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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 1 3 4 5 6 RAMBLES IN THE H > UNITED STATES AND CANADA CL'lilNG THE YKAR 18^5, ««Tn A SHOHT ACCOUNT OF OREGON. Br RUBIO. I<; •' The Land of the Free, »nd the Home of the Brave ! " " A great country tliis ! ! ! " " The Queen of the World, und the Child of the Skies ! ! ! " Common Amiricun Sayinys. 'VA LONDON : JOHN OLLIVIER, 6^) PALLMALL. MDCCCXl-VI. \-\ •.X '* . h O X I) O N : I'kimeu bi Hf.YNELL ANi> Weight, LniLK PutTENEY STKJEEI. PC Ts 'J London. My DEAu Sir, 1 liJid proposed during u lute trip to New York to write you ii series of letters, descrip- tive of the United Stat^^s, and the impressions made upon my mind during a few months' tra- velling through that country. But, somehow or other, I never felt in the vein, and therefore preferred the leisure of the voyage homc^ and such accommodations as are to be met with in a private cabin, to give you these; Rambles all of a heap, and thus save you, at least, the expense of foreign postage. Hoping you will make allowance for the tossing of a ship, and not consider the book too curiously, but rather as the plain sentiments of a practical ^^O) I remain. My dear Sir, Your ever obliged friend, Paris, October, 184r>. -■A ' . ,' I ::. 'If (• ; 1 ' ^ . .1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. TAOK Introductory — Nature in America Great and Grand— Men con- temptible — i'ulpit Denunciation — American Manners sind Morals — Coimtry not adapted for Farm Emigrants — Union not Per- manent—Weakness of the Executive — C)i)inions of Foreigners — Dickens and Trollope— Horrid Climate of tlie States — Mortality — 474 Deaths in New York weekly — Superiority of England CHAPTER II. New York — Arrival and Pilot— Pilots all Teetotallers — Pilots' Newspapers— Swampy Coast — Feeling of Disappointment— Erro- neous Notions of Englishmen respecting America.! Freedom — American Bombast — Landing at Puddle Dock — No Lodgings — New Yoi'k Filth — The Port — No Names to the Streets — Fires every Night — Boarding- 1 louses — Nothing eatable or drinkable in them — Americans adalteratc everything— Eat like Wolves — Men have no Shoulders, Females no Bosoms — Ladies far from Pretty — No old Peojjle to be seen — Steam -Boats, fifteen make a Mile — People all Water- J^rinkers — Clergy not given to Wine — All Teetotallers — No Pledge, no Congregation, Ardent Sjjirits publicly Denounced by Six I'residents II CHAPTER III. Poor Shops — Fire-Engines — Gratuitous System does not answer — River Hudson — Bottle of Port charged 32s. 6d. — American Mar- kets bad — King of AUeghania — Fruit and Vegetables scarce — Punch and Mrs Caudle — Trade in Cheap Publications — Moving the Mansion House — Brooklyn Ferry — Freedom witliout Law — Universal Suffrage does not answer — Mob Law — I'olk the Great Unknown — His roaring means nothing — Annexation of Canada — Newspaper Press— Penny advertising .... .'$1 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. I'AOE One T'lmrch to every Throe Hundred Inhabitants— Alterations in the B(K)k of Common Prayer — Kxpeeted Visit of Queen Victoria to America — Notliing Permanent — All tiie Presidents have died Poor — Anurieans an unKrateful People — l)e Witt Clinton and Whitney — Salaries of Public Men — Ihmse Rent enormous — Public Buildings — PajH'r Currency— liank note Enj^ravinj^a ffooemocracy — King of Mississippi — Probable Changes — Railway through the Desert to secure ( )regon — Americans should buy our CLiim for 5,000.000/. — Tiie other Alternative more expensive — American Policy should l)e Peace — Non-interference — Wheat 16a'. per Quarter — English Corn and Cattle Laws bad ....... 149 CHAPTER X. Crowded Rmts— Frightful Climate — Neither Iowa nor Wiskonsin recommended — Philadelphia Poor Place — Folly of High Tariffs — Poor Manufactures — Yellow Fever — Hoots and Shoes — Wooden Clocks — Paper Mills— Soap— City of Hrotherly Jiove the most disturbed in the Union— Constant Assassinations — Ha- zardous Risks — Fire Insurance — Army and Navy — Fifty For- midable Siiips — No Grog — Flowers of Rhetoric — New Post-Offlce 171 VI 11 CONTKNTS. CILVPTEIl XI. r.\(JK Ivluciition -Ix>arnc(l I'rofoasors - National Hank impossiMc for Want of Honest Mrn — TIu! Voluntary I'rim'iplf — Frwliold I'ews — Cliapc'l Speculations — Heliyidiis ^k!ct8 Harniii'ss — ("hurch turned into Post Ottieo - His Kxeellency the Hov. Mr Kven-tt, late Minister at St James's — Mr M'lxan— Mr Maniy — Public Lotteries — Provision for the Poor — AnuTieans have no Music in their Souls — Two Drunken IJishops — Conclusion . .188 CHAPTER XII. Nkw Knoi.ani) Statics : Maine— New IlampHliirc — Vermont — Massachusetts — llliode Island — ('t>i.i: Statks : New York New Jersey — Pennsylvania- Delaware. Soltiikhn Statkh: Maryland — IMstrict of ''olumi)ia — Virffinia — N(»rth Carolina South Carolina— Georgia — Florida— Alaiiania — Mis- sissippi -liOuiHiunu. Westkhn Statks : Oiiio — Kentucky — 'I'cn- nessee — Michigan — Indiana — Illinois — Missouri— Arkansas — Wisconsin — Iowa — Texas ..... I!) 8 APPENDIX. GEOORAruKAL AND Gknekal Vieav OK OuEoox : Its Islands — The Coast and its Harbours. Tiik Natlual Divijiiuns ok Orkoos: The Three liegions — Climate and Characteristics of the Three Regions— Its liivers ..... ^i-i .. i RAMDLES IN THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. >-24 Introduct .. Nature 5n America Gr^at and Grand— "^'er con- temptible — l*ulpit Denunciation — Aniericun Manners ai)d Morals - Country not adapted for Farm Emigrants — Union not Atr- maucnt —Weakness of the Executive — Opinions of > oreignors — Dickens and TrolIoj)e— Horrid Climate of the Stat* a — Mortality — 474 Deaths in New York weekly — Superiority of England. Nothing can be more unlike our previously con- ceived notions of any country tiian the reality on ai'iival. All the books that have ever been written on the subject of America, from Fearon to Toque- ville, are quite inadoquate to give the reader any- thing more than a very vague and faint idea of the Great Republic, as the natives delight to call it. All that nature has done for America is great and noble, on a magnificent and gigantic scale ; her rivers, mountains, lakes, cataracts, forests, plains, minerals, heats, frosts, fevers, and premature deaths, are all astounding and calculated to inspire us with awe. B 2 PULPIT DENUNCIATIOX. I»< But, on the other hand, it is not so with the in- liabitants ; the men inspire us with very different feelings from their vulgarity, hypocrisy, ignorance, and dishonesty, together with their constant sordid and grovelling pursuit of dollars and cents, and in obtaining which they do not appear to be particu- larly successful, as there is scarce a dollar to be seen in circulation through the whole country. With regard to the barefaced hypocrisy and dis- honesty of Americans in the eastern and middle States, I am perfectly borne out by one of their most clever and popular preachers, who said in one of his most admired sermons, delivered in New England, — " You come here, and by a listless atten- dance at the House of God on Sundays, and the austere observance of the appointed fast days, you exjiect to atone for all your wicked actions, wrong thoughts, and unholy feelings in the past week — a six days' life of meanness, deception, rottenness, and sin /" Who knew so well as this eminent teacher and preacher the weak points of his congregation ? And how can we look with anything like respect upon a people who deserve such a severity of reproof ? The fact is, it is not in the nature of things for an American to listen to the old saying, that " Honesty is the best policy ; " they cannot believe it ; and, whilst the nations of all the rest of the world look upon it, not only as a wise proverb, but an axiom of the profoundest philosophy, the American read- ;..■ .1' ,■• « AMERICAN MANNERS AND MORALS. 3 ing is entirely diiferent, their maxim being that " Roguery is the best policy I " I certainly will not go so far as a French friend of mine who had resided twenty-five years in the States, and gave it as his opinion, that the next best speculation, after General Tom Thumb, would be to find a complete American gentleman — that rara avis in ^erm— and exhibit him in London and Paris at a shilling a head I Though every one must admit, who travels through the United States, that the human- izing influences of polished society are entirely want- ing throughout that country : and, therefore, it is no wonder the Americans are generally vulgar : but why they should be hypocrites in the northern States, rogues in the middle, and ruffians in the south, is not so easily accounted for. The western states have as yet hardly earned any peculiar and distin- guishing character, except for industry and enter- prise under all the disadvantages of a deadly clunate. I have no hesitation in pronouncing the United States of America an inferior country : and after 150,000 miles of travelling in every comer of the world, my opinion may be entitled to some little degree of credit. Every one that emigrates to that country will be disappointed, except the wild Irish, who, though they cannot well be worse off than they are in Connaught and Munster, may be constantly heard grumbling by the side of their wheelbarrows, in New York, wishing to be back to their hovels I- i'll \f ll» IF it ji* i»( 4 UNION NOT PERMANENT. and potatoe-parlngs in Ould Ireland. As for making any comparison between the United States and the United Kingdom, it is out of the question, and would be entirely degrading to Great Britain ; and I should as soon think of comparing Caj)tain Tyler, who, by the accidental death of General Harrison, became President of the United States, and was nicknamed in consequence His Accidency ; I should as soon think of comparing the two countries to- gether, as I should compare the President of Ame- rica with Queen Victoria; the one, as I have seen him, combing his hair with a filthy comb tied up with a piece of string, in a steam-boat, and washing himself with a jack-towel in common with fifty other dirty passengers: and the other, whom every Briton delighteth to honour — the real Queen of the richest, most powerful, and most stupendous empire the world ever saw, upon which the sun ne\er sets, and the booming of whose morning and evening guns Is a perpetual salute from station to station round the globe. With regard to the probable permanency of the American Union, in the present infancy of the Re- public, it is only possible to venture an opinion. The Americans themselves are everlastingly bragging that they will soon reckon a hundred millions of inhabi- tants, stretching from ocean to ocean; and that, as soon as they have got their navy yards and line-of- battle ships at the mouth of the Oregon, all other III •rtv - it WEAKNESS OF THE EXECUTIVE. 5 nations may shut up shop, and that " Rule Britannia " will then become an empty boast. Now, when we consider that this best of all possible governments is only an experiment of some sixty years' standing, it would become the Americans, if they had any grain of modesty, but which they unfortunately have not, to pause before they crow over the other poor deluded nations of Europe, as they call them, and ask them- selves where all the present fury of party politics, ti.vi wickedness, bribery, and corruption of their government, the reckless aggrandisement and exten- sion of their territory to Texas and Oregon is to end i And the most difficult of all, what is to become of the three millions of discontented slaves, and their constant increase, in a land whose written constitu- tion sets out by proclaiming to mankind that all men are born free and equal I It needs no ghost to come from the grave to tell us that the glory will be departed from the United States long before they attain their expected popula- tion of a hundred millions, and that, long before that j)eriod, the " Queen of the World and the child of the skies" will most likely be split into three or four separate governments. The present cabinet of Colo- nel Polk is weak in the extreme, and so are all the heads of departments ; and we all know to be weak is to be miserable. The chief himself is already tired of his elevation, which he finds to be not altogether a bed of velvet \ and, though it may be fun to the "V • t:\ •1 I: 6 WEAKNESS OF THE EXECUTIVE. it democrats who elected him, the Great Unknown, out of sheer opposition to a worthy and virtuous man, Henry Clay, yet it was death to him, and he publicly declared, before he had been three months at the White House, that he had no intention, at the end of his four years of kingship, to offer himself again as representative of the sovereign people ! The Colo- nel is considered by the few who know him as a plain, straightforward man for a lawyer, with firm- ness and courage, but knows nothing of the science of government, which should only be entrusted to him who possesses most virtue, most knowledge, and most intellect. But these, though they are recom- mendations in old and experienced countries, are the very worst and most fatal qualifications to a candi- date's success in America for the presidential chair. JVo honest man can ever be President of America again. The day of the Washingtons and Jeffersons is past, never to return. The people publicly declare that they do not want the best man ; they want the most available man. If you elect me I will appoint you ; and as all the servants of the Government are abruptly turned out at a general election every four years, it gives the new President immense patronage, and for the first half-year of his office he is obliged to work like a horse in considering upon and filling up the ten thousand offices that suddenly become vacant. " Rotation to office" is one of the watchwords of every party in America, but particularly of the democrats. |ri' •I 1 OPINIONS OF FOREIGNERS. 7 All classes in America are excessively greedy of praise ; the love of approbation, as Combe would say, being strongly developed in their crania. Notwith- standing the repeated warnings they have received, they cannot believe it possible that the strictures of Mrs TroUope or Dickens can have emanated from anything but a spirit of rancour and national jealousy. With regard to Boz, this was the unkindest cut of all ; and I need not caution that clever writer to steer clear of the United States for the remainder of his natural existence, for if they were to catch him in Broadway not all the 8,000 Irishmen forming the grand army of the United States, if they were sud- denly recalled from Texas, Florida, the Canadian and Indian frontiers, would be able to protect Mr Dickens from being tarred and feathered. They do not like the truth, and will not tolerate it from any man. Whilst to praise the Americans and their in- stitutions is still worse than to show up their defects ; and you thus most certainly secure their abuse, at the same time you confirm them in their prejudices ; when by the other open and honest way, you at least open the door to improvement, though the galled jade may wince. The Scotch, who in many respects I am sorry to say resemble the Americans, hated Dr Johnson for abusing their barren country, and for saying that he did not see a tree there larger than his walking-stick. The consequence was immediately seen in rewards n-.; I. ,1 • ;, > ♦. I . ,' 8 HORRID CLIMATE OF THE STATES. offered by various agricultural meetings to the largest planters ; and the forests of larch and firs over many parts of Scotland, at the present day, testify to the good use the canny Highlandnian made of the Doc- tor's abuse. So it is in America; many of the improvements making and made in their social state, are attributable to the showing up of English travellers. There is one more subject which may as well be alluded to thus early, as it is of the very last import- ance when speaking of the United States, but which has never been prominently brought forward by any writer on that country, at least in the manner it deserves, and that is, the climate, which I consider ta be the worst in the world, that is in the temperate regions of the world from 23i deg. to 66| deg. The writer's opinion is that there is not an inch of the country but what labours under the most unfortu- nate and intolerable climate. On the *2\iih of May last, in New York, the frost was so severe as to cut off every green thing. The thermometer fell to 24 deg., and on the 18th July the same thermometer was up to 104 deg., showing a rise of 80 deg. in less than two months.* During the cold on the 29th May, it seemed as if the marrow had all left the l»«, *♦ By an account in an American print it appears that in the west- ern country at sun rise, lately, the thermometer indicated 18 deg., and at noon of tlie same day it stood at 94 deg., a difference of 76 deg. of temperature in about five or six hours ! MORTALITY. 9 bones, and every one stood shivering almost Incapa- ble of exertion. Not that 24 deg. of cold is any- thing very intolerable when it comes at Christmas or in January or February, but here the excessive cold had been preceded by some extraordinary hot weather in the middle of May, and the sudden transition which occurred In the short space of nine or ten days made the sensation of cold on the 29th May most acute and painful ; but there is a remedy for cold, however severe— additional clothing, additional fires, and extra exercise. But how are you to alleviate great heat ? In the night as well as day, on the sea- board of the States it is all the same, and even at Boston, the head-quarters of ice, the thermometer in July was a degree or two higher than at New York : the heat of Calcutta and Jamaica, without the luxuries or the conveniences of the first, or the sea-breezes of the.last. And yet, with all this miser- able heat, when people are dying on every hand around you,* and you are incapable of the slightest n-':.V I, ,(•.'. ..'' ... * The Weekly Report of deaths in New York, for the week end- ing 20th July, 1845, and signed by Cornelids Archer, City Inspector, was four hundred and seventy-four in a population of 350,000, whilst in the same week in London, the Report published gave eight hundred and forty-four deaths. Now, reckoning the difference of the population of the two cities, London, according to the proportion in New York, ought to show a mortality of 3,000 deaths per week! And yet London is not so well supplied with water as New York, and the drunkenness of London is beyond all comparison greater than in the American city. 4H t 10 SUPEIIIORITT OF ENGLAND. exertion, the country cannot produce an orange or a bunch of grapes, because it is too cold I For beef, pork, and butter, wheat, and Indian corn, these main requisites and necessaries of life, the United States excel all other countries, but beyond this you must look in vain for the comforts, enjoy- ments, luxuries, and the elegantiie et dcliciae vitae of a residence in any part of London. I havft long made up my mind that a shilling in England is better than a dollar or 4s. in the United States, and it is some comfort to know that it is far easier to earn the shil- ling in England than the dollar in America ; and fur- ther than this I feel convinced that the better class of London mechanics, those who earn their fifty, sixty, ar.d seventy shillings per week, eat and drink every day of their lives better and nicer food than two-thirds of the inhabitants of the United States from the President downwards. But, not to detain the reader further, we will proceed to our arrival in and first impressions of America. I»!1-' CHAPTER II. New York — Arrival and Pilot— Pilots all Teetotallerfl — Pilots Newspapers— Swampy Coast — Feeling of Disappointment— Erro- neous Notions of Englishmen respecting American Freedom — American Bombast — Landing at Puddle Dock — No Ix)dgings — New York Filth— The Port— No Names to the Streets— Fires every Night — ^Boarding-Housefl— Nothing eatable or drinkable in them — Americans adulterate everything— Eat like Wolves — Men have no Shoulders, Females no Bosoms — Ladies far from Pretty-r-No old People to be seen — Steam-Boats, fifteen make a Mile — People all Water- IMnkers — Clergy not given to Wine- All Teetotallers — No Pledge, no Congregation, Ardent Spirits publicly Denounced by Six Presidents. We arrived on the coa8t of America from the tro- pics ; there were no other passengers but a young American and myself. We were steering for Cape Hatteras, weather cold and squally, and I shivered up on deck, hearing that we were laying the ship to, previous to sounding with the deep-sea lead. We were in sixty fathoms, and yet no land to be seen. We kept on sounding and shoaling till we descried a pilot-boat from Cape May. They came alongside, but hearing that we were bound for New York, these Philadephian gentlemen would have nothing to do k ' )'i, 13 PILOTS ALL TEETOTALLERS. m with U8 ; but the following day another pretty little schooner, having a large painted distinguishing mark in her sails, came very near to us in a rough and stormy sea, and we backed the head- sails whilst the pilot came on board in a little cockle-shell of a dingy, that you could almost carry under your arm. We were very glad to get him on board ; and, after admiring the elegant and fairy-like proportions of his watery home, the schooner shoved off, and we began to ask the news. The pilot service of the port of New York may be considered as nearly per- fect ; it consists of thirteen schooners, of about sixty, seventy, up to ninety tons burthen, and costing six and seven thousand dollars each. There are seventy pilots, all middle-aged men, and none are eligible except total abstinence men; therefore vessels are never lost owing to drunken pilots ; this is impossible. The English might here borrow a leaf out of the American book. It frequently happens, on arriving in the English channel, that the pilot who boards you is a man of seventy years of age, and I have known him hoisted up with a tackle, because he was too infirm for climbing up the side-ladder ; but an important service like that of pilots should be limited to the ages be- tween thirty and sixty. And, moreover, the first thing an English pilot asks for, is a glass of grog ; whilst the New York pilot who boarded us, a hun- dred miles from the port, in common with the other .;; : ' • ' NEWSPAPERS. 13 ... I* sixty-nine of the fraternity, are pledged to drink nothing stronger than tea or coffee, or they would be refused a licence. We were very much amused with the variety of fresh newspapers which the pilot kept pulling out of his pockets, large and close-printed, the size of the * Morning Advertiser ' in London, and published at a halfpenny each ! True they Avere on inferior paper, badly printed, with worn-out type, with violent language, personalities, and party politics, for the stock in trade of the editor. " Ah," said the pilot, " it is party that is killing our country." But the weather was so cold and cheerless that I could no longer remain on deck. We were running along an extremely low sandy coast, with salt water ponds inside the sand hills, the great nursery of the large oysters for the New York market. It is a low miserable shore all the way to New York, and was enough to strike a damp into our minds, being so different from the splendid mountains we had left only a few weeks before. This first sight of the North American continent continued two days, and was calculated greatly to depress us, particularly as we had been all the voyage, with the prompting and assistance of our young American fellow-passenger, filling our imaginations with the idea of the beautiful land we were approaching, its astonishing greatness in physics and morals, and the overwhelming splen- dour of New York, not forgetting Niblo's and Castle "• - ' •;- 14 FEELING OF DISAPPOINTMENT. i I m Gardens. Notwithstanding this first disajipointment of the low, sandy, 8waini)y and unhealthy coast, I was determined to be pleased with everything, and to become, in short, an American in feeling ; and as I had long been familiar with all her popular institu- tions, and model of cheap and eiFective government, it was not impossible but I might purchase a small property in the country, and so become a naturalized citizen of the Great Republic. I really was ena- moured, before landing, with everything American, from universal suffrage down to her rocking chairs, and used to think that we were centuries behind her in the science of legislation and cheap govern- ment. I had been taught that monarchy was naturally extravagant, splendid, and expensive ; that it was careless of the sufferings of the people ; and |)rovided it could succeed in raibing the taxes, it thought of nothing else but the interests and enjoy- ments of courts and courtiers. But we were now passing the entrance to the Bay of New York, or the " Narrows" as it is called, about three quarters of a mile wide, and it all looked very pretty, and newly })ainted ; but still all flat and low. Fort Lafayette is on the right hand going in, and is considered, in the hyperbolical language of America, another Gibraltar. There are also a few fortifications on the left hand, opposite to the Fort Lafayette. But the * Queen' and the * Howe,' with the * Great Western ' lashed between them, and of course protected by them, would AMEUIOAN nOMBAST. 15 render the American Gibraltar, like the Chinese B orts in the Bocca Tigris, a dead letter in about fifteen minutca ! "la not that a beautiful flag ?" said my young American friend, pointing to the national colours ; " can anything be finer than this glorious expanse of water ? You that have seen the Bay of Naples, which do you prefer, Naples or New York ?" " Gently, gently, my dear friend ; you are getting on too fas'" . perhaps you will allow me to ask a question ; wiiich of the two great modern poems do you prefer, * Childe Harold,' or * Cock Robin ? " But in the true American ignorance, he candidly replied that he could not say, for he had never read either. We were now actually stepping on shore at the Battery Point, the universal landing-place for every person arriving in New York. It is exactly like Puddle dock, Blackfriars, where the scavengers collect and transfer the stinking accumulations of rottenness and filth to be sold for manure. Had it been summer, and under the fervid beams of a New York sun, it must have produced malaria and sick- ness, but these people think nothing of these things. As 1 waa not troubled with anything more than a carpet bag, having left our luggage on board the ship, I preferred proceeding on foot ; so, leaving the said travelling bag in charge of an honest-looking Irishwoman selling cakes, with carders to deliver it f I jl*'' .'» 16 NO LODGINGS. 'i to nobody but myself, I set oflP to look for lodgings. But, after walking up Broadway and most of the principal streets of the city, I could not discover one single bill up, in any of the windows as I walked along. This I thought very characteristic and singular, and rather a prosperous sign. In the same length of walk in London I could have counted a thousand, either " Apartments Furnished," " Room to Let," " Lodg- ings for a Single Gentleman," " Unfurnished Rooms," or something of the kind, but in New York, after three hours' trudge, not one solitary notice of the kind. I knew that it was not the fashion to live on the soli- tary system, but to congregrte in boarding houses, and 80, after a very agreeable and instructive walk of about three hours through the principal streets of the city, I returned to the old cake woman, and recovered the carpet bag, and proceeded in a cab to one of the neighbouring boarding houses. My walk had led me through some of the dirtiest streets I had ever seen in my life. Seven years Augean collection of all sorts of nastiness seemed to be here ripening for the first summer's sun, to regale the noses of the New Yorkers, and yet there is no lack of street inspectors ; I was told there are upwards of a dozen ; but they, like all other employees, appear to make their offices nothing more than a great school of politics. But the first glance at the port of New York stamps it at once as the greatest seat of commerce in the world, London alone excepted. NEW YORK FILTH. 17 Bristol and Liverpool, Hamburg, Havre, Bordeaux, and Marseilles, Lisbon and Cadiz, Calcutta and Bombay, Bahia or Rio de Janeiro, are all contempti- ble in comparison of New York as a sea-port, which seems to be formed by nature as the chief emporium of shipping of the civilized world. The city is also well laid out, the streets long and straight, though, being built on a low, swampy, narrow island, it is all length and no breadth, and the price of building land must therefore go on continually advancing in the neighbourhood of the Park, Astor House, and other favourite localities for business. Strange to say, with all the accumulated filth in the streets down town, as it is called, the inhabitants of this great maritime city think New York the cleanest place in the world ; and stranger still, though I was nearly breaking my neck every five minutes in looking up to find the names of the streets, they have a repugnance to have them written up, though every house in the business part of the city is plastered over with enormous letters, from the basement to the attics, wit hi the names and callings of the fifty different people that dwell therein, yet they will not write up the names of their streets. In London, but more especially in Paris, it is universally the practice to put up the namey at every comer of the city ; and in the French capital they are much more elegantly painted, and better attended to, than in London. The Croton Aqueduct is deservedly the pride of c 2 , r ""v ■ * ''I t ' ,< ■ !'' V I f I.. ■ . •! ta FIRES EVERY NIGHT. ♦flf:f :i ' the city. It has cost twelve millions of dollars, and competent engineers have assured me that it might have been done for nine millions. But if it had cost twenty millions it would have been cheap ; for it has distributed health and cleanliness, comfort and cheer- fulness, all through the extensive city, and the rates of fire insurance fell one-half from the day the plugs were opened to the public. The first night I slept in New York there was a large fire, but nobody regarded it, as it only con- sumed nineteen houses. The next night there was another, and not a night or a day passed without one ; and many months after the first night of my return to New York, after a tour to the Mississippi, burst forth the great fire of 20th July ; at which time, as I said before, the thermometer was at 103 deg. and the place might, in every sense, be called a " burning city." I went to several boarding houses before finally making a selection. In answer to inquiries for the terms, they were generally reasonable enough: the highest two dollars a day, about 8s. 6d. sterling ; and the lowest one dollar. At these last I inquired their hours. Breakfast at six o'clock and half-past : — hot beef-steaks, mush and milk, hommaney, rice and molasses, mackerel, salmon, shad, hot cakes, and rolls of ever/ description; tea and coffee. Dinner at twelve o'clock, and supper at six. The bill of fare, on reading, looks abundant enough; but really, on i r^'- ./(! V NOTHING EATABLE. IJ^ a ly le le id sir inspection, this well-covered table offers to an Eng- lishman very little that is even eatable, much less palatable. Though every one must admire the early hours and temperance of the Americans, yet only imagine a Londoner, and an old hand, not used to anything much worse than the shady side of Pall- mall, assembling at six o'clock at the noise of a great bell — washed and shaved, mind, by six o'clock — to look at an immense rump-steak at the head of the table swimming in fat, not half cooked ; then lower down a dish of enormous salt mackerel, one of which would make two of our English mackerel; then some Halifax salmon just as taken from the barrel, and as salt as brine; then two or three smaller dishes, some with mush, a food for pigs, and others with hommaney, only differing from mush in that this last is white maize ground and boiled in water, whilst mush is yellow corn ground and boiled. As this sort of food is not known in England, thank God, except in the penitentiaries, I have been rather particular in describing it. No caution is required to my countryman to avoid it, because the very sight of it will be enough to make him sick. The remainder of the table was filled up with some warmed-up tough old hen, called chicken fixings, all washed down with the most execrable coffee in the whole world. I used to think that England might defy all creation for bad coffee, but the Americans beat us hollow. It i8 all that abominable trash from i. .1 ! • \ ' I t ► 20 EAT LIKE WOLVES. I ;i 'h Rio, costing there about twopence halfpenny per pound by the cargo; and as the Americans really seem to be no judges, even of things they are con- stantly putting into their mouths, or else so careless that they care nothing about it, whether it be good or bad, all is Brazilian coffee bought by the board- ing-house keeper, ready ground, and of course, as the Americans adulterate everything, ready mixed. I was, therefore, obliged to take refuge in tea, ge- nuine Hyson skin, worth about ninepence per pound ; for, singular to say, on these two important articles with the English government in a financial view — tea and coffee — the tariff of the Americans admit both of them entirely free of duty. There is one thing to be acknowledged at all American tables — the universal excellence and profusion of fresh butter. In all one's travels through that vast country, I never saw anything approaching to a piece of rancid or inferior butter. We were some thirty or forty at breakfast. The men ate like wolves, and, cheap as it was, I reckoned it cost them a shilling per minute.* Little children, who also assemble at these tables, were permitted by their foolish mothers to be guzzling raw nunp-steaks swimming in fat at six o'clock in the morning ! There is also at the breakfast table a profnsioii of nice-looking hot yellow cakes, called, I believe, * A New York shilling is worth an English sixpence. »'•''*■"' MEN HAVE NO SHOULDERS. ai Johnny cakes, made of Indian corn, but they are like mush and hommaney — only fit for pigs or pri- soners. This valuable grain, which is one of the greatest gifts of nature, and which is more exten- sively cultivated in the States than in any other country, under the single name of green com, forms a delicious dish of vegetable at dinner, little inferior to green peas, but in every other shape or manner of preparation it is perfectly execrable, and would scarcely be eaten by a Scotchman, although accus- tomed to his oatmeal porridge. Though not im- portant, it still deserves mentioning, that at what may be called the cruet department of an American dinner table, an Englishman feels greatly disap- pointed. The mustard, pepper, vinegar, &c. form the most detestable collection of nastiness ever put upon a table cloth, and perfectly impossible for an Englishman to touch. This is not merely the case at the dollar boarding houses, but it is universal all over the cities and towns of the sea board and the interior. In Broadway f the principal street in New York, but not near so fine as Regent street or Oxford street, the characteristics of the Americans as a people are hardly to be distinguished, as nearly one third of the passengers are foreigners ; but in walking leisurely through the other principal streets, the physical conformation of the true-blooded Yankee, as he calls himself, begins to be developed. The ..r '■.. ! .i ' J 22 FEMALES NO BUSTS. m men have no shoulders : they are tall and lathy like corn-stalks, and under the nape of the neck they are sometimes as narrow as a female. The ladies of New York have been through all time, which means about fifty years, so famous for their beauty, that I know I shall be accused of heresy, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness if I say that it is entirely a mistake. But the truth must be told, and I have seen more pretty women in London in one day than ever I saw during all my rambles in the United States. That prominent point of female loveliness, and which the whole English race so much excel in, is entirely wanting in the American ladies : they are as Jlat as their own horrid sea- coast; and though they artfully endeavour to con- ceal this national deficiency by a peculiar, newly- invented, and really very ingenious corset, yet it will not do; our imaginings return unsatisfied, and our worst suspicions come back confirmed. But it must be confessed, that what they want in busts they make up in bustles, and to an excess that shocks an English female, and which is so glaring and preposterous as to be downright indelicate. The pure red and white of English complexions must not be looked for in any part of the States. The lilies and the carnations are not of American growth ; the men are sallow, and the women tallow. Another thought occurs involuntarily to the pedes- trian through the city, where are the old men and NO OLD PEOPLE. 88 .»