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Lorsqua le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un saul cliche, il eat filmA d partir de Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche i droite. et de haut an bas, en prenant la nombre d'images n^cessaira. Las diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I •'■■•.:'.'i' • A TRIP TO TIIK TJKITED STATES AXD CANADA. I I k ■ ■■ \ ! 4f > / ) V 'X- ^ X Tlill To Tin: UNITED STATES AND CANADA: P' '] I N A S K U I F S OF 1, 1. 1 r K i; s. HY EDWAPJ) W. WATKIN. I I LONDON : AV. H. SMITH AND SON, 136; STRAND. MDCCCUI. Hi i 3 L c (jjntrrrtr at ^tatinnrrs' 2JaU M-COUyCODALE AND CO., rRINTEIlS, tOKUON- WoaiiJ, NEWl'OM. I TO GEORGE CARE GLYN. Esq, M.P., f fiainnnn of tijr Innhn anir Idurfji 'IVriilrrtt 2lailraaij €mpnn, FROJI HIS OBLIGED SEHVAXT, EDAVARD AV. WATKIX. INTRODUCTION. I HAVE presumed to think that these hasty Letters, destitute as they arc of all literary merit, written during a visit to the " New World," may be, just now, worth presenting to " everj'day sort of people " like myself, \v-ho have little time to travel; and, unable to do both, would rather watch the free growth of a new eouni:ry, than observe the deca- dence and decrepitude of old ones. For just now, when a large part of our labouring population is strangely awaken- ing to the impression, that a dollar a-day and a vote at elections in the United States are better than oightpence a-day in Ireland; tlie New Home to which our fellowT countrymen are thus flocking— and in which, somehow or other they prosper and are independent—is especially mterestinjj Steam navigation and Railways have so far reduced the difficulties and uncertainties of Western travel, that it is now as easy and as cheap to spend one's autumn holidays, as I have done, in a trip to America of some eleven thousand miles out and home, as fifteen years ago it was to get to John o' Groat's and back by land conveyance, or to go a- .i \ Vlll IXTRODUCTIOX. shooting in Sutheihuulslurc — which, by the by, is an out of the way and clij»nuxl sort of county even yet. Every one ought to know how easy it it>, and how plea- sant and instructive, to travel in the States. But, though many people do know this, the plague of English travellers which annually overspreads Eur(»i)c,froin July to December, and disturbs even the quiet of the Nile, has hardly touched America. And while one cannot enter the drawing-room of any decent house without hearing descriptions of scenery and manners in Genuany, Italy, or Russia, — to have visited America almost involves some commercial connec- tion with that country. Yet no other land in the world has so close an alliance witii our own ; and, while we are culpably ignorant of almost every thing but its pecu- liarities and its vices, no other country studies our history, and watches our progress, with greater interest or more solicitude. Any English youngster will tell you that Americans speak through their noses, spit, and hold slaves; but how few, even of the most intelligent, know that better English is spoken by the mass of American, than by the majority of English citizens, and that education is practically an institution of the United States, and universal ; though at home it hardly exists as a system, and can never be exiended in any truly national dii-ection without exciting a war of parties ! Be the reason what it may, we have been in the habit of looking dovm on America. We shall soon perhaps have to look up to it. It is but sixty-two years since the foundation of the Re- public. It then consisted of thirteen small states. It now comprises twenty-nine states ; without reckoning the new IXTR(^DrCTIOX. I dominions of Oregon, Calitbrnia, New Mexico, and Texas. Ten years ago its area was 2,000,000 square miles, or mo/e than 1,300,000,000 of acres. That area has become, in 1850, 3,252,689 square miles, or 2,081,717,760 acres. It is thus nearly thirty times the size of Great Britain and Ireland. The Kepublic now possesses an ocean coast of 5140 miles, viz.,— 1920 on the Atlantic, 1620 on the Pacific, and 1600 on the Gulf of Mexico. Its population in 1790 was less than 4,000,000; in 1840 it stood at 17,000,000; it is now 25,000,000. And if its vast territory, with a more productive soil, and greater resources of all kinds, sliould some day become as thickly peopled as our own i^sland, it will thr the lUt of Those ncient lid see argest L race, jn yet e how try of A TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES, &c. IN A SERIES OF LETTERS. I. Steam Ship Asia, Tuesday, 26th Avgust, 1851. As you know, I went down to Liven pool on the evening of the 15th, and stayed at 's. He met mc at the traiw, and took me home. "We sat up smoking and discussinj^ politics until three in the morning, and then adjourned to bed. While at breakfast next day, and came. They had been in Liverpool all night on the look-out for me. took leave of me near the station, on our way down to the pier, and and accompanied me on board, and saw me fiiirly " started." The former, however, owing to some misapprehension about the s* earner which was to take him on shore, disappeared without adieu while I was looking after my lugganfe; and the latter remained on board, cracking jokes and making fun, until the tender which had brought the mail bags at last left us, and, after the firing of a farewell ^\v\ our vessel stood proudly down the Mersey on her Avay to the ocean. An hour afterwards, or about one o'clock, the pilot left us; and, firing another salute, we went on our course. Our vessel, one of the largest and finest on the station, is 2.S() feet long, and is registered as of 2G0O tons burden. She has 1 74 passengers, and a crew and staff of 115 hands, on board. Every berth is filled, and the vessel is not merely crowded but crammed, B I 2 thip to the united states. with human beings. Tiaere is a regular staff of stewards, stew- ardesses, cooks, and waiters. There is also a live butcher, and no less live cow, which latter has a house on deck; and, as she pokes her head out of her window, looks as if she knew a thing or two. ^ , The passengers consist of people returning from visits to the Exhibition, or tours on the Continent ; of Canadian merchants who have been about their " fall" purchases at Manchester and Glasgow ; of adventurous spirits en route for Chagres and California ; and of a miscellaneous medley, including the man who owns the great lump of gold in the Exhibition, and his ,vife_a New Orleans Creole ; a French count ; a French milli- ner going back to the Havannah; some transatlantic political celebrities ; and your faithful servant. In making travelling acquaintances I was at the outset fortu- nate ; for I have found several; persons whom I know, or who know me through some mutual acquaintance, or some railway incident; and I had not been a couple ot uours in the vessel before a -entleman, who had been eyeing me, and whom I had been eyein-, with a sort of half recognition for some time pre- vious, as, pacing the long high deck, we passed each other, handed me a letter from , which made us friends directly. This .entleman, a Mr. , is going to the State, with a like pur- pose to my own ; and, with the exception that he would remain rather lon-er, and therefore travel more observantly, by taking more time°.bout it. His route and leave of absence are so simi- lar to mine, that we may perhaps journey on together. Our first dinner on board came off as we were passing down the Welsh coast. The dining saloon was crowded, and appetites were sharp. The sea was perfectly calm, and none of the dis- agreeables of a voyage were in view before us. The new tra- vellers began to declare that the hardships of sea life were OLD HEAD OF KINSALE — CAPE CLEAR. exaggerated, and the old travellers sin.pTy said nothing in reply. Therefore fish and soup, joint and savoury dish, were successively devoured; and the inroads upon the tarts and dessert made the stewards look grave; while the captain merely remarked, with a sly twist of his mouth and a roguish smile, " Wait till she begins to pitch a little." And accordingly she did begin to pitch, and pitched and tossed all night — a disagreeable which resulted in the disappearance of half the passengers ; while the slow and lugubrious tumbling up of others on the following morning, with faces of every description of green and yellow shade, and miser- able complaints of their "sufferings," showed the degeneracy of the human stomach. I felt well enough on rising ; but the operation of dressing on a floor of continually varying level, soon made me as squeamish as the rest; and for just a week I was sick more or less even- day. The sensation itself is bad enough ; but the after weakness and inertness — in my case at least, starting as I did in weak health — far worse. However, I suppose it is like physic or beating — all for one's good ; and, as the worst is over, I hope you will laugh at my small miseiies. Our first Sunday morning was enjoyable, as it was beautiful. The sea clear blue, the sky full of white driving clouds, the wind dry, free, and bracing; and, as the sun shone upon the bright shores of the south of Ireland, which we were skirting rapidly —now bringing out in full effect the golden corn-fields, and now lighting up some bold rocky promontory, such as the old Head of Kinsale — even sea-sickness could not prevent us from revel- ling in the scene, so new and strange to many. Sunday evening brought us to Cape Clear ; and, as the setting sun thi'ew its fading rays across the western waves, the last glimpse of land disappeared from the sight, and we were fairly out upon the Atlantic. i t I. 4 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. Monday brought a strong west wind ; and the long rolling waves of the Atlantic, which we had first met on rounding Cape Clear, swelled into a rising sea, amidst which our great vessel pitched about with far more force and vivacity than was agreeable. Tuesday made matters worse. More wind, nlore wave. Ves- sel pitching; bows under and decks forward; miserably wet. I stood it out, however, and remained sitting under the larboard wheel-house with some choice spirits, who tried to sing the storm away by all the glees they could recollect the words of, until midnight. The spray broke over us continually; but covered up in tarpaulin coats, lent to us by the mate, we de- spised the anger of the waves — at least, so long as we could keep the water out of our necks. It was a wild angry night. Clouds drifting rapidly through the sky, now concealing, now displaying, the bright moon and stars. Waves in dark huge masses, tipped with white wreaths of foam, encircling the vessel, as if jealoii" of her progress. The wind roaring in the rigging, and ever^ now and then a heavy dull sound, heard above the wind, when a sea struck the ship, and scattered itself along her lower decks with a sharp splashing noise. Br^hind the vessel there appeared a h-jge, broad, white, track of foam, full of strange phosphoric stars and spangles of fairy light, which flashed in the darkness, as if the ship's paddles, like the iron-shod hoofs of some great animal, struck lire in the struggle and intensity of their progress. Wednesday- brought .i heavy gale and a tremendous sea. Standing on the deck, lo do which one had to hold on, as some said, " like grim death," and as others expressed it, "like glue;" the storm, for such we deemed it, was a grand sight indeed. Our vessel is eighteen feet out of water, and the waves rose on all sides of us some ten feet above the bulwarks. Therefore you % FOG— GULF STREAM. may Inter that thirty feet would represent the mean height of these waves. Amidst this sea we bore our way, the ship now, to the appearance of the eye, standing on one end, now rushing down as if everlastingly to engulf herself ; but, though receiving great masses of water over her bows at every plunge, rising buoyantly to meet and ride over the next great mountain, and so on and on. At times the sun shone out, and, as the spray crested the waves parted in our progress, formed evanescent rainbows in the flying moisture, which contrasted sweetly with the wildness of the tempest and the hoarse beating of the wind. Thursday improved a little upon Wednesday, and again Fri- day upon Thursday, while Saturday gave us quiet waters, an easy vessel, the cessation of my interesting indisposition, and of the sickness of most others, and the reappearance in the saloon at the daily meals (viz., breakfast at eight, lunch at twelve, dinner at four, tea at half- past seven, and supper when you like) of almost every soul on board. The passengers, especially a choice selection of thin sallow-faced fellows, who sat out of the way in corners, for the sake of elbow-room, making up by vivacious talking, and enormous eating of every dish, fruit, and sweatmeat put before them, for their previous starvation, and the sickness they had endured. On Sunday at twelve, we were only 147 miles from Cape Race, and we should have sighted it, had not one of those dense fogs which usually occur about the Banks of New- foundland, and owe their origin, I believe, to the difference of temperature between the waters of the "Gulf Stream" and those of the Northern seas, prevailed for three days, and compelled us to keep more out to sea. The stream comes, as you '.aow, from the Gulf of Mexico, and runs with a current of about two miles an hour as far north a^ Iceland, throwing on the shores i I TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. of the North of Scotland tropical fruits and plants from tho extreme south. During the more dense time of fog, and especially at night, a bell was rung every few minutes, to warn the fishing-boats and other vessels of the danger of our ship's approach. This, at night, as wc coursed along through a dense mist, had a strange unearthly sound, and spoke of dangers and collisions; at the same time it excited the old sailors among us to recite stories of awful catastrophes, in which vessels had run down others on those banks, while so sudden were the shocks of meeting, that the very name of the unfortunate barques were often enveloped in mystery. Yesterday and to-day we h..ve clearer weather, though it now rains. We ai-e in the land stream, or the outljing current of the St. Lawrence I suppose, and are making gallant way. We are only 650 miles from New York, or a little more than two days' work; and we expect to be there on Thursday night, or in somewhat less than two days after our proper time. n. Sti:am Ship Asia, at Sea, Wednesdat, Awjust 27. I STOPPED writing yesterday to go to dinner, which meal was fully attended, all parties being lively and hungry. During dinner, the ship rolled a little, and a heavy rain kept falling. All our sails were set. While we were still killing time over dessert, our captain, who had lold us we might expect a " blow," went hastily on deck; but, before he reached it, the wind had veered right round to the opposite poiut of the compass, and A STOUM. was blowing a hurricane. We were " taken aback," that is, instead of the sails being filled, so as to drive the vessel forward, they were blown against the masts, so as to force her backwards. We shipped a sea or two astern, but had our course at once changed, and ran before the wind, and all hands wore called to take in sail: a work of difficulty and danger. The fore-topsail took itself in, being blown out of the bolt-ropes, and hanging only by the end of the yard, from which it flapped and crackled in the wind, with a noise like the continual firing of pocket pistols, threatening to bring down the fore-topmast. I had no idea of the force of wind before. This was the tail of a hurricane. To walk without holding on was impossible; and then the wind seemed to wrap itself around you, and to tug at you with a force almost equal to your strength. The sky was obscured by spray. Nothing but an atmosphere of spray and flying water was to be seen; while the surface of the sea drove along in the direction of the wind, as if some unseen hand were whirling it up against the sky. The blocks and ropes Avere iiying about the deck, and some of the sailors got liard and dangerous knocks from them. I went on to the upper deck, getting there with diflUculty. Shout- ing was in vain, for even the Captain's trumpet was almost in- audible, and the sound of the wind was sc loud, that it realized the phrase, " blowing great guns." The blown out sail remained for some moments in its dan- gerous position, and the top-mast bent and quivered as if coming down. At this crisis one of the sailors mounted to the cross- trees, and came down the topsail-lift, a single rope, to the end of the yard, and cut away the sail. lie then went up the lift again, hand over hand, and descended on to the deck. This, in such a storm, appeared to me at least, as a landsman, a gallant feat, certainly a most dangerous one. And the passengers have UP f ^• i mmm 8 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. to-day subscribed about £8 for the man, in witness of their appro- val of it. After a desperate tussle with thej'saiLs, all were taken in and secured. The chains, guns, scats, barrels, and other things loose, or rolling and floating about the deck, were made fast. The top-masts were struck, and then the vessel, which had been driving on madly before the wind in the direction of "back again," was put upon her course, and we had some hours' fight with the tempest. The storm abated at midnight; and, thoi'.gU the ship rolled tremendously during the night, was goue, leaving behind only a fresh sea — when we rose from our uneasy berths in the morning. Our company were heartily frightened. They sat in the saloon holding on, and hardly uttering a word. There was, however, no real danger in such a ship, with steam and so little sail, and out at sea 250 miles from land ; but the storm was so extreme, and came so suddenly, that, while it lasted, we all most sincerely wished ourselves on terra jirma. ^Ve have had a good day to-day. A fine sunset. We shall bi! in New York to-morrow night. III. New York, Friday, August 29. On Thursday morning at ten we caught sight of land, the low, dark shore of Long Island, looking at first like a line of smoke upon the horl^uu, and gradually swelling into form and distinctness. By three o'clock we had passed Fire Island light- house, and by four haa the "Never sink Hills" of New Jersey, ani the entrance to the Bay of New York, before us. After a hasty and excited dinner, during which we took our pilot oa NEW TOKK. bonrd, we went upon deck, and enjoyed the really beautiful scenery of the bay. The bay ia largf enough to hold all the ships of the world — at least, so the Americans declared so frequently, that of course I believed it. We passeU Fort Hamilton, a military station and place of resort; Staten Island, the shores of which are fine and richly wooded, and covered with the villas of the wealthy people of New York ; and coming through " Ilell-gate," which, the tide being in, was no terror, as it is sometimes when the water is low (and as Cooper describes !*• in the " Water Witch"), we at length came to New York. New York, at the head of the bay, is swept by the Hudson on one side, and by an arm of the sea, called the East river, on the other. On the East river side is the suburb called "Brook- lyn ;" and on the Hudson river side, the sister town called " Jersey City." We passed, in our course up the bay, steamers crammed with human beings going out *-> California, crowded emigrant ships from England, and a vast amount of craft of every description, including, as we neared New York, the "North river steamers," great arks, as long and clumsy as a street of houses. Upon landing at the steamers' wharf, Jersey City, we had the usual row with our luggage, but got it at last examined; and after considerable shouting, fighting, and swearing, lodged it and ourselves in a coach, and drove right on to the immense ferry boat, which took us across the river; and, besides our vehicle, conveyed some twenty cars and carts, and some hundred people. We drove to the "Astor House," which we found full, and therefore went a mile further up Broadway, to the " New York Hotel," where I kcv am. This hotel accommodates about 600 people. The charge is two dollars and a half per day; and this sum includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, t^a, and supper; your bed-room, and the use of a drawing- room as large and elegant as those of axistocratic houses; a news- \ iri 10 TRIP TO TnE CATTED STATES. room, smoking room, &c. Tho meals are taken in an elegant room, in which 400 or 500 persons can ait with comfort ; and ladies have the pleasure of seeing their nice handsome faces reflected by ten or twenty large miiTors, which reach from tho floor to the ceiling, and are hung around the room. The cook- ing is excellent, and the variety of good things extreme. Last night I strolled down Broadv ay, a street three and a half miles long, with acacia-trees alongside its footpaths; with many magnificent shops and houses, but with a bizarre mixture of style and occupations, giving you a splendid shop at one glance, and a twopenny show perhaps close by it, at the next. The ap- pearance of Broadway is bright and lively. The trees, too, relieve the eye from the glare of the lamps, which often are great big things of coloured or ground glass, and have a very beautiful effect. Some of the shops and cafes are very splendid. One shop, "Stuart's," is as big as a small London square, has a front of white marble, and is magnificently fitted up inside. It is the finest shop in t^e ^vorld. I went 10 the nr'v .li> ;-.t ' e, " Nib' j'p," ir. Broadway. The acting (play, Romeo and Juliet) was execrable; but the house more ele- gant and agreeable than any thing I have before seen, There is but one price, fifty cents, or two shillings. You sit wh'jre you like; pit boxes, upper tier, or cides, being all open and visible from all parts. The theatre will hold about 3000 persons. There is a saloon where the gentlemen may drink, a great place which would hold GOO persons; and a ladies' saloon, equally large, and handsomely fitted up. But the most agreeable arrangement is an open garden at the side of the house, to command which balco- nies open out from the parterre and galleries, and you can leave your place and promenade in the cool of the evening, looking down upon the trees, with lamps hanging amongst their branches. You can also descend to the garden itself, and enjoy the fresh BUSINESS STREETS. 