i)rotee- 
 ijle iufonnu- 
 iK'iulations of 
 t his talents. 
 
 faithful sub- 
 
 itrict (which 
 lost vahiahle 
 iptccl a Prc- 
 ,ct :— 
 
 idy the Queen 
 esent, that a 
 the Affairs of 
 
 A STRANOE STORY. 
 
 215 
 
 British North Aiiicrica, from the Earl of Durham, hor Majesty's 
 High Commissioner, etc. etc. etc.,' has been brou^^dit under 
 their notiee ; and the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths afore- 
 said, further present, that they have oarefu .; •xamined the 
 said book or pamphlet ; and the Jurors aforestiid, upon their 
 oaths aforesaid, further present, that the mihl hook or painph/el 
 in calculiited to excite j hfle couteinpf <t)i<J oiliiim dijiuiist the 
 (tovei'iiineiit anil iVtif/i.itror// of thin I' •orbire ; and tlie Jurors 
 aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaiil, further i)resent, thi.t the 
 said book or ])aniphlet is .ilso calculated most injvrlousfi/ to 
 vil-aleud tin; Meinherti of the Inijierlai PcifHami .1 and the Jirllis/i 
 jutbllc, by ereatinj,' in their minds erroneous i 1 false opinions 
 relative to the state and condition of this rmvinee, and with 
 respect to the wants, feelings, sei;.'. '-cuts, and wishes ■-■? n very 
 large majority of the inliabitanti^ thetoof; to dUxemlnnte and 
 perpetuaie. In. thin J^rovhice, jtrtnrl/ifen of dfiinocrari/ vholli/ In- 
 ^^omputlbh', with inonarehlcal Inntltntlons ; to loosen the ijonds 
 of affection which unite ns to our tj radons Sovei'eUjn, to the 
 Hritish Empire, and to the venerated constitution of our an- 
 cestors ; to resuscitate and fomeM that factious discontent and 
 disorder which jiroduced such deplorable and disastrous con- 
 sequences, but which, though not extinguished, had in a great 
 measure subsided ; and, generally, to endanycr the peace, hap- 
 piness, and pros])erlti/ of this Province, atjainst the peace of onr 
 said ISoverelyn Liuhi the Queen, her crown and dlgniti/. 
 
 " GramlJury .'.';.;., May lo, 1839." 
 
 7. Lieiitcnant-Gencral Sir Pcrogrinc Maitland, who 
 during ten years was Licntonant-Cjlovcrnor of Upper 
 Canada ; vho was afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of 
 Nova Scotia : and who has Lately returned from an 
 important government in India, avowed " his decided 
 condemnation, with full liberty to disclose his sentiments, 
 of Lord Durham's Report ; his opinion that it yives an 
 
 ;l 
 
246 
 
 BRITISH I'OLICY. 
 
 \l,'\ 
 
 I I- 
 
 V ! 
 
 inaccurate and unfair description of the Province and 
 people of Upper Canada, and that it censures, iynorantly 
 and unjustlij, t/use who have administered the government 
 of that Province." 
 
 Now with tliis overwlicliiiing mass of evidence (almost 
 the whole of which has been pi'iiited and [)resciitcd to Vav- 
 liameiit before them, were not her ^Majesty's ]\Iiuisters 
 and the Imperial Parliament bound by honour and com- 
 mon justice to I'epair the error that had been committed? 
 
 If the meanest of her ^Majesty's subjects, having been 
 accused before Parliament by the most powerful Peer 
 in the realm, had submitted, in vindication of his in- 
 nocence, one-twentieth j)art of as unanswerable evi- 
 dence as that Mhieh has been just adduced in defence 
 of the Legisliiturc and people of Ui)per Canada, would 
 the Imperial Parliam:.nit have left him, at tlie proroga- 
 tion, without relief — without the acquittal to which 
 it knew him to be entitled ? Would any court of 
 justice, — would any jury in the country, with such a 
 case before t! em, have withheld from a man, falsely 
 accused, their verdict? And if a solitary individual 
 would have received this common act of justice from 
 those before whom he had been arraigned, how inlinitely 
 more entitled to acquittal were a brave and loyal 
 people, who, under severe suHerings, and by the most 
 determined bravery, liad I'epelled her Majesty's enemies 
 in all directions — and who, tlu'ough the severity of two 
 Canadian winters, had maintained for the liritish Crown 
 its noblest (U-pendencies ! And when the whole history 
 of their loyalty, when the mass of corroborative evidence 
 
wince and 
 lyHorantltj 
 /overiunaU 
 
 ICC (almost 
 itcd to Par- 
 j ^[inistcrs 
 r and com- 
 oininittccl ? 
 laving been 
 vci'ful Peer 
 I of his iu- 
 erablc evi- 
 iu tlcfenec 
 lada, would 
 he pi'oroga- 
 .1 to which 
 ly court of 
 with such a 
 nan, falsely 
 y individual 
 justice from 
 ow inlinitcly 
 i and loyal 
 jy the most 
 ity's enemies 
 crity of two 
 ritisii Crown 
 hole history 
 tive evidence 
 
 A STRANGE STOilY. 
 
 247 
 
 which we have just adduced is weighed against the asser- 
 tions of au individual who had insubordinately fled from 
 his post ; — and who had brought away from it nothing 
 but the records of five months' blundering legislation, 
 which it had required the interference of ParHament not 
 only to correct but to palliate ; — it seems incredible that 
 the legislative authorities of Upper Canada should, in the 
 name of the people of that Pi'ovince, have demanded in 
 vain that this painted butterHy should publicly be broken 
 on the wheel upon which of his own accord he had 
 alighted ! The Imperial Parliament, however, not only 
 neglected to resent the insults offered to them by this 
 public servant, — they not only failed to arraign him for 
 having deserted his post, and for his seditious appeal 
 to " the people" against the Sovereign authority ; but 
 although, during the whole sesi«ion, there were recom- 
 nicnded to their consideration remedial measures based 
 on a " Report," which they perfectly well knew had been 
 written by others and not by himself, they averted their 
 minds from the mass of evidence by which it had been 
 contradicted, and actually allowed a bill to be proposed, 
 argued, and passed for the government of Lower Canada, 
 — they even allowed liord Durham himself to stand up 
 before them in his place, and publicly address them on 
 the subject, without one Member rising to offer a single 
 objection to his conduct, or a solitary observation on the 
 calumnies he had unolHcially submitted to them ! 
 
 Among those wlio listened to him with mysterious 
 silence there were many who could have chilled him by 
 their frown, and who could have annihilated him by their 
 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 . f 
 
 1 ' 
 
 I' 
 
 I 
 
 i J 
 
 'mi 
 
 \'v< 
 
 4 
 
 Hi 
 
 \ I. 
 
 'HI 
 
 
 II 
 
248 
 
 BRITISH POLICY. 
 
 ii ;t 
 
 I 
 
 iX I 
 
 reply ; but liis triumph was inexplicable, and, as if gifted 
 with the power of repressing the noble elements that sur- 
 rounded him, the imperious Dictator passed through the 
 ordeal of the Session unharmed, unpunished, and even 
 imanswered ! 
 
 Without pausing to reflect upon the consequences at 
 home of such silence, what, we ask, were our North 
 American Colonies to think of this denial to them of 
 justice? What other moral could they possibly draw 
 from it than that, in return for their loyalty, — in return 
 for the sacrifices they had made in defence of their 
 glorious institutions, — the Imperial Parliament had con- 
 demned them to be democrats, and, consequently, that 
 it was useless, as it was hopeless, for them to avert the 
 decree ? 
 
 Under these appalling circumstances, who can wonder 
 that the loyal po]uiIation of the Canadas now feel it is 
 necessary to secure their lives, their families, and their 
 farms, by bending to the storm which they have not 
 power to resist ? Accordingly, men who have hitherto 
 been distinguished both in the field and in the Senate 
 for their loyalty and devoted attachment to British in- 
 stitutions are now, we have too much reason to know, 
 prudently yielding to circumstances, and are adapting 
 their political confessions to those democratic j)rinciples 
 of government which her Majesty's Ministers and the 
 Imperial Parliament seemed determined to establish. 
 The accounts which by every packet arrive from Canada 
 attest the fatal influence of Lord Durham's uncontra- 
 dicted Report. 
 
A STRANOE STORY. 
 
 249 
 
 s if gifted 
 
 i that sur- 
 
 rough the 
 
 and even 
 
 [ucnces at 
 ur North 
 i them of 
 iihly draw 
 -in return 
 ; of their 
 t had eon- 
 sntly, tliat 
 ) avert tlie 
 
 an wonder 
 
 I feel it is 
 and their 
 have not 
 
 e hitlierto 
 the Senate 
 British in- 
 
 II to knoiv, 
 e adapting 
 ; ])rineipk'8 
 rs and the 
 
 establish. 
 
 jm Canada 
 
 uncontra- 
 
 Besidcs the testimony of tlie provineial press, we have 
 before us many letters from persons in Canada, some 
 connected with the Government and Legislature, others 
 not so circumstanced, bat feeling and possessing a deep 
 interest in the Colonj', stating in the strongest language 
 the incalculable injury which Lord Durham's lleport is 
 doing in the hands of the most notorious enemies of the 
 Crown. 
 
 One gentleman (a Canadian) says — 
 
 " Lor<l Durham's name is used as a cloak for tlie most 
 treasonable desiijns : indeed, anything may now be attempted 
 under the pretext of sustaining the plans proposed in the 
 ' Report; " 
 
 Another letter from a Canadian of great talent, pro- 
 bity, and influence, states — 
 
 "Lord Durham's Report is working its sure and certain 
 mischief: it lias revived the schemes and spirits of the Re- 
 volutionary party. ' Durham and Reform,' ' Durham and 
 Liberty,' arc now inscribed on flags, and paraded about by 
 those, and those onh/, who are known to be disloyal, and who 
 aim at separation from the mother country. Whatever may 
 be said to the contrary by a venal press, there is not an 
 honest or loyal man in Upper Canada that docs not execrate 
 Lord Durham as the greatest curse that has ever yet been in- 
 flicted on these Provinces." 
 
 Another letter from Sir George Arthur, the present 
 Lieutenant- (j over nor of the Provinces, states — 
 
 " The ' Report' has set all the Reformers and Republicans 
 in motion again, and whilst they were cautious under M'Ken- 
 zie's banner, they are exceedingly bold under the Earl of Dur- 
 ham's colours." 
 
 M 3 
 
 ' i 
 
 i t' 
 
 *'r 
 
250 
 
 BllinSII POLICY. 
 
 i 
 
 ' I 
 
 "NYliat ail afFectiug aud mclauclioly picture do the fore- 
 going letters portray ! 
 
 Our argument ends in a circle at the point from which 
 it started. ^V/ly, we ask, ivas Lord Durham allowed to 
 act officially as Lord High Commissioner of the Cunadas 
 
 AFTER HE HAD DESERTED FKOM HIS POST ? 
 
 As a question diametrically opposite to the above, let 
 us now ask, why have her Majesty's Government and 
 the Imperial Legislature neglected to weigh evidence 
 contained in public documents Avliich, early in the Ses- 
 sion, like Lord Durham's " Report," were printed and 
 laid before bo*h Houses of Parliament ? 
 
 On the Duke of Wellington forcing Lord Melbourne 
 (notwithstanding his Lordship's prophecy that it would 
 prove "exceedingly inconvenient") to produce Sir Francis 
 Head's despatches, it appeared that the late Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Upper Canada, in his concluding despatch 
 from Toronto, dated 19th December, 1837, had maUe, 
 through the Govci'nmcut, to his Sovereign the following 
 plain statement : — 
 
 " My Lord,— It has long been notorious to every British 
 subject iu the Canadas, that your Lordship's uuder-yeoretary, 
 the author of our C<jlonial despatches, is a rank llepublieau. 
 His sentiments, his conduct, and his poUtical character, arc 
 liere aHke detested, and I enclose to your Lordship Mr. M'Ken- 
 zie's last newspa})er, which, traitorous as it is, contains nothing 
 more conducive to treason than the extracts which, as its text, 
 it exultingly ijuotes from the pubHslied oiiinions of her Ma- 
 jesty's Under-Secretary of State for the Colonics ! 
 
 "As I eutertjiin no sentiment of animosity against Mr, 
 Stephen, it has been with very great reluctance timt I have 
 
the forc- 
 
 )ra whicli 
 
 lloived to 
 
 Canadas 
 
 ibove, let 
 
 nent and 
 
 evidence 
 
 the Ses- 
 
 luted and 
 
 Iclbournc 
 t it would 
 ir Francis 
 ieutenant- 
 ; despatch 
 liad made, 
 ; following 
 
 ery British 
 r-Secretary, 
 llepublicun. 
 aracter, are 
 Mr. M'Keu- 
 iins nothing 
 I, as its text, 
 of her Ma- 
 
 agaiust "Mr. 
 that I have 
 
 A STKANGE STOllY. 
 
 251 
 
 mentioned his name ; hut, being deeply sensible that this Pro- 
 vince has been signally protected by an Omnipotent Providence 
 during tlie late unnatural rebellinn, I feel it my duty, in re- 
 tiring from this continent, to divulge, tbniugh your Lordship, 
 to my Sovereign, my opiui(jn of the latent cause of our un- 
 fortunate misgoverument of the Canadas. 
 
 •'I have the houour to be, my Lord, etc. etc., 
 
 " (Signed) F. P. Head." 
 
 This plain statement to the Queen by her Lieute- 
 nant-Governor was corroborated by the f llowing offi- 
 cial documents,''*' addressed to her Majesty by the two 
 other branches of the Canadian Parliament : — 
 
 1. Extract of a "Report, dated 8th February, 1838, 
 of a Select Committee of the Commons' House of As- 
 seiribly, on the Political State of the Provinces of Upper 
 a!vd Lower Canada. Printed by order of the House, with 
 an Address to the Queen." 
 
 "In the year 1828, Janios Stcplien, Esquire, then Counsel, 
 and since advanced to tht ,iffice of Under-Secretary of State to 
 the Colonial Department, in his evidence before the Sehjct 
 Committee of the House of Commons on the affairs of (Janada, 
 advanced the following opinions with reference to these Pro- 
 vinces : — 
 
 " ' The ties by which the people are bound to their Sovereign 
 are not of the same strong and enduring character as the cor- 
 responding obligations between the King and the people of the 
 old Lv^Topeau States. It is impossible to suppose the Cana- 
 dians dread your power : it is not easy to believe that the 
 abstract duty of loyalty, as distinguished from the sentiment 
 of loyalty, can be very strongly felt. The riy/ii of rejecting 
 
 * These two documents and the concluding remarks arc taken from 
 Sir ¥. Head's subsequent publiuutions. 
 
 I'M 
 
i 11 
 
 253 
 
 BUITiSH I'Of.ICY. 
 
 ■'- ii 
 
 }■•■'• m \ 
 
 EuDpean douijiiiou i)ns 'jeeii sr ift.n asserted in North and 
 South A merica, i'V<< revolt can scarceli/ be esteetm.d in those con- 
 fimnts us itimimd or diayniceful. Neither does it seem to me 
 that the sense if national pride etui importance is in your 
 favour, It ijannot be vcgard d as an enviable distinction to 
 remain (fif- onh/ (leppndent porfi.m nftlieNeio WorhV 
 
 "Your Coaiihittee p; . . mhI luit to say that any individual 
 was influenced by ihe use made of Mr. Stephen's oi)inions— 
 they hope otherwise ; but they well know that their promul- 
 gation ha;; excited a deep feeling of regret in the minds of a 
 very numerous and respectable class of the learned gentleman's 
 fellow-subjects in these Provinces, and lias led many to con- 
 sider whetlior past maladministration of our afi'airs may not 
 fairly be aifributable to the influence necessarily exercised by 
 a person holding his highly responsible and confidential situa- 
 tion in Dowiiing Street ; and if so, whether that influence can 
 be continued without danger to our future prosperity." 
 
 2. Extract of a " Report and Address to the Queen, 
 dated 28th February, 1838, by tlie Honourable tlie Le- 
 gislative Council of Upper Canada, and ' printed by order 
 of the House ' : " — 
 
 "Neither the rebels in these Provinces, nor their American 
 auxiliaries, thought it by any means certain that the British 
 Government would make the exertion necessary for retaining 
 these Colonies. They persuaded themselves, on „he contrary, 
 that they would not. They have, for many years i)ast, observed 
 some of the more influential journals in the motlier country 
 denouncing the impolicy of retaining the Canadas ; and they 
 have read declarations opeidy made to a Conunittee of the 
 House of Commons by a gentleman in the Colonial Depart- 
 ment, who, from his station and duties, has probably exercised, 
 and still exercises, as great an influence in the government of 
 the American colonies as any other individual in the Empire — 
 
A STRANGE STORY. 
 
 253 
 
 ttr" 
 
 *^orth and 
 <, those con- 
 eem to me 
 is in your 
 tinction to 
 
 individual 
 Dj)inions — 
 ir promul- 
 ninds of a 
 [entlenian's 
 ny to con- 
 's may not 
 corcised by 
 ntial situa- 
 Hucncc can 
 
 \c Queen, 
 c the Le- 
 i l)y order 
 
 American 
 the British 
 r retaining 
 e contrary, 
 it, observed 
 ler country 
 and they 
 ttee of the 
 ial Depart- 
 y exercised, 
 
 rnment of 
 ! Empire — 
 
 in which declaration the positions are advanced, that allegiance 
 to the British Crown must be expected to be regarded in 
 Canada rather as a sentiment than a duty ; that no fear of the 
 power of Great Britain can reasonably be entertained by its 
 inhabitants ; that ' revolt against Euro])can dominion cannot 
 be considered anywhere upon the continent of America as 
 criminal or disgraceful ; and that it can be regarded as no 
 enviable distinction to be the only dependent portion of the 
 New World.' * From all which, it would follow that rebel- 
 lion in Canada would be merely matter of taste ; that it would 
 be a safe experiment as far as British power is concerned ; 
 that it could neither be looked upon as wrong or disreputable . 
 and that, in fact. It will be rather a reflectioii upon the spirit 
 of the people of Canada, if they remain attached to the British 
 Crown longer than they can help. It is fit the British nation 
 should know that the leelings and consciences of the great 
 mass of the people of Upper Canada revolt against these sen- 
 timents." 
 
 Now, as it was notorious in England as well as 
 throughout our North American Colonies, that Sir 
 Francis Head had been removed from Upper Canada, 
 by the Colonial Office, for having adhered to the loyal 
 majority of its inhabitants, and, jjer contra, for having 
 refused to elect and place above them on the bench of 
 justice an individual whose whole life had been hostile 
 to British rule, and who has since, in the United States, 
 publicly " abjured his allegiance to the Crown of Great 
 Britain," it might have been expected that the Imperial 
 Parliament would have deemed it their duty to investi- 
 gate — 
 
 • As an encouragement to rebellion, these words were quoted and 
 placarded by Mr. M'Keuzie ou the day of his iusurreetiou in Upper 
 Canada. 
 
 I ; 1. '.■■ ■ I 
 
254) 
 
 BUITISU POLICY. 
 
 1. The uUcgalious against the loyalists iu Upper Ca- 
 nada contained iu that " Report," signed by Lord Dur- 
 ham, which three Licutcuant-Governors and tlie Legis- 
 lature of Canada liad declared to be untrue, and utterly 
 unsafe to be relied on. 
 
 3. A counter-allegation by the three branches of the 
 Canadian Parliament, complaining of a well-known de- 
 mocratic influence in the Colonial Office. 
 
 AVithout, however, bothering tlicmselves with either 
 of these investigations, the Imperial Parliament, under 
 the protest of the late Duke of Wellington, deter- 
 mined to adopt or swallow as the basis of a new system 
 of legislation for the Canadas, and for the rest of our 
 North American Colonies, Lord Durham's posthumous 
 Report, although they well knew that a considerable 
 portion of it had been written by two persons who had 
 been convicted by the tribunals of England of offences 
 of an unusual character. Indeed, that not only had one 
 of them, as a felon, been sentenced to imprisonment in 
 Newgate for three years, but that on the Cth of June, 
 1827 (see Hansard), Sir Robert Peel, in the House of 
 Commons, in denouncing " the fraud, the forgery, and 
 the villany he had practised, added: — "Hundreds of de- 
 linquents, much less yuilty, laid been convicted of capital 
 felonies, and had forfeited their lives," 
 
 I. 1! 
 
 As a single example of the natural consequences of 
 an Imperial Parliament presuming to legislate on the 
 allegations and recommendations of such persons, wewill 
 briefly state that — 
 
A STUANOG STUllY. 
 
 255 
 
 LTpper Ca- 
 Liord Dur- 
 tlic Lcgis- 
 iid utterly 
 
 1C8 of thl3 
 
 iuowu (Ic- 
 
 rith either 
 cut, under 
 on, deter- 
 lew system 
 est of our 
 osthumous 
 jusidcrablo 
 18 who had 
 of ofl'ences 
 ily had one 
 ionment iu 
 ;h of June, 
 } House of 
 jrgery, and 
 Ireds of de- 
 l of capital 
 
 iqucnces of 
 ate on the 
 ons, wevvill 
 
 Dr. Joliu Rolph, a practising midwife at Toronto, for 
 whose apprehension " for a traitorous attempt to subvert 
 the Government of Upper Canada" a reward of ,t;500 
 Avas oft'ered l)y lloyal Proclamation, dated December 11, 
 1837; 
 
 Who, on the 18th of December, 1837, had been ex- 
 pelled " as a traitor" from the Canada Militia; 
 
 Who, on the 20th of January, 1838, had been unani- 
 mously expelled " as a traitor" from the Commons' House 
 of Assembly ; 
 
 Who, on the 21st of December, 1837, had been de- 
 nounced bv the American Ministcr-at-\Var, in a commu- 
 nication laid 1)cfore Congress as " one of the leaders of 
 the insurrection in Upper Canada;" 
 
 Who, in a despatch, dated 2Gth January, 1838, and 
 laid before both Houses of the Imperial Parliament, from 
 Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Head, had been de- 
 scribed " as the most crafty, the most bloodthirsty, the 
 most treacherous, the most cowardly, and, taking his 
 character altogether, the most infamous of the traitors 
 who lately assailed us;" 
 
 Who, in a despatch, dated 17th of April, 183U, from 
 Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Arthur, had been de- 
 scribed as "a leader of the late rebellion;" 
 
 Who, in the printed journals of the Canadian Legisla- 
 ture, had been publicly designated by Mr. M'Kenzie " as 
 a despicable and deceitful coward, that had instigated 
 him to the rebellion, and then, like a coward, had de- 
 serted him, and sneaked oft' to the United States ;" — 
 This Dr. llolph (under the new system li-amed by the 
 
 li A 
 
250 
 
 HKITISH POLICY. 
 
 l-ji 
 
 Imperial Parliament, from Tiord Durliain's Report) was, 
 in the Queen's '(Jazette,' headed by Her Royal Arms, 
 selected and appointed — 
 
 1. President of the (Canadian lioard of Agriculture, 
 with a salary of CHOO a year. 
 
 2. Head of the Medical Roard of Canada. 
 
 3. Her Majesty's Commissioner of Oovvn Lands, and 
 of ('lcr};y Reserves in Canada. 
 
 4. President of the Privy or Executive Council of Ca- 
 nada (by whoso advice the Governor-General is constitu- 
 tionally obliged to act). 
 
 Lastly. By a Royal * Gazette ' E.vtraorilinary, which 
 conferred upon Dr. llolph the title of" IIonourahle," ho 
 was authorized for the remainder of his lil'e to take pre- 
 cedence in society of almost every loyal British subject 
 in the Canad.as ! 
 
 In the Mother Country, besides receiving a pension 
 and a lucrative appointment, Mr. Stephen was created 
 one of her Majesty's Privy Councillors, also a Knight 
 Comnuxnder of the Most Ilonoural)lc Order of the Bath. 
 Mr., Lafontaine, who on being charged by Governor- 
 General Sir John Colborne with treason had absconded 
 from Lower Canada, was made a Baronet. The Cana- 
 dian Loyalists were treated with marked neglect; and 
 thus ends, fur the present, what the English historian, 
 " With a smile on his lips, and a tear in his eye," 
 
 will, no doubt, in due time, briefly designate 
 
 A STRANGE STORY. 
 
port) was, 
 yjil Arma, 
 
 p'iculturc, 
 
 257 
 
 i.aiuls, niul 
 
 THE TRINTEirS DEVIL. 
 
 icil of Ca- 
 i coimtitu- 
 
 inj, wliicli 
 
 i.vHLE," he 
 
 take prc- 
 
 sh subject 
 
 a pension 
 as created 
 a Knight 
 the Bath. 
 Governor- 
 absconded 
 The Cana- 
 ;lect ; and 
 istorian, 
 
 "And noo, ma freends," — some fifty years ago, said an 
 old Ilighhmd preacher, suddenly lowering a voice which 
 for nearly an hour had been giving fervid utterance to a 
 series of supplications for the welfare, temporal as well as 
 spiritual, of his Hock, — "And nuo, 7na freends" — the good 
 man repeated, as, willing his bedewed brow, he looked 
 down upon a congregation who, with outstretched chins, 
 sat listening in respectful astonishment to this new proof 
 that their pastor's subject, unlike his body, was still 
 unexhausted; "And noo, ma free n da" — he once more 
 exclaimed, with a look of parental benevolence it would 
 be utterly impossible to describe — "Let us pruiyh for 
 the puir Deil ! There's nakhody praighs for the pair 
 JJeil!" 
 
 To our literary congr< .';;iiiou, we beg leave to repeat 
 very nearly the same two exclamatio'v for, deeply as we 
 all stand indebted to the British j'.css, it may truly be 
 said " There's nacbody thinks of its puir deils," nor of 
 the many kiiulred spirits, " black, white, and grey," who, 
 above ground as well as below, iuhabit the great printing- 
 
i-yix^tt^ Ml. 
 
 258 
 
 Tin; PHINTKUS DKVIL. 
 
 houses of the land wc live in. \Vc slmll, therefore, at 
 ouec proeeed to one of these estublishnients, and by our 
 sovereign power sunrnon its motley inmates heft)re us, 
 that they may rapidly glide before our readers in review. 
 
 In a raw December morning, just before the gas-lights 
 are extinguislu'd, and just before simrisc, the str(>ets of 
 London form a twilight pieture which it is interesting to 
 contemplate, inasmuch as there exists perhaps no moment 
 in the twenty-four hours in which they present a more 
 guiltless aspect ; for at this hour luxury has retired to 
 such rest as belongs to it — vice has not yet risen. Al- 
 though the row s of houses are still in shade, and although 
 their stacks of chinmeys appear fantastically delineated 
 upon the grey sky, yet the picture, chiuru-oscuro, is not 
 altogether without its lights. Tlie wet streets, in what- 
 ever direction they radiate, shine almost as l)rightly as 
 the gilt printing over the barred shops. At the corners 
 of the streets, the gin-palaces, as they are passed, ajjpear 
 splendidly illuminated with gas, showing an elevated row 
 of lettered and numbered yellow casks, which in daylight 
 stand on their ends unnoticed. The liishionablc streets 
 are all completely deserted, save by a solitary policeman, 
 who, distinguished l)y his warm great-coat and shining 
 belt, is seen standing at a crossing, drinking the cup of 
 hot saloop or cottee he has just purchased of an old 
 banow-woman, who, with her smoking kettle, is quietly 
 seated at his side, while the cab and hackney-coach 
 horses, with their heads droojiing, appear as motionless 
 as the brass charger at Charing-Cross. 
 
 An Irish labourer with an empty hod over his shoulder, 
 
MESSllS. CLOWKs's PIIINTINO ESTAHLISU.MENT. 251) 
 
 Lii'cforo, at 
 
 11(1 by our 
 
 bijloru lis, 
 
 in review. 
 
 gas-lights 
 
 stirets of 
 
 cresting to 
 
 lo inomcut 
 
 at a more 
 
 i retired to 
 
 risen. Al- 
 
 1(1 ul though 
 
 (lelincateil 
 
 euro, is not 
 
 l», in what- 
 
 l)rightly as 
 
 the corners 
 
 ssed, appear 
 
 elevated row 
 
 in daylight 
 
 lable streets 
 
 f policeman, 
 
 and shining 
 
 ; the cup of 
 
 [1 of an old 
 
 le, is (iiiictly 
 
 .ckney-coach 
 
 s motionless 
 
 bis shoulder, 
 
 a man carrying a saw, a tradesman with his white apron 
 tucked up ibr walking, a few men, " few and I'ar be- 
 tween," in fustian jackets, witli their hands in their 
 pockets to keep thcni warm, arc the only percej)tii)lc 
 atoms of an enormous mass of a millicni and a half of 
 people ; t.'l the rest being as ('(nupletely buried from view 
 us if they >\ jre lying in their graves. 
 
 liut as our vehicle proceeds, every minute imparts life 
 to the scene, until, by the time Blaekfriars Bridge is 
 cros8(!d, the light of day illumines the figures of hundreds 
 of workmen who, unconnected with each other, arc, iu 
 various directions, steadily proceeding to their tasks. 
 
 Among them, from their dress, gait, and general 
 appearance, is it not ditlieult here and there to distin- 
 guish that several arc printers ; and as wc have now 
 reached the gate of one of the principal buildings to 
 which they arc marching, we must alight from our 
 "cab," that wc may, by a slight sketch, delineate its 
 interior for our readers. 
 