■. women ? You see none, absolutely none. Now, I know a town in the United Kingdom, not the United States, where every third person you meet is seventy years of age I But the fact is, from the statistical tables published, the mortality of the American cities and towns is frightful ! According to the weekly bills of mortality for London during the summer of 1845, the number of deaths every week In New York ought not to exceed one hundred and forty. All beyond one hundred and forty is unnatural, excessive, and premature, and therefore, by adopting greater sanatory precautions, the average salubrity of the city would be improved. Abolishing that nuisance at the landing place at Whitehall before alluded to, as resembling Puddle dock, would effect some good, filling up that most pestiferous slip near it, and abol~ ishing some of the other nuisances going towards the pier of the Great Western steamer, would also have excellent results. Nobody of the slightest observation can rest easy in New York until he has seen and visited the splen- did steamers for which she is so justly celebrated. And it gives the writer infinite pleasure, to so much censure to be able to throw in even an ounce of praise. But the New York steamers are beyond all praise. To go on board the * Troy,' the * Empire,' the * Massachusetts,' the ' Rhode Island,' the * Nara- ganset,' and the hundreds of others, many even superior to these, is quite a treat, and well worth »' 1.4 I" I ■ ' ,1 84 AMERICAN STEAM-BOATS. )i * crossing the Atlantic to see. I am a most strenuous advocate for every person, no matter what his pur- suit, visiting the United States, but to stop and reside there permanently, the Great Republic is not yet rich enough to tempt me with a sufficient bribe. Certainly to be President of the United States, or slave of the lamp as I call him, would not induce me to exchange my humble doings at the west end of London, with the charming facilities of securing access, whenever the fit takes one, to Paris or Bome. But to return to the magnificent steamers on the north and east rivers. They are as truly surprising in their dimensions as they are convenient and pro- fuse in their decorations. Fifteen steam-boats make a mile : this is a new rule of arithmetic, only found out in America, and I mention it because it is much more easy than to remember that they are three hun- dred and fifty feet long each. The Americans of all classes are a travelling people, eminently so as con- fined to their own country ; but they know nothing of any other countries. The United States is large enough, they think, to satisfy the most greedy of travellers, and the price of travelling is so cheap that, as the whole population lives in boarding houses, it is as cheap to be travelling as to be stopping at home, if you can apply such a word as home to a boarding house. For instance, in these moving palaces, which go twice a-day to Albany, one hundred and fifty miles, as far as Margate and back again, I paid two 1- FIFTEEN MAKE A MILE. 25 shillings, but I might have gone the same day for one shilling, by another boat not quite so new antl splendid. Only think, to Margate and back for one shilling I We sate down two hundred to dinner, and an excellent dinner we had, but it was two shillings each, rather a liigh price. I noticed that everybody drank water. I hardly remember one single cork being drawn during the wliolc dinner ; perhaps there was not one ! Now here is a fact as truly astound- ing as the vast proportions and magnificent fittings of the steamer, and I thought to myself, who can stop the progress of a nation that to an unlimited extent of fertile land adds these two grand auxiliaries of steam and temperance ? Steam has done wonders for America and is only in its infancy, and yet omni- potent as it is for developing the power and wealth of the growing states, yet the universal diffusion of temperance is calculated to secure the greatest amount of individual happiness. The greatest men in America have added the lustre of their names to this good cause, and as this has been done from an innate feeling of propriety, and not through any Father Mathew, it is deserving of the highest admi- ration and imitation. Would that the bishops and clergy of our dear Britam, a far superior country for all classes of Englismea than the best parts of the States ; would that our clergy would do as they did in America and preach up the new crusade ! Perish the gin-palaces rather than that the hard-working »f I.. S6 PEOPLE ALL WATER-DRINKERS. V .1 mechanic and lils family should not have the bright example of the clergy to encourage them in their first efforts to shake off the expensive and suicidal habit of drunkenness ! The movement first emanated from the clergy of America, that part, the far great- est part, which we call dissenters. But it is not by preaching that the good came. No, the clergy were the first to sign their names^ for ever abandoning the use of all intoxicating drinks, and then their hearers and congregations immediately followed. All the preaching in the world would have done no good ; but, said they, if we see our minis- ter's signature at the head of the list in our town or parish, then we will follow with our names ; and thus this great reform has been accomplished. But we shall have occasion to refer hereafter more at large to the practice and moral effects of the temperance movement in the United States. 1 had chosen a much too early day in the season to sail up the Hudson, but it was the first or nearly so of the opening of the navigation, and I had become quite impatient to inspect the workings of these elegant monsters of the North River. The Americans are too apt to laugh at and ridicule our Thames steam-boats, and look upon the cockle-shells that run to Gravesend and Margate as a very favour- ite measure of British inferiority in everything con- nected with steam; and certainly, after a visit to New York, the best of thv^ise boats look paltry in AMERICAN STEAMERS. 27 the extreme, whether the * Star' or * Diamond;' and one can hardly bf.lieve that they are the same boats that, previous to going to America, we used to think in every way so fine and convenient. But the Ame- ricans ought to recollect, that larger boats would not be adapted to our rivers, and that we must submit, in the one article of river navigation, to be excelled by our transatlantic brethren. But it is quite the reverse in ocean steamers; there Great Britain beats the world, as witness those giants of the deep the * Great Western,' *•' Great Britain,' * Pre- cursor,' * Hindostan,' * Bentinck,' * Great Liverpool,' and a hundred others in the service of private packet companies — not to say anything of the steam ships of war belonging to Government. There is not an instance in America of the man at the wheel stand- ing, as with us, close to the rudder at the stern of the boat. The helmsman is always perched up aloft on the highest deck, where we place our foremast, giving him a complete command of all before him. There he sits in an elegant office, enclosed on all sides with windows, turning his wheel according to the direction he wants to steer in: which wheel communicates, by means of two rods of iron, about three-eighths generally, with the tiller ; and as none of the passengers ever see him, nobody ever thinks of him, and much less talks to him. I ought to have mentioned that, in reference to temperance, no family in America would attend the V• ; 1 1 ,1 1 1 1 1 i i :• ' mf * The Americans arc very fond of first principles, as one may see in tlicir advertisements, one of which I cut out of a ' Nashville Union:' — FIRST PRINCU^LES. T^HATS my motto, now and hereafter ; and I regret that I ever lost sight of it. I had made money and was thriving, when, in an evil hour, I let go this wholesale maxim, and lost all in con- sequence. I intend to make a fresh start, and go back to first principles, with full confidence tliat my old fViends and the public will extend a generous encouragement. •= Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee," said Dr Franklin ; I rielieve it, and shall therefore be always found at mine in MAlOiET STltEET, three doors from Nichol's corner, opposite th CHAPTER III. Poor Shops — Fire-Engines — Gratuitous System does not answer — River Hudson — Bottle of Port cliarged 32s. Cd. — Americun Mar- kets bad — King of Alleghania — Fruit and Vegetables scar.-c — Punch and Mrs Caudle — Trade in Cheap Publications — Moving the Mansion House — Brooklyn Ferry — Freedom without Law — Universal Suffrage does not answer — Mob Law — Polk the Great Unknown— His roaring means nothing — Annexation of Canada — Newdpaper Press — Penny advertising. Arriving from a Catholic country, it was pleasant to observe in this large city no priests, no beggars, no soldiers, and no drunken men. The ^hops in New York are, however, very second-rate affairs, there not being in the whole city h&»f-r»-dozen that have any pretensions to elegancv or taste, and those be- long to foreigners. I hircJy ever passed up Nassau street without hearing a ^' re bell, or encountering either a fire-engine or ii hose-cart. These were always very affecting exhibitions, so much property being hourly destroyed by the ruthless element, in- stead of being circulated thi'ough a happy and xndufe- trious coijiimunity in exchange for the result:, of tiic:/ 32 FIRE-ENGINES. «■» labour! The fire-engines and hose-carts are pro- fusely decorated and even gilded, looking a little like the sheriffs' coaches in London, but it appeared to me a very bad system, all through the chapter ; and until it is altered, and a thoroughly efficient fire- bngade, with intelligent superintendents, introduced by the civic authorities, there will be no diminution in the number and extent of New York conflagra- tions. The city enjoys, at present, the bad pre- eminence of being the most subject to fires of any locality in the civilized world. There must be a reason for this unenviable distinction, and the muni- cipality cannot do a greater service to their fellow- citizens than to adopt a speedy remedy. Why not appoint a commission of three respectable and honest inhabitants, who have already visited Europe, to proceed to London and Paris, and report on their return to the Mayor of New York the best means of preventing and extinguishing fires ? The present gratuitous plan will never answer. If the fires in London, rare and unimportant as they generally are, were left to be extinguished by the apprentices and clerks of that city, as they are in New York, no doubt London would soon acquire as great a notoriety as the Atlantic city, especially if they were not paid a farthing for their trouble. Nothing can be more praiseworthy than the courage, activity, and zeal of the young gentlemen of New York, in pulling these Juggernauts of engines through the streets of the g tl h g' si GRATUITOUS SYSTEM. 33 city, night and day, and every day ; I have counted sixty young men to one engine, when three horses would have done the work much better and quicker, and the young men might have remained at home in their stores or offices. Besides, in stopping a furious burning is no judgment required, what measures to adopt, whether to pull down or blow up contiguous buildings ; and who so proper to take this superin- tendence as a scientific, experienced, and weU-paid director of the fire police, upon whom should rest inII the responsibility of overcoming these frightful and constant calamities ? Tiie Hudson River is the pride of the Americans. It is certainly a noble river, in every way most useful and convenient, and is constantly, except when ice- bound, pouring the riches of its navigation into the great commercial city. It is as wide as the Thames at Gravesend for one hundred and fifty miles, and deep enoug\' . jarly all the way for ships of large burthen. We d'a th .' voyage in ten hours, including several sto I'i! 5je 1 • so that our speed could not have been less than nil .: or sixteen miles an hour. These boats, ^ they arc miscalled, being longer than the * Great Britain,' seldom carry fewer than five hundred passen- gers ; and often in the height of the hot season, when there is no breathing in New York, seven and eight hundred. They also carry cargo, and are considered good money speculations, though the fare is only two shil;ii>j:vK orr head. In America they know no dis- ;t4 .>?:' j-^/m 34 RIVER HUDSON. tinctioDS of first class and second class; best cabin and forward cabin, all is alike. Jack is as good as his master, and the fare so cheap that everybody can afford to pay for the best. The railroad carriages as well as steam-boats in America are like the London omnibuses, where a peer of the realm may be seen sitting next to a common soldier. And why not ? It is pleasant to r " that the English are getting rid of their prejudices , ^^ ' " used to think it mean to travel in the second cla;.i\ \it nothing can be mean that is manly and honest. The two striking pieces of scenery on the Hudson River are the Pallisades, soon after leaving New York, and the Highlands near West Point, about a third of the voyage to Troy. There is a small por- tion of the Rhine about Bingen that is superior to anything on the Hudson, and indeed the Ehine is altogether a more imposing and important river ; but still the Hudson upon the whole must be considered equally beautiful and useful. But the Ohio is the finest river in the States, and perhaps in the world, take it altogether, and far eiperior to the Hudson ; but we must leave any description of that splendid stream until we move to that part of the country. I was not sorry to return to New York ; I had merely gone up to Troy, as it were, to try my wings, and satisfy the craving I felt for an excursion ticket in these magnificent steamers, leaving the grand tour till the season should be a little more advanced. It BOTTLE OF WINE. 85 was a folly to think of starting for the West before the 1st of May, so I had nothing to do but to make myself as comfortable as a New York boarding house will admit. I met by accident an old friend in Broadway, who was surprised and, as he said, delighted to see me after nearly twenty years' absence. Englishman-like, no- thing would do but I must dine with Llm at the Hotel. Not at the public table, for when tAvo old friends meet in another hemisphere, after twenty years' separation, they are not satisfied to dine in ten minutes, secundum Americanos, and therefore we ordered a much worse and more expensive dinner in a private room. The dinner, considering the charac- ter of the house, which is first rate, was abundant enough, but badly cooked, as all dinners mostly are in America, for they don't care so much about it as the English, and no American ever says a word during dinner ; but I should not have mentioned this trivial circumstance of dining with an old friend except for the following circumstance. On the dinner cloth being removed, my friend ordered the waiter to bring a bottle of his best port wine. I told my friend that it was quite unnecessary, I had drank at dinner, mixed with water, all the wine I wished, and more than I should have done had I dined at home, and I would rather have our chat over a good manilla ; but he would not be persuaded. The wine was brought anfj decantered, and I believe more than half drunk ; .H " 1 >. i» • 36 AMERICAN MARKETS BAD. I* ' ' but judge our mutual astonishment and annoyance, on calling for the bill, this said bottle of port was charged eight dollars I The bill was promptly paid, and we left the dear hotel with a growl, determining never to enter it again. Nearly thirty-five English shillings for one bottle of old port I Talk no more of the rapacity of English landlords after this. I concluded, of course, that the duty on port wine must be enormouj in America, but no, not at all, it is remarkably low, only six cents, or threepence, per gallon, so tliix.j the duty on port wine is merely a half-penny per bottle. Was ever such a price heard of? The Americans make a great cracking always al)out their meat and j'lovision markets, the cheap- ness and profusion of all the good things of this life ; and my young travelling companion, had I been green enough, would have almost persuaded me that the roasted turkies walked about in all the thoroughfares of his country with a knife and fork sticking in them crying out to be eaten I But this is one of the thou- sand fallacies that haunt the imaginations of the igno- rant, that cannot be otherwise got rid of but by a personal inspection of the great metropolitan markets. For New York is everywhere called the Great Me- tropolis, and the State of which it is the capital is as universally called the Empire State. Indeed " Empire" is a very favourite and popular term all over America, which contrasts oddly enough with KING OF ALLEGHANIA. 37 their democratic principles and manners. But you have the * Empire ' steam-boat, the * Empire ' engine, and the word is employed in a hundred different attractive forms, seeming almost to argue a foregone conclusion that the love of distinction, so natural to the acquisition of wealth, will, some day or other, con- vert the Atlantic States into the Empire of Allegha- nia. As soon as the seat of the General Govern- ment shall have been removed to the valley of the Ohio or Mississippi, Cincinnati or St Louis, at both of which places such removal is expected and at an early day, then the great States of New York, Penn- sylvania, &c., will begin to think more and more of nullification and separation It is not impossible but some of the present generation may yet live to see the White House at the Federal City, " To be Let." But let us take a walk through the boasted markets of New York, which amount in number to fifteen, conveniently distributed throughout the city, A public market is a sort of epitome of a country, and may very safely be taken as a criterion of its produc- tions. It is true that, at some seasons of the year, they are much better furnished than they are at others ; but having always made the markets in all countries a favourite lounge, I may say that I have visited them at all seasons. The Fulton and Wash- ington are two of the best supplied and largest ; but, beyond the show of beef and potatoes, there was a plentiful lack of everything. L: the fish way there £ .■' , » < I .. 38 FRUIT AND VEGETABLES SCARCE. M * 'tl. was little worth having but halibut and bass (salmon very scarce and dear), and a very abundant and coarse kind of cockle called clams. But the lobsters and oysters are magnificent, plentiful, and cheap. The vegetable market is almost a blank, with the excep- tion of potatoes and peas ; but if I were to make out a list of what they have not got, it would be as long as my arm. The lowest neighbourhoods in London, to say nothing of her overwhelming markets, but such localities as Whitecross street, Tottenham crnrt road, the New cut, and Spitalfields, exhibit things for sale in the vegetable way that would astonish a New Yorker. With the exception of peaches and apples, which are deservedly celebrated, the American fruit is very scarce and very bad. The latitude of New York is the same as Naples, a country whose happy soil and industrious sons produce everything in per- fection. Grapes of twenty different kinds of colours, shapes, and flavour ; oranges, lemons, citrons ; rasp- berries, mulberries, and strawberries ; apricots, necta- rines, greengages, pears of endless vaiiety and excel- lence, melons and water-melons, innumerable and al-, most for nothing ; olives, figs, pomegranates, prickly pears and tomatas, gooseberriesj white and red cur- rants, beside black, and such cherries as make the mouth water to remember; quinces, almonds, and medlars, damsons and plums of every hue, and wal- nuts, filberts, and small nuts innumerable. But not to speak of Naples, some of these are to be seen in FISH AND VEGETABLES SCARCE. 3» the market*' and streets of London every day in the year, whilst very few of them are to be seen at all in the American cities ; and when they are to be met with they are mere abortions, and generally of a detestable flavour. The consequence is, that the great show of fruit in the Atlantic markets consists either of blackberries, whirtleberries, wild cherries, pea-nuts, and a dozen other wild fruits, growing in the woods, and intended by Providence for the suste- nance of the birds and squirrels ! The same remarks apply with still greater force to table vegetables. Compared with England the supply is scanty, and the quality very inferior. The climate does not answer for the long list of delicious vegetables known to happy England, but to name many of which would be almost unintelligible to American readers : the same with fish; salmon, turbot, and soles, crabs, shrimps, and prawns are, with the exception of the first, utterly unknown ; and who would live in a " world without soles ! " The other markets are not a bit better than the Fulton, and I will therefore not describe them The market at Philadelphia 1 found on a large scale, and better supplied than any of the fifteen markets of New York ; and even at Cincinnati the various markets appeared fuller of nice things than in the Empire city. The Americans are certainly a nation of readers, and it is always amusing to walk the principal streets and see what a large traffic is carried on in the cheap f • 40 PUNCH AND MRS CAUDLE EVERYWHERE. 14 > publications. The 'Last of the Barons,' or the * Smugglers,' is no sooner arrived in New York than one publisher strikes off 50,000 copies at threepence each, and a rival printer a better edition of 50,000 at 6d. and Is. The respective authors, however, need not reckon much on this cheap immortality ; the books are thrown by as soon as read, like their half- penny newspapers ; in a little time, if you ask where are they, " Echo answers. Where ?" There are no private libraries in America, nor are there any circu- lating libraries, for it is cheaper to buy than to borrow. The London picture newspapers form an item, also, very considerable ; and you see * Punch,' * Pictorial Times,' and * Illustrated London News,' in the shop windows for sale, as abundantly as they are in London. This is not confined to New York, but pervades the entire Union, as far as New Orleans ; and, whilst the boat was getting up her steam at St Louis, at the junction of the two mighty rivers Missouri and Mississippi, we had nearly a dozen boys on board, with great bundles under their arms, singing out, * Last Lecture of Mrs Caudle ' only one half-penny ; No. 20 of the * Wandering Jew,' and all Bulwer's and James's novels, at a shilling each I The boys drive a very lucrative trade in these amusing wares ; one youth told me that he cleared ten dollars a-week on a capital of only ten dollars I He could therefore dress well, smoke all day, talk politics and literature, and have a glass of gin-sling MOVING THE MANSION HOUSE. 41 when he liked ! The American boys begin the world with about five dollars' worth of cheap publications and travelling-maps, just as the Jew-boys in London are turned out to learn the value of money by trying to sell a few lemons, slippers, or quills. One need not walk through many streets in New York without witnessing in one of them a removal or lifting up of a house ; this is almost peculiar to American mechanics, and I was never tired of looking at it. The practice has contributed very much to the straightness and uniformity of the streets, and so perfectly at home are they at it, that if an advertise- ment were to appear in the * Sun,' the * Herald,' or the * Tribune, ' to remove the London Mansion House to Hampstead Heath, there would be several offers for the job. As for the north side of Middle row, they would think nothing of removing it bodily at once to the Model Prison at Clerkenwell, without any of the young misses of the family being in the slightest degree interrupted in their usual avocations. As for the everlasting and dangerous nuisance of Holborn hill, which I have been looking at more in sorrow than in anger for these forty years, in New York it would be levelled in a week. A worthy tradesman in the city of Brooklyn, opposite New York, wanted to convert his two parlour windows into a shop-front ; " No, no," said the builder, " don't tlirow away your parlour, I will lift the house up, and build you a much better, loftier, and more spa- , I .. I ,' 42 BROOKLYN FERRY. 14 • it- . ' cioud 3hop, where the parlour now stands. The screws and timbers were accordingly brought, and I saw the two-story brick house go up slowly and imperceptibly, whilst the daughters were looking out of window, as if nothing was going on more than usual. I watched the alteration every time I crossed the ferry to Brooklyn, and in the course of two or three weeks the tradesman was occupying his new and handsome store, as the shops are called. By the way, nothing can be better regulated, or more complete, than this said ferry across the East River from Fulton market to Brooklyn ; the fare is one penny to casual passengers, but the inhabitants take six-months' tickets at a time for themselves and family, which reduces the price to less than a half- penny. The boats are most excellent and roomy, going every three minutes in the day, and carrying hun- dreds of passengers and twenty wheel-carriages each trip. The breadth of the river is here 731 yards, and the ferry-boat takes you over quicker than you could walk across a bridge, if there was one on the spot. This is the narrowest part of the East River, and a more lively scene on & fine day in April or May can hardly be desired than is here exhibited in the rapid passing of great steamers, large awkward sloops, and ships arriving from and proceeding to sea, all invariably with a tug lashed alongside. The police of the metropolitan city of New York is quite below par, and totally inadequate to the UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 43 ir exi«^cncie8 of the place. Public opinion— the great tyrant of America — is against all interference with the rights of man, and consequently they detest everybody in authority over them. The Kepublic started with a hatred of foreign rulers, and they have gone on till the feeling has grown into a hatred of all rulers ; and though the laws are good, nobody obeys thcni, and the executive is too weak to enforce obedience. Where this is to end it is impossible to say. Universal suffrage is the curse, and will be the ruin of America. I used, as a young man, to think very favourably of the specious for. us of po- pular government : but anybody of the slightest observation need only travel three or four months in the States, to perceive what a fatal mistake the wise and good have made in giving up all the real power in the country out of their own hands into the hands of the ignorant and immoral, and who have not a stake in the public hedge, — into the hands of a mob, consisting, in the Atlantic cities, of a great proportion of wild, savage, and uneducated Irishmen. The policemen are not to be distin- guished from private citizens till their services are wanted, and then they turn up the corner of their coat collar and exhibit their badge, just as if the metropolitan police in London were to wear their A 65 out of sight under their coat collar I Poor fellows, if in America they were courageous enough to wear their letter and number outskk, as with us. M. ^ .i 44 MOB LAW. the sovereign mob would teach them that all power is derived from and remains with the people. In the same way that a masonic procession^ at some seasons of excitement, would not dare to walk the streets of New York. They would be assailed with mud and rotten eggs, because the sovereign people have a prejudice against masonry; and no consta- bulary force that they could muster would be effec- tual enough to protect them. These are a few of the specimens of liberty without law, so constantly forcing itself on the observation of the passing stranger ; and this insolence of the mob is growing so intolerable and tyrannical, that some change of measures will certainly take place, and it is not at all improbable that the day is coming when the Union will be partially dissolved, and even despotism welcomed as repose 1 The St George's Club is formed of a body of English gentlemen resident in New York, who, with a praiseworthy zeal keep up, as far as they dare, the national festivals, and protect, as far as they are able, British interests and British emigrants. They are a very large and wealthy body, and reckon among their number some of the most respectable names in New York. Yet it was a long-debated question, at the meeting convened for the purpose of considering the details to be observed at the funeral honours agreed to be paid to the hero of New Orleans, the late Andrew POLK — THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 45 Jackson, tohether tuey should cany the Union Jack, and, more important still, v^ho should cany it. But as soon as it was determined that the obnoxious emblem should be carried in the procession, there was an end of all further deliberation, and dozens of English hearts immediately volunteered for the ser- vice, though it was one of no little danger. But the solemn character of the procession prevented any popular disturbance, though the ensign was repeatedly greeted by " There goes the b ^y flag!" We were discussing the inauguration speech of Lawyer Polk, which had just come out. Nobody knew this man, or anything about him, except that at the last election for President in 1841, when General Harrison came in against Van Buren, there was an obscure young man from Tennessee started for the Vice-Presidency — as Vincent, Oastler, or Nicholson might do for London or Westminster — when Captain Tyler, an acknowledged imbecile, gained the day, the numbers standing thus at the close of the poll : viz., Tyler Johnson . . . Tazewell . . James K. Polk And an obscure Jew lawyer in a country ^-illage where the Lucius and Leonidas Polks reside, in 234 votes 48 >» 11 j> 1 >» « • 46 folk's roarixg means nothing. Tennessee, in a standing advertisement before and afLer the election, thus makes use of his name.* Such a decisive blow as one vote only would, in most men, have indicated a tolerably broad hint to the ambitious lawyer, to retire altogether from fur- ther troubling his friends ; but no : the rejected for the ^cc-Presidency, four years after, at the next election, actually starts for the Presidency^ and gain it too, over the most accomplished, most virtuous, the best informed, and most suitable man in all America I What must he say, therefore, in his in- auguration speech, for such a flattering reception, such an overwhelming preference ? Why, of course, he must lay it on thick — go the whole figure — flatter the worst passions of those who elected him, and by all sorts of grand, eloquent, and thundering announce- ments about Texas, as unfait accompli^ and ** Oregon ours without negotiation," et cetera, et cetera, et I V * HENRY C. LEVY. Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Trenton, Tenn., ■flTILL promptly attend to all business intrusted to his care, ' * throughout the Western District of Tenn. REFEBENCES. James K. Polk . . . Columbia, Tenn. A. W. 0. Totten . . . Jackson, „ Milton Brown . . . „ „ N. J. Hess . . . . Trenton, „ Buckley, Crockett, and Co. . New Orleans. Cave and Sha£fer . . . Philadelphia. October 14. r ,' ANNEXATION OF CANADA. 47 cetera, send his kind hearers home satisfied and con- tented. But don't be frightened, my Lord Aber- deen, it is all trick, fnania verba — words full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. A mere election after- dinner speech, and really and positively not intended to cross the Atlantic When this speech was penned the orator had no reference to any other readers than his own countrymen, and in justice to Polk this ought to be known, that his roaring means nothing. Still, these silly speeches, electioneering though they be, do harm; they confirm and strengthen those savage sentiments of the democrats about war with Great Britain, and the invincible character of the Americans, already so ridiculously puffed up, which it ought to be the great aim of a good President to subdue ; but I found, go where I would, that the same universal feeling in America prevails in every state, that they would lick us, as they elegantly call it, in about a fortnight ; but if Great Britain could stand it out a month or two, that would certainly be the extent, when she would fall down on her knees before the glorious republic, crying, " Peccavi I " and yield everything — Texa^, Oregon, to 54 deg. 48 min., Annexation of Canada, and pay by instalments the expenses of the war, during the payment of which she would hold Halifax and Bermuda ! This is the feeling all through America. Unfortunately, go where you will, in the States an Englishman is known . ' , * t .■ ITT > . 48 NEWSPAPER PRESS. II > ' 1 instantly by his healthy looks, and is therefce immediately fastened upon to convince him of the greatness of the Union, the everlasting power and importance of the greatest people the sun ever shone upon. This constant recognition of one as an Eng- lishman is under certain circumstances positively a nuisance, and as I had just arrived from a tropical country, and was also on the wrong side of fifty, I had hoped to get along in the crowd, and not be dragged into discussions about the eternal greatness of Polk and Co. But nothing would do, and I was constantly, though the meekest, mildest of mankind, subject to the extremes of rudeness, from ladies as well as gentlemen, in railroads and steam-boats. Everybody, as I said before, reads in America; but it is the newspaper press that is most patronized and indulged in. No one grudges a halfpenny for the * Sun ' or ' Tribune,' or a penny for the * Herald,' which is the property of a renegade Scotsman, who is always running down everything British, at the same time that he is for ever exciting his American readers to acts of spoliation and hostility against his native country I But this sort of language is the stock in trade of other newspapers as well as the Americans, for instance, the * Constitutionel,' * Si^cle,' and ' Presse,' who are all for war, as they can only live on events, and a state of peace and national prosperity does not produce events. "So wretches Imrg that jurymen may dine I " NEWSPAPER PRESS. 49 The *Sun' newspaper states that his daily circulation is forty-four thousand, and that it requires and receives a new fount of type every fortnight. The paper is issued to the boys at three-fourths of a halfpenny, and sold to the public at the marked price, one cent, or a halfpenny each paper. It is about the size of the London papers when single sheets, and it is rumoured that the proprietor clears thirty thousand dollars annually by the speculation. He of the * Herald' states his circulation at forty thousand, but nobody believes him, though it is well known that he makes an excellent living, as far as three meals a day goes, from his speculation. But I have heard very hard things said of this editor and proprietor, Mr Bennett, but whether they are true or only partly so, he does not seem to be a very favourable specimen of the Scotch character. The American papers are generally entirely devoid of any pretens.'ons to talent, even the best of New York. Their readers don't want to be bothered with talent. "British Designs on California," at the head of a column, in large capitals, is better than any leading article ; and " Petitions in Favour of the Annexation of Canada," the following week, in equally large type, will carry them through, first-rate^ for another ten days. " Insolent Behaviour of a British Cruiser on the Coast of Africa," set up very conspicuously, will also tell ; and these cunning Isaacs know so well how I .., t , 50 PENNY ADVERTISEMENTS. li • ' to dish up their halfpenny meal every morning, that they manage to keep the pot boiling. But if the American papers have no talent, their number is really surprising. If in the United States, Peckliam would have its Democrat and Whig journals, published every morning, writing fierce arti- cles against each other ; Tottenham would boast its Gazette and Rough Hewer; whilst Hammersmith and Turnham Green would be kept in a constant state of hot water by the violent leading articles of Dr , the editor of the Journal, and Colonel , the sole proprietor of the ' Mercury ' and * Ad- vertiser,' till Acton or Ealing would come in to the rescue, in one of their daily morning or evening extras, and usually smart articles, and the next day there would be a duel on Wormwood Scrubs with soldiers' muskets, and one or both of the said editors would be shot dead at the first fire ! The country papers advertise for almost nothing, A man gives notice that he will advertise in one hundred and twenty of the leading journals of the State of for less than a penny each, if inserted for three months, and he will receive payment in wheat, maize, rye, pork, bacon, whisky, feathers, bees'-wax, tobacco, hemp, ^shoes, tinware or eggs I But we must put an end to this chapter, and see if the weather is not fine enough to venture up the country. '1 le le P is, CHAPTER IV. One Church to every Three Hundred Inhabitants — Alterations in the Book of Common Prayer — Expected Visit of Queen Victoria to America — Nothing Permanent — All the Presidents have died Poor — Americans an ungrateful People — De Witt Clinton and Wliitney — Salaries of Public Men — House Rent enormous— Public • Buildings — Paper Currency— Bank- note Engraving a good Busi- ness — Fountains — Packet Ships — Ships of British Colonies such as New Brunswick — American Navy — Temperance Ships of War — Flogging abolished in the Navy — American Boasting — Their Geese all Swans — Few learned Men — Abundance of Ice— Igno- rance — Where is Goldsmith's Auburn — Russian Climate— Specu- lation Mania — New Cities on Paper— Mulberries. I FOUND the weather still frosty and severe, and very little inviting to country excursions, and there- fore postponed my departure a little longer, till it should be more congenial. This was the less to be regretted, as really New York contains much that is interesting, and a walk up and down the sunny side of Broadway in the month of April is sure to afford amusement, together with abundant matter for re- flexion. Here is a city, including its suburbs, of four hun- dred thousand inhabitants, and constantly increasing ; , i 52 A CHURCH with one hundred and twenty large hotels; thirty banks, issuing their own notes; seventy insurance offices ; ninety public schools ; forty-five steam-boat companies, and as many different lines of traffic; seventy newspapers ; two hundred churches, &c. ; and yet, numerous as these churches are, in some towns of the interior they are ten times as numerous, many of the capitals of the west having one church for every three hundred inhabitants, and of course one pastor also ; whereas in England it is one church to each thirteen hundred inhabitants. This perhaps may be considered in excess, but it ia one of those evils that cures itself, and it is perhaps the best feature belong- ing to the voluntary system, that the supply and demand for ministers of the Gospel are easily adjusted, and if there is no opening in a village for an addi- tional parson, the attempt will not be made to estab- lish him. The supply through the entire Union may be roughly reckoned at one minister and one church for every five hundred of the inhabitants, which is about double the average on the continent of Europe. The Americans are decidedly great patrons of religion, and, to a superficial observer, would be pro- nounced a most religious people. Sunday is most decently observed everywhere, and though they have a singular custom in the State of Connecticut of commencing the Sabbath at sunset on Saturday evening, and finishing at sunset on Sunday, on the principle of the evening and the morning being the TO THREE HUNDRED INHABITANTS. 