11 air and fresh flowers. Th'j would be pleasant, would it not, at the opera on hot nights? It is deli^Iitlul liere just n(.w; for the weather is unusually hot, even for this part of America, and in this season. IV. Saratoga Spbingb, Sunday, Avymt 31, 1851. At-TER writing my last letter, I made a lour through the busi- ness part of New York. Wall-street has a fine exchange, and several extensive and handsome buildings used as banks and for public business. It is the Lombard-street of New York, and is about as curious, as thronged, and as excited as that street. There is a consts^nt bustle, and the wild eyes, frothy mouths, and rapid steps of the stock exchange men, are just now extreme and laughable. The othei streets which I passed through, of which there are miles of the kind, contained stores of all sorts of goods. Here, was a quarter of a mile of " hardware" warehouses; here, as great a length of "cassimeres and vvooUen goods stores;" here, a few hundred yards of " straw-bonnet stores ;" and there, a whole street devoted to " leather stores " and '* leather findings." It seemed as if almost every kind of supply had its chief quarter in the city. The notion given by all this, especially in this busy season, when the buyers from a distance are in town mak- ing their "fall" purchases, of the extent and energy of business, is quite startling to a stranger accustomed to more quiet waters. I visited Harpers' book store and printing establishment — the place whence the cheap editions of our authors mainly issue; ~r^:/.^£M^-^ 'V^^ •■■ti I 12 TKIP TO THE UNITED STATES. Colton's map depot, and other establishments; — all of which gave the same impression of extensive, rapid, and energetic business. For variety, I went to " Barnum's Museum," an omnium gatherum of all sorts of " curiosities," in Broadway. Here were the coach, clothes, and relics of Tom Thumb; a bust of Jenny Lind, and her letter to Barnum on his inviting her to America ; some Chinese costumes and household articles; quan- tities of stuffed birds, beasts, and reptiles; panoramas; and, some original portraits of Franklin, "Washington, Hamilton, and other fathers and elder sons of the Republic. This is the height of the fruit season ; and the fruit market, at the corner of Fulton Street, is really a sight. Melons in tons ; peaches innumerable ; apples ; pears ; plums ; — indeed, every delicious fruit now in maturity; and all in an abundance equal to the cabbage and turnip supply of Covent Garden. On returning to the hotel from my long ramble, I found my bedroom door unlocked; the lock of my portmanteau forced open ; my goods and chattels thrown in a heap on the bed, and covered up with the clothes; and, on searching further, I discovered the loss of two little boxes of pills and of a few articles of dress. Had I kept my money in my trunk, I should have been relieved of it. Of course I was excessively indignant, and the people of the house made every enquiry about it, being evidently annoyed at the occurrence: but no trace of the robber was discovered. I hope he liked the pills, and took them all. I have since been told, that in these busy seasons swindlers often get into these hotels, as " distinguished travellers " per- haps, for the purpose of robbery. Probably public opinion is hereby influenced in favour of iVIr. Hobbs. In the evening I went to the " Broadway" theatre, and saw a piece of a farce, some old Manchester actors playing ; and part of a tolerable ballet, in which the "Rousset family" shewed EIVER STEAMERS — HUDSON RIVER. 13 off ; and I looked in at " Brougham's Lyceum." Both houses are handsomely fitted up and comfortable — the latter small, audience respectable and well conducted, though a few of the people in the " family circle" (which in these two theatres is fifty cents, or two shillings admission, while the dress circle and parterre are seventy-five cents or three shillings), had their feet up, and a few gentlemen (but it was hot certainly) were flourishing in their shirt sleeves. Yesterday (Saturday) morning, I left New York in the "New "World" river steamer, and sailed up the Hudson to Albany, which I reached at four; the distance is 155 miles, and we started at seven, so the boat travelled at the rate of seventeen miles an hour, inclusive of stoppages. These boats are pro- perly called •' floating palaces." Tliis, which is one of the finest — though called a "slow" boat, because the "Reindeer" does the journey at the rate of twenty or twenty-two miles an hour — is 350 feet long, or the sixteenth part of a mile ; that is, sixteen such boats put end to end would reach a mile. The paddle wheels are enormous, and the engines work partly on deck. These boats are painted white, and are most clumsy in outside appear- ance. They have two decks the whole length of the vessel. The end of one of the decks forms a capacious drawing-room, fur- nished with fine carpets, mirrors, rosewood tables, chairs, settees, and sofas, marble slabs, &c. Below tliese decks are the dining and other eating rooms, which would altogether accommodate 1500 or 2000 people at a time, if necessary. There are on board a book-shop, bar, and two barbers' shops — the latter filled all day with persons, young and old, being "shaved, cut, or curled," to save time on shore, I suppose. The scenery of the Hudson is, generally speaking, beautiful, and m many places extremely fine and imposing. A few miles above New York are the " Talisades," perpendicular rocks of 14 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. ) * primary formation, running for miles along the river side like a wall. The average height is from 400 to 500 feet. West Point, thirty-five miles up, is now the seat of the military school. Some of the cadets were on duty as sentinels, and others were going through evolutions, as we passed. Below the school is Butter- milk Fall, a nice bit of water, falling over the rocks into the river, from a height of about eighty feet. West Point was the seat of a fortress commanding the Hudson. The Americans had posses- sion of it during the war of independence, and the first result of General Arnold's treason was to have oeen its delivery to the English. But Major Andre having been caught within the American lines, on his return from a visit to Arnold, the plot was discovered and defeated. ]VIany places beside, on this part of the Hudson, are celebrated as the scenes of events in the war. All along the river are good houses, mansions, and comfort- able cottages. There are several towns, including Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, &c. About half-way up to Albany the Catskill mountains are seen high in the distance. The river is covered with vessels; and we continually crossed steamers towing down boats laden with barrels, flour, wheat, logs, planks, bandboxes, and all sorts of manufactures from the interior. One steam t:ig had about forty large boats girded around it. Albany, the metropolis of the state of New York, stands on the rising bank of the river. It has the Hudson river railroad, which courses the river bank all the way from New York on the one side of the river, and the Albany and Schenectady railroad on the other, giving, with other lines, and with steamers in con- nection, a complete route to Buffiilo and the Falls. The city h;is a bustling and thriving population of about 25,000. The State-house, city house, or town- hall, and the capitol, are the A1.BANT — HOTELS. 15 sights of Albany. At the latter, the house of representatives and the senate of the state of New York assemble; their halls are plain and unassuming. Their collection of records is well arranged. In the court of appeals in the same building, are portraits of "Washington and several other notables, and a picture of Columbus, said to be an original, and presented to the senate by some patriotic lady. From the top of the capitol 1 had a noble view of the Hudson, winding its great breadth for five-and-twenty miles through a country beautiful nnd thriving. Leaving Albany by railway, we came to Schenectady, and then went on to Saratoga, the Cheltenham of America, whore I hope to rest and be quiet for a day or two. V. CiiAJiPiON Steameu, vp tue St. LA-n-HENCB. TiiURSDAT, September 4, 1851. Owing to the locomotive habits of the people, the hotels of America are more extensive and more systematized than ours. One of their features is the system of charging a fixed sum per day, which covers all the annoying extras of Englisli hotel bills. On entering an hotel, you write yo'.r name and address in a book, have the number of your bedroom placed opposite your name, and receive a key, which, when you go out, you leave in the office. The breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea, take place at stated hours, and are managed with great precision and discipline. At the " United States hotel," Saratoga, the waiters are blacks, and are commanded by a black maitre d'hOtel. On dinner being served, the gong is sounded, and each guest takes his appointed i'f ,f.rr- 16 A TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. place. All being seated, the maitre d'hotel claps his hands, and in an instant, at one coup, the covers are nipped away, as if Avith the same hand, by waiters stationed at regular dis- tances around the tables. Then the serious work of eating com- mences. If any embarrassment arises, a clap of ihe hand calls attention to it, and a sign directs its immediate remedy. Then, aj each course is rinished, another clap stations the waiters again at their old places, and at a wave o^ the hand all the dishes skip off the table. Then, the table being cleared of dinner dishes, the whole posse of waiters march two and two round the tables, and leave the room by a side door. In a few seconds they return in the same order, each man bearing three dishes, and fall again into their places. Then, all eyes being fixed upon the maitre d'hotel, clap one. and down goes one dich from the hands of each waiter all along the tables. Clap two brings down dish the second; and clap three drops the third. And at a table of nearly 400 persons all are thus served with dessert, as before they had been with each course, in about half a moment, and each at the same time. Even in changing knives, forks, and plates, a system is adopted. A portion of the waiters, obeying a sign, fall out of line, and divide into threes; one of each three bears the plates, one the knives, and one the forks; and each party goes round its allotted length of table. Black No. 1 dots down a plate opposite each per- son; No. 2 plants a kni ,)n one side of it; No. 3 puts down a fork on the other side. The fellows do this with an even lugularity of movement, and a gravity which is quite amusing. All this rapid and regular action drives dinner on amazingly; indeed, it almost hurries you. In fifty minutes all is over, and the table cleared. The ^.mericans, who seem to know the value of time, generally get ny and decamp immediately after the last mouthful, which is perhaps a sensible plan. .^„^. PARTY OF INDIANS — AN ABOLITIONIST. 17 At Saratoga we found a party of Indians. Eiglitccn of these cliildron of the forest, who had been down to New York to sell toys and ornaments, which tliey manufacture in the winter, were on their return home, and were encamped outside the village during Sunday. They showed little of the costume of their tribe, or rather, I suppose I should say, want of costume; one man wearing a pair of rod plush breeches, and some of the wome- having bon.r.ts. Still there were the featin-es, tlie atti- tudes, and the language of the aborij^ines. AVe visited their camp at night, a collection of gipsy-like tents, and conversed with one or two of them, which led others to steal out and listen. I say steal out; fcr it was only upon turning round, that I became aware that we were suddenly almost surrounded. One man spoke very good English. He said they were Oneidas, or as he pronounced it, " Onidehs," and were going buck to their country, where they would remain with their tribe, about two hundred and eighty of whom were left, till next year, and then come down again. On Sunday evening I witnessed another and a very different spectacle. A IMethodist preacher came into the village in a little four-wheeled car, with a square black hood over it, and preached from his car, on what is termed by the common voice " Nigger abolition." Tie was accompanied by a young woman, and a very pretty little child, who both sat behind him. lie soon got^an audience, amongst whom were several men from the southern states. He denounced slavery in no very measured terms, and soon provoked the southern men to interject—'- Why don't you go into the .louth?" "Why, Sir," was the reply, " you know, it would be as much as my life is worth." '« Nonsense ! we will give you five hundred dollars to go, and you shall be safe." « To what state. Sir ?" " Georgia," replied one voice ; " Alabama," another; " North Carolina," another. " ^yby," was 9 ■ ' Si^aiL I J8 TRIP TO THE LNITED STATES. the rejoinder, «' three of our preachers were expelled from those very states not a month ago." " Your niggers here are free, and they are worse off than ours; why don't you mend their condition first?" And so the attack and reply went on (this was Sunday evening) for half an hour, amidst laughter, jeers, and the occasional propuls- n, by fellows behind, of some unlucky lad or other against the poor preacher's horse ; a movement which endangered the woman and child especially, but which appeared to give great satisfaction to many, and wL'ch no one interfered in any manner to prevent. I left the spot in disgust. I have seen, however, as much petty intolerance at home. I returned from my walk in time to hear the preacher pronounce his benediction, in the midst of which there arose a hideous yell: three or four boys were shot against the horse, and the car was nearly overthrown ; after which a shouting; multitude followed the retreating abolitionist for some distance, to harass and annoy him, as he drove with diflBculty away. On Monday morning, recruited by the previous day's rest, I left Saratoga, and travelled forty-one miles by railway through a partially cleared, and, in many parts, very beautiful country, to AVhitehall, which is at the southern end of Lake Charaplain, where we took a steamer, a nice, orderly, and comfortable boat, and steamed to Rouse's Point, 132 miles further. The scenery of the lake is very beautiful. The ruins of the old fortress of Ticonderoga rise upon it, standing upon a steep rocky headland, and commanding the lake, which narrows at this point ; a wide expanse of water swelling out both above and beiov/. Ticon- deroga was taken from the French by the English, by the use of artillery lircd down from the mouutain above it. In the American war of independence it was taken from us by surprise by one Colonel Ethen Allen. It is reported that Allen awakened the commandant, who was in bed, and told him to surrender. ■m^^^ '.^tJ^u'^A^^p^-. BURLINGTON— MONTREAL. 1? "By what authority?" said the half-awakened officer. " By the authority of the Lord Jehovah and the Continental Con- gress," replied Allen. About the middle of the lake is the thrivins town of Burlinjiton, the chief town of Vermont. Here we stopped to take in passen- gers, and were pleased with the bustle and activity of the place. The wharf was crowded; and, as the day was hot, straw hats and shirt sleeves, also the mitigated form of comfort — viz., coat and trousers without waistcoat — were abundant. It was dusk when we arrived at Rouse's Point, and we had not so good a view as I could havo wished of the extensive docks and landings ; the boat, 300 feet long, built to carry over whole trains ; and the extensive station works of the Northern or Ogdensburgh railroad, which is just opened. I had been introduced, at Saratoga, to the superintendent of this line, Colonel Schlatter, by Mr. Van Rensellaer of the Saratoga and Washington line. Both these gentlemen were very polite, and gave me orders to pass over their railways when I pleased. The Ogdensburgli line extends from. Rouse's Point to Ogdensburgh, near the head of Lake Ontario. It forms, with other lines, a complete system from Boston and New York to Lake Ontario, and has many difficult and extensive works In its course. From Rouse's Point we took the Champlain and St. Lawrence line, opened two days ago, and at Isle aux Noix passed into British American territory, and heard the old French patois of the " habi- tans"of that locality,from the mouths of a crowdof curious people awaiting the arrival of the train. At La Prairie we took the ferry boat, an immense vessel as usual, and dropped down the St. Lawrence for nine miles, to Montreal, where I got to bed at Donnegana's hotel, at one o'clock on Tuesday mornin*', desperately tired. Montreal is a flourishing town of 50,000 inhabitants. It is 20 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. built upon an island formed by theconfluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. The ishxnd belonged to the Catholic priesthood of the place, who still exercise rights over it similar to those of the " lords" in ca^cs of English copyholds, and who obtain an annual revenue of some £3u,000 or £40,000 from it. The city was founded about 250 years ago, and has still many of the features of a "French town, though the improvements of the last twenty years, by obliterating single story and wooden houses from the best quarters, nave altered its character. In old times it was the depot for the great fur trades. Now, however, it receives its furs almost entirely back from England, to which country the Hudson's Boy Company send their whole supply, to be dressed and prepared for re-exportation. It is the commercial emporium of this district ; and, though it has suffered from the equalization of duties, it is now recovering. The facilities for communication with the United Stutes, by the systems of railroad made and making, which bring it within twelve hours of Boston and New York, will doubtless urge forward its prosperity. VI. ^FoNTREAL has Considerable general commerce, commanding, as it does, the St Lawrence, now connected by railway directly with the United States, and being at the outlet of the Ottawa river distii^'.. The island upon whicli it stands is some thirty miles long, and contains much fine and valuable land, mostly under cultivation, and abounding in good i'arms and gardens, and fine orchards. From the " Mountain " above INIontreal, a splendid view is obtained of the St. Lawrence and its wooded MONTREAL — THE MOUNTAIN. 21 shores ; tlie dark forests of the Ottav.a ,-alloy ; tlie fine bright lands of tlie island; tlic city, and its villaed suburbs. In the distances, north and south, the " grcn mountains" of Vermont, and the distant summits which separate the cultivated parts of Lower Canada from those far oft' and savage regions^ in which the trappers of the Hudson's Bay Company i^nd some scattered Indians are the sole monarchs of the woods — are visible. There can be no view more beautiful, few more extensive. It jiives ail the peculiarities of this North American scenery in its largest and finest features. And seen again from the hijrh towers of the Catholic cathedral (the cathedral will hold some 12,000 people, and is the largest church in America), to which I mounted, up 2 ? steps, it again delights the eye with its extent and beauty. From this latter point, too, the St. Lawrence is seen just below the eye, and you may watch the rushing of the nearest rapids, and the struggles and windings of the boats and steamers, in passing through them on their upward voyages. Montreal (and Quebec moi'e especially) have the distinctive features of French towns, with many of the peculiarities of English ones. Ilt-re is the well-known countenance of the northern parts of France. Carts such as might have been seen, no doubt, hundreds of years ago in France. The Norman breed of horses ; small, round, strong, and enduring. Every other signboard presents a French name ; the blacksmith styling himself " forgeron;" the baker, " boulanger ;" the ladies' attendant, " f ^efemrae ;" — and so on. The professional man generally has iwo plates upon his door ; — one telling you that he is " M. Charles Robert," " avo- cat;" and ♦he other, that he is " Mr. C. Robert," " attorney at law." In the " Cote des Neiges," behind the mountain, at Mon- treal, and in the suburb or quarter " St. Henry," this French appearance is universal. " Notre dame des Neiges," in the former, with its gaudily painted inside and unpretending outside, im rfmmK'^/lm mm 32 TVAV TO THE UNITED STATES. its woollen roof and tin-covered ster^ple, would recall to you vhe wooded districts of France; and the houses in both quarters, the people with their " bonnets rouges" (as distinguished from the " bonnets bleus" and " bonnets gris"of the Quebec district), and innocence of Enirlishand English ways of living, working, farm- ing, and thinkin*^, are even more French tlian the French themselves. Indeed, so little have they changed since thr3 settlement of the country two hundred years ago, that they .speak the Frencli of that time without the alloy since in- tiodueed into the langunge. Their old juodes of ^irming are still in vogue ; and they despise all change, sntisfie'' to live in quiet and simple comfort, without the worry of improvements. In the Quebec district the farmers singe their pigs when they have killed them, and despise the use of hot water. Just as farmers do in Normandy, and in some parts of the south of England. This pig- singeing is a great event; and on one occasion during the Rebel- lion, the singeing of two or three pigs on a hill-side at night, caused the Quebec garrison and the country volunteers to turn out, under the belief that the light seen was that of a beacon fire, and that the enemy were at hand. Montreal, and Quebec also, abound in fine Catholic churches, and tiie streets swarm with comfortable-looking priests, dressed in black cassocks and bands, and wearing big-buckled shoes and broad-brimmed hats. The difference in langunge, customs, and religion, divides the population into two distinct sections, and is a ar to all united etfort and to the improvement of the country; which never- theless does improve in spite of this difficulty, though not as rapidly as it might and ought. I did not fully appreciate this until I visited the Superior law court, then sitting in Montreal. This court is held, during the erection of the new court-house, in the old. low, high-roofed building in which the French govern- [^ ^ewy -.