 The printing-establishment of ^Messrs. Clowes, on the 
 Surrey side of the Thames (lor they have a branch-otfice 
 at Charing-Cross), is situated between Blaekfriars and 
 AVaterloo Bridges. Their buildings extend, iu length, 
 from Princcs-strcet to Duke-street, and iu breadth about 
 hulf the distance. The entrance is by rather a steep 
 declivity into a little low court, on arriving at which, the 
 counting-houses arc close on the left ; the great steam- 
 presses, type and stereotype-foundry, and paper- ware- 
 house, ou the right; and the apartments for compositors, 
 readers, etc., iii front. 
 
 \ I 
 
 I'll! ■ ! 
 
««fwl 
 
 200 
 
 THE printer's DEVIL. 
 
 1 ■ J 
 
 
 In the last-mciitioiicd Iniikling there are five composi- 
 tors' halls, the largest of which (on two levels, the upper 
 being termed by the workmen "the quarter deck") is 
 two hundred feet in length. The door is nearly in the 
 centre, and, on entering this apartment at daybreak, the 
 stranger sees at a covp tVml before him, on his right 
 and left, sixty compositors' frames, which, though much 
 larger, are about the height of the music-stands in an 
 orchestra. At this early hour they are all deserted, their 
 daily tenants not having arrived. Not a sound is to be 
 heard save the slow ticking of a gaudy-faced wooden 
 clock, the property of tlio workmen, which faithfully tells 
 when they ai^. entitled to refreshment, and which finally 
 announces to them the joyful intelligence that the hour 
 of their emancipation has arrived. On the long wall 
 opposite to the range of windows hang the printed re- 
 gulations of a subscription fund, to which every man 
 contril)utes 2d., and every boy \(l. per week, explaining 
 how mucli each i;^ entitled to receive in the sad hour of 
 sickness, with the consoling intelligence that £5 is al- 
 lowed to bury him if he be a man, Q'i, lO.v. if merely a 
 boy. Along the whole length of the building, about a 
 foot above the floor, there is a cast-iron pipe heated by 
 steam, extending through the establishment upwards of 
 three-quarters of a mile, the genial efl'ect of which mo- 
 destly sjjcaks for itself. 
 
 On the right hand, toucliing each frame, stands a small 
 low table, about two feet square. A hasty traveller would 
 probably pronounce that all these frames were alike, yet 
 a few minutes' attentive observation not only dispels the 
 
m 
 
 ! composi- 
 tlie upper 
 deck") is 
 irly in the 
 break, the 
 
 his right 
 ugh much 
 uds in an 
 rted, their 
 id is to be 
 ;d wooden 
 if ally tells 
 ich finally 
 t the hour 
 
 long wall 
 jirintcd rc- 
 3vory man 
 explaining 
 ad hour of 
 
 ,£5 is al- 
 f merely a 
 ig, about a 
 
 heated by 
 upwards of 
 which mo- 
 
 nds a small 
 ellcr would 
 B alike, yet 
 dispels the 
 
 MESSRS. CLOWES's PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 261 
 
 error, but by numerous decipherable hieroglyphics ex- 
 plains to a certain extent the general occupation of the 
 owners, as well as the particular character of each. 
 
 For instance, tlic height of the frames at once declares 
 that the compositors must perforin their work standing, 
 while the pair of easy slippers, which are underneath each 
 stand, suggest that the occupation must be severely felt 
 by the feet. The working jacket or apron, which lies ex- 
 actly as it was cast aside the evening before, shows that 
 freedom in the arms is a requisite to the crait. The good 
 workman is known by the regularity with which his co/hj 
 hangs neatly folded in the little wooden recess at his 
 side; the slovenly compositor is detected by having left 
 his !MS. on his type, liable to be blown from the case; 
 while the apprentice, like " the carpenter, known Ijy his 
 chips," is discovered by the quantity of type which lies 
 scattered on the floor on which he stood. 
 
 The relative stature of the workmen can also be not 
 inaccurately determined by the different hciglits of their 
 frames. Tlie roomy stools which some have purchased 
 (and which are their private property, for l)e it known 
 that the estalilishment neither furnishes nor approves of 
 such luxuries) are not without their silc.it moral ; those 
 with a large circumference, as well as those of a much 
 smaller size, denoting the diameter of a certain ireum- 
 bent body, while the stuffed stool tells its own tale. The 
 pictures, the songs, the tracts, the caricatures, which each 
 man, according to his fancy, has pasted against the snuill 
 compartment of whitewashed wall^vliich bounds his tiny 
 dominions, indicate the colour of his leading propensity. 
 
 ?i| 
 
 
 13 L 
 
 
 1 
 
 ! \ 
 
 ' Jl[ ] 
 
 * mw' i 
 
 1 1 iJ. .; ,! 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ,: ^^ ' 1 
 
 1 
 
 i. 
 
 
 
 Ti 
 
 1- 
 ) 
 
 i 
 
..©Pi 
 
 263 
 
 THE printer's DEVIL. 
 
 St I 
 
 Wi 
 
 r. 
 
 One man is evidently the possessor of a serious mind, 
 another is a follower of the fine arts. A picture of the 
 Duke of Wellington denotes that another is an admirer 
 of stern moral prohity and high military honour ; while 
 a rosy-faced Hebe, in a very low evening-gown, laugh- 
 ingly confesses for its owner that which we need not 
 trouble ourselves to expound. Iii the midst of these 
 studies the attention of the solitary stranger is aroused 
 by the appearance of two or three little boys dressed in 
 fustian jackets and paper caps, who in the grey of the 
 morning enter the hall vith a broom and water. These 
 are yoixng aspiring devils, who, until they have regidarly 
 received their commissions, are employed in cleaning the 
 halls previous to the arrival of the compositors. Besides 
 ventilating the room by opening the windows in the roof, 
 beginning at one extremity, they sweep under each frame, 
 watci'ing the floor as they proceed, until they at last col- 
 lect at the opposite end of the hall a heap of literary rub- 
 bish J but even this is worthy of attention, for, on being 
 sifted through an iron sieve, it is invariably found to con- 
 tain a quantity of type of all sizes, which more or less 
 has been scattered right and left by the diftbrent com- 
 positors. To attempt to restore these to the respective 
 families from Avhich they have emigrated would be a 
 work of consideraljle trouble ; thov are therefore thrown 
 into a dark receptacle or grave, where they patiently re- 
 main luitil they are remelted, recast into type, and thus 
 once again appear in the case of the compositor. By 
 this curious transmigration Boman letters sometimes re- 
 appear on earth in the character of Italics ; the l.-izy ^ 
 
MESSRS. CLOWES'S PRINTING ESTAliLISIIMENT. 2G3 
 
 vm 
 
 ions mind, 
 turc of the 
 in admirer 
 3ur; while 
 \vn, langh- 
 ! need not 
 it of these 
 is aroused 
 dressed in 
 ^rey of the 
 ;er. These 
 e regularlv 
 leaning the 
 3. Besides 
 in the roof, 
 eaeh frame, 
 at last col- 
 itcrary rub- 
 >r, on hcing 
 and to con- 
 lore or less 
 ferent com- 
 e respective ■• 
 would be a 
 •fore thrown 
 latiently re- 
 le, and thus 
 )ositor. By 
 »metimes re- 
 ; the hizy z 
 
 finds itself converted into the iibiquitous e ; the full 
 stop becomes perhaps a comma ; while the hunchbacked 
 mark of interrogation stands triumphantly erect, a note 
 of admiraticm to the world ! 
 
 By the time the halls are swept some of the composi- 
 tors drop in. The steadiest generally make their ajj- 
 pearance first; and on reaching their frames their first 
 operation is leisurely to takt^ off and fold up their coats, 
 tuck up their shirt-sleeves, put on their brown l.oUand 
 aprons, exchange their heavy Malklng-shoes for the light 
 brown easy slippers, and then u)ifolding their copy they 
 at once proceed to work. 
 
 By eight o'clock the whole body have arrived. IMany 
 in their costume resemble common labourers, others are 
 better clad, several are very well dressed, but all bear in 
 their countenances the appearance of men of considerable 
 intelligence and education. They have scarcely assumed 
 their respective stntions, when blue mugs, containing 
 each a pint or ball -pint of tea or coflfce, and attended 
 cither l)y a smoking- hot roll stuffed with yellow butter, 
 or by a couple of slices of bread and butter, enter the 
 hall. The lit 'r girls, who with well-conibcd hair an»i clean 
 shining faces bring these refreshments, carry them to those 
 who have not breakf:ipted at iic)UM\ Before the (Mupty 
 mugs have vrniished, a bey enters the hall at a fast walk 
 with a largo bundle under his arm — of morning news- 
 papers : this intellectual luxury the compositors, by a 
 friendly subscription, allow themselves to enjoy. From 
 their connection with the diftbrcnt presses, they manage 
 to obtain the very (earliest copies ; and thus the news of 
 
 t i 
 
! 
 
 264 
 
 THE PRINTERS DEVIL. 
 
 >!,• 
 
 the day is known to them — tlie leadings artichis of the 
 fliffereut papers are criticized, apphuided or condcrr\ned — 
 an hour or two hefore the great statt^snien of the country 
 have received the ohservations, the castigation, or the 
 intclHgence they contain. One would think tliat com- 
 positors woukl be as sick of reading as a grocer's boy is 
 of treacle; but that this is not the case is proved by tlie 
 fact that they not only willingly pay for these newspapers, 
 but often indemnify one of their own community for 
 giving up his time in order to sit in the middle of the 
 hall on a high stool and read the news aloud to them 
 Avhile they are labouring at their work ; they will, more- 
 over, even pay him to read to them any new book wluch 
 they consider to contain interesting information. It of 
 course icquires very great command of the n\ind to be 
 able to give attention to what is I'cad from one book, 
 while men arc intently em[)loyed in the creation of an- 
 other. The apprentices and inferior Avorkmen cannot 
 attempt to do this, luit the greater niunber, astonishing 
 as it ir ly sound, can listen withoiit injury to their avo- 
 cation. Very shortly after eight o'clock the whole body 
 are at their work, at which it may be observed they pa- 
 tiently continue, with only an liour's interval, until eiglit 
 o'clock at night. 
 
 It is impossi])le to contemplate a team of sixty literary 
 labourers, steadiU working together in one room, without 
 immediately acknowledging the important sen'ice they 
 arc rendering to the civilized Morld, and the respect 
 which, therefore, is due to them from society. The mi- 
 nutia; of their art it might be deemed tedious to detail ; 
 
CiXVBACTERISTlCe. OF THE WORKMEN. 
 
 2g: 
 
 ;.-• 
 
 cl'is of the 
 (Ion 'lied — 
 !ic country 
 ion, or the 
 that com- 
 ;cr's boy is 
 )ved by the 
 lewspapers, 
 nuinity for 
 (hlle of the 
 lid to them 
 will, more- 
 book wliieh 
 don. It of 
 mind to he 
 1 one book, 
 atiou of an- 
 meu cannot 
 astonishing 
 their avo- 
 wholc body 
 ed they pa- 
 [, until eight 
 
 dxty literary 
 lom, without 
 sen' ice they 
 the respect 
 y. The mi 
 us to detail ; 
 
 yet ■with so many operators in view it is not difficult, 
 even for an inexperienced \isitor, to distinguish the dift'e- 
 rent degrees of perfection at which they have individually 
 arrived. 
 
 Among compositors, as in all other professions, the 
 race is not always gained by him who is apparently the 
 swiftest. Stcpdiness, coolness, and attention arc more 
 valuable qualifications than eagerness and haste; and, 
 jieeordingly, those compositors who at first sight appear 
 to be doing the most, arc often, after all, less service- 
 able to theras(!lves, and consequently to their employers, 
 than those who, with less display, follow the old adage 
 of " slow and sure." 
 
 On the attitude of a compositor his work principally 
 depends. The operation being performed by the eyes, 
 fingers, and arms, which, with considerable velocity, are 
 moved in almost every direction, the rest of the body 
 should be kept as tranquil as possible. However zealous, 
 therefore, a workman may be, if his shouldei's and hips 
 are seen to be moved by every little letter he lifts, fatigue, 
 exhaustion, and errors are the result ; whereas, if the 
 arms alone appear in motion, the work is more easily, 
 and consequently more successfully, executed. Tlie 
 principle of Hamlet's advice to the players may be offered 
 to compositors : — 
 
 " Speak the speech, I pray yon, as I i)ronom)ced it to you. 
 Do not saw the air too mucli with your hand, thus, but use all 
 gently. Be not too tame neitlier, but let yoin- own discretion 
 bo your tutor : suit the action to the icord, the uord to the 
 action." 
 
 
 ^m 
 
 VOL. I, 
 
 N 
 
 !i i 
 
266 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 Before a compositor can proceed with his copy, his 
 first business must evidently be to fill his " cases," which 
 contain al)out a hundred pounds weight of type of nine 
 sorts, viz. — 1. capitals; 2. small capitals; 3. Roman 
 letters (for Italics separate cases are used) ; 4. figures ; 
 5. ■•uiuts and refenmces; 6. spaces; 7. em and en 
 quadrats, or the larger spaces; 8. double, treble, and 
 quadruple qTiadrats ; 9. accents. There are two " cases ;" 
 the upper of a\ Inch is divided into ninety-eight equal com- 
 partments ; the lower into fifty-three divisions, adapted 
 in !4ize to tlie number of letters they are to contain. 
 
 In the Englii^h language the letter e inhabits the largest 
 box ; «, c, d, h, i, m, n, o, r, s, t, u, live in the next-sized 
 apartments ; b, f, y, k, 1, p, v, w, y, dwell in what may 
 be termed the bedrooms, while/, q, x, z, ce, and w, double 
 letters, etc., are more liumbly lodged in the cupl)oards, 
 garrets, and cellars. And the reason of this arrange- 
 ment is, that the letter e being visited by the compositor 
 sixty times as often as ~ (for his hand spends an hour in 
 the former box for every minute in the latter) it is evi- 
 dently advisable that the letters oftencst required should 
 be the nearest. Latin and French books devour more of 
 c, i, I, m, p, q, s, u, and v, than English ones, and for 
 these languages the "cases" must be arranged accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 The usual m ay of filling cases with letters is by distri- 
 buting the typc-]tages of books which have been printed 
 ofl". Although the ideas or words of one author would 
 not, especially in his own opinion, at all suit those of his 
 brother writer (for instance, supj)ose the type-pages of 
 
 
opy, 
 
 his 
 
 /' which 
 I of iiiuc 
 . llomau 
 , figures; 
 and en 
 cblc, and 
 " cases ;" 
 qual coni- 
 (, adapted 
 itain. 
 ;hc largest 
 next-sized 
 what may 
 [ (p, double 
 cuplioards, 
 s arrange- 
 
 ompositor 
 an lu)ur in 
 f) it is cvi- 
 ircd shoidd 
 )ur more of 
 cs, and for 
 red accord- 
 is by distri- 
 lecn printed 
 Lithor woidd 
 
 those of his 
 rpe-pages of 
 
 DlSTRinUTION. COMPOSITION. 
 
 2G7 
 
 ' The Diary of the Times of George TV.' wore distributed 
 to set up the 'The Bishop of Exeter's Charge to his 
 Clergy') — yet the letters which compose them arc found 
 in practice to bear to each other exactly the same pro- 
 portion. The most profligate pages arc, therefore, quite 
 as acceptable to the compositor who is about to print a 
 sermon, as a volume on cookeiy, or even on divinity ; 
 and thus, in death, books, like their authors, are all de- 
 mocratically equal. 
 
 The distributing of the letters from the type-pages, 
 into the square dens to which they respectively belong, 
 is performed with astonishing celerity. If the type 
 were jumbled, or, as it is technically termed, " in pie," 
 the time I'cquisite for recognizing the tiny coimtenance 
 of each letter would be enormous ; but the compositor, 
 being enabled to grasp and read one or two sentences at 
 a time, without again looking at the letters, drops them 
 one by one, here, there, and everywhere, according to 
 their destination. It is calculated that a good composi- 
 tor can distribute 4000 letters per hour, AAhich is about 
 five times as many as he can compose; just as in common 
 life all men can spend m(mey at least twenty times as 
 readily as they can earn it. 
 
 As soon as the workman has filled his eases, his next 
 Sisyphus labour is by composition to exhaust them, 
 ^jlancing occasionally at his copy before him, he con- 
 secutively picks up, with a zigzag movement, and Avith 
 almost the velocity of lightning, the letters he requires. 
 In arranging these types in the " stick," or little frame, 
 which he holds in- his left hand, he must of course place 
 
 N 2 
 
 '^! 
 
 i SI 
 
 U 
 
 ^: 
 
 IM I 
 
 1:1 
 
268 
 
 THE printer's DKVIL. 
 
 them Avith their heads or letter-ciuls uppermost : hcsitles 
 whieh tljcj' must, like sohliers, he made all to mareli the 
 same way j for otherwise oue letter in the pajjje would he 
 "eyes ri<;ht," one "eyes left," another "eyes front," while 
 another would he looking to the rear. This insubordi- 
 nation would produee, not only eonfusion, hut positive 
 errors, for p would pass for d, n for u, y for h, etc. To 
 avoid this, the types are all purposely east with a "niek" 
 on one of their sides, by whvh simple arrangement they 
 arc easily recognized, and made to fall into their places 
 the right way; and compositors as regidarly place the 
 nicks of their type all outermost, as ladies and gentlemen 
 scientifically seat themselves at dinner^ with their nicks 
 (wc mean their mouths) all facing the dishes. In short, 
 a guest sitting with his hack to his plate is not, in the 
 opinion of a comi)ositor, a greater breach of decorum, 
 than for a letter to face the wrong way. The composing- 
 stick contains the same sort of relative proportion to a 
 page as a paragraph. It holds a certain measure of type, 
 and, as soon as it is filled, the paragraph, or fragment 
 of paragraph, it contains, is transplanted into the page 
 to which it belongs. This process is repeated until the 
 pages composing a sheet, being completed, are firmly 
 fixed by wooden quoins or wedges into an iron frame 
 called a "chase," which then assumes the name of a 
 " form ;" and after having thus been properly prepared 
 for the pi'oof-prcss, a single copy is " pulled off"," and the 
 business of correction then begins. 
 
 As the conijjositor receives nothing for curing his own 
 mistakes, they form the self-correcting punishment of 
 
 
hesiclca 
 himih tho 
 would be 
 it," while 
 \su1)oV(li- 
 t positive 
 etc. To 
 a " nick" 
 incut they 
 iciv places 
 place the 
 fontlcmen 
 heir nicks 
 lu short, 
 not, in the 
 f decorum, 
 coniposing- 
 lortion to a 
 lire of type, 
 or fragment 
 to the page 
 ed until the 
 , are firmly 
 iron frame 
 name of a 
 rly prepared 
 3ft;" and the 
 
 ring his own 
 nishment of 
 
 DISTRIBITION. — COMPOSITION. 
 
 3G9 
 
 liis oflence. The operation is the most disagreeable, and, 
 by jjressure on the chest incurred in leaning over the 
 form, it is also the most unhealthy part of liis occupation. 
 " A sharp bodkin and i)atience " arc said by the craft to 
 be the only two illstrumcnt^ which arc recpiired for cor- 
 rection. By the former a single h.'tter can lie abstracted 
 and exchanged ; by the latter, if a word has been im- 
 properly omitted or repeated, tlic type in the neighbour- 
 liood of the error can be expanded or contracted (tech- 
 nically termed "(b'ivcu out" or "got in"), until the 
 adjustment be efl'ected. But the compositor's own errors 
 are scarcely put to rights before a much greater dilHeulty 
 arrives, namely, the unt/wr's corrections, for which the 
 compositors arc very properly paid dd. an hour. 
 
 It can easily be believed that it id as difficult for a 
 compositor to produce a eori'ect copy of his ^IS., as it 
 is for a tailor to make clothes to fit tlie person he has 
 measured ; but the simile must stop here, for what 
 would be the exclamations of Mr. Stultz, or Madame 
 Maradan Carson, if they were to be informed that the 
 gentleman or the lady whom they had but a few days 
 ago measured, had, while their clothes were a-making, 
 completely altered in shai)e, form, and dimensions V — 
 that, for instance, the gentleman had lost his calves — 
 had "an increasing belly, and a decreasing leg" — that 
 from being a dwarf, he had swelled into a giant — or that 
 his arms had become shorter — and that his frame had 
 shrivelled into half its bulk ; — that, again, ^Miladi's waist 
 had suddenly expanded — that her " bustle '' had mate- 
 rially increased, while her lo\ely daughter, who, but a 
 
 %\ 
 
270 
 
 THE PHINTEll S UEVL. 
 
 .; ,' 
 
 h I 
 
 week ago, was measui'cd as a mop-stick, had all at onco 
 what is usually termed " come out." , 
 
 Now, ridiculous as all these eliangrs may soumi, they 
 arc — to say nothing of the hoart-uehe caused hy " had 
 copy," in which, hesides heing almost illcgihlc, the 
 author himself evidently does not know what he means 
 to say — no more than those with which coinpositors are 
 constantly afliicted. Few men can dare to print their 
 sentiments as they write them. Not only must the 
 framework of their composition he altered, hut a series 
 of miimte poisl humous additions aiul suhtnietions arc 
 ordered, which it is almost impossihle to cflect ; indeed, 
 it not mifrcquently happtins that it would be a shorter 
 operation for the compositor to set up the types afresh, 
 than to disturb his work piecemeal, by the quantity 
 of codicils and alteration^ Avhich a vain, vacillating, 
 crotchety writer has required. 
 
 A glance at the dift'erent attitudes of t!ic sixty com- 
 positors V )rking before us is sufficient to explain, even to 
 a stranger whether they are composing, distributing, cor- 
 recting, or imposing ; which latter occupation is the fix- 
 ing corrected pages into the iron frames, or " forms," in 
 which they eventually go to Press. But our reader has 
 probably remained long enough in the long hall, and we 
 will therefore introduce him to the very small cells of 
 the Readers. 
 
 In a printing establishment "the reader" is almost 
 the only individual whose occupation is sedentary ; in- 
 deed the galley-slave can scarcely be more closely bound 
 to his oar than is a reader to his stool. On entering his 
 
THE READER. 
 
 271 
 
 all at once 
 
 • 
 oimd, tlicy 
 a by " bad 
 igiblc, the 
 '. he means 
 lositors are 
 print their 
 must tlie 
 ivit a series 
 let ions are 
 :;t ; indeed, 
 i a shorter 
 pes afresh, 
 le quantity 
 vacillating, 
 
 sixty com- 
 iiin, even to 
 )nting, cor- 
 i is the fix- 
 ' forms," in 
 reader has 
 all, and we 
 all cells of 
 
 '' is almost 
 sntary ; in- 
 )sely bound 
 utering his 
 
 cell, his very attitude is a striking and most gra])hic 
 picture of earnest attention. It is evident, from his 
 outline, that the whole power of his mind is concen- 
 trated ii! focus upon the page before him ; and as ^i 
 rnidi 'amps of the mail, which illuMiinate a s-u.;] 
 
 portio' ii 1, seem to increase the pitchy darkness 
 
 which _, Jier direction prevails, so does the un- 
 
 divided attention of a reader to his sidyeet evidently 
 abstract his thoughts from all other considerations. An 
 urchin stands by, reading to tlie render from the copy — 
 furnishing liim, in fact, with an aditional pair of eyes ; 
 and the short(!st way to attract his immediate notice 
 is to stop his boy : for no sooner docs the stream of 
 the child's voi(;e cease to flow than the machinery of the 
 man's mind ceases to work ; — something lias evidently 
 gone wrong ! he accordingly at once raises his weary 
 licad, and a slight sigh, Avith one passage of the hand 
 across his brow, is generally sufficient to enable him to 
 receive the intnuler with mildness and attention. 
 
 Although i\w general interests of literature, as well 
 as the character of the art of printing, depend on the 
 grammatical accuracy and typographical correctness of 
 " tl>e reader," j'ct from the eold-heartod public he re- 
 ceives punishment, but no reward. The slightest over- 
 sight is declared to be an error; while, on the other 
 hand, if by his unremitted application no fault can be 
 detected, he has nothiiig to expect from mankind but to 
 escape and live uncensured. Poor Goldsmith lurked a 
 reader in Samuel Richardson's office for many a hungiy 
 day in the early period of his life ! 
 
 5i! 
 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WIST MAIN STRUT 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO 
 
 (716)872-4503 
 
 

 6^^ 
 
272 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 It ; 
 
 iV'li 
 
 In a large printing establishment, the real interest of 
 which is to increase the healthy appetite of the public by 
 supplying it with wholesome food of the best possible de- 
 scription, it is found to be absolutely necessary that " the 
 readers" should be competent to correct, not only the 
 press, but the author. It is requisite not only that they 
 should possess a microscopic eye, capable of detecting 
 the minutest errors, but be also enlightened judges of 
 the purity of their own language. The general style of 
 the author cannot, of course, be interfered with; but 
 tiresome repetitions, incorrect assertions, intoxicated hy- 
 perbole, faults in grammar, and above all, in punctuation, 
 it is the reader's special duty to point out. It is, there- 
 fore, evidently necessary that he be complete master of 
 his own tongue. It is also almost necessary that he 
 should have been brought up a compositor, in order that 
 he may be acquainted with the mechanical department 
 of that business ; and we need hardly observe that, from 
 the intelligent body of men whose presence we have just 
 left, it is not impossible to select individuals competent 
 to fulfil the important office of readers. 
 
 But even to these persons, however carefully selected, 
 it is not deemed safe solely to entrust the supervision of 
 a work : out of them one is generally selected, upon 
 whom the higher duty devolves of scrutinizing their 
 labours, and of finally writing upon their revises the 
 irrevocable monosyllable, " Press." 
 
 We have already observed that while " the reader" is 
 seated in his cell, there stands beside him a small in- 
 telligent boy, who is, in fact, the reader ; that is to say. 
 
THE READER. 
 
 273 
 
 nterest of 
 public by 
 >ssible de- 
 that "the 
 only the 
 that they 
 detecting 
 judges of 
 il style of 
 yith; but 
 Lcated hy- 
 uctuation, 
 ; is, there- 
 master of 
 y that he 
 order that 
 epartment 
 that, from 
 have just 
 competent 
 
 Y selected, 
 grvision of 
 ited, upon 
 zing their 
 revises the 
 
 reader" is 
 small in- 
 is to say. 
 
 he reads aloud from the copy, while the man pores upon 
 and corrects the corresponding print. This child — 
 for such he is in comparison with the age of the master 
 he serves — cannot be expected to take any more interest 
 in the heterogeneous mass of literature he emits, than 
 the little marble Cupids in Italy can be supposed to 
 relish the water which is made everlastingly to stream 
 from their mouths. The subject these boys are spouting 
 is generally altogether beyond their comprehension ; and 
 even if it were not so, the pauses that ensue while " the 
 reader" is involved in reflection and correction would be 
 quite sufficient to break its thread : ])ut it often happens 
 that they read that which is altogether incomprehensible 
 to them. Accordingly in one cell we found the boy 
 reading aloud to his patron a work in the French lan- 
 guage, which he had never learned, and which therefore 
 he was thus most ludicrously pronouncing exictly as if 
 it were English. "Less ducks knee sonte pass," etc. 
 etc. (i. e. Les dues ne sont pas, etc.) To " the reader's" 
 literary ears this must have been almost as painful as, 
 to common nerves, the setting of a saw : yet he patiently 
 listened, and laboriously proceeded with his task. On 
 entering another cell, a boy, who apparently had never 
 known sickness, was monotonously reading, with a shrill 
 plaintive voice, from a page entitled " Tabular Abstract 
 of the Causes of Death," the following most melancholy 
 catalogue, of the dismal roads by which eleven hundred 
 and four of our fellow-countrymen had just departed 
 from life : — 
 
 5 «i:fi 
 
 i 
 
 •nU:^ 
 
 IIP 
 
 :-4 
 
 N 3 
 
274 
 
 THE PRINTER'S DEVIL. 
 
 I|!|:il 
 
 * ) 
 
 Cholera. 
 
 Erysipelas. 
 
 DeluTium Tremens 
 
 Teething. 
 
 Influenza. 
 
 Syphilis. 
 
 Laryngitis. 
 
 Gastro-Enteritis, 
 
 Smallpox. 
 
 Hydrophobia. 
 
 Quinsey, 
 
 Peritonitis. 
 
 Measles. 
 
 CephaUtis. 
 
 Bronchitis. 
 
 Tabes Mesenterica, 
 
 Scarlatina. 
 
 Hydrocephalus 
 
 Pleurisy. 
 
 Ascites. 
 
 Hooping-cough. 
 
 Apoplexy. 
 
 Pneumonia, 
 
 Ulceration. 
 
 Croup. 
 
 Paralysis. 
 
 Hydrothorax. 
 
 Hernia. 
 
 Thrush. 
 
 Convulsions. 
 
 Asthma. 
 
 Colic. 
 
 Diarrhoea. 
 
 Tetanus. 
 
 Consumption. 
 
 Constipation. 
 
 Dysentery. 
 
 Chorea. 
 
 Decline, 
 
 Worms. 
 
 Ague, 
 
 Epilepsy, 
 
 Pericarditis. 
 
 Hepatitis. 
 
 Typhus. 
 
 Insanity. 
 
 Aneurism. 
 
 Jaundice. 
 