53 first day, yet in New York Sunday evening in observed as it is in London, though the Americans will not tolerate any cabs, omnibuses, or railway carriages, plying for hire on that day. I had been attending the Episcopal Church, and joining in the prayers for the President of the United States every Sunday. The preacher had a shocking nasal drawl, almost universal in America, and the alterations in the liturgy were so numerous as to sur- prise me ; though afterwards, and on reflection, many of these alterations seemed judicious. The republi- cans of the States, following the Church of England or Episcopal form of worship, have made sad havoc of the Book of Common Prayer, and the words sf) frequently occurring of * King,' * Prince,' &c., have evidently given them much trouble, how to retain or to expunge them, without spoiling the whole effect of the solemn service of the Church. * King of kings, and Lord of lords,' as applied to the Most High, were expressions that could hardly be retained in the Republican version of the Book of Common Prayer ; although the phrase * Kingdom of heaven,' being a sentence from the Bible itself, has been suffered to remain. The American hatred of kings and queens is, however, becoming less violent every year amongst the intellectual and wealthy classes of the commu- nity of the great States on the coast — New England, New York, and Philadelphia ; and I was repeatedly .' . *\ I -x 54 EXPECTED VISIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA. It • ' !'(' asked whether it was not probable, seeing that Queen Victoria was so fond of travelling, and such an excellent sailor, that her Majesty would not, some day or other, honour America with a visit. If, when she went on board the Great Britain steamer, at Black wall, in the spring of 1845, she had only made up her mind to engage that vessel as a temporary royal yacht for the purpose of visit- ing Canada and, that wonder of the world, the Falls of Niagara, how the hearts of the American people would have leaped for joy at the opportunity of escorting her Majesty from New York to the fron- tiers, and so on. There can be no doubt the Ame- ricans, from so frequently alluding to this probable visit of the Queen of Great Britain to their shores, were quite sincere, but a good deal of their enthu- siasm is attributable to the English sovereign being a female, young and beautiful. At any rate, the respectable class in America is such a small one, that their voice is entirely drowned in the clamour of the mob, who are supreme, and are every day becoming more and more so. An American mob has no veneration for wisdom, worth, station, or talent; and for mere title, the circumstance of a man being a lord would rather tempt a Philadelphia loafer to throw a brick at his head and finieh his lordship, for daring to come and insult by his pre- sence the free and enlightened citizens of the great and glorious republic. PRESIDENTS DIE POOR. 55 \V lb F la U Nothing short of anarchy can terminate this la- mentable state of things, for the laws never will be altered, the law makers being themselves the mob ; but some event or other will arise, nothing being very permanent in any part of the world, and least of all in America, that will bring about a revolution in the present feelings of the better classes in that country. They will find out, especially when they begin to travel to Eiu-ope, that we are not such fools on this side of the water as we appear to be ; that we prefer the peace and good order of society to the furious repetitions of corrupt and murderous elections, every four years, for the office of chief magistrate ; and that, although in theory it may be very well to admire cheap and popular governments, yet in practice we have found out, especially by what we witness in the United States, that there is no advantage in democracy anything to be com- pared to the vigour of government under a limited and constitutional sovereign ; and that the fixed order of succession, on the demise of the crown, is a thousand times better than that greatest of all evils — civil war, which they were very nearly expe- riencing lately on the nullification question in South Carolina ; an example which, no doubt, before long will be followed by some otlier grumbling and dis- satisfied state. All the American Presidents have died poor, and some of them insolvent; whilst the widow of one I ..I 5e AMERICANS UNGRATEFUL. Ii • ' < I was only relieved the other day by the purchase of her deceased husband's library ! The idea of a pen- sion, or half pay, would not be listened to for a moment by the free and enlightened : so that men of the greatest talent, after wearing themselves out in the service of the pcoi)lc, to whom the morning of their life has been devoted, are turned out in their old age to starve. The Americana are truly an ungrateful people. Besides the shabby way they have treated all their Presidents, from Washington and Jefferson down- wards, look at their shameful neglect of such men as De Witt Clinton, the Governor of the State of New York, who constructed a work a thousand times more arduous and more useful than Sir Hugh Myddleton's aqueduct, known as the New River from Ware to London ; viz., the vast canal through the Mohawk Valley from Albany to Buffalo— as many miles long as there are days in the year — and yet in a short time, and almost already, his very name is nearly forgotten, and in twenty years more his countrymen, whom he has so much benefitted, will be wondering what in the world De Witt Clinton has constructed to be so much remembered and honoured by the foreign residents in the State of New York — for it will only be among the foreigner that his memory will be cherished and esteemed. Then there is Whitney, not he of the Oregon Railroad, but the great inventor of the cotton gin WHITNEY. 67 for separating the cotton wool from the seeds, pre- vious to packing. But for this beautiful contrivance how would it be possible to send nearly three million bales of cotton to market. Our readers cannot have a conception of the importance of this invention without a little consideration; but if they will re- collect, that the cultivation of cotton has arrived at such an enormous amount in the southern states of America, that the present crop would require a fleet of one hundred and fifty vessels of one hundred tons each to carry the empty bags required for this quan- tity, they will have some idea of the number of fleets it would require to carry them full ; and yet the man who made the great discovery how to get rid of the seeds after picking the cotton, was allowed to rot and starve, whilst in England he would have had a monument to his honour in some public tho- roughfare two hundred feet high ! Fulton the same : it is all alike ; public services are reckoned as nothing under a government of mobocracy. The public officers, perhaps the navy excepted, are all so badly paid, so thoroughly inadequate to the value of their services, that it is almost beyond human nature to resist peculation or bribery. The President himself receives 5,000/. a year, and the next best paid officer receives 1,500/., such as Secretaries of State. The best place in the gift of the new President is the Amerioan consulship, at Liverpool, whose emolu- ments iU'e quite as large, and some years larger, than I .. I ('. r • :,i » , . « 58 ENORMOUS HOUSE RENT. r • the salary of the President himself. The next best situation in the President's gift is said to be the consulships at Havanna and Havre; next to these the four collectorships of customs of New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Boston, who receive salaries of 1,500/. to 1,600/. a-year each; so that whilst the head of the state is exercising monarchical powers, and starving on his 5,000/. a-year, he is dis- pensing considerable patronage to his numerous sup- porters who returned him to office. They manage things differently in the kingdom of Naples, where th3 Neapolitan consul, when appointed to the Island of Malta, is obliged to pay 250/. per annum for his place ! House rent is extravagant in New York. A shop without a parlour, or anything but an empty small shop lets for 1,000 dollars a-year, provided it is in a good situation ; and for a good business premises in the heart of the city, the rent would be as much as the salary of the Secretary of State. Indeed, there is more than one hotel up the country that lets for 20,000 dollars a-year, a rent that cannot be paralleled in the same business in any other quarter of the world. The Aston House is the principal hotel in New York, but the writer did not hear the amount of rent ; it is thought by the citizens to be a very grand affair, and a model of architecture, but this is the science in which the Americans are, of all others, the most ignorant. There is not, with the PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 59 exception of the two recent buildings in "Wall street, anytliing worth looking at throughout the entire city. A great fuss is made about the new Gothic church of the Trinity, in Broadway, but looking at the immense sum it has cost, and, if they had cm- ployed an Italian architect, what might have been constructed for so much money, nothing but a feel- ing of disappointment and regret cornea over the spectator on inspecting it. The two buildings al- luded to in Wall street, viz. the Custom house and the Exchange, would do honour to any city, as they are chaste and elegant, while they are solid and sub- stantial specimens of the Grecian style. Nothing could have a better effect in curing the present inor- dinate vulgarity of American taste, than a frequent distribution or such buildings over the country. These, together with the unfortunate United States Bank in Philadelphia, — that grave of ten thousand fortunes,— are admirable exceptions to the general want of good buildings throughout America. By the way, this notorious bank, under the crafty manage- ment of Nicholas Biddle and Co., is now converted into the Custom house for the Port of Philadelphia. Wall street. New York, is, next to Broadway, the moet interesting thoroughfare in the city. Here are many banks, some perhaps not so substantial as the granite houses in which they carry on their business, but there is an air of wealth and prosperity in it from top to bottom. vi W^f^ 60 CURRENCY. * ►, As there is little metallic currency in circulation in America, and nothing to be seen but their filthy rags in the shape of dollar notes, a large branch of the business of this street consists in exchanging notes for the public, and forcing into circulation as many thousand dollars as they can of the particular bank each broker is interested in. I used to look in at the windows and see the gen- tlemen [with long scissors cutting and clipping the quires of new pretty pictures, and making them into bundles. It was some time before these were dis- covered to be new bank notes, on which they were intent upon raising the wind ! They were destined for some exchange operation, that should relieve the parties ; for although the banks of the Empire state enjoy a confidence and reputation unknown in the other and remoter parts, yet even here, in New York, after a year or two spent in Lombard-street, you cannot avoid seeing that all is false and hollow. There is not the coin in the country to pay more than one shilling in the pound upon the paper circu- lation of America, and who will the loss fall upon ultimately but upon the industrious and productive classes ? It is a great object to have your bank notes of the most attractive and newest pattern of engraving, as flashy and ornamental as possible ; and in justice to the rising arts in America, it must be conceded to them, that if most things are but indiftcrently done, this of bank note engraving and FOUNTAINS. 61 printlnf^ cannot be surpassed in London itself. It is evidently a thriving trade ; and, being well paid, natu- rally commands the best workmen. Some of the speci- mens are beautiful, although you are sure to suffer somehow or other in having anything to do with them. Nothing is more wanting than a general law through the States prohibiting the issue of all promissory notes under five dollars. Some of their coin would then be visible ; and the numerous national mints, kept up at the expense of the federal government, and now doing nothing, a perfect sinecure, would then have a chance of earning their salaries, and the poor people would cease to be plundered. Who would have supposed that, in the city of New York, with all their well-known vulgarity and want of taste, they would have excelled us in the Jirticle of fountains and jets d'eau ? and yet it is really the case. Our jets in Trafalgar-square are very sorry concerns compared with those in the Park at New York ; for this simple reason, that instead of a very short column of water, as in Trafalgar square, three or four feet high, in the Park at New York the Americans have erected a three-inch pipe, and the prodigious quantity of water thus enabled to ascend into the air some thirty or thirty-six feet, has a grand and charming effect, especially when j)laying during a heat little inferior to the burning fiery cli- mate of Senegal. But as so large a conductor as a three-inch pipe would require too large a supply of G I •• w l..*^ •8 PACKET SHIPS. .*»' »( , ^ M'ater, the jets only play at short intervals, which ifi rather an advantage than otherwise. But if the Americans are behind the rest of the world in architectural knowledge, they certainly arc not second to any nation in Qaval architecture. Their ships are perfect models, especially the fifty liners, as they are termed, sailing at fixed days, as regular as mail-coaches, for Liverpool, London, and Havre. They are built as strong as wood and iron can make them ; and their speed, form, and decorations, aa well as their comfort and accommodations, stamp them at once as the finest ships that swim the ocean. They arc generally 1,000 tons burthen each, and may be seen at the foot of Wall street every day arriving or departing, receiving or discharging cargo. Not much inferior to these are the packet-ships, all along the shore, in the trade to Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, or New Orleans. They are ships generally of 500, 600, or 700 tons, and are proofs of the importance of the coasting-trade, for they are constantly sailing to and fro. The cheapness and abundance of sound American timber has been the prime cause of the excellence of their ships. In England we have not got the timber, and if we had we could not aftbrd to put it in in such liberal abundance as the Amtrican ship-builders. I went on board one of the new liners ; she was ready for sea in ninety days from the day her keel was laid down, and cost 16/. sterling, per register SHIPS OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 63 ton, everything included, except provisions, and sheathed with Muntz'a patent metal. Now the same ship could not be buil at Blackwall within fifty per cent, of this price, and yet the Americana are cryinj^ out every day, and making constant complaints in their newspapers, of being undersailed by the Britisli, and of the regular annual increase of British tonnage in the American waters, carrying cotton, tobacco, turpentine, and such like bulky cargoes, cheaper than they can do it. Ho^v is this ? In the first place seamen's wages are lower in English vessels ; but the grand reason is, that these cheap vessels are built in New Brunswick. They take a cargo of lumber to a southern market, and then, calling at either of the four principal cotton ports, take a cargo of cotton direct to Liverpool, at the same freight that the Americans can take it to New York.* Ship-building should therefore be encouraged at St John's, N.B., and there is room for twenty ships additional at this moment to be placed on the stocks there of 1,000 tons each, especially if they could be done at a few pounds {yer ton lower than the New I •( * In the year 1844, ending 30th Jane, the vessels which entered the ports of the United States were as follows ; viz. ; American - - 8,148 British - - - 5,030 Hanseatic - - 155 Swedish - - - 110 French ... 5S r I '"I 64 AMERICAN NAVY. ,»< I 7 • York builders. The ships would be taken in shares, and the bird's-eye maple, rosewood, gilding, and satinwood, with other giracracks, being dispensed with, there is little doubt they might be completed with a profit to the builders for about twelve guineas per ton, everything complete, except provisions. The guard-ship at New York is the * North Caro- lina,' 74, a very fine ship, built at Philadelphia in 1820, and consequently twenty-five years old. She is about the size and weight of metal of our new SO's, and would be an ugly customer alongside any of our old 74's. She is moored very near to the shore, aiid is a proof that the largest ships have no difficulty in coming up close to the city. I was rather disappointed to hear that the Tem- perance plan had not yet been introduced in this fine line-of-battle ship, because I had been informed that in the * Cumberland,' first-class frigate, it had been tried with perfect success ; every person in that vessel, from the first lieutenant downwards, being a total abstinence man, and consequently receiving the Government equivalent of threepence per day, in lieu of grog. It is said that in two years more the pro- bability is that the serving out of rum for sailors' rations on board ships of war will be entirely discon- tinued, as it may be said to be already effected in all the merchant and whaling ships of the Union. Here would be a mighty reform, could it be car- ried out in the Biitish navy ; and surely the weather hi TEMPERANCE SHIPS OF WAR. 65 on the coast of America, during their long and severe winters, from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras, la as bad as it is in any part of the world ; and if a pot of hot coffee or cocoa, after reefing topsails in a stormy night, will satisfy an American sailor, why should it not be good enough for our English tar?!, whose vigorous constitutions and broad shoulders less require any stimulus. But if this plan of universal temperance has not yet been thoroughly organized in the American army and navy, there is to every reflecting Englishman great satisfaction in observixig that by a late Act of Congress flogging has been entirely abolished in American ships, as well in those belonging to the State as in those belonging to the merchant service. It would have been more agreeable, perhaps, if Great Britain had been foremost in this just work, but it is an example that must soon be followed by our own legislature ; for nothing can be more impolitic on our parts than to leave anything to be envied by either British sailors or British colonists in the laws, cus- toms, or institutions of our Republican neighbours ; but, on the contrary, it should be the aim in Downing street, if possible, to make everj'thing British or Canadian the envy of the Americans I When we see the rate of seamen's wages in America — fifteen dollars per month — it is no wonder that there is no scarcity of hands to man their ships : for by a late return to Congress it came out, that 1 .1 i.r. 1 I I .. •■1 > ' G6 AMERICAN BOASTING. out of 109,000 men and boys employed in the fislierics, rivers, canals, merchant ships, and navy of the United States, 100,000 were foreigners, that is, British, and only 9,000 Americans I I met with an American traveller who had been in England, and had gone on board the * Victory,' at Portsmouth, and described to me the brass plate, &c., on the spot where Nelson fell. He looked on the * Victory ' as a very small vessel, and stated that, alongside of their 'Oliio,' 74, she would only have appeared like a frigate I This is not only a specimen of American boasting, but American ignorance, two qualities always found together. But it is the same all day long, from morn to dewy eve, nothing but the same tune — American bragging; all their flies are elephants; just as the village of Jersey is called a city, and the little grass plot round the City Hall in New York is called « the Park,"— an enclosure about the size of Leicester square in London. In like manner, the numerous little boys* schools scattered over the country, where the dirty- nosed urchins are whipped, or ought to be, once a week, are all designated colleges. Thus there are more colleges and universities, so called, in America, than throughout Europe ; but in the item of pro- fessors they are not so rich, there being compara- tively very few eminent or learned men in the United States. Indeed, there is not much encou- ragement for them, and the principal branch of study ^ i 1 I] i\ FEW LEARNED MEX. 67 all through the countiy is divinity ; but in the fixed sciences, where there is no guessing and no uncer- tainties, the number of great names in America is very small. Blumenbach and Bezel, Arago and Faraday, Liebig and Misofanti of Bologna, who is master of forty-two languages, with the galaxy of great names at this time in Europe, are not to be looked for in the States, and never will be while it continues a democracy. There exists no such thing as a learned leisure, except in divinity ; of which they are very fond, if one may judge from the number of schools and colleges of divinity scattered all over the country. The habits of temperance, even in New York, have brought into existence many trades, to an extent that would hardly be credible elsewhere. As the people have abandoned ardent spirits, and in a great mea- sure even ale and porter, something must be had as a substitute : and as wine is out of the question, as much as it is out of the reach of the industrious classes, they have hit upon a number of drinks, warranted not to intoxicate, such as sarsaparilla beer, and root beer, which are sold at every corner of the streets ; whilst the ginger-beer makers drive their innocent commodity about the streets, mostly four- in-hand, in a very flashy style, sufficiently indicative of the prosperous nature of their craft. Waggon loads of ice-cream may be seen beset by the boys and girls in the street, all having in the hot "f n 68 CHEAPNESS OF ICE. -H •I months their halfpenny worth of 8t raw berry or va- niUa : nor are the glasses much smaller, or the cream inferior to those of Farrance or Guntcr at twelve or twenty times the price. Owing also to an entire absence of duty on green fruit brought in bulk from foreign countries, pine apples and plantains are to l)e seen at every corner of the streets of New York; and whilst you see such a profusion of them around you, and you are suffering at the time all the pangs of the horrid heat, you cannot help fancying your- self really in the tropics, till you arc awakened from your reverie by seeing a long succession of ice-carts, full of large blocks of ice from the Rockland lake, driving along the streets, selling their weeping and evanescent loads at one shilling per hundred-weight ! When one sees blocks of ice carried through every part of the town like blocks of stone, hot as it may be, one feels convinced there is no mistake here ; and that, after all, we really are in Hussia, notwithstand- ing the short burning summer and the albresaid fes- toons of ananas and bananas I Talking of American ignorance, one of their pro- fessors — and he had not the excuse of being a tlivi- nity professor, generally the worst informed of all — notice,^ to me that we English were not a manufac- turing country ; " you are, no doubt," he added, " a great commercial people, but you don't figure as manufacturers,^ I replied that I must have been labouring, then, under a great mistake all my life, k If'' SHOCKING IGNORANCE. 69 for I had always thought, if there wna any one thing for which my country was justly celebrated, it was for the greatness and immense value of our manu- factures. "IFell" said he, "as far as iron and steel go, I think you are * first-rate ' in Enghmd, and get along better than any other nation that I know of : but when I admit that I can go no farther. It is France that is the great manufacturing nation of the globe!" "Wliat do you think, then," I inquired, "about cotton, of which, as an American, you ought to know something." " Yes," says he, " you take more of our cotton, no doubt, than all the rest of the world put together; but then you merely spin it into yarn for other nations to work up into those beautiful tissues and tasty fabrics that my wife and daughters are constantly buying for new dresses. Look at the beautiful shoes, the charming gloves, the bonnets and millinery which we receive every week from Paris, besides those beautiful Indiennes for our ladies' dresses, which you do not know even how to make in England." Seeing that this professor's ignorance was so lamentable and profound (oh, ye blind guides), I really disdained the trouble of convincing him. It was like an elderly lady in one of the steamers : she said she should like to have visited England once in her life, if it were only to have visited "Auburn" which must be a sweet pretty place, according to Goldsmith's description of it — " Swe«t Auburn ! loveliest village of the plain." I'l 70 RUHSIAN CLIMATE. (( •.H Ah I " said the lady, in a deep lachryinoae tone, "we have many Auburns in America, but I am afraid none of them come up to yours." I replied that there was no such place in England as Auburn, and it was the mere creation of the poet's fancy ; but her mind having dwelt for many years on the reality of Auburn, she could with great diffi- culty believe me, and I rather think I spoiled for the remainder of her short life one of " the greenest spots in memory's waste." This is like the old story of the woman and her sailor son. She knew very well all about the moun- tains of sugar, and rivers of rum in the Indies, but she would not believe a word when he told her of the flying fish I The horrid weather was getting more tolerable. What would have been, and ought to have been, spring in any other country, was still winter on one side of the street, and summer on the other, only forty degrees difference of temperature between the north side of the street and the south. A friend proposed a drive to Jamaica in Long Island, and off we started. New York possesses many pretty suburbs, of which those in Long Island and Staten Island are decidedly the best; whilst the opposite shore of the North or Hudson River only presents Jersey city, as the village is pompously called, and a place called Hoboken, rather pretty, but which they are taking infinite pains to spoil and MULBKRHIKS AND NEW CITIES ON PAPER. 71 ruin. We drove across the excellent ferry previously alluded to at Brooklyn, and soon found ourselves on the sandy roads of Long Lsland, which is represented as a fertile and productive district, though wo could see nothing but bush, bad roads, wooden fences, and houses. It must be a horrid place in winter. After proceeding some miles from the ferry, my friend [)ointed out where many hundred fools had thrown away their own or their creditors' money in the pur- chase of lots of building land to form another large city to be called East New York I This was about 1837, as I understood, or eight or nine years ago; when all persons were mad, even amongst this shrewd and sagacious i>eople, giving thousands of dollars for a piece of ground hardly large enough to swing a cat in, expecting to sell it to somebody still madder at forty or fifty per cent, advance in the course of twenty-foiu* hours ! It was about the same period that this thinking people became suddenly convinced that to make a fortune it was only necessary to pur- chase a certain number of plants of the " morus mul- ticaulis," or mulberry from the Philippine Islands ; as silk was to be in fut»ire, next to cotton, tlie great and important item of American export. But the mul- berry speculation, like the East New York and other manias, all fell to the ground ; and the poor deluded dupes awoke from their dreams to mined fortunes, and to hopes destroyed. 'tA ■'M •»»■ CHAPTER V. New England — TranBcendentalists — Their Doctrines — Evils of Protecting Tariir— Probable Bankruptcy of Manufacturers — Disasters in Steamboats — Their Accommodations — Detestable Climate of the Staves — Cheap Board and Lodging— Hotels— Land Bargains — Kome and Syracuse— Railway Travelling Slow and Wearisome — Tin Roofing recommended— Rochester, Bankrupt Millers— Falls of the Genessee— Americanr a Gloomy People- British Flag in Canada. Previous to making the western tour I made a short excursion to Boston to see a friend off to Eng- land by one of Cunard's line of steamers. Our trip was partly by sea and partly by land. The boats on this line are truly magnificent; ' .»t, though occa- sionally subject to a little rough weather in Long Is- land Sound, they are not exactly cut out for a storm at sea, and all classes of Americans must allow that John Bull beats them hollow in ser. -going steamers. The pnvate boats belonging to London and Liver- pool, and sailing the ocean, amount, in 1845, to 100,000 tons ; without reckoning any of the superb vessels steaming down the Red Sea to Aden and Bombay, which, of course, have been navigated round k , TRANSCENDENTALISTS. 73 the Cape of Good Hope, or East Cape^ the name it is better known by amongst nautical men in America. I attended the Episcopal Church in Boston^ wliilst my friend visited the Unitarian Church, for the Unitarians are a very large and redj^ectablc sect throughout the State of Massachusetts. The preacher made a great impression on my friend by his bold and fearless exposure of the cant and supereituion of his countrymen, the New Englanders; and lie gave me the heads of the discourse as much as possible ia the very words of the minister, who threw in great eloquence and earnestness to his address.* I am not sure if I % * The reverend gentleman's argument ran as follows : — Ist. Man is by nature a religious being. The religious sentiment in him is universal, and as natural to lirn as siglit or hearing. By means of tins religious sentiment he communicates with the spiri- tual world. But when this sentiment has become perverted, or mingled with baser elements, it has given birth to various historical religions, to use the preacher's words^ Christianity among the rest. Its legitimate and purified product is absolute religion, wliich means love to man and love to God. 2ndly. All men are more :r ''osl inspired, according to the inten- sity of the religious scniunent. No miracles are necessary, nor any creeds. .3rdly. With refer x;.c to Christianity, there is no doubt that Jesus was superior to all ^thcr men, had most of the religious sen- timent, and was the most of an inspired r.an that the world ever saw ; his life was consistent, beautiful, and lioly ; his precepts wise and good, though the substance of them had been uttered before, but never so variously and delightfully applied to practical uses. As a teacher and model he is unrivalled. But the story of Jesus is incredible and absurd ; a mixture of the legendary, the mythical, and the true ; a good deal arising out of the love and admiration which he rightfully awakeued among his followers, and also a good U J I* I '"T 74 TRANSCENDENTALISTS. ;ini pleasing all readers by giving a specimen of what i8 called by Americans transcendentalism in religion ; but it is merely to show the freedom Avith which serious subjects are handled by their best and most popular preachers, especially in that section of the States called New England, which is generally consi- dered the model portion of the United States in edu- cation, morals, and religion ; and where all licences ' w.< y 1.0 I.I !f IM IIIIIM " llitt |||||Z2 2.0 tills 1.8 ^ ■ 1.25 1.4 1.6 -^ 6" — ► VQ <^ /] % ^ ^). y /^ J %! Photographic Sciences Corporation ,\ «• ^ :\ \ ^9;^ ^'O^^^ ^ 6^ ^5 » '^ld in ^j-'iiey at 20/. per ton, or 10s. and 12h. ]>or truss, and flour at ten guineas per lack I BesifKs, Canada West is an older and more populous country, having nearly 600,000 inhabitants, which is five tunes more populous than Australia ; which is, besides, about the same size as Canada West — that is, in the settled parts. The summer emigration to this magnificent but hitherto mismanaged country ought to be one thou- sand persons every day for one hundred days, not to arrive at Montreal before the 6th of May, and con- tinue till the first week in August, after which emi- gration to cease till the following spring. There are too many Irish already in Canada West, and they do not make the best settlers, being fond of lingering about the towns and taking their chance of picking up a living round the taverns and drinking-houses. The settlers ought to be confined the first year or ■i y :' r^ 96 CHEAP LAXD. t^ ' <» .1 two to English and Scotch. The price should be 21. per head for adults, and 20s. each for others, nothing but bread and water provided ; and the ships should be Government steamers of the largest class, which would perform the run out to Quebec in fourteen days. If land were sold to these emigrants also at a dollar per acre, or four shillings, and // oiir/ht to be cheaper than in the States, where it is universally a dollar and a quarter, and the same system of payment enforced, viz., ready money down for the whole amount, the fine province of Canada West would soon muster a million of British sub- jects, and then the Governor-General should be raised to a Viceroy, with the power to confer hono- rary distinctions on wealthy and influential colonists, his salary doubled, and other popular measures in- troduced to the farthest limits of the province. The tariff in Canada is a very bungling affair as it exists at present, and it might be altered very much to the advantage of the people and Government ; and this measure ought to be adopted without any loss of time, as at present it is glaringly absurd and faulty. No gratuitous emigration should ever be encou- raged towards our Canadian possessions ; and if par- ties cannot by frugality and saving manage to raise 21. each for themselves, and 20s. each for their boys and girls, they would not be likely to make very good settlers. Toronto is a large, bustling, cheerful, and wealthy FEW TAXES. 97 > t V city, containing twenty-four thousand inhabitants, but it is a sad drunken place, and there is no part of her Majesty's dominions where the influence of some Father Mathew is so loudly called for and required. The trade or importance of the town does not seem to have suffered by the removal of the seat of Govern- ment ; on the contrary, building is going on in all directions, as indeed it is in Hamilton, a town about thirty miles further west, to which place there is a steam-boat every afternoon. Toronto has an excellent harbour, formed by na- ture, and enclosing a sheet of water large enough for some hundred vessels. There are a great many rich persons living on their fortunes, and in the winter season the military and better classes of the inha- bitants keep up a constant round of visits and fes- tivities. Everything is English, whilst the spacious streets, substantial houses, and handsome stores, make it preferable to even Rochester or Albany. The Americans, however, find fault with the want of progress made by the Canadian population, alleging that, with their great advantages of soil and climate, the absence of taxation, and a strong Government, they don't go a-head so fast as the Americans ; whilst the Canadians reply that they are more slow but they are jdso more sure, and if there is more commer- cial and manufacturing prosperity apparently in the opposite town of Rochester, about the same size as Toronto, there is double the number of monicd men, /;,• * ;•** I - . 7 v i 98 CANADIAN LOYALTY. "■1 h> ■*.'•: say worth 20,000/., in the Canadian town that there is in Rochester. This is a question in which I think the Torontoites are very likely to be in the right. It cannot be concealed that there is no love lost between the rival nations. If the Americans affect to look down on the Canadians and their sleepiness, the Canadians, on the other hand, thoroughly despise the Americans, and all their smart and swindling tricks to get money, from wooden nutmegs down- wards to fortunes in land sales, and other bubbles. The Canadians appeared to be everywhere almost «//ra-royalists and loyalists; and British connexion and British rule they never dream of escaping from. Why should they ? To be swallowed up, of course, by absorption into the great and increasing union, which, the faster it grows, the surer it is to be dis- solved or undermined. To overthrow it from with- out would be impossible, and any attempt of that kind would only strengthen their institutions, and rally all dissentients for their defence. I did not on this occasion venture to Montreal, but looked forward to visit it in a more advanced part of the summer. We had just received information of the burning of Quebec, and it is not a pleasant sight to see a city in distress. Quebec, as all my readers know, forms one of the most striking and most beautiful pictures in America, It is one of the strongest fortresses in the world next to Gibraltar, contams 30,000 inhabitants, and in June, . ';" LARGE POPULATION. 99 July, and August, you may relish either strawberries or mosquitoes, in singular perfection. The quick- silver here enjoys the singular prerogative of a wider range than, I believe, in any corner of the earth, it having been known as high as 103 deg., and in winter 37 deg. below zero, making altogether 140 deg. of variation. Nevertheless, amongst the French habi- tans of Quebec there is a stronger feeling of love of their country than perhaps among any race of men living, whilst their good humour and constant cheer- fulness is better worth to them than all the maxims of philosophy. But Montreal is the great capital of Canada, is double the size of Quebec, and contains G0,000 inha- bitants, is the seat of Government and the Legislature, and one of the most commercial cities in America. 