-^r FREXCn CUSTOMS — SUPERIOR COURT. 23 mcnt conducted thoir public nflTtiirs a liumlrcd and fifty years a;:o. In tliis building, in 1839, the Privy Council decided to place the country under martial law, and the proclamation was issued from it. The judges sitting when I visited the court were Smith, Van Fcloon, and Mondelet, the latter a Frcncli Canadian. The first oasc argued was a long-pending one between Sir John Stewart and an architjct, who had superintended the erection of Tie buildings on one of Sir John's farms. The counsel were not over clever, but sufficiently verbose, and full enough of " in- stances," both ancient and modern. The counsel for Sir John laiil great stress upon the erroneous manner in which the action had been laid, and contended that as the English form of "assumpsit" had been taken, in ordc^r to get both del)t and damages, instead of a single action of damages being brought, all the conseiiuences of the form adopted must be taken by the plaintiff, who, not having proved damages, or even stated them, must be held by the court to have made oi.f no case, and be ci.it accordingly. The counsel quoted the old French law, and a French law-writer of 1700, Chardon, and also English and Cana- dian authorities. The French Canadian judge having, during the oration, thrown in an observation or two in English, which he did not speak over fluently, at length uttered in French a long comment upon the fallacy of the argument, — which sou*- \a strangely. The counsel for the architect went at the a-^ament of his opponent with great vigour, stimulated by the expressed opinion of Judge IMondelet, and went back to the days of ancient Rome to show that forms of action had been difficult even in those days, having once caused a revolt. He declared that even in England they were as unsettled as ever; and wound up by propounding as a dogma, that the Canadian law was neither English, French^ Roman, nor of any other precedent, but was mw?. 2i TRII- TO THE LXITED STATES. founded upon common sen=ic, which was the unly guide and au- thority in the adnnnistration of it. In corroboration of this tho little black eye of Judge .Mondeht brightly twinkled, and ho nodded his head in dignified approbation. Judge Van Feloon, wiio seemed njorc phlegmatic, quietly settled the matter by saying, that he supposed if a man tM work for another, and the other had agreed to pay him, he was entitled to the money; and that therefore the court would have to see that a bargain hud been made, and the work duly pcrlbrmed, and then decide. The next 'ase argued arose out of a fraudulent assignment; and in this, too, French authorities, in the old language of a hundred and fifty years since, were often aj.pealod to-Chardon being api.arently the standard book of reference. The mixture of custom evidently caused embarrassment, and it was clear that no Hxed decisions could regulate disnntes coucernin;, propert>, while the precedents relied upon w.-re based upon tlie dill -ring lawl of two separate countries-laws, perhaps, not now operating in those very countries themselves. The tenure of property in Lower Canada is still in part based upon the old French feudal system. There are still "Seigneur^'- -ho hold lands, and have " censitaires" or tenants, paying feu-eiit in produce, services, and money. I' is true that a law has been passed enabling a fixed commutation, in money, of these seigueurial rights; but I am told that the parties ad- here in most cases to the old usage, and despise innovation. A singular custom, too, prevails. Parents, when old and tired of labour, assign their property to their children, or to one of them, in consideration of a string of conditions for their own main- tenance and comfort, each one of which is recited in the deed with minute exactness. They stipulate usually for a house, so much mt^.t, bread, sugju-, tea, &c.; a calOche and horses to take them to chui -.h on Sundays and holidays; so much tobacco or i FEUDAL SYSTEMS— AND OLD CUSTOMS. 25 snurf; 80 many gowns and bonnets, or suits of clothes and I.nts and so on. These gifts lead to frciupnt hiwsuits; and one can quite understand how, in a country with large tract.s of its land held upon tenures of the most complex character, under a system which has passed away even in the country from whence it cumc, and where to this mass of dillieulty is added the cause of dispute just alluded to, the legal profession should flourish,— which I understand it does. Many of the public buildings of :\[ontreal are excellent. The Bon Secours market is a very fine bu ' ling, and puts many of ours at home to shame. The Jesuits' college is large and sombre; r...d some of the convents and institutions are well worth :x visit, both as buildings and as institutions of the place. In the country little progress appears ; but you see no misery, and much comfort and joyf jlness. Indeed, these French .-^ettlers seem happy upon their small properties, surro:nuled by their old customs, and in the enjoyment of the fOtes and holidays' which their religion allows. They look upon tlie rush of improvement with calmness, though often with a sort of incredulity as to the agency by which it is brought about, and the righteousness of its existence. "Mais, croyez-vous que le bon Dieu permettra tout cela?" said one of them on seeing a train move along, dragged by no visible horseflesh, and propelled without birds' wingc ''"They are quite a contrast to their American neighbours, who have often suggested that Lower Canada niight go ahead if the French population were "improved oft" the flice of the earth." The priests set a good example of taking matters enjoyably and peacefully. Their country farm outside Montreal, at the foot of the mountain, for example. The house is situated 80 as to command a beautiful view of the basin of the St. Lawrence, which, on a fine day, shows Us river gliding on with broad, tranquil surface, peacefully to the sea, and exhibits the 26 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. ,'»l gardens, woods, and orchards, wliich cover the country with a fertile and smiling landscape. Tiie grounds are large and well planted ; and the rude gaze of the multitude is shut out by a high wall, which extends half round the fsirm itself. Here the good fathers come for a few days at a time, and in turns, to recruit exhausted nature, and spend their hours in exercise and reading. Fine old fellows ! we need not envy them ; but rather hope that all men may some day have as many of the means of quiet and simple happiness to resort to. The short summer of Lower Canada causes great activity in business during the " seasons." The summer and autumn are therefore the times of business; the short interval between them the time for visits to the seaside, or to Saratoga, or the Caledonia Springs ; while the winter, with its snow and ice and lon'r endurance, brings round a continuous carnival of pleasant racket, and is really the season of society amongst all ranks of the people. I heard magnificent accounts of the balls, parties, sleigh- ings, and country frolics, which take place ; also of the walking expeditions far out into the wilds, with snow shoes, tents to sleep in, and Indian attendants; and of the wild sport in hunting the moose deer, and other tenants of the wood— during this winter season. Some of the English agents spend five business months in Canada, and all the rest of the year in England, goinf^ home in November and returning in April. The residences in the suburbs of ^Montreal .'re usually well built, large, and beautifully situated. We drove through the suburbs to Monklands, which is on the western side of the moun- tain, and commands a fine view of the country. This house, which is capacious and handsome, is now used as an hotel. It was the seat of the governor-general. Lord Elgin ; and the landlord showed us a point at the end of the now dilapidated, but some time beautiful garden, from whence, he said, his lordship viewed afar MOKKLAXDS lO QUEHEC. 27 off the burning of the Parliament Houses at BTontreal a year or two back. Lord Elgin shut himself up in Monklands for about three months after this outrage, and the Parliament and court were removed to Toronto, which, until the turn comes round to so- .e other place, has the exclusive honour of hearing tlie rather strong oratory of the Upper prov ince. The country about IMoiik- lands is very beautiful, and there are still abundant openings on the mountain sides for villas, similar to the very handsome and tasteful erections with which they are at present pretty thickly studded. Leaving Montreal one evening by steamer, I dropped down to Quebec. The St. Lawrence below Montreal is broad, deep, and in some places, winding. The principal population of Lower Canada is on its immediate shores ; and the numerous cottaf^cs and houses, with cultivated fields around them, would lead to a belief that the whole population of the country, so thickly appear- ing on the margin of the river, was greater than it is. The sail by daylight must be beautiful, and as the hours of day, which going and returning allowed, enabled me to see a great part of the distance, I only regretted that I could not see more of so noble a river, and of the industry and the people settled on its banks. When within five miles of Quebec, coming down the river, there commences a succession of wharfs, to which the timber, which forms so great a trade here, is floated down stream, and from which it is loaded into vessels for Europe and other parts of the world. The stock of timber balks floating in the basins about these wharfs and landings is now so great, that for three miles the margin of the river looks like one great raft. We passed two immense rafts of timber floating down the stream, to be stowed herf^, one of which was some 400 yards long, had eighteen sails set, and four wooden houses complete, erected, upon it. 28 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATKS. Quebec 13 admirably placed as afortified city, and also as a point for commerce. It stands on a high point of land opposite tho Isle of Orleans, which here divides theSt. Lawrence 'nto two large streams. The citadel overlooks the Bay of Quebec, the Isle of Orleans, and the high banks of the St. Lawrence. The view from it is most extensive, in whichever direction the eye wanders. Forty miles of the St. Lawrence are seen from it. The white wooden houses on the hill-sides, and the broad fields of yellow grain, set off the dark wood; and the river— its bay, fronting the point of land on which the city Is placed, covered witli sails and glistening in the sun— mellows the landscape most exquisitely. Quebec as seen from the river, too, has a fine commanding aspect. The citadel crowning the height does not give so great an appearance of extent or strength as it possesses. In reality, Gibraltar pre-eminent over all, it is one of the most impregnable strongholds in the w^orld; and its underground works, I am told, are so extensive that 5000 men may be garrisoned and hidden within the bowels of the earth beneath it. Visiters are not allowed to walk on the west ramparts; and on complaining of thii *o a distinguished military ofliirer, I was assured that the workmen who f>re still employed in the excavations below are taken in blindfold— that the engineer officer alone knows the form and shape of the works in progress, and that the plan of the remainder is kept sealed up in the hands of the commandant, to be opened only in case of actual need. This is mvritery with a vengeance, and but for the authority from whence I received the statement, I should doubt the fact. The lower town of Quebec stands upon the river bank, beneath the almost perpendicular face of rock, surmounted by the itadel. It is old, and the houses are principally of woe and itra- French in appearance. The streets are narrow, and not ' ver clean. To reach the upper town you drive up a very QUEBEC— rr.AlXS OF ABRAHAM. 29 road. precipitous roau, or walk up a long flight of timber shorten the steepest portion of the way. The upper town is built on the acclivity and on the slopes of the hill-side, which slide down to the river St. Charles, to the north. The fire of 1 845 improved the town, by clearing out miserable old wooden dwellings ; and the buildings erected on the site are of good brick or stone. Since these fires, too, it has been forbidden to build houses of wood, within the walls; and the use of shingles for roofing has been prohibited. The roofs are mostly covered with tin, which shines and glares in the sun at m-d-day, but reflects the morn- ing light very pleasanti/. The Protestant and Catholic catludrals are fine buildings, as are the new Catholic churcli outside the suburbs, the Catholic seminary, and many other edifices. But the narrow streets, and steep ascents, and ancient buildings, take away all beauty from the town itself, delightful as is its situation, and beautiful as are the vistas and views from various parts of it. A pilgrimage to the Plains of Abraham, which are about a mile from the Citadel, and consist of the high table-land between the St. Lawrence, and the St. Foix road and St. Charles river, was to me a traveller's duty. It was on tl. . night of the 12th of September, 1 759, that "\\'olfe, repulsed by the French at Montmorenci two months before, dropped down the St. Lawrence with his army in boats, and suc- ceeded in landing at a little bend of the river, still half hidden by trees, where the high and precipitous shores are most accessible, though yet most diflieult of ascent. The troops scaled the heights, meeting little opposition, formed ii.co line across the plains.^and waited the attack of the French, who had marched that morning from Beauport, near to which the battle of Montmorenci had been fought. The French came on gallantly, and the English stood their fire until they approached within forty yards, and then so TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. |1 t delivered theirs. The French wavered, and Wolfe charged at the head of his men, Montcalm heading his. A desperate fight took place, and Wolfe fell, struck by the third ball, just as the French line broke in confusion, and the English cheer of victory- burst from his conquering army. Montcalm was mortally wound- ed immediately afterwards. On the spot where Wolfe fell, on the extreme right of his line, a plain unpretending pillar is placed, bearing the simple inscription, — "Here Died Wolfe, Victorious, Sept. 13, 1759." Near the citadel, and in the town, another monument has been erected, which bears the name of Wolfe on one side and that of Montcal :i on the otlier. To see the country, I had a drive of twenty-five miles along the St. Charles river, through the Indian village of Lorette, and back through the fine open district to the westward of the town. Our read was good for a few miles, but then became such a Collection of deep pits and heaps of mud, that, but for a rude fence and wheel-marks, it would hardly have been distinguished from the fields. The course of the St. Charles, however, at this point, is between precipitous and sometimes rocky banks, covered with trees and jungle : and in enjuyment of the scenery, the fresh pure air, cooled by the previous night's rain, and the sweet scents thrown out by the trees and wild-flowers, the slow progress of the vehicle and the bumping of one's sides were forgotten. Lorette was originally a colony of Christianized Huron In- dians, to whom lands 'vere granted by the French. The village is now principally inhabited by whites and half-breeds, though there are some of the pure race left— the men wearing European dresses, the women adhering to the ancient costume. Their LORETTE — THE nURON CUIEF. 81 cottages are generally neat and clean. Andre Roraain, the chief, resides in the centre of the village, a high pole denoting his residence and rank. I found him bending over his simple dinner of milk and coarse bread. He was dressed in old, and somewhat ragged, garments. Pie seemed so extremely old, that I did not trouble him with more than a very short conversation, in French. He showed me a portrait of George IV., given to him by the hands of that monarch, and a coloured engraving of the installation of one of the royal princes as chief of the Ilurons. The poor old man, broken dovn with ext -erne age, had still the remains of a commanding presence, which even his miserable dre,^s, unshaven beard, and bleared and misty eye, could not altoijether extinguish. This village gives an example of the fate of all the Indian tribes. Here, once brought together to live after the manner of the whites, this tribe has been reduced in number, and llnally all but absorbed; and in a few years not one of the unmixed race will remain, and the language of the tribe will be obliterated. At Lorette are the falls of the St. Charles, which are very in- teresting. After seeing them, I had some milk at the " Billy Button," a public-house kept by a Yankee, who deals in the Indian ornaments made in the village, and shows the Falls, and then drove round to Quebec, through a fine and richly-tilled district ; and, in passing, saw a hardly contested heat run upon the course on the plai :i of Abraham-for it was Quebec races. —33^ m.m^^§ ■r^^i^sasr-ym^sss^^ x--3eaa - -^ ^•^ ~TT'i:-r.^ ■y^^: TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. Vll. Toronto, Satdrdat, Sept. 6, 1851. Returning to Montreal, I spent Thursday in visiting various institutions of that city, and drove out with Mv. , to see the country residence of a friend of his, which is hidden in a sweet little glen, from whence, however, glimpses of the sea are obtained. This gentleman lives here in summer, and employs his leisure in the cultivation of the fruits and flowers which a fine soil and a forcing climate produce in perfec- tion. He complai.is of the destruction of tlie large trees in his vicinage, regretting tliat those who own the neighbouring woods should be impelled to bring d.wn first the oldest and finest tim- ber, and should be unable to preserve even so much of it as might illustrate hereafter the magnificent proportions of the native forest wood. This is truly one of the sad features of advancing civilisation. The fine old forests, like the native Indians, lose their noblest chieftains, and, degenerating to a few dwarfed and scattered specimens, at last disappear and are for- gotten. Mr told us much of the happy and comfortable lives of the farmers and settlers hereabouts. All have land; food in abundance, including sugar from their own maple-bush; cattle; horses; light spring waggons, which serve as family coaches when not required for the week-day's work ; good homely furniture and clothing ; in short, an abundance of all the essentials of existence, and even wealth— but they possess little money. In many cases, and now that agricultural improvement has become a necessity, this want of money is found to be a great evil. The ordinary-sized farms, of 100 acres of good land, all in cul- tivation, are worth if cm £500 to £1000; and very often an .r^-^-^XJ-TgaiJir-T. -.^>.'Xr.^iS^T&^^,,^'.-^ - .J^g.-r g^sy-^-rr :i- -.^ MORToAGE LOANS — HUDSON's BAY DEPOT. 