 
 As soon as the last " reader " has affixed his impri- 
 matur on the labours of the compositor, the forms con- 
 taining the type are securely fixed, and they are then 
 carried to the Press-room, to which, with them, we will 
 now proceed. 
 
 Descending from the " readers' " cells to the ground- 
 floor, the visitor, on approaching the northern wing of 
 Mr. Clowes's establishment, hears a deep rumbling sound, 
 the meanj^ f which he is at a loss to understand, until 
 the doers I'e him being opened, he is suddenly intro- 
 duced to t'venty-five enormous steam-presses, which, in 
 three compartments, are all working at the same time, 
 rhe simultaneous revolution of so much complicated 
 machinery, crowded together in comparatively a small 
 compass, coupled with a moment's leflection upon the 
 important purpose for which it is in motion, is astound- 
 ing to the mind ; and as broad leather straps are rapidly 
 revolving in all directions, the stranger pauses for a 
 moment to consider whether or not he may not get en- 
 tangled in the process, and, against his inclination, as 
 authors generally say in their prefaces, go "to press.'* 
 
STEAM-PRESSES. 
 
 275 
 
 ing. 
 
 j-Enteritis. 
 
 initis. 
 
 Mesonterica. 
 
 ;s. 
 
 ation. 
 
 ia. 
 
 ipation. 
 ns. 
 titis. 
 dice. 
 
 his impri- 
 orms con- 
 y are then 
 m, we will 
 
 le ground- 
 u wiug of 
 ing sound, 
 tand, until 
 enly intro- 
 , which, in 
 lame time. 
 Qmplicated 
 ly a small 
 upon the 
 s astound- 
 are rapidly 
 uses for a 
 ot get en- 
 iuation, as 
 ) press." 
 
 We will not weary our reader by attempting a minute 
 delineation of the Monderful picture before him, or even 
 introduce to his notice the intelligent engineer, who, in 
 a building apart from the machinery, is in solitude regu- 
 lating the clean, well-kept, noiseless steam-engine which 
 gives it motion; we will merely describe the literary 
 process. 
 
 The lower part of each of the twenty-five steam-presses 
 we have mentioned consists of a bed or table, near the 
 two ends of which lie prostrate the two sets of " forms " 
 containing the types we have just seen adjusted, and 
 from Avhich impressions are to be taken. 
 
 By the power of machinery these types, at every throb 
 of the engine, are made horizontally to advance and re- 
 tire. At every such movement, they are met halfway by 
 seven advancing black rollers, which diagonally pass over 
 them, and thus, by a most beautiful process, impart to 
 them ink sufficient only for a single impression. As 
 quickly as the types recede, the seven rollers revolve 
 backwards till they come in contact with another large 
 roller of kindred complexion, termed the " doctor," which 
 supplies them with ink, which he, the " doctor," himself 
 receives from a dense mass of ink, which, by the con- 
 stant revolution of yEsculapius, assumes also the appear- 
 ance of a roller. 
 
 When iron first began to be substituted in our Navy 
 for purposes for which it had hitherto been deemed to 
 be totally inapplicable, it is said that an honest sailor, 
 gravely turning his quid, observed to his comrade, " fVhy, 
 Jack, our purser tells me that the Admiralty are going 
 
 I V 
 
^ 
 
 276 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 »'! 
 
 » 'it 
 
 to provide us with cast-iron parsons !" The " doctor " 
 of a steam printing-press is already composed of this 
 useful material, but the other seven rollers are of an in- 
 finitely softer substance. They are formed of a mixture 
 of treacle and glue ; and in colour, softness, and consis- 
 tency they are said, by those who have studied such sub- 
 jects, exactly to resemble the arm of a young Negro girl. 
 
 Above the table, the forms, and the rollers we have 
 described, are, besides other wheels, two very large re- 
 volving cylinders, covered with flannel ; the whole ap- 
 paratus being surmounted by a boy, who has on a lofty 
 table by his side a pile of quires of white paper. 
 
 Every time the lower bed has moved, this boy places 
 on the upper cylinder a sheet of paper, which is in- 
 geniously confined to its station by being slipped under 
 two strings of tape. It is however no sooner affixed 
 there, than, by a turn of the engine, revolving with the 
 cylinder, it is flatly deposited on the first of the " forms," 
 which, by the process we have described, has been ready 
 inked to receive it j it is there instantaneously pressed, 
 is then caught up by the other cylinder, and, after 
 rapidly revolving with it, it is again left with its white 
 side imposed upon the second ''form," where it is again 
 subjected to pressure, from which it is no sooner released 
 than it is hurried within the grasp of another boy at 
 the bottom part of the machinery, who, illumined by a 
 gaslight, extricates it from the cylinder, and piles it on 
 a heap by his side. 
 
 By virtue of this beautiful process, a sheet of paper, 
 by two revolutions of the engine, with the assistance 
 
doctor " 
 
 of this 
 
 jf an in- 
 
 mixture 
 d consis- 
 mcli sub- 
 egro girl. 
 
 we have 
 large re- 
 vhole ap- 
 >n a lofty 
 
 )oy places 
 Lch is in- 
 )ed under 
 er affixed 
 J with the 
 "forms," 
 leen ready 
 y pressed, 
 and, after 
 its white 
 it is again 
 3r released 
 ler boy at 
 lined by a 
 piles it on 
 
 ; of paper, 
 assistance 
 
 HAND-PRESSES. 
 
 277 
 
 only of two boys, is imprinted on both sides, with not 
 only, say sixteen pages of letter-press, but with the vari- 
 ous wood-cuts which they contain. Excepting an hour's 
 intermission, the engines, like the boys, are at regular 
 work from eight a.m. till eight p.m., besides night-work 
 when it is required. Each steam-press is capable of 
 printing 1000 sheets an hour. 
 
 The apartments to the left of the machinery we have 
 described contain no less than twenty-three common or 
 hand-presses of various constructions ; besides which, in 
 each of the compositors' rooms there is what is termed 
 a proof-press. Each of these twenty-three presses is 
 attended by two pressmen, one of whom inks the form, 
 by means of a roller, whilst the other lays and takes off 
 the paper very nearly as fast as he can change it, and by 
 a strong gymnastic exertion, affording a striking feature 
 of variety of attitude, imparts to it a pressure of from a 
 ton to a ton and a half, the pressure depending upon 
 the size and lightness of the form ; this operation being 
 performed by the two men turn and turn about. 
 
 By his steam and hand-presses Mr. Clowes is enabled 
 at this moment to be printing simultaneously. Brown's 
 folio Bible, Vyse's * Spelling Book,' * First Rcj)ort of 
 St. Martin's Subscription Library,' ' Eeligious Tracts,' 
 * Penny Cyclopaedia,' * Penny Magazine,' * The Harmo- 
 nist' (in musical type), 'The Imperial Calendar,' Book- 
 sellers' Catalogues, ' Registration Reports,' ' The Chris- 
 tian Spectator,' 'Pictorial Shakspere,' Henry's folio 
 Bible, Butler's ' Lives of the Saints,' * Registration of 
 Births and Deaths/ Boothroyd's Bible, 'Life and Ad- 
 
 ' 
 
 I 
 
 3 ' 
 
 f 
 
 j 
 
 ?! 
 
 I 
 
 n 
 
 '! 
 
 A 
 
 ''^ u 
 
 \lf> 
 
 
 I;, 
 
278 
 
 THE PRINTER 8 DEVIL. 
 
 V 
 
 ventures of Michael Armstrong/ * Palestine, or the Holy 
 Land/ ' The Way to be Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise' 
 (300,000 copies, of which 20,000 are delivered per day), 
 ' The Quarterly Review,' etc. 
 
 Notwithstanding the noise and novelty of this scene, 
 it is impossible either to contemplate for a moment the 
 machinery in motion we have descnoed, or to calcu- 
 late its produce, without being deeply impressed with 
 the inestimable value to the human race of the Art of 
 Printing, — an art which, in spite of the opposition it 
 first met with, in spite of the " envious clouds whicli 
 seemed bent to dim its glory and check its bright course," 
 has triumphantly risen above the miasmatical ignorance 
 and superstition which would willingly have smothered 
 it. 
 
 In the fifteenth century (the era of the invention of 
 the Art) the brief-men, or writers, who lived by their 
 manuscripts, seeing that their occupation was about to 
 be superseded, boldly attributed the invention to the 
 Devil, and, building on this foundation, men were warned 
 from using diabolical books " written by victims devoted 
 to hell." The monks in particular were its inveterate 
 opposers ; and the Vicar of Croydon, as if he had fore- 
 seen the Reformation which it subsequently effected, 
 tridy enough exclaimed, in a sermon preached by him 
 at St. Paul's Cross, " JVe must root out printing, or 
 printing will root us out!" Nevertheless the men of 
 the old school were soon compelled to adopt the novelty 
 thus hateful : in fact, many of the present names of our 
 type have been derived from their having been first 
 
 J*. 
 
THE DINNER-HOUR. 
 
 279 
 
 the Holy 
 
 nd Wise' 
 
 per day), 
 
 his scene, 
 oraeiit the 
 to calcu- 
 jssed Avith 
 he Art of 
 position it 
 uds which 
 it course," 
 ignorance 
 smothered 
 
 ivcntion of 
 d by their 
 IS about to 
 ion to the 
 ere warned 
 tns devoted 
 
 inveterate 
 e had fore- 
 [y effected, 
 led by him 
 mnting, or 
 he men of 
 the novelty 
 mes of our 
 
 been first 
 
 employed in the printing of Romish prayers; for in- 
 stance, " Pica," from the service of the Mass, termed 
 Pica or Pie, from the glaring contrast between the 
 black and white on its page ; " Primer," from Primarius, 
 the book of Prayers to the Virgin ; " Brevier," from the 
 Breviary ; " Canon," from the Canons of the Church ; 
 "St. Augustin," from that Father's writings having 
 been first printed in that sized type, etc. etc. 
 
 How reluctantly however the old prejudice was parted 
 with, even by the classes most interested in the ad- 
 vancement of the new device, may be inferred from 
 Shakspere's transcript of the chronicle in which Jack 
 Cade, the Radical spouter of his day, is made to exclaim 
 against Lord Say, " Thou hast most traitorously cor- 
 rupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar- 
 school ; and whereas before our forefathers had no other 
 books but the score and tally, thou hast caused Printing 
 to be iised ; and, contrary to the King, his crown and 
 dignity, thou hast l/uilt a paper-mill !" 
 
 But we must pause in omv quotations, for the wooden 
 clocks in the compositors* 1 jj.Is have just struck "one," 
 the signal throughout the whole establishment (which, we 
 may observe, contains 340 workmen) that the welcome 
 hour for rest and refreshment has arrived. The extended 
 arm of the distributor falls as by paralysis to his side — 
 the compositor as suddenly lays down his stick — the cor- 
 rector his bodkin — the impositor abandons his quoins, 
 reglet, gutters, scaleboard, chases, shooting-sticks, side- 
 sticks, and his other " furniture" — the wearied " reader" 
 slowly rises from his stool, his boy, like a young kid, 
 
 h I;' 
 
280 
 
 THE PRINTER 8 DEVIL. 
 
 having already bounded from his side. Tlic wheels of 
 the steam-presses abruptly cease to revolve — " the doe- 
 tor" even beeomes motionless, — the boys descend from 
 the literary pinnacles on which they had been stationed, 
 — the hand-presses repose — and, almost before the paper- 
 men, type-founders, and other workmen can manage to 
 lay down their work, in both Duke-street and Stamford- 
 street printers' boys of various colours are seen either 
 scudding away in all directions, or assembled in knots to 
 play at leapfrog, or at whatever other game may happen 
 to be what is technically called " in." A fat, ruddy, faced 
 boy, wearing a paper-cap, is seen vaulting over the back 
 of a young, tight-made devil, while " a legion of foul 
 fiends" appear gamlioUing in groups, or jumping over 
 each other's shoulders.* 
 
 While this scene is passing in the middle of the street, 
 steady workmen who are going to their dinners are seen 
 issuing in a stream out of the great gate, while at the 
 same moment, by a sort of back cm'rcnt, there is enter- 
 
 > !', 
 
 • Whenever a printer's devil, in the morning, at noon, or at night, is 
 about to be let loose upon an author, " the proofs" he is ordered to con- 
 vey are secured in a leathern bug, strapped round liis waist. Some tune 
 ago, however, a young, thoughtless imp, from Messrs. Clowes's estabhsh- 
 ment, chose to carry upon his head a heavy packet, addressed by his 
 employer to " Lieut. Stratford, R.N., Somerset House." " You young 
 rascal!" exclaimed a tall thief, who, after having read the inscription 
 cunningly, ran up to him, " Lieutenant Stratford has been waiting for 
 the last two hours for this parcel. Give it to me ! " The devil, con- 
 science-stricken and crest-fallen at the recollection that he had twice 
 stopped on liis road to play at marbles, delivered up his packet to the 
 conveyancer ; who, on opening it in his den, must have been grievously 
 disappointed to find that it contained nothing but some proofs of " The 
 Nautical Almanac for 1840." 
 
BIRTH AND PHOOllESS OF PRINTING. 
 
 281 
 
 wheels of 
 "the (loc- 
 cend from 
 
 stationed, 
 the paper- 
 manage to 
 Stamford- 
 icen cither 
 in knots to 
 ay happen 
 uddy- faced 
 r the back 
 ion of foul 
 uping over 
 
 the street, 
 rs are seen 
 lile at the 
 fc is entcr- 
 
 or at night, ia 
 rdered to con- 
 Somo time 
 I's's cstablish- 
 ressed by his 
 You young 
 lio inscription 
 n waiting for 
 'he devil, con- 
 he had twice 
 packet to the 
 cen grievously 
 roofs of "The 
 
 ing the yard a troop of little girls with provisions for 
 those who prefer to dine at their posts. Most of these 
 children are bearers of one or more sixpenny portions of 
 smoking-hot meat, with penny portions of potatoes or 
 cabl)nge, in addition to which some of the little girls, 
 with their longing eyes especially fixed on the dish, arc 
 carrying great twopenny lumps of apple-i)U(lding, or of 
 lieavy pieces of a cylindrical composition, commonly 
 called " roUy-poUy pudding," which very closely resem- 
 bles slices of the " doctor." Besides these eatables, a 
 man is seen gliding hastily down the declivity of the yard, 
 carrying in each hand a vertical tray glistening with bright 
 pewter pint-pots. 
 
 A remarkable silence now pervades the establishment. 
 The halls of the compositors appear to be empty j for 
 while enjoying their humble meal, sick of standing, they 
 invariably seat themselves underneath their frames, and 
 thus, like rats in their holes, they can scarcely be disco- 
 vered. The care-worn reader, in solitude, is also at his 
 meal ; but whatever it may consist of, it woiUd be hard 
 to say which he enjoys most — food for the body, or rest 
 for the mind. The great steam-engine, which works 
 the twenty-five printing-presses, is also at its dinner, 
 which consists of a liberal allowance of good neat's-foot 
 oil and tallow. 
 
 As this scene of rest and enjoyment is to last for a 
 whole hour, we perhaps cannot better employ a small 
 portion of the interim than by a few reflections on the 
 history of printing. 
 
 The labour attendant upon propagating manuscript 
 
 M 
 
 Hi 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 i », i 
 
I 
 
 I' '' 
 
 
 1 
 
 !i 
 
 If;? 
 
 I 
 
 
 t 'I 
 
 I- 
 
 
 282 
 
 TIIK PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 copies of volumes has been thus very feelingly described 
 by William Caxton : — 
 
 "Thus end I this huok ; niul for as moche ns in wrytynrj 
 of the same my peiine is worn, myn hiinde wery, and myn 
 eync dimmed with overmoche lookyng on the whit paper, and 
 that ago crcpeth on me dayly ..." 
 
 Accordingly fifty years were sometimes employed in pro- 
 ducing a single volume. At the sale of Sir W. Burrell's 
 books. May, 1796, there was displayed a MS. bible on 
 vellum, beautifully written with a pen, and illuminated, 
 which had taken upwards of half a century to perform ; 
 the writer, Guido de Jars, began it in his fortieth year, 
 the period of life at which Sir Walter Scott began 
 'Waverley'), and yet did not finish it till he was up- 
 wards of ninety. 
 
 The expense attendant upon the ancient operation will 
 be sufficiently explained by the following extract of a 
 translated epistle from Antonio Bononia Becatello to 
 Alphouso, King of Naples : — 
 
 "You lately wrote to me from Florence that the works 
 of Titus Livius are there to be sold in very handsome books, 
 and that the price of each book is 120 crowns of gold : 
 therefore, I entreat your Majesty that you cause to be bought 
 for us ' Livy,' whom we used to call the king of books, and 
 cause it to be sent hither to us. I sliall in the meantime 
 procure the money which I am to give for the price of the 
 book. One thing I want to know of your prudence, whether 
 I or Poggius have done best : he, who, that he might buy a 
 country-house near Florence, sold Livy, which he had writ in 
 a very fair hand ; or I, who, to purchase Livy, have exposed a 
 piece of land to sale 1 Your goodness and modesty have en- 
 
y described 
 
 in wrytyiif? 
 ry, and myn 
 it paper, niul 
 
 )yed in pro- 
 »V. Burrell's 
 [S. bible on 
 illuminated, 
 to perform J 
 ortieth year, 
 Scott began 
 he was up- 
 
 peration will 
 extract of a 
 Becatello to 
 
 lat the works 
 dsome books, 
 (vns of gold : 
 to be bought 
 of books, and 
 be meantime 
 B price of the 
 ence, whether 
 might buy a 
 le had writ in 
 lave exposed a 
 lesty have en- 
 
 BIRTII AND PROQRESS OP PHINTINO. 
 
 283 
 
 couragcd me to ask these things with famiHarity of you. Fare- 
 well, and triumph!" 
 
 Gaguin, in writing from France to a friend who had 
 sent to him from Home to procure a Concordance, 
 says,— 
 
 " I have not to this day found a Concordance, except one 
 that is greatly esteemed, whicli Paschasius the bookseller has 
 told me is to be sold, and it may be had for a hundred crowns 
 of gold" (about £83). 
 
 On the last leaf of a folio manus 'lipt of the 'Roman 
 de la Rose' (the property of the late Mr. Ames) there is 
 written, — 
 
 " Cest lyuir costa au palas de Parys quaraute coronncs dor, 
 sans mentyr." 
 
 About the time of Henry II. the works of authors 
 were, it has been said, read over for three days succes- 
 sively before one of the Universities, or before other 
 judges appointed for the service, and, if they met with 
 approbation, copies of them wore then permitted to be 
 taken by monks, scribes, illuminators, and readers, 
 brought up or trained to that purpose for their mainte- 
 nance. But the labours of these monks, scribes, illumi- 
 natoi's, etc., after all, were only for the benefit of a very 
 few individuals, while the great bulk of the community 
 lived in a state of ignorance closely resembling that 
 which has ever characterized, aud which still chai'acter- 
 izcs, savage tribes. 
 
 The hcaven-bom eloquence of many of these tribes 
 has been acknowledged by almost every traveller who 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 "fffii! 
 
 M 
 
 !V^ 
 
 i Ir 
 if 
 ! 
 I 
 
 li 
 
 !; 
 
 1- 
 
 * 1 
 
 if ': 
 
 . 1 
 
 i • 
 
 i - 
 'V ' 
 
 ill 
 
 *af'-.,-..l 
 
■mmriiii 
 
 284 
 
 THE PllINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 I'i 
 
 ;!' n 
 
 ' U 
 
 has enjoyed the opportunity of listening to it with a 
 translator. 
 
 Nothing, we may affirm, can be more striking than the 
 framework of their speech, which, commencing with an 
 appeal to "the Great Spirit" that governs the universe, 
 gradually descends to the very foundation of the subject 
 they are di -^ _olng. Nothing more beautiful than the 
 imagery with which they clothe their ideas, or more im- 
 posing than the intellectual coolness with which they ex- 
 press them. From sunrise till sunset they cau address 
 their patient auditors ; and, such is the confidence these 
 simple people possess in their innate powers of speech, 
 that a celebrated orator was, on a late occasion, heard to 
 declare, " That had he conceived the young men of his 
 tribe Avould have so erred in their decision, he would 
 have attended their council fire, and would have spoken 
 to them for a fortnight !" 
 
 But what has become of all the orations which these 
 denizens of the forest have pronounced ? What moral 
 efl'ect have they produced, beyond a momentary excite- 
 ment of admiration, participated only by a small party 
 of listeners, and which, had even millions attended, 
 could only, after all, have exteiided to the radius of the 
 of the speaker's voice? 
 
 From our first discovery of their country to the present 
 day, their eloquence has passed away like the loud 
 moaning noise which the wind makes in passing through 
 the vast wilderness they inhabit, and which, however it 
 may affect the traveller who chances to hear it, dies 
 aAvay in the universe unrecorded. 
 
i it with a 
 
 ng than the 
 ng with an 
 le universe, 
 
 the suhject 
 111 than the 
 jr more im- 
 ich they ex- 
 cau address 
 idence these 
 's of speeeh, 
 ou, heard to 
 
 men of his 
 n, he would 
 have spoken 
 
 whieh these 
 What moral 
 itarv excite- 
 small party 
 ns attended, 
 radius of the 
 
 o the present 
 ke the loud 
 sing through 
 1, however it 
 hear it. dies 
 
 BIRTH AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING. 
 
 285 
 
 Unable to read or write, the imcivilizcd oratoi of the 
 present day has hardly any materials to build with but 
 his own native talent; he has received nothing from 
 his forefathers — he can bequeath or promulgate little 
 or nothing to posterity ; whatever, therefore, may be his 
 eloquence, and whatever may be his intelligence, he is 
 almost solely guided by what resembles brute instinct 
 rather than human reason, which, by the art of writing, 
 transmits experience to posterity. 
 
 iicfore the invention of printing almost the whole 
 herd of mankind were in a state of moral destitution, 
 nearly equal to that which we have thus described ; for, 
 although various manuscripts existed, yet the expense 
 and trouble of obtaining them was, as we have endea- 
 voured to show, so great, that few could possess them 
 in any quantities, except sovereign prince-, or persons 
 of very great wealth. The intellectual power of man- 
 kind was consequently completely undisciplined — there 
 was no such thing as a combination of moral power — 
 the experience of one age was not woven into the fabric 
 of another, — in short, the intelligence of a nation Avas a 
 rope of sand. Now, how wonderful is the contrast be- 
 tween this picture of the dark age which preceded the 
 invention of printing, and the busy establishment which 
 only for a few moments we have just left ! 
 
 The distinction between the chrysalis and the butterfly 
 but feebly illustrates the alteration Avhich has taken 
 place, since by the art of printing science has been 
 enabled to wing its rapid and unerring course to the re- 
 motest regions of the globe. Every man's information 
 
 r. 
 
 
 'i 
 
 rW 
 
 M 
 
 t! I 
 i! 
 
 I 
 
mm 
 
 286 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 ' : 
 
 is now received and deposited in a common hive, con- 
 taining a cell or receptacle for everything that can be 
 deemed worth preserving. The same facility attends the 
 distribution of information, which characterizes its col- 
 lection. The power of a man's voice is no longer the 
 measured range to which he can project his ideas ; for 
 even the very opinion we have just uttered, the very sen- 
 tence we are now writing — faulty as they may both be 
 — printed by steam, and transported by steam, will be 
 no sooner published than they will be wafted to every 
 region of the habitable globe, — to India, to America, 
 to China, to every country in Europe, to every colony 
 we possess, to our friends and to our foes, wherever 
 they may be. In short, the hour has at last arrived at 
 which the humblest individual in our community is 
 enabled to say to those, whoever they may be, who are 
 seen to wield authority wickedly, — 
 
 " Si vous m'opprimez, si vos grandeurs dedaignent 
 Les pleura des innocens que vous faites couler, 
 Mon vengeur est au ciel ! apprenez h, trembler ! " 
 
 As railroads have produced traffic, so has printing 
 produced learned menj and "to this art," says Dr. 
 Knox, " we owe the Reformation." The cause of re- 
 ligion has been most gloriously promoted by it ; for it 
 has placed the Bible in everybody's hands. Yet, not- 
 withstanding the enormous mass of information it has 
 imparted, it is however a most remarkable fact, that 
 printing is one of those busybodies who can tell every 
 man's history but his own. 
 
 Although four centuries have not elapsed since the in- 
 
REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF PRINTING. 287 
 
 hive, con- 
 lat can be 
 .ttends the 
 es its col- 
 longer the 
 ideas; for 
 3 very sen- 
 ay both be 
 im, will be 
 d to every 
 3 America, 
 ^'cry colony 
 i, wherever 
 t arrived at 
 nmunity is 
 be, who are 
 
 lent 
 
 r, 
 •!" 
 
 las printing 
 " says Dr. 
 ause of re- 
 )y it ; for it 
 Yet, not- 
 ation it has 
 c fact, that 
 m tell every 
 
 since the in- 
 
 vention of the noble art, yet the origin of this transcen- 
 dent light, veiled in darkness, is still a subject of dis- 
 pute ! No certain record has been handed down fixing 
 the precise time when, the person by whom, and the place 
 whence, this art derived its birth. The latent reason of 
 this mystery is not very creditable to mankind ; for print- 
 ing having been as much the counterfeit as the substitute 
 of writing, from sheer avarice it was kept so completely 
 a secret, that we are told, an artist, upon offering for sale 
 a number of Bibles, which so miraculously resembled 
 each other in every particular that they were deemed to 
 surpass human skill, was accused of witchcraft, and tried 
 in the year 1460. 
 
 Gutenberg, we all know, is said to have been the father 
 of printing; Schoeffer, the father of letter-founding; 
 Faust, or Fust, the generous patron of the art ; and by 
 Hansard these three are termed " the grand typographical 
 triumvirate." On the other hand, Hadrianus Junius, 
 who wrote the history of Holland in Latin, published in 
 1578, claims the great art for Haarlem, assigning to Lau- 
 rentius Coster the palm of being the original inventor. 
 Neither our limits nor our inclination allow us to take 
 any part in the threadbare discussion of the subject. On 
 the front of the house inhabited by Gutenberg, at Mcntz, 
 there is the following inscription : — 
 
 " JOHANNI GUTTEMBERGENSI 
 
 Moguntino, 
 
 Qui Primus Omnium Literas -^re 
 
 Iinprimendas Invenit, 
 
 Hac Arte De Orbe Toto Beue Merenti." 
 
 ' il 
 
II 
 
 tamaaa 
 
 288 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 •i 
 
 : !:: 
 
 Besides this, a fine statue by Thorwaltlsen, erected in tlie 
 city, was opened amidst a burst of enthusiasm. " For 
 three days/' says a late Avriter, " the population of May- 
 ence was kept in a state of high excitement. The echo 
 of the excitement went through Germany, and Guten- 
 berg ! Gutenberg ! was to.astcd in many a bumper 
 of Rhenish wine, amidst this cordial and enthusiastic 
 people." But while "Gut! Gw^ew .' Gutenberg!" arc 
 thus resounding through Germany, the web-footed in- 
 habitants of the city of Haarlem, nothing daunted, still 
 paddle through their streets, with their burgomasters at 
 their head, holding annual festivals, and making public 
 speeches, in commemoration of the grand discovery of the 
 art by their " beloved Coster," to whom various monu- 
 ments have been erected. 
 
 But two o'clock has arrived, and we therefore most 
 readily al)andon the history of printing, to return witli 
 Mr. Clowes's people to his interesting establishment. 
 
 On entering the door of a new department, a number 
 of workmen, in paper caps, and with their shirt-sleevrs 
 tucked up, may be seen at a long table, immediately 
 under the windows, as well as at another table in the 
 middle of the room, intently occupied at some sort of 
 niggling operation ; but what wholly engrosses the first 
 attention of the stranger is the extraordinary convulsive 
 attitudes of ten men, who, at equal distances from each 
 other, are standing with their right shoulders close to the 
 dead wall opposite to the windows. 
 
 These men appear as if they were all possessed with St. 
 Vitus' Dance, or as if they were performing some Druidical 
 
ctcd in the 
 m. " For 
 )n of May- 
 
 The echo 
 k1 Guten- 
 
 a bumper 
 iithiisiastio 
 |iekg!" arc 
 
 footed in- 
 luntcd, still 
 )ma8ters at 
 king public 
 ovcry of the 
 iou8 monu- 
 
 refore moat 
 return with 
 shmcnt. 
 t, a number 
 shirt-slccvfs 
 immediately 
 table in the 
 ome sort of 
 scs the first 
 y convulsive 
 s from each 
 5 close to the 
 
 issed with St. 
 me Druidical 
 
 TVPE-CASTIXG. 
 
 28:) 
 
 or Dervishical religious ceremony. Instead however of 
 being the servants of idolatrous superstition, they are in 
 fact its most destructive enemies : for, grotesque as may 
 be their attitudes, they arc busily fabricating grains of 
 intellectual gunpowder to explode it; we mean, they 
 arc type- casting. 
 
 This important operation is performed as follows : — In 
 the centre of a three-inch cube of hard wood, which is 
 split into two halves like the shell of a walnut, there is 
 inserted the copper matrix or form of the letter to be cast. 
 The two halves of the cube when put together are so 
 mathematically adjusted that their separation can scarcely 
 be detected, and accordingly down the line of junction 
 there is pierced, from the outer face of this wood, to the 
 copper matrix, a small hole, into which the liquid metal 
 is to be cast, and from which it can easily be extricated 
 by the opening or bisection of the cube. Besides this 
 piece of wood, the type-caster is provided with a little 
 furnace, and a small caldron of liquid metal, projecting 
 about a foot from the wall, on his right. This wall is 
 protected by sheet-iron, which is seen shining and glit- 
 tering in all directions with the metal that in a liquid 
 state has been tossed upon i : to a great height. 
 