1 was not sorry to get back to my snug quarters in Hamilton, from whence I made sundry excursions into the bush, and along the plank road. Thinking I was going to settle among them, I had daily offers of beautiful farms, more or less improved, some as low as 10s. per acre, up to 5/. and 10/. an acre, whilst 20/. per acre was asked for some suburban spots on the plank road. The buildings about the towns and along the roads all seemed warm and substantial, though it was a pity to see such hundreds of pretty places for sale, and no buyers ! This can only be owing to a falling off of emigration, occasioned by the late Canadian troubles, which are not likely to occur /;, :;v!. M"3 100 TOO MANY IRISH. t .1 again, and therefore the field of enterprise, being so unlimited in Western Canada, there is no doubt the roaming portion o*' our English emigrants will prefer that country, especially as they can get the English newspapers only a fortnight old, by way of Boston, which is a great advantage over every other colony, and there will be a constant demand for all their surplus wheat, ashes, and timber. The total population of the province of Canada West is nearly 600,000, as follows : viz. — Natives of England Ditto Ireland - Ditto Scotland Ditto French Canada Ditto Canada West Ditto United States - Other foreigners - 60,000 100,000 45,000 14,000 280,000 39,000 14,000 552,000 This table exhibits rather too large a preponder- ance of the Irish, and as they arc never worth a potato when they arrive in Canada, no wonder that so many fine farms remain unsold for want of buyers : whilst Australia has been receiving rich emigrants from England, for the last twenty or twenty-five years, to the extent of some millions of money-capital, there is more of happiness, ease, and competence, in the fortunes of the Western Canadians than will be found in New South Wales for generations to come. CANADA WEST, A HEALTHY, HArPY COLONY. 101 Board and lodging is written up in many of the towns of Canada at six shillings per week, and there being a great deal more silver money in the country than in the States, comparatively speaking, the wages of labourers and mechanics is better than in the States. This I became more and more convinced of in my subsequent trips through the Western country. I don't know whether you cannot hear as pure Irish at Toronto or Hamilton as at the steam-boat wharves or piers in New York, where you certainly hear it in perfection; and why, because there are 70,000 sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle domi- ciled in the Empire City. This accounted for always seeing the * Nation ' newspaper stuck up at the bookshops for sale, along with * Punch ' and ' jMrs Caudle,' after every arrival of the Liverpool steamer. The Americans, in their excessive hatred of Eng- lish greatness, power, and justice, — " She hates that excellence she cannot reach," — are always looking, every arrival, for the breaking out of the revolution in Ireland, and the election of King Daniel to the vacant throne. This is an event, sooner or later, which they look upon as certain to happen, and they cannot account for its being so long delayed. The state of the sister kingdom, and the overwhelming magnitude of our national debt, leaves them no room to doubt that the detenda est Carthago '.'• ' /v.- i.-K' 'f ■J •' , W ..' '■«J ' 102 EMIGRANTS SHOULD AVOID Him must shortly come to pass, and then will be their time to pay oflf their old scores against Great Britain. But to return to Canada West : large as we have seen the population to be, yet, in comparison to the extent of country, it is nothing. Whichever way you travel, the country, with few exceptions, presents nothing but one vast forest ; and in the more imme- diate neighbourhood of the towns and villages, the little clearings, dotted over v/ith the black stumps of trees, only proves how much remains to be done by the sturdy emigrant labourer, as soon as he arrives in the country. 1 repeat, therefore, that if my countrymen of England will emigrate, don't let them throw away themselves and their scanty means by going to the Cape of Good Hope, or anj/ of the Australian colonies, or New Zealand ; but, by all means, go to the best parts of Canada West, where they will 5nd the soil fertile beyond their expectations, the seasons certain and regular, and the climate healthy ; besides which, it is a cheap and abundant country, without taxes; whereas, if they should emigrate to the United States, which is called the Land of Freedom, they will be insulted for being Englishmen ; where taxes are high, clothing very dear, produce very low, and nothing but fever and ague to welcome the settler ; and, the best of the joke, not half so much freedom as in Canada ; and what with the constant nuisance of Yankee swindling and Yankee swagger, the Eng- n AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED STATES. 103 . f lish farming emigrant would find it impossible to get on ; he would soon find out he was no match for American smartness, and, as the usual course after being ruined is to take to whisky, this is generally the finish of English agricultural settlers who emi- grate to the States instead of going amongst their own countrymen in Canada West. Besides, the Americans, with all their wickedness, put forward- — like most rogues — the greatest pretensions to reli- gion : the country is inundated with preachers of a thousand different sects, — for preachers must live as well as other trades, — whilst that sort of crotchety nonsense does not exist in Canada, where the people attend tlie churches with propriety and decency, and the exhortations of the clergymen leave no room to doubt that they are influenced by a rational and elevated piety, instead of the gibberish of an Ame- rican camp meeting. Many Englislmien have emigrated to the towns of the American Union with success ; but they have been either clever in manufactures, or in trades con- nected with manufactures, such as dyeing, bleaching, calico printing, &c., or clever in iron working, min- ing, or finding coals, &c. ; but I look upon it as an impossibility for an Englishman to succeed in the United States, who shoidd go out singly, with capital, to turn his attention to mere tillage farm- ing; and my advice to Englishmen is, never to 1 •■ % !f ..'f 104 FOREIGNERS CANNOT SELL LAND. ■*''ii' attempt such a step, unless they wish to be ruined in double-quick time. An Englishman may buj/ land as much as he pleases, in America, but the law has been so framed that he cannot sell it till he has been residing in the country some six or twelve months ; because no foreigner — as an Englishman is called — can give a title to land, and no person will buy from a foreigner ! An Englishman, therefore, in order to sell a farm worth perhaps only iUO/., must previously renounce his countrij. obtain letters of naturalization, and take the oath that he is a true American citizen ! No, no, Canada is the place ; a thousand times preferable to the United States for the farming emigrant ; and there is enough of the popular ele- ment mixed up with the Government of Canada to satisfy the most radical reformer, as a proof of which it may be stated, that in ordinary times the Govern- ment is not felt — the people arc left alone to pursue their own roads to fortune and happiness, and the Government never interferes with them. The whole business at Government house, Montreal, for this immense territory, is managed by the secretary ; and though Lord Metcalfe is a first-rate man, full of years and experience, it is quite understood that Mr Iligginson, his secretary, is the real Governor of Canada : thus happily proving how little there is to do, and how well it must be done; for except \ . • CATTLE AND HORSES. 105 now and then, at an election, in which a few heads arc certainly broken, and a great deal of rum is consumed, the people don't seem to care much about politics, and only desire to be let alone. After visiting Dundas, Glandford, Ancaster, &c. as far as the Grand River, I drove over by a much worse road to St Catharine's by the Welland Canal to Drummondville and Chippeway, and I must say I never saw any bad country during the whole trip. The soil everywhere is most productive, and the cattle and horses excellent. It is nothing but justice to the good Canadians to say, that it would be difficult to find any of their live stock out of con- dition. They seem, like all good farmers, fond of their horses, and go where you will, it is a common sight to see the humblest-looking settlers driving their wives or sisters out, with a pair of horses that would not disgrace Regent street. There is an air of comfort about the appointments and dwellings of a Canadian settler, that must not be looked for in our remote and Newgate colonies of Australia. The only thing in which Canada does not enjoy all the advantages of our Eastern colonies is in the article of sheep. Owing to the climate, sheep and cattle cannot be kept out in their natural pastures all the year ; they must be sheltered in-doors for five months in winter. But so they must in Saxony, where wool- growing is carried on to large profit. So that, if the Canadians would aspire to this branch of agricultural r.i'. I ■ rnr ./•1 106 REGRET AT LEAVING CANADA. ,*'■■ i •'■ industry, tlicy must take a leaf out of the German sheep-farming, and erect proper sheds for their Me- rinos. On a small scale it will not pay, but when carried on to the extent of five hundred or a thousand breeding ewes, of the best Saxon blood, tlie Cana- dians will find it highly profitable. The land also in the Western districts is highly adapted to the cultivation of beet, and as the settlers are so distant from the coast, sugar manufactories from beet would yield fortunes to the growers and boilers ; for sugar will never be very cheap in the Western and London districts, and the refuse, after pressing out the juice, is still good for hogs and cattle. It occupied an entire day to drive over these indifferent roads from Hamilton to the Falls of Nia- gara, where we alighted at the Pavilion Hotel, and revelled again in this most stupendous of all Nature's works, which the oftener you witness the more you admire and tremble. Whether sleeping or waking the cloud and tumult of the ceaseless foam is always rising up to heaven ; as loud and as incessant as the cries of the three millions of our torn and mangled feUow-creatures, held in a state of slavery in the sugar and cotton States of the falsely called Land of Freedom opposite, some sections of which I was now about to revisit. So, Canada, farewell ! Happy and healthy colony, may you long go on A FAREWELL. 107 and prosper in the successful cultivation of your peaceful fields : content in the pure and simple plea- sures of a country life, you have no cause to envy the feverish existence of your Republican neighbours, but, on the contrary, the day is coming when they will envy you. Farewell I I leave you with regret, and shall always look back upon your fine country with increasing interest and affection ! • ., :u>'' ■ »' L\ ' i > 4, CHAPTER VTI. RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES. * . Uotiirn to the States— Blackrock and Riifralo— Large Stcnnicrs— Clicap Living— Cheap Carriage— Cheap Travelling — PonTiy a Mile per First Class Trains— Town of Chicago .'l(),00() Inha- bitants—Inland Navigation — Cleveland pretty Tlace — Building without Money — Paying Wages Ditto — American Lighthouses all Gratuitous— Speaker of the House — Propellers— Plucking Geese — Ohio River — Frosts every Month in the Year— Fire com- fortable 4th July — Cheap Coal— Disasters of English Emigrants in Illinois — Taking in the Britishers— Better to have gone to Canada — Road to Oregon — Peoria — Fort Madison — Prairie du Chien— Mempliis. To such a scene as the Niagara Falls, it is impossi- ble to say, Farewell. It is ever present to the imagi- nation, and, if as old as the patriarchs, the spectator would remember it in all its awful character. After taking an early dinner at the village of Chippeway above the Falls, we embarked on board the British steamer for Buffalo, a short trip of two or three hours up the stream of the Niagara River. The shores on both sides are low, and the British appear to most advantage, the high road skirting the I , 'empiuk' steamer. 109 river, and no lack of travcllora trotting and driving along. IldUHos and inclosiircH wore alno neat and nunierouH, but all was wtrictly rural ; whilst, aH we approached lilackrock and Huilalo, there was a greater appearance of speculation in niilli^ and manufactories on the American side of the river. The Aniericane, from their general habits of temperance and early rising, and unceasing diligence and industry in the pursi • , of wealth, have much more to show than the Canadians in buildings, but the g('niu8 of the inhabi- tants on the opposite, sides of this dividing stream are strikingly different, and every year becoming more so; 80 that in time this river, not half a mile wide, will separate two nations as different as the French and English, separated by the narrow cliannel between Dover and Calais. Wc were now entering the harbour of Buffalo, crowded with magnificent steamers, built on a dif- ferent plan, but not at all inferior, to the great steamers of New York. When 1 thought of the * Sapphire ' and ' Ruby,' be- longing to Gravesend, and the * City of Canterbury ' and her sister-boat, that used to carry us in days of yore to Margate and Heme Bay, it was very humi- liating, and enough to make the Englishman blush for his inferiority; but only for a moment, till he recollected that the English waters would not admit of boats of larger construction. I have no doubt that the two boats ' Empire ' and A '.i* lii"'^ Iv'i' ' 4 ' ? I 1 ')> ■ I ' 1 ,1 110 CHEAP LIVING. ' Wiskonsin ' could have hoisted up half the fleet of ' Star ' and * Diamond ' steamers as easily as South- seamen hoist up their whaleboats ; the saloon of the ' Empire ' being three hundred feet long, and as hand- some and convenient as experience and upholstery could make it. Buffalo is certainly a striking place ; a bustling place, and it is eminently an American place. I saw boarding and lodging announced at six shillings a week, and casual entertainment at sixpence per meal, the ^ue-pound loaf of best wheaten bread at sixpence, and the best pale ale I ever drank in my life, as good as Bass's, Hodgson's, or Allsop's, at six- teen shillings and sixpence per barrel, or less than sixpence per gallon ! But though BuiFalo is a place of twenty thousand inhabitants, rents were moderate, many houses to be had as low as 40/. per annum. Trade was dull and no money to be seen, everybody was complaining of the hardness of the times, and yet the hotels were crowded, and the steamers for Detroit and the upper lakes full of passengers. As in all the Canadian towns, particularly Toronto and Hamilton, I saw oyster-shells everywhere, so they abounded in Buffalo ; for, though they must all be brought four hundred miles by rail, and half as many more by steamboat, yet carriage is nothing in this country, in consequence of the immense facilities and competition in canals and railroads, and nobody thinks of the expense of conveyance. Thus over the Alleghany mountains, where the railroad passes the t . CHEAP TRAVELLING. Hi summit of 2,500 feet above the terminus at Philadel- phia, the heavy canal boats, the very boats, instead of being emptied of their cargoes, are carried over the mountains, boats, cargoes, and all, without being disturbed, and hoisted upon the rails, so little do they regard the expense of carriage. I walked into a store at Buffalo for the sale of cheap publications, a great trade everywhere, as 1 have observed before. * Punch ' and ' Mrs Caudle,' the * Nation ' and the London pictorial papers, were exhibited to much effect outside the shop, which wa.< not kept by a native. He informed me that every person in Buffalo was complaining of business, except himself; and from the constant custom which he had, and the abundant stock which he kept of all sorts of American editions of English standard works, there appeared some truth in his assertion. When one can buy Bulwer's last novel for sixpence, and if in a news- paper fornij, the whole three volumes for threepence, no wonder this is a thriving trade. * Martin Chuzzle- wit,' ind all the most popular works of the most popular authors, are the same price, from sixpence to a shilling in the book form, large octavo, and double coluinns, small type, and inferior paper; but in the form of the * Examiner ' they are only threepence. The Americans are decidedly a reading people ; but they could not find time to read so much if they were not also a travelling people. Travelling in America is just as cheap as stopping ?^^v •/' .^ ^^^• ^r p. ■■* <. ■■■ V.'l -*v i ^..*'^ •» i " 1 .1 "ki • ;•! 112 PENNY A MILE FIEST-CLASS TRAINS. at home. As the people are all, more or less, anti- renters, they live in boarding houses, and as soon as they leave the expense ceases, and they begin board- ing in a steamboat instead of on shore. For instance, the steamers at Buffalo, the best of them, go twice a day to Chicago, 1,050 miles up the lakes, for 1/. 12*. ; and three meals a day, good sub- stantial meals, and an excellent roomy cabin to your- self to sleep in, besides a splendid saloon and prome- nade. This is less than one halfpenny per mile, board and lodging included 1 And as the voyage occupies five days, the total expense is about 65. 6^1. per day in a steamer, more like a ship of the line than our steamers. The railroad fare is one penny a mile, first class. Buffalo must be a cold place in winter, and every- body admitted it. Its progress has been sudden and rapid, as there was hardly a house in the place twenty years age. It is the point from which produce is forwarded to the Atlantic cities, and manufactures and groceries sent back in return. Though five hun- dred miles from New York, it is considered nothing, and persons of very humble circumstances never regard the expense of long journies in America, they really are so very trifling. Buffalo, besides being very cold in winter, is also much exposed to the fury of the lake (Erie), and a winter's hurricane from the west will, some day or other, sweep the lower part of the town away, and ■^■vv POPULATION OF CHICAGO 30,000. 113 cause damage that will require millions of dollars to make good. This should be looked to in time, when the requisite defences against the lake might be made at less than half the expense. But rapid as the rise of Buffalo has been, it is nothing to the great town at the other extremity of the lake, called Chicago, which in a few years, and before the people in Europe had ever heard of it, contains 30,000 people, and bids fair to be one of the most important cities of the Union. It is situate in the state of Illinois, at the bottom of Lake Michigan, and commands a very short and easy water commu- nication to the River Mississippi, by means of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, exactly a hundred miles long, and now in course of finishing. For, notwith- standing the bankruptcy of the State of Illinois, the London capitalists have recently advanced the requi- site funds to complete the canal, which, if any canal in the world could be expected to pay, it is this. The steamers from New Orleans to the south, and from Buffalo to the north and east, meet, all but this hundred miles; so that it would have been almost an act of suicide, having gone so far with their loans, not to go a little further and endeavour to make this one work at least productive, which it is sure to be as soon as finished. So that, by the summer of next year, a person may leave New Orleans for St Louis on the Mississippi, by steam 1,800 miles, then join a smaller steamer for Peru, at the head of the Illinois J-t* • •• '>•■ / .1 ■•<• ■ • .. ■ h ••*:'. mmmm. •» ■ I [i' 114 INLAND NAVIGATION. •'..«' ! ' 1 , 1 .1 It ' I " I' I In ' It ' f River, three hundred miles more, then by a packet- boat through the canal, one hundred miles, to Chicago, when he goes all the way to New York by steam, 2,600 miles further ; making the entire distance about 4,800 miles of uninterrupted water-travelling through the interior of a continent, a greater distance than exists even in India or China, or even Mr Birchell's voyage through South America from Para at th*^ mouth of the Amazon, up the Topayos and down the Paraguay to Monte Video, at the mouth of the River Plate. This was not so long as the American river communication from New Orleans to New York by way of Chicago. From Buffalo we proceeded by one of these steamers to the city of Cleveland. As I wished to see the intermediate places, it was necessary to se- cure a berth in one of the inferior boats — the largest class of newest steamers, such as the ' Empire ' and *Wiskonsin,' not condescending to stop at such paltry places as Dunkirk, Erie, Ashtabula, &c., all which and many more on the southern or American side of Lake Erie we visited, and found, to our regret, that they were paltry places indeed. In the afternoon we arrived at the long-looked for city of Cleveland, and took up our quarters at the * Franklin ' — a very good hotel, and reasonable, in Superior street. The principal streets are named from the surrounding lakes, — Ontario street, Michigan street, St Clair street, Huron street, and Erie street ; and the town, BUILDING WITHOUT MONEY. 115 being built on the rising ground, overlooks the lake, and vessels may be descried many miles oiF, ap- proaching or leaving the port. Cleveland is con- sidered one of the pattern cities of the Union— a sort of modern Athens, as the dirty dwellers in Auld Beekie like to call their capital. But everything was very dull in tliis model city. No trade, and no money stirring; and they were beginning to fear they would have a very dry season, and a failure of the hay crop. They were just laying the foundations of a large hotel in an excellent situation in the main street, just above the * Franklin,' with a dozen shops or stores underneath. I mention it because the contract was remarkable. The entire building was agreed for at 100,000 dol- lars, in a district of country where all materials and labour are extremely cheap, — bricks at 16s. per 1,000, and timber almost for nothing, whilst stone for heads and siUs was in great abundance, — so that 100,000 dollars, under such circumstances, is a large estimate for one building. The peculiarity in the contract, usual enough in America, was that the work-people were not to receive a dollar in money. Every Saturday night the wages were to be settled for by orders on the various shopkeepers — butchers, bakers, grocers, clothiers, drapers, and shoemakers — or rather promissory notes, payable only in shop goods, were to be received in full payment by the VJ? .'■ V» "'.^: ' .. i !')'• : 1 1 IH ly. 116 AMERICAN LIGHT-HOUSES. h > 'J5 < I i,': h '7 r t various mechanics, who have most likely by this time, October, 1845, got the roof on. It is a new and peculiar way of building a block of houses, 100 or 150 feet frontage, and could hardly be thought of in England, where .'t would be an illegal way of payment. Nevertheless, this is the way in which the boasted American cities have sprung up like mushrooms ; and when we hear in England of brick- layers' labourers obtaining four shillings daily wages, we ought on the other hand to remember, that it is not paid in silver money, but in trowsers, teapots, or any of the extremely numerous things that an industrious mechanic does not want. I must say that Cleveland is rather a genteel — not at all an American word — and a very quiet place : though it must be a dreadful place in winter, for it was piercingly cold though nearly in June. There is a lofty light-house at the end of one of the streets, to direct the vessels on the lake at night; and down below, in the filthy and sickly part of the town, or harbour, there is another light-house to enable steamers to enter between the piers. The American Government are rather liberal in light-houses, which are very numerous all along the coast of the Atlantic, in the Gulf of Mexico, and along the shores of the lakes. They are well ma- naged, and kept up very efficiently and economically at the same time ; but although they cost the general government a large sum every year, they are like ) ' ENGLISH LIGHT-HOUSES. 117 1 »:»' roads and l)ndges in France, quite gratuitous ; and captains of ships, foreign or native, have nothing to pay in America for light-money. This is in Eng- land a very serious charge, and increases the expense of travelling considerably. Besides, the Honourable Board, who are the legal recipients of this heavy tax on shipping, are responsible to nobody, and there- fore the public do not know what becomes of the money. Amongst the numerous reforms of the day, may we not look, as a relief to commerce, to have light-money abolished? The safety of the English coasts aftects everybody, as well as the captain and owner of the ship; the underwriter, the merchant, and each individual of the community ; and the English Government should never be ashamed to take a hint from the Americans. On the writer's plan, of leaving nothing to be envied in the American Republic, not a session of Parliament should be allowed to pass without throwing open the navi- gation of the English seas without payment for light-houses. Mr Hume should look to this, if our powerful Premier has too much work upon his hands. I made an acquaintance here with a mean-looking young man who was squirting his tobacco saliva in every direction, — one of the most frequent and odious nuisances in the United States, — when, to my asto- nishment, he told me he was Speaker of the House of Representatives I Had he been speaker at the debating club at the Pig and Whistle, it would have I. . ". * ( t i .■ f\^^ 118 rUOPKLTJOUH. 1 ^y I . ♦ y boon n ^nwo announccinont ; Imt to find my (VIcnd oxoiTlsin«jf suoli liiard. Thoro is a largo traffic on Lako Eric and the iippor hikes, in tho oonvoyancc of all sorts of goods, and tho lowest elapses of Irish and German emi- grants, by means of propellers^ as they call them, or trailing vessels with a small steam-power attached, in case of ealnis or adverse winds. The rates of freight and passage by these vessels being only two-thirds of tho regular steamers, they obtain plenty of busi- ness; and as dispatch is the soul of all Aiuorican conuuorce, and "tho sunnncr ends too soon," there arc no sailing vessels on the lakes without the ad- dition of steam, and then they arc called "pro- pellers." Ohio is one of the finest States of the Union, and in proceeding across it, from the lake to the Ohio River, there was a great progress visible in every di- rection, both in tillage and grazing. A large portion of the fat cattle of this State are driven to Phila- delphia and sold at twopence halfpenny per pound, whilst a much greater number are driven to Cincin- nati, and sold at half the price for salting. PLirCKINO OEKBE. IIU pro- In aliccp-frtrniinj^ llio American farmer appears to be belilnd th(5 rest of tlie world. They arc i long- tailed, dirty, small, and (xiarse-wool breed, stragf^ling about without a slu-pherd in numbers of fifty or sixty, and must be more trouble tfian profit. But the hogs are worth looking at. They are reared in largo numbers, and in the town of Cincinnati there arc houses wh('re th(!y slaughter and salt down a thousand in a day. Geese are also universal, not merely in Oliio, but throughout the States, and may be reckoned by millions. The ))eople do not seem to care nmch for tlujm, however, as a dish at table ; but they are kept chiefly for the re[)eat(^d crops of feathers which they afford to the small settler; feathers being everywhere received as money at the stores in town in payment for goods. Whether the geese admire this jieriodical plucking or not, never enters into tlie imagination of the owner, any more than cutting off his slave's ears in the cotton States troubles the drivers of Alabama or Mississippi. The travelling by land is always bad, but the far- ther you remove from the Eastern States the worse it becomes ; the roads once made receive little or no repairs ; small holes increase to serious impediments : and the stage-coaches are very rickety affairs, threat- ening every now and then to send the passengers sprawling on the road, or over the precipice. The approach to the Ohio at the town of Beaver is charming, quite as good as anything I remember » .« »• I •■ V'. . If I I 120 OHIO RIVER. i,i' .•r, I'.'" >i ■ ; ^*i r ■ 1 1 .1 in Europe. The descent is, however, rather trying to the nerves of ladies ; you look down into the abyss from the mountain-road, and, whilst you would will- ingly prefer walking, the driver cannot stop, and you are obliged to trust to the chapter of accidents for your ultimate safety in reaching the bottom. The Americans have nothing that they may so well be proud of as this magnificent River Ohio ; and, if one could only forget the dreadful climate, a sum- mer of Senegal and a winter of Siberia, it would be impossible not to desire to possess some of the lovely spots on the banks of this shining stream. But as our landlord at the * Sun ' observed, " Hot as it is, sir, we have a frost every month in the year," which I had no difficulty in supposing, for I passed the great and glorious Independence day, the 4th July, on board a steamboat on this River Ohio, which was a foggy, frosty day, and the passengers were crowding round the stove fire, to keep themselves warm. Eng- lishmen abuse their climate and call it changeable, but let them go to the States, and for the first time in their lives they would find out what the word changeable means; driving a four-wheel waggon across a river to-day, and this day week obliged to plunge into the same river to cool yourself! Who would live in such a country ? And yet this extreme of temperature took place on the River Wabash, which divides Indiana fiom Illinois, a little time before I was there. I '* ■ " T1 ' * OHIO RIVEn. 121 I had determined to avail myself of the first boat that siiould touch at Beaver going down the Ohio, but it was kite in the afternoon before any arrived. One had passed whilst we were at dinner, and it turned out to be a very good one ; so the next, in all probability, would be rather inferior. And so, in fact, it turned out; it was deep-laden, to within four or five inches of the gunwale, and had but few passengers, not above thirty, in a saloon fit to jicconiniodate a Imndrcd. But this proved rather an advantage. Tlic passengers became all very sociable toii'ethcr, which could not have been the case had we been full ; and as the weather was fine, and our table abundant, we did not affect an impatience which we did not feel, and saw other boats give us the go-by without any regret. The Ohio is just 1,000 miles long, from the bridge at Pittsburgh to the junction of the River Mississippi, and a finer thousand miles of river scenery could hardly be found in the wide world. The lower part of the river, however, is quite destitute of beauty, it is only the first five or six hundred miles that is really picturesque; the mountains coming down to the river within a mile or two, leaving a rich bottom of alluvium between the navigation and the foot of the hill. In other spots the mountain comes down to the water, and here we see the people busy excavating coal, limestone, or iron ore. The price of coal is put up in large letters at many of the pits, which varies from three-halfpence M '. y i' 122 COAL TIIIlKK-IIALFI'KNCi: A HISIIKL. w ^ % .1 r > to twopoiu'c-hjilfponny and tlircopcncc per 1)Uh1ic1. It wiiA thrtH'-luilfponcc at Martinsvillo, o])positc AVIiceling, iiiul got gradually dearer till we lost it altogether. T'len we eaine to the Salt nprlngs, after whii'h the minerals) eeascd for many hundred miles. During the whole thousand miles of the Hiver Ohio there is no bridge, but numerous ferries, and along the banks of the river there are ninety-eight towns or villages, of which Cincinnati is the largest, and then Louisville; but Steubenville and AVheeling, Ports- mouth, May sville, Covington, Lawrenceburgh, Jeffer- sonville, Evansville, and New Albany, arc all more or less flourishing and increasing places. From the bridije at Plttsburtjh to the mouth of the Kiver Mis- 8issii)pi, below New Orleans, is 2,212 miles, a naviga- tion tliat is daily performed in a species of boats or flats that are merely nailed together like packing- cases ; and, as it might be expected, almost daily acci- dents are happening to these frail conveyances. Our fellow-passengers i'eemed all to take an interest in the English tniveller; and were not long in in- quiring where he wr..:* J.^>ing to, as is usual amongst Americans. This, by the way, is either grown harm- less, or does not exist so rudely as many writers have represented it ; and as to the often-alleged impro- prieties of speech and liberties taken with the Queen's English amongst Americans, I need not be suspected of partiality to the Republicans, when I say, without hesitation, that our language is spoken much better ft hiirni- rs have iinpro- A SUIKJKON'fl KXPEIIIKNCE. 123 better and more correctly in all jiarts of America tlian it is in Kiij^laiid. There are no provincialisms in the States, where th<^ abominable diahjctrf of Somerset, Vork, and l^ancaHter, entirely disjijjpcar; and, exten- sive as the country is, one uniform eorreetnee1 ii ! i •'. 1 .< 124 DISASTERS OF EMIGRANTS IN ILLINOIS. before the bad weather set in. He wished, he said, that he was going witli me, for he himsch", he added, was English, being a native of Hertford, but he feared he sliould never see his native place again. I here inquired into the fortunes of the family, which emigrated, many years ago, to Illinois; he said he had known them well, but it was qiiite ex- tinct — father, sons, and daughters, all dead and for- gotten. Should we go ashore at , and inquire for the name of , once so influential in those parts, he assured me it would not be remembered, or even known. The last of the race was compelled to seek work in a brickmaker's field, wheeling clay and sand to the moulders ; and this fine young man, who, had he remained in England, could hardly fail to have done well, turned to drinking, and finally finished himself by (here he made a significant motion across his tliroat, that could leave no doubt of the dreadful end of the last of his race). "It is impossible for an English agriculturist to succeed in this country," said the surgeon, " whether lie has capital or not. Without money he would stand perhaps a better chance, but either way it is impossi- ble." As soon as Mr -^— arrived in this country he was sanguine of success ; all his neighbours entered into an agreement among each other by ever^ means to obtain his ready money ; and though the real price of Indian corn was only fivepence per bushel, amongst themselves, yet, when Mr became a buyer, as he I" ^» {>. TAKING IN THE BRITISHERS. 12 O must be to a large extent, the price to him -was to be a dollar, or four shillings, per bushel ; and they all religiously adhered to this piece of roguery on every occasion to fleece the rich Britisher, who, so far from repining at the high price, saw in it the very element of success, and wrote home those well-remembered letters, and calculations of wealth, by growing thou- sands of acres of prairie land with Indian corn at eiglity bushels per acre, and four shillings per bushel, but which, fortunately, deceived nobody but himself! Perhajis no Englishman ever emigrated to America with greater advantages than Mr . With a large capital and still larger experience as a practical farmer, he carried with him his own society of seve- ral educated sons and daughters ; and the only mistake he seems to have made, and a fatal one it was, was not going to Upper Canada instead of to the United States. Had the family gone 4.0 the English side of Lake Erie instead of the American, with such advan- tages as they post^ss^ ii, everything they touched would liave tunica tc gold ; the sons and daughters would have mivrrif d into the first Canadian families ; they would all niO^^t likely have been ali." ; the present moment, ivh, prosperous, and happy; theii houses and lanes would have advanced xo a high market value ; and the head of the family would have been figuring, as lie was so well calculated to do, as a member of the Canadian Pailiamcr^t. >\ Lj^t a melan- choly contrast this sad hi^iory p'-jsint^ ! ■ *'. • M f, v' ■. ■ .-• i V ' 126 ROAD TO OREGON. I ! » ! « * .1 I inquired of my medical friend, pointing to the roof of our steamboat, where all those four-wheeled new waggons were going to, so nicely painted ; some forty or fifty waggons with their wheels slung over the sides. He answered me that they were made in Pittsburg, and were all going to Indcpcndei?C( for sale to the Oregon settlers or Santa Fe traders, who all made the little village of Independence thci*.' starting-place. This year there v>;is a very con- siderable movement in both directions, and it was thought to Oregon alone there would be ten thou- sand settlers start oif in the six weeks beginning with the 1st of June, and some even reckoned the number at twenty thousand. He told me that on a former excursion up the Missouri, he had learnt a good deal about the journey, which to an American was far from formidable, if undertaken in a proper season of the year; and before we parted he furnished me with a good many valuable memoranda respecting this qucestio vexata — the territory of Oregon, some of which I have placed at the end of the volume. I said to another younger man, " Where are you going to, if you will excuse my curiosity ? " He replied, " To Peoria, in Illinois." " Have you ever been there?" I asked. "No," he said, but he had heard it was a very promising place ; he had come from Akron, in the Portage county of Ohio, and was an artist. I asked if it would not have been nearer to have gone by the lakes; he said yes, it would, I' • I* ' I* ' PRAIRIE DU CIIIEN. 