33 expenditure of £200 or £300 in improvements would double their value. The legal rate of interest here is G per cent. ; and as high a rate as 7 or 8 per cent, could be got for small loans on mortgages, for these purposes, were the money to be had. The ban\s, however, do not lend money on mortgage, and the monied men of the country have usually lands of their own reciuiring the same sort of development. Foreign capital is therefore looked to ; and doubtless it will ultimately be procured in abundance, the security being undeniable, and tlie rate of interest so high. Mr. does not consider the long winter any impediment to farming, but rather the contrary, as the sudden burst of sprin- and the rapid growths of summer, make uj) fa- it; while in a country like this, where roads are so scanty, many of the farmers' operations are performed more easily during the hard frosts which prevail. Leaving Montreal, by a short railroad of nine miles in length, constructed to avoid the rapids of a narrow bend of the St. Law- rence, I came to Lachine. Here are tlie headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the house of Sir George Simpson, the governor; and hence, annually, towards the end of April, proceed the " maJtre-can(")t.," or large canoes, of the company' manned by its officers and hardy « voyageurs," up the waters of the Ottawa to Lake Nipissing, and down the Riviere des. Franrais into Lake Huron. At Lachine I took the " Champion," a fine new steamer built and equipped at Montreal, and worked up the St. Lawrence, along Lake Ontario, to Toronto, a journey of 450 miles, u- ! occupying about forty hours in tlie performance. The navigation of the St. Lawrence is impeded by several large "rapids," formed by the action of the suddenly descending current upon sunken rocks deep below the surface of the water. On the upward voyage these are impassable for merchandise vessels; I/' 34 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. I' I and, though the large steamers struggle through many of them, tliere are others which no force can cope with. To remedy these impediments, several fine canals, equal to any similar works in the world, have been constructed. The first of these, tiic Beauharnois Canal, connects, by a cut eleven miles long, the broad embayment called "Lake St. Louis," above Montreal, with the similar reach called "Lake St. Francis;" and in the narrow passage between these unruffled waters, are the principal rapids — the " Coteau du Lac," the " Cedars," and the " Cascades." The passage through this "sixteen miles' declivity of boiling waters " is exciting. The large steamers rush down with the rapidity of the wind, through waves lashed into foam — sv/eeping close past the rocks and islets in the strean), and only kept in safety in their course by the united exertions of six or seven " voyageurs," and a pilot, ut tlie wheel. The upper shores of the St. Lawrence are populous and well cultivated. In stopping to take in our supply of wood, which we had to do several times during the day and night, usually at quiet secluded nooks along shore, or on some little island, I had many opportuniilcs of seeing the comfort of the people, and the progress of the country. The houses, usually of wood, painted white, or of some showy colour, and having veran- das covered with climbers, looked both commodious and gay. It mi^ht be mistake, but I fancied that improvement was more perceptible when, passing the point where line 45" " strikes" the riv^r, we came into the American territory. I was particu- larly struck with one farm near Warrington, over which I had half an hour's walk, upon the best tields of which were still protruding the heavy stumps of the forest trees, cut down ten or twenty years ago. The owner told us he had IGO acres, which he bought, partly cleared, seventeen years ago, for ten dollars un acre. He had, a year ago, refused twenty doUars an OODENSnUUGII — rUESCOTT — THOUSAND ISLES. 35 acre for it, intending to make it worth fifty; and during las occupation he had brought u»^ a large family in comfort and independence upon it, and saved money. The crop of oats he was now clearing was a poor one, he said, — only forty-five bushels per acre. Arrived at Ogdensburgh, on the American side of the river^ I spent some time, while waiting the arrival of the train bearing Boston and otlier eastern passengers, in going through the extensive and commodious depot of the Northern Railway. The works are not quite completed. They will cover an r.rea of some forty acres, and comprise immer-^e warehouses for the stovvagir of corn and other produce, a fine passenger shed, and large engine-houses and sheds for cars. Tiie quantity of corn and flour stored here iu the fall is very large. Last year it was 80,000 barrels. Unfortunately, however, for the railways, the rate for conveyance '^^ tliesc staples is' brought down by the competition of the steamers to a very low point; the charge from Toronto to Montreal being but one shilling per barrel of 218 lbs., or a farthing per ton per mile. Opposite Ogdensburgh is the village of Prescott, remarkable as the scene of a deadly conflict during the rebellion, the traces of which it still exhibits, in dismantled houses, and a windmill in ruins. On the evening of this day we entered a part of the river, called, from the unceasing abundance of islets which gem its surface, the " Lake of the Thousand Isles." These islets, above fifteen hundred in number, vary in size from tiny things, little bigger than an upturned boat, to areas of many hundred acres. They are a succession of rocky excrescences, mostly covered with wood, which grows, or overhangs, down to the water's edge. Some of them are cultivated, but the mass are just as nature left them, when — their broken and jutting strata having settled l!' ^fc^^t^^^^ '-"■""-- '" .=ii^L;t«s^-^i 36 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. into bearings far down below the stream, on tbc morrow of some vast convulsion and upheaving of nature — the forest fu: was at last established. IIow bng a time elapsed before tho action of the weather hud prod.xed, from the hard face of ilie stone itself, soil enough for the lichen and the moss, or for these, in their turns, to become the receptacle of the seeds of forest-trees, blown from some distant region — is a prol)lem. In threading these islands, sometimes our vessel passed through tortuous passages, apparently blocked up at the en 1, and within a few yards of land, but by a . idden turn emerged into fine large basins, and so woun^ and twined its way along. As the sun declined, every island made a full, clear reflection in the glassy surface of th. vater ; and the boughs and branches, the llowers by the water's edge, the very marks upon the rocks, were repeated upsido down, as if in a perfect mirror. The whole scene bore an air of such complete seclusion, that our noisy passage through it appeared like a rude intrusion into some fairy realm, before- time uninvaded by mortal visits. The birds were disturbed from amongst the trees, and the wild-ducks and other water- fowl skimmed away, scared at the splashing of our paddles and the panting of our engine. At sunset we stopped to take in wood at Gannanoquc, a vil- lage sweetly placed on a swelling hillock above the river. Here I entered some of the houses, and found considerable comfort, plenty of dirt, and a good many pigs, who seemed on the best possible terms with the children. An Irishwoman, standing at her door, her eldest son in her arms, a fine bright-eyed urchin, told me, in return for my compliments on the healthy appearance of the child, that she " had been afther bathin.T him; for sure he had made himself dirty with playing with the pig." The full moon had risen high when we loft the last of the isles behind us ; and late at night we emerged from the St. Lawrence, ^-M» ;^ KIXGSTO/ — ^TOnONTO. 87 ami arrived at Kingston, the tin roofij of which shone brightly in the moonlight. Kingston is an important town, and is the po.'t of the Rideau Canal, which connects Bytown and the Ottawa with Lake On- tario. A walk through the streets by moonlight enabled us to see the market-house, a stone buildir.g, considered to be the finest in Upper Canada. Keeping along the north shore of Lake Ontario, we stopped at several thriving little port^, and arrived in Toronto early on the afternoon of Saturday. Toronto is the chief v / of Upper Canada, and is evidently a highly prosperous place. It has a thoroughly Anglo-Saxon o:vst about it, and looks new and bright. Tiie streets are long and wide, the houses, generally of brick, high and regular ; and every where is the appearance of vigorous trade and rapid ex- tension The houses of the richer classes are fully equal to those in the suburbs of Montreal; while no old dilapidated dwell- ings like those which appear in that city are here visible. There are many fine public biildings — St Lawrence Hall, the Banks, the Parliament House, and many others The grounds of King's College are well v orth a visit. Toronto is at present the seat of Government, and tl:e Governor-general resides here. This city, and its people, present many points of ^-wourable contrast with the older cities and population of Lowei Canada. The soil and climate may perhaps be more favourable, and the vicinity of American energy ' ay have some effect ; but the secret of the greater growth of this province may be traced to its set- tlement by American royalists in 1783. These men, driven away from their country by their adherence to the British crown, here found, at the hands of Government, 'i refuge and new home. The whole land along the St. Lawrence, above the French settle- ments, WAS formed into townships, and farms were allotted to Mii 38 TKIP TO THE UNITED STATES. these, tlie " United Empire Royalists," who thus became the fathers of Upper Canada. The population of Upper C'an.ada was not more thau 210,000 in 1830, now it is nearly 1,000,000. Much of the land in tlie nrovince is ecjual to any in the world; and nature seems to have given every aid to the formation of a great country. All that is wanting would seem to be that inde- pendence, which, with nil its reputed vices, would appear to be the condition of Anglo-Saxon progress. Canada has bt-n hitherto the resort of British settlers only, while the United States have become a home for all the world. VITI. Clifton IIorsE, Niagara Falls, Monday, ^f/z/cmier 8, 1851. I LEFT New York to escape the heat, but have hardly mended my position. The thermometer on Saturday was 79 in the shade, yesterday 84, and to-day 81. I left Toronto in the steamer, and crossed Lake Ontario to the mouth of the Niagara river, and thence up the river to Queens- ton, from whence a primitive railway and an omnibus convey the traveller to this hotel, on the "Canadian side." At the mouth of the river is the village of Niagara, and Britisli and American forts confront each other on the opposite shores. The American fort is garrisoned by fifty men of the United States' army; who, as v^e were told, belonged to about half as many nations. Americans cannot afFcrd to be soldiers. The river up to Queenston is dark, deep, slow, and placid , No one looking at it would dream that that tranquil water had floated from Lake Erie, had been tossed over a mile or two of ^i^f^m^ QUEENSTOV — WHIRLPOOL. 89 rnpitls, ha«l doscendeJ in ppi'ay and foam from a lioif;lit of one hundred and eighty feet into a basin thrci ..undrcd feet deep, and had finally emerged, in whirl)', foam, and eddies, some miles below the Falls. But so it is. 1 'le lower banks of the river are undula- ting, but not high, and urc well wooded, lint from Queenston, and the opposite post of Lowiston, the course of the river up to thf- Falls is through .i leep chasm, the perpcndicuhir walls of which, worn by the water for ages, and covered with wood at their summits, vary from 200 to 350 feet in height. A couple of miles above ( Jufenston is the " \V'hirlpool." Here the water, coming down from the Falls, und after driving furi- ously over sunken rocks for most of the distance, enters a larjre elbow or basin ^ he guide took aflidavit that this basin covered 450 acres, out I should divide his oath by 2^), and the combined c'^jcts of the obstruction it meets with, perhaps a hundred feet below the suiface, and of its circuits round the basin, produce ji boiling and eddying mass of water, in which trees and pieces of timber are seen to float and turn about, now running up, now down the stream, now sinking under it, as if pulled down from below, and now emerging a hundred yards off, with most strange vagaries. T!ie sight here, from the top of the clifl' on the American side, looking down 300 feet, is at once grand and oeautiful. The heat and fury of the waters contrast with the softness and sweetness of the woody summits, and the bold and stately outlines of the crags, and produce a picture second only to the Falls themselves. Near this, but lower down, is a place called the " Devil's hole," where they she. 'you a deep ravine or chasm in the rock, by which you can pass down to the water side, and e.Khibit a broken bombshell, which ♦hey gravely tell you has just been found in the solid rock. As to this latter, no doubt the shell was fii-ed from the opposite shore, "pon which is the monument II 40 TltlP TO TIIK UNITED STATES. to Geoeral IJrock, who fought and fell in an unsuccessful action, near tlic site, during tlie war of 1812. Tlie geological theory is, that the Falls descended originally into the lower part of the river at Queenston,and have gradually, by the action of the water upon tht- rocks, receded to their present place, seven miles above. Thi.. seems palpable. The lower visible strata is Clinton limestone, above that are layers of softer shale, aiid ui)on the shale is a bed of limestone of recent formation. The action of the water has had, and still has, the ehect of washing out and wearing away the softer portions of the sliile, until thii upi)er bed of limestone at last overhangs so far, that the weight and force of tUe water brings it down into the abyss below, fiom whence it is driven onwsrds down the stream, making, by repeated falls, a great angular pavement of huge fragments of rock, along the whole bed of the higher stream. Lyell says that about 35,UU(> years have been required to effect this gradual recession of the Falls. We hear, how- ever, that the centre of the Horseshoe Fall has receded, by falls of rock, two hundred feet in the last fifteen years— a rate of recession, which, if applying equally to the sides, would give 7000 years only. You will say I must be very idle to make such calculations. But to go back. We were all advised, on landing at Qucenston, to take a carriage, and not trust the railway. One gentleman said it was highly dangerous : and that accidents so frequently occurred, that the trains now invariably carried a " jack," to lift up the cars when they got oiT the line; and also a big man, to "put his shoulder to the wheel" in case of n-jed. But it was evening, and growing dusk, and we found that the few carriages at the landing had all been engaged beforehand. So we manfully ascended the hill-side for about half a mile, and found a train consisting of one large old car and one baggage waggon, to which ^^ms^^- A CANADIAN " UXe" — ESCAPLS. 41 two horses were horncssed tandem — waitinji. AVe found the bitr man on the box already, and the "jack" beside him. I mounted the roof, as the evening was beautiful — the sun still leavint; % deep red glow upon the western horizon, and the moon's pale beams skimming the surface of the corn-fieUls witli streaks of pale light; while the quiet waters of the lake in the distance, reflected the dark masses of wood along its shores. I was of opinion, too, that the roof was the safest place. This railway is an old worn-out tram-road, the rails being thin iron bars nailed on to longitudinal timbers. "We started, at length, with much whip-cracking, shouting, and desperate effort: and bumped, tossed, swung, and rocked along in a manner most interesting. For two miles the "line" runs up the side of the hill, until at last you look down for about 100 feet, almost perpendicularly, into the valley below. The hill-side is furrowed with streams, and, of course, these streams have to be bridged over with timbers. On crossing these bridges, the conductor invari- ably shook his legs, held on hard, and opened his weather-eye, ready for a jump. These precautions appeared needful, for a tumble of a few hundred feet was a highly probable event, since the difference in the level of the rails was occasionally some trifle of eight or ten inches ; and nails apparently being scarce, the tram-rails stuck up " rather endways," as the conductor said, now and then causing frequent contests between the wheels and themselves as to which should get out of the way first. But the conductor, after vainly attempting to convince us that the Canadian rebellion of 1831- had dilapidated the railway, consoled us with the declaration, that while the baggage wan^'on before us might get off and get "jammed," inasmuch as its wheels v/ere so set as to be a "leetle" too narrow for the gauge of the rails, still, our car was quite safe, unless it fell over sideways, in which case, he "suspected," v/e should "just get considerable of a iaBUB.:* 42 TRTP TO THE UNITED STATES. rowl;" — but that tliat seliloni happened. In spite of those crumbs of comfort, I almost regretted tliat we liad promised an extra half- dollar if we got in before the carriage people, who, by the way, were some of the Canadian ministry, going over to meet the governor-general, who is at Niagara, and included M. Lafontaine, a celebrity, who has a massive head, a fine French, Napoleonic face, and mild black eyes. "We passed the carriages on the road, however, and gave a shout of triumph as we did so ; and after a jolt of an hour we had done our seven miles, and were driving over the remaining distance of about half a mile to the hotel, where we got nice rooms fronting the American Fall, and having also a fine view of the Horseshoe Fall and the country about it. But here were the Falls! Some people say that at first they disappoint their dreams; but that frequent gazing at last gives the sublime idea. I confess I was awestruck. For I burst suddenly upon the two great descending seas, seeing thcjn from the opposite shore, and caught sight of their great walls of water, silvered with the evening shade, and here and there streaked with reflected moonbeams, and of the masses of white vapour, rising some hundreds of feet in the air, and descendin'r at every change of the light evening breeze in a gentle rain. These great waters, as I said before, come down from Lake Erie, by the Niagara river. They then pass round Grand Island and Navy Island, and uniting below, come down to Goat Island, a small rocky islet covered with fine trees, firs, maples, beeches, and others. Here they again divide, and first breaking into a series of cascades or rapids, between the broken rocks studding the bed of the stream, descend perpendicularly as the lower or "American" Fall, IGI feet; and as the higher or "Horseshoe" Fall, which is IGG feet. The American Fall appears like a series of flat lines of white, changing their precise form at every moment, NIAGARA — IIOnSESnOE FALL. 43 and breaking majestically into foam as they touch t\.z water. At the end of this fall is a smaller one, like a cascade. The Horseshoe Fall is now shaped like a horseshoe; and while the waters, which fall over its centre, descend in huge deep, green masses, the wings exhibit white, boiling, dashing columns, and rushes— swift, roaring, and angry. The American Fall in the sunshine (while I am writing opposite to it), looks just like the beautiful film of cotton as it comes out of a carding machine —regular, white, and fleecy. The whole surface of the basin below the Horseshoe Fall is white and boiling for some hundreds of yards, and the mist created rises now some 600 feet above it, and forms little white clouds, which peel otF from the parent mass, which every now and then conceals the view for a moment, and mount, like little airy balloons, into the heavens. They say the spray-cloud, always before this fall, can be seen at Toronto, on the other side of Lake Ontario, nearly fifty miles off. Lyell estimates the volume of the falling waters of Niagara at nineteen millions and a half of gallons per minute. I went down to the Table Rock by moonlight. This is at the Horseshoe Fall; and from it ycu look across that fall, and also up the great basin to the American Fall, and along the river, wliich carries away both waters. The sight was grand, solemn, and mysterious. A sight producing emotions inexpressible in language —emotions of awe and reverence of the Creator, involvin*'- an instinctive contrast between the thousands of ages these stupendous waters have poured dryvn in continuous thunders their unremitting current, and the transient and fleeting life of the man who gazes on in wonder, and listens to the great hoarse voice which might be struggling to express the solemn secrets of those inland seas, of which this river Niagara forms one link of communication on their passage to the ocean, and u 11 (I i )i lilt 44 TUir TO THE UNITKD STATES. ^vhosc surface exceeds tlie wl.ole face of our native island live tirae.^ reckoned. Thunder, thunder— still the same stern music as jou look down from the overhanging rock into the dim basin, near 200 feet below— while the sound of the American Full, mellon-ed by the distance, breaks upon the ear at intervals, like the second part of some great tune. White masses of water, with here and there a gleam of the moon across them; the mountain of mist, and the dark stream rushing on to the brink— the boiling mass below— the sombre woods of Goat island, and the shores of the river— one myste- rious dreamy vastness— these were the features of the scene, till the rising moon at last threw her lunar bow, a great pale arch spanning the heavens, across the point of the Falls, and then the night view was perfected. By dayliglit the foam glistens and sparkle.^ and the sua makes continuous rainbows amongst the rising spray. Tliese, seen from Goat island, and from the tower upon the verge of the Horseshoe Fall, are so vivid and beautiful that they might com- pare with the sweet emblem first seen on the subsidence of the deluge. It was in the fresh morning, just after sunrise, that two or three of us, fellow travellers, walked down the steep road which leads to the water's edge on the Canadian side, and boated across the river, just below the American Fall, to gain access to Goat island and its beautiful scenes. The pass°age, a quarter of a mile or somewhat more, is rough and boisterous, though safe enough. The water is fresh from its tumbles and eddies; and circles about, filled with globules of air, forced into It by the effect of the descent, which ever seek escape to the surflice in a sparkling effervescence. On landing on tlie American side, you may either mount some hundreds of steps, or be hauled up an inclined plauj to ^m-m. -icx.