 On the floor, close at the feet of each " caster," there 
 is a small heap of coals, while a string or two of onions 
 hanging here and there against the wall, sufficiently 
 denote that those Avho, instead of leaving the building at 
 one o'clock, dine within it, are not totally unacquainted 
 with the culinary art. 
 
 The ladles are of various denominations, according to 
 
 VOL. I. O 
 
 W:':. >^4 
 
 -' m 
 
290 
 
 THE PRINTER'S DEVIL. 
 
 if** 
 
 the size of the type to be cast. There arc some that con- 
 tain as much as a quarter of a pound of metal, but for 
 common-sized type the instrument does not hold more 
 than would one-half of a shell of a small hazel-nut. 
 
 With the mould in the left hand, the founder with his 
 right dips his little instrument into the liquid metal, 
 instantly pours it into the hole of the cube, and then, 
 in order to force it doivn to the matrix, he jerks up 
 the mould higher than his head ; as suddenly he lowers 
 it, by a quick movement opens the cube, shakes out the 
 type, closes the box, re-fills it, re-jerks into the air, re- 
 opens it — and, by a repetition of these rapid manoeuvres, 
 each workman can create from 400 to 500 types an hour. 
 
 By the convulsive jerks which we have described, the 
 liquid is unavoidably tossed about in various directions ; 
 yet, strange to say, the type-founder, following the gene- 
 ral fashion of the establishment, performs this scalding 
 operation with naked arms, although in many places they 
 may be observed to have been more or less burned. 
 
 As soon as there is a sufficient heap of type cast, it is 
 placed before an intelligent little boy (whose pale wan 
 face sufficiently explains the eftect that has been pro- 
 duced upon it by the antimony in the metal), to be 
 broken ofif to a uniform length : for, in order to assist in 
 forcing the metal down to the matrix, it was necessary 
 to increase the weight of the type by doubling its length. 
 At this operation a quick boy can break off from 2000 
 to 3000 types an houi*, although, be it observed, by 
 handling new type a workman has been known to lose his 
 thumb and forefinger from the eflfect of the antimony. 
 
THE TYPE-FOUNDRY. 
 
 291 
 
 that con- 
 il, but for 
 lold more 
 zel-nut. 
 
 '.vith his 
 id metal, 
 and then, 
 
 jerks up 
 
 he lowers 
 
 cs out the 
 
 le air, re- 
 
 anoeuvres, 
 
 s an hour. 
 
 ribed, the 
 
 ircctions ; 
 
 the gene- 
 
 s scalding 
 
 ilaces thev 
 
 rned. 
 
 cast, it is 
 
 pale wan 
 
 been pro- 
 
 al), to be 
 
 o assist in 
 
 necessary 
 
 its length. 
 
 rom 2000 
 
 served, by 
 
 to lose his 
 
 timony. 
 
 By a third process the types are rubbed on a flat stone, 
 which takes ofl' all roughness, or "bur," from their sides, 
 as well as adjusts their "beards" and their "shanks." 
 A good rubber can finish about 2000 an hour. 
 
 By a fourth process, the types are, by men or boys, 
 fixed into a sort of composing-stick about a yard long, 
 where they are made to lie in a row with their " nicks " 
 all iippermost: 3000 or 4000 per hour can be thus 
 arranged. 
 
 In a fifth process, the bottom extremities of these 
 types, which had been left rough by the second process, 
 are, by the stroke of a plane, made smooth, and the 
 letter-ends being then turned uppermost, the whole 
 line is carefully examined by a microscope; the faulty 
 type, technically termed " fat-faced," " lean-faced," and 
 " bottle-bottomed," are extracted ; and the rest are then 
 extricated from the stick, and left in a heap. 
 
 The last operation is that of " telling them down and 
 papering them up," to bo ready for distribution when 
 required. 
 
 By the system we have just described, Mr. Clowes 
 possesses the power of supplying his compositors with a 
 stream of )iew type, flowing upon them at the rate of 
 50,000 per day ! 
 
 Type-founding has always been considered to be a 
 trade of itself, and there is not in London, or we believe 
 in the world, any other gi'cat printing entablishment in 
 which it is comprehended ; but the advantages derived 
 from this connection are very great, as types form the 
 life-blood of a printing-house, and therefore whatever 
 
 o2 
 
 im 
 
 H' 
 
 ml 
 
 ■". n 
 
■ M ii»>i, i m WW 
 
 292 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 facilitates their circulation adds to its health aud pro- 
 motes science. 
 
 Small, insignificant, and undecipherable as types ap- 
 pear to inexperienced eyes, yet, when we reflect upon the 
 astonishing effects they produce, they forcibly remind us 
 of that beautiful parable of the grain of mustard-sccd, 
 " which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is 
 grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, 
 so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches 
 thereof." But, casting theory aside, we svill endeavour 
 to demonstrate the advantages which not cnly the esta- 
 blishment before us, but the whole literary world, bond 
 fide derives from a cheap, ready, and never- failing supply 
 of type. 
 
 By possessing an ample store of this primum mobile of 
 his art, a printer is enabled, without waiting for the dis- 
 tribution or breaking up of the type of the various pub- 
 lications he is printing, to supply his compositors with 
 the means of " setting up " whatever requires immediate 
 attention; — literary productions, therefore, of every de- 
 scription are thus relieved from unnecessary quarantine, 
 the promulgation of knowledge is hastened, the distance 
 which separates the writer from the reader is reduced to 
 its minimum. 
 
 But besides the facility which the possession of abun- 
 dance of type gives both to the publisher and to the 
 public, the printer's range, or in other words the radius, 
 to the extent of which he is enabled to serve the world, 
 is materially increased; for with an amply supply he 
 can manage to keep type in "forms" until his proofs 
 
ADVANTAGES OF ABUNDANCE OP TYPE. 
 
 ?93 
 
 from a distance can be returned corrected. In a very 
 large printing establishment, like that before ua, this 
 radius is very nearly the earth's diameter; for Messrs. 
 Clowes arc not only enabled, by the quantity of type 
 they possess, to send proofs to the East and West Indies, 
 but they arc at this moment engaged in printing a work, 
 regularly published in England every month, the proof- 
 sheets which are sent by our steamers to be corrected by 
 the author in America ! 
 
 Again, in the case of books that are likely to run into 
 subsequent cditioiis, a printer who has plenty of type to 
 spare can afford to keep the forms standing .until the 
 work has been tested; and then, if other editions are 
 required, they can, on the whole, be printed infinitely 
 cheaper than if the expense of composition were in each 
 separate edition to be repeated : — the publisher, the 
 printer, and the public, all therefore are gainers by this 
 arrangement. 
 
 In bye-ways as well as in high- ways, literary labourers 
 of the humblest description are assisted by a printing es- 
 tablishment possessing abundance of type. For instance, 
 in its juvenile days, the ' Quarterly Review' (which, by 
 the way, is now thirty years old) was no sooner pub- 
 lished than it was necessary that the first article of the 
 follo^^•ing number should go to press, in order that the 
 printer might be enabled, article by article, to complete 
 the whole in three months. Of the inconvenience to 
 the editor attendant upon this "never-ending-still-be- 
 ginning" system, we deem it proper to say nothing : our 
 readers, hoM'Cver, will at once see the scorbutic incon- 
 
 
 i :' 
 
 ■I- ; 
 
 ■ f ! 
 
■Mm* 
 
 •29 1 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 venicucc whu'h they themselves must have suft'crcd by 
 having been supplied by us with provisions, a consitlcr- 
 uble portion of whieh had unavoidably been salted down 
 for nearly three months. Now, under the present system, 
 the contents of the whole number lie open to fresh air, 
 eorrection, and eonvietion, — are ready to admit new in- 
 formation, to receive fresh facts, to so late a moment, 
 that our eight or ten articles may be sent to the printer 
 on a Monday Avitli directions to be ready for })ublieation 
 on the Saturday. 
 
 But notwithstanding all the examples we have given 
 of the present increased expenditure of type, our readers 
 will probably be surprised when they are informed of the 
 actual quantity which is required. 
 
 The number of sheets now standing in type in Messrs. 
 Clowes's establiHhraent, each weighing on an average 
 about 100 lbs., are above IGOO. The weight of type not 
 in forms amounts to about 100 tons ! — the weight of the 
 stereotype plates in their possession to about 2000 tons — 
 the cost to the proprietors (without including the original 
 composition of the types from which they were cast) about 
 €200,000. The number of woodcuts is about 50,000, 
 of which stereotype-casts are taken and sent to Germany, 
 France, etc. 
 
 Having mentioned the amount of stereotype plates in 
 the establishment, it is proper that we should now visit 
 the foundry in which they are cast. The principal piece 
 of furniture in this small chamber is an oven, in appear- 
 ance such as is commonly used by families for baking 
 bread. In front of it there stands a sort of dresser; and 
 
THE 8TKRE()TYP£ FOUNDRY. 
 
 205 
 
 fl-' 
 
 ffbrcd by 
 consider- 
 tcd down 
 it system, 
 fresh air, 
 t new in- 
 moment, 
 le printer 
 ublication 
 
 avc given 
 ur readers 
 ficd of the 
 
 in Messrs. 
 II average 
 f type not 
 i,'lit of the 
 
 00 tons— 
 e original 
 ast) about 
 t 50,000, 
 iermany, 
 
 plates in 
 now visit 
 pal pieee 
 
 1 appear- 
 r baking 
 ser: and 
 
 elose to the Avail on the right, and adjoining the entrance 
 door, a small table. The " forms" or pages of types, after 
 they have been used by the printer, and before the ste- 
 reotype impression can be taken from them, require to 
 be cleaned, in order to remove from them the particles 
 of ink with which they have been clogged in the process 
 of printing. As soon as this operation is effected, the 
 types are carefully oiled, to prevent the cement sticking 
 to them ; and when they have been thus prepared, they 
 are placed at the bottom of a small wooden frame, where 
 they lie in appearance like a schoolboy's slate. In about 
 a quarter of an hour the plaster-of- Paris, M'hich is first 
 dabbed on with a cloth and then poured upon them, be- 
 comes hard, and the mixture, which somewhat resembles 
 a common Yorkshire pudding, is then put into the oven, 
 where it is baked for an hour and a half. It is then put 
 into a small iron coffin with holes in each corner, and 
 buried in a caldron of liquid metal, heated by a small 
 furnace elose to the oven ; the little vessel containing the 
 type gradually sinks from view, until the silvery glisten- 
 ing wave rolling over it entirely conceals it from the eye. 
 At the bottom of this caldron it remains about ten mi- 
 nutes, when, being raised by the arm of a little crane, it 
 comes up completely incrusted with the metal, and is 
 put for ten minutes to cool over a cistern of water close 
 to the caldron. The mass is then laid on the wooden 
 dresser, where the founder unmercifully belabours it with 
 a wooden mallet, which breaks the brittle metal from the 
 coffin, and the plaster-of- Paris cast being also shattered 
 into pieces, the stereotype impression, which, during this 
 
 v'!l 
 
 
;."jo 
 
 THE PhlNTHaM DEVIL. 
 
 ■«.i; 
 
 nulo operation, has remained unharmed, is introduced 
 for the first moment of its cxistenee into the lij;ht of (hiy. 
 The birth of this phite is to the literary worhl an event 
 of no small importance, inasnmeh as lOO.OOO copies of 
 the best impressions can be taken frori ' id vith care 
 it can propagate a million ! The jilai r-, af un* Ijci iig rudely 
 cut, are placed on a very inge^iouj :U iption of Pro- 
 erustesian bed, on which hev .• • by u nnuhinc not only 
 all cut to the same length and lu'cadth, but with equal 
 impartiality planed to exactly the s;mic thickness. 
 
 The plates ai'e ne\t examined in another chamber by 
 men termed " pickers," who, with a sharp graver, and at 
 the rate of about sixteen pages in six hours, cut out or off 
 any improper excrescences ; and if a word or sentence is 
 found to be faulty, it is cut out of the plate and rcjdaced 
 by rvid type, which arc soldered into the gai)s. Lastly, 
 by a circular saw the plates are very expeditiously cut 
 into pages, which are packed up in paper to go to press. 
 
 Wc have already stated that in Messrs. Clowes's esta- 
 blishment the stereotype plates amount in weight to 
 "2000 tons. They are contained in two strong rooms or 
 cellars, which appear to the stranger to be almost a mass 
 of metal. The smallest of these receptacles is occupicil 
 entirely witi: the Religious Tract Society's plates, mauy 
 of M-hich are i'>!\ entitled t" *^ -^ rest they are enjoying, 
 having al: .. ■ giN-u hundreds of thousands of impres- 
 sions to the world. It is very pleasing to find in the 
 heart of a busy bustling establishment, such as we are 
 reviewing, a chamber exclusively set apart for the propa- 
 gation of religious knowledge ; and it is a fact creditaljlc 
 
 mif 
 
r 1 
 
 THE STERKOTYPF, FOVMiBV. 
 
 29: 
 
 ntroduccd 
 
 iht of (lay. 
 
 I an event 
 
 copies of 
 
 vith care 
 
 If? rudely 
 
 n of Pro- 
 
 e not only 
 
 vith equal 
 
 amber by 
 er, and at 
 
 out or oft' 
 
 cntoncc is 
 
 1 replaced 
 
 Lastly, 
 
 iously cut 
 
 to press, 
 ves's csta- 
 weiglit to 
 
 rooms or 
 )st a mass 
 I occupicil 
 tes, mauy 
 cnjoyinj,', 
 tf imprcs- 
 nd in the 
 18 we are 
 he propa- 
 sreditablc 
 
 to tli(> country in {jeruTul. as well as to the art of ))rintin<j; 
 in parliculur, that, ineludin^ all the publications printed 
 by Messrs. Clowes, one-fourth are self-devoted to r(>li^ ■*- 
 The larj-er store, wliich is a hiuidnvl feet in Icuj^th, t^ a 
 dark omiiimn yatlwntm, contiuainji the stereotyjx i)late* 
 of publications of all dest riptions. But even tii this 
 epitome of the literature of the age, our renders wiP n- 
 gratified to learn that the sacred volumes of t^he L a- 
 blished Church maintain, by their own intrii.-«ic vali 
 a rank and an importance, their possession of which ha- 
 been the basis of the charact i- and unexampled prosperit 
 of the British Empire. Ai.oug the plates in this stoi 
 there are to be seen reposing those of thirteen vurictii- 
 of bibles and testaments, of mmcrons books of hymns 
 and psalms, of fifteen diflcrc it dictionaries, and of a 
 nnmber of other books of acknowledged sterling value. 
 We have no desire, however, to conceal that tje above 
 are strangely intermixed with pi.blieations of a different 
 description. For instance, next *o ' Doddridge's ^^ orks' 
 lie the plates of 'Don Juan'; close to ' Ilcrvey's ^Medi- 
 tations' lie * The Lives of IligliM ;iymen,' ' Henderson's 
 Cookery,' 'The Trial of Queen Caroline,' and '!Mac- 
 gowan's Dialogue of Devils.' In the immediate vichiity 
 of the 'Pilgrim's Progress' repose the 'Newgate Calen- 
 dar' (0 vols.) and 'Religious Courtship;' and lastly, in 
 this republic of letters, close to ' Sturm's Reflections,' 
 ' Ready Reckoner,' ' Goldsmith's England,' and ' Hut- 
 ton's Logarithms,' are to be found ' A Whole Family in 
 Heaven,' ' Heaven taken by Storm,' ' Baxter's Shove to 
 ^•Jt^fr^fr^f.^t^f**^ Christians/ etc. etc. etc. 
 
 o3 
 
 II 
 
 Hi 
 
 ■1 
 
 I Sj 
 I 
 
 ' •*) 
 
 I • 
 ■ 
 
 !\i 1_ 
 w 
 
298 
 
 THE PRINTEK S DEVJL. 
 
 ■y . 
 
 |l 
 
 : 1 
 
 On the whole, however, the ponderous contents of the 
 chamber are of great literaiy value ; and it is with feel- 
 ings of pride and satisfaction that the stranger beholds 
 before him, in a single cellar, a capital, principally de- 
 voted to religious instruction, amounting to no less than 
 €200,000 ! 
 
 In suddenly coming from the inky chambers of a print- 
 iiig-of!ice into the paper-warehouse, the scene is, almost 
 without metaphor, "as dift'ercnt as black from white." 
 Its transition is like that which the traveller experiences 
 in suddenly reaching the snowy region wliich caps lofty 
 mountains of dark granite. 
 
 It must be evident to the reader that the quantity of 
 paper used by Messrs. Clowes in a single year must be 
 enormous. 
 
 This paper, before it is despatched from the printer to 
 the binder, undergoes two opposite processes, namely 
 wetting and drying, both of which may be very shortly 
 described. The wctting-roora, which forms a sort of 
 cellar to the paper-warehouse, is a small chamber, con- 
 taining three troughs, supplied with water, like those in 
 a common laundry, by a leaden pipe and cock. Leaning 
 over one of these troughs, there stands, from morning 
 till night, with naked arms, red lingers, and in wooden 
 shoes, a man, whose sole occupation, for the whole of his 
 life, is to wet paper for the press. The general allow- 
 ance he gives to each quire is two dips, which is all that 
 he knows of the literature of the age; and certainly, 
 when it is considered that, with a strapping lad to assist 
 him, he can dip two hundred reams a day, it is evident 
 
THE DRYIXG-ROOM. 
 
 299 
 
 ats of the 
 with feel- 
 r beholds 
 ipally de- 
 less than 
 
 3f a print- 
 is, almost 
 n white." 
 iperienccs 
 caps lofty 
 
 uantity of 
 r must be 
 
 printer to 
 s, namely 
 ry shortly 
 
 a sort of 
 nber, con- 
 c tliose in 
 Leaning 
 1 morning 
 in Mooden 
 hole of his 
 eral allow- 
 is all that 
 
 certainly, 
 
 id to assist 
 
 ia evident 
 
 that it must require a considerable number of very ready 
 writers to keep pace with hira. After being thus wetted, 
 the paper is put in a pile under a screw-press, where it 
 remains subjected to a pressure of 200 tons for twelve 
 hours. It should then wait about two days before it is 
 used for printing, yet, if the weather be not too hot, it 
 will, for nearly a fortnight, remain sufficiently damp to 
 imbibe the ink from the type. 
 
 We have already stated that, as fast as the sheets 
 printed on both sides are abstracted by the boys who sit 
 at the bottoms of tlie twenty-five steam-presses, they are 
 piled in a heap by their sides. As soon as these piles 
 reach a certain height, they are carried oflp, in wet bundles 
 of about one thousand sheets, to the two drying-rooms, 
 which are heated by steam to a temperature of about 90° 
 of Fahrenheit. These bundles arc there subdivided into 
 "lifts," or quires, containing from fourteen to sixteen 
 sheets ; seven of these lifts, one after another, are rapidly 
 placed upon the transverse end of a long-handled " peel," 
 by which they are raised nearly to the ceiling, to be de- 
 posited across small wooden bars ready fixed to receive 
 them; in which situation it is necessary they should 
 remain at least twelve hours, in order that not only the 
 paper, but the ink, should be dried. In looking up- 
 wards, therefore, the whole ceiling of the room appears 
 as il an immense shower of snow had just suddenly been 
 arrested in its descent from Heaven. In the two rooms 
 about four hundred reams can be dried 
 
 twenty. 
 
 hours 
 
 
 * 
 
 , : I 
 
 m 
 
 H-i 
 
 \^ 
 
 When the operation of drying is completed, the " lifts' 
 
 I' ' 
 ! 4:' i I 
 
;300 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 are rapidly pushed by the " peel" one above another (like 
 cards which have overlapped) into a pack, and in these 
 masses they arc then lowered ; and again placed in piles, 
 each of which contains the same " signature/' or, in other 
 woi'ds, is formed of duplicates of the same sheet. A 
 work, therefore, containing twenty-four sheets — marked 
 or signed A, B, C, and so on, to Z — stands in twenty- 
 four piles, all touching each other, and of which the 
 height of course depends upon the number of copies com- 
 posing the edition. A gang of sharp little boys, about 
 twelve years of age, M'ith naked arms, termed gatherers, 
 following each other as closely as soldiers in file, march 
 past these heaps, from every one of which they each 
 abstract, in regular order for publication, a single sheet, 
 which they deliver as the complete work to a " collator," 
 whose duty it is rapidly to glance over the printed signa- 
 ture letters of each sheet, in order to satisfy himself that 
 they follow each other in regular succession ; and as soon 
 as the signature letters have either by one or by repeated 
 gatherings been all collected, they are, after being pressed, 
 })laccd in piles about eleven feet high, composed of com- 
 plete copies of the publication, which, having thus \m- 
 dergone the last process of the printing establishment, is 
 ready for the hands of the l)inder. 
 
 The group of gathering-boys, whose " march of intel- 
 lect " we have just described, usually perform per day a 
 thousand journeys, each of which is, on an average, 
 about fourteen yards. The quantity of paper in the two 
 drying-rooms amo\ ts to about 3000 reams, each weigh- 
 ing about 25 lbs. The supply of white i)aper in store, 
 
THE PAPER WAREHOUSE. 
 
 301 
 
 kept in piles about twenty feet liigh, averages about 7000 
 reams J the amount of paper printed every week and 
 delivered for publication amounts to about 1500 reams 
 (of 500 sheets), each of which averages in size 389| 
 square inches. The supply, therefore, of white paper 
 kept on hand, would, if laid down in a path 23 y inches 
 broad, extend 1230 miles; the quantity printed on both 
 sides per week would form a path of the saine breadth 
 und 2(53 miles in length. In the course of a vcar 
 jNIessrs. Clowes consume, therefore, white paper enough^ 
 to make petticoats of the usual dimensions (ten demys 
 per petticoat) for three hundred and fifty thousand 
 ladies ! 
 
 The ink used in the same space of time amounts to 
 about 12,000 lbs. 
 
 The cost of the paper may be about €100,000 ; that 
 of the ink exceeding £1500. 
 
 In one of the compartments of Messrs. Clowes's esta- 
 blishment, a few men are employed in fixing metal-typo 
 into the wooden blocks of a most valuable and simple 
 machine for impressing coloured maps, for which the 
 inventor has lately taken out a patent. 
 
 The tedious process of drawing maps by hand has 
 long been superseded by copper engravings ; but, besides 
 the great expense attendant upon these impressions, 
 there has also been added that of colouring, which it has 
 hitherto been deemed impossible to perform but by the 
 brush. The cost of maps, therefore, has i\ot only ope- 
 rated, to a considerable degree, as a prohibition of their 
 use among the poor, but in gencrd literature it has 
 
 ni 
 
 i'-^ 
 
 ■4L- 
 
302 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 very materially clieckcd many geographical elucidations, 
 ■vvliich, though highly desirable, would have been too 
 expensive to be inserted. 
 
 By this beautiful invention, the new artist has not 
 only imparted to woodcut blocks the advantages of im- 
 pressing, by little metallic circles and by actual type, 
 the positions as well as the various names of cities, 
 towns, rivers, etc., Avhich it would be difficult as well as 
 expensive to delineate in wood, but he has also, as we 
 ^will endeavour to explain, succeeded in giving, by ma- 
 chinery, that bloom, or, in other words, those colours to 
 his maps, which had hitherto been laboriously painted 
 on bv human hands. 
 
 On entering the small room of the house in which tlie 
 inventor has placed his machine, the attention of tlie 
 stranger is at once violently excited by seeing several 
 printer's rollers, vhich, though hitherto deemed to be as 
 black and as unchangeable as an Ethiopian's skin, ap- 
 pear before him bright yellow, bright red, and beautiful 
 blue ! " Tcmpora mutantur," they cxultingly seem to 
 sav, " nos ct mutamur in illis ! " In the middle of tlie 
 chamber stands the machine, consisting of a sort of open 
 box, which, instead of having, as is usual, one lid only, 
 has one fixed to every side, by which means the box can 
 evidently be shut or covered by turning down either the 
 lid on the north, on the south, on the east, or on the 
 west. 
 
 The process of impressing with this engine is thus 
 effected. A large sheet of pure white drawing-paper is, 
 by the chief superintendent, placed at the bottom of tlie 
 
'>'" u 
 
 MACHINE FOR COLOURING MAPS. 
 
 303 
 
 box, where it lies, the emblem of innocence, perfectly 
 unconscious of the impending fate that awaits it. Before 
 however it has any time for reflection, the north lid, 
 upon which is embedded a metal plate coloured blue, 
 suddenly revolves over upon the paper, when, by the 
 turn of a press underneath the whole apparatus, a severe 
 pressure is instantaneously inflicted. The north lid is 
 no sooner raised, than the south one, upon which is em- 
 bedded a metal plate coloured yelloiv, performs the same 
 operation j Avhich is immediately repeated by the eastern 
 lid, the plates of which arc coloured red ; and, lastly, by 
 the western lid, whose plates contain nothing but black 
 lines, marks of cities, and names. 
 
 By these four operations, which are consecutively 
 performed, quite as rapidly as we have detailed them, 
 the sheet of white paper is seen successfully and happily 
 transformed into a most lovely and prolific picture, in 
 SEVEN coloiu's of oceans, empires, kingdoms, principa- 
 lities, cities, flowing rivers, mountains (the tops of which 
 are left white), lake -^ etc., each not only pronouncing its 
 own name, but declaring the lines of latitude and longi- 
 tude under which it exists. The picture, or, as it terms 
 itself, " The Patent Illuminated Map," proclaims to the 
 world its own title : it gratefully avows the name of its 
 iugenious parent to be Charles Knight. 
 
 A few details arc yet wanting to fill up the rapid 
 sketch or outline we have just given of the mode of im- 
 printing these maps. On the northern block, which 
 imparts the first impression, the oceans and lakes are cut 
 in wavy lines, by which means, when the whole block is 
 
 y 
 
 11 
 
 
 : 
 
 H 
 
 li 
 
 1 
 
 
m 
 
 not 
 
 THE PRINTER S DEVIL. 
 
 II 
 
 coloured blue, the wavy parts are impressed qiiite light, 
 while principalities, kingdoms, etc., are deeply desig- 
 nated, and thus by one process ttvo blues are imprinted. 
 
 When the southern block, which is coloured yelloio, 
 descends, besides marking out the principalities, etc., 
 which are to be permanently designated by that colour, 
 a portion of it recovers countries which by the first pro- 
 cess had been marked blue, but which, by the admixture 
 of the yellow, are beautifully coloured green. By tliis 
 second process, therefore, two colours are again im- 
 printed. When the eastern lid, which is coloured red, 
 turning upon its axis, impinges upon the paper, besides 
 stamping the districts which are to be designated by its 
 own colour, it intrudes upon a portion of the blue im- 
 pression, which it instantly turns into purple, and upon 
 a portion of the yelloiv impression, which it instantly 
 changes into broivn ; and thus, by this single operation, 
 three colours arc imprinted. 
 
 But the three lids conjointly have performed another 
 very necessary operation, namely, they have moistened 
 the paper sufficiently to enable it to receive the typo- 
 graphical lines of longitude and latitude, the courses of 
 rivers, the little round marks denoting cities, and the 
 letterpress, all of which, by the last pressure, are im- 
 parted, in common black printer's ink, to a map, dis- 
 tinguishing, under the beautiful process we have de- 
 scribed, the various regions of the globe, by light blue, 
 dark blue, yellow, green, red, brown, and purple.* 
 
 * Wc ought to observe that nn analogous invention has ah-eady been 
 brought to great perfeetion, by Mr. ilulmamlell, in the department of 
 
ite light, 
 y flesig- 
 I printed. 
 I yelioio, 
 ;ics, etc., 
 it colour, 
 first pro- 
 tlmixturc 
 
 Bv tliis 
 Tain im- 
 ircd red, 
 r, l)csides 
 ed bv its 
 
 blue inl- 
 and upon 
 instantly 
 iperation, 
 
 I another 
 loistened 
 he typo- 
 
 lOlU'SCS of 
 
 and the 
 are im- 
 map, dis- 
 have de- 
 ght blue, 
 e* 
 
 Iroady been 
 )artuient of 
 
 RELFECTIONS. 
 
 305 
 
 By Mr. Knight's patent machine, maps may be thus 
 furnished to our infant schools at the astonishingly low 
 rate of A\(l. each. 
 
 Before the wooden clocks in the composilo'V halls 
 strike eicmit, — at which hour the whole esta^)lishment 
 of literary labourers quietly return to their homes, ex- 
 cepting those who, for extra work, extra pay, and to 
 earn extra comforts for their families, are willing to 
 continue their toilsome occupation throughout the whole 
 night, resuming their regular work in the morning as 
 cheerfully as if they had been at rest, — we deem it our 
 duty to observe that there are many other printing; 
 establishments in London which would strikingly ex- 
 emplify the enormous physical power of the British 
 Press — especially that of the 'Times' Newspaper, Avhich, 
 on the 28th of November, 1814, electrified its readers 
 by unexpectedly informing them that the paper they 
 held in their hands had been printed by steam ; and it 
 is impossible for the mind to contemplate also, for a 
 single moment, the moral force of the British Press, 
 without reflecting, and without acknowledging that, 
 under Providence, it is the only engine that can now 
 save the glorious institutions of the British Empire from 
 
 Lithography. By using consecutively six, ten, or a dozen stones, each 
 charged with its separate colour, the effect of a fine water-colour (h'awing 
 is reproduced in most wonderful liglitness and brilliancy, while (the 
 colour used being all oil-colour) a depth is given to the shadows which 
 the cleverest master of the water-colour school cannot reach in his own 
 original performance. A set of views of FriMicli scenery and architecture, 
 done in this way, may now be seen in the shops : they are, in fact, 
 beautiful pictures; and you get, we believe, twi'uly-six of them for eight 
 guuieas. 
 