127 of but he wished to accomi'uny his brother-in-law as far as he was going, who kept a store at Fort Madison, and w.is now on board with his new wife (his sister) to whom he begged to introduce me. The bride was far from ill-looking — was young and cheerful ; and the prospect of a residence in the distant State of Iowa seemed not to give her a moment's uneasiness ; on the contrary, she had heard so much of the health- iness of Fort Madison, that she did not at all regret leaving her brothers and sisters in Ohio. " Are yo}i going also to Iowa," I said, to rather a Jew-looking man, who was evidently a tradesman, and had considerable anxieties on his brow. " No," replied he, " I am going home to my store and family at Prairie du Chien." In answer to my questions, he said it was a very poor place, no money stirring, except the little spent by the Indians out of their .Tovernment allowance, and now and then a few do lurs from the United States' troops ; and as it was >' fiorri'l climate for eight or nine months in the year, i w had made up his mind to leave it, and was going home now for that purpose. " Where do you think of removing to?" He said he had hardly yet made up his mind completely, but he thought it would be Key West, where there was more money stirring, and a warmer climate. As Key West is a little low island, on the coast of Florida, he will no doubt find i: 'considerable change in climate, after coming from •i » ' L:;i 1^ * It \i ! }^: * I"; 128 MEMPHIS. the almost perpetual winter of Prairie du Chien, on the Upper Mississippi. The last person that engaged my inquiries was a son of the South. He should leave us, he said, at Louisville, and then proceed to his home at Mem- phis, in the State of Tennessee, on one of the bluffs of the "^ississippi, and one of the most flourishing and pre. ' ' places in all the West. Memphis shipped lai^; < ir, he stated, eighty thousand bales of cotton, and was beating the older towns of Vicks- burg and Natchez, lower down the river, all hollow. He hoped I should come and visit them at Memphis, and I should really be surprised to see how they were going a-head wuth railroads, &c. ^ .' CHAPTER VIII. VOYAGE DOWN THE OHIO. CONTINUED. Co-operative Societies always successful — No Drinking, no Poverty — What are the English Clergy about? — American Temperance Pledge — Parallelograms — TJe wards for the Poor — Bankrupt States— Go-a head Paying States— Cincinnati- Judge M'Lean— Louisville— Falls of the Ohio— Comi)laints of Trade— Evansville Blacksmith — Sickly Country — Fogs und Bogs — St Louis — Lead and Copper — Iron Mountain — Copper Harbour — Mississippi increases Fifteen Miles per Century in Length — Cotton 2id. per lb. There Is a flourishing community of Ilarmonltcs on a part of the Ohio, near Beaver, called Economy ; and in a day or two we should be approaching an- other equally prosperous, known as Rapp's settle- ment, at Harmony ; now purchased, I think I un- derstood, by Mr Owen. It is a singular thing that these communities are all, without exception, pros- perous ; not only making money, but, unlike Indi- vidual farmers, possessing It and keeping it. There are the Davidites, to the north of Toronto, in Canada ; the Fourrierites, in Massachusetts ; the Mormons, at Nauvoo, opposite Fort Madison, on the n. 130 CO-OP !•: II A r I V k soci i-yn es. ;i* 1 ■ ' ^ .1 ISHspisslppI ; and tlic Shnhcrs, at Lebanon, — rum multis niiia,— ii\u\ nil doing well. Tlic discij)los of the Fronclnnan, Fonrricr, arc nndcr^^tood to be tlio best, and based on the trnest i)rlneii)U'8 of co-operation withont encouraging idleness, or working tlic willing horse to death. In society it is proved, beyond question, that a ecttlenient may be made in a new country where land is '"heap and labour dear, with far better pros- pects of success than by private and individual ex- ertiont Rv hinieelf one man becomes almost fright- ened at how much ho has to do, and how much he !ias to endure ; luit in comnmnitv these difficulties vanish. The union and co-operative labour is doubly effective in felling trees, raising log buildings, &c. ; indeed, it is a continual "bee," to use the country phrase, where every one assists the other, whilst all the profit of store-keeping, banking, or any other legitimate pursuit, goes into the general accumulating fund, instead of enriching an individual, and becomes public wealth in opposition to private wealth. Ma- nufactures, building, and mining succeed to tillage, and by good management such societies ultimately become the richest in the country. If fifty families should agree in London, on this principle, and embark for the Gore or London Dis- trict, or some of the adjoining districts in Canada West, and club their little funds together to pur- chase an improved farm, they could not fail of sue- ( • NO DlilNIilNO, NO rOVERTY. 131 CC88. Of course there inuHt be rules und regulations laid down, and a leader appointed to })re8erve order and enforce oeouomy and honesty. Every one must sign the agreement, and the creation of wealth after the first year or two would be astonishing. In general, tlic communities in America, based on the co-operative system, have originated in some crotcliety nonsense of faith, some peculiarities in their religious observances, or in abstaining from marriage, and many others ; but notwithstanding any nonsense of this kind, they all seem to have had an eye to the main cliance ; and it is sufficient to notice the Shakers and their garden-seeds, which sell uni- versally tiu'ougli the United Slates and even Ca- nada at double the price of the same goods from private nurserymen. The subject of bettering the ct)n(lition of the poor has engaged the minds of thousands of benevolent individuals in Great Britain during the present cen- tury, whilst millions of money have been iieely sub- scribed to assist in the good work. But how little has been accomplished l)eyond mere talk, whilst vast and disproportionate sums have been squandered in useless and expensive tracts, and the salaries of secre- taries, collectors, house rent, printing, stationery, and advertising. The first step to take would rather be something practical, to show the people that one mouthful of bread is letter for them than a barrel of V '■'%■ ••• f 1. ■ 132 WHAT ARE THE CLERGY ABOUT ? 4j' 'K« f . ■ J' > # u If; \\ ■ '; ^ .1 rum, and one leg of mutton on Suntlay is worth a whole ri . er of ghi I Tiiis would be bcguining at the right vnd ; hut as the labouring classes will not be- lieve thit5 doctrine unless their teachers show them the go(nl exam[)l(.';, why do the clergy and dissenting ministers hesitate to follow in the path of the Ame- ricans, and before they preach let them first sign the j)ledge themselves, engaging to abstain from all in- toxicating drinks? Then they migi t naturally hope for success ; thousands would ilock to their standard ; all trades would improve, except the distilleries : because the money expended now in liquid poisons would then go in good woollens, shoes, and calico ; whilst those wretched scenes, the most disgraceful in London, in the neighbourhood of the gin palaces, would be spared to the })asser-by. But nothing w III be done till the preachers begin it, and the condition of the poor will never be much benefited till they adopt the American plan of tem- perance. How is it that the Rev. Mr This and the Rev. Mr That will not sign his name to a temperance pledge ? Is it that they are " given to wine," — so fond of drink, whether punch or toddy, that they cannot give it up i After seeing the wonderful success of the tem- perance movement in America, and which has been promoted mainly by the dissenting ministers in that I ' TEMPERANCE PLEDGE. 133 country, it is a disgrace to look at home, and see these holy and sleek shepherds of the flock incapable of abandoning their brandy and water. The American pledge is short, intelligible, and very much to the point ; * and I cannot help think- ing that, if the reverend gentlemen going about lately in Southwark electioneering, had employed the same zeal in collecting signatures to this pledge, amongst the poor and honest inebriates of the Bo- rough and the New cut, it would have given them far more pleasure and real satisfaction than if their candidate had succeeded in his vain attempt. This would, indeed, be bettering the condition of the poor ; and then would follow other and more important plans by which the number of the poor would annually decrease. Even parallelograms, that have been so much laughed at in England, would then probably come into fashion amongst the indus- trious classes, who might, by that method, have better lodgings at one shilling per week than they can ob- tain at present for three shillings, whilst the landlord would be receiving 12^ per cent, interest on his capital, which is much more than he now obtains. In a thickly-peopled country like Great Britain, ". i * American Tempeuance Pledge. " We, the iindersigned, do agree, that \rc will not use intoxicating liquors, nor traffic in them as a beverage ; that we will not provide them as an article of entertainment, or for persons in our employ- ment ; and that in all suitable ways we will discountenance their use throughout the community." N ..• I [:; ■: li ' ^ 134 REWARDS FOR THE POOR. ^ .^ V ' 1 where land is scarce and dear, and a h^ge capital required for its cultivation, any attempts to press the co-operative principle must fail ; but Canada West is a country peculiarly adapted to such so- xjieties, which can no longer be called experiments, seeing that so many exist already in that countr}-, without a solitary instance of failure. The poor in England seem to have had, with all the immense amount of the national charities, very little done for them. There has been no want of prisons and penitentiaries. Bridewells and Newgates, gibbets, transportation, and the hulks ; but no legis- lators have ever yet proposed rewards for the poor, it is and has been all punishment — nothing but punish- ment ! We invite them into the gin shops, and stand at the doors ready to handcuif them on coming out ; forgetting that it is misfortunes that make men wicked ; and in awarding sentence, make no allow- ance for their want of education for their constant and superior temptations. Would it not be wiser to turn them from the error of their ways by the tem- perance pledge, than throwing money away in building and enlarging model prisons and criminal courts ? But to return to the Ohio. Passing Galiopolis and Point Pleasant, we arrived at Portsmouth, at the junction of the Grand Canal which connects this river with Lake Erie, leading for three hundred and thirty-four miles through the heart of the State of Ohio. This Ohio canal would be considered an im- h ' ^i .,' BANKRUPT STATES. 135 portant public work in any European country, as it has one hundred and fifty-two locks, and cost a mil- lion sterling ; but in America these stupendous works are common, and undertaken, perhaps, with too little thought or calculation. If it were otherwise they would not have such an accumulating amount of debt. Thus the bankrupt States, or those not paying any lese are ^jretty ] iiyjlt (»1X Xt^L/UUllU>l . 3. Maryland » - 15,000,000 j> 4. Illinois j» «• 15,000,000 5» i 5. Indiana >j 14,000,000 J» .1 6. Alabama j> - 13,000,000 JJ 7. Mississippi >» - 8,000,000 »> 8. Florida j> - 5,000,000 3> 9. Michigan j> - 4,000,000 » , 10. Arkanstis j» - 3,500,000 » Total . 135,500,000 This is an enormous sum, and never will be paid, though from recent efforts on the part of Pennsvi- vania, they are making great efforts to pay a divi- dend ; and though the largest debt, it is perhaps the least despeicite of them all, because they have, in the Quaker State, great resources and a large population; and the friends of Pennsylvania all agree in saying, that the interest will be regularly paid in future. We shall see. ..'i ■ I I :,V 186 PAYING STATES. h 1 .1 In sonic of the other States the hopes of repayment are but feel)le. They have commenced everything and finished nothing, and have been long at a Htand- still, with nothing coming in. " One thing at a time " is not the American motto, but everything is pucri- ficed for the " Go a-head " principle. So that it is difficult to see where the money is to come from to pay the interest of any of these debts, except, per- haps, Pennsylvania, and it would be a disgrace if the second State in the Union in wealth, population, and imi^'ovements were to repudiate whilst so many infe- rior States are regularly paying their dividends. Whilst there are ten States which may be calle* bankrupt, seeing they have repudiated and no longer pay the dividends, there are, on the other hand, ten other States whose stocks are reckoned as very good, as they regularly provide for the payment of their interest: these are as follows, viz. — New York owes Ohio Virginia Kentucky Tennessee Georgia S. Carolina Missouri Maine »* » )j >j » if ii ii Massachusetts 28,000,000 dollars 19,000,000 7,000,000 4,500,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 3,000,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 7,000,000 }> j> j> jj j> a )i a a Total - - 76,500,000 4 . ■ Pi' CINCINNATI. 137 Without reckoning the national debt of America, giving a grand total of indebtedness amounting to two luiudred and twelve millions of dollars, which is nearly fifty millions sterling, a tremendous sum, whioli ought not to be increased. After passing a bustling little town on the banks of the Ohio called Maysvillc, a few hours l)rought us to Cincinnati, which may be called the metropolis of the western country, and containing nearly a hundred thousand inhabitants, including the opposite town of Covington in Kentucky, to which it is proposed to throw over a bridge, which the Amci loans will find no difficulty in doing except in times of flood, when the water is sometimes four feet deep in the very shops on the quay ! Cincinnati is one of the most agreeable cities in the Union, and trade seemed flourishing. I counted forty -five steamers at the wharf, and most of them smoking, ready to shove off on their upward or down- ward voyage, all which gave great life and animation to the scene. The markets in the city arc numerous and well supplied, everything cheap and abundant, from whisky, at tenpence per gallon, to pork, at a penny per pound, and best milk at a penny per quart. Indeed, I have heard of a man at one of the mar- Icets buying, last year, four turkeys, four ducks, and four chickens, all for a dollar, or four shillings ! But I confess I only heard it; I saw nothing half so cheap. This city stands in latitude 39 deg., about f. If 138 CINCINNATI. :,v: ■ Vi; : i:' f •■ ^ ' M ' 1 .^ V ' the same as Lisbon and Alicant, iand the winters, though very severe, are not quite so long as in Cleve- land and New York. The town stands 450 feet above the sea at New Orleans, but, notwithstanding its great and unparalleled success, it is difficult to say what particular cause it is owing to, unless that it is a sort of half-way house, in a sahibrious climate, and the centre of a vast and fertile region, from all parts of which it is easily accessible. St Louis and Chicago are both getting on fully as rapidly as ever Cincinnati did, and promise to become as great. The only ham that I ever saw in the States that could be pronounced eatable was at Cincinnati ; but to look for a rasher of bacon in this paradise of pigs would be useless, the Americans do not know what it means; they have the name and also the thing, but, tell it not in GathI it is as much like London bacon as the filthy American red herrings are like our Yarmouth bloaters ! Nevertheless, Cincinnati is a very tolerable place, and, were I transported to the States, and compelled to live there, which God forbid I " And drag at each remove a lengthening chain," I think I might hope for fewest annoyances by fixing my quarters at the Buckeye city. This is, after all, but a faint degree of praise ; but it is something to learn thut there is a spot in this most disagreeable of all disagreeable countries. ; * ". ■*' LOUISVILLE. 139 where an Englishman of spirit and of moderate taste and desires could contrive to pass away his time without being much insulted. The society of Cin- cinnati is good and literate too, which is an extraor- dinary thing to say for an American town. I had letters of introduction to one of the principal inhabi- tants, the Honourable Judge Maclean, but I under- stood he had not returned from his judicial business in Michigan, and I did not care about any other in- troductions. The judge, I learned, was a man out of ten thousand, full of virtue, intellect, and knowledge ; and will probably be put in nomination for the F.vesi- dency in 1848 by the young and feeble party called the native Americans, or young America ; but the judge is too honest and too good a m:*Li to be success- ful in such a contest, and he will moiit likely reap no other honour or reward than being rejected, like Henry Clay ! Our boat stopped all the day at Cincinnati ; and in the afternoon she dropped down the river along with three others, all large steamers, and bound, with full cargoes like ourselves, to St Louis. We had the satisfaction of being the slowest of them all, and before it was dark were left far astern. After passing Lawrenccburgh, the first town of Indiana, we arrived, soon after daylight, at the Swiss settlement of Vevay, where a doubtful attempt has been made to cultivate grapes. Here the River Ohio begins to lose some of its beauties ; the high lands f ■•• f . F i'i ll ' * I * I* . ,< 140 FALLS OF THE OniO. '.V f . V i . 11 , I* I ■■ i 1 .1 have receded farther from the river, and the place did not look a quarter as well as the real Vevay on " Leraan's Lake," commanding, as it does, the glorious view of the everlasting Alps ! We stopped some time at Louisville, with its numerous tall chimnies, but made little or altera- tion in passengers, except taking one in at New Albany, a town four miles lower down ; who made, I remember, great complaints of the badness of trade, alleging that New Albany had been built too close to Louisville, and that all his ready-money customers supplied themselves at the larger city. He was about leaving it for the west, perhaps for St Louis ; though he did not hear very good accounts even of that city, for it was reported that great scarcity of money prevailed at St Louis, that trade of all kinds was dreadfully overdone, and it would not be long before a crisis took place there, as the storekeepers owed immense sums of money to the merchants of Baltimore and Philadelphia, which it was impossible they could pay. He was therefore going to see if these unfavourable accounts were true or not. The falls of the Ohio, though considerable enough to interrupt navigation after a dry season, were nothing at the time we passed, as the river was very full ; but the rapids have been rendered harmless by an excellent canal, which, though only a mile long, has cost a million of dollars. This canal enables the It ' f ' EVANSVILLE BLACKSMITH. 141 largest-class steamers to pass up the river in the lowest state of the water, and has tended very much to the benefit of Louisville and all the higher parts of the river. Louisville contains forty thousand inhabitants ; and is, next to Cincinnati, the largest place on the Ohio. It may be considered the Dun- dee of America, as it is more largely engaged in the trade and manufacture of hemp than any other town of the Union. Pittsburgh is called the Birmingham of America ; but such comparisons are far from flat- tering to the English, the cleanest part of Pittsburgh, as I saw it just after the fire, being far dirtier than the lowest districts in Birmingham. At Evansville, in Indiana, the last town of any consequence on the Ohio, we took in a passenger for St Louis ; who stated to me that he was a blacksmith, and, in answer to my inquiries, was doing pretty well, putting by his fifteen or sixteen dollars per week: and yet he said he was going to leave it, for he could not get paid. He admitted that he could get flour and provisions, but though he had been eight years at work at the forge, in a country far from healthy, he was no better off than when he commenced ; he had plenty of money on his books for work done, but on the books it would remain, for it was next to im- possible to collect it, and he was determined to begin the world again somewhere else. He was only going a little way with us, and should probably select one of the Atlantic cities, where there was at least some ^ ' * 4 , rf W^T W: ( >t '^ 142 SICKLY COUNTRY. J • * l4. ' 5 ■' 4 t .1 money, though the profits might not be so good. He was taking Indian corn in at eightpcjice per bushel, and wheat at two shillings, when he could get it, and would be well satisfied to close his accounts in this manner ; but those articles were the same as money, and were not to be had for old debts. He was determined to leave the country. We had also two young men that joined us at Evansville. They were Germans, from Alsace, and were returning to Europe shortly, having done no good. One of these young Germans had just recovered from a bed of sickness, caused by the fever and ague. He had been living at Terre Haute, a very pretty town near the boundary line, between Indiana and Illinois ; but had caught the fever at La Fayette, which was a better place for business than Terre Haute, and all he had been enabled to save Avas just sufficient to carry him from the wretched Wabash to the banks of the Rhine. He told me that he had been in a clothing store, but whether as principal or assistant there was no means of judging. These frequent accounts of want of success were almost the invariable results of my inquiries, and they were truly disheartening; as these persons, though in an humble sphere of life, were samples of a large and useful class, and ex uno disce omnes. But it was very little better when I made in- quiries about our wealthier fellow-passengers ; I say about them, for I could not expect them to tell of I , FOGS AND BOGS. 143 their own extravagancies and embarrassments: but it appeared, from good authorities, that the cotton- planters of the south were a most reckless race, had no regard to the value of money, had their planta- tions heavily mortgaged for monies bon'owed of the abolitionists in Boston to purchase slaves when cotton was worth sixpence per pound sterling, and, now that it had fallen in the shipping ports to two- pence-halfpenny, they naturally felt a constantly in- creasing difficulty in paying the interest ; but how they should ever pay the principal they neither knew nor cared ! We were now in the lowest portion of the River Ohio ; it was broad, deep, and muddy, with a slug- gish stream, and we were looking with interest for its junction with its mighty neighbour, the great Mississippi. All the beauty of scenery had vanished; we were passing the miserable Shawnee town, which had been better named Ague town, off the mouths of two extensive rivers — the Cumberland and Ten- nessee — both coming from the south. The River Ohio, which had been so beautiful for five hundred or six hundred miles, was now uniting with the Mississippi, and seemed to resemble an ocean of pea soup — an ocean without a shore — not a bit of dry land to be seen as big as your portman- teau. Vast and raging, full and overflowing, this impetuous mixture of clay and water was now against us, and we had to keep our steam up to overcome > . " & .. J> V'l- 144 ST LOUIS. I , < 1 .1 the current. It was altogether dismally uninterest- ing ; and there were no regrets at leaving the decks for the night ; and it was not till dark the following evening that we descried the lamps of St Louis. But, dark and late as it was, I had my luggage landed, and was soon comfortably at supper at the Planter's hotel. In the morning I discovered that we were in a large and rapidly improving place of forty thousand inhabitants, that our hotel was a palace, and that there was a brisk and important commerce carrying on with places up the various neighbouring streams, " Rivers unknown to song ;" and with cities, whose names even had scarcely, if ever, been heard on the European side of the At- lantic. Boats at the wharf were getting up their steam for Galena and Dubuque, bringing back car- goes of lead ; — excursion boats to St Peter's River, Lake Pepin, and the falls of St Anthony, touching at Prairie du Chien, and not occupying ten days, with an excellent table all the way ; — boats for Peoria and Peru, up the Illinois River ; — others for Jeiferson city and Independence, up the Missouri ; but the far greater number were placarded about for Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, on the Ohio, whilst the largest boats were for New Orleans, touching at Memphis, Vicksburgh, and Natchez. Here was an amount of business truly astounding. » ' LEAD AND COPPER. 145 . .»« and I could not help saying to myself, — If there is a place in the whole of the American Union that bids fair for permanent prosperity it is this, St Louis I The wharf is lined with grog-shops, the temperance movement not having had time to travel yet 2,000 miles from New York, and copper money, singular to say, is not in circulation ; like Beau Brummell, they " don't know the coin." But St Louis is the head- quarters for lead, which sells at 14/. to 15/. per ton, even there, and it was to be seen in immense quanti- ties whichever direction you might proceed in, but principally down by the shipping-place. The lead district near St Louis extends over two millions of acres, and, with the adjoining States of Iowa and Wiskonsin, forms undoubtedly the richest region in the world for that mineral, beating the English and Spanish mines already in amount of produce, but in a few years it will be equal to the whole consumption of the globe. It appears that they have not yet adopted the method wliich the great leadowners of Yorkshire and Northumberland have of refining the lead ; consequently many tons of silver, say seven or eight, are thrown away annually by the Americans on the banks of the Mississippi, as I reckon every ton of their lead will produce five oz. of silver ; and con- sequently their loss this year will be near 200,000 dollars, by not refining. Iron is so abundant to the south of St Louis that it seems to be on that account quite disregarded. 1 » ...• f . 4 ' I* ••" 146 MISSISSIPPI INCREASES > « 1 I ' 1) h. i h ■ ' % .1 At the Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain the ore is so rich and metallic that it may be beaten out into some rough implements on the spot, whilst at Copper Har- bour, in the neighbouring State of Michigan, on the shores of Lake Superior, a company in Boston has secured what they consider the richest copper-mines in the world, extending over 250,000 acres. This enterprise is quite in its infancy, having been only just discovered, but 1,000 tons of ore were shipped to Boston at the opening of the navigation in 1845, which produced 700 tons of metal 1 My informant was one of the partners, but assured me there were no shares for sale, there never having been more than twelve partners. Copper has been hitherto imported largely by the United States, but as soon as they get their smelting-furnaces erected at Copper Harbour, America will be an exporter of copper, as she already is of lead. This copper business is the most important discovery that has been made in that country for years, and ought to enrich the otherwise poor State of Michigan. Is it not more than likely, that, if competent per- sons were to be dispatched to Canada, the same mineral riches might be found on the British side of Lake Superior, opposite Copper Harbour ? At any rate it is worth the attempt. British capital would not be found wanting for maturing such a speculation, and Canada is greatly in want of exports. St Louis, though such an important place, is in a very bad t ' EACH CENTURY FIFTEEN MILES. 147 situation, though it was the best that offered to the original French settlers. The floods of the united rivers, Missouri and Mis- sissippi, unite at a spot only eighteen miles above the city ; and, by the time this father of waters has reached St Louis, it seems about to carry everything before it. The channel is already taking an unfortu- nate direction for the town, and is roaring over to the opposite shore of Illinois, deepening the water where it was not wanted, and leaving shoals at St Louis, where they wanted depth of water. The furious river during the floods makes itself entirely new channels ; and it is not improbable that, some day or other, St Louis may no longer be on the banks of the river : — " The boats are still there, but the waters are gone." ■ If we see a town on the Rhine that has formerly changed sides and back again, there is no difficulty in anticipating much greater changes in this fearful river, whose ancient channels are at the present day far inland, mere long swamps, in the State of Illinois, and which old channels the river seems to be desirous of re-opening. When we consider further, that, during the last two hundred years the mouth of the Mississippi has pushed itself thirty miles further into the sea, we can understand what changes may be looked for in the next two hundred years^ and we can also ascertain ,. J, fTT I* *' ■» It' r. \ I ' < .1 148 COTTON TWOPENCE-HALFPENNY PER POUND. what becomes of the millions of tons of earth and soil carried down at all periods of the year by this river of rivers. It forms the immense alluvium between the city of New Orleans and the Belize, on which future sugar planters will make their fortunes. Sugar planting is a profitable business at New Orleans. I was introduced to one living at Patterson- ville, near that city, who was making money fast. He rather appeared to commiserate the state of the cotton-planters, with a constantly falling market, and contrasted the 200,000 hogsheads of Muscovado, of their last crop, at full prices, with the expensive and badly remunerated business of growing cotton at twopence-halfpenny per pound. Sugar was, how- ever, exposed to the casualty of frost, which was some winters so severe in the low wet soil of New Orleans, as entirely to cut off the canes, and destroy the hopes of the planter. It was also a much more expensive crop, but then the produce of an acre of cane brought three times as much cash as an acre of cotton. But the country was dreadfully sickly, and, as the people begin to die off on or about the 15th of August in the lower part of the Mississippi, nobody can remain in the district after July. They must then push off somewhere without delay or deliberation, and they generally take the steamer for the Ohio or St Louis, in order to save their lives. CHAPTER IX. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND SLAVERY. Rush of Waters— Funerals— Widows at Fifteen— American Young Ladies mere Dolls— Adieu to Fellow-passengers— Steam-boat Certiflcates— Cheap Engineers the dearest— Paying Members of Parliament a bad plan — Santa Fe and Oregon — American Spolia- tion—Three Million Slayea—Jf Properly in Slaves were abolished the Traffic would cease— Free Labour best— Home, sweet Home — Monarchy preferable to Democracy — King of Mississippi- Probable Changes — Railway through the Desert to secure Oregon — Americans should buy our Claim for 5,000,000/.— The other Alternative more expensive — American Policy should be Peace —Non-interference— Wheat 16«. per Quarter— English Corn and Cattle Laws bad. St Louis, with all its advantages, geographically speaking, of position, is in other respects an unfor- tunate selection, for it must ever be an unhealthy- city. There is a terrible mortality every summer and autumn, from the murky atmosphere which is at those seasons filled with the overloaded miasmata of a thousand swamps, near the meeting of the waters of these great rivers. People were dying fast, even at the early part of the season, when I was there, owing to the long-continued inundations from the ,,* f « 150 FUNERALS. h ■' Missouri. It is now too late in the day to alter the names of these rivers, but what is called the Missouri is unquestionably the Mississippi, and ought to have been so called, the same character of mud and rate of progress proving the two streams to be identical; whilst the Upper Mississippi is a clear stream, more gentle than the other, and at the junction unites as a perfect stranger. Each river is as distinct, to com- pare great things with small, as the waters of the Soane and Rhone, where they blend together at Lyons, and it is a pity that such an important error must now be allowed to pass without a hope of cor- rection. As deaths and funerals are so frequent in all parts of America, except perhaps the New England States, compared with what they are in Great Britain, the same ridiculous vanity is not observable in the last marks of respect paid to the deceased. The friends assemble in their usual dress, and by a numerous muster, rather than by their inky habiliments, testify their regard to the memory of the defunct. As for hearses and mourning coaches, plumes, cloaks, and hatbands, with all the other tricks of undertakers to make out a long bill for funeral expenses, all surh nonsense is unknown in America; whilst tli< <^* ,i sepulture is performed with as much proj and decency as in London, and probably does >i cost more than a sovereign I And why should it ? Tli 3 is one of the most glaring follies of my countrymen. WIDOWS AT FIFTEEN. 151 and it is to be hoped their good sense will not much longer submit to the tyranny of undertakers. Though in America, a funeral attended by fifty friends of the family need not cost more than a few dollars for the cofBn and grave, yet in some parts of Italy, I remem- ber, it costs still less, not half as much as it does in America, but then the practice is revolting, though nobody witnesses it. A large grave is opened every day in the year ; and all who die that day are buried without coffins, in that grave, principally by torch- light. The bodies are then covered over with quick lime, and the earth shovelled in, and the same grave will not be opened again till that day twelvemonths, there being a new and separate grave for each of tlie 365 days of the year, which are all treated in the same way ; and, by reason of the quick lime, nothing is found to remain in the grave when next it is opened. In this way survivors have nothing to pay for funerals in Italy, and it is well it is so, for the ostentatious plan of the English funerals would soon ruin all Italy. I saw, in St Louis, a widow and a mother at fifteen, which is at all times a melancholy sight, but which could never be seen in England. It is the more melancholy in America, inasmuch as it proves the greater mortality among the men, which is allowed on all hands, and because the American ladies are at best but helpless creatures, and more especially at that tender age. The early marriages of the American girls is .,* i It I '4: t .: ]}'* I 1 I* H ' « .r 152 ADIEU TO PASSENGERS. always remarkable, and some writer has observed, that they no sooner put down their dolls than they take up their infants, which is often true ; but they may well dispense with dolls, for they are nothing but dolls themselves all their lives. They absolutely know nothing; and the father of a family of four daughters, and who had often himself been in Eng- land as a buyer of Birmingham and Sheffield goods, told me that not one of his girls knew anything more about making a pudding than George the Third did. Indeed, he doubted if either of them knew how to lay the cloth for breakfast : but as for melting a little butter, or boiling a potato, it was as foreign to tliem as algebra. The reason, he said, was plain. Often born, and always reared, as they call it, in boarding houses, they never see anything of the kitchen— which is in possession of a black cook — perhaps, all their lives. There is a good deal to impress a stranger with in this distant city of St Louis, and the busy wharf was a constant ex- cursion. My fellow-passengers down the Ohio were here embarking for their various destinations, and all gave me tlie heartiest invitations not to forget them. My surgical friend tried hard to persuade me to accompany him as far as the town of Independence, whilst the open-hearted young bride plied me as hard to go with them and see Fort Madison. But it was impossible ; I had already come farther than I had intended, and I had no sort of inclination to be over- STEAM-BOAT CERTIFICATES. 153 taken by the marsh fever, the remittent or the inter- mittent fever, ague, or dumbague, or to be finally laid in a wet grave on the banks of the Mississippi I so I wished them all, most sincerely, every good, and finally bade them adieu : intending, in my own mind, in two or three days to embark also on my return to the eastern cities, and prepare for a voyage to Europe. The steamers, as I said before, make a very formidable show along the wharves at St Louis, and explosions are not unfrequent. One fine boat — the Big Hatcher — blew up at the wharf soon after I left. The various State Governments have all passed laws that no steamer shall ply for pas- sengers until she has obtained a certificate from two competent persons, appointed as inspectors, that she is, both as to her hull, engines, and machinery, safe and sound, and fully worthy to proceed on the voyage she is licensed for. Thib certificate, framed and glazed, may always be seen fixel in the most conspicuous part of the vessel, and is calculated to impart great confidence to the public. But they say nothing about the en- gineer, who ought equally to be licensed, as it can be proved that most of the terrible explosions on the Mississippi have arisen from the carelessness, igno- rance, or drunkenness of the engineers, who are very often nothing more than common stokers or firemen, promoted to the care of the machinery because they are willing to receive a dollar or two per week less ■»" »• ^ .1 154 PAYING MEMBERS A BAD PLAN. wages than their predecessor. I was, therefore, look- ing out for a boat something like the one I came in, slow and sure, not fancying these " Beat-e very thing, red-hot, high-pressure" concerns, that, after taking your money, throw you a somerset into the air, in- stead of quietly performing their contract to land you in Louisville or Cincinnati. 1 found abundance of oyster shells, live lobsters, * Punch ' and * Mrs Caudle,' in this distant city, proving that two thousand miles carriage from New York was looked on as nothing, as, indeed, it added little or nothing to the price. There are plenty of newspapers published daily in the town, but the farther west the less talent is observable in the editorial department; and so that new advertise- ments pour in, which they do, the papers care little for original articles. It is no bad thing to be returned as a member of Congress from these distant States, such as Missouri, of which St Louis is the capital. The mileage al- lowed by Government for travelling is sufficiently liberal to leave a considerable profit ; and the eight dollars daily payment during the session makes the allowance fully equal to three or four hundred a year sterling : an amount that is sure to tempt some needy lawyer, or at any rate some individual, to whom such a respectable means of existence is worth intriguing for. This plan of paying members is a very bad system, although it looks equitable in SANTA FE AND OREGON. 