-^^--^-- THE TOAVER— TABLE ROCK. 45 the summit; on which, by the water's clgo, stands " Man- chester" and its mills, and the Cataract Hotel. Crossing a timber bridge boldly thrown across the rapids from rock to rock, above the American Fall, Goat island is reached; and the fine views, from amongst its tall woods, and on the overhanging ledges which command the abyss below, well repay the visit. Crossing Goat island, you gain access to the tower, placed far out in the rapids, and near the edge of the Horseshoe Fall, and look down from a height of forty feet above the water's edge into the great basin. All this one might visit again and again, and still see some new beauty or element of grandeur. The conception of the great magnitude of th(j waters, grows and grows upon the mind till the impression almost becomes painful, and it is a relic f to turn away to dull cleared fields and patches of buckwheat instead. I did not fciil to go under the Horseshoe Fall, below Table Eock, a feat which requires ,c to strip, and saves the trouble of a shower iath. Tiie sight -trange and wild; and the beating of the wind, and of showers of water, up jn your face and person; together with the utter drowning of your voice in the thunder of the falling water; call for firm nerves, as you walk over narrow and slippery ledges of rock, amidst swarms of small eels— the sun seen like a distant lamp in a London fog, through the great body of water before you, and the bottomless pit yawning beneath your feet. Ift 46 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. V 1 IX. Detuoit, Tl'esday Night, Sept. 9, 1851. Thermometer in the shade to day 81 ; yesterday 9 1, and nights hot as an oven. On Sunday I drove out into the country from Niajrara. We passed over the two great su.«pen.sion bridges. One, the older and smaller, a mile below the Falls; the other, the larger and newer (indeed, it has only been opened four months), seven miles below the Falls, or just above Queenston. The former bridge, which we passed first, is a surprising work; aiid as we slowly drove over it, and looked up and down the river, two hundred and thirty feet below us, I felt as if moving upon a cobweb in the air, so light and fragile in appearance is this structure of iron wire. This bridge is seven hundred and fifty-four feet span, and two hundred and thirty feet above the surface of the river. Its towers, which are of timber, are fifty- five feet high; the weight of iron used is thirty-five tons; and the weight oi flooring suspended forty tons. There are seven- teen hundred and sixty-seven (No. 10) wires used. The latter bridge is one thourand and forty feet span, and nineteen feet wide; so that three carriages can pass abreast, leaving a wide footpath on each side. Its flooring is suspended by ten cables of two hundred and fifty wires each. It cost, they tell me, only £15,000, which to me seems an extremely small sum : and it has earned four per cent, on this sum in the few months in which it has been opened. These bridges have a larger span than any others in the world. The Menai is, I believe, not more than five hundred feet span. "NVe drove on ten miles, to Tuscarora, a village of Indians of the 1 ^:^m::mi PRESr.YTER:.-.^ MISSION. 47 tribe bearing that name. The country between Nuigara and this viUage is extremely well cultivj'.tcd: some of the fields of clover and other green crops looking as fine as the best I have ever seen. The buckwheat is a good deal grown in large masses, and looks very beautiful. Orchards are plentiful, and the ripe peaches covering immense trees with their fruit, the quinces, apples, and plums, make one's mouth water. "We gathered some little bright-red wild plums, which are very sweet and nice. They are about the size of a small crab, and are of a beautiful vermilion colour. At a turn of the road, half a mile from Tuscarora, we looked across a belt of cleared and cultivated ground, over great masses of dark primeval forest, the remains of the hunting ground of the Indian, who now, driven from his wigwam into the village, has become a cultivator, though iu the winter season, and at other times, he still goes out to chase bears, wolves, racoons, and every sort of forest denizen which will give him a skin to sell, or food to eat. Arrived at Tuscarora, a scattered collection of separate cottages of wood, standing in their own ground, suiTounded by patches of Indian corn or groups of fruit-trees, wc went to the chapel of the Presbyterian mission. It is a small wooden build- ing, on a rising open ground near the road, and commands a view of the forest for miles below it, and a distant glimpse of the dark blue waters of Lake Ontario, and the faint outline of the Canadian shore beyond: a thin belt of cultivation forms the fore- ground of the view, and by the contrast of its bright colours and treeless surface, deepens the sombre appearance of the forest. The interior of the chapel is plain as a white-washed cottage. *\Ve found it filled, and the congregation quiet to solemnity. About one hundred persons, principally Indians, were there, and the sacrament was about to be administered. The cups were iff i^7l*S 43 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. pewter; the " vessel of wine " a plain blue and Avliitc jug. TI>3 minister ppokr* the service, and an Indian interpreted it after him. Tlie eup was then handed round; and afterwards a hymn in the Tuscarora language was sung, with simple sweetness and expression. Then came the benediction, and after it a short address in the language (dreadfully guttural and gaspy) from another Indian; after wliich the congregation broke up, and separated at once, and silently, to their homes. All the men wore coats and trousers, though many had mocassins. The women, however, doubtless aware of the beauty of the dress, wore the Indian garb, but of Yorkshire material and pattern in most cases. Some of the extremely old ladies wore the coarse yellow blanket, dark blue cover- ings for the legs, of native manuflicturn, and mocassins of real moose deer-skin; but the younger had blankets of good blue cloth, the Yorksliire selvage being left on, m if it were a border of great rarity and design, and wore them shawl- fashion, or over the head and shoulders like a hood; they wore also trousers of blue cloth, embroidered with red and white near the feet. In some distinguished cases, red cloth trimmed with blue and orange, was used, the feet being encased in mocassins, blacked, and embi'oidered with the hair of the moose deer, dyed in the brightest colours. A few innovators seemed to scorn the protection of the blanket to their heads, and wore nice straw hats ; and one dark beauty, and really she Avas a fine creature both in form and face, wore a blue blanket, a straw hat, with a showy red ribbon around it, an under dress of printed muslin, and red inexpressibles, which looked very nice, being " to the shape," and not hidden by the usual length of petticoat, which is generally worn " ample." On Sunday evening, I had a long gaze at the Falls again by- moonlight, from the Table Rock and other commanding points of THOUOnXS OF HOME — JENNY LIXD. 40 view. Still tl! me majesty and impreiasivoness: the same awe- inspiring gran (11 If. As I walked homewards alone, influenced by the scene, I thought of England, '1.(100 miles away to the east, and of my wife, children, friends, far, far distant. It might have been cockneyish ; but I could not help it. On reaching my room, I heard a voice singing just beneath me, " Home, sweet home." The voice, that of a female, was charming; and the singer, who sang with a foreign accent, evidently was indulging in visions of some distant fatherland, which threw their recollections into the pathos of the words and music, — " 'Midst pleasures and palaces tlio' I niny roam, Be it ever so humble, tliere's no place like home." Tlie song vibrated in unison with the feelings which had then strong possession of my breast; and, as 1 listened, I could have burst into tears. The songstres-s was Jenny Lind! On ]\Ionday afternoon 1 left the Falls, and drove along the river bank above them, gaining a new view down upon their course, lit up by the sun with rainbows. I drove on to Chippewa, a thriving village, with a larj^c tannery, and great t-tacks of bark; some shipping; a wooden customhouse, like many others on the Canadian side, with ''V. R." in rough paint, on a no less rough board, over the door; some capacious stores and really good houses; and a barrister, who notifies his presence by an enormous t-.^ i board. We started from Chippewa creek in a steamer, and passed out into the Niagara, three miles above the Falls, steaming slov. ly against the deep and powerful stream. We soon came abreast of Navy I,>land, which the rebels and their American sympathizers occupied and held possession of, in 1839, in the presence of a large English force, for months. From E II 50 TRIP TO Tin: UNITED STATES. this island the rhiof rcliol, Williain Lvon Mackonzif', iasiiod prodamatlons, styling himself "Provisional President of Ca- nada," — and many cannonadings and skirmislies took place during his reign From hence, too, the Caroline was cut out and sent over the Fall.*, by an Knglish militia officer and his party. On coming on board the steamer I noticed a little thin man of fifty-five, one of the passengers, dressed in decent but ill-made black, a tolerable hat, large shoes and white stockings, and a black silk neckerchief, and turn-down collar, llis hair, or wig, was l)ushy, and of liglit colour ; his whiskers wiry and foxy grey ; his nosf^ thin, s nail, and straight; his mouth firm and wrinkled, the under lip protruding; his eyes large and restless, and shaded by overhanging eyebrows; his hands glovcless, and his nails rough and a trifle shady, perhaps owing to the heat. Accompanving liim were a large, homely, and honest-looking woman, his wife ; and two well-grown and sufTiciently well-dressed young ladies, llis daughters. On the whole, he might have been taken for some decent tailor; perhaps a town-councillor of a small borough, where there had been abuses which his soul had hated. This gentleman was 'Mr. Mackenzie, now a freeman under the Act of Indemnity, and member for Kiuga (at £300 a year) in the parliament of the very provinces he plunged, or aided to jdunge, in civil war. ^Mackenzie was originally a letterpress printer. They say he has done good service recently; and has exposed abuses, including land jobs and other government mis- management. A sail of twenty miles brought us to Buffalo, a thriving town of 50,000 inhabitants, at the head of Lake Erie: — its streets of noble width, its chui'ches numerous and well built, its houses handsome, .nnd its hotels — " the American" and the " Mansion- house," for example — extensive, and even splendid. It has grown up almost in a night, like most American cities ; and, being on the ^T^^^ DETROIT — AVESTKKX TUAVKI.. 61 Iiigli-road to the "West, it i? r nio?t important centre, and is still in- creasing. I callcil with IMr at the house of a fellow-passen- ger, a Dr. , drove all through the town, saw the large steamers and the sliipping, and mounted to the top of the "^lansion-house" to view the setting sun and the expanse of building around. "Main-street" is a line street of shops, hotels, &c., and is 150 feet wide. Our cab-driver, who came from Hull six years a"o, and says ho has saved 800 dollars, told me that there arc 21o cabs and coaches in the town, — that new hay is worth seven dollars a ton, and old, ten to eleven, — tiiat oats arc thirty cents a bushel — and that the average rent of cottages occupied by people earning a dollar a day, is one dollar per week. I got on board the Atlantic, a large and splendid vessel, at eight in the evening, and sailed for Detroit (285 miles 270 on Lake Erie, and 15 up the Detroit river) at ten. '^''e had on board 700 passengers, who had all to be bedded, and breakfasted, and dined next day. It was a motley assemblage; — fine intelli- gent, educated men, and elegant ladylike women : big, coarse, rough fellows, from six feet six inches to seven feet six in hei"lit, like bears en two legs; and stalwart women, with hands and feet of Nature's fullest development ; German, Iri.sh, and English families — in fact, every imaginable contrast of face, figure, age, and position. The wise division of steerage from cabin passcn'Ters, did not separate the uncivilized peoiile from the polished; and the scene at meals, in parts of the great long tables — the snatching, reaching, and devouring — " beat natur." IVIanners were not over good in too many cases. For instance, one "gentleman" from IMincsota, a newly settled territory, got incensed at a ne^ro waiter for attempting to take away his plat^ ♦oo soon, at dinner and politely called him, in good round tones, " a black .." I will not write, or ask you to imagine, the hot epithet. Ladies J^- -'-., ^ ll ' ( 52 TUIP TO THE UNITED STATES. were sitting near in abundance. liut they looked resigned, as if the rudeness was not unusual. After a sail of fifteen and a half hours, through a hot nijilit — sleeping three together in state-rooms six feet long and four feet eight inches wide — and a day of semi-sulFocation, we arrived at Detroit, which is situated on American territory, fifteen miles from Lake Erie, and on the great western and northern route. Here are 25,000 inhabitant?, wide streets, good hotels, good brick houses, and plenty of stir aud business, — all going last ahead. X. ClIiCAOO, TlItaSDAY, SljU. 11, ISJl. Akteu spending a night at Detr lit, I took the i\Iichigan Cen- tral Railway to New Butl'alo, and then went on by steamer across Luke ^Michigan, to this place, where 1 arrived at i'lvi o'clock this morning. Tlie Michigan Central Railway runs from Detroit to New Euffiilo, and crosses the southern portion of the peninsula formed by Lakes Huron and Michigan. It was originally pro- moted by the state, but is now the property of Eastern capitalists, who work it with great gjod management and success. It has recently been the battle-ground of a wide-spread conspiracy in- tended to " put it down." Tlie conspirators, residing principally on the western division of tlie line, pulled up rails, felled trees across the track, set lire to bridges, fired at engine-drivers, and produced great danger and embarrassment for a long period. At last, growing bold by impunity, they set fire to and burned dowi- the great depot, or goods station, at Di oit, causing a loss to the company, and to the parties having flour and other stores ware- MICHIGAN RAILWAV COXSPIRACT. housed there, of several hundred tliousand dollars. The corw|)0.ny upon this set vigorously to work, and organized a -> t of spy system, which led to the apprehension of sixty persons, including many highly respectable residents in the state. Two or threo of these persons died suddenly and mysteriously in prison, the suspicion being that they had committed suicide, though this is denica, I believe, in one case. The remainder were under trial at Detroit when I left, the opinion of t!ie publie being, however, that they would be acipjitted. Tiie railroad parses for about half its length through a flat and marshy country, and for the remainder through richer, undu- lating, and more valuable sections. It runs through ten or twelve .icw towns and villages, at one of which, ■ • a^rn, is a mili- tary establishment. It has station.^ at Yp5 uere there is a college, and at Kalamazoo, which gives its name to a river, winding and beautiful, but here and there half tilled with fallen and rotting trees and foliage. This is the country of the Black Hawks and of Tecuraseh; and at Battle Creek, upon the Kala- mazoo, bloody deeds were done in those obstinate Indian wars of twenty years back, which made the reputation of so uiany American generals. Michigan is " newly settled," that is, a country organized and wound up for regular departmental movement, only twenty or thirty years ago : and from the generally good (quality of the land, the intersection of the railwny, and the accessible line of coast formed by the lakes which surround it, it is a state of great present and prospective importance. The towns arc mostly built of wood, the houses generally painted vv,,. .>, and having the usual green window-blinds. The streets, like those of all new towns in the States, are laid out of good width, and at right angles with each other. Reservations of open spaces to 54 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. promote tue health of llie incrcasuig popuh\tions arc usually made. As you travel alonfr, you sec settlements of every .ige. Here you have a new-comer, with a decently built log hut, in the midst of a small cleared space, — the man chopping away at the tree?, or turning up the soil, and looking vastly indepfndcnt; the woman washing or working at her door, and the children running about with great glee and vigour. Then comes an older settlement, grown into a village, with its flag-staff, school, and "institutions," literary and commercial — the latter Avith enor- mous and somewhat imaginative signboards, announcing the dealing of the proprietors. Then may be seen a thriving town, with all the life, and all the omnibuses, required to stamp its cha- racter of advancement. "\Miile, intervening, you have land in all states of progress, from the unenelosed primeval forest to the well cultivated and snake-fenced section, with all ♦he signs of good farming p>nd wealth; including, perhaps, a very superior and often tasteful residence of good brick or stone, large enough for a man of £1000 a year in Lancashire. The steps of the transition are very interesting. The first remove from the mere forest exhibits ^i died, dying, and leaf- less trees, with a rough crop of Indian cor . or buckwheat beneath them. Then come large fields roughly fenced in, and growing both crop and weeds luxuriantly, but still dotted over wi h the stumps of trees, not yet riulficiently 'Ivy and decayed to be stuo- bled up and burned. As tlie country advances in cultivation, you see fewer and fewer of these stumps ; the fencing gr-.ulually improves, pnd the weeds diminish, u«itil, as the result i)erhap£ of ten or fifteen years' labour, you find good square fields, capa- ble, with proper cultivation, of growing excellent crops, and worth peihaps forty, fifty, or even seventy dollars per acre, having cost originally the government price of one dollar and a ;B«a^?^ ■\VESTEnX E5IIGRAXTS. 55 (luarter p';r u :rc. In this ^mrt of the country wood is now somewhat s-^orce and in demand, and the timber will, in many cases, pay the cost of clearing. Our train from Detroit was, as is usual at this season, cram- r with people, nevv-roraers and old ones, "going West." "\^ started with about five hundred passengers, most of them going througl' Their united fares would give the company £oOO. The baggage of these passengers came not merely in piles, but in mountains : and was dealt with, by a system of double checks, very cleverly by the otiicials of the comj;any. V.'e had seven cars, holding ( ighty passeiigers each, in our train. The passengers* baggage filled two large cars, each thirty leet long, and mu^t have weighed twinty toi s. You never saw such monsier boxe?, such queer-shaped trunks — and such a variety of owners for them too! Men and women of all countries: and what a jabber of English, German, T jnch, Italian, Spanish, Indiai., and "r.'gger American!" At ^Marshall, where we stopped to dine (the train is eleven hours in doing the two hundred and eighteen n;.l.is), we had a crush and perfect scrumble, first, for the v.-ish-basins, secondly, for the comb and brush nailed by a .'3tiing to the wall, and thirdly, for seats at the dinner table. Fortunately for them- selves, tiie ladies had been beforehand introducetl through a side-door, and all sat together in a rov.