 'I 
 
 \ n 
 
 %' 
 
 ■ 
 
 \ 
 
 11. 
 
 ■ 
 
 1: 
 1 , 
 
 1 < 
 
 
 1 
 
 1* ' 
 
 ' '; 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 ;' '' 
 
 
 ' I 
 
 
306 
 
 THE PRINTER'S DEVIL. 
 
 the impending ruin that inevitably awaits them, unless 
 the merchants, the yeomanry, and the British people, 
 aroused by the loud warning of the said Press, shall 
 constitutionally disarm the hands of the destroyers. We 
 will however resolutely arrest ourselves in the utterance 
 of these very natural reflections, because we have de- 
 termined not to pour a single bitter drop into a literary 
 cup which we have purposely concocted only for Christ- 
 mas use. 
 
 To " the Governor" of the building through which 
 we have perambulated we cordially offer, in return for 
 the courtesy with which he has displayed it, " the com- 
 pliments of the season ;" and with equal gratitude let 
 us acknowledge the important service rendered to the 
 social family of mankind by the patient labour of each 
 overseer, compositor, reader, pressman, and type-founder 
 in his noble establishment. Let us give them the praise 
 which is due to their Art, and, to conclude, 
 
 LET US GIVE TO THE DEVIL HIS DUE!" 
 
307 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 There exists no trait more characteristic of that innate 
 generosity which has always distinguished the British 
 nation, than the support which an individual, in propor- 
 tion as lie is Avcak, friendless, and indeed notwithstand- 
 ing his faults, has invariably received from it whenever 
 he has been seen, under any circumstances, ruined and 
 overwhelmed in a collision with superior strength. It 
 little matters whether it be the Poles overpowered by 
 the Russians, or merely a school-boy fighting with a 
 man, for, without the slightest inquiry into the justice 
 of the quarrel, the English public are always prone to 
 declare themselves in favour of the " little one ; " and 
 this assistance is so confidently relied upon, that it is 
 well known the basest publishers, when they find they 
 can attract nothing but contempt, as a last resource wil- 
 fully incur a Government prosecution. 
 
 Yet, while this has been the case among us at home, 
 the Aborigines of America in both hemispheres have 
 been constantly fading before our eyes ; and this anni- 
 hilation of the real proprietors of the New World has 
 
 o-*' •';' 
 
 ,'. li 
 
 1 ii 
 
 
 1| Vt 
 
308 
 
 THE llED MAX. 
 
 >i/ 
 
 excited no more sympathy than has Ijcen felt for the 
 snow of their country, which every year has rapidly 
 melted under the hright siui of heaven ! Sovereij^ns 
 from time immenioriul of the vast territory Ijcstowcd 
 upon thcni ])y the Almighty, they have gradually heen 
 superseded by the usurpers of their soil, until thousands 
 of miles have been so completely dispeopled, that tliero 
 does not remain a solitary survivor to guard the revered 
 tombs of his ancitors, or to stand among them, the 
 mourner and rc))i'cseutativc of an extinguished race I 
 Uy an act of barbarism unexampled in history, their 
 title of " Amcncans" has even been usurped by the 
 progeny of Europe, and, as if to perpetuate the igno- 
 rance which existed at the period of their discovery, we 
 conhnue, in the illiLerate jargon of that day, to call 
 theui *' Indtaiis," although the designation is as pre- 
 })osterous as if we were to persist in nicknaming them 
 " Perskms" or " Chinese." 
 
 If the annihilation of our Red brethren had been com- 
 l)letcd, it might be declared ♦ be now as useless, as it 
 certaiidy would be unpo^jular, to enter into any painful 
 speculation on the subject; but a portion of their race 
 still exists. By the bayonet, ])y the diseases Ave bring 
 among them, by the introduction of spirituous liquors, 
 by our vices, and last, though not leuj;t, by our proffered 
 friendship^ the work of destruction is still progressing; 
 and if, in addition to all this, it be true, as in docu- 
 mentary evidence it has confidently been asserted, that 
 every day throughout the year the sun sets upon a 
 thousand Negroes, who, in anguish of mind and under 
 
fov the 
 i rapitlly 
 
 bestowed 
 ally been 
 liousands 
 hat there 
 ic revered 
 ;hem, the 
 l\cd race! 
 orv, their 
 cd l)y the 
 
 the igno- 
 covery, we 
 ly, to call 
 
 is as pre- 
 ning them 
 
 )ccii com- 
 eless, as it 
 my painful 
 
 their race 
 s we bring 
 )\is liciuors, 
 ir proffered 
 rogressing ; 
 IS in docu- 
 scrtcd, that 
 cts upon a 
 
 and under 
 
 THE RED MAX. 
 
 30!) 
 
 scii-siekness, sail as slaves from the const of Africa — 
 nun(/uam redituri — surely the civili/ed world is bound 
 to pause ore it be too late, in an ecjually niereilcss course 
 of conduct towards the " Indians," which must sooner 
 or later bring upon us a day of retribution, the justice 
 of which wc shall not be able to deny. Hut even 
 dismissing from our minds the flagrant immorality of 
 such conduct, as well as its possible results, it certainly 
 appears iuuiccountal)le that we should have interested 
 ourselves so little in the philosophical consideration of 
 the condition of man in that uidettered, siniide state, in 
 which only a few centuries ago we found him on the two 
 continents of America. 
 
 If a flock of wild grey geese, with outstretched necks 
 following their leader in the foi'm of tlu; letter >, and 
 flying high over our heads at the rate of a thousand 
 miles a day, be compared with the string of birds of the 
 same species which at the same moment arc to be seen 
 in single file waddling across their " short commons " to 
 their parish puddle; — if a flight of widgeon, hundreds 
 of miles from land, and skimming like the shadow of a 
 small cloud over the glassy surface of the boundless 
 ocean, be compared with a brood of " lily-white dueks" 
 luxuriously dabbling in a horse- pond j — if the wild boars, 
 which with their progeny arc roaming through the fo- 
 rests of Europe and Asia in quest of food, be compared 
 to our stve-fcd domestic animals, which, w ith every want 
 supplied, lie Avith twinkling eyes grunting in idle ecstasy 
 as the ruddy-faced, bacon-fed attendant scratches their 
 hides with the prongs of his pitchfork; — if a herd of 
 
 1' 
 
 m 
 
 % 
 
 > 
 
 ni 
 
 
 \A 
 
 
810 
 
 TllK RKD MAN. 
 
 ri 
 
 buffulo with extended tails, rctrcatiiifr across their plains 
 at their utmost speed from that malij^nant speck on the 
 horizon which proclaims to them the fearful (nitline of the 
 human form, he compared with a Devonshire cow ehew- 
 hig the cud before a barn-door, while keepinj; time with 
 John's flail, honest Susan, leaning her blooming cheek 
 against lier favourite's side, with her bright tin milk-i)aii 
 at her feet, jjuUs, pidls, jjulls, so long as she can say, as 
 John Bunyan said of his book, " still as I puU'd it camej" 
 — if the foregoing, as well as many similar comparisinis 
 which might be l)ronght before tin* mind, were duly 
 considered, it would probably be declared that there docs 
 not exist in the moral world, and that there can scarcely 
 exist in the physical, a more striking contrast than that 
 which distinguishes the condition and character of birds 
 and animals in a wild aiul in an artificial condition. 
 
 Nevertheless there is a contrast in nature even stronger 
 than any wc have mentioned, — we mean that which ex- 
 ists between man in his civilized and imeivilizcd — or, 
 as wc term the latter, his "savage" — state; and yet, 
 great as the contrast is, and self-interesting as it mi- 
 doubtcdly ought to be, it is most strange how small a 
 proportion of our curiosity lias been attracted by it. 
 The scientific world has waged civil war in its geological 
 discussions on the Iluttonian and Werncrian theories. 
 In exploring the source of the Nile; — in seeking for the 
 course of the Niger; — in making voyages of discovery, 
 in order triumphantly " to plant the British flag on the 
 North Pole of the earth," man has not been wantin<; 
 in enterprise. In his endeavours to obtain the most 
 
 asl 
 
 cal 
 sul 
 wll 
 
 po| 
 fat 
 iiol 
 (h'( 
 
'M 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 811 
 
 ;ir plains 
 k on thi- 
 iiie of till' 
 ()\v cUl'w- 
 timc with 
 ,ufr check 
 milk-pail 
 an say, as 
 [it came;" 
 miparisons 
 were duly 
 thcvc does 
 jiu scarcely 
 it tliau tliat 
 tor of birds 
 Idition. 
 en stronger 
 tt wliich cx- 
 vilized — or, 
 o; and vet, 
 ig as it un- 
 vow small a 
 u'ted by it. 
 geological 
 un theories. 
 ;king for the 
 of discovery, 
 1 flag on the 
 )een wantinji 
 liu the most 
 
 acciiratc knowledge of every ocean, sea, or river; — of 
 every country ; — of every great range of mountains ; — of 
 every cataract, or even volcano ; — and of every extraor- 
 dinary feature of the globe ; — in the prosecution of these 
 and of similar inquiries lie has not been wanting in cu- 
 riosity or courage. Into the natural history of almost 
 every animal, and even of insects, he has microscopicully 
 inquired. To every plant and little Howcr he has [)re- 
 scribcd a name. lie has dissected the rays of light, 
 and has analyzed and weighed even the air he ])reathcs : 
 and yet, with vohmies of information on all these sub- 
 jects, it is astonishing to reHect how little correct phi- 
 losophical knowledge we possess of the real condition of 
 man in a state of nature. 
 
 The rich mine which contained this knowledge has 
 always been before us ; and yet, although its wealth was 
 almost lying on the surface, wc have been too indolent 
 to dig for it. In short, between the civilized and un- 
 civilized world a bai-ricr exists, which neither party is 
 verv desirous to cross; for the wild man is as much 
 oppressed by the warm houses, by the short tether, and 
 by the minute suftbeating regulations of civilized men, 
 as they suftcr from sleeping with him under the great 
 canopy of heaven, or from following him over the 
 sui'face of his trackless and townless territory ; besides 
 which, if we reflect for a moment how grotesque the 
 powdered hair, pig-tails, and whole costume of our 
 fathers aiul forefathers now appear to our eyes, and 
 how soon the dress we wear will, by our own chil- 
 dren, be alike condemned; we need not be surprised 
 
 i 
 
 ■ w 
 
 % 
 
 
 it 
 
312 
 
 THE RED MAX. 
 
 !'i 
 
 f (I 
 
 ¥ 
 
 at the fact, which all travellers have experienced, namely, 
 that on the first introduction to nnclvilized tribes, the 
 judgment is too apt to set down as ridiculous, garments, 
 habits, and customs, which on a longer acquaintance it 
 often cannot be denied arc not more contemptible than 
 many of our own ; in fact, in the great case of " Civiliza- 
 tion versus the Savage '' wc have proved to be but bad 
 judges in our own cause. 
 
 But even supposing that our travellers had been deter- 
 mined to suspend their opinions and to prosecute their 
 inquiries, in spite of hardships and unsa\ory food, yet 
 when the barrier has apparently been crossed, the evi- 
 dence which first presents itself bears false witness in 
 the case; — for just as the richest lodes are covered at 
 their surface with a glittering substance (termed by mi- 
 nd's "mundic") resembling metal, but which on being 
 smelted flies aAvay in poisonous fumes of arsenic, so is 
 that portion of the uncivilized world which borders upon 
 civilization always found to be contaminated, or, in other 
 words, to have lost its own good qualities, without hav- 
 ing received in return anything but the vices of the 
 neighbouring race. 
 
 It is from the operation of these two causes, that so 
 many of our travellers in both continents of America, 
 mistaking the mundic for the metal, have overlooked the 
 real character of the Red Man, — lirst, from a disinclina- 
 tion to encounter the question ; and, secondly, having at- 
 tempted to encounter it, from having been at once, and 
 at the outset, disgusted with the task. In order, there- 
 fore, to take a fair view of the Indian, as we are pleased 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 313 
 
 ll 
 
 \, namely, 
 tribes, the 
 
 •'•avmcuts, 
 aiutance it 
 )til)le than 
 
 " Civiliza- 
 bc but bad 
 
 been dcter- 
 iccute tlieir 
 y food, yet 
 2d, the evi- 
 wituess ill 
 covered at 
 mcd by nii- 
 ^h on being 
 fsenic, so is 
 orders upon 
 , or, in other 
 ivithout hav- 
 viecs of the 
 
 uses, that so 
 of America, 
 crlookcd the 
 a disinclina- 
 
 ly, having at- 
 at once, and 
 order, therc- 
 
 ic are pleased 
 
 to term him, it is evidently necessary that wo should 
 overleap the barrier we have described, and thus visit 
 him cither in the vast intcrininaldc plains, — in the lofty 
 and almost inaccessilile mountains, — or in the lonclv in- 
 terior of the immense wilderness in which he resides. — 
 In each of thc^e three situations we have had a very 
 transient opportunity of viewing him, but on the more 
 ample experience of others we shall submit the following 
 sketches and observations. 
 
 It is a singular fact, that while in Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa, there exist races of men whose complexion and 
 countenances are almost as strongly contrasted with each 
 other as arc animals of different species, the aborigines 
 of both continents of America everywhere appear like 
 children of the same race : indeed the ocean itself under 
 all latitudes scarcely preserves a more equaldc coloiir 
 than does the Red JNIan of America in every situation in 
 Avhich he his found. 
 
 Wherever he has been unruffled by injustice, his re- 
 ception of his AVhitc brother is an affecting example of 
 that genuine hospitality which is only to be met with 
 in what we term sacai/e tribes. However inferior the 
 stranger may be to him in stature or in physical strength, 
 he at once treats him as a superior being. He is proud 
 to serve him : it is his highest pleasure to conduct him, — 
 to protect him, — and to afford him, without expecting 
 the slightest recompense, all that his country can offer — 
 all that his humble wi";wam may contain. If his ob- 
 jeet in visiting the Indian country be unsuspected, the 
 stranger's life and property arc perfectly secure : under 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
 
 4 ■': 
 
 ,.J* 
 
 *;!'( 
 
 Hi 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
314 
 
 THE HEl) MAN. 
 
 M 
 
 such circumstances, we holicvc tlierc lias scarcely ever 
 been an instance of a white man having been murdered 
 or robbed. Mr. Catlin, Avho has had, ]iei-haps, more ex- 
 perience of these simple people than any other white in- 
 habitant of the globe, unhesitatingly adds his testimony 
 to this general remark. From the particular objects of 
 his visit to the Indians, he had more baggage than any 
 individual would usually carry. At no time, however, 
 was his life in greater danger than theirs, and in no in- 
 stance Avas he pilfered of a single article; — indeed, it 
 was not until he reached the contaminated barrier (the 
 region of land occupied by half-castes) that it became ne- 
 cessary even to watch over his baggage; and, it was not 
 until he returned to people of his own colour, that he 
 found it almost impossible to protect the various items 
 of his property. 
 
 The Indians talk but little ; and though their know- 
 ledge is of course limited, yet they have at least the 
 wisdom never to speak when they have nothing to say ; 
 and it is a remarkable fact, which has repeatedly been 
 observed, that they neither curse nor swear. 
 
 "When an Indiau arrives with a message of tlie greatest 
 importance to his tribe, — even Avith intelligence of the 
 most imminent danger, — he never tells it at his Hrst ap- 
 proach, but sits down for a minute or two in silence, to 
 recollect himselt before he speaks, that he may not evince 
 fear or excitement ; for though these peojile admit that 
 when individual talks to individual any license may be 
 permitted, they consider that in all dealings between na- 
 tion and nation the utmost dignity should be preserved. 
 
THE IIKD MAN. 
 
 315 
 
 \i 
 
 iAy ever 
 uirdcrcd 
 norc ex- 
 vliite in- 
 stimoiiy 
 bjccts of 
 than any 
 however, 
 in no in- 
 luleed, it 
 •rier (the 
 eanic ne- 
 ; was not 
 , that he 
 ms items 
 
 3ir know- 
 least the 
 ^ to say ; 
 xllv been 
 
 e {greatest 
 ce of the 
 s first ap- 
 iilencc, to 
 lot evince 
 Iniit that 
 ie may be 
 tween na- 
 [jreserved . 
 
 The public speakers are accordingly selected from the 
 most eloquent of their tribes; and it is iniijossiijk^ for 
 any one who has not repeatedly listened to them, to 
 describe the effects of the graceful attitude, the calm 
 argument, and the manly sense with which they express 
 themselves. Indeed, it seems perfectly unaccountable 
 how men — who have never road a line, who have never 
 seen a town, who have never heard of a school, and mIio 
 have passed their whole existence either among rugged 
 mountains, on boundless plains, or closely environed by 
 trees, — can manage, all of a sudden, to e\[)ress them- 
 selves without hesitation, in beautiful language, and 
 afterwards as calmly ami as patiently listen to the reply. 
 It has often been said ex cathcdrd that the Indians 
 ai'e inferior to ourselves iu tlieir powers of body and mind. 
 With respect to their physical strength, it should on the 
 outset be remembered that men, like animals, are strong 
 in proportion to the sustenance they receive. In many 
 parts of America, where the country, according to the 
 season of the year, is either verdant or parched, it is well 
 known that not only the horses and cattle are infinitelv 
 stronger at the former season than at the latter, but that 
 the human inhabitants who feed on them are synij)atheti- 
 cally fat and powerful at the one period, and lean and 
 weak at the other. Even in our own country, a horse or 
 a man iu condition'^ can efi'cct infinitely more than when 
 
 * The Indiana train tluMnsclvos for wai- by extra food, and by swentinj^ 
 thoniselves in a vajiour-bath, wliich l!u\v infji-niously form by covuriug 
 thonirti'lvos over with a skin, uniler wiiich tiny have plaeod hot stones, 
 kept wot by a small stream of water. 
 
 p2 
 
 >1 
 
 n 
 
 ( 
 
 !i/i 
 
 
 \ 
 
 M:» 
 
 If 
 
 ); 
 
 i;' 
 
]\'! 
 
 i' 
 
 316 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 M 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 ^ 
 
 tlicy arc taken either from a meadow or a gaol ; aiul ae- 
 cordingly a sturdy Avell-fed En«>lislimau may, Avith triith, 
 declare that he lias been able to surpass in bodily strength 
 his Red brother; bnt let him subsist for a couple of months 
 on the same food, or on only twice or thrice the same 
 quantity of food, and he will soon cease to despise the 
 physical powers of his companion. The weights which 
 Indian carriers can convey, the surprising distances 
 which their runners can perform, the number of hours 
 they can remain on horseback, and the length of time 
 they can subsist without food, are facts which unanswer- 
 ably disprove the alleged inferiority of their strength. - 
 In one of the most remote and mountainous districts 
 of their country, when it was eomi)letely enveloped in 
 snow, we hai)peiied, at the bottom of a deep mine, to see 
 a naked Indian in an adit, or gallery, in which he could 
 only kneel. We had been attracted towards him by the 
 loud and constant reverberation of the heavy blows ho 
 was striking ; and so great was the noise he was making 
 that we crawled towards him unobserved, and for a 
 minute or two knelt close behind him. Not the slightest 
 perspiration appeared on his deep-red body; but v,ith 
 the gad or chisel in his left hand, he nnremittingly con- 
 tinned at his work, until avc suddenly arrested his lean 
 sinc>vy right arm; and as soon as lie had recovered from 
 his astonishuient, we induced him to surrender to us 
 the hammer he was using, which is now in our pos- 
 session. Its weight is no less than eighteen pounds, — 
 exactly twice as much as a blacksmith's double-handed 
 hammer ; and we can confidently assert that no miner 
 
 i>j>^ 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 3i: 
 
 or labourer in this country coiild possibly uicld it for 
 five minutes; and that, among all the sturdy philoso- 
 phers who congregate at Lord Northamptc ' soiree or 
 ]\Ir, Babbage's converiia::ione, hardly one except Professor 
 Whev ell could use it for a tenth of that time. 
 
 Mr. Catliu states that, in another very distant part of 
 America, a short, thick-set warrior, known by the appel- 
 lation of " the Brave," amicably agreed, before a large 
 party of spectators, to wrestle with some of the most 
 powerful troopers in a regiment of United States' Dra- 
 goons; and that the Indian, grappling with one after 
 another, dashed them successively to the ground, with a 
 violence winch they did luit at all appear to enjoy, 
 although w ith al)out as much case, seemingly, to himself 
 as they had been so many maids-of-honour. 
 
 AVith respect to the moral power of the lied aborigines, 
 in addition to the few short spi^cimens of their speeches 
 and replies, which we mean by-aud-by to notice, we 
 raust observe, that the tortures which these beardless 
 men can smilingly and cxultingly endure, must surely 
 be admitted as proofs of a connnanding fibre of mind, 
 of a self-possession, — in short, of a moral prowess wh.icli 
 few of us could evince, and which we ought to blush to 
 deny to them as their due. In justice therefore to them,^^, 
 we deem it a nainful duty tv. .piote a single authenticated \ 
 instance of the triumph of their mind over the anguish y 
 of their body. AVc hope that " the better-half" of our 
 readers will pass it over unread, as revolting to the soft 
 feelings of their nature ; but the cpiestion is too impor- 
 tant for us to shrink from the production of real evi- 
 
 
 U 
 
 'ti 
 
 iV 
 
 
 i 
 
 
318 
 
 THE KED MAN. 
 
 !i|! 
 
 donee; and, having- undertaken fairly to portray tlie 
 chavncter of tlic Red jNIan, we feel we shonld not be 
 justified in suddenly abandoning our task, from the ap- 
 ])riliension lest any man should call it " unmannerly to 
 bring a slovenly unhandsome corse betwixt the wind and 
 his nobility/' 
 
 The lion. Cadwalludcr Golden, who, in 1750, was one 
 of Ilis Majesty's Counsel, and Surveyor-General of New 
 York, in his ' History of the Five Iiuliau Nations of 
 Canada,'^' says, — 
 
 " The Froncli, all this suninier, wore obliged to keep xipou 
 the defensive within their forts, while the Five Nations, in 
 small i)arties, ravaged the whole country, so that no man 
 stirred the least distance from a fort but he was in danger of 
 losing his scalj). 
 
 " The Count de Frontenac was pierced to the heart when he 
 found he could not revenge these terrible incursions ; and his 
 anguish made him guilty of such a piece of monstrous cruelty, 
 in burning a prisoner alive after the Indian manner, as, though 
 I have fi'e(piently mentioned to have been done by the Indians, 
 yet I forbore giving the particulars of such barbarous acts, 
 suspecting it might be too ottensive to Christian ears, even in 
 the history of savages. . . . 
 
 " The Count de Frontenac, I say, condemned two prisoners 
 of the Five Nat'wns to be burnt, publicly, alive. The Inten- 
 dant's lady entreated him to moderate the sentcT.ce ; and the 
 Jesuits, it is said, used their endeavours for tliC same purpose ; 
 but the Count de Frontenac said, ' There is necessity of making 
 such an example, to frighten the Five Nations from approach- 
 ing the i»lantations.' But, with submission to the politeness 
 of the French Nation, may I not ask whether every (or any) 
 
 * We quote from the London edition, 8vo, p. 487 (1750). 
 
TIIIJ RED MAN. 
 
 319 
 
 iiornd action of a barbarous enemy can justify a civilized 
 nation in doinij; the like? When the CiDvernor could not be 
 moved, the Jesuits vent to the prison to instruct the prisoners 
 in the mysteries of our holy religion, viz. of the Trinity, the 
 Incarnation of our Saviour, the joys of Paradise, and the pu- 
 nishments of Hell, — to fit their souls for Heaven by baptism 
 while their bodies were condemned to torments, IJut the 
 Indians, after they had heard their sentence, refused to hear 
 the Jesuits speak ; and Ijcgan to pre])are for death in their 
 own country manner, — by singing their death-song. Some 
 charitable person threw a knife into the ])rison, with which 
 one of them (lesi)atched himself. The other was carried out 
 to tlie place of execution by the Christian Indians of Loretto, 
 to which he walked, secnn'iigly, with as nmcli inditference as 
 ever martyr did to the stake. While they were torturing ... i, 
 he continued singing, that he was a warrior brave, and with- 
 out fear ; that the most cruel death could not shake his cou- 
 rage ; that the most cruel torments should not draw an in- 
 decent expression from him ; that his comrade was a coward, 
 a scandal to the Fire Xaflon,'^, who had killed himself for fear 
 of pain ; that he had the comfort to refiect that he had made 
 many Frenchmen sufi'er as he di«l now. He fully verified his 
 words ; for the most violent torments eotdd not force the 
 least complaint from him, though his executioners tried their 
 utmost skill to do it. T'ley first broiled his feet between two 
 red-hot stones ; tl'':.i they put his fingers into red-hot pipes, 
 and though he had his arms at liberty, he v.ould not pull his 
 fingers o\it ; they cut his joints, and, taking hold of the 
 sinews, twiste<l tnem round small bars of iron. All this while, 
 he kept singing and recounting his own brave actions against 
 the Frem'h. At last they Hayed his scalp from his skull, and 
 poured scalding-hot sand upon it, at which time the Inten- 
 dant's lady obtaiuod leave of the Governor to have the coup 
 de gnU'e given ; and I believe she thereby likewise obtained 
 
 11 
 
320 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 t ■'.'.[ 
 
 m 
 
 M.) 
 
 u favour to every reader, in (leliveriiifj; liim from u further con- 
 tinuance of this account of French cruelty." 
 
 We luivc selected this terrific story out of nuiuy, be- 
 cause it ofters a double moral j for it not only evinces the 
 indomitable power of an Indian mind, but it at once turns 
 tbe accusation raised against the cruelty of his nature, 
 upon a citizen of one of the politest and bravest nations 
 of the civilized fjlobe; and M'ith this fact before him, well 
 might the Red ^Man say, " Stio siOi glad'w hunc jtiyulo !" 
 
 With a view, however, to show that an Indian heart 
 is not alivays unsusce[)til)le of the horror we must all 
 feel at the torture they are in the habit of inflicting -ipou 
 their prisoners of war, Ave have pleasure in oH'ering, es- 
 pecially to the fairer sex, the following anecdote related 
 by Captain Bell and ^lajor Long, of the United States' 
 Army, and cerfified by ^lajor O'Fallan the American 
 agent, as also by his interpreter who witnessed it. 
 
 A few years ago a young Pawnee warrior, sou of ' Old 
 Knife,' knowing that his tribe, according to their custom, 
 were going to torture a Paduca woman, whom they had 
 taken in war, resolutely determined, at all hazards, to 
 rescue her, if possible, from so cruel a fate. The poor 
 creature, far from her family and tribe, and surrounded 
 only by the eager attitudes and anxious faces of her 
 enemies, had been actually fastened to*tlie stake; her 
 funeral pile was aljout to be kindled, and every eye was 
 mercilessly directed upon her, when the young chieftain, 
 mounted on one horse, and, according to the habit of 
 his country, leading another, was seen approaching the 
 ceremony at full gallop. To the astonishment of every 
 
 
 ■ ^•^^-...t^iy^ 
 
TUB RED MAN. 
 
 321 
 
 iitlior cou- 
 
 nany, bc- 
 riuces the 
 •nee turns 
 is nature, 
 st nations 
 liini, AvcU 
 jiufulu !" 
 iian heart 
 must all 
 ting \\])on 
 ering, es- 
 e related 
 d States' 
 Vnierieau 
 it. 
 
 iiof 0/</ 
 r custom, 
 they had 
 Lzards, to 
 The poor 
 rrounded 
 !8 of her 
 ike; her 
 ' eye was 
 .•hieftain, 
 liabit of 
 hing the 
 of every 
 
 one, he rode straiglit up to the pile, extricated the 
 victim from tlie stake, threw lier on the loose horse, and 
 then, vaulting on the liaek of the other, he carried her 
 oft' in triumph ! 
 
 " Slio is won ! \vc are gone — over bank, bush, and seaur ; 
 
 * They'll have fleet stit'ds that follow,' ([uoth young Loehinvar." 
 
 The deed, liowcver, was so sudden and unexpected — 
 and, being also mysterious, it Avas at the moment so 
 generally considered as nothing less than the act of the 
 Great Spirit, that no efforts were made to resist it ; and 
 the captive, after three days' travelling, was thus safely 
 transported to her nation and to her friends. On the 
 return of her liberator to his own people, no censure was 
 passed upon his extraordinary conduct — it was allowed 
 to pass unnoticed. 
 
 On the publication of this glorious love-story at 
 Washington, the boarding-school girls of Miss White's 
 seminary were so sensibly touched by it, tliat they very 
 prettily subscribed among each other to purchase a silver 
 medal, beai'ing a suitable inscription, which they pre- 
 sertted to the young Red-skin, as a token of the admira- 
 tion of White-skins at the chivalrous act he had per- 
 formed, in having rescued one of their sex from so un- 
 natural a fate. Their address closed as follows : — 
 
 " Brother ! accept this token of our esteem ; always wear 
 if; for our sakes ; and when again you have the power to save 
 a poor woman from death, think of this, and of us, and fly to 
 her relief." 
 