155 theory ; and as it is a favourite project among Eng- lish Reformers, like those equally absurd crotchets of the ballot and universal suffrage, nil I can say it*, let my honest fellow-countrymen forbear to imitate any of these three schemes, because they are Ame- rican. If they would only go and judge for them- selves how these fine theories work in practice, they would be disgusted with them, as I was, and return to their fatherland contented with being citizens of the best governed country in the world, and the only land of true and genuine liberty ! I could not help watching the removal of our nicely-painted blue waggons, from tlie steamer that brought them from Pittsburgh, to the boat that was ready to start for Independence. There was, evi- dently, a considerable trade going on with the Mex- ican province of Santa Fc and the northern parts of Texas, the annexation of which appeared to confirm all true Americans in the overwhelming power and preponderance of American diplomacy. Though Santa Fe forms no part of Texas, it will be no difficulty to the Shannons and Calhouns at Washington to include it, and thus open up the entire road to St Francsico and Monterey, in Upper California ; for although Oregon may be a very good country, and, ;is th(;y say, always has been, and always shall be, part and parcel of the United States, in spite of Great Britain, still Upper California is a much better one, and the United States will never stop [ It . ' r. V *y I' *■ If . ■ n ^ i) 156 AMERICAN SPOLIATION. till she obtaina poasesaion of it for her hicreaaing and adventurous citizens. Such ia the unqualified lan- guage of all parties of the people, but whether such be the sentiments of Mr Polk and hia Cabinet at head quarters thia deponent sayeth not. The Americans aay they were obliged to annex Texas in self-defence, and it waa solely to prevent its becoming a free country that it waa admitted to the Union of freemen. Had it remained a free and in- dependent State, it would have been impossible to prevent the half-murdered slaves in Arkansas, Loui- siana, Mississippi, and Alabama from running away across the frontier ; and Texas would have become the same aort of nuiaance as the British settlements in Canadti, only a great deal worse, as being so much nearer to the slave population. But the Americans may depend upon it, whatever injustice is committed in this aggression on the territories of a friendly and neighbouring power, they shall have their reward. The robbery of Mexico will not be followed by that easy and quiet course which the Government of Washington expect ; for it is a law of nature, certain and invariable, and which God speaks as plainly through his works as if we heard it uttered in his voice from Heaven, that no indiAddual, party, or people can act unjustly with safety any more than I could go to sleep across the Birmingham railway, or attempt to fast thirty days. Look at the French at Tahiti and Algiers ; the English at Aifghaniston and THREE MILLION SLAVES. 157 ing and ed lan- er such at head annex went its to the and in- aible to 5, Loui- g away become lements 10 much lericans nraitted dly and reward, by that nent of certain plainly in his irty, or } than I way, or ench at itan and New Zealand ; and the Russians in Circassia and the Caucasus, how they have all reaped that they have sown I So will it be in Texas and California. Every act of American fraud and injustice will be visited by a proportionate pui Ishment of disgrace and suffering. Look at the gross and infamous injustice of this free people, as they call themselves, keeping three millions of their fellow-creatures in the condition of slaves I And not satisfied with all the evils, losses, mur- murs, and murders of the system, they are still open- ing up fresh ground in Texas for the increase and further developmei..t of this hellish degradation ! To buy the slaves is out of the question, they are too numerous, and the purchase of them would amount to one hundred millions sterling, at the least. There is no other remedy but to make a virtue of necessity, and by freely giving them their liberty, and hiring them afterwards as domestic or farm labourers, put an end to this horrible reproach. Even if it pro- duced a national bankruptcy or crisis, as it assuredly would, it would be the least of two pressing evilsj but far preferable to that impending and threatening day when a servile war may take place, and another St Domingo business be repeated in the cotton States of America, on a much larger scale ! There is some hope tiiat the fine State of Ken- tucky will be the first to show an example in this good work. But whichever may be the first of the p • : , ,1 MA' V ' .1 »'< 158 PROPERTY ABOLISHED, TRAFFIC CEASES. States in this holy race, it will be twice blessed in friving and receiving; and nothing but honour and prosperity would attend it. Until the Christian world consents to abolish slavery^ it will be impossible to stop the slave trade. Till we agree to put an end to the practice of one man holding a properti/ in his fellow-creatures, it is useless to attempt to abolish the ti-affic in our fellow- creatures. And, melancholy to say, the present flourishing state of the slave trade on the east and west coast of Africa amply proves this. For the cause of humanity has gained but little by the British act of abolition of the trade or traffic in human flesh, merely because we began at the wrong end, and did not stipulate by treaty for doing away with the pro- perti/ in human flesh ! When the slave trade was legal, the numbers of negroes annually shipped from the coast of Africa amounted, on an average, to 50,000, out of which the deaths on the voyage did not exceed five per cent., say 2,500 human carcases thrown overboard as food for the sharks ; but now, in the year 1845, with a large preventive service on the coast, kept up at an enormous waste of English . ives and English treasure, the numbers shipped reach 150,000, whilst the mortality has increased to fifteen per cent., or tioenty-two thousand Jive hundred dead bodies thrown overboard every year ! A good deal the unfortunate results of English diplomacy. r ' FREE LABOUR BEST. 159 ed in • and jolish trade. f one ;, it is bUow- resent 3t and >r the Jritish L flesh, nd did ^e pro- was from ge, to ore did ircases ow, in on the h . ives reach fifteen 1 dead good )macy, beginning originally at the wrong end ; trying to crush the traffic before they crushed the property in blacks. There is no doubt that white men cannot grow sugar and rice, and very few of them would stand either cotton or tobacco ; negroes, therefore, must be had for all these four branches of agricultural indus- try ; and why not ? It was never intended that our black fellow-creatures should escape the general law of tilling the ground for the support of life ; indeed the state of labour, as previously remarked, is the very condition of enjoyment; and, as some French writer calls it with still more enthusiasm, labour is the " divine physician of our bodies and souls." But let us hire our black friends, and treat them as we do the whites, and pay them their stipulated wages, and in the picking season of cotton and the boiling season of sugar, if they demand an increase of pay, let us give it, in the same manner as we pay higher wages at harvest time in England. It is no use to object that if freedom were granted to the slaves they would leave the estates, and, roving about the country, commit robberies and murders. Experience has proved in Jamaica quite the contrary ; besides, if they did, a more vigilant police would soon interfere with this habit. It may also be said that the slaves are already happy, often singing, better fed than your English labourers, and that the accounts < N f: h ' h ; ir« I' 4 ' I.-' < .1 I*' Ik • t'l • 160 HOME, SWEET HOME I of cruelty and ill-treatment by the overseers are false or notoriously exaggerated. Be it so. I have heard a slave myself singing " Home, sweet home I " of all songs in the language the least adapted to his condition. But this only shows how easy the black race adapt themselves to their degraded and infamous position, brought on entirely through the wickedness and greediness of their owners. As soon as the price of cotton shall fall in these Southern States one cent per pound more, and, instead of four cents and a half, it should be sold at New Orleans and Mobile at three cents and a half, or, at Liverpool, if it should fall to twopence halfpenny per pound for ordinary New Orleans, the slavery system of the United States may be considered virtually at an end. In like manner, if the Minister in England should give up the com laws, down would come the market value of rice ; so that, if no altciation should be made in the tobacco duties, then the planters would find out that free labour would be much cheaper than slave^ and in fact, with the low price of cotton, rice, and tobacco, they would be compelled to alter their whole system. The price of sugar is of no conse- quence. Missouri, though a slaveholding State, does not reckon more than 60,000 of them, and it is thought she already regrets that she ever elected to be admitted to the Union in such a character, particularly as the MONARCHY rREFERABLE TO DEMOCllACY. 161 country is cold, and not adapted to the cultivation of those four crops where black labour may be con8i- dered indispensable, such as wc have just referred to. It is a very large State, containing frjrty-six million» of acres, and therefore not very much smaller than the whole of Great Britain, and yet, large as it is, it forms only one out of thirty various States or inde- pendent Governments, which have united together, from time to time, in a sort of league, by which, while they agree to conduct their own internal affairs, they are united together for their common interests, with a general Government common to them all, and having their relation to other Governments in common. By this sort of compact they all hoped to avoid the evils of the too great extent of kingdoms, the neglect of remote provinces, and the usual mismanagement of local affairs, the constant jobbing and corruption incident thereto, whilst they might enjoy all the advantages of concentration, as well as the conve- niences and privileges of many capital cities, instead of one. These are, no doubt, solid advantages, and, if there were no drawbacks, would be the perfection of human government. But it has been found out in America, during the sixty years' experiment of their independence, that there are two great, alarm- ing, and daily increasing evils incident to this sys- tem : — . J. [''■■ 162 KING OP MI8SIS1IPPI. I. •• !■( M • V Li*. 4^ First, the too great independence of the separate States; witness the nullification lately in South Carolina; and secondly, the want of power in the general Government to perform its functions. This is more and more striking every day with the good folks at Washington, who feel the incapability of ruling where there is no obedience in the go- verned. And as every year increases the power of the separate States, so, as there is no natural increase in the functions of the central Government, the one gets weaker as the other gets stronger ; and when Cincinnati or St Louis demands the transfer of the seat of government, and it is not complied with, then look out for squalls. The Western States have no particular affection for things at Washington, and to be King of Mississippi may be the aim, some future day, of some successful adventurer, just as " King of Alleghania " may awaken the ambition, one of these days, of some millionnaire in the Empire State of New York. The American Union is, no doubt, like its great river lying beneath me, grand and imposing, and its energies and resources vast and wonderful ; but there is no certainty or permanency in either ; the river is yearly making itself new channels, ravag- ing the neighbouring lands, and is too impetuous for human control,— so is the people ; and the seven wise men of the East forming the Government will find the difficulty of their position yearly increasing. PROBABLE CUANG£S. 163 A modern writer of great distinction* has said that the tendency of human affairs is for the people to elect their chief magistrate, acknowledging, at the same time, that all elected monarchs have been the best; for instance, William the Third, Cromwell, Napoleon, and Louis Philippe ; but I would say also to this philosopher as I would to the English Radical, " Go and see," and no true lover of his country would wish to see the fixed order of succession, as estab- lished in England, ever altered, as the advantages on our side decidedly outweigh the many evils of the elective principle. Since the abolition of the property qualification of electors through all the States, Virginia excepted, mob law has become "suprema lex;" and every moderate and respectable citizen in Vmerica acknow- ledges and laments the fatal mistake that was then made ; for Jack is as good as his master, and as there are infinitely more labourers than bosses, the entire power now is in the hands of the rabble I Previous to my arrival at St Louis it was esti- mated that as many as 7,000 persons had started for Independence and Oregon, at which latter place they would arrive about the beginning of November, 1845, after a world of troubles and privations. The jour- ney may be considered as follows : — Lord Brougham. 164 UAILUOAI) TIIUOUGII THE DKSKUT TO OIIKGON. w h * % . New York to Cincinnuti - 1060 miles. Louisvillo - - - - I'M) »» Shawnectown - . - 270 » St Louis - - - - 290 >» Total from New York to St Louis 17jO }) liKlopciulenco - - - 420 >» Foot ol' ilo(3ky IMountains 800 »> Fort Hall on the Kivcr Saptin 415 ft To Vancouver - > - 700 if To Mouth of Oregon 100 f* Grand Total from New York to the Pacific } 4185 )) And yet tliere are two rival schemes to carry a rail- road across this country I Twenty thousand men arc to be placed on the work, who will complete 500 miles per annum. Like the ultima ratio reguniy the railway of the republicans is to settle the question of the Oregon, without the trouble of negotiation ; and, as it is estimated at a mere trifle, only 5,000/. sterling per mile, a single line, it can be accomplished for about 20,000,000/. sterling, say, in round figures, 100,000,000 of dollars, to be raised by a nation that cannot pay their debts, or even the interest, and among whom it is diflUcult tc see a silver dollar in circulation ! And Oregon, when you arrive there, is not worth having ! It is a country of mountain and AMERICANS SHOULD BUY OUR CLAIM. 165 flood, and though twice the extent of Texas, com- prising about 40(),00(),()()0 of acres, it is not capable of maintaining more than 1,000,000 of iniiabitunts ; nothing but mountains, torrents, and barrens; the best lands in the sca-dii!reil)le u that oside own. ; the States jntiire itry is to a great extent invulnerable nearly, to any attack by 8ca or land ; and though it might be possible for a large force to march through the country and be well supplied as to quarters and provisions, yet, in the end, such a step would terminate in defeat and disgrace, and England would lament to see rej)eated the humiliating art'air of New Orleans ! Destroy New York, Boston, and Detroit, if you please, but don't landy further than 'I the lasit place, merely to give these brawlers for war a practical experience of what it means, and what such a rich and powerful nation can do to annoy them. If one hundred large transports were scuttled and sunk a little below St Felippe, at the mouth of the Mississippi, laden with stones, and some other one or two plans adopted which at present shall be kept in reserve, all the inconve- niences of war would be felt by the Americans with- out the English losing a single man. The Americaas don't read Greek, but what Thcmistocles said a long while ago, is truer no>r than it was then, that " the masters of the sea are masters of everything," and the glorious Iw] uLlic would soon find this out. The Americsms expect that in any future war with GreatBrlia' 1 the Black West India regiments would be landed at Mobile or some other parts of the slave States, and that, by frocernizing and arming the slaves, they would rise against their masters and liberate themselves from a state of thraldom. Nor would such a measure be very diflScult in those 168 NON-INTERFERENCE. States where the Black population already exceeds the White in numbers, such as Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina; and where it is nearly equal, as in Alabama and the southern districts of North Carolina. War, of all pursuits, should be the last to be thought of by America, whose aim for the next hundred years should be the creation and accumulation of capital, the article they most require, and to concoct the least objectionable method of giving early freedom to their slaves. The party of abolitionists do more harm than goo-ve8t-time, enables him to get through the work much quicker than is done in Kurope, and in this poor country 25,000 dollars is a large sum to receive in a heap for his crop of wheat ; and as car^ riage is nothing on our rivers, or next to nothing, there are few deductions. There is always sufficient solar heat to insure good crops, the only danger being from drought, but there bus never been a failure since I have been in the country. Now you see how we can grow wheat to pay us at two shillings pc best populated of the Western States, 80 they will be the firet to feel their strength. Iowa may be considered one of the best climates of all the States ; high and dry, and better drained than those lower down, it cannot fail of being a great wheat country, and will be the favourite resort of settlers for years to come ; whilst the State of Wis- konsin, on the opposite bank of the great river, is too cold a climate to make any extraordinary progress by immigration. It is much more severe than Canada West ; which is a country in every respect superior to Wiskonsin. I am the more inclined to mention this, as I have observed in a Sunday paper, circulating very largely among the working classes of London, frequent encomiums on the State of Wis- konsin, which the editor strongly recommends as u field for English emigrants ! This is to be regretted, as it could nor fail to lead to disappointment ; and if the editor had talked for hours, as I did, with the disappointed settler from Prairie du Clkicn, one of the best parts of Wiskonsin, he would in future not be so sanguine. The Alleghany Railroad is an extraordinary work of engineering skill, and docs the Quaker State groat credit. It is only thirty-seven miles in extent, but is carried over the mountains, by means of stationary engines, to the summit of 2,400 foot, and then joins the canal again, leading from Pittsburg to Philadel- phia, and 400 miles long. Where the canal could be 174 PHILADELPHIA POOR PLACE. • • (it I ' h * r carried no further, by reason of the mountain range intervening, the projectors had recourse to a short railway ; and, by means of a succession of inclines, they have overcome one of the most formidable diffi- culties that ever presented itself in railway enterprise. After this Alleghany line, civil engineers need not be frightened at anything ; for it would be no more difficult to carry a line from Basle to Milan than over the AUeghanies to HoUidaysburgh. We finally arrived at Philadeli)hia, and felt com- fortably settled at Saunderson's Hotel. This city is a large and imposing place ; but, apparently, in a sort of transition-state from commerce to manufactures. There are very few large ships in the foreign trade ; not half a dozen, and the Cape May pilots may well complain of the falling off of trade; and, drunken dogs as they are, keep their spirits up by pouring spirits down. The abundance of good coals at Phil- adelphia, and all through this extensive State, points the city out as the future seat of important manufac- tures ; and, with cheap food and cheap fuel, the Americans, without any protecting tariff, ought to undersell the world. With a five-pound white loaf for sixpence, and a roasting-piece of beef for three- pence per pound, they need not be afraid of Man- chester or Leeds. All they have to do is to aim at making better goods. The American printed cottons, after returning from Canada, where they are so beautiful; looked dull and dingy, as if they had been FOLLY OP nion TARIFFS. 175 exposed in a shop- window the whole summer months : the cloth is good enough, perhaps stronger tlian our own, but the management and mixture of the colours is abominable. So much for protection I The Americans will never be a wool-growing people ; that is, not sufficiently so for their domestic wants. The climate is not .congenial to sheep, and they are an expensive stock where the winters are so long and severe aa they are in all sections of the Union, compelling the farmers to build costly sheds, and lay up large provision of hay and other food for seven months' artificial keep. And yet an American writer, who published a volume in 1825, stated in his book that, in twenty years from that time (viz. 1845), the export of sheep's wool from the United States would be so extensive, as nearly to rival that of cotton ! Whereas the ex- port of sheep's wool is, now that we have arrived at the limit of his twenty years, just nothing ! This is exactly an example of the perpetual future tense of this boasting people. It is always, " We shall or will be." Thus they prophesy that, in 1920, only seventy-five years to come, the population of the States, now barely 20,000,000, including 3,000,000 of blacks, will amount then to 160,000,000! Entirely overlooking the probability that the Union will be dissolved or undermined in half that time, and that without any wars or external interference of other States, but entirely by themselves I Ml I' ' I' '• t M •' 176 POOR MANUFACTURES. Their woollen manufactures are therefore still more inferior than their cotton fabrics ; and yet the Government arc unfeeling enough to lay on a fright- ful duty, in this free country too, and make the poor people who stand so much in need of woollen clothing, to go without it, or pay an enormous price for it, when they could get the fine woollens from France and Saxony, and the heavier cloths from Yorkshire, at half the money they are now paying. The same with carpets. The country is overrun with old jaun- diced-looking patterns of home manufacture, half hemp, when they could procure the best Brussels at the same money, but for their too fond Government, who, under the imbecile John Tyler, insisted upon stuffing manufactures down the people's throats, whether they would or no, although the agricultural, mining, shipping, commercial, trading, and profes- sional interests amount to 5,000,000 of persons actually employed, whilst the whole of the persons employed in manufactures was about 200,000 ! By which it appears that 5,000,000 of persons and their families employed a« farmers, &c., are to put their hands in their pocke's every year to contribute to making the fortunes of the 200,000" persons and their families employed in manufactures. In articles of wood the Americans decidedly excel ; all such manufactures being elegant and cheap, and want no protection. Their turners' shops, as we should call them^ being perfect museums in their way. YELLOW FEVER. 177 You see in the eastern cities, buckets, washing-tubs, churns, and chairs, by millions, and cargoes of them are sent all over the world. They are mostly made in New England, during their dreary winters, when the ice of the rivers is often us thick as our parlours are high, and the snow, by continual drifting, makes it a difficult job to get in or out of your own house ! And yet the Americans are so thoroughly ignorant of other countries, that they are not sensible of their living in a bad climate, much less in the worst climate of the world, — that is, as I buid before, of the tem- perate zone. I know that my friends In America will find fault with thus speaking of their climate ; but I will defy them all to point out a spot throughout the Union, where the thermometer has a smaller range or varia- tion than 100 deg. in the course of six months; unless it be a place notoriously subject to 3'cllow fever. Now can anybody call such a climate good ? Is it not execrable ? Englishmen complain of their climate, wliich is far preferable to that of the States ; but in England how rarely does the variation of the thermometer for any six months exceed 50 deg., or just half of the Ameri- can. We think it excessively cold in January, when the glass stands at 24 deg., or eight degrees below freezing; and we reckon it uncomfortably hot in July, when the quicksilver indicates 74 deg. in the shade. But what would a Londoner say to 12 deg. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V A // >° m. s :/ 5^ Wi/.. /A, I i !.0 I.I .25 ^ IM IIIIIZ2 IIM III 10 1.4 12^0 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation \ ^v -C^ ^^ o ^ % V V- n WEST ^^AIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 C^ &?^ C/j ; I I r |i < I k r '•' PI I .1 'v ' U" t " I.. I' '. i« 178 BOOTS AND SHOES. below zero in February, and, five months after, viz. in July, find the thermometer at Boston up to 103 deg., making an extreme variation of 115 deg.? But in Falmouth and Torquay, Jersey, St Malo, or Nice, the variation very little exceeds 40 deg. all through the year ; 45 or 48 deg. being the extreme. Such may therefore be called good climates. In Indiana and Illinois a variation of 74 deg. is often observed between sunrise and noon ! Shoes are an immense article of American manu- facture ; and in the State of Massachusetts the value of boots and shoes sold every year exceeds 3,000,000^. sterling. Of course every one in the States buys his highlows ready made ; the combination of eastern shoe-factories on so large a scale putting private snobs out of the question. They could not get bread and cheese ; and are only to be seen, and that rarely, in the chief cities of the coast, such as New York and Philadelphia. Clock-making is also a great trade ; very showy mahogany and brass clocks being retailed all over the country at twelve and as high as sixteen shillings each, bringing in vast sums to the makers. One man lately purchased 10,000 of them at a reduced price, in New England, at something like 9s. 6d. each, shipped them in a vessel just going to China, and jumped in himself as passenger ; and having made a good sale of his adventure at about 30s. each to Fouqui, he came back again in less than twelve PAPER. 179 ir, VIZ. to 103 ? • Malo, leg. all :treme. !8. In 8 often manu- ralue of )0,000/. 38 buys eastern private t bread rarely, York showy >ver the lillings One educed 9s. 6d. China, 5 made each to twelve months a man of fortune, acquired in a single specu- lation I Such is American enterprise. Paper-mills are seen and advertised all over the country ; the consumption of every description of this article is prodigious, not only for newspapers, which are twenty times as numerous as ours, but for all sorts of wrappers; whilst for children's books, and cheap editions of English works, the consumption is liberal and increasing. The market-women, and the sellers of fruit and cakes at the corners of the streets, may be seen with a ream of yellow straw paper at their elbow, and with a halfpenny-worth of cherries they give you, unasked, a sheet of paper to carry them home in. Paper, indeed, seems to be worth nothing ; at least the inferior straw paper, which is in general use for common purposes. The better descriptions are dear, and not much 'n demand ; but of the inferior sorts it is quite the reverse. A child is sent to school, for instance, on Monday morning with a new spelling-book, a penny Dilworth; and before Thursday, what with the heat of the child's hands and the dogs'-eara in the flimsy cotton paper, nothing legible is left of the penny pedant, and a fresh spelling-book is provided for the young urchin, who, whatever he may learn, contrives to destroy two books a week; whereas, had they been printed on good paper, like the English books, they would have lasted a month. Soap and tobacco are both great articles of manu- I I • BB!B 180 SOAP. Kv'i 1 . « IN f'acture ; and arc shipped by these adventurers to all parts of the world ; and as tallow, alkali, rosin, and water, are abundant enough in all parts of the east coast, the soap is very cheap, and, as might be ex- pected, very bad. I have seen soap marked up at one penny a pound ; and, as rosin is only two shillings per cwt., the manufacturers of soap throw in as much as possible in order to reduce the price ; but still, tens of thousands of boxes of soap are shipped every month from New York, bad as it is, and it is most likely a good trade, or it would not be continued. Philadelphia looks well on the map, but it is really far inferior to New York in point of situation. They are both low, but New York is entirely free from swamps, whilst the drab-coloured city is surrounded with wet and overflowed land, so as to render the place piercingly cold for eight months in the year, and full of sickness and mosquitoes during the summer. I saw very little to admire in Philadel- phia except the markets i>nd a few of the public buildings, and it is not to be compared with New York in wealth or commercial importance. How a man of correct taste like Joseph Buonaparte, the ex-King of Spain, could be content to remain in such a country and such a neighbourhood, it is diffi- cult to understand ; except that all Europe was shut to him, and Count Survilliers, therefore, preferred even Bordentown to the surveillance of the secret police of Paris ! THE CITT OF BEOTHERLY LOVE. 181 Iron castings are very well made in America, though not equal to the French, who, to the surprise of an Englishman, are very superior to us in this department of the hardware trade. Although the Quaker city enjoys but a bad repu- tation for honesty, she is eminently famous for Irish rows, which seem to recur every six or twelve months. They are not, however, the simple rows engaged in at Donnybrook, where Paddy meets his friend, " and for love knocks him down," but they are very serious affairs, Paris emeutes, where bloodshed and butchery goes on, and houses are set fire to without remorse, when they are occupied by th? enemy. Numbers of these burnings occur without being suspected in the neighbouring cities, and the military are called out, and as often beaten. How is it that this city of brotherly love should be the most disturbed district of the Union ? The thermometer stood at 90 deg. every day during my stay at Philadelphia ; but, though hot, it did not interfere with perambulating the spacious streets of the city. Walking slowly, and choosing the shady side of the street, I usually returned to the hotel but slightly fatigued. I left this city without regret, just as I had left every place in the country, hoping that no possible chance in my future life might bring me near them agam. The Americans are truly a vulgar, ignorant, brag- R I I' , ) r'" 182 CONSTANT ASSASSINATIONS. I' •■; ' •r ging, spitting, melancholy, sickly people. Passing their lives in a high state of mental excitement, some kill themselves with drink, and some with tobacco ; some are hun-ied to the ever-yawning gates of their cemeteries by excesses in religion, or excesses in politics ; excesses in commerce, or excesses in spe- culations ; or tribulations of mind induced by a com- bination of these causes. But calamity is not of very long life in America, for the men are soon dead, and soon forgotten. Duels and assassinations also help to thin their ranks ; for, strange as it may appear, it can be proved that, famous as Italy, Sicily, and Spain are for the stiletto, there are many more assassinations ' and stabbings in the slave States of America, than in all those countries put together. This is a melancholy truth ; but, as the minds of the masters in the Southern States insensibly become degraded by the mere contact, not to say association, with beings so degraded as their slaves, the moral sense becomes blunted, they care little for assassination or for murder^ and nothing for stabbing and maiming. The country between Philadelphia and New York is a dead level, often in parts covered with water, and the railroad is comparatively good, and under- stood to pay well, as a pecuniary speculation. It was quite agreeable to get back to New York, and find one's self surrounded by forests of tall ships. I took a stroll through the black ruins of the late fire in Broad street, where so many millions had been HAZARDOUS RISKS. 183 York water, under- destroyed, and could not help thinking that, while in London it is 180 years since the great fire of 1666, in New York two equally great fires have occurred in the space of eight or nine years ; and, no doubt, will be frequently occurring again, — at least, as long as doubly and trebly hazardous trades arc allowed to be carried on, often in wooden buildings in the closest parts of the town. What would an English insur- ance office charge for the following risk ? Four- story brick building, without party walls, and roof of wooden tiles or shingles ; basement or cellar occu- pied by a box and packing-case maker, all the year round up to hia knees in deal sliavings, and working every evening by the light of a candle ; ground floor, a marine store and ship chandler, full of rope and oakum, pitch, tar, rosin, paint, and turpentine; first floor, a lard-oxl manufacturer, and maker of stearine for the candle works ; second floor, a Luci- fer-match and blacking manufactory ; and fourth floor, a printer's ? Such an assemblage of trades would not be tolerated in any English city ; but it ia quite au regie in the city of New York. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the insurance busi- ness is one of the most peculiar in America, and could only be supported by a liberal and periodical smash amongst them, particularly after any great fire. Notices are therefore posted outside the doors of the chief insurance ofiices after a fire of any magnitude, that "the losses by the late calamitous fire will not occasion any suspension of business in this jpr .. • It •,! It I' '' ' \h ■ it ' , 1 184 FIRE INSURANCE. 'k v. \ . w I t . office ;" whilst those offices that cannot affix such a notice outside thei r doors are supposed not to be able to pay. They make, therefore, a compromise, break up the concern, and begin again with a new name. As the Americans are for ever talking about war, and how they mean to lick the British whenever the opportunity is given them, it was interesting to in- quire into the strength of their military force, which, in round numbers, may be reckoned at 10,000 effective men, including cavalry, artillery, ordnance, waggon, and store department. This force, with a trifling exception, is employed in Florida and the frontier States nearest Texas, Fort Gibson, Fort Learmouth, &o &c., to overawe the Indians, and give protection to the Santa Fe and Oregon travellers; whilst a few may be seen at Detroit, and other stations on the Canada frontier. It is not a favourite service; and, though I often saw the recruiting offices and the money inducements printed and pla- carded about the towns of the interior for volunteers, there is great difficulty in procuring even Irishmen to enter, because all classes of labourers in America can do better than being shot at for one shilling a day. The navy is a better service, more comfortable and better paid ; and not like the military, stuck up for years in distant garrisons, looking after Indians. The total number of sailors in the United States' navy is 6,100, of whom about 960 are stated to be if FIFTY FORMIDABLE SHIPS. 185 up for native-born Americans, the rest being principally English, with a few Swedes and Hanseatics. Their pay is fifteen dollars a month, and two dollars per month additional, if they don't draw any grog ration. This is fully equal to three pounds ten shillings per month. Without this high rate of wages it would be next to impossible for the Secretary of the Navy to man the ships. The navy of the United States is very respectable. Taking their navy list it appears that they have, of all classes of ships, old, rotten, on the stocks, and on their rivers and lakes, in China and the Pacific, a, grand total of seventy-six ; namely, ten line-of-battle ships, twelve frigates of the first class, two of the second class, twenty-three sloops-of-war, eight brigs, eight schooners, eight steamers, together with four store-ships and brigs ; but it may be safely reckoned that between forty and fifty of this list are really superior, formidable vessels, and immediately avail- able for any service or emergency. Five ships of the line, alongside of which, they say, our * Victory ' looks like a frigate, might be ready for sea in a month, and about six first-class frigates, rated as forty-fours, but really more resembling our razee, * Warspite,' which may be considered one of the best ships of her class. The Americans have only one razee, the * Independence,' fifty-four, a description of ship that hitherto has not been seen in any of our navy yards, but which we shall soon have to exhibit ss 1 1' I* ' h 1^ . I 186 NO GROG. h L >i t . 