- v-hen mc inferior crea- tures entered. A fellow at the dour called out," Ladies' way in ivastl" which means, I believe, " to the left.'' As we reached the end of our journey, we had a thunder storm and violent rain; v.hich cooled the air, and left behind it one of those fierce cloudy sunsets, which are very fine with us, but ai-e finer here, from their greater intensity of light and colour. At last— and, derpite the really good arrangements of the Rail- way Company, it was a tiresome day— we got to Xew Bufialo, had r)G TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. tea, got hold of our luggage after a two hours' rummage for it, and were off across the lake to Chicago by steamer, about midnight. But alas ! there were no berths to be had on board; all had been engaged : so about a hundred of us lay down for a couple of hours on the floor, warmed by the boilers beneath, and chilled by strong drafts of cold air above. Our company was miscellaneous, and the concert of nasal music interesting. I wish, however, the great rougli fellows had been more cleanly. As it was, the cabin was redolent of a variegated odour, which at last drove me out into the open air; und, on returning for a great- coat, I found that my big neighbour had coolly rolled over on to my mattress, as more comfortable, 1 suppose, tlian his own. Not desiring [^ resume my place, I did not, of course, contest his " squatter's rights," for that is the term, but walked the deck till the cai-ly morning light showed us the low prairies, a few feet only above the levei of the lake, on which is founded this city of Chicago. The view of Chicago from the roof of the Tremont house is very singular. The boundaries of the prospect are the great prairies of Illinois on one side, and Lake Michigan on the other; and, looking across the mass of streets and buildings, these two wastes of rough grass land and of water are seen, without relief, as far as the eye can reach. To-day tlie foundation stone of a new court-house has been laid, and we have had a long procession of the miiitiu, horse and foot, each comi)any liaving its own uniform and peculiar appointments; of the firemen, a body composed of young men, all volunteers, a? in other places, and dressed in very fanciful and sometimes tasteful costume; of the odd- fellows; and of other bodies of tlie public. We have had the usual amount of music, excitement, speeches, and the firing of cannon. THE "WKSTERX STATES. XL 67 TiiE Western States suggest decpiy interesting reflections as to the future, as well of America as of England. The " West," a generation ago, meant the more distant parts of the state of New York, then ainu st inaccessible, and inhabited by Indians and wild beasts. Now it means a vast territory far beyond the region once deemed too remote for occupation ; and in many of the features of its progress it has outstripped and shot beyond that very region itself. Indeed, before the recent complete opening of the Eric railroad, which intersects the back country of New York state, and connects the city of New York with Lake Erie — the north-western boundary of the state — many parts of the far West were, owing to their natural situation upon rivers and lakes, and to the construction of roads and railways, more accessible for passenger travelling than some portions of the Empire state itself. The western states comprise the vast tracts of country in the western portions of the basin of the St. Lawrence, and the nor- thern portions of the basin of the Mississipi. They consist of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and of the territories of Missouri, Nebrasca, and Minesota. Their boundaries arc the British possessions, and Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie, to the north; Pennsylvania and Virginia, to the east; Kentucky, Arkansas, and the Indian territory, to the south; and the Rocky Mountains, to the west. They contain an area of 1,150,000 square miles, have a cli- mate in which the Anglo-Saxon can live in health and energy, and possess resources which would be inexhaustible even by an emigration of half the population of Europe. '■'m^-H'^^"^m ^® TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. Ohio l.as an area oP39,G28 square miles, and a population of 1,980,000. In 1788 it was a wilderness of dense forests and wild prairies, and it was the scene of Indian wars until, in 1794, Wayne's expedition completely subjugated the country. It was received into the Union as a '' state" in 1802, having previously been governed as a territory. It is now the third state in the Union in point of population and wealth. The total value of its taxable property a year ago, was— 23.7G8,835 acres of land. = 204.001,957 dollars. Value of towns, 7i ittq-i Per.sonal property, monies, and credits, ... f)2,23a,47G Total 428,074,787 „ Or, £86,000,000 sterling. At the same period there were in the state o0n,833 horses, 2,058,903 cattle, 3,011,836 sheep, and 1,917,672 hogs. And,' from the returns connected with the special taxes"raised to meet the interest upon loans for public works, I find that the inhabitants possessed o6,80o pleasure carriages, 68,516 watches, and 2,117 pianos. This state, of less than fifty years old, produces enormous quantities of grain of every description ; and its annual clip of wool amounts to 4,000,000 lbs. ^t possesses mineral wealth in abundance ; and Cincinnati, its largest city, at the south- western corner of the state, is the great workshop, and, next to St. Louis, the great emporium, of the west. Ohio possesses 400 miles of railway, uud 900 miles of canal, now in active operation. There are in Ohio 5,062 common schools, with an average attendance of 91,000 children, and the school fund owned by the state amounts to more than £300,000 sterling. THE WESTEKN STATES. 59 Indiana, the neighbour state of Ohio, has an area of 3G,580 sfumre miles, and a population of about l.OOO.OOO. In size and importance Indiana resembles Ohio. It has a school fund, which, inclusive of ,t'300,000, the estimated value of school lands unsold, amounts to £400,000 sterling; and pos- sesses about 2,000 common schools, and about 100 academics and colleges. Michigan consists of the southern and northern peninsulas. The southern, or ^Michigan Proper, is the peninsula bounded by Lakes Michigan a. id Huron, It contains 39,8o(; square miles. The northern peninsula lies between Lakes ^Michigan and Superior; and in it are the great copi)er regions of Lake Superior. It contains 16,387 square miles. The population of 3Iichigan is 425,000. This state was made a separate territorial government in 1805, and Avas admitted as a state of tlie Union in 1830. It has a mild and salubrious climate, and unequalled natural resources. It is in its very early infancy ; but possesses already 384 miles of railway, and will soon have 400 miles more, completed and at work. It raised, in 1849, 1,774,300 lbs. of majjle sugar, 4,739,300 bushels of wheat, and 8,179,707 bushels of all other grains. The yield of wheat, owing doubtless to the rough and partially uncleared surface of the soil, appears by the returns to average only ten and a quarter bushels to the acre. To show how rapidly it pri)gresses, I may mention, that while in 1840 there were in the whole state only 99,018 sheep; in 1849 there were 610,508. producing 1,045,750 lbs. of wool, the average clip having risen from 11 lbs. per sheep to 2:', lbs. ; and in the same period it had doubled its production of grain, and increased its make of flour nearly fourfold. It has a university; 270 school libraries, or one in every 'I CO TRIP TO Tin: UXITF.n STATES. other township in the state; 2,8G9 school district.^, and 97,Go8 schohirs. Ilmxois was arcgir,n of prairies. It covers an area of 55,000 square miles. It has a population of 800,000. The soil is deep, rich, and highly productive. In tliis state are the great lead districts of 2(»0 miles long and 60 miles broad, with Galena as a centre, in which the ore obtained is said to be the richest in the world. Copper and iron also exist in tlie state. Also coal in abundance. Illinois has several colleges, CO academies and grammar schools, and 2,317 common schools, at which 51,447 children are tauglit for varicjs terras during the year. Missouri is the largest cf the western states. It possesses an area oi 07,451 square miles, and hi s a population of 589,000 Its surface is about equally divided between timber and prairie land. It is the most southerly of the western states. It was admitted into the Union as a slave state in 1821, bavin- been part of Louisiana. At the time of its admission vehement dis- cuss.ons took place, and it was only received on condition of the -Missouri Compromise line," as it was called, being adopted. By tins compromise slave soil and free soil were permanently divided ; so that, except as regards Missouri, no slave territory can be recognised beyond 30" 30' of north latitude. St. Louis is in ^lissouri, and is a city of great magnitude and ^vealtn. Placed as it is upon the Mississipi, eighteen miles below the junction o.' the Missouri with that river, into both of which great streams fi.>-,v -Miraerous other rivers, running east and west into the heart ot iSe country, and being also in connection with the Ohio ric. -it commands the commerce of an im- mense district. It is stated that its trade already amounts to half as much as the whole foreign commerce of the United States, and that steimer'a TintMnrr r.»^ -. ^ L.ai bieamers, Having an aggregate of 500,000 THE -VVESTEnX STATES. 61 s tons, trade regularly with it along a deep river navigation of little less than 5,000 miles in extent. Thirty-one of the articles of produce received at St. Louis during 1849, possessed a total value of over £2,000,000 sterling. The largest item in this list was wheat, of which 1,702,000 bushels, possessing a value of 1,434,000 dollars, were received; and the next in amount was lead, of which 10,428 tons, having a value of 1,4U2,000 dollars, were received. Iowa, north of Missouri, has a surface of ri0,914 square miles, and a population of about ICO.OOO. It was admitted info the Union as a state in 1S4G. It is a great prairie, with eon.para- tively little wood, except that whieh grows upon the margins of its rivers. The land is fine, and easily cultivated. Load, zinc, and iron, arc found in abundance in the na-ghbourhood of Du- buque. In this state, grain of ail kinds, tobacco, and sheep and hogs, are the staple productions. The bulfalo has already been driven out by the settlement of the country; but wolves, panthers, and wild-cats still abound, and the black bear is still hunted in the wooded districts. Tlie etate has at present neither railroads nor canals; but its common roads, aided by the level surface of the ground itself, at jiresent suiHce for the people, who, however, have projected, and are about to prosecute, extensive railway works through their state. As this is so new and so distant a state, it is interesting to know— that it has a university; that the constitution makes it imperative that it shall have a school in each district; and that its school fund (the education being under the charge of a superintendent, elected for three years) amounted in November 1848 to some £28,000 sterling, which sum is regularly fed and augmented by the pro.'eeds°of land granted by Congr by the rents of lands unsold, and by military exemption fmes, and the fines inflicted by the law courts. !■ $2 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. The value of the 3,150,394 acres of land assessed in 1849 for taxation was 10,349,644 dollars. Value of town lots and improvements 2,945.299 „ Capital employed in morchandiso 819,037 „ Mills, manufaiturcs, carding machines, &c 319,211 „ All otlior property 4,002,580 „ Total 18.490,371 „ The number of horses in the state was 34,7 1 1 ; numher of cattle, 91,222; sheep, 140,787; hogs, 22G,8G1. There were also 4,750 pleasure carriages; 1,311 watches (a small number, but, perhaps, the tax-gatherer was "done"), and only 47 pianos. "Wisconsin was admitted as a state of the Union in 1848. It has risen up with a rapidity astonisliing even in America. It possesses a surface of 53,924 square miles, and has. or rather had a year ago (for it must now have far more), a population of 280,000. It is described as '• one vast plain," of rich deep soil, capable of growing in luxuriance all the products of a temperate climate. Its long coast lines on Lakes Michigan and Superior, f^ive it great advantages, both as regards accessibility and com- merce. Fourteen years ago, one of its chief cities, Milwaukee, at the mouth of a river of that name, on Lake Michigan, was surrounded by a wilderness, and contained only two log huts. Now it contains between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants, and has an immense trade in grain and the other produce of the rapidly improving country at its back. The pro\ision for education in tliis newly settled country is an example to all nations. The "Wisconsin university was establi.«;hed at Madison in 1849. Tlie country is divided into 2,200 school districts, which are erected and set to work as fast as population appears in them. The school fund con- sists, not merely of the sixteenth sections of laud in each THE "WESTERN " TERRITORY. C3 i parish, common to uU states for purposes of education where national lands exist, but of 500,000 acres specially granted by Congress, of the proceeds of all forfeitures and fines, and of five per cent, upon all sales of public lands in the state. Thus, the educational wants of the country are met. The sys- tem anticipates, instead of waiting for, the growth of tlui popu- lation; and, apart from education for itself, political unity is promoted by the English tuition olTered to the children of foreign- ers from all parts of tlie world, who flock here in crowds. MiNESOTA, is now a territory, and will soon apply to be admitted as a state. It has an area of 1GG,000 square miles, and a population of 10,000 ov 20,000. This and the '' western territory" comprise the whole of the north-western lands, bounded by the -iOth parallel of north latitude, and by the Rocky ilounttiins. Tlie " western territory" has an area of o7i),o84 square miles, and is unsettled. It con- tains those vast levels, covered with ccarsc grass, having hardly a hillock in hundreds of miles, where the bisons wander in herds of vast number, and arc hunted by the Indian and the white tiap- per. This district, fifty years hence, however, may, like others now of no gi'catcr age, have driven out the wild cattle, have sub- stituted domestic animals instead, and have converted intermin- able hunting-grounds into corn-fields and pastures. The political consequences of this are pregnant with interest, bringing about, as they must, from the certain preponderance and overwhelming power of the Free States, a settlement of the question of slavery; and threatening to overpower and su])plant the influence of the great seabord cities which hitherto have guided the destinies of the country. Si C4 TRIP TO THE UNITF.D 8TATK.S. xr. Dr.TUOiT, Satl'KDAt, Srptcmher 13, 1951. On'K of my objects at Chicago was to see a prairie. I hired, one day, a vehicle and a good horse (indeed ahncst all the horses there arc swift and well limbed), and drove with a friend ri'^ht out upon the prairie hinds, whidi encircle the town, and, with intervals of cultivation, cover with their even surface a large portion of the state of Illinois. There are two kinds of prairie land; one having an even, regular surftice; the other, undulating or rolling, and being called, in consequence, '* rolling prairie." Tlie prairie imme- diately around Chicago is of the former class, and is either covered with short, scrubby bushes, or with long, three-edged grass, which waves in the wind, and reflects every change of cloud or light, like a sheet of water. Standing upon this prairie, we had around a line of distant horizon, unbroken save by sume clumps of trees, or " islands," which here and there alleviate the otherwise entire sameness of the scene. We walked amonf^st the grass, disturbing the (juails and prairie hens, with dry shoes ; though in wet weather the soil is rather swampy. "NVe found an immense variety of wild-flowers, some of tliem extremely bountiful, growing amongst the grass, and pulled more than thirty separate kinds within a space of half a mile. The prairie grass becomes so dry at times, that in the fall of the year it ignites, and burns for miles, the flames rushing alon> "rile iip,"nn(l "get mad," and go to war, and not let us have any corn at all, we should all have to starve, "and that was a fact I" On our way to Laporto, at a place called '' Watcrford," I found a signboard nailed to a tico, setting forth as follows: — "Cash paid for corn, rye, barhsy, and hogs of all kinds." NearLaporte is some very beautiful scenery, and a succession of sweet little laUes, many of them covered with lotuses in full flower. On a little knoll overlooking one of these lakes, is the poor-house, its present inmates being a blind man, a paralytic woman, and an idiot boy. The coimtry round Laportc is cleared and well cultivated, growing splendid crops of cereals. The wheat is already reaped, but tlie Indian corn is standing, and looks extx-eirely well. At Laporte wc met Mr. , and drove on to " Carlisle Hill," through a fine country, which ten years ago was wild prairie, but now will grow iii.;'.;ense crops of grain year after year, without manure, and with no symptom of exhauj^tion. Before we reached " Carlisle llill" night had fallen, and the land began to give out the accumulated heat of the day. It was something like walking over hot ashes. Near our journey's end we passed an encampment of Irish emigrants, who had a fire kindled in the wood, and were falling out desper-L ,ly, and about to come to heavy blows. A little further on, two brawny fellows of the same class stood in the middle of the road, and budged reluctantly; but, as we addressed them first, they moved off, re- n.arking, in answer to our kind enquiries after their health, that they "guesseu, sure, they were about all right." *' Carlisle Hill" is a small village, consisting of a public-house kepi uy a fine old farmer, and about a dozen other houses. It st.mds on a liigli "roll" of the prairie, and overlooks a beautiful I l\ 68 T.^IP TO THE UNITED STATES. plain, stretcliing away for miles in magnificent cultivation, and bordered in the distance with wood. This prairie soil is light, and is cultivated with ease. One man and a boy, they say, are enough to look after seventy acres of Indian corn. The crops of wheat, on one part of our land- lord's farm of 300 acres, have year after year, as he told us, reached eighty bushels to the acre — an almost incredible quantity. Heie are all kinds of fruit-trees, and all sorts of animals to kill. A good supply of ■\\ater, but impregnated with iron. The "Michigan Southern" railroad traverses the district, and will have a depot at this village. This fine land, in full order of cultivation, can be bought for from thirty to fifty dollars per acre. Farnaers will till it for the owner for one third of the crop, as rent. Labourers' wages are three dollars a week, and their board. We sat at tlie open door, and talked about railways, Ian 1, and politics, "'ith ^Ir. and one of the engineers of the railway — our landlord, the village storekeeper, and all tlie helps, around for audience — enjoying the comparative coolness, till late on in the night. We became ^o highly popular, that the best room in the house was assigned to Mr. and myself. But, alas! we tossed about sleepless till five o'clock next morning, in such a state of sweat, mosquitoes, and misery, as it would be dilRcult to describe. At sunrise, we mounted the waggon of our friend the store- keeper, a wild eccentric young fellow, who insisted on driving us himself, and would take no recompense whatever for the trouble ; and, with two spirited horses before us, whirled over a road, sometimes "corduroy" and sometimes otherwi.-e, and through holes and ruts of varying depth — to the railway station at Terre Coupee. On reaching Detroit in the evening, we found the tempera- ture changed. The thermometer had fldlen from ninety degrees -Hklj COOLER AVEATHEn — DETROIT. 69 in tlic shade to fifty-six, and the night was frosty, with a keen nortli wind. A hot bath, at the end of this hard travolU'ig, I have found to be an indesonbablc luxury and comfort, i am looliing for- ward to to-morrow for a quiet Sunday, with intense pleasure. my XIII. Steamek, Keystone State, on Lake Euie, MoNDAV, Si'ptcmher 15, 1851. Rising very early yesterday, I found that a fine breezy morn- ing and a bright sunrise had succeeded a stormy night. The wind still blew from the north, and its coldness and bracin"' in- fluence was most grateful after the heat and exhaustion of many previous days. The morning was, indeed, one of th.ose enjoyed now and then by all, but more especially and often by the over- toiled — on which one awakes with feehngs similar, I should ima- gine, to those of a snake who has just cast his old dried-up skin. The body is restless for exercise ; the legs twitching, as much as to say, Why don't you walk me, run me, jump me ? and the anrs mutely urging a climb up the next tall tree. Then it is that the rai)id walk, straight out ahead, warms the blood till every vein tingles ; the heart is lifted up with delight; and every branch and leaf, every flower and lowly weed, the dcwdrops hanging on the hedges, and the gossamer webs lloating in the air, put ou a face of beauty enchanting to behold. And as the heart swells with gladness, the voice breaks forth, as if to relieve its fulness, in tunes and scraps of songs wafted by memory from childhood and its artless days. This, too, was Sunday. They say there are more fine Sun- I i i 70 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. days in the year than in any fifty-two weekdays. Be that as it may, we surely enjoy these fine rest-days far more tlian the equally fine days of work and worry. They are our own days — our own to enjoy, as well as our own to profit by; and thus in our delighted eyes tL i sun shines more brightly, the blue of the Sunday sky seems more intense, and the landscape far more fair, than usual. On my return from a long walk before breakfast, I examined the outsides of the churches of the various sects of Protestants, and the interiors of the Catholic churches, which, u like the others, were open even at this very early hour to the steps of both the curious and the faithful. One of these churches, a fine new building in the principal street, has a very striking interior, large enough to hold 3000 people. Still, its tasteful architecture is defaced, as are too many similar edifice.-, by the multitude of tawdry coarse engravings of scripture scenes, in ugly bar-room frames, hung about the walls. We were invited to attend worship in the Episcopal church, St. Paul's, where we heard our fine service perfurmed with great solemnity and reverence. The chants were very beautiful, and one of the female voices powerful, and at the same time sweet beyond expression. The Bishop of 3Iichigan officiated, and preached with earnest elofiuence, though without attempt- ing high-flown oratory. After service we had the honou: ■>? an introduction to the bishop, which enabled me to learn muay interesting particulars of the State, and its Episcopal churches. To those accustomed to the "milording" of our own land, the plain " good-morning, bishop" — the greeting of the gentleman who introduced us — sounded somewhat strangely. Yet the bishop has a see as large, in point of territory, as England. In the afternoon I had the opportunity of witnessing an Irish- American funeral on a grand scale. The deceased was an imsn FrxER.VL — governor seward. 