 The young Pawnee, although unconscious of his 
 merit, was not ungrateful • — 
 
 V 3 
 
 i 
 
 U 
 
 • 1 
 
 1 
 
 i! i 
 
 
 I 
 
322 
 
 TiiK ui:d man. 
 
 " ' Brntlior^i and sisters !' ho oxolalmcfl, e 'eudiiiit tnwaid.-i 
 tliem tlu! iihmIuI \vlii«!li for some nidiiu'iits had Ihtu han;>in;,' oh 
 his red tiake<l breast, ' this will <>nvc in** case more than I ever 
 had, and I will listen more than I ever did to White Men. 
 
 " ' I am {;lad that my hrotliors and sisters have heard oi" the 
 pood aet T have done. My brothers and sisters think that I 
 did it in ii^noranee ; Imt I now know what I have <h)ne. 
 
 '* ' [ did it in ij^'noranee, and did not know that I did good ; 
 but by giving me this medal I know it !'" 
 
 Like the great Atlantic Ocean, the tranquillity and se- 
 renity that characterize an Indian in time of peace are 
 strangely contrasted with the furious passions which con- 
 vulse him in war. Tiie moral thermometer which, in the 
 English character, is generally somewhere ahout '' tem- 
 perate," is with the Indians either many degrees below 
 zero or high above the point at which it is declared that 
 " s/nnts boil." The range of the Red Man's emotions is 
 infinitely greater than that of his AVhite l)rother ; and to 
 all who have witnessed only the calmness, the patience, the 
 endurance, and the silence of the Indians, it seems almost 
 incredible that the most furious passions should be lying 
 dormant in a heart that seems filled with benevolence; and 
 that iinder the sweet countenance, which blossoms like 
 the rose, there should be reposing in a coil a vcnv mous 
 serpent which is only waiting to si)ring upon its enemy ! 
 
 Although, therefore, it might perhaps be said, that if 
 the two extremes of the Indian character were allowed 
 to compensate each other, they would not be far distant 
 from the mean of our own, yet vices and virtues ought 
 not to be thus considered. In designating the human 
 character, there should be no compromise of principle. 
 
THE RED MAX. 
 
 323 
 
 nsr 
 
 no hlciuliiif? of colours; and nccordiiif^fly wc confess, 
 without hesitation, that nothinj; eau he more liarharous 
 than the nuuuier in which the Indians oeeasionally treat 
 their prisoners of war : yet in this also they have tMO 
 most remarkahU' extremes of concUict ; for on presenting 
 their eajjtives to those who have h)st rehitions in l)attlc, 
 if they are aoeepti-d, they immediately beeonu; free, and 
 enjoy all the privilej^es of the persona in lieu of whom 
 they have been received. In fact they are adopted, and 
 in one moment suddenly find themssclves surrounded by 
 people Avho address them, and who act towards them, as 
 brothers, sisters, parents, and even as wives ! On the 
 other hand, if they arc rejected by the families of the 
 slain, then their doom is fixed, their torture is prepared ; 
 and when the fatal monumt arrives, there ajjain appear 
 before the observer of the Indian character two extremes, 
 in both of which they infinitely surpass us. For the 
 noblest resif^iation, the purest courage, the most power- 
 ful self-possession are contrasted in the same Ked race 
 with the basest vengeance, the most barbarous cruelty, 
 and the most unrelenting malice that it is possible even 
 for poetry to conceive. 
 
 "About the time," says Cadwallador Coldon, "of the con- 
 clusion of the Pence at lU'swick, the noted Thonoret died at 
 Montreal. The French gave him a C'hiistian burial in a 
 pompous manner, in conse<iuence of tlie priest that attended 
 him at his death having declared that he died a true Christian. 
 ' For,' said the priest, * while I explained to him the passion 
 of our Saviour, whom the Jews erueiticd, he cried out. Oh, 
 had I been t/tcre I would luive revenged his death, and brought 
 away t/ieir scalps ! ' " 
 
 \ 
 
32t 
 
 TIIK UKD MAN. 
 
 Wc have IK) (li'sirr to attempt to wash out tUc. 
 "damned spot" wliicli wc have just described. Its 
 stain upon the Indian character is indelible : at the same 
 time we must oiler a lew observations on the subject. 
 
 The feelings which actuate the great armies of Eu- 
 rope are altogether did'ercnt from those under which t\\H) 
 tribes of Indians meet each other in hattle. In the 
 former ease the soldiers but imperfectly understand the 
 political question in dispute, and therefore they come 
 into action very much in the same state of mind in whi(!h 
 an individual woidd take his grouiul to fight a duel for 
 his friend with a ])ers()n he had never before seen, in de- 
 fence of some unknown lady, w ho had received some sort 
 of insult which he eoidd not clearly comprehend. Ac- 
 cordingly, the word of command rcgidatcs their attack ; 
 and at the sound of the bugle or the trumpet they advance 
 or retreat, as the judgment of a distant individual may 
 deem it proper to ordain. 
 
 Nevertheless, though they be in cool possession of 
 their senses, let any man, — after having witnessed the 
 misery and anguish of a field of bjittlc, alter having 
 mourned over this dreadful sacrifice of human lite, and 
 after having, perhaps a few days later, found on the 
 plain, still writhing, hundreds of wounded men, robbed 
 of their clothes by sutlers, and even by wonnn, who, 
 like a flock of vultui'cs, follow every civilized army to 
 prey upon the fallen, — declare whether, on rcHecting upon 
 such a scene, he has not devoutly wished that it could 
 wholly be attributed to the angry passions of man, rather 
 than to the deliberate judgment of the statesmen of the 
 
Tin: 11K1> .MAN. 
 
 325 
 
 e, and 
 i>n the 
 i-obbed 
 
 who, 
 luy to 
 gupou 
 
 couhl 
 rather 
 of the 
 
 nations that had been enjia^cd. Hnt althoujih to fi^ht 
 in i^noranee of the (jncstion in dispnte is not the habit 
 of the Indians, yet, on the other iiand, if a foreign tribe, 
 with faees painted for war, invade tlieir territory to de- 
 prive them of tlie {^anie on which they snbsist ; — if in 
 time of peace they trcaeheronsly ninrder any of their 
 families, — carry olf their women, — ollcnd their rnde 
 notions of hononr by an insidt ; — in short, wlien enmity 
 against an indivitbial or against a tribe, under such pro- 
 vocation, is once imbibed, it Hows in their veins, — at (!very 
 pulsation it reaches theii* heart, and continues to infect 
 it, until revenge has washed away the injm-y that has 
 been received! \\ ith their passions violently sell-exeited 
 by every artifice in their power, they accordingly prepare 
 for death or vengeance, and, under these circumstances, 
 the sole object they have in view is to take the lite of 
 their enemy, or, if he surrenders, to demonstrate the in- 
 feriority of his tribe by subjecting him to a torture which 
 they themselves, be it always remembered, are fully pre- 
 pared to endure with songs of trimnph, should the fortune 
 of war sentence them to the test. 
 
 However revolting such barbarous cruelty must be to 
 evci'y mind, yet surely no one can deny that the differ- 
 ence between the two pictures we have described is 
 nothing l)ut the necessary eonsecpicnce of two opposite 
 systems. The eold-bloodeil system of the civilized world 
 is undoubtedly the best : on the other hand, so long as 
 our laws mercifully refrain I'roin punishing with death 
 the man who has destroyed his fellow-creature in a pa- 
 roxysm of passion, we may justly claim for the Indian 
 
 V 
 
32G 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 that tlio same consideration may be extended to his 
 guilt. And, moreover, if Wliite men, fighting in cold 
 blood, be declared by ns to have " covered themselves 
 with glory" by the scenes usually witnessed in European 
 warfare, may not the savage tribes of America humbly 
 sue, at least to Heaven, for comparative pardon for the 
 excesses they have committed in a Jit of anycr? 
 
 With respect to their scalping system (which is not 
 per})etrate(l by the Indians as a punishment, but on the 
 prinei[)le on which our hunters proudly carry home with 
 them, as a trophy, " the brush'' of the fox they have run 
 to death), it is of course horrible in the extreme : at the 
 same time it may be said, that if war can authorize ?/.v to 
 blow out the brains of our enemies, — run them through 
 the body with our bayonets, — hash them with our 
 swords, — riddle them with round-shot, grape, and canis- 
 ter, — and if, while the wounded are lying on the ground, 
 it is our habit, from necessity, to ride over them with our 
 cavalry, and with our artillery and ball-cartridge carts to 
 canter over them as if they were straw ; — if we can burn 
 them with rockets, scald them with steam, and by the 
 explosion of well-constructed mines blow them by hun- 
 dreds into the air, — surely we are not altogether autho- 
 rized in so gravely de(!laring that, the civilized Avorld 
 having determined the precise point to which war ought 
 to be carried, it is therefore undeniable that all who 
 copy our fashions are " valicntes,'' and that whoever ex- 
 ceed it are " savages" and " brutes \" No doubt Achilles 
 thought himself at the very height of the fashion Avhen 
 he dragged the body of Hector round the walls of Troy. 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 327 
 
 I to his 
 in cold 
 
 emselvcs 
 
 'jVii'oi)cau 
 
 humbly 
 
 L for tlit> 
 
 cU is not 
 ut on the 
 lomc -with 
 have run 
 ic : at tlio 
 orizo lis to 
 
 II through 
 ■with our 
 
 aud cauis- 
 ic ground, 
 n with our 
 e carts to 
 can burn 
 (1 by the 
 lu by liun- 
 icr autho- 
 izcd world 
 war ought 
 it all who 
 locvcr ex- 
 )t Achilles 
 ihion when 
 Is of Troy. 
 
 Tlie Phoenicians no doubt thought it exquisitely fashion- 
 able to burn their children in sacrifice. Mauv of us 
 can remember when the guillotine was in fashion ; and, 
 lastly, the alterations which have taken place in our own 
 criminal laws show, that though the scales of Justice re- 
 main unaltered, the goddess's sword has, within the last 
 few years, been deliberately shortened by us to at least a 
 tenth of its ancient length. 
 
 In the few schools in which they have been educated 
 by us, the Red childreii liavc evinced not only many esti- 
 mul)le virtues, but considerable ability. 
 
 " ' All the children of Indian schools,' says Dr. Morse, in his 
 Re[)ort to the Sooretary-at-War, * make much greater progress 
 than is conunon in our schools, and the ]\1 issionaries declare 
 that the children arc more modest and affectionate, and are 
 more easily managed.'" 
 
 To the above statement wc arc enabled to add our 
 own testimony ; for in several seminaries which we have 
 chanced to inspect, we have seen the Indian boys not 
 only perform sums in Practice and in Vulgar Fractions 
 with a surprising (piickncss ; but, on our expressing our 
 astonishment, we have been assured by one of their mas- 
 ters, who for many years had conducted a respectable 
 school in England, that he was delil)erately of opinion 
 that the Red children learnt quicker than those of the 
 same age at home. 
 
 The honesty of the Indian is sufficiently demonstrated 
 by the \miversal custom of our fur -traders to sell to him 
 almost all their goods upon credit. Beads, trinkets, and 
 paint, gunpowder, whisky, and many other perishable 
 
 iil 
 
 ' i 
 
328 
 
 THE REI> MAN. 
 
 f 
 
 articles, arc readily made over to him, under the mere 
 promise that when the hunting -season is ended he will 
 pay the number of skins that has been settled as their 
 price. The Indian then darts away into his recesses, 
 as the dolphin dives through the ocean from a vessel's 
 side, and, before a month or two have elapsed, he is 
 lost in space, beyond the control of anything but his 
 own honour ; nevertheless, as the " busy bee " faithfully 
 returns to its hive, and as the eagle affectionately re- 
 visits its young, so does the Red debtor reappear before 
 his creditor, silently to liquidate the debt of honour he 
 had incurred. 
 
 The religion of the Red man in both .j.M-.ents of 
 America consists universally of a belief in a urcat and 
 Good Spirit, and in a " Manito," or Evil Genius. They 
 address themselves to both ; and accordingly the young 
 modest Indian girl, with her arms folded across her 
 bosom, as fervently entreats the Fiend " to lead her not 
 into temptation," as her parents, under every attliction, 
 pray to the Great Spirit " to deliver them from evil." 
 
 The various nations have different notions of the 
 origin of their race : it is nevertheless an extraordinary 
 fact, vouched for by ^Nlr. Catlin, that of all the tribes he 
 visited there was no one which did not by some means 
 or other connect their origin with " a big canoe," which 
 was supposed to have rested on the summit of some hill 
 or mountain in their neighbourhood. The Mandau 
 Indians carry this vague Mount Ararat impression to 
 a very remarkable extent; for Mr. Catlin found esta- 
 blished among them an annual ceremony held round " a 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 329 
 
 he mere 
 1 lie will 
 as their 
 recesses, 
 1 vessel's 
 3d, he is 
 ; but his 
 faithfully 
 Lately re- 
 :ar before 
 ouour he 
 
 i-.ents of 
 jrcut aud 
 IS. They 
 he young 
 cross her 
 d her not 
 alUiction, 
 n evil." 
 Lis of the 
 aordinary 
 ; tribes he 
 [lie means 
 )e," whieh 
 some hill 
 Maudau 
 iressioii to 
 )und esta- 
 rouiid " a 
 
 great canoe," entitled in their language " the settling of 
 the waters," which Mas held always on the day in which 
 the willow trees of their country came into blossom. On 
 asking why that tree out of all others was selected, Mr. 
 Catlin was informed that it was because it was from it 
 that the bird Hew to them with a branch iii its mouth : 
 and when it was inquired what bird it was, the Indians 
 j)ointed to the dove, ahich, it appears, was held so sacred 
 among them, that neitlier man, woman, nor child would 
 injure it; indeed, the Mandans declared that even their 
 dogs instinctively respected that bird. 
 
 In a few of the tribes there exists a tradition that 
 they are tlie descendants of people born aero.- ■ " the 
 Great Salt Lake," but most believe that their race was 
 originally created on their own continent. Some con- 
 ceive that the Great Spirit made them out of the cele- 
 })rated lied Stone, from which, out of a single quarry, 
 from time iunnemorial, tlu>y have made their pipes. 
 Others say they Mere all created from the dust of the 
 eai'th ; but those mIio have become acquainted M'ith 
 white people modestly add, "the Great Spirit must have 
 made you out of the Jhie dust, for you knoM' more than 
 we." 
 
 In the year 1821, "Big Elk," chief of the O-lMahars, 
 aud some other Sachems, m ho had come to Washington, 
 were examined by Dr. Morse, to whos. queries they 
 gave the following replies : — 
 
 "Q. Who made the Ixed aud the White people ?— .4. The 
 same Being who made the White people made the lied people, 
 but the White people are better thau the lied. 
 
 4 
 
 ; H 
 
 v.,» «.,— - 
 
I 
 
 330 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 " Q. From wlionco did your futliors oonio 1— A. We have ii 
 tradition aiiiouji; us tliat our ancestors eanie to this country 
 across tlie Cheat Writer ; that ('i(//it i)i''ii were «)rii:;inally nuule 
 by the Cireat Spirit ; and that luaidrind of uU colours and 
 nations sprang; tVou) tlie.'.e. 
 
 " C/ Do you I)elievc that the (Jret; ' Sjiirit is present, and 
 that he sees and knows what y(m di. ' — A. Yes; wlun we 
 jtray ard denUenite in council, it is not tor. that deliberate, 
 but the CJreat Spirit." 
 
 The following is from the l^eport of an interview that 
 took place in 1821, between IMajor Cnmmiiigs, of the 
 TI. S. Army, and a nation of Indians formed by the 
 Tuiion of the three tribes, Pottawattemies, Chippewas, 
 and Ottawas : — 
 
 " Q. What ceremonies have you at the burial of yo.ir dead? 
 — A. These vary. We bury by puttiiii^ the Itody under ground 
 in a case, or wrapped in skins ; sometimes by placing it in 
 trees, or standing it civet and enclosing it with a paling. This 
 difference arises generally from the retpicst of the ri.an before 
 he died, or from the dream of a relative. We place with the 
 (lead some part of their property, believing that as it was 
 useful to them duriiig their life, it may prove so to them when 
 they are gone. 
 
 " (J. Do you believe that the soul lives after tlic body is 
 dead / — J. We do, Init that it does not leave this v orUl till 
 its relatives and friends feast, and do brave actions, to obtain 
 its safe su]i])ort. Q. Do you believe there is a jdace of hap- 
 piness and of misery? — A. We do ■ the happy are em])loyed 
 in feasting and dancing ; the miserable wander through the 
 air. Q. What entitles a person to the place of happiness, and 
 what condenms a person to the place of misery 1 — A. To be 
 etititled to the place of happiness, a man must be a good 
 hunter, and possess a generous heart. The miser, the envious 
 
THK RED MAN. 
 
 331 
 
 (c llllVO 11 
 
 s country 
 ally lumh' 
 lours aiul 
 
 oscnt, and 
 
 wluii WP 
 
 ilolibcrato, 
 
 view tliiit 
 ;s, of the 
 I by tho 
 liippcwas, 
 
 •():ir (load? 
 
 lor ground 
 
 cin<i; it in 
 
 nff. This 
 
 an bofore 
 
 with the 
 
 as it was 
 
 loni wlion 
 
 c body is 
 
 orld till 
 
 to obtain 
 
 CO of hap- 
 
 eTni)loyed 
 
 n)ugh the 
 
 (inoss, and 
 
 A. To be 
 
 •0 a good 
 
 le envious 
 
 nmn, the Har, and the cheat arc condcninod to the place of 
 inisory." 
 
 In rocky regions, wlioro it would bo impossiblo to dig 
 a grave, tlie Indians are in tlio habit of laying out tbcir 
 (lead ou the Hat rock. The son i)la(;('s a bow and ar- 
 row, or even a rifle with [jowder and shot, by the oor})sc 
 of his father, who, with his miistn'n or mi'dicine-baij ou 
 his chest, is then eovcrcMl over with loose stones, merely 
 suflicient to keep off the wild beasts, AV(; have nioro 
 than once had occasion to s'.eep upon the ground, in the 
 open air, among these simple septdehres, which are so 
 religiously resi)eeted by the Indians, that scarcely any- 
 thing woidd induce them to violate their sanctity. A 
 luuiter starving from having exhausted his powder or 
 shot, will occasionally, sooner than die, borrow ammuni- 
 tion from the dead. 
 
 " ITi' lliouf^lil, us lio tool* it, tlic (k'lid mnn frowned; 
 Uut tlio p;l:in' of the sepulchral light 
 IVrchaucH' liml (lii/,>,li'(l tlu' warrior's sight." 
 
 But though no human being has witnessed the act, 
 the U(hI man's eoubeienee tells him it was seen by the 
 Great o^.irit. Ilis mind, therefore, is never at rest until, 
 bending in solitude over the mouldering skeleton he has 
 otu^e again mieovered, he honourably repays to it, per- 
 hajjs by moonlight, the debt he has incurred. 
 
 About a year or two ago, an English female tourist, 
 whose name — though it does not deserve our protection 
 — we are m)t disposed to mention, happening to pass 
 some of these graves, uncovered one, and in the presence 
 of two or three Indiuns, very coolly carried off the sleep- 
 
 I 
 
332 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 ing tenant's skull, as if it had been a specimen of quartz 
 or granite. The lied witnesses during the act looked at 
 each other in solemn silence, hut on imparting the ex- 
 traordinary scene they had witnessed to their chief, 
 councils were held, — the greates*^ possible excitement 
 was ci'catcd, — and to this day, these simple people (or 
 •■'savages," as we term them) speak with horror and re- 
 pugnance of Avhat they consider an luicallcd-for and an 
 unaccountable violation of ^hc respect which they think 
 is religiously due to the dead. For our parts, we have 
 often felt that we would not be haunted by the possession 
 of that skull, for all the blue-stockings that ever were 
 knit, or for all the acclamations that phrenologists can 
 bestow. 
 
 People who commit acts of this nature, little think of 
 tlie serious consequences they may entail upon travellers 
 who have the misfortune to follow them. The headless 
 skeleton we have mentioned may yet be revenged, and 
 certainly, if in the neighbourhood of his violated grave 
 the body of a Wliite man should be found, 
 
 " Cold, and drenched with blood. 
 His bosom gored with mnny a wound. 
 Unknown the manner of his death, 
 Gone liis brand, both fword and sheatli," 
 
 it might reasonably be noted down, that he had, most 
 ])robably, been made to pay the penalty of the deed of 
 a thoughtless Englishwoman. 
 
 An Indian mourns for the loss of near relations from 
 six to twelve months, by neglecting his personal appear- 
 ance, and by blackening his face. 
 
THE RKD MAN. 
 
 333 
 
 L of quartz 
 looked at 
 ig the cx- 
 icir chief, 
 jxeiteiuent 
 people (or 
 or and rc- 
 br and aii 
 tluy think 
 s, we have 
 possession 
 ever were 
 iogists can 
 
 ;lc think of 
 \ travellers 
 le lu'adlcss 
 cnged, and 
 ated grave 
 
 had, most 
 he deed of 
 
 tions from 
 lal appear- 
 
 
 " A woman," says Dr. Morse, " will mourn for the loss of 
 her liushand at least twelve months, during wliieh time slie 
 ajipears to he very soHtary and sad, never speaking to any 
 one, indess neeessary, and always wishing,' to he alone. At 
 the expiration of her mourning, she will paint and dress as 
 formerly, and endeavour to get another hushand." 
 
 Wc believe this process is not peculiar to Kcd-skins. 
 
 The "births" and "marriages/' which, according to 
 the fashionable regulations of the ' jNIorniiig Post/ ought 
 to have been noticed by us before the " deaths/' arc very 
 easily described. 
 
 The Red infant generally first opens his eyes, or 
 •••^ther, utters his first squall, in a very small, low hovelj 
 or den, made expressly for the occasion of his birth, 
 and, from feelings of delicacy and propri(>ty, purposely 
 removed some distance from the great wigwam of the 
 family. In a very fe hours after his arrival, his 
 mother walks with hini co her tril>e, where he gene- 
 rally finds plenty of brothers, sisters, and young cousins 
 ready to receive him. 
 
 On suddenly ajjproaching an Indian family in sum- 
 mer, they are generally found grouped together under 
 the shade of some great tree ; and the first observation 
 which strikes the white-faced stranger, is the whole- 
 sale superabundant stock of health which the children 
 possess. At a glance, it is evident that their consti- 
 tutions must be impervious to the elements ; and there 
 is a plumpness in their faces, a firmness in their flesh, 
 and a deep ruddy bloom on their cheeks, which it is 
 very j)leasing to behold. While these children, gam- 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 
 
 I t 
 
334 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 boiling nearly naked, are proelaiming pretty plainly by 
 their outlines what a quantity of soup and food they 
 have just been enjoying, the elder ones with their pa- 
 rents arc generally seen ruminating in silenee, in a 
 semicircle, in the centre of which arc to be observed, 
 also seated on the ground, the grandfathers, great- 
 grandfathers, aiul great-grandmothers of the tril)c. No- 
 thing can be more patrliirchal — more free from can; 
 or suftering of any kind — than the group we have de- 
 lineated, which might justly be termed " a picture of 
 health." 
 
 The »umiing of an Indian is a serious act, which is 
 always purposely involved as nnieh as possible in mys- 
 tery. His name is to be the leading letter in the 
 alphabet of his life, and, accordingly, as in the case of 
 the Shandy family, it frecjueutly happens that a con- 
 siderable time is suffered to elapse before it can be 
 agreed on. During this period of doubt, the child is 
 often made to fust, until something has been observed 
 or recollected in the elements which have assailed him, 
 — in the difficulties he has overcome, — in the circum- 
 stances which attended his birth, — or in his disposition, 
 to solve the problem, by suggesting an appropriate ap- 
 pellation, which is then solemnly bestowed. And yet, 
 proud as an Indian is of his own name, it is never- 
 theless most singular, that he can never be induced to 
 utter it ! We have often pressed them to do so, but 
 always in vain : in fact, they avert their minds from 
 the question with the same curious attitude in which 
 a dog turns his head away whenever a clean, eiupty 
 
)luinly by 
 food they 
 their pa- 
 ucc, in a 
 observed, 
 rs, grcat- 
 ribc. No- 
 froiw cure 
 ; have de- 
 picture of 
 
 ;, which is 
 le in mys- 
 ter in the 
 the case of 
 lat a con- 
 it can be 
 lie chihl is 
 n observed 
 sailed him, 
 lie circum- 
 dispositiou, 
 opriate ap- 
 Aud yet, 
 t is ncver- 
 iuduceti to 
 do so, but 
 tniuds from 
 e in which 
 can, empty 
 
 II 
 
 THE RED MAV. 
 
 335 
 
 wine-ghiss is presented at him. " Oh no, we never 
 mention him ! " is the modest reply of his countenance, 
 and the most an Indian will ever do, when hard pressed, 
 is to look full into the face of some Red brother at his 
 side, who, without the slightest reluctance, relieves liira 
 from his embarrassment, by smilingly pronouncing his 
 comrade's name; although, if his oivn were to be asked 
 of him, he woidd, in like manner, be suddenly con- 
 founded. 
 
 Among the Indians in both continents of America, 
 marriage is considered as a civil contract, rather than 
 as a religious ceremony. Polygamy is the excei)tiou 
 rather than the rule, and it is gcneially contincd to the 
 chiefs, and to men whose situations entail upon them 
 the necessity of entertaining a number of guests, and 
 who, therefore, absolutely recpiirc more female assistance 
 than he who has only his own family to pro\idc for. 
 
 One of the prime objects Avhich a young Indian 
 hunter has in marrying i. to obtain a person who will 
 work for him ; that is to say, who will cook his meals, 
 make his clothes, repair his wigwam, gum his canoe, 
 dress the skins he prociu'cs, etc. One of the great ob- 
 jects which an Indian girl, in marrying, has in view, is 
 to obtain a friend who will protect her in war as well 
 as in peace, and who will procure for her food and 
 covering. The connection, therefore, is one not only 
 of natural and mutual benefit and happiness, but almost 
 of necessity ; for, as there is no such thing known 
 among them ns a hired servant, the greatest varrior 
 can only get his dinner by marrying a woman to cook 
 
 I 
 
336 
 
 THE KED MAN. 
 
 it; and, on the otlicr liand, tho yonng Indian girl (ac- 
 cording to ^Irs. Glasse's r('ooi[)t of " first catch yonr 
 liare ") cannot become a proi'csscd cook nntil she has 
 managed to engage a hnshand to procure I'or her the 
 game. 
 
 Infinenccd by these two simple principles of attrac- 
 tion, tliey marry very early; the yonng men being 
 generally about eighteen years of age, tlic girls from 
 twelve to foiu'tcen. If an Indian's possessions incrciisc, 
 he docs not hesitate to add to tlicm another wife, and, 
 accordingly, men arc occasionally found whose amount 
 of property is testified by six or seven wi\ t's ; in which 
 case, we are very sorry indeed to say, tlu; ladies usually 
 rank in his aftectiou inversely as the dates of their com- 
 missions ! 
 
 That improvident marriages arc occasionally contracted 
 ■will ])e evident, from the following anecdote of a young 
 Indian of about eighteen, whose picture is to be seen in 
 Mr. Catlin's gallery. 
 
 The father of this lad having bequeathed to hiui nine 
 horses and a wigwam, he naturally enough determined 
 to marry ; and in the operation of reconnoitring for a 
 wife, he found so many who exactly suited him, that his 
 nuptials Avere appointed without delay. On tlu> tribe 
 being assembled to Avitne^.s the ceremony, an old Indian 
 stepped forward, and, delivering over to the man of for- 
 tune his young blooming daughter, received from him in 
 return a couple of horses. But before the ceremony 
 could be proceeded with, three other Indians, with three 
 other equally blooming daughters, successively presented 
 
 / 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 337 
 
 Indian f,nrl (jic- 
 
 rst ciitch your 
 
 niitil slio lias 
 
 ro lor licr the 
 
 pics of uttrao- 
 1^' men bcinsr 
 :lio f^irls from 
 'xions increase, 
 tlicr wif(>^ and, 
 vliosc amount 
 vcs ; in wliich 
 ladies usually 
 of their com- 
 
 dly contracted 
 
 tc of a young: 
 
 to be seen in 
 
 1 to him nine 
 h detei-nn'ncd 
 loitriiig for a 
 him, that his 
 3n the ti-ibe 
 n old Indian 
 > man of fo,. 
 fn)m him in 
 »c cenmiony 
 s, with three 
 ;ly prcscjitcd 
 
 to tlic young bridegroom a wife, for each of whom they 
 received, according to his previous promise, a couple of 
 liorsesj and yet each of the four fath(!rs, all having 
 separately Ikhmi bound to secrecy, had conceived that Ins 
 daughter alone was to be the " wedded wife." While 
 the improvident young man, whose patrimony had thus 
 suddenly dwindled into nothing but one horse, four 
 wives, and a wigwam, was quietly leading away his ])art- 
 ners, two in each hand, to his tent, the spectators, left 
 in the circle in which they had ranged themselves, re- 
 mained for a few moments in mute refhiction. However 
 the act they had witn(>ssed was so imexpcetcd, so impro- 
 vident, and so mmsual, that, not knowing how to digest 
 it, on our old " omne-ignotum-pro-magnifico" principle, 
 they voted it a mystery ; and accordingly at once pro- 
 nouncing the bridegroom to be " a mystery, or medicine 
 
 man. 
 
 y 
 
 "Tlicy left him alone in his glory !" 
 