1 in a few razees now constructing out of some old first-rates that have not seen much service. About twenty sloops, or small frigates, might also be made immediately available, provided they could find hands, and nothing but the high wages of seventy shillings sterling per month to the temperance sailors, and the late act abolishing flogging, could enable them to man their ships. It has been proved, over and over again, that the seamen are far more efficient and healthy, as well as in better discipline, without grog than with it ; and a drink of hot cocoa or coffee, when they reef topsails, is more agreeable to the hardy sailor than the stimulus of grog in the British navy. Note. — An American writer of the present day thus lays down the difference which he understands to exist between his countrymen and the English : — "By the American institutions every citizen is in himself a sove- reign ; and possesses, as a matter of course, every natural right and its consequences that monarchs grant by special act of grace to their obedient subjects. While Europeans range in varying subordinate degrees, the citizens of our glorious republic have a right to rank with kings." In a mad prospectus for a railroad, only 4,000 miles long, to Oregon, the projector finishes with the following specimen of the grand : — " Arouse, then, Americans, and obey the mandate which destiny has imposed upon you, for the redemption of a world ! Send forth upon its mighty errand the spirit of enfranchised man, the spirit of liberty and philanthropy, to the uttermost ends of the earth, in a fulness that shall realize the fondest dreams of the millennium ; nor let it pause until it bears down every barrier of imrighteous power, till it enlarges the boundaries of freedom to the last meri- dian, and spreads its influence from pole to pole." NEW POST-OFFICE LAW. 187 ne old About 3 made hands, lillings md the to man r again, Ithy, as vith it ; ley reef or than ays down untrymen If a sove- iiral right of grace varying ic have a The new post-office law had come into operation since July, 1845, and it was expected on all hands to turn out a failure. The rate is now twopence-half- penny on a single letter, or half oz., for any distance not exceeding three hundred miles, and fivepencc for all above that distance. The stamp is a head of Washington, that any apprentice might engrave after a few months' teaching, and the consequence will be a universal system of forgery ; whilst newspapers are forwarded thirty miles for nothing, and private indi- viduals in towns and cities are allowed to put up boxes and convey letters by their own private penny post, to the great damage of the public revenue. So that the poor post-office law has not a fair chance of success, from nothing more than want of proper organization. There are between fourteen and fifteen thousand postmasters to be paid also out of this revenue ; so that, when Congress meets, it may be fairly expected to be announced a total failure ! long, to len of the ch destiny Send forth le spirit of earth, in a llennium ; nrighteous last men- I'"-' CHAPTER XL EDUCATION, RELIGION, NATIONAL BANK. Education — Learned ProfessorB— National Bank impossible for Want of Honest Men — The Voluntary Principle — Freehold Pews — Chapel Speculations — Religious Sects Harmless — Church turned into Post Office— IDs Excellency the Rev. Mr Everett, late Minister at St James's— Mr M'Lean — Mr Marcy — Public Lotteries— Provision for the Poor— Americans have no Music in their Souls — Two Drunken Bishops — Conclusion. There is a general diffusion of common education all through America ; reading, writing, and the first rules of Cocker being indispensable in the poorest communities ; but beyond this there is very little to talk about. There are no instances of men eminent in learning or science ; everything is for utilitarianism ; and Latin and Greek are not in demand. The best- informed professors are in the New England States, where they manage to keep up the appearance of a decent love of learning ; but it is mostly subservient to theological studies, and preparatory to joining the ministry. LEARNED PROFESSIONS. 189 ig the Notwithstanding all this lack of knowledge, there are between one hundred and two hundred universities and colleges in the United States ; and 100,000 j)or- sons living upon the public, engaged in what they call the learned professions I There are no surgeons or apothecaries in America, any more than there are captains or lieutenants ; they are all majors and colo- nels, and, of course, doctors. No person would be insane enough to affix his name on the door Ub , lain Mr Liston, surgeon, but invariably Doctor So-:ind- So; because, if he did, he could never carr guinea, and must abandon practice, nowevcr great his alfili- ties. So iiiut all America is on: continual and lixiug fa: hood; just as they say that the United Stales Bank is built of white marble, when it is notorious that there is not a quarry of white mai)jle in the whole country. They have a white limestone in Vermont that works well for gravestones, doorsteps, &c., but it is not capable of polish in the slightest degree, and has as little claim to be called marble as alabaster. This too celebrated Bank of the United States just referred to, as many aching hearts in London know, is situate in Philadelphia; and is really a handsome building of white stone, now converted into a Custom-house. The great buildings in Wall street. New York, do not pretend to be of marble, but of simple granite ; and they are not of that frau- dulent and fictitious character that the Fhiladelphian r^T gagg iJ BR "; r^-^JJJi.".lUg I 'I I? ' h" 190 J 4TI0NAL BANK IMPOSSIBLE. II ., ^ 'I- . 4 t. r"ii establishment rejoiced in. The question of a National Bank has been often discussed, and there seems no good reason why there should not be one, seeing what splendid, useful, and profitable concerns those of France and England are; but no, every one was against it, but especially the late President Jackson, who did all in his power, most indecently so, to ruin every plan for such an institution. They pretended to be afraid of raising up a monied monster, ready at any time to ruin their free and democratic system ; they feared also that this gigantic power would render itself too powerful in elections for President, &c. ; but, above all, as w^as most frequently alleged, there were not honest men enough in the United States to be entrusted with its management, and they should be obliged to send to England for all the officers and clerks, from the governor downwards to the porters and messengers! What an admission I Something like the confession of a merchant, who had realized a large fortune, and lived not a hundred miles from Fayette place, and who had occasionally a dinner party in the English style, though the family gene- rally lived in the front kitchen, or basement story under ground; but, in order to prevent his guests cutting and slashing his mahogany, as soon as the dessert was set on the table, there was always placed with the apples a dish of little sticks of soft deal, for the gentlemen to cut instead of the table, which they assuredly would have done, pour passer le temps, if I . VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE. 191 gene- story guests as the placed sal, for ch they mpS) if they had not been provided with the handier and softer material ! This sitting still at table after having done eat- ing is insupportable to an American, who is entirely unfurnished with anything like table-talk, and fancies the best dinner in the world need not occupy more than seven or eight minutes ! With regard to religion in America, the Govern- ment affords it no support whatever, it being left entirely to the voluntary zeal of its professors, who are reckoned at about 50,000 persons, or about double the number in Great Britain. The churches and chapels are still more numerous in proportion than the pastors, often averaging one place of worship in each town for every three hundred inhabitants ! But in a country where selling \\iQfee simple in a pew is better understood than it is in England, church- building is often a first-rate speculation, and the most taking advertisements concerning it may be often read in their leading journals. The country, there- fore, what between powerful preachers and cunning builders, is overrun with churches, and it is not easy to predict where this popular movement is to stop. But there are anti-renters in religion as in all other American callings, and who prefer the open fields and the summer evenings for their camp meetings and revivals. Of these obscene assemblies it is super- fluous to speak, except to say that they are not a bit worse than the sacrament Sundays in many country '■'^'^•■-•#<*r«W? I r I* K-, li'H i r > i '' h ■■^, .J ■ I 208 UNITED STATES IN 1845. 1. Maryland. A flourishing State, containing 11,000 square miles, producing large quantities of flour and tobacco. The great inlet of the sea, called Chesapeake Bay, runs up into the interior, and divides the State into two por- tions, called east and west. The Catholic religion flourishes in Maryland ; but . one-fourth of the entire population is collected in the city of Baltimore, which is the fourth city of the Union. 2. District of Columbia. This is a separate District, not belonging to any of the States. It is only ten miles square, and con- tains the federal city of Washington. Congress meet in it the first Monday in December. It is a poor place ; there are shad and herrings caught in the bay. 3. Virginia. This is the largest and most ancient of the States, containing 70,000 square miles ; being about the size of Great Britain, but a more uniformly good soil. Virginia has also great advantages as to her position, climate, and rivers. She is the oldest settled State in the Union, and the most aristocratic, going by the name of Old Dominion. She has fourteen good rivers ; and it has been thought that grapes and mulberries might be cultivated with success. Minerals abound ; UNITED STATES IN 1845. 209 but States, he size soil, osition, State by the rivers; berries 30uud ; but, notwithstanding her numerous advantages, po- pulation remains stationary at about a million and a quarter, half blacks and half whites, or nearly so. Virginia has also furnished the nation with more public men than any other State, five out of the eleven Presidents having been Virginians, with a sinnlar proportion of secretaries and ministers to foreign courts. Richmond, the capital, is hardly more than a village; whilst Petersburgh and Lynchburgh, though all pretty places, are still more inconsiderable. Over the moun- tains Wheeling is the most like a town ; but Harper's Ferry, and the White Sulphur Springs, are spots eminently beautiful, and deserving a special visit. In the western and south-western parts of the State, beyond the Ohio, there is abundance of good land to bo purchased at a few shillings per acre; but an emi- grant's life, even in Ohio or Virginia, is nothing but a protracted struggle, and it would be far from a step to be recommended to go even to one of these best of the States, even if the settler (jot his land for nothing. Notwithstanding its slave character, the writer thinks highly of Western Virginia, but the 100 degrees variation of the thermometer prevails there as well as elsewhere, and the mahogany com- plexions of the settlers' wives tell a tale of hard living, suffering, and toil, that would be ill relished by those of liis countrymen in England who live at home at ease I K 't 210 UNITED STATES IN 1845. li 111 r » • ■ • '» ■ ♦ 4. North Carolina. This is a large State, possessing 50,000 square miles. On the sea-coast the land is low, sandy, swampy, and insalubrious ; but in the interior rises into mountains, called the Blue Ridge, 6,500 feet liigh. This State abounds in turpentine trees, and carries on a considerable trade in lumber. Gold mines are worked, and more than pay their expenses ; a piece of pure gold having lately been found that sold for 8,000 dollars I Like all parts of the States, the number of persons born blind, or deaf and dumb, is very large ; it generally averaging one and a half per cent, of the total population. 5. South Carolina. This is a much richer district than the Northern State of the same name, though not so large ; South Carolina containing only 33,000 square mUes. The climate is very bad; the air, hot, moist, and imelastic, occasions constant yellow fever. The cul- tivation of rice is carried on to a large extent where the plantations are under water; and cotton also gi'ows with great luxuriance. In the low grounds of this State there are three blacks to one white, a fear- ful disproportion ; and which must, some day or other, have a disastrous result. Charleston is the principal town, which contains 30,000 inhabitants; but they are rather decreasing than otherwise. The total UNITED STATES IN 1845. 211 population of the State is 590,000, of which three- fifths are slaves. 6. Georgia. A very large State, of 62,000 square miles ; but, like the Carolinas, the sea-coast is low and marshy, abounding in pine-barrens. The population is 600,000 ; Savannah is the sea-port, and Augusta the principal town of the interior. The population of 600,000 are more than half slaves, and are principally employed in the cultivation of cotton. Some gold is found in this State. 7. Florida. This is an insignificant State, lately admitted into the Union. It contains 55,000 square miles ; but does not possess one inhabitant to the mile, though more than half are slaves. The country is dreadfully sickly for six months in the year. Key West, a low, sandy island on the coast, is the principal place. Poor as the State of Florida is, it ships nevertheless 60,000 bales of cotton annually. St Augustine is the oldest town in the Union, and, ten years ago, it used to supply a few oranges to some of the northern ports ; but, though as hot as Havannah, the severe frosts of 1837 cut the trees up root and branch, and destroyed the trade. The general Government have a naval station at the port of Pensacola, but it is a wretched place. i; 1. * \ ■ : i t 1 \ f ' 212 UNITED STATES IN 1845. It y. I-' 1 r i •' •'■ '.4 ff:' T 11 ! » 8. Alabama Contains 52,000 square miles ; is situate in the Gulf of Mexico ; but, like the other States of the Atlantic coast, it is low and sandy. This character of the country extends for fifty or sixty miles from the sea. But the cheapness and goodness of the land has, notwithstanding its heat, moisture, and consequent insalubrity, attracted to Alabama a large immigration from other States ; and it now exports 460,000 bales of cotton per annum from the port of Mobile alone. This town, or city as it is called, contains ujiWards of 20,000 inhabitants. It is a very flourishing place ; and the cotton-planters this year (1845) are satisfied to receive four and four cents and a half per pound for their crop, say twopence-farthing sterling at Mobile, which might be sold at threepence per pound at Liverpool. About the first week in September the people of Mobile begin to die off in great numbers, owing to the sickly season ; but all who can afford it leave the city for the high grounds or the Eastern States, and remain there till winter commences. The villages of Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and Florence, each having a population of 2,000 persons, are the principal places in Alabama. Population, 600,000, half slaves. 9. Mississippi. This State contains 48,000 square miles. The great river forms its western boundary for 700 miles ; it 1. ' UNITED STATES IN 1845. 213 e great lies; it is low, wet, hot, and extremely unhealthy. The Yazoo district is very fertile ; and the whole State i)roduces this year (1845) nearly half a million bales of cotton; with a population of only 400,000, who are more than half slaves. Natchez and Vicksburg are the princi- pal towns, containing about 4,000 and 5,000 persons respectively; whilst Jackson, Woodvillc, Granada, and Columbus, are the next in importance, but are only villages of 2,000 inhabitants. 10. Louisiana. This is the last of the Southern States in our enu- meration, but the first in importance. It is the same size as its opposite neighbour ; and contains, like Mis- sissippi, 48,000 square miles. But there is not a hill in the whole country, which is subject to frightful inundations ; which are carried off by lagoons and bayous along the river, and at or near the mouth. The population is only 400,000, and one-half are slaves, though there are 120,000 inhabitants in the single city of New Orleans. A million of bales of cotton will be shipped from this port, the produce of the crop of 1845. New Orleans is an extremely sickly place ; and about the middle of iVugust the people begin to die like dogs, so that the lower part of the river is nearly deserted by all who can afford to go away ; whilst at Christmas, when the town has become not only healthy but agreeable, there are 40,000 to 50,000 strangers in the city. An immense ' ; 1 \v* ; » 214 UNITED STATES IN 1845. I , business is transacted during the winter at >»evv Orleans ; which at tliat period assumes the character of almost Parisian gaiety, every night, Sunday in- cluded, offering plays, balls, or masquerades. Several most resi)ectable newspapers are published in this city, French as well as English ; and branch houses from all the principal cities of Europe have estab- lishments at New Orleans. The Western Statics May be generally characterized as exclusively boast- ing of vast prairies or natural meadows without a tree to be seen, and in parts a great deficiency of water ; a territory rich in minerals, and enjoying the advantages of a navigation, by means of its numerous rivers, unrivalled in the world. 1. Ohio. This is a beautiful country, embracing 44,000 square miles, and a population of 2,000,000 ; and may be looked u])on as one of the best and most im- portant States of the Union. In the eastern parts it has a fine rolling, undulating surface, healthy and picturesque; and in the southern parts, along the banks of the river, it has an inexhaustible fertility. Ohio is the Indian word for beauty ; and it was never better applied than to this noble stream. The ijriucipal tow n is Cincinnati, which is centrally situated, and, being in an abundant country, has made i|ip|l t New aractcr jay in- Several in this houses i estab- y hoast- ithout a iency of ying the imerous 44,000 aO; and nost im- rn parts Ithy and ong the fertility, as never centrally las made UNITED STATES IN 184o. 215 greater progress in population than any town in the United States. The climate is also not so had as it is in most other places, although there is often a change of sixty degrees in six hours ! Cincinnati contains 100,000 people, and is the sixth town in the Union, coming next after Baltimore and Boston. There are other numerous towns in the State, such as Columbus, Chillicothe, Zanesville, ISIarietta, Steu- benville and Cleveland, having 6,000 and 10,000 inhabitants ; whilst others, such as Sandusky, Toledo, and Dayton, on the borders of Indiana, are each of about 5,000 people. This State of Ohio compares very favourably with any others ; and if I were in- clined to settle myself in any part of the Union, — which I am not, — or if I were inclined to recommend any State of the Union to others,-^which I am not, — it would most likely be Ohio, or on the Ohio river. But Englishmen, as I have said elsewhere, must not dream of emigrating to any part of the States as farmers ; for this class of emigrants the road to the States is the road to ruin; and if they cannot do at home, let them go to Canada West ; where they will enjoy superior advantages every way, and at least avoid being cheated and insulted. 2. Kentucky. This Is a very fine State ; and it is a pity it should be cursed with slavery. The extent of Kentucky is 40,000 square miles, and the population 800,000. •• '.'. < ■> \ « , 216 UNITED STATES IN 184.5. The Mammoth Cave ia one of the greatest curiosities in America. Wheat, Indian corn, hemp, tobacco, and aalt, arc the principal articles of farm produce ; but horaea and cattle are bred to a great extent ; and more attention has been paid to grazing in Kentucky than in any other State of the Union. The rivers, flowing over a li'nestone soil, dry up in summer with the great heats. Louisville is the chief city, con- taining 40,000 people ; whilst Frankfort and Lexing- ton are considerable towns in a beautiful country. The celebrated Henry Clay resides in this State, at his faiTii of Ashland ; and though he was too honest a man to be elected for President, enjoys a reputation the very highest in America. 3. Tennessee. This is a very fine State, covering 45,000 square miles ; and is divided into three sections, East, West, and Middle. East Tennessee is high and mountain- ous ; the Middle is hilly, and rather warmer climate ; whilst West Tennessee is hot, flat, damp, and rich; bounded by the river Mississippi, where the principal town is built on one of the Muffs of the great river, and called Memphis. The }>opulation of the State is 800,000, one quarter of wlich are slaves. Nashville is the capital, and the only town deserving the name in the State, having 10,000 inhabitants ; the rest of the towns, as they are called, being mere villages of 600 and 700 inhabitants. Such are Knoxville, UNITKD STATES IN 1845. 217 Blount8vill(3, .Foncttbro', Ropersvillc, &c. The clinuite of Eaat Tennessee is reckoned tlie hcst in America ; thoupfh even there the thermometer is often at zero during the winter, and as frequently in .luly and August at 100 and 105 deg. The country is, how- ever, reported as comparatively healthy, and free from fever, except ])y the sides of rivers, and is a very cheap and abundant country, being rather remote from markets ; eggs being threepence per dozen, chickens fourpence each, ducks sixpence, butter five- pence per pound, beef and pork three halfpence, hams threepence. There are some English keeping shops in this State, but it is u business requiring care and capital, as they are compelled to keep a stock of everything, from a silk dress to a tin pot ; and then they are obliged to take payment in feathers, whisky, bacon, bees'-wax, cloth, flour, &c. The legal interest of money in all these Southern and Western States is eight per cent. ; and by agreement, eighteen per cent, even is allowed. 4. Michigan la a very extensive State, containing 60,000 square miles. St Mary's River, fifty miles long, which leads into Lake Superior, has unfortunately some consider- able falls, which prevents anything larger than boats from entering the Lake ; but the State Legislature has authorized a canal being constructed, which is actually commenced, and will be of great benefit to V I-'' ' J"- ' h ■■ - 218 UNITED STATES IN 1845. !.;. the trade of this remote and desolate region, on account of the prodigious quantity of copper ore lately disco- vered on the southern shore of the lake ; and which bids fair to rival, if not surpass, all the mines of Great Britain put together ; the ore turning out on smelt- ing forty jKir cent, of metal. Michigan is a large peninsula, about the size of England and Wales, but without a hill. The climate is very cold in the northern parts, much colder than Canada West ; and yet, young as the State is, the population amounts to 400,000. Detroit is the principal town, with about 20,000 inhabitants ; the next important being IVIun- roe. Fort Gratiot, Mackinaw, and St Joseph's. Fever and ague abound in the whole peninsula, and may be considered the curse of the country. 5. Indiana. A low, flat, swampy, and unhealthy State, covering 36,000 miles, but highly fertile and productive. There are neither mountains, minerals, nor manufac- tures. The Wabash Canal is a great work, extending from Lake Erie to the river Ohio, at Evansville, a distance of 440 miles tlirough Maumee and Terre Haute. The population, notwithstanding the sickly climate, is constantly increasing, and next year it is expected to reach a million of persons. The settlers live in a rude abundance, board and lodging being obtainable in most places as low as four shillings per week ! The principal towns are New Alban;v, nearly larjre UNITED STATES IN 1845. 219 opposite Louisville, on the Ohio ; Indianopolis, La Fayette, Lawrenceburgh, and Vincennes. Many of them arc low and often inundated, whilst in the sum- mer water is very scarce and very bad through tlio greater part of the interior. 6. Illinois. A large and important State, containing 55,000 square miles. It has not been so long settled as Indiana, and therefore not so populous, the inhabit- ants being about 700,000; but in a ievv years it will overtake her, and is expected indeed to surpass hor, as there are few countries in America that promise more rapid and more certain progress than Illinois, whilst there is nothing to obstruct it except its sickJy climate, the thermometer often in the summer stand- ing at ten degrees hotter than the West Indies, whilst in the winter the settlers' log-h-^a are sometimes nearly buried underneath eight feet of snow ; and per- sons not taking careof thems-Hcs run a dangerof being frozen to death. The irhio:. Canal, to connect Chicago with Peru, and thivb i rite the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River, is f,n ra^y scheme, it being ,. > 100 miles distance, and must, from its importance give a great impetus t) the trade and settlement of Illinois. The chief towns tre Alton on the MI^=;:^sippi, Peuria, Springfield, and Galena, which Is iLe ^.cad- f ' I- :,v h > ..../ . 220 UNITED STATES IN 1845. quarters of the lead-mining country, and a very flou- rishing place. 7. Missouri. This is a State of great extent, comprising 64,000 square miles, and is destined to become one of the most important in the Union. On the banks of the Mississippi and the Missouri the land is low anc\ inundated, and not adapted for humun habitations, except on a few high bluffs, offering some extent of building land , but in the interior, away from the two great rivers, the country becomes elevated and better drained, but sometimes so perfectly barren as not to be worth a farthing an acre. The State of Missouri is rich in minerals, and its lead and iron are thought to be inexhaustible. In addition to these advantages the country to the south improves in temperature, and grazing will at all times amply reimburse the enterprising settler. A great quantity of rich furs are obtained from the Indians, and the population is fast increasing, and even now exceeds 600,000. The traffic occasioned by the wants of emigrants to Cali- fornia, Oregon, and Texas, is a source of considerable profit to the State. St Louis is the capital, and numbers already 40,000 people, and is expected to be the metropolis of the Western States, and perhaps, some day or other, the seat of the general Govern- ment, in lieu of Washington. Jefferson City is a failure, having been built in a swamp on the Missouri, UNITED STATES IN 1845. 221 just as the towns of New Madrid and St GcncviovG have been washed away bj the floods of the Missis- sippi ; and even St Louis b: by no means safe, for if it is not washed away, the river threatens to leave it, and make its channel on the other or Illinois side. 8. Arkansas. This State is pronounced as if written Arkansiiw. It is a wild, unimportant country, extending over 55,000 square miles, sterile, barren, sickly, and thinly peopled, there not being more tiian 100,000 inhabit- ants. It is a slave State, and what little agriculture there is, is in cotton, but even that is trifling. There are no towns, and the chief village and seat of Govern- ment, called Little Rock, hardly numbers 1,000 persons, 9. Wisconsin. This is a new State, admitted into the LTnion in 1845. It is an immense, cold country, comi)rising l«i(} 0*^*^^ square miles; and except for its lead mines, viot gtoif for much. Milwaukic, Racine, and Prairie r*,\ C/Jen, are the only towns, antl the population is tte J' :t vc y trifling, some of the counties of 300,000 acres not containing twenty inhabitants! For the four summer months the climate may be reckoned good ; but for the other eight months, owing to the number of wet prairies, the cold is intense. A canal is intended to connect the Fox River in Green Bay with the Wisconsin River, by which steamers will be IC7 '".HiW rsHJi^' J' ' '1.^ ■i .J ■ *■ * ■'. ' » . .« ' 1*1 222 UNITED STATES IN 1845. enabled to go direct from Buffalo to New Orleans without shifting, an uninterrupted fresh-water navi- gation of nearly 5,000 miles ! "Wisconsin abounds in lead, and is expected to yield an abundance of copper. Milwaukie is a flourishing place, and the price of town lots has increased there most rapidly. 10. Iowa. ' This is the '«<=<• oC the Western States, and in many respects ..^ « . of the best. It is estimated to contain 150,000 square miles; but the settled parts do not extend over more than 40,000 in the south of the State, and along the banks of the Des Moines River. The country abounds in lead, and promises to be a rich agricultural and grazing country besides. It enjoys also, for America, what may be considered a fine climate, and .wiart emigrants from the Eastern States of the Union cannot fail to do well here, though I would caution my countrymen in England from having anything to do with Iowa, though it is a favourite quarter at the present ; and about Fort Madison, Davonport, Burlington, Dubuque and Iowa City, there will be money to be made for many years to come. The Mandan nation of Indians used to be numerous a few years ago in this country, but the small-pox was introduced, and out of 1,600 individuals, all died but thirty-one. The Missouri River exhibits a stupendous sight at what is called the Gates of the Rocky Mountains. The stream is only 450 yards f UNITED STATES IN 1845. 223 wide, and perpendicular rocks come down close to the water 1,200 feet high, continuing for many miles. In the North-western part of the State of Iowa a canal, it is said, of one mile from St Peter's Kiver to Lake Wiuni]>cg, would connect Hudson's Bay with the Mi8sissipf)i lliver! Texas. Though not yet formally admitted into the Ameri- can Union, no doubt it will be at this present session, commencing in December, 1845, when it is expected to be organized into three distinct States, the present dimensions being 200,000 square miles. Whether Santa Fe is to be included is not known, althouirh it is quite clear that it never formed any part of the province of Texas. This vast country consists of immense prairies, where a good deal of cotton is cultivated, and largo herds of cattle reared. The year is divided into dry and Avet seasons ; and though the country is so near the tropics, the cold is very severe in l^ecember and January. The principal towns are St Augustine, Nacodotches, Austin, Matagorda, Houston, and Gal- veston, which are more or less subject to destructive inundations. The population of the country exceeds 300,000. If it should be divided into three States, it will add six senators to C'ongress, and thus give a preponderating influence to the institution of slavery, and all southern interests of the United States. rr^ 1 ■ I 224 I.;, ■■ m ^ . I 1. '. APPENDIX, By an American. GEOGRAPHICAL AND GENERAL VIEW OF OREGON. Its Islands. Oregon is a vaat country lying on the Pacific Ocean, stretching ak a,, t)' > coast through twelve degrees and forty minutes of latitude, extending its eastern limits into the body of the Rocky Mountains, and embracing witliiu those boundaries an area of four hundred thousand square miles. Attached to this immense territory, and extending along the whole line of its coast from the Strait of Fuca to its northern limit, and even beyond that to the Arctic Sea, is a continuous chain of islands, known by the general name of the North-west Archipelago, which in themselves can scarcely be regarded as less than a feature of secondary importance. The largest are all traversed by mountain ridges, in the direction of their greatest length, and the whole archipelago may be considered aa a portion of the westermost chain of mountains, br< ken off from the main land at the Strait of Fuca, and running through the sea, con- HISTORY OF OREGON. 225 le necting those of Oregon on the south with the range on the north, of which Mounts Fairwcather and St Elias are the most prominent peaks. The first and chief of these islands is Quadra and Vancouver's. This extends along the coast from 48 deg. 30 min., in a northerly direction, for the space of one hundred and sixty uiiles, and forms, by its parallel course with the coast (from which it is distant about twenty miles), the celebrated arm of the sea called the Strait of Fuca. Its average width is about forty-five miles, and it contains a surface of about fifteen thousand square miles. The climate of this island is mild and salubrious, and large portions of its soil are arable and capable of advantageous cultivation. It has an abundance of fine harbours, which aiford accommodations for vessels of any size. The chief of these is Nootka Sound, the Port liorenzo of the Spaniards, a spacious and secure bay, running deep into the land, under parallels 49 deg. 34 min., and containing within itself many other harbours, affording most excellent anchorage. A few miles south of !Nootka, we come to another large bay, called Clyoquot, in which we have seen that Captain Kendrick preferred to remain during the winter of 1789, to any other harbour on the coast. There is another still further south, named Nittinat, which lies at the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, and is filled with an archipelago of little islands. The coasts of this island, .'.nd, indeed, the coasts of pr^ ti J' * n If ' ,t ■I I '. • t 226 HISTORY OF OREGOX. ' -'- * those above, abound with fine fish of various descrip- tions, among which the salmon predominates. In consequence of their fisheries, the islands are more numerously populated by the natives than the ter- ritory of the main land. The next island of significance is Washington, or Queen Charlotte's. It received the fonner title from Captaii Gray, who circumnavigated it for the first time in the summer of 1789. It is triangular in its form, is one hundred and fifty miles in length, and contains four thousand square miles. After Gray's visit it became the favourite resort of the American traders of the North Pacific. Its climate and soil are represented by Captain Ingraham as being extremely well adapted for agricultural purposes, particularly those portions in the vicinity of a fine harbour in latitude 53 dcg. 3 min, on its eastern coast, and at Port Estrada, or Hancock's River, on the north side. The islands of the next importance below the southern cape of Prince of Wales' Island, (which is the point of our northern boundary line) are Pitt's, Burke's, Dundas', and the Princess Royal groups. Most of those lie between Washington Island and the shore, and form a numerous archipelago, which renders the intervening navigation extremely tor- tuous and difficult. Between Washington and Van- couver's Inland is a continuous line of others, of considerable size, lying closer to the land, and fol- lowing with their eastern outlines almost every HISTORY OF OREGON. 907 sluuosity oi the continental shore. Tliese latter groups are for the most part uninhabited, and are composea of granite and pudding stone, which appear to be the prevailing rock north of latitude forty-nine. They are generally destitute of fresh t\'ater, and having but few anchorages, the strong intervening currents render navigation perplexed and dangerous. They are o ily resorted to by the natives in the spring and in the fall on account of their fisheries. The Coast and its Harbours. The coast of Oregon from the forty-second parallel to the mouth of the Colmubia, pursues a northwardly course, and from that point trends with a slight and gradual westerly inclination to the Strait of Fuca. Its profile consists of a bold, high, wall-like shore of rock, only occasionally broken into gaps or depressions, where the rivers of the territory find their way into the sea. The first of these openings above the southern boundary line is the mouth of the Klamet. This is a stream of considerable size, issuing from the land in 42 deg. 40 min., and extending into it to a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. It has two large tributaries, called by the unromantic titles of Shasty and Nasty rivers, an error of taste, which it is to be hoped the future " Alleghanians," who inhabit their fertile valleys, will correct and reform. The bay of the Klamet is admissible only for vessels of very light draught ; its whole valley is extremely V ■ 1 v.* •V I ■'. U- 228 HISTORY OF OUEftON. fertile, and the country adjacent to the stream abounds with a inyrtaccous tree, which, at the slightest agitation of the air, diffuses a fragrance that lends to it another feature of an earthly paradise, lictween this and the Umpqua River, disemboguing in 33 deg. 30 min., are two other small streams, neither of which, however, affords a harbour available for commercial i)uri)08e8. The Umpqua river is a considerable stream, enter- inn; the land to the distance of a hundred miles. It has a tolerable harbour, navigable, hoAvever, only for vessels drawing eight feet of water, and its stream, thirty miles from the sea, is broken by rapids and falls. Its valley is blessed with its portion of the general fertility of the lower region of Oregon, and consists of alternate groves of stupendous timber and rich arable plains. The Hudson's Bay Company have a fort at tlic mouth of the river, the site of which ia the scene of a flourishing settlement. Five lesser streams find their way into the sea, at intervals, from this point to the mouth of the Columbia, and contri- bute their aid in fertilizing the extensive region lying between the coast and the parallel barrier running at the distance of a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles, known as the President's range of mountains. The mouth of the Columbia is found at 46 deg. 16 min., but is only distinguishable from the sea by a slight and gradual inner curve in the shore. Like all the harbours formed by the rivers on the sea-coast, HISTORY OF OREGON. 229 it is obstructed with extensive sand-bars, formed by the deposits of the river on its meeting with the ocean, and, according to Lieutenant Wilkes, " its entrance, which has from four and a half to eight fathoms of water, is impracticable for tv/o-thirds of the year, and the difficulty of leaving it is equally great." It is thought by some that these obstacles may be removed in time by artificial means, but it is an extremely doubtful question whether it can ever be made an available harbour for vessels of any draught. Passing Cape Disappointment, the northern headland of the river's mouth, we sail forty miles further north, where we find a secure anchorage in Gray's Bay, for vessels drawing ten feet of water ; but this harbour is considered of little importance on account of the extensive sand-flats which usurp the greatest portion of its entire surface. From Gray's Bay to Cape Flattery, the southern point of the Strait of Fuca, but two streams, and those of but trifling significance, break the overhanging barrier of the coast. "We have now traversed the whole coast of Oregon lying immediately on the Pacific, and in its course of five hundred miles, find but two places of refuge for vessels (Gray's Bay and the mouth of the Colum- bia), and even these arc of but trifling importance in a commercial point of view. Indeed, all geographical authorities agree that none of the harbours on this portion of the coast can be deemed safe ports to enter. % • 230 HISTORY OF OUEGON. ii I * ! • .. I '. ■' The next l)riinch of the coast (Icinandinp^ our atten- tion 18 that which lies along the Strait oF Fuca. 