71 Irishman in humble life. All the cars and coaches of the city wore out, and no Irish family seemed too poor to drive to the cere- mony. The procession of vehicles was half a mile long, and was headed by a car containing the nearer relatives— and the corpse. Some excitement existed in Detroit tliis (Monday) morning. Governor Seward was to address the jury, as counsel, on be- half of the prisoners charged with the Michigan Central Kail- Avay conspiracy. I took the opportunity of hearing an orator of such re[)utation. The trial had been conducted in the Firemen's Ilall — a lar-^o room overlooking the main street, destitute of the usual pa- raphernalia and garniture of a court. The hall was well Idled, though not crowded, two-thirds of the audience beii)'>- ladies. The judge, sa/is wig or gown, sat behind a sort of desk. The jury were placed below him. The prisoners sat upon the left of the jury. The audience faced the judge. Governor Seward was speaking when I entered, his face to the ladies, and his back, of necessity, to the judge. Occasionally he turne<1 round to judge, jury, and prisoners, on points of law or evidence; but the ladies, thanks to the excellent *• public 0[)inion" of the .uuiitry, received the lion's share of the orator's address. It av: to them he ap- pealed as to the character and position ^^t ". (ifty.five prisoners —men in respectable stations, profespional men, farmers, and traders; the sufferings in mind, body, m^'I estate which they had undergone, from their sudden and unexpected arrest in tln^ dead of night; their long incarceration Avitiiout the chance of bail ; and their recurring tortures, as, brought into court day after day for months past, tliey had witnessed, amidst the sympathy and the sorrow of family and friends, the slow and painful progress of that trial, '•vhieh was to end in their lifelong degradation, or in tlie honourable acquittal to whieh he contended they were ent -l J. To the ladie-, too, he painted the iniquities of the 72 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. .system of espionage which tlie Railway Company had been forced to adopt, in order to unfold and punish that alleged secret conspiracy, of which, with great art, he did not deny the exist- ence, while repudiating all connection with it on the part of his oppressed clients. lie spoke of the atrocious character and crimes of many of the agents of this system, and depicted the (juiet peaceful home of one of the innocent men now under trial, haunted for months by some lurking emissary who night and day watched for, and recorded, every trifling circumstance and incident occurring ; — prowling about the premises by day, and listening at keyholes by night — picking up every small shrp' i of gossip, and raking out every slander, in order to found thereon an edifice of fidsehood, which should at last consign his miser- able victim to a prison or th THE ERIK RAII.nOAD. 73 Bide of tl.at river by an immense timber box bri.Igc of pcculi-ir construction. Seen from tl.is bridge, the overhanging buil.Iin^^ on the water's edge resemble many old reaches upon the bank, of the Thames. There are the same fragile balconies an.l mn.ute galleries; the .«ame hanging gardens of flowers in pots and in long green box'.'s. On rising in the morning early, I foun.l the ground and house- tops white with a severe hoar frost, and the face of the countrv covered with one of those frosty exhalations which, as you walk along, soon tip your liair and >\hiskers with rime. Taking the Erie line again, we followed the course of the Chemung, whieh looked brilliant in the fine shaq. morning for about thirteen miles, and then eame upon the Susquehanna The valleys formed by this beautiful river are at once pic- turesque and fertile, and contrasted agreeably with the dark forests of the previous day's journey. But around IJin-^hamton a town founded by a .Mr. Bingham, the father-in-law of Lord Ashburton, and placed upon the confluence of the Susquehanna and the Chenango, the scenery is indeed beautiful; and that disagreeable air of newness and disorder whieh, in a spoiled English eye, alloys the finest eountry views, here gives place to complete cultivation and finish. Crossing the Susquehanna some miles beyond Binghamton, we entered Pennsylvania, the line sliU keeping near tlie river,' and winding with its curves around the whole circuit of -reat valleys, the rock hewn away tor its passage in perpendicular cuts of great depths in many places. And, crossing it a-ain by a covered wooden bridge «(J0 feet Jong, we came to Lanes- borough, and into the lovely valley, in which are the finest works of the railway. The first of these works is a tressel bridge over the Cancaacta creek, and a portion of the viUa-e of Lanes- borough. This bridge is m feet long. Then a mile or two '•M'::ii:fM4.- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■ 5. 112 m 12.2 Ki ■■■■' 1*0 12.0 14 IIIIII.6 P> ths, both as to colour, pattfrn, and texture, and with some of the machines. A speeder, for fine numbers of cotton yarn, and a machine for twisting the fringe of shawls, were amongst some very beautifully executed pieces of machinery. Some pictures and drawings, by operatives of Lowell, were in very good taste ; and the hand- embroidering was admirable. Amongst the mills I found excellent machinery for cotton, mixed with some of very old design, in some of the best establish- I. ^r^mf- \ 92 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. ments; but I perceived a good many new machines just put up, and some not gated. The most interesting establishment is the Massachusetts Ma- nufacturing Company's Works. Here they have new mills, and machinery. They employ 1000 hr.nds, and manufticture coarse cotton cloths, checks, stripes, and domestics, and carpets and rugs— all by steam power. The working hours in these mills are fr .m 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer, and from G to 7 in winter— half an hour for breakfast, and half an hour for dinner, being allowed. The wages earned are from 2s. to Gs. English per day. The carpet-weavers, who are all "young ladies," earn about 90 cents per day, or 3s. 8d. English. The boa; ding-house people charge the young women a dollar and a quarter per week, and the young men a dollar and three quarters, for board. This firm have 127 carpet looms, and weave about 3000 yards, of the width of thirty-six inches, per day. The car- pets sell at from half a dollar to one dollar seventeen cents per yard. The demand is good. They also make large quantities of rugs. The machinery for cleaning, sorting, carding, and spinning wool, and the carpet-looms, carpet-shearers, cutters, and folders, are all new, and some of the machines are made at the works. The machine which sorts the wool into " long" and " short," picking out and dropping the too short fibres, seems to me highly ingenious. I was told that it was made and invented at Lowell, though possibly similar machines are worked in England. The dyes and colours are extremely good. Every thing bespeaks either ample prosperity, or an open capital account. The ventilation of the rooms is good, and the size of the mills noble. The carpet-weaving room is about 300 feet square, and fourteen feet high, and between the rows of looms is a space eleven feet wide. The Lowell "ladies" attracted a good deal of my observation. I ') LOWELL — THE YOUXG LADIES. 93 had the idea that they -were good, intelligent, and hard-working young women, but a trifle spoiled by adulation of the " Lowell Offering," and undue praise of their intellectual progress — as if there was any thing wonderful in the fact, that the daughters of well-to-do parents, in a country of free schools and free discus- sion, should be educated and apt, though labouring with their hands for their daily bread. As regards personal appearance, I must say that the carpet looms of this mill are attended by a posse of as good-looking dam- sels as I ever saw together, (straight, tall, clear complexions, and high foreheads) — and all the hands had certainly a better look, both in person and in dress, than ours usually are. The boarding- house system, and the strict surveillance, aids all this. The na- tive hands are good to begin with. They are looked after like the members of a family, and they are well paid ; hence the appear- ance they make. But there are amongst tliem English and L*ish "young ladies;" and the contrast is often great. Light gieen and blue veils are in fashion in this weather. The American ladies wear them, and look well in them, — but to sec some wea- therbeaten countrywomen of mine of forty, squab, brown, and wrinkled, imitating the fasionable costume, was rather too much. As Lowell is now one of many such towns in America, the hands will cease to be petted by the public, and perhaps will be none the worse for the change. There are many foreigners in Lowell. One universal genius, I fancy a cockney, in a street near the depot, sets forth on his sign, that he is " Carpenter, Bellhanger, Sawfiler, Repairer of Clocks, Accordions, Spirit-levels, Razors, Scissors, Locks, Keys, and et cctere, at No. 1 Maiden-lane." u TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. XIII. Baltimore, September 22, 1851. The early steamer took me down the bay of New York, through the channel between Staten Island and the shore of New Jersey, to South Amboy. The villas on Staten Island; the watering-place of Nc»y Brighton ; the occasional reaches of low marshy ground, cohered with bright-coloured grasses, which the tide or surge now and then invades, — reminded me strongly of the sail down the Thames from Blackwall to Gravesend. At South Amboy I left the steamboat for the railway, which passes at first through a region of sand-hills, and then crosses the uat peach-covered lands of New Jersey — a country naturally barren, but cultivated until its arid surface has become fertile. Barnes' Common is a good resemblance of this district ; and its villages and quaint-looking little towns, of half wooden half brick houses, adorned with festoons of vines and hops, are just like those passed through in the ride across country from Rich- mond to Greenwich. The railway passes down the centre of the main street of one of these New Jersey towns, called Bur- lington, a unique little place, shaded by avenues of weepin^ willows. The railway ends at Camden, on the Delaware, op- posite to Philadelphia. Philadelphia has a population of 400,000, is placed between the Delaware and t.\e Schuylkill rivers, and is about 100 miles from the ocean. It is the second city in the Union in point of population and commercial importance ; while it admittedly has been ever foremost in intellectual progress. As the city founded by 'William Penn for the capital of a territory ac- quired in justicej as the scene of Franklin's labours, the mo- nilLADELPIlIA — STATE'HOCSE. 95 nuHicnts of which still remain in the Philadelphia library, now of 35,000 volumes, founded by his exertions in 1731, and in the " American Philosophical Society," which he originated in 1743; and as the place in which the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed on the 4th of July, 177G — Philadelphia must possess deep interest to the traveller in America. The " Quaker City" is well laid out, and its tall, bright red brick buildings, with white marble door-steps, basements, and window sills, its busy streets and great signboards, give it the appearance of cheerfulness and youth. Its public buildings, for which white marble is ordinarily used, are fine, and its numerous institutions are worthy of its well-won reputation. The old " State-house," in Chestnut street, was to me the first object of search. This building is used as a court-house and public office, save that one small room within it is held too sacred for the service. The State-house consists of a plain brick front, surmounted by a cornice and a wooden tin- covered clock tower, and of two wings, the latter of modern construction. Within the unpretending portals of this decent, homely building are two doors, one on each side of the not over wide passage. Tiie one on the right Ica'N to the Court of Common Pleas; the one on the left to a room of lesser size — a plain substantial chamber, painted of a sober tint, but with a ceiling of azurt and gilt stars, which might hold forty per- sons, and would then be crowded. In this room the De- claration of Independence was signed seventy-five years ago. Within a light railing is a statue of Washington carved in wood ; and hung on the walls are modern full-length portraits of Williari Penn and of Laftr 3. In the room, too, stands the veritable heavy stiff-backed chair, lined with good red leather, in which John Hancock sat when signing tho declaration ; and a piece of the old wooden step, worm-eaten unu right well worn. r S6 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. on which stood the Secretary of Congress while readinf** the declaration to the people congregated outside — is shown as a further relic. I mounted to the clock tower, and was rewarded by a fine view over the city and its environs : and on descending visited the Court of Common Pleas, in which a cause relating to a German benefit society was proceeding. Here the judge, dressed in a sort of shooting-coat of drab, was walking up and down his little shut-ofF den, anon gazing out of the window at the passing vehicles; while the solicitors or counsel questioned the -witnesses at their easiest leisure. One of the counsel, his back to the witness, was leaning back in his chair, and had his ieet upon Ihe table and his thumbs stuck in his waistcoat. The judge, however, indifferent as he n 'ght appear, was listening to the examination with attention, and every now and then stopped abruptly in his v/alk to ask some useful question and register the reply. But why should the dignity of a Court of Common Pleas be kept up at the expense of personal comfort? The " State-house," hallowed by the great event of 1774, and visited by curious crowds from all parts of the world, has nevertheless, if I heard correctly, been in danger of destruction to make room for some finer and more extensive edifice. But patriotism saved it, and there it will now remain. Yet it would seem that, like all public edifices, however sacred, it needs protection against small invaders; for a board nailed against the front walls, exhorts all men to "paste no bills on tuese PREMISES." The " Girard College" stands upon a slight eminence outside the city of Philadelphia, The main building is of white marble, and of pure Grecian architecture — one of the most beautiful ex- teriors which modern architecture has produced. • Mr. Girard was originally a poor French sailor, who came to .Jfc-rn: ■ -sa; ^te GIUARD COLLEGE. S7 Araei'ica, settled in Philadelphia, became a banker, and died, after a long, useful, and honoured life, leaving an immense fortune behind him. He bequeathed a considerable portion of this fortune— 2,000,000 of dollars— for the foundation of a college, in which " not less than three hundred " orphan boys of the city of Pliiladelphia, or, failing the city, of the state of Pennsylvania, or, failing the state, of other districts of tlie Union —should be fed, clotlied, and educated, so as to fit them for the best situaticms of life. The only stipulation as regards the educa- tion to be given, attached to the gift, was, that all sectarianism should be excluded; and so careful was Mr. Girard in Tuardin-- against the intrusion of proselytism, that he inserted the following singular clause in his will : — "I enjoin and require that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the said college ; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college." About one half of :\[r. Girard's bequest has been expended on the buildings; and further erections are in contemplation. Whether this is the most practical mode of dealing with the bequest or not, I do not presume to say ; but at all events a splendid public building has been constructed, which will serve for all time as a Girard monument. The managers of the fund seem to feel this ; and they propose to place a statue of iAIr. Girard within the entrance hall, and to deposit his remains in a sarco- phagus beneath it. The statue, which represents :Mr. Girard in his ordinary dress — loose coat, large shoes, and all— and in his customary attitude, is already in tlie hall, finished and ready for placing. The scliool now contains only 299 scholars, one having rccenily died, and the vacancy not having been yet filled un. Tlie teachers n n ■'I |i! 98 TRrP TO THE UNITED STATES. of primary education are all females, aid the higher branches of learning are taught by professors. I was admitted into the Bchools. They begin with the smaller boys at the very bottom of the ladder of learning, and go on through five stages or periods, to the highest branches of ordinary school education. Each of these divisions occupies a separate rooii and a separate teacher; and the little boy gradually works his way through the whole, and then may go to the professors jnd learn every thing com- prised in a complete university course. Boys, may remain in the institution for the purpose of this con? pie to education for ten years or more : and thus the orphan child of the poorest man in the city, may come forth with the culture and acquirements of a prince. The college has been open three years only, and therefore all the educational machinery of the institution has not yet been called into requisition. But, as fur as 1 could judge, the system pursued is a perfect one ; and the strict discipline into which 300 boys are brouglit while under the eyes of a few delicate-looking young ladies, with no whips, or great fools'.ca» , to be frightened at, is admirable. I noticed a few young gentlemen "in trouble," in corners, with faces full to the wall, but observed no punishment more severe. Twelve o'clock coming, all the good boys, at a signal from the teacher, put away their books ; if I recollect rightly, at two separate evolutions — one, the collecting of the books and the lifting up of the desk; the other, the deposit of tlio books inside the desk and the closing of the lid. On other signals, mere signs, not a word being spoken, eacli form of boys passed into the passages, and retired to the playground, in line. I watched the exit, and follo-wcd the boys to the playground, which resounded with noise and gayety, testifying at once to the health and spirits of the children. I then followed to the THE SCHOOLS — GIRARD COLLEGE. 99^ dinner-room, and saw the boys march in two and two, and take their seats, quiotly and without confusion. Then the ma-^ter, slightly touching a small bell, to call complete silence, said a grace. Then one boy our of every row of ten, filed out, and, two plates in hand, approached the end of the table on which the dinner, of good beef or mutton, was placed in large dishes, the meat cut into substantial pieces of equal size. Here the platea were filled and tlien carried back by the boys, until every one at table was served. Then, at another slight touch of the bell, the eating began, and right heartily did the youngsters attack and demolish tlie viands. I visited the chapel, where service — singing, prayer, and a non-controversial sermon — is performed twice each Sabbath, by the head of the college. Each boy has a separate bed, but a separate room in case of sickness only. The boys are dressed in plain clothes, having generally brown jackets and light trousers ; but no complete uni- formity seems to be a'med al— there are no badges, no "charitable grinder" tokens, for all mankind to stare and point at until the education given is stamped with tlie degradation of pau- perism. All seem in robust health, and I never saw three hundred better-looking or more intelligent boyish faces. I left the institution with an unmixed feeling of admiration and pleasure ; for what may not result both in benefit to the state and blessing to the individuals from such an institution, in such a country of elbow-room, progress, and expansion? The blessing is double ; for these boys might, perhaps would, otherwise have been on the streets, degraded and vicious ; now they are out of the reach of evil, and may rise in the sor'ial scale as high as their abilities and merits may deserve. The Fairmount waterworks, just outside the city, and upon the Schuylkill river, are well worth seeing. I ascended to the f'reat it t: I )l] 100 TRIP TO THF UNITED STATES. reservoir, the sides of vvliich are partially planted with trees, and are laid out as public walks — and strolled through the lower grounds, opposite to the suspension bridge over the Schuylkill. At this point is the great daiu by which the whole breadth and depth of the river is made to accumulate before its descent over the weir. That descent turns a series of large under shot water-wheels, ninety feet each long, which pump up the water into the reservoir at the rate of 8000 gallons per minute. The city is supplied through 100 miles of pipe. Amongst the trees is a monument to GrafT, the engineer who designed and executed tlio works, . iiich, before the completion of the Croton works, which supply New York, were the finest in America. Philadelphia has a large coal-trade. The Philadelpliia and Reading railroad, which runs from Philadelphia to Pottsville, in the heart of the coal region, has worked a total change in the supply of this fuel. In 1 820, 305 tons of anthracite coal from Lehigh, were brought to Philadelphia to market. In 1830, the quantity had increased to 174,734: ton?; in 1840, to 805,414 tons; while in 1850, the total weight sent to raarketwas 3,332,614 tons. Of this large quantity, the Reading railroad, ninety-five miles long, conveys 1,400,000 tons. The retail prices of the staple kinds sold at Philadelphia are, per ton: — Lehigh, 3 dollars G2 cents., or 15s. Id. Schuylkill white ash 3 „ 25 „ 13s. G^d, Do. red ash 3 „ 50 „ 143. 