 As the anecdote just related does not sound very cha- 
 racteristic of the purity of Indian women, we feel it pro- 
 per to observe that, degraded as their condition cert i inly 
 is, wherever they ha\ e been eoutaminated by tlie vices of 
 the Old World, yet in their natural state they are usu- 
 ally distinguished by an innate modesty, and by a pro- 
 priety of conduct, to which even the trad(n's among them 
 have borne ample testimony. And thus, although these 
 people are always furnished Avith trinkets, of inestimable 
 value to the Indians, to he giv(Mi to them as presents, for 
 the sole object of conciliating the tribe, and though they 
 have too often endeavoured to misapply these presents, 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
Iti 
 
 338 
 
 TIIK RED MAN. 
 
 yet the trnders do not liesitate to confess how constantly 
 they have fonnd themselves haflkHh 
 
 While the Red wonum in her wi<?wam is attending to 
 her haby, making mocassins for lier hnsband, preparing 
 gum for his canoe, etc., he is infinitely more actively em- 
 idoycd, either in the prairies, ii\ pursuing the buffalo, or 
 in the forest, in tracking the deer and the bear; but 
 during the Inuiting-scason the Imlians usually wander, 
 Avith their families, over an immense -"gion of country, 
 to many parts of which they must unavoidably be total 
 strangers. 
 
 On leaving the wigwam in this new region which con- 
 tains his children, and which, in the recesses of the in- 
 terminable desert, can scarcely be seen twenty yards off, 
 the hunter piu'sncs his (U)ursc in whatever direction he 
 tliiidvs most likely to lead him to game. After travel- 
 ling for nnmy hours, he at last comes up with footmarks, 
 upon M'liich, from their freshness, he determines to settle ; 
 he accordingly follows them throughout their eccentric 
 C(mrsc; M'hcrever the animal has turned, he turns; and 
 in this way, for a considerable time, and with his mind 
 highly excited, he prosecutes his game, until he actually 
 has it in view. AVith inicrring aim he then fires his rifle 
 or his arrow ; and when his victim, having fallen, lias 
 been despatchcMl by his knife, leaving the carcase on the 
 ground, and without attempting to retrace his own foot- 
 steps, he instinctively dives into the forest, and proceeds 
 to his wigwam, as straight as an arrow to the target ! 
 
 This astonishing recollection, notwithstanding the ex- 
 citement of the chase, of the carte-du-j)ays through which 
 
TIIR RED MAN. 
 
 339 
 
 constantly 
 
 ttcnding to 
 prcparinj? 
 ctivcly cm- 
 bntljilo, or 
 bear; but 
 ly wander, 
 jf country, 
 »ly be total 
 
 I eou- 
 
 whicl 
 of tbe in- 
 yards off, 
 iTction be 
 ftcr travel- 
 footmarks, 
 s to settle ; 
 r eccentric 
 ;urns; and 
 I bis mind 
 le actually 
 •es bis rifle 
 Fallen, lias 
 asc on tbc 
 own foot- 
 1 proceeds 
 target ! 
 iig tbe ex- 
 ngb wbich 
 
 ho bunted, may be offered as anotber proof against tbc 
 assertion tbat tbe Indians arc our inferiors in mental 
 power. 
 
 Wben a Red Man returning from liuuting, as we bavo 
 described, enters bis wigwam, it s jbe custom of bis wife 
 to say notbing ; sbc docs not presume to ask wbat suc- 
 cess be 1ms bnd ; for, anxious as sbc is, and as be bas 
 been, on tbe subject, sbc knows be is too tired to talk, 
 and tbat be wants not conversation, but rest and refrcsb- 
 ment. Accord" igly sbc presents to bim dry mocassins, 
 and, as quickly as possible, b ^ food, wbieb, in dead 
 8ilene(>, be pevtiiiaeiously devt i.r . AVbile be is tlms en- 
 gaged, it may (>asily bt ■oiiccived tbat f mi\o curiosity is 
 almost ready to burst tbc red skin tbat contains it. If 
 tbe Indian bappcns to draw out bis knife, tbc wife's 
 dark eyes eagerly glance ujwn it, to sec if she can dis- 
 cover welcome blood, or a single hair of an animal 
 upon its blade. If b( gives her bis pouch, Avitb an arbi- 
 trary motion of bis band to lay it aside, in oi)eying tbc 
 silent mandate, sbc peeps into it, to see if tbe red tongue- 
 string of tbe (leer, wbieb tbe hunter cuts out as a tro])by, 
 is there. She looks at the lock of bis rifle, to ascertain 
 if it has I). . :• often fired ; or at bis quiver, to count if any 
 of his arrows are missing; in short, she endeavours, by 
 every means in her power, to find out, just as fine Lon- 
 don ladies do, what tbc husbatul bas been doing when 
 from home — at "the club," or elsewhere. 
 
 Wbile tbe Indian is occupied at his meal, we may 
 take the opportunity of observing tbat these people 
 pride themselves in holding all sorts of food in very 
 
 q3 
 
340 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 !: 
 
 nearly equal esteem. A Mohawk Chief told Dr. INIorse, 
 " that a man eats everything without distinction — bears, 
 cats, dogs, snakes, frogs," etc. ; adding, that " it was 
 womanish to have any delicacy in the choice of food." 
 Tliey will take a turkey, pluck off' the feathers, and then, 
 without any further operation, roast it and eat it, just as 
 we deal with oysters. In some tribes, there is no doubt 
 they even eat the bodies of their prisoners. Colonel 
 Schuyler told Dr. Morse, that during their war with the 
 French, he was invited to eat broth with them, which 
 was ready cooked. He did so; until, as they were 
 stirring the ladle in the kettle, to give him some more, 
 up rose to the sixrface a Frenchman's hand, which, as 
 may easily be conceived, put a full stop to his appetite. 
 
 As soon as the hunter ])cforc us is refreshed and full, 
 of his oAvn accord he begins to relate to the partner of 
 his wigwam where he has been, and what he has done. 
 He tells us where he found his track, where it turned, 
 and how it dodged. He crouches down, as he describes 
 where he first sot a view of his game, and apparently it 
 is again within his savage grasp, as, starting from his 
 seat, he exultingly shows the manner and the vital part 
 in which he stabbed it. 
 
 When this domestic scene in the picture-gallery of an 
 Indian's fireside is concluded, it is the duty of the wife 
 to go and bring tlie dead animal home — an act which 
 a thoroughbred hunter considers would degrade him. 
 Accordingly from the description which has 1)cen given 
 to her of the spot on which it fell, by retracing her hus- 
 band's footsteps, wherever it is possible to do so, and 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 341 
 
 Dr. jNIorsc, 
 ion — bears, 
 it "it was 
 3 of food." 
 , and then, 
 t it, just as 
 s no doubt 
 Colonel 
 ir with tlie 
 em, whieh 
 they were 
 3nic more, 
 
 which, as 
 appetite, 
 d and full, 
 partner of 
 has done, 
 it turned, 
 
 describes 
 )arently it 
 
 from his 
 vital part 
 
 Icry of an 
 f the wife 
 act which 
 ade him. 
 :en given 
 her hus- 
 ) so, and 
 
 above all by attentively looking out to the right and left 
 for the hanging tAvigs, whieh, she knows, in returning 
 to the wigwam, he will have broken, to show her his 
 path, she manages to arrive at the slaughtered game, of 
 which, it may fairly be said, she earns her share, by 
 bringing it on her shoulders to the den. 
 
 If our limits could admit them, endless are the 
 sketches that might be offered to our readers of the 
 simple habits and domestic scenes of the Red denizens 
 of America; but it is necessary that we should now 
 turn our thoughts to the more important and more 
 painful consideration of the fatal results which their 
 intercourse with the civilized world has already pro- 
 duced, and must inevitably, we fear, consummate. 
 
 It is melancholy to reflect in what different colours 
 Columbus may be painted by the inhabitants of the 
 New and Old World. His philosophical calculations, — 
 his shrewd observations, — his accurate deductions from 
 a few simple facts, which, by the dull multitude, had 
 remained almost unnoticed, — his unalterable determina- 
 tion to bring his theory into practice, — his unflinching 
 perseverance, — his victory over the ignorant prejudice 
 and superstition which " like envious clouds seemed bent 
 to dim his glory and check his bright course to the 
 Occident," — his personal courage, — his tact in propelling 
 his crew, — his artifices in supporting their drooping 
 spirits, — the eventual accomplishment of his great ob- 
 ject, — and the accurate fulfilment of his prophecy, com- 
 bine in making us consider him as one of the most 
 distinguished men that the Old World has ever pro- 
 
342 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 duccd. On the other hand, by the Red Aborigines he 
 may justly be depicted as the personification of their 
 Manito, or evil spirit, — in short, of that serpent which 
 has brought " death into their world and all its Avoe." 
 And thus, however we may bless the name of Columbus, 
 most certainly accursed to them has been the hour when 
 the White man^s foot first landed on their shore, and 
 when his pale hand, in friendship, first encountered 
 their red grasp ! 
 
 The vast Indian empires of Mexico and Peru have, 
 as we all know, been as completely depopulated by the 
 inhabitants of the Old World as the little cities of Her- 
 culancura and Pompeii were smothered by the lava and 
 and eindei*s of Vesuvius. In less populous, though not 
 less happy regions, by broadsides of artillery, by volleys 
 of musketry, by the bayonet, by the terrific aid of horses, 
 and even by the savage fury of dogs, the Christian world 
 managed to extend the lodgment it had eft'ected among 
 a naked and iuoft'ensive people. 
 
 In both hemispheres of America the same horrible 
 system of violence and invasion are at this moment in 
 operation. The most bai'barous and improvoked at- 
 tempts to exterminate the mounted Indians in the 
 neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres have lately been made. 
 In the United States, upwards of thirty-six millions of 
 dollars have been expended during the last four years 
 in the vain attempt to drive the Seminoles from their 
 hunting-grounds. What quantity of Indian blood has 
 been shed by this money is involved in mystery. The 
 American General in command, it is said, tendered his 
 
THE llED MAN. 
 
 343 
 
 origiucs he 
 u of their 
 
 >cnt which 
 its Avoe." 
 
 Cohimbus, 
 lour when 
 
 shore, and 
 
 icountered 
 
 ^eru ha^e, 
 ted by the 
 3s of Hcr- 
 e lava and 
 hough not 
 by volleys 
 of horses, 
 tian world 
 ;ed among 
 
 3 horrible 
 loment iu 
 oked at- 
 s in the 
 en made, 
 lillions of 
 'ur years 
 oni their 
 »lood has 
 •y. The 
 lered his 
 
 resignation unless he were granted^ in this dreadful war 
 of extermination, the assistance of bloodlioiuids ; and it 
 has also been asserted that, on a motion being made, in 
 one of the State Legislatures, for an inquiry into this 
 allegation, the proposition was negatived and the in- 
 vestigation suppressed. At all events the aggression 
 against the Seminoles still continues ; a pack of blood- 
 hounds has already been landed in the United States 
 from the Island of Cuba ; and while the Indian vi^omcn, 
 with blackened faces, are mourning over the bereave- 
 ment of their husbands and their sons, and treudjling at 
 the idea of their infants being massacred by the doj;ii 
 of war, which the authorities of the State of Florida 
 have, it appears from the last American newspapers, 
 determined to let loose, the Republic rejoices at the 
 anticipated extension of its territory, and, as usual, 
 smartly boasts that it is " going ahead \" 
 
 In the Old World, war, like every other pestilence, 
 rages here and there only for a certain time ; but the 
 gradual extinction of the Indian race has unceasingly 
 been in operation from the first moment of our discovery 
 of America to the present hour ; for m hether we come in \ 
 contact witLour Red brethren as enemies or as friends, 
 they everywhere melt before us like snow before the sun. / 
 Indeed it is difficult to say whether our friendship or our 
 enmity has been most fatal. 
 
 The infectious disorders which, in moments of pro- 
 found peace, we have unfortunately introduced, have 
 proved inlinitcly more destructive and merciless tluiu 
 our engines of war. By the siuallpux alone it has been 
 
344 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 V 'i 
 
 I 
 
 computed that half the Indian population of North Ame- 
 rica has been swept away. There is sometliing particu- 
 larly affecting in tlie idea of the inhabitants even of a so- 
 litary wigwam being suddenly attacked by an invisible, 
 malignant agency from the Old "World which, almost on 
 the selfsame day, has rendered them all incapable of 
 providing for each other, or even or themselves ; and it 
 is dreadful to consider in how many instances, by the 
 simultaneous death of the adults, the young and helpless 
 must have been left in the lone wilderness to starve ! 
 
 But not only whole families, but whole tribes, have 
 been almost extinguished by this single disease, which is 
 supposed to have proved fatal to at least seven millions of 
 Indians. The Pawnee nation have been reduced by it 
 from 25,000 to 10,000. When Mr. Catlin lately visited 
 the Mandan tribe, it consisted of 2000 people, particu- 
 larly distinguished by theii* handsome appearance and 
 by their high character for courage and probity. They 
 received him with affectionate kindness, and not only 
 admitted him to all their most secret mysteries, but in- 
 stalled him among the learned of their tribe, and afforded 
 him every possible assistance. He had scarcely left 
 them, when two of the fur-traders infected them Avith 
 the smallpox, which caused the death of the whole tribe ! 
 Not an individual has survived ; indeed had not Mr. 
 Catlin felt deep and honourable interest in their fate, it 
 is more than probable it never would have reached the 
 coast of the Atlantic, or been recorded in history. Aiul, 
 thus, by a single calamity, has been swept away a whol'j 
 nation, respecting whom it was proverbial among the 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 345 
 
 ^orth Amc- 
 nj? particu- 
 eii of a so- 
 il invisible, 
 , almost on 
 ncapablc of 
 vcs; and it 
 ceSj by tlic 
 nd helpless 
 starve ! 
 ribcs, have 
 sC, which is 
 millions of 
 luced by it 
 itcly visited 
 lie, partien- 
 arancc and 
 lity. They 
 d not only 
 ies, but in- 
 nd afforded 
 :'arccly left 
 them with 
 ^hole tribe! 
 \ not Mr. 
 leir fate, it 
 eached the 
 )ry. And, 
 ay a whole 
 ;imong the 
 
 traders, who unintentionally exterminated them, "that 
 never had the Mandans been known to kill a lohite man !" 
 
 Of our destruction of the Indians by the smallpox, it 
 may at least be said that the alfliclion was soon over. 
 There has been however another importation by which 
 we have destroyed them, which has proved not only al- 
 most as fatal, but has been so by a lingering and most re- 
 volting process, — we allude to the introduction of ardent 
 spirit, or, as it is generally called in America, of whisky. 
 
 In our own country we are all early taught, and we 
 every day see before our eyes as a warning, the miserable 
 effects of drunkenness ; but the poor Indian has received 
 no such lesson or experience ; on the contrary, the white 
 traders tell him the draught will increase his valour and 
 udd to his strength. lie accordingly raises it to his lips, 
 and from that moment he becomes, almost without me- 
 taphor, " a fallen man." The exhilarating effect which 
 it at first produces he never forgets, and when he has 
 been once into icated, there is nothing he possesses which 
 is not within the easy grasp of the trader. The women 
 and the children equally become victims to this thirst 
 for poison ; and it is melancholy to think that, exactly 
 in proportion as the wigwam is denuded by the trader 
 of the furs, skins, and coverings it contains, so inversely 
 are its simple tenants made physically less competent 
 than they were to resist the cold, the inclemencies, the 
 hardships, and the vicissitudes of a savage life. 
 
 In populous, civilized communities, where, by the di- 
 vision of labour, each man's attention is directed to one 
 minute object, the loss of health and strength is only of 
 
 Q 3 
 
346 
 
 THE RED MAX. 
 
 
 i 
 
 comparative iiiipoitcnioc ; i)ut it is dreadful to reflect 
 upon th.^ sihi's^iou of a ])Oor Indian liunter, Avlicn he 
 finds that hit* iisrths n~o daiiv iailing liim in the chase, 
 that his arrow ceases to go rimight, and that his nerves, 
 he loiows irt why, tremble bit'orc the wild animals it 
 was but lately his pride to eneounter ! 
 
 The varit't}' of deuiora iziu^ eft'ects produced in a wig- 
 wam, by selling a gallon oi' two of whisky to an Indian 
 family of mec. won; i , and children, could not with pro- 
 priety be deaciibed, and miist be witnessed to be con- 
 ceived. It may easily however be imagined that they 
 end in their sickness, in their infamy, in the destruction 
 of their noble constitutions, and, eventually, in their 
 death. By this liquid tire, whole families and whole 
 nations ha\e been, not as by a conflagration only con- 
 sumed, but they have ended their days in the most 
 squalid misrry and woe, — in long- protracted anguish. 
 The hon'id system has not, however, we regret to say, 
 shared the fate of those it has destroyed ; on the con- 
 trary, every year it has become better organized, and, 
 from the subtlety of the traders, it is now more impos- 
 sible than ever to be prevented. For whatever object a 
 body of Indians is assembled, whether for peace, for war, 
 or even to listen to the doctrines of our revered religion, 
 the traders like wolves come skulking around them, and, 
 like eagles in the neighbourhood of a field of battle, ho- 
 vering just out of the reach of gunshot, they are confi- 
 dent of the enjoyment of their prey. In the vast regions 
 of the prairies alone, it has been accurately estimated 
 that there are at this moment from six hundred to eight 
 
THE RED MAX. 
 
 317 
 
 I to reflect 
 •, when Ijc 
 the chase, 
 his nerves, 
 animaJs it 
 
 d in a wise 
 an Indian 
 with pro- 
 o be eon- 
 that they 
 estruetion 
 in their 
 md whole 
 only eon- 
 the most 
 ^ anguish, 
 -t to say, 
 the cou- 
 ized, and, 
 re inipos- 
 !• object a 
 , for war, 
 religion, 
 'em, and, 
 ittle, ho- 
 re confi- 
 ; regions 
 stimated 
 to eight 
 
 hundred traders (many of whom have fled as outlaws 
 from the civilized world, for the most horrible crii)U"s) 
 daily employed in deluging the poor Indians with whisky. 
 
 There is another mode in which tlu; Red man is mado 
 to fade away before the withering progress of civiliza- 
 tion; we allude to the rapid destruction of the game 
 necessary for his subsistence. In proportion as the 
 sword, smallpox, and whisky have depopulated the coun- 
 try of the Indians, the settlement of the whites lias gra- 
 dually and triumphantly advanced; and their demand 
 for skins and furs has proportionately increased. In the 
 splendid regions of the " far west," which lie betAveen 
 the Missouri and the Uoeky M untains, there are living 
 at this moment on the prairies various tribes who, if 
 left to themselves, would continue for ages to subsist on 
 the bufl'alo which cover the plains. The skins of these 
 animals however have become valuable to the Whites, 
 and accordingly this beautiful verdant country, and these 
 brave and independent people, have been invaded by 
 white traders who, by paying to them a pint of whisky 
 for each skin (or " robe," as they are termed in Ame- 
 rica), which sells at New York for ten or twelve dollars, 
 induce them to slaughter these animals in immense 
 numbers, leaving their flesh, the food of the Indian, to 
 rot and putrefy on the ground. No admonition or cau- 
 tion can arrest for a moment the propelling power of 
 the whisky; accordingly, in all directions, these poor, 
 thoughtless beings are seen furiously riding under its 
 influence in pursuit of their game, or, in other words, 
 in the fatal exchange of food for poison. It has been 
 
'. 
 
 318 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 very attentively calculated by the traders, who manage 
 to colleet per annum from 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo 
 skins, that at the rate at which these animals are now 
 disposed of, in ten years they will be all killed off. 
 Whenever that event happens, Mr. Catlin very justly 
 prophesies that 250,000 Indians, now living in a plain 
 of nearly three thousand miles in extent, must die of 
 starvation, and become a prey to the wolves; or that 
 they must attack the powerful ncighbounng tribes of the 
 Rocky Mountains ; or, in the frenzy of despair, rush 
 u])on the White population on the forlorn hope of dis- 
 lodging it. In the two latter alternatives there exists 
 no chance of success ; and we have therefore the appalling 
 reflection before us, that these 250,000 Indians must 
 soon be added to the dismal list of those who have al- 
 ready withered and disappeared, leaving their country to 
 ])loom and flourish in the possession of the progeny of 
 another world ! 
 
 Among the noblest of the tribes, whose melancholy 
 fate has just been so painfully anticipated, are the 
 " Crows," said by Mr. Catlin to be the handsomest In- 
 dians he ever visited. Their jet-black hair, as they stand, 
 touches the ground, while in riding after the buffalo at 
 full speed, it is seen streaming behind them in the most 
 beautiful form. In their war-dress, the plume of eagles' 
 featliers ornaments their brows, a lance fourteen feet in 
 length giving a wild finish to the picture. Their wig- 
 wam-villages are situated on the verdant prairies, the 
 surface of which is, in some places, as flat as the ocean, 
 in others diversified by undulating hills, which, covered 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 319 
 
 lio manage 
 )00 l)ufrulo 
 lis arc now 
 kiUed off. 
 cry justly 
 in a plain 
 lust die of 
 !s; or that 
 ibcs of the 
 pair, rush 
 )pe of dis- 
 herc exists 
 e appalling 
 ians must 
 o have al- 
 country to 
 )rogeny of 
 
 lelancholy 
 are the 
 omest In- 
 hey stand, 
 buffalo at 
 the most 
 of eagles' 
 en feet in 
 'heir wig- 
 liries, the 
 he oeean, 
 i, covered 
 
 with pastiu'c to their very summits, form a striking con- 
 trast with the l)right shining snow that everlastingly 
 caps the Rocky INIountains, and with the dark, deep blue 
 sky which reigns above all. 
 
 The same system of destruction is at this moment 
 going on in detail, but quite as fatally, throughout the 
 whole continent of North America, including our British 
 North American colonics, where the lands of the Indians 
 arc faithfully secured to them, aiul where every attempt 
 to seduce them to ruin themselves has been, and still is, 
 discoiuitcnanccd. In all these regions, their eventual 
 extinction, by almost starvation, appears unavoidable. 
 Even in Canada, however strictly their hunting-grounds 
 may be maintained inviolate, yet, in consequence of the 
 white population settling around them on lands belong- 
 ing to the British Crown, their supply of food is rapidly 
 cut off, until the poor Iiulian finds, he knows not why, 
 that it has become almost vain to go in search of it ; for 
 the game of America is not like that in England, the 
 produce of the land on which it is found ; but, migrating 
 and wandering throughout the forest, it is not only easily 
 scared from its haunts, but, by tree-cutting and cultiva- 
 tion, it is effectually arrested in its course. 
 
 The last of the means we shall mention by which 
 white people have prosecuted, and are still prosecuting, 
 their desolating march over the territory of the Indians, 
 is either by persuading them to sell their lands, as the 
 British Government has occasionally done, or hy forcing 
 them to do so, as we regret to say has been too often the 
 case in other parts of America. 
 
^^ 
 
 350 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 I 
 
 fi< 
 
 ir, 
 
 Of till the title-deeds recorded in "the chaneery of 
 heaven," there surely can he no one more indisputahlo 
 than the right which the Red ^Fan of Ami r'u a has to 
 inhahit his own hnnting-grounds ; nevertheless, in Dr. 
 Morse's Rejjort to the Secretary at War, he states: — 
 
 "The relation which the Tiulians sustain to the rjovornmcnt 
 of the United States is peculiar in its nature. Tli;'ir iiulepeu- 
 dence, their rij^lits, tlieir title to the soil which they oceui)y, are 
 all uiijtetfect in their kind. 
 
 " Indians have no other jjroperty to the soil of their respec- 
 tive territories than that of mere occupancy. . . . The com- 
 ])Iet£ title to their lands rests in the Govermnent of the United 
 tituten /" 
 
 In support of this urgent decision, the Ilonourahle 
 John Quincey Adams expended tlic following string of 
 fine words : — 
 
 " There are moralists who have (|uestioned the riglit of the 
 Eur()[)eans to intrude upon the possessions of the ahorij^iuals 
 in any case, and under any linntutions whatsoever ; hut have 
 they maturely considered the whole suhject 1 The Indian riyht 
 of possession itself stands, with regard to the greatest i)art of 
 the country, upon a qaediunnhle foundation. Their cultivated 
 fields, their constructed habitations, a space of ample sutiiciency 
 for their subsistence, and whatever tliey had annexed of them- 
 selves by personal labom-, was midoubtedly, by the laws of Na- 
 ture, theirs. But what is the right of a huntsman to the forest 
 of a thousand nnles, over which he has accide^hhiUy ranged in 
 quest of prey ? Shall the liberal bounties of Providence to the 
 race of man be monopolized by one of ten thousand for whom 
 they are created? Shall the exuberant bosom of the mother- 
 country, amply adequate to the nourishment of millions, be 
 claimed exclusively by a few hundreds of her oflspring ] Shall 
 
TIIi: llED MAN 
 
 351 
 
 luiiccry of 
 idispiitablu 
 ica has to 
 ess, in Dr. 
 tatcs : — 
 
 jrovcrnmcnt 
 eir imlcpL'U- 
 ! occui)}', uro 
 
 tlu'ir H'spt'C- 
 
 . Tlu' com- 
 
 f the United 
 
 [loiiourablc 
 iij>- string of 
 
 riylit of tlio 
 iiboi'ij^iiiiils 
 r ; liut have 
 Iiuliiin right 
 atcat part of 
 ir cultivated 
 k' ssuttififucy 
 xetl of tlu'in- 
 e hiAN s of Nu- 
 
 to the forest 
 III) ranjj'ed in 
 idence to tho 
 nd for whom 
 f the mother- 
 
 milliona, be 
 ring } Shall 
 
 the lordly suvaj^'o not only disdain tho virtues and enjoynienta 
 of civilization himself, but shall he control the civilization of 
 the worlil i Sliidl he l'orl)i<l the wilderness to blossom like tho 
 rose? Shall he forbid the oahs of the forest to fall befoic the 
 ttxo of industry, and rise a<,'ain, transformed into the hal)ita- 
 tutions of case and elegance ? Shall he doom an immense 
 region of the globe to perpetual desolation, and to hear tho 
 howliiiifs of the tiger and the wolf silence for ever the voice of 
 human gladness I Shall the tielda and the valleys, which a 
 beucticent God has framed to teem with the life of innumerable 
 nmltitudes, be condemned t(t everlasting barrenness ? Shall 
 the mighty risers, poured out by the hands of Nature, as chan- 
 nels of eommiuiieation between numerous natioii>, roll their 
 waters in sullen silence and eternal solitude to the deep ? Have 
 hundreds of commodious harbours, a thousand leagues of coast, 
 and a boundless ocean, been 8i)read in the front of this land, 
 and shall every purpose of utility to which they could ajiidy 
 be prohibited by the tenant of the woods ? No, yoierous phl- 
 /loif/irojiists ! Heaven has not been thus inconsistent in the 
 works of its hands ! Heaven has not thus placed its moral 
 laws at irreconcilable strife with its physical creation ! " 
 
 The award of the Supreme Court of tho United States, 
 on the subject of Indian titles, was as follows : — 
 
 " The majority of the Court is of opinion that the nature of 
 the Indian title, which is certainly to be respected by all courts, 
 ^ird'd it he leyitimatel ij e.rftiujnid/ied, is not such as to be abso- 
 lutely repugnant to ichm in fee on the part of the State." ! ! ! 
 
 Although the fort'g<-ing extracts may fail to explain 
 satisfactorily to our readers t'\c tenure of Indian lands, 
 they will at least show the lamentable predicament iu 
 which the Red native landlord stands on his hunting- 
 grounds in the United States. The poor creature is 
 
 '•1 
 
352 
 
 TIIK RED MAN. 
 
 n ^ 
 
 ..:i ^'f 
 
 between Avhitc law on the one side, and wliite whisky 
 on the other; the one disputes his titU', the other obhte- 
 rates it by "dropping a cur on the word, and hbtting 
 it out for ever;" and thus, Sy the co-operation of l)()th, 
 without even the assiatauec of the bayonet, is the tenant 
 finally ejeetcd. 
 