'I'his immense arm of the sea cuts oft' tlie northward line of the coast at Cape Flattery, in latitude 48 dog. 23 min., and runs apparently into the land in a south- easterly direction for about a hundred and twenty miles. It then turns north-west by west, and follow- ing that direction for three hundred miles more, joins the sea again at Pintard's Sound. The southern portion of this strait varies from fifteen to thirty miles in width, and the coast of Oregon along its course is an exception, in its maritime advantages, to the portion immediately on the sea. It abounds with fine inland sounds, oftering a secure anchorage to vessels of the heaviest draught, and there are no por- tions of the interior navigation \vhich conceals a hidden danger. The straits can be entered in any wind, and the great rise and fall of the tides offer facilities for building maritime establishments unsur- passed in any portion of the world. Here, whatever direction emigration may for the present take, the commercial operations of the territory will eventually centre, and the din of our naval arsenals will proclaim to the world the fulfilment of the prediction that " The course of empire has westward found its way." The most important branch of this strait is a spa- cious arm descending from its eastern extremity in a southerly direction, into the land to the distance of HISTORY OF OPEGOX. 231 one hundred miles. It is culled Adniinvlty Inlet, and the lowermost portion of it is known as Puget's Sound. This inlet, like the other southern j)ortions of the strait, is filled with splendid harbours, the southern- most of which has the peculiar advantage of being within but little more than three hundred miles of the navigable waters of the Missouri. Great quanti- ties of bituminous coal have been found in its vicinity, and there are other peculiar advantages attached to the station, which must eventually make it a point of the first importance. These circumstances have not cscaprd the watchful eyes of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and they have already established a fort and a settlement there, by way of securing pos.^ession of the point.* At the south-east end of Vancouver's Island there is a small archipelago of islands, which, though Avell wooded, are generally destitute of fresh water. They are consequently, for the most part, uninhabited. The coast of the main land along the north-western course of the strait is cut up and penetrated by numerous inlets, called, from their perpendicular sides and deep water, canals. They afford no good har- bours, and offer but few inducements to frequent them. One large river empties into the strait about • The consideration of the maritime advantages of the southern coast of the Strait of Fuca and Puget's Sound, suggests a pretty- forcible view of the remarkable liberality of Great Britain's ofFer of the Columbia as the line of compromise. This, while it secures to her every navigable harbour, does not leave us one. r^^^ : -1 It .; ■».■• • M ■■''■*■ 232 HISTORY OF OREGON. latitude 49 deg., which pursues a northerly direction for several hundred miles. It is called the Tacoutche, or Fraser's River, and has a trading-post named Fort Langley situated near its mouth. The other portion of the coast to the north is much of the same charac- ter as that south of this river, on the strait. It is cut up by inlets, and the numerous islands which line it, and the heavy fogs that are frequent in the region, render it at all times difficult to approach or to navigate. ■ , . . . ■I , I* ' I* THE NATURAL DIVISIONS OF OREGON. The Three Regions. Oregon is divided into three distinct regions, by three separate mountain ranges, with an additional inferior chain, binding the extreme outline of the Pacific coast. Overlooking the rim upon the ocean edge, the first chain we come to is the Cascade Mountains, or, as they are sometimes called, the President's Range. They start below the 42nd parallel, and run on a line with the coast at a distance varying from 100 to 150 miles throughout the whole length of the territory ; rising in many places to a height from 12,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the sea in separate cones. Their succession is so continuous as to almost interrupt the communication between the sections, except where the two great rivers, the Columbia and HISTORY OF OREGON. '233 Fraser's, force a passage through; an achievement which they only accomplish by being torn into foam, plunged down precipices, or compressed into deep and dismal gorges. This chain of mountains has obtained the title of the President's Range, in conse- quence of their most elevated peaks having been named after the chief magistrates of the United States, by a patriotic American traveller. The stupendous line runs from Mount Jackson to IMount Tyler, and there is yet room among their gigantic cousins for sevcal succeeding dignitaries. The idea which suggested their adaptation to our natural history was a happy one. Perpetual memen- toes in the archives of our nation, they form no perishable notes of heraldry for the contempt of a succeeding age, but basing their stupendous data upon the eternal earth, pierce with their awful gran- deur the region of the clouds, to transcribe thtir records on the face of heaven. The first of them. Mount Jackson, commences the list, in 41 dcg. 10 min. ; Jeiferson stands in 41 deg. 30 min. : John Quincy Adams i:; 42 deg. 10 min. ; Madison in 43 deg. ; Monroe in 43 deg. 10 min. ; Adams in 45 deg. ; Washington (the Mount St Helens of the English) in 46 deg. ; Van Buren, north-west of Puget's Sound, in 48 deg. ; Harrison, east of the same, in 47^ dcg., and Tyler in 49 deg. Of these, Mount Jackson is the largest, and is said to rise above the level of the sea near 20,000 feet. Washington, which is next in "71 :. ■ v.* I'' ' < 1 . 234 HISTOET OF OKEGON. sizo, is estimated at 17,000 to 18,000. This is the most beautiful of all. It ascends in a perfect cone, and two-thirds of its height is covered with perpetual snow.* The region of country lying between this range of mountains and the sea is known as the first OR LOWER REGION OF OrEGOX. The Blue Mountains form the next divisior "They commence nearly in the centre of Oregon, on parallel of longitude 43 deg. west from Washington, and in 46 deg. of lat. They run southwesterly from this point for 200 miles in an irregular manner, occasion- ally interrupted, and shooting off in spurs to the south and west. The region between this ridge and the President's Range is called the second or middle region. Beyond the Blue Mountains, and lying between them and the Rocky Mountains, is the high coun- try, OR third region of Oregon. The general course of the Rocky Mountains is from south to south-east. They run south from 54 deg. 46 min., parallel to the coast (at a distance of 500 miles), for 300 miles, and gradually extend their distance from the sea by a continuous south-easterly course to over 700 at the 40th degree. In these mountains, and their offsets, rise the principal rivers * The limit of perpetual snow for these mountains is, according to Lieutenant Wilkes, 6,500 feet from the level of the sea. »ii HISTORY OF OREGON. 235 which find their way into the Pacific to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico on the east. Near the 42nd parallel is a remarkable depression in the chain, called " the Southern Pass " which experience has proved affords a short and easy roiite for carriages from our States into the territory of Oregon. Above the 48th parallel, again, other passes are formed by the course of the rivers, from either side, which find their way in some places between the mountains. There are other ridges intersecting the face of this vast country, but they are principally offsets or spurs of the three main chains already described. The principal of these is the Wind River cluster, on the east of the Rocky Mountains, from which flow many of the head-waters of the Missouri and the Yellow Stone Rivers. Climate and Characteristics of the Three Regions. The third region or high country is a rocky, barren, broken country, traversed in all direc- tions by stupendous mountain spurs, on the peaks of which snow lies nearly all the year. It is from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in conse- quence the rivers flowing through it westward to the Columbia are broken at frequent intervals by the rugged descent, and rendered unnavigable almost throughout the whole of their course. There are but few arable spots in this whole section of territory, its level plains, except narrow strips in the immediate •t 236 HISTORY OF OREGON. i: • .1 vicinity of the rivers, being covered with sand or gravel, and being also generally volcanic in their character. The distinguishing features of the terri- tory are its extreme dryness, and the difference of itH temperature between the day and the night. It sel- dom rains except during a few days in the spririg, and no moisture is deposited in dews. In addition to these discouraging features, the climate, from its enclosure between these SuOwy barriers, is extremely variable, a difference of fifty and sixty degrees taking place between sunrise and mid-day. The soil ia moreover much impregnated with salts, springs of which abound in many places. It will be seen by reference to the journal which forms the latter por- tion of this work, that some of these possess highly medicinal qualities, and from the beauty of their situation will doubtless become, before time is done, the resort of the fashionable population of Western America, Notwithstanding all these unfavourable qualities, there are many small prairies within its mountains, which, from their production of a nutritious bunch grass, are well adapted for grazing purposes, and in despite of its changeable climate, stock is found to thrive well, and to endure the severity of the winter without protection. The second or middle region of Oregon, between the Blue and the President Ranges, is less elevated than the third, and consequently all the stern 4 HISTORY OF OREGON. 237 extremities of the latter's climate and soil are pro- portionately modified. Its mean height is about a thousand feet above the level of the sea, and much of its surface is a rolling prairie country, with the ex- ception of the portion above latitude 48 deg., which is very much broken by rivers and traverse mountain chains. It is consequently adapted only in sections to farming purposes. Plenty of game, however, is found in the forests of the country to compensate for its unfitness for agriculture. Below this parallel, and in the middle of the section, are extensive plains, admirably adapted to stock raising, from the per- petual verdure always overspreading them, and from the salubrious climate that prevails throughout their neighbourhood. Cattle thrive even better here than in the low country, and there is no necessity for housing them at any time ; neither need provender be laid in, the natural hay found always in abund- ance on the prairies being preferred by them to the fresh grass upon the bottoms. It is in this region the Indians raise their immense herds of horses, and here, whenever the territory shall be numerously settled, may be bred clouds of horsemen, who would not be exceeded by any light cavalry in the world. The southern portion of this region, as it advances to the boundary line, becomes less favourable to the purposes of man, and loses its fertility by rolling into swelling sand-hills, producing nothing but the wild wormwood, mixed with prickly pear, and a sparse sprinkling of short bunch grass. ¥"■■ '. ',1, — rr !•:•:■ ■t . i!'^' '■ :s • ■ ••* •■ ♦■■•.■ 1 « 1 ■. •' 238 HISTORY OF OREGON. The first or loaver region of Oregon is that which lies along the coast, and extends westward to the line of the President's range of mountains. The portion of this lying north of the Columbia and be- tween it and the Straits of Fuca, is a heavily tim- bered country covered with forests of trees of extra- ordinaiy size. It has, however, its spaces of prairie on which good pasturage is found, and it has also some fine arable land. This section is watered by four rivers, of which the Chickelis, disemboguing into the Columbia, and the Cowelitz, emptying into the sea at Gray's Harbour, are the most important. The forests of this portion of the lower region are its great feature. They consist of pines, firs, spruce, red and white oak, ash, arbutus, arbor vita3, cedar, poplar, maple, willow, cherry, and yew, with so close and matted an undergrowth of hazel, and other brambles, as to render them almost impenetrable to the foot of man. Most of the trees are of an enor- mous bulk, and they are studded so thick that they rise before the beholder like a stupendous and im- pregnable solidity, which declares futile all ordinary attempts to penetrate it. This astonishing exuber- ance is not confined alone to the timber of the section north of the Columbia, for we have an account of a fir growing at Astoria, eight miles from the ocean, on the southern bank of the Columbia, which mea- sured forty-six feet in circumference at ten feet from the ground, ascended one hundred and fifty-three feet before giving oiF a branch, and was three hun- HISTORY OF OREGON. 239 dred feet in its whole height. Another tree of the same species is said to be standing on the Umpqua, the trunk of which is fifty-seven feet in circumfer- ence, and two hundred and sixteen feet in length below its branches. Prime sound pines, from two hundred to two hundred and eighty feet in height, and from twenty to forty in circumference, are by no means uncommon. The value of this spon- taneous wealth has already been appreciated by the acute company who reign commercially pre- dominant in this region, for already their untiring saw mills, plied by gangs of Sandwich Islanders and servile Iroquois, cut daily at Fort Vancouver alone thousands of feet of plank, which are transported regularly to the markets of the Pacific Islands. But to return to that section of the lower region lying between the Columbia and the Straits of Fuca. The banks of the Cowelitz are generally bare of timber, but the soil in their immediate vicinity is for the most part poor. The Hudson's Bay Company, however, have a fine farm of six hundred acres in its western valley, which in 1841 produced seven thou- sand bushels of wheat. The average produce is twenty bushels to the acre. They have also a saw and grist mill now in operation there, both of which find a market for their products in the Sandwich and other islands of Polynesia. Live stock do not suc- ceed well on these farms, and this is owing to the absence of low prairie grounds near the river, and . 1 ( 1. ■ I • n wl 240 HISTORY OF OREGON. also to the extensive depredations of the wolves. The hilly portion of the countiy immediately around, though its soil is very good, is too heavily timbered to be available for agricultural purposes, and this is also the case with many portions of the level land. There are, however, large tracts of fine prairie at intervals between, suitable for cultivation and ready for the plough. Proceeding northward, we came to Fort Nasqually, a fine harbour at the southern point of Puget's Sound. Here the Hudson's Bay Company have another fine settlement, and raise wheat (fifteen bushels to the acre), oats, peas, potatoes, and make butter for the Russian settlements. On the islands of the sound, and on the upper sections of Admiralty Inlet, the Indians cultivate potatoes in great abundance. These vegetables are extremely fine, and constitute a large portion of their food. Having disposed of this section, we come now to that portion of the lower region lying south of the Columbia, between the President's Range and the coast. This, by universal agreement, is admitted to be the finest portion of all Oregon. It is entered by the Willamette River, about five miles below Van- couver, which stream extends into its bosom over two hundred miles. This river is navigable for steam-boats and vessels of light draught for nearly forty miles, when you come to a fall — the invariable feature of the rivers of tliis territory. Above the HISTORY OF OREGON. 241 falls are the principal settlements of Oregon. Here the American adventurers have principally established themselves, and by the contributions of the emigra- tions from the States their number is rapidly increas- ing. As these settlements are described with some particularity in the journal which concludes this work, we will omit a particubr account of them in this place. The fertile portion of the valley of the Willamette is about two hundred and fifty miles long, and aver- ages about seventy in width, making in all a surface of more than seventeen thousand square miles of rich arable land. The soil is an unctuous, heavy, black loam, which yields to the producer a ready and pro- fuse return for the slightest outlay of his labour. The climate is mild throughout the year, but the summer is warm and very dry. From April to Oc- tober, while the sea breezes prevail, rain seldom falls in any part of Oregon. During the other months, and while the south winds blow, the rains are fre- quent, and at times abundant. In the vallies of the low country snow is seldom seen, and the ground is so rarely frozen that plough- ing may generally be carried on the whole winter. In 1834 the Columbia was frozen over for thirteen days, but this was principally attributable to the accumulation of ice from above. " This countiy," says Wyeth, " is well calculated for wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas, apples, potatoes, and all the vegetables •, 4 ;••• 242 II18T0BY OF OREGON. • .. v.^^ ; ', •' cultivated in the northern part of the Union. Indian corn docs not succeed well, and is an unprofitable crop." A letter* recently received from Oregon, and giving an account of last year's crop, will serve to show the wonderful productiveness of this delightful region, t Of this valley Lieutenant Wilkes says, " the wheat yields thirty-five or forty bushels for one bushel • " The harrcst is just at hand, and such crops of wheat, barley, oats, peas, and potatoes, are seldom, if ever, to be seen in the States, tliat of wheat in particular — the stalks being in many instances as high as my head, the grains generally much larger — 1 would not much exaggerate to say they are as large again as those grown east of the mountains. Tlie soil is good, and tlie climate most su- IKTior. being mild the year round, and very healthy, more so than any country I have lived in the same length of time. Prcxluce bears an excellent price — pork, ten cents ; beef, six cents; potatoes, fifty cents ; wheat, one dollar per busliel. These articles are piir- rhased at the above prices with great avidity by the merchants for sliipment generally to the Sandwich Islands and Russian settle- ments on this continent, and are paid for mostly in stores and groceries, the latter of which is the product of these islands, par- ticularly sugar and coffee, of which abundant supplies are furnished. Wages for labourers are high— common hands are getting from one to two dollars per day, and mechanics from two to four dollars per day. It is with difficulty men can be procured at these prices, so easily can they do better on their farms. The plains are a per- petual meadow, furnishing two complete new crops in a year, spring and fall, the latter remaining green through the winter. Beef is killed from the grass at any season of the year. If you have any enterprise left, or if your neighbours have any, here is the place for them." t The above is an extract of a letter from General McCarver, who is at present the Speaker of the Lower House of Oregon. HISTORY OP OIIKGON. 243 sown i or from twenty to thirty to the acre. Its constitute two legislative bodies, to aj)p()iut a Ciiief Justice, and make the necessary ministerial oHicors to enforce his decisions. The two houses meet at stated j)eriods in the year for the transaction of all the necessary businoFs oi" the little body politic, and the degree of importance which the new legislature has already obtainetl may be estimated by the fact that the officers of the Hud- son's Bay Company have accorded t'leir acknowledg- ment of its powers, by applying through the chief governor of all the stations in the territory (Doctor McLaughlin) for a charter for a canal around the Willamette Falls. The exclusive right was granted to him for twenty years, on the condition that ho should, in two years, construct a canal around tiicm sufficient for the passage of boats thirteen feet in width. This recognition of the authority of the legislative confederacy would, however, l»e a politic course in the resident governor of the Hudson's Bay Coni{)any, even though he should be ever so averse to it ; for such recognition would not affect the interests of his association in case it were overthrown l)y his own government, and it would afford him, meanwhile, an opportunity for the quiet pursuit of his plans. It is 246 HISTORY OF OREGON. . ■ K. ,■* * - ».«! ''j ' ', "'1 * I '? .■", '1 / but just, however, to bear in mind, that the juris- diction exercised by the company over all the citizens in the territory, previous to this legislative conven- tion, was not their own arrogation, but the investi- ture of the British Government, for its own special objects ; and it is no less just to say that this power was exercised by the gentleman above named, during his rule, with a temperance and fairness but seldom found in those who have no immediate superior to account to. The letter that brings us this latter information also tells us the Doctor has already commenced his work with a large number of hands, and that there is no doubt of his perfect ability to complete it within the time named. He was likewise constructing at the date of this information (last August) a large flouring mill with four run of burs, which was to be ready for business last fall. The Rivers. Having completed a description of tlie general characteristics of the three regions of Oregon, there remains but one feature of its geography unfinished ; and as that extends for the most part continuously from region to region, it could not be properly em- braced in the paiticular account of any one. We allude to the course and characteristics of the Colum- bia River and its tributaries. The northern branch of the Columbia River rises :* <. HISTORY OF OHEGOX. 247 iiieral there led ; ously em- We ►lum- rises in latitude 50 deg. north, and 116 min. we8t (from Greenwich) thence it pursues a northern route to McGillivray's Pass in the Rocky Mountains. There it meets the Canoe River, and by that tributary as- cends north-westerly for eighty miles more. At the boat encampment at the pass, another stream also joins it through the mountains, and here the Colum- bia is 3,600 feet above the level of the sea. It now turns south, having some obstructions to its safe navigation in the way of rapids, receiving many tri- butaries in its course to Colville, among which the Beaver, Salmon, Flatbow, and Clarke's Rivers from the east, and the Colville and two smaller tributaries higher up from the west, are the chief. This great river is bounded thus far on its course by a range of high, well-wooded mountains, and in places expands into a line of lakes before it reaches Colville, where it is 2,049 feet above the level of the sea, hr.ving a fall of 550 feet in 220 miles. Fort Colville stands in a plain of 2,000 or 3,000 acres. There the Hudson's Bay Company have a considerable settlement and a farm under cultivation, producing from 3,000 to 4,000 bushels of different grains, with which many of their otlicr forts are sup- plied. On Clarke's River the company have another post called Flathead House, situated in a rich and beautiful country spreading westward to the bases of the Rocky Mountains. On the Flatbow also the company have a post, named Fort Kootanie. ■ r ■ K' i % \ h ■: ••.■•: 248 HISTORY OF OREGON. From Fjrt Colville the Columbia trends westward for about sixty miles, and then receives the Spokan from the south. This river rises in the lake of the Pointed Heart, which lies in the bosom of extensive plains of the same name. It pursues a north-westerly course for about two hundred miles, and then empties into the Columbia. Its valley, according to Mr Spaulding, an American Missionary who surveyed it, may be extensively used as a grazing district ; but its agricultural cai)abilities are limited. The chief features of its region are (like those of the upper country, through which we have already traced the Columbia and its tributaries) extensive forests of timber and wide sandy plains intersected by bold and high mountains. From the Spokan the Columbia continues its westerly course for sixty miles, receiving several smaller streams, until it comes to the Okanagan, a river finding its source in a line of lakes to the north, and affording boat and canoe navigation to a consi- derable extent up its course. On the east side of this river, and near its junction with the Columbia, the Company have another station called Fort Okanagan. Though the country bordering on the Okanagan is generally worthless, this settlement is situated among a number of small, but rich arable plains. After passing the Okanagan, the Columbia takes a southwtu'd turn, and runs in that direction for one hundred and sixty miles to Wallawalla, receiving in 1 HISTORY OF OREGON. 249 its course the Piscous, the Ekama, and Entyatecoom from the west, and lastly, the Saptin or Lewis River from the south. From this point the part of the Columbia which we have traced, though obstructed by rapids, is navigable for canoes to the Boat En- campment, a distance of five hundred miles to the north. The Saptin takes its rise in the Rocky Mountains, passes through the Blue, and reaches the Columbia after having pursued a north-westerly di- rection for five hundred and twenty miles. It brings a large volume of water to the latter stream, but in consequence of its extensive and numerous rapids, it is not navigable even for canoes, except in reaches. This circumstance is to be deplored, as its course is the line of route for the emigration of the States. It receives a large number of tributaries, of which the Kooskooske and Salmon are the chief. Our previous account of the arid and volcanic character of this region obviates the necessity of a farther description here. There is a trading station upon the Saptin near the southern boundary line, called Fort Hall, and one also near its junction with the Columbia, called Fort AVallawalla, The Columbia at Walla- walla is twelve hundred and eighty-four feet above the level of the sea, and about three thousand five hundred feet wide. It now takes it last turn to the westward, pursuing a rapid course of eightjp miles to the Cascades, and receiving the Umatilla, Quisnell's, John Day's, and Chute Rivers from 250 HISTORY OF OREGON. ,.; ;»;■ I* '' •*' V '■' ■ .(f ■ ■ ' "• I'. '*» . , ■ ' ■ the south, and Cathlata's from the north. At the Cascades the navigation of the river is inter- rupted by a series of falls and rapids, caused by the immense volume forcing its way through the gorge of the President's Range. From the Cascades there is still-water navigation for forty miles, when the river is again obstructed by rapids ; after passing these, it is navigable for one hundred and twenty miles to the ocean. The only other great independent river in the territory is the Tacoutche or Frazer's River. It takes its rise in the Rocky Mountains near the source of Canoe River ; thence it takes a north-westerly course for eighty miles, when it makes a turn southward, receiving Stuart's River, which brings down its'waters from a chain of lakes extending to the 56th degree of latitude. Turning down from Stuart's River, the Tacoutche pursues a southerly course until it reaches latitude 49 deg., where it breaks through the Cascade range in a succession of falls and rapids, then turns to the west, and after a course of seventy miles more, disembogues into the Gulf of Georgia, on the Straits of Fuca, in latitude 47 deg. 7 min. Its whole length is three hundred and fifty miles, but it is only navigable for seventy miles from its mouth by vessels drawing twelve feet of water. It has three ti-ading posts upon it belonging •to the company : Fort Langley at its mouth. Fort Alexandria at the junction of a small stream a few miles south of Quisnell's River, and another at the - ' ' 4 ■ap HISTORY OF OREGON. 251 junction of Stuart's River. The country drained by this river is poor and generally unfit for cultivation. The climate is extreme in its variations of heat and cold, and in the fall 'nonths dense fogs prevail, which bar every object from the eye beyond the distance of a hundred yards. The chief features of the section are extensive forests, transverse ranges of low coun- tries, and vast tracts of marshes and lakes, formed by the streams descending from the surrounding heights. The char.acter o " the great rivers is peculiar — rapid and sunken much below the level of the country, with perpendicular banks, they run as it were in trenches, which make it extremely difficult to get at the water in many places, owing to their steep ba- saltic walls. They are at many points contracted by dalles, or narrows, which during the rise, back the water some distance, submerging islands and tracts of low prairie, and giving them the appearance of extensive lakes. The soil along the river bottoms is generally alluvial, and would yield good crops, were it not for the overflowing of the rivers which check and kill the grain. Sonic of the finest portions of the land are thus unfitted for cultivi'tion. They are generally covered with water before the banks are overflown, in consequence of the quicksands that exist in them, and through which the water percolates. The rise of the streams flowing from the Cascade ir^ ■ f f ■ s » .(• • m" 1 » ; J •>•'';• '■ .. .,i ■ u 252 HISTORY OF OREGON. Mountains takes place twice a year, in February and November, and are produced by heavy and abundant rains. The rise of the Cohmibia takes place in May and June, and is attributable to the melting of the snows. Sometimes the swell of the latter is very sudden, if heavy rains should also happen at that period ; but it is generally gradual, and reaches its greatest height from the 6th to the 15th of June. Its perpendicular rise is from eighteen to twenty feet at Vancouver, where a line of embankment has been thrown up to protect the lower prairie ; but it has generally been flooded during these visitations, and the crops often destroyed. The greatest rise of the Willamette takes place in February, and sometimes ascending to the height of twenty feet, docs considerable damage. Both this river and the Cowelitz are much swollen by the backing of their waters during the height of the Columbia, all their lower grounds being at such times submerged. This puts an effectual bar to the bor- der prairies being used for anything but pasturage. This happily is fine throughout the year, except in the season of floods, when the cattle must be driven to the high grounds. The lakes of Oregon arc numerous and well dis- tributed in the different regions of the territory. In the northern section the Okanagan (from which flows the river of that name), Stuart's, and Frazer's, near the upper boundary ; Quisnell's in 53 deg., and I* ^' I* 3 • ^^ HISTORY OF OREGON. 253 11 dis- In which azer's, ;., and Klamloop's In 51 deg., are the largest. In the cen- tral section we have the Flatbow, the Cour d'Alene, or " Pointed Heart," and the KuUespelm ; and in the southern district are the Klamet, the Pit, and an abundance of inferior lakes, as yet unnoticed on the maps, and for which geographers have not yet been able to discover names. Several of the latter are salt, and, at intervals, we find chains of hot springs bubbling in some places above the ground, like those of Iceland. The smaller lakes are said to add much to the picturesque beauty of the streams. The whole territory is well watered in all direc- tions, and from the peculiar character of its rivers, their descent, the rapidity of their cur-ents, and their frequent falls, there is perhaps no country in the world which affords so many facilities for manufac- turing purposes through the agency of water power. This is a peculiarly happy circumstance, when taken into consideration with the fact that the timber overspreading the Avestern portion, and clustering around its mill sites, will for a long time form one of the principal exports in the markets of the Pacific. This will appear from the high prices which it now commands, and also from the fact that no other portion of the north-west coast produces it. Already trading vessels resort to the mouth of the Columbia to supply themselves with spars, and other necessary materials, and the improving facilities of inland in- Z J' 1 V.' I !«'• • .. 2.54 IIISTOUY OF OJlVAUm. tcrcominiinication has directed some of it from point to point within the territory. I Living now completed our account of the great physical characteristics of Oregon, our attention na- turally turns to those portions of its natural history wiiicii arc equally necessary to render a land service- able to the wants of man. Of these, the first and most important are the fisheries. " These," says Lieutenant Wilkes, " are so immense, that the Avhole native jxipulation subsist on them." All the rivers, bays, harbours, and shores, of the coast and islands, abound in sahn »n, sturgeon, cod, carp, sole, flounders, ray, perch, herring, lamprey eels, and a kind of smelt or sardine, which is extremely abundant. The dif- ferent kinds predominate alternately, according to the situations of the respective fisheries, but the salmon abound everywhere over all. This superior fish is found in the largest cpiantities in the Columbia, and the finest of them are taken at the Dalles. They run twice a-year, May and October, and ai)pear in- exhaustible. To so great an extent is traflfic in them aleady advanced, that the establishment at Vancouver alone exports ten thousand barrels of them annually. There are also large quantities of oysters, clams, crabs, mussels, and other kinds of shell-fish, found in the (litt'crent bays and creeks of the country ; and, to complete this piscatory feature, we are further told that whales arc also found in numbers along the coast HISTORY OF OUFXJON. 2,V, and at the mouth of the' Strait of Fuca, wliorc they are frequently captured by the piscivorous aborio;ines. Of game an equal abundance exists. In the spring and fall the rivers literally swann with geese, duck, cranes, swans, and other species of water-fowl ; and the elk, deer, antelope, bear, wolf, fox, marten, beaver, muskrat, grizzly bear, and siHleur, make, with them, the harvest of the hunter's riHe. In the middle section little or no game is to be found, but in the third region, the buftalo are plenty, and form an at- trtiction to numerous hunting parties of the Blackfeet and Oregon Indians. The poi)ulation of Oregon territory has been esti- mated by Lieutenant Wilkes to be about 'J0,()()0, of whom 19,200 or 300 arc aborigines, and the remain- ing 700 or 800, whites. This number and its ])r«)- portions have, however, increased and varied con- siderably since the time of his estimate. The years succeeding his visit beheld large emigrations from the States, and the white population of Oregon may now be safely set down as being between 2,(M)0 and 3,000, of whom the majority are from the States. The largest portion of these are located in the valley of the Willamette, where, as we have already seen, they have adopted a government of their own. The other white inhabitants are sprinkled a])out in difterent portions of the territory, at the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Conq)any, whose ofhcers and servants amount, in all, to between 500 and 600, but this ff^, "T . ■ ^r •.'V 256 HISTORY OF OREGON. number docs not include tlicir Iroquois and Sandwich Island serfs. There are no means of ascertaining with accuracy the numbers of the aboriginal population, as many of them move from place to place in the fishing seasons ; but, for the purpose of furnishing the reader with the nearest warrant for reliance, we will here insert a tabular statement, prei)ared by Mr Crawford, of the Indian department, for the use of last Congress. Indians West of the Rocky Mountnins, in the Orerjon District, and their Numbers, Nes Pcrces - Chimnapuns - 2,000 Ponderas - Shallatlos - 200 Flatheads - - 800 Speannaros - - 240 Cour D'Alcne - Saddals - 400 Shoshonies - - 1,800 Wallawallahs - 2,600 Callapooahs - Chopunnishees - 3,000 Umbaquahs - Catlashoots - - 430 Kiyuse - Pohahs - 2,000 Spokeus - Willewahs - - 1,000 Oknanagans - Sinacsops - - 200 Cootomies - - Chillokittequaws - 2,400 Chilts - 800 Echebools - - 1,000 Chinookes - - 400 Wahupums - - 1,000 Snakes - 1,000 Euesteurs - - 1,200 Cathlamahs - - 200 1 Clackamurs - - 1,800 Wahkiakumes - 200 Chanwapi)ans - 400 Skillutes - - 2,500 Sokulks - 3,000 29,570 <>r •« .• HISTORY OF OUEGOX. 257 The most numerous and warlike of the Oregon Indians are in the islands to the nortii, hut on the main land they are generally friendly and well-dis- posed. They are, however, rapidly passing away before the advancing destiny of a superior race, and with the wild game, vanish gradually from tlie wijite man's tracks. Those remaining are a servile and degraded class, who perform the meanest offices of the settlements, and readily consent to a mode of existence under the missionaries and other settlers, but little short of vassalage. In the Willamette valley there are now kit but a few remnants of the once numerous and })owerful tribes that formerly inhabited it. At the mouth of the Columbia there are some few of the Chenooks still left, and about the Cascades and at the Dalles still linger considera- ble numbers of this ill-fated and fast-fading people. There is no longer any spirit left in them; their hearts are broken, their bows unstnmg, and from lords of the soil they have sunk to the degradation of its slaves. The Kiuses and Nes Pcrces still maintain a por- tion of their independence, but numbers of them, through the exertions of the missionaries, have made considerable advances in civilization, and uinny more would doubtless adapt themselves to a more methodi- cal system of life, were not the first lessons of the science an exaction of their labours for the benefit of others. At the present they can only be regarded IP ^ 258 HISTORY OF OIIKOON. ■/.' I • . in the light of a porvilc popuhvtion, wliich, in the existing dearth of labour, is rendered of vast service to the active settler. In .•