7d. The great coal-fields of America are in Pennsylvania, IMichigan, Kentucky, and Illinois; and Lyell estimates that the Pennsylvania coal field, 700 miles long, and 180 miles wide, covers a superficial area of G3,000 square miles; while the Illinois coal field "is not much inferior to the whole of England, and consists of hori- zontal strata, with numerous rich seams of bituminous coal." ANTHRACITE COAL. 101 The coal which exists in the greatest abundance is the anthracite. According to geological theories, the hard fine texture of this coal has resulted from tlie effect of extreme ago; and, having been slowly transformed by the processes of nature from Tcgetablc matter into soft bituminous coal, the gradual escape of its inflam- mable gases has — in a period which no one can reckon, but which we may safely assume to have been thousands of years — converted the soft, dull substance, into a hard, bright mass, which is ignited witli difficulty, but retains its clear red heat long after the time in which bituminous coal v/ould have burnt out in white ashes. Thus, even in the silent storehouses of nature, are great chemical changes occurring; proving to us the animation of "inanimate" matter; testifying to us that all the world is life and motion; and that, be tliey slow and imperceptible to us, as in this case, or rapid and everyday before us, as in the waste and decay of animal existence, — all creation passes on, by fixed and immutable changes, in the course of progress and alteration assigned to it by the Creator. ! XVIII. Wasiiingtox, September 23, 1851. The routes from Philadelphia to Baltimore are eithoi- by rail- way for the whole distance ; or by steamer down the Delaware to New Castle; thence by railway aci'oss a narrow neck of land to French Town, and thence by steamer down the Elk River and Chesapeake Bay into the Patapsco river, upon which Baltimore is situated. The Delaware is a noble river ; its banks well cultivated, and abounding in well-built villas and farmhouses. Crossing the small 102 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. I-; State of Delaware from the Delaware Riv3r to Elk River, we passed through a gently tmdulating country, with large fields and thorn hedges, much resembling Nortliamptonshiro. Hedges in America are a novelty — a symptom of " having nothing better to do than grow them." The scenery at French Town is very beautiful ; and the sail down Elk River, and through the noble reaches of Chesapeake Bay, was delightful. It was dark befure we came in view of the lights of Baltimore, the capital of the slave state of IVIaryland. Baltimore is called the " monumental city," from the numerous monuments which adorn it. There is the " "^Tashington monu- ment," placed on an eminence 100 feet above tide water, — a doric column, rising from a base fifty feet square, 180 feet high, surmounted by a colossal statue of the first President; the " Battle monument," erected to the memory of those who fell in defending the city iu 1814; the " Armistead monument," and several others. Baltimore, like all the great American cities on the seabord, is extremely well placed for commerce. It has Uoth an unin- terrupted access to the ocean, and command of inland navigation. It is a very fine town, and its public buildings are excellent. It has a population of 125,000. Maryland was granted to Lord Baltimore, and settled by him in 1634. His descendants, the Cal verts, are still in possession of large tracts of land in " Calvert Coanty," and many of the streets, squares, and buildings of the city of Baltimore are named after them. Lotteries, prohibited in most of the states, are allowed in Maryland; and Baltimore is just now the focus of many of them. The following tempting announcement was put into my hands at the door of the hotel — "^-i »■ LOTTERIES — SLAVERY. 103 TUI8 DAY, TUiiSDAT, September 13, 1851, will be draicn, CONSOLIDATED LOTTERY OF MARYLAND, ron Tnz iirxErir of TnE town of bel Ain. Prawn at Baltimore, at 6 o'clock this evening— Class -trs — 7s Kos. — 15 Ballot*. lfi.312 DOLLARS. Twenty prizes of 3,000 dollars. SPLENDID SCHEME. rrizo of iri..312uols. 3.000 „ 3.000 „ 3.(100 „ 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3.000 3.000 ■3,000 3.000 3,000 3,000 3,000 I Prize of 3.000 » „ I » I „ 1 10 rri/csof in ,. 79 100 139 132 4,o;)a 25,740 3.000 3.000 3.000 3,000 3,000 1,500 700 100 CO .^0 30 10 s Tickets, 5 dols. — Halves, 2 dols. 50 c. — Quarters, 1 dol. 25 c. IRWIN & CO. FRONT UASEMENT OF BARNUm's HOTEL. ISIaryland is . slave state, and Baltimore exhibits traces of the existence of the " Institution." At the railway stations — the one belonfrinx to the line which connects Baltimore with Philadelphia, for instance — are notices, stating " that coloured persons desiring to go by the cars, must be at the depot two hours before the starting of the train, to have their names regis- tered and their papers examined, or they will not be allowed to travel." The following announcements in the "Baltimore Clipper" were amongst similar advertisements : — " Slaves Wanted. — We are at all times purchasing Slaves, paying the highest cask prices. Persons -.vishing to sell, will please call at 242, Pratt-street, (Slattcr's Old Stand,) Communications attended to." 104 Tin: TO THE uxited states. " NEonor.s Wantei).— I will pny the hifrhest prices, in cash, for any num- ber of Ni'tjroos with j,'ood titk's, slaves for life, or for a lerm of years, in lar-io or small lamilios, or single Nogroes. I will also purchase Negroes restricted to remain in the State, that sastiiin good characters. Families never separated. Persons having Slaves for sale, will please call and see me, as I am always in the nnrket with the cash. Communieations promptly attended to, and liberal commissions paid, by John D. Denning, No. 18, South Fre.lerick-street, between Market and Second-streets, with trees in fruut of the house." II « Maryland has 89,000 slaves, ami the number is clecrcasin". Virginia, its neighbour state, has 4'1S,000— tlie total number in tlie Union being 2,487,000. I have found throughout my tour, what all English travellers must find— that slavery is a question which it is better not to go out of one's way to discuss. For, although I have had many friendly conversations with its most ardent supporters and most violent opponents, I soon discovered, on the one hand, that the question is practically compromised by the gre • political parties in the free states, from time to time, in order ^o ci Mrili-ite Southern vo.'es ; and, on the other, that the siave-owners consider the word "abolition" as synonymous with con- fiscation and servile war. The latter meet you at the outset of the argument by stating, that their whole property consists of land and slaves, ^liat their lands of course derive their value from cultivation; and that, apart from the mere question of cost, that cultivation is impossible in the hands of the white man. They tell you, that while the negro endures the labour of the rice field mid-leg r^eep In Wi.ter, and with a scorching sun above his head, without danger, and can withstand the miasma hano-infr in the night air on the plantations; the white man is attacked with hopeless fever if he expose himself to these influences. They declare tliat the uncondiiiunal abolition of slavery, in EXCLLSlVi: DEALING. 105 a country abounding in unappropriated land:3, where men r.ay squat without being disturbed ; means simply the confiscation of three hundred millions sterling, the value of the slaves, in the first place, and tiie abandonment and destruction of the entire planting interest, in the second. To urge the morality of the question with these men, would be as successful as a similar appeal to our opium traders; to the maker of fire-arms certain to burst ; or, to use an American free-state illustration — to the successful manufacturer of wooden nutmegs. After hearing these statements, doubtless exaggerated, but which were made with earnestness, and are at least partiiilly true, I was not surprised to learn, that since the forcible sei^iuro of a slave at Boston, some months ago, by the abolitioniotj of that city, many of the Southern merchants have transferred their purchases of manufactured goods to >>ew York, to an extent which, were it not stated on authority, would be beyond belief. Indeed I learn, that so strong is this anti-abolition feeling, that where any option exists the avowed abolidonists are systemati- cr.iiy avoided in business dealings. A first class firm in New York, having a magnificent sliop in Broadway, see their old Southern customers pass by to a rival establishment in the same street, the only reason being that they are known to be earnest abolitionists, while their rival has never publicly expressed his opinion on the question. This feeling, showing itself in an endless variety of shapes, is just now most fierce, owing to an outrage which has occurred in Pennsylvania ; in which a Mr. Gorsuch has been shot down, and his son seriously wounded, in an attempt to seize a fugitive slave (under the provisions of the " fugitive slave law"), which was resisted by a rising of the free black population, and of some white abettors. The " fugitive slave law" is, indeed, simply a declaratory act. \ r '^Mi^fc^- 106 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. For it is unfortunately the fact, that the Southern States gave in their adhesion to the Federal Republic solely on condition that, while the s^r-ve trade should cease, the institution of slavery should be respected, and they should have the right to follow and seize fugitive slaves in any part of the Union. The "fugitive slo.ve law" was the work of the " Union" party — a party composed of men of all shades of opinion, who wish, by con- ciliation, to prevent the threatened withdrawal of South Carolina and other slave states from the Union. Greatly as all just and dispassionate men must abhor slavery, every one must admit the difficulties with which its imme- diate abolition is here surrounded. The negro does not possess the cordial sympathy of the white man. For while a small, and, politically speaking, uninfluential party are prepared to make every sacrifice and run all risks in order to blot out slavery oa the instant; the influential and acting leaders of the majority, whatever their occasional language of denunciation, and affectation of horror, are not disposed to brave the rebel- lion of the South, and the possible disruption of the Republic, for the sake of shortening the thraldom of the negro some fifty years. They profess to rely upon the natural progress of events, which, by quiet change, has already banished slavery from the ma- jority of the states originally parties to the Union; and has, within the last few years, forbidden the future existence of slave states north of latitude 36" 30'— for the gradual extinction of the sys- tem ; and in the mean time they are prepared to alleviate the lot of the slave; to refuse any extension of slavery ; and, as far as concession can obtain it, to narrow the area v/hich it now occupies. Perhaps, should these cold political views still hold posses- sion of the moving spirits of the country, the next practical step in advance may be to secure to the slave a personal right f-m^^r^ ri-A:>=~»t.-- WASHINGTON — THE CAPITOL. 107 to some small portion of the day, and to the produce of his labour in that portion ; — to say, in fact, that after a stipulated number of hours' labour for his master, the remainder of his time shall be his own. The effect of this would be to enable him legally to accumulate property. And if, in addition, a minimum price be fixed at which his master should be bound to allow him to redeem himself, and savings' banks were opened to receive the produce of his free earnings — some glim- mering of daylight would dawn upon his lot, and his condition, as a " chattel" to be bought and sold, would not be hopeless. XIX. PiiiLADELPiiiA, September, 24, 1851. Leaving Baltimore by the railway, and passing through a barren, though picturesque country, I arrived at Washington, the seat of government, and capital of the country. This city is well enlitlcdthe "city of magnificent distances ;" for it has been laid out, on the most extensive scale, with streets of miles in k.ngth, and magnificent in width. But, alas ! as there is little to be " got out of ?t," except in Congress time, and then by hungry politicians only, for there are no manufactures and no large back country to feed it — the city may boast of its future rather than of its present. Seen from the Capitol, it presents long lines of broad streets, diverging from the Capitol like rays, with smaller streets crossing and encircling them again almost to the limit of vision. But though around the Capitol, and along the Pennsylvania and other main avenues, both sides of the streets present fine blocks ofbuikling, houses, shops, hotels — as the eye wanders farther, it sees a gradually decreasing quantity of 108 TRIP TO THE UXITED STATES. Stone and brick; first, a street with one side only, then blank spaces of increasing width, till at last the actual city shades otF in white dots of houses, standing in proud individuality, as if waiting for coming companions; while beyond the utmost limit marked by any residence, the streets provided for posterity stretch out into the distance. The whole looks very much like a spider's web half nlled with flies. The situation of the city, chosen by AYashington himself, at the junction of the Potomac and of its eastern bend the Anacosta, is really worthy the metropolis of a great empire. The finely wooded hills of Virginia, seen across the liver; the forest clad ranges in- dented with valleys, which appear on the jNIaryland side; and tho beautiful heights above Georgetown, encircle the smooth plain upon which the city is placed, and which is relieved from dul- ness, and lighted up with life by the passage through it of a noble river, fringed by belts of trees, and lively traces of high cultivation. The Capitol is placed upon the summit of a swell- ing height, in the midst of the plain; and as I stood upon iv3 summit, and looked down upon its roofs, and around upon the scene below, I could well understand tlic feeling of pride with which Americans regard this political centre. For it was here, after years of blood and sacrifice, that a metropolis was planned and planted by the advice of "Washington himself. It was here, in that plain, small mansion, amongst the trees beiOw — or rather in the exactly similar house on that same spot, which the magnanimous English burnt in 1814, at the time they also destroyed by fire the choice old records of the republic — that "Washington often resided. It was here that many of those early measures which consolidated the empire were discussed and matured; and the walls of this stone edifice, of ample and liaudsome proportions and design, but second to many public buildings in small and worn-out European states — have rung !V. SENATE-HOUSE — LIIJRAKT. 109 with the great speeches of Webster, of Calhoun, of Clay, and of other American orators. Sixty years ago, this city was the metropolis of a small and struggling republic. Now it repre- sents a nation second only to one, and destined apparently to outstrip all other states in population, wealth, and power. In front of the Capitol is a plain white marble monument, sim- ply a base and pillar, surmounted by a small figure of victory, to tlie memory of Somcrs, Caldwell, Decatur, Wadsworth, Dorsey, and Israel, killed at Tripoli in 1804, in the first and iustest foreign war undei taken by the States. In the rotunda, in the middle of the building — a fine interior, covered by '\ dome — are pictures painted by Trumbull, of various scenes in the revolutionary history, — the Declaration of independence, the surrender of Cornwallis, the surrender of Burgoyne, and the resignation of his commission, by "Washington, i;uo the hands of Congress. There are also pictures of the embarkation of the Pilgrims, and the baptism of Pocahontas, by other a. lists. The Senate-house is on the west side of the rotunda, the House of Representatives on the east. The former is a small semicircular room, with a gallery, supported by columns of native marble. The latter is much larger, and more handsome, — more marble, much more glaring cari)ets, and far more gilding and paint. For there are but sixty senators, while there are two hundred and sixty members of the lower house ; and the latter, possessing functions of much less moment than the former, make far more stir in the world, and are apparently more regarded in all house- hold arrangements. The "Library of Congress" contains marble busts of "Wash- ington, Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and Taylor, and has around its walls portraits of some of the earlier names in American history. The library consists mainly of miscellaneous English books; and, if one may judge from the shelves, the best editions I- ' / 110 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATFS. ii of new books from London and from'Paris are added from time to time. I took up one small old book entitled, " Washington," or, "The Nation Delivered," and found written in its first page, '* To Thomas Jeiferson by the author," and underneath, " T. Jefferson." It was an English production, by some author whose name I never before heard, and have now forgotten. On the tables I found Audubon's " Birdi. of America." .nany of our standard picture-books, and Catlin's Indian plates — all well- thumbed and dirty. The Patent office, is a large and handsome building, of white marble, near the end of Pennsylvania avenue. Here are, in the first place, the models connected with all Amrrican patents; the collections obtained during various Auierican voyages of discovery; and the coiitributions which have been made by various persons towards the erection of a truly national museum. The models are crowded together on shelves, and in glass cases, in most admired disorder. Cotton spinning improve- ments beside specimens of smelted copper; ploughs and lace- making machines in the same bo-s. To describe them would be impossible, except so far as to say, that from the modest im- plement with which the western squatter turns up the first virgin clod, to the celestial machine for flying in the heavens all invented tilings appe;^ to be here congregated, not from America alone, but from England and other countries, testifying at once to the inventive genius and to the vanity of the world. I u. .od one model of a machlxie (for flying, if I recollect rightly), in- vented in Englanu, and patented ia America, no doubt from a wholesome fear on the part of the patentee, that some knowing Yankee would otherwise be flying through the North- West Pas- sage, without paying patent riglit or royalty. The Museum, for so it ought to be called, is a collection of curiosities from all parts of the worid, acquired by the navi- I'UANKLIN S ri?TT VG-rRESS. Ill gators who have been sent out o-i exploring expeditions, and by the Americiin consuls in distant places. There are samples of manufactures and specimens of coins from Japan ; clothing and implements, side by ?'de with "oracles" (of many-coloured beads stuck all over round balls) and gods from the Fcjee Islands. Skulls of Indians and mummies from Mexico; birds, beasts, fishes, and reptiles; portraits of Indian chiefs, and of great men of America. It is a bizarre but inter^^ ting collcctirn, badly arranged and destitute of a catalogue. In a dark corner at the extremity of the room, is the original printing-press, now about 125 years old, at which Benjamin Franklin, drinking water and saving money to buy books with, toiled for many a long day, with sleeves tucked up, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in London. There it is, worm-eaten and old- fashioned it is true, but eloquent of the history, plain, practical, and worthy, of one of the best and most useful of men. Near this are portions of a " library of forest trees." Thsse are illustrations of trees, in the shape of books — the back being formed of the bark, and the boards of the planed wood of tho tree so chronicled, while inside the volume are specimens of its leaves, fruit, seeds, and sap-vcssels. The patent office is being greatly enlarged, and, with the materials already collected, Washington will soon boast of a fine national museum. The Post-office deportment, a building of white marble ; and the "Pension office," a large collection of bureaus, with an extremely fine row of Coi-inthian columns in front, are worth a visit. The President's house, behind the Pension office, is a fine building of freestcnc, painted, as is the Capitol, pure white. It is 170 feet long and 8G feet wide, with a portico supported by Ionic columns. There is a short semicircular drive up to it from the road, and the house fronts to the Potomac, command- ing an excelbut \iew of the course of that river. We walked l']2 TinP TO THE I XITED STATES. up, found the door open, and were received by one of the ser- vants of the President, an Irislnnan from the north, with a plain, good-humoured face, and a keen grey eye, which twinkled and twisted at every sententious remark from the sovereign people around him. In lieu of livery, tights, buckles, gold lace, and shoulder knots — this man wore a pair of good strong shoes, clrab trousers, and a decent brown coat. lie was very civil to us, and showed us the three Orawing-rooms, "green, blue, and red;" and the grand reception room, an extremely hand- some apartment, 80 fcct by 40, the floor covered with a beautiful English carpet, and having hangings of splendid silk daraasli. These rooms pos.^ess very good mirrors, but have no pictures, save that the "red" room, as if in satire upon the rest, has upon its v.-alls two beautiful engravings, with memorandums to denote that they were presents to the President of the United States from the French minister, for the use of the President's house. We wer3 too late for the usual presentation, but Mr and I sent up our cards, and were graciously informed, with the President's compliments, that he was extremely engaged at the moment, or would have at once received us, but would be glad to see us at ten the next morning, an hour earlier than the usual time. All this was very condescending from the republican king of 25,000,000 of people to a couple of unknown Englishmen, but we were compelled