 In scv(nal instanees, however, the Indian tribes, in- 
 stead of consenting to sell their lands and abandon the 
 homes of their ancestors, have unbiu'ied the hatchet of 
 war, and fought against the regular troops with a despe- 
 ration and a courage whi(;h have proved so invincible, 
 that it has lately been officially announced to Congress, 
 that, notwithstanding the enormous expenses of the at- 
 tack upon the Seminoles, no sensible (iff'ect has been pro- 
 duced. But these are rare cases ; and even in these the 
 ultimate result is quite clear. In many more instances, 
 the Red landlords, seeing their inability to resist, have 
 obediently consented to retire, in which case the Govern- 
 ment of the United States has agreed to pay them one 
 and a half cent (the hundredth part of a dollar) per acre 
 for their lauds, — which lands have been often immediately 
 re-sold by the State for a dollar or a dollar and a half 
 per acre. But besides this profit, the said Government, 
 which always takes very good care to exact from the 
 White purchasers of its own lands prompt payment in 
 silver, not only at best pays the Indians for their lands 
 in paper-money, or in goods, but, when it is convenient, 
 claims as its right that the purchase-money need not be 
 paid until thirty years, by which time the poor Indians, 
 who reluctantly surrendered their territory, will probably 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 353 
 
 itc whisky 
 tluT obli te- 
 nd blotting 
 )ii of hotli, 
 the teuunt 
 
 tribes, in- 
 ibtindoii tbo 
 ; hatchet of 
 ith a despe- 
 ) invincible, 
 ;o Congress, 
 s of the at- 
 as been pro- 
 in these the 
 re instances, 
 
 resist, have 
 the Govern - 
 ay them one 
 lar) per acre 
 immediately 
 • and a half 
 jrovernment, 
 ict from the 
 t payment in 
 V their lands 
 J convenient, 
 
 need not be 
 K)or Indians, 
 ivlll probably 
 
 all be dead ! In short, these sales of land amount so 
 very nearly to an ejectment, that it may easily he con- 
 ceived the Indians only consent to them when; either 
 the power of White man's law, or the strength of his 
 whisky, proves greater than they can withstand. 
 
 Their attachment to their soil and to their own habits 
 of life, have ever been aflectingly evinced in their various 
 answers to those whose otlieial duty it has been to ad- 
 vocate the (iovernment rec(mnuendation that they should 
 contract their dominions. 
 
 About twenty years ago, the President recommended 
 to a Pawnee chief who came to Washington on purpose 
 to see him, that he and his tribe should, under the su- 
 perinteiulence of missionaries, till their land like white 
 people. The unlettered " savage," after having listened 
 with the gravest attention, made the following speech, 
 translated l)y a sworn reporter, aiul which we present to 
 our readers as a fair specimen of the clear unpremedi- 
 tated oratory of the Red Man : — 
 
 " My great Father, I have travelled a long distance to see 
 you. I have seen you, and my heart rejoices : I have heard 
 your words : they have entered one ear and shall not escape 
 out of the other : I will carry them to my people as pure as 
 they came from your mouth. 
 
 " Mif (jrcat Father, I am going to speak the truth; the Oreat 
 Spirit looks down upon us, and I call him to witness all that 
 may pass between us on this occasion. The Great Spii'it made 
 us all : He made my skin red and yours white. He placed us 
 on this earth, and intended we should live differently from each 
 other. He made the Whites to cultivate the earth and feed on 
 tame animals ; but he made us lied men to rove through the 
 woods and plains, to feed on wild animals, and to dress in 
 
354 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 their skins. He also iuteiuleil that we should go to war to 
 take scalps, steal horses, tiiuinph over our eueinies, promote 
 peace at home, and the hapi)ines3 of each other. I believe 
 tl ^e are no people of any colour on this earth who do not 
 believe in the Great Spirit — in rewards and punishments. We 
 worship Him, but not as you do. We differ from you in I'e- 
 ligion, as we diflier in appearance, in manners, and in customs. 
 We have no large houses, as you have, to worship the Great 
 Spirit in. If we had them today, we should want others to- 
 morrow, because we have not, like you, a fixed hal>itation ; 
 excei)t our villages, where we remain but two moons out o 
 twelve. We, like animals, roam over the country, while you 
 Whites live between us and Heaven ; but still, my Father, we 
 love the Gre»t Spirit. 
 
 " My great Father, some of your chiefs have proposed to 
 p«nd good people [Missionaries] among us to change our habits , 
 to teach us to work, and live like the white peoi)le. I wil 
 not tell you a He. Yun love your country ; yoii love your 
 jjcople : you love the manner in which they live, and you think 
 your people brave. I am like you, niy great Father ! / love 
 my country ; / love my people ; / love the life we lead, and 
 think my warriors brave. 
 
 " Spare me then, my Father. Let me enjoy my country, let 
 me pursue the buffalo, the beaver, and the other wild animals, 
 and I will trade the skins with your people. It is too soon, 
 my great Father, to send your good men among us. Let us 
 exhaust our present resources before you interrupt our happi- 
 ness and make us toil. Let me continue to live as I have 
 lived, and after I have passed from the wilderness of my pre- 
 sent life to the Good or Evil Spirit, my children may need and 
 embrace the offered assistance of your good people. 
 
 " Here, nvy great Father, is a pipe which 1 offer you, as I 
 am accustomed to present i)ipes to all Ived-skins who are in 
 peace with us. I know that these robes, leggings, mocassins, 
 bears'-claws, etc, are of little value to you ; but we wish the 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 355 
 
 50 to war to 
 lies, promote 
 r. I believe 
 I who do not 
 ilimcnts. We 
 •ni you in re- 
 1 in customs, 
 lip the Grreat 
 it others to- 
 hul>itation ; 
 loons out o 
 y, while you 
 y Father, we 
 
 proposed to 
 ;e our habits , 
 jple. I wil 
 'It, love your 
 id yuii think 
 ler ! / love 
 ,ve lead, and 
 
 country, let 
 ild auiuuiLs, 
 is too so(m, 
 us. Let us 
 t our hajjpi- 
 e as I have 
 of my pre- 
 ly need and 
 
 t'r you, as I 
 who are in 
 
 , nioc'ii.ssiiis, 
 i wish the 
 
 to be doiiosited and preserved, so that when we are gone, and 
 the earth turned over upon our bones, our children, should 
 they ever visit this place, as we do now, may see and recognize 
 the deposits of their fathers, and reflect on the times that are 
 past." 
 
 It will readily be coiircived, that if the Indian Sachems 
 were not afraid to avow to " their great father" their dis- 
 inclination to remove from their lands, they would with 
 less liesitation express the same reluctance to subordinate 
 authorities. By every possible argument, on hundreds 
 of occasions, the officers of the United States' Indian 
 Department have zealously endeavoured to persuade th^* 
 tribes to evacuate their lands ; and the following extract 
 from a speech of Dr. Morse himself to the Ottawas at 
 L'Arbre Croche, on the Gtli of July, 1820, will sufficiently 
 show in what proportion truth, sophistry, and well-dis- 
 guised threats, have been mixed in these sort of official 
 appcjals to the doubts, hopes, and fears of the Indian race. 
 
 Their attention to tlie important subject of his com- 
 mmiication was thus invoked : — 
 
 " C^dldren, your father, the President, thinks that a great 
 ehaime in the situation of his Rod children has become ueces- 
 sary, in order to save them from ruin and to make them happy. 
 
 " Children, listen attentively to what I am now about to say 
 to you. It is for your life, and the life of your posterity." 
 
 The title of the Whites to the lands they had already 
 cidtivatcd, the especial favour shown to them from heaven, 
 the inferiority of the Red Man, and the desperate di- 
 lemma in which he is placed, were thus explained : — 
 
 " Chiklren, your fathers once possessed all the country, east 
 and south, to the great waters. They were very uumerous and 
 
!■•' 
 
 356 
 
 THE KED MAN. 
 
 K 
 
 i\ I 
 
 ■; ''..i 
 
 It-' 
 
 powerful, and lived chiefly by hunting and fishing. They had 
 brave warriors, and orators eloquent in council. 
 
 "Two hundred years ago, a mortal pestilence spread wide 
 among the Indians on the coast of the great ocean to the east, 
 and swept away a great part of them. In some villages all 
 died — not one was left. Just after this great desolation, the 
 white people began to come across the great waters. They 
 settled first on lands where no Indians lived- — where they all 
 had died. Other white people, about the same time, settled at 
 the south. 
 
 " These white people came not as enemies, but as friends of 
 the Indians. They purchased of them a little land, to support 
 them and their children by agriculture. They wanted but 
 little while they were few in number. God prospered the white 
 people. They have since increased and multiplied, and become 
 a great and powerful nation. Tliey are now spread over a 
 wide extent of the country of your fathers ; and are spreading 
 still more and faster over other parts of it, purchasing millions 
 of acres of your good land, leaving for you and your children 
 reservations here and there, small indeed, compared with the 
 extensive hunting-grounds you once possessed. What your 
 brothers, the Osages, said to one of our niissionaries is true : — 
 * W/ierever White Man sets down his /oof, he never takes it vp 
 again. It grows fast and sj/reculs icide.' You have been 
 obliged either to go back into the wilderness, and seek new 
 hunting-grounds and dwelling-places, or to live on your small 
 reservations, surrounded with white people. Indians cannot 
 associate with the white people as their equals. While they 
 retain their present language and dress and habits of life, they 
 will feel their inferiority to the white i)eople. Where they 
 have no game to hunt, to furnish thena with furs for trade, and 
 with food to eat, they become poor, and wretched, and spirit- 
 less, dependent on the white people for their support. They 
 will give themselves up to idleness, ignorance, and drunken- 
 ness ; and will yaste away, and by-and-by have no posterity 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 357 
 
 S. They had 
 
 3 spread wide 
 in to the east, 
 le vilhiges all 
 lesolation, the 
 waters. They 
 vhere they all 
 ime, settled at 
 
 t as friends of 
 id, to support 
 Y wanted but 
 jrod the white 
 1, and become 
 ipread over a 
 are sjjreadiiig 
 ising millions 
 your children 
 ired with the 
 What your 
 ies is true : — 
 er takes it vp 
 u have been 
 md seek new 
 m your small 
 dians cannot 
 While they 
 s of life, they 
 
 Where they 
 for trade, and 
 (1, and spirit- 
 ppovt. They 
 tnd druidicn- 
 
 no posterity 
 
 on the face of the earth. Already, many tribes who live 
 among the whites can never more gain renown in war or in 
 the chase. If this course continues, it will soon be so with 
 the whole body of Indians within the territories of the United 
 States. Indians cannot go to the west, for tiie great ocean 
 would stop them ; nor turn to the north or south, for in e'ther 
 course are the hunting-grounds and dwelling-j:lacr's of other 
 tribes of your red brethren; no, nor can you go to any other 
 country, for all the countries on the globe, where Indians can 
 live as they now live, are already inhabited." 
 
 Among many very estiniablc people in the United 
 States, it has been a subject of constant regret with what 
 heartless disrcbpcct the ancient burial-places of the Abo- 
 rigines have been treated, and with what sliameless un- 
 concern the skulls uid bones of their ancestors arc every 
 day to be still seen turning over and over muler the 
 American plougli. We cannot admire the crocodile's 
 tears which the paternal a(/ent cfuulesccnded to drop on 
 that subject ;— 
 
 " Ckihlren, things being so, the wisest men among Indians 
 know not what to ad\ise, or what to do. They imagine that 
 the Grciit Spirit, of whose character and jjOvernment they 
 have but very imperfect ideas^ is angry with the red people, 
 and is destroying them, while He prospers the white people. 
 Aged and wise men among Indians, with whom I have con- 
 versed, think and talk of these things, till their countenances 
 become sad. Otw countenances are also sad, wdien we think 
 and talk of them. Hereafter, when these things shall have 
 come to pass. Christian Avhite people, who loved Indians, and 
 wished and endeavoured to save them, will visit their deserted 
 graves, and with weeping eyes exclaim, ' Here Indians once 
 lived — yonder were their hunting-grounds. Here they died — 
 
358 
 
 THE hed man. 
 
 '.)•■ I 
 
 in tliese mounds of earth the bones of many pfonemtions lie 
 buried toffcther. No Indian remains to watch over the bones 
 of his fathers — where are they ? — alas 1 poor Indiatis t ' But 
 I forbear to pursue these sad reflections. The prospect mu«t 
 fill your minds with sad apprehensions for yourselves and your 
 children, and sink your spirits, as it does taij oini. " ! 1 ! 
 
 The hearts of the auditory having been sufficiently 
 depressed, the only means of relief was at last pointed 
 out to them : — 
 
 " Children, I would not have presented this painful pro- 
 spect before you, had I not another to present, that I hope 
 will cheer your hearts, raise your s])irits, and brin'hten your 
 countenances. I have made you sorry, I will now endeavour 
 to make you glad. 
 
 " Children, be of good cheer. Though your situation and 
 prospects are now gloomy, they may change for the better. If 
 you desire to be happy, you may be ha])py. The means exist. 
 They are freely ottered to you. Suffer them to be usetl. 
 
 " Children, listen. I will tell you in few words what 
 your great Father, and the Christian white people, desire of 
 you. We impose nothing on you. We only lay before you oin* 
 opin'ons for you to consider. We do not dictate, as your su- 
 periors, but advise you as your friends. Consider our advice- 
 " Your father, the President, wishes Indians to partake, 
 with his white children, in all the blessings which they fn- 
 joy ; to have ore country, one government, the same laws, 
 Cxqual rights and j)rivileges, and to be in all respects on an 
 equal footing w'th them. 
 
 " To accomplish these good purposes, your great father, the 
 President, and your t-'hristian fathers, will send among you, at 
 their ovm, expense, good white men and women, to instruct you 
 and your children in everything that j)ertains to the civili>;:d 
 and Christian life." 
 
 i 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 359 
 
 Qfonerations He 
 ovor the bones 
 nd'umis ! ' But 
 prospect muHt 
 selves and your 
 "M."!!! 
 
 ;u sufKeiently 
 last pointed 
 
 is painful pro- 
 lit, tliat I hope 
 , l)ri<;hton your 
 now endeavour 
 
 r situation and 
 • the bettor. If 
 he means exist, 
 be used. 
 w words what 
 eo]tle, desire of 
 before you our 
 to, as yoiu' su- 
 dor our advice 
 ns to i)artako, 
 wliieli they fn- 
 the same law.s, 
 respects on an 
 
 roat father, the 
 
 amon;.^ you, at 
 
 to instruct you 
 
 to the civili>;?d 
 
 ; 
 
 1 
 
 The case and the prerliearaent in which they stood 
 having been pretty clearly stated, the poor Indians were 
 finally summoued to surrender in the following signifi- 
 cant words : — 
 
 " Cltilihr.n, other tribes are listening to these offers, and, wc 
 expect, win accejjt them. All who accept thera will be in the 
 way to be saved, and raised to respectability and usefulness in 
 life. Thoise who persist in rejecting them nnist, according to 
 all past exjierience, gradually waste away till all are gonr. 
 This we fully believe. Civ'dhdtlon or ruin are noio the unJy 
 altenuitUien of Judlans .'" 
 
 The alternatives thus oflered may be illustrated by the 
 following anecdote. Once upon a time a w liite man and 
 an Indian, who had agreed that, while hunting together, 
 they would share the game, found at night that the bag- 
 contained a fine turkey and a carrion buzzard. " Well ! " 
 said the white man to the red one, " we must now divide 
 what we have taken ; and therefore, if you please, / will 
 take the turkey, and you shall take the buzzard ; or else, 
 you may take the buzzard, and / will take the turkey ! " 
 "Ah!" replied the native hunter, shaking his black, 
 shaggy head, " you no say turkey for poor Indian once ! " 
 
 The cruel manner in which the imsuspecting Indians 
 have invariably been overreached has, at last, to a small 
 degree, planted in their bosoms suspicions wiiich arc not 
 indigenous to their natiu'c. " Your hearts seem good 
 outside now,"^ said an Iiuliau to a party of white people 
 who were making to Ills tribe violent professions ( \' 
 friendship ; " but we wish to try them three years, and 
 then we shall know whe^'icr they are good inside'^ 
 
360 
 
 TH3 RED MAN. 
 
 ,11 ! 
 
 Dr. Morse, in his report to the Secretary at War, says, 
 " Distrust unfortunately exists among the Indians. In 
 repeated interviews with them, after detailing to them 
 M'iiat good things their great father the President was 
 ready to bestow on them, if they were willing to receive 
 them, the chiefs significantly shook their heads and said, 
 " It may he so, or it may be not : we doubt it : WE 
 KNOW NOT WHAT TO BELIEVE !" 
 
 Now, surely there is something very shocking as well 
 as very hmniliating in the idea of our having ourselves 
 implanted this feeling against our race, in the minds of 
 men who, when any treaty among themselves has l)een 
 once ratified, by the delivery of a mere string of wampum 
 shells, will trust their lives and the lives of their families 
 to its faithful execution ! 
 
 In order to assist the officers of the Indian Department 
 in their arduoiis duty of persuading remote tribes to quit 
 their lands, it has often been found advisable to incur 
 the expense of inviting one or two of their chiefs 3000 or 
 4000 miles to Washington, in order that they should see 
 with their own eyes, and report to their tribes the irre- 
 sistil)le power of the nation with whom they were argu- 
 ing. This speculation has, it is said, in all instances, 
 more or less effected its object ; and among ■Nlr. Catlin's 
 pictiu'cs is the portrait of a Sachem, whose history and 
 fate may be worth recording. 
 
 For the reas<'us and for the object above stated, it was 
 deterniincd that this Chief should be invited from his 
 remote country to AVashington ; and accordingly in due 
 time he appeared there. After the troops had been 
 
THK RED MAX. 
 
 3(51 
 
 it War, says, 
 [lulians. In 
 ing to them 
 "resident was 
 ng to receive 
 ads and said, 
 mbt it: WE 
 
 eking as well 
 iuir ourselves 
 the minds of 
 ives has been 
 g of wampum 
 their families 
 
 n Department 
 tribes to quit 
 sable to iueur 
 cliiefsSOOOor 
 ley should see 
 ibes the irre- 
 3y were argu- 
 all instances, 
 K ]Mr. CatUn's 
 ^c history and 
 
 3 stated, it was 
 vitcd from his 
 rdingly in due 
 ops had been 
 
 made to manoeuvre before him ; after thundering volleys 
 of artillery had almost deafened him j and after eveiy 
 department had displayed to him all that was likely to 
 add to the terror and astonishment he had already expe- 
 rienced, the President, in lieu of the Indian's clothes, 
 presented him with a colonel's uniform, in which, and 
 with many other presents, the bewildered Sachem took 
 his departure. 
 
 In a pair of white kid gloves, — tight blue coat, with 
 gilt buttons, — gold epaulettes, — red sash, — cloth trousers 
 with straps, — high-heeled boots, — cocked hat surmoiuitctl 
 by a scarlet feather, — with a cigar in his mouth, — a green 
 umbrella in one hand, a yellow fan in the other, — and 
 with the neck of a whigky-l)ottle ])rotruding out of eaeli 
 of the two tail-pockets of his regimental coat, — this 
 " monkey that had seen the world " suddenly appeared 
 before the chiefs and warriors of his tribe ; and as, straight 
 as a ramrod, he stood before them, in a high state of 
 perspiration, caused by the tightness of his finery, while 
 the ^ool fresh air of heaven blew over the unrestrained 
 naked limbs of his spectators, it might, perhaps, not 
 unjustly have been said of the two costumes, " IVhich is 
 the SAVAGE?" 
 
 In return for the presents he had received, and with a 
 desire to impart as much information as possible to his 
 tribe, he undertook to deliver to them a course of lec- 
 tures, in which he graphically described all that he had 
 witnessed. For awhile he was listened to with atten- 
 tion ; but as soon as the minds of his audience had re- 
 ceived as much as they could hold, they began to evince 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 

 362 
 
 TllE RED MAN. 
 
 
 symptoms of disbelieving him. Nothing daunted, how- 
 ever, the traveller still proceeded. He told them about 
 wigwams, in which 1000 peojjlc could at one time pray 
 together to the Great Spirit ; of others five stories high, 
 built in lines, facing each other, and extending over an 
 enormous space : he told them of war-canoes that could 
 hold 1200 warriors. For some time he was treated 
 merely with ridicule and contempt ; but when, reso- 
 lutely continuing to recount his adventures, he told them 
 that he had seen White people in a canoe attached to a 
 great ball, rise into the clouds and travel through the 
 heavens, — the medicine, mystery, or learned men of his 
 tribe pronounced him to be an impostor, and the mul- 
 titude vociferously declaring "that he was too great a 
 liar to live" a young warrior, in a paroxysm of anger, 
 levelleda rifle at his head and blew his brains out. 
 
 Before, however, the civilized world passes its hasty 
 sentence upon this wild tribe for their incredulity, in- 
 justice, and cruelty, we feel it but justice to these Red 
 men merely to whisper the name of James Buuce, of 
 
 KiNNAIKD ! 
 
 Although we do not approve either of the extent to 
 which, or of the manner in which, the Indian tribes have 
 1-een forced to quit their lands in the Republican States 
 of America, yet, in spite of all our regard for this noble 
 and injured race, we cannot but admit that, to a certain 
 degree, the Government even of this country ought to 
 effect their removal. We have painfully and practically 
 reflected on the subject ; and to those who may object to 
 our opinions, we can truly say, that they caimot be more 
 
 \ s 
 
THE BED MAN. 
 
 363 
 
 luntcd, how- 
 them about 
 ic time pray 
 stories high, 
 ling over an 
 js that could 
 Avas treated 
 when, reso- 
 he told them 
 ittached to a 
 I through the 
 d men of his 
 md the ni\xl- 
 is too great a 
 sm of anger, 
 ns out. 
 5ses its hasty 
 icrcdulity, in- 
 to these Red 
 ES BuucE, of 
 
 the extent to 
 an tribes have 
 ublican States 
 
 for this noble 
 it, to a certain 
 ntry ought to 
 ind practically 
 
 may object to 
 aunot be more 
 
 anxious than we have been to arrive at an oj)[)osite con- 
 clusion : but our judgment has reluctantly surrendered 
 to facts which it found to be irresistible, and to impend- 
 ing circumstances, which, when considered upon the spot, 
 appeared to be inevitable. 
 
 Where the White inhabitants of both continents of 
 America are in possession of infinitely more land than 
 they can cultivate, it is of course an act of unnecessary 
 cruelty, and of greedy injustice, to provide and speculate 
 for the future by taking forcible possession of remote 
 Indian territory, upon which the Aborigines are happily 
 existing. But, from rapid settlement caused by emigra- 
 tion from the Old World, it occasionally happens that a 
 considcrr ,ble tract of Indian land, which has long been in 
 the immediate neighbourhood of Whites, becomes abso- 
 lutely surrounded; or, in military language, invested by 
 agriculturists ; in which case it is as much a stumbling- 
 block to civilization as an ancient rock would be, if 
 left standing in the middle of the Queen's highway. 
 At what rate, and under what laws, civilization oiight 
 to advance, it might be possible to prescribe ; but, 
 \\'hcrever the banks which arrested it have given way, 
 and wherever the torrent, imder such circumstances, has 
 rushed forwards, whether it be right or wliether it be 
 wrong, it becomes practically impossible to maintain 
 anything in the rear. 
 
 In the instances to which we have alluded, we have 
 seen the agricidtural interests of a vast territory com- 
 pletely beimmbed by the intervention between it and 
 the capital, of an Indian hunting-ground, which, like 
 
3(54 
 
 THE lil!;i) MAN. 
 
 I a 
 
 ( I 
 
 ( .'U 
 
 a, tmu'iiiquct, hns atopprd the circulation that sliniild 
 natiiniUy have nourished it. 
 
 'I'his hirgc expanse of rich l.'md is octasiot ally t'onnd 
 to be inhabited by, perhaps, only n hundred, or a luni- 
 dred and twenty Indians, the children of whom are, 
 Avithout a single exception, lialt'-castes; the women dirty, 
 l)rotligatc, and abandoned; the men miserable victims 
 of intem])erance and vice. A considerable portion ol 
 them are half-breeds ; but even those whos(^ red faces, 
 shaggy locks, beardless chins, and small Ixuuitiful feet, 
 prove tht!ni to be Indians, arc so only in name; for the 
 spirit of the wild man has lied from them, and, nn- 
 Morthy i;iuirdians of the tombs of their ancestors, they 
 wandi !• among them, — 
 
 "like Grccinn <jliosts 
 That in battle weiv slain, anil nnbui'iod remain 
 Inglorious on the plain." 
 
 Jiut besides their moral degradation, they are often 
 found almost starvhig from hunger, in consccpicncc of 
 their game having, in all directions, been cut ott'. In 
 fact, their country, like themselves, has, a])par(;ntly, lost 
 its character ; and, however mc may have failed to de- 
 scribe it, nothing can be more miserable, .and more 
 affecting than the real scene. In the meanwliile, the 
 murmur of discontent uttered by the AMiite population 
 tigainst the miasmatical existence of such a stagnant 
 evil, is yearly so increasing in tone and in anger, that, 
 unless their cry of " OJf, ojf! " 1)e attend(>d to, there 
 can be little doubt that acts of violence will be com- 
 mitted ; and yet, in s])itc of all tliesc existing and 
 
hat should 
 
 1 ally found 
 1, or Ji huu- 
 whotn JU'o, 
 omen dirty, 
 Mc victims 
 ; portion ot 
 o red faces, 
 ;autiful i'cc.t, 
 Lvno ; for the 
 tu, and, un- 
 ccbtors, they 
 
 mam 
 
 y are often 
 nse(i\icnce of 
 cut ofl'. In 
 )areutlv, lost 
 failed to de- 
 and more 
 .'ainvhile, the 
 te population 
 h a stagnant 
 1 anger, that, 
 ded to, there 
 will be com- 
 cxisting and 
 
 THE RED MAN. 
 
 3(55 
 
 impending calamities, it is often almost impossible to 
 [lersuade the Indians to consent to move away; for the 
 more their minds are degraded, the greater is the 
 natural apathy they display: besides which, th- _, -re 
 alii invariably under a secret intangible iif'.Hv.u-c, 
 V ' '• some self-interested object or otht; dueci y.;,. 
 
 I'll y !• them most obstinately to decline changing 
 tlu 1 V .iSt ace. Uniler these distressing circuinstanees, 
 it therefore must eventually become necessary for the 
 Government to exert itself in effecting the removal of 
 a set of beings whose game has li'ijUhnaU'hj been cut 
 off by the sm'rounding " clearances " of European emi- 
 grants, — 'who will neither till the ground themselves, nor 
 allow others, by the sweat of their broWj to do so. 
 
 To pay down to a squalid, degraded, miserable set of 
 half-castes — who arc evidently in the clutches of design- 
 ing men, and from whom anything paid to them could 
 be abstracted by whisky — as much money as their 
 country is worth to White peopjc for the purpose of 
 cultivation ; — to heap upon them the value of all the 
 water-power, minerals, etc., it may possess, — appears 
 not only unnecessary, but absurd. On the other hand, 
 it would be ungenerous to pay them no more, after all 
 the game has been cut off from their country, than 
 under such circumstances it is actually worth to tUcm. 
 Between these tAvo extremes, it is, we humbly conceive, 
 the duty of a powerful nation and of a just govern- 
 ment, parentally to make such arrangements as shall 
 materially better _tlic conditioE of tlic remnant of any 
 tribe that, under the circumstances detailed, it may be 
 
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366 
 
 THE RBD MAN. 
 
 if 
 
 absolutely necessary to remove; and if this point be 
 honourably effected, their migration will be certainly 
 one of_those results of the White man's progress^of 
 which they will have the least reason to complain. 
 
 We have now concluded our imperfect outline or 
 ch art of the mai n roads in both hemispheres of America, 
 upon which the civiliz ed world ha s been , and still is, 
 gradually, recklessly, and culpably p ursuing " its course 
 to the Occ ident ;" and certainly it must be impossible 
 for any just man to witness the se tting s un rest for a 
 moment upon the country known in America by the 
 appellation of " the Far- West," wit ■ out feeling that its 
 blood^rcd brightness which, in effulgent beams, is seen 
 imparting its colour to every cloud around it, is but an 
 appropriate emblem of the Indian race, which, rapidly 
 sinking from our view, will be soon involved in im- 
 penetrable darkness : and, yet, he might as well endea- 
 vour to make the declining planet stand still upon the 
 summit of the Rocky Mountains before him, as attempt 
 to arrest the final e xtermJTiation of t he Indian^ race ; for 
 if, while the White population of North America, before 
 it has swelled into fourteen millions, has, — as has actually 
 been the case — reduced an Indian population of nearly 
 fourteen millions to three millions, what must be the 
 progressive destruction of the remnant of these unfortu- 
 nate people now that the dreadful engine, which, like 
 the car of Jaggemaut, crushes all that lies before it, 
 has got its "steam up," and consequently, that its 
 power, as well as its propensity to advance, has almost 
 indefinitely increased ? From the Pacific Ocean towards 
 
THE RED MAN. 
 
 367 
 
 his point be 
 be certainly 
 1 progregs^of 
 aplain. 
 t outline or 
 IS of America, 
 and still is, 
 ; " its cg ujBP 
 be impossible 
 lun rest for a 
 aerica by the 
 eling that its 
 beams, is seen 
 id it, is but an 
 which, rapidly 
 irolved in im- 
 is well endea- 
 still upon the 
 im, as attempt 
 dian race ; for 
 Lmerica, before 
 as has actually 
 ion of nearly 
 must be the 
 ;hese unfortu- 
 which, like 
 lies before it, 
 ■ntly, that its 
 ce, has almost 
 Ocean towards 
 
 the East, the same irresistible power is in operation. 
 Along both the continents, which are bordered by the 
 Pacific, the White man's face is directed towards those 
 of his own race, who, as we have seen, arc rapidly ad- 
 vancing towards him from the regions of tlie Atlantic ; 
 and whenever the triumphant moment of their collision 
 shall arrive, — wliether the hands of the Whiti^ men meet 
 in friendship or in war, — Where, we ask, will be thi: 
 Indian race? — What will have become of 
 
 "THE RED MAN"? 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
 .tOHN En-.VAllU TAVLOB, I'lltNtKK, 
 LITIIK QCEEN STllEKT, MdCOl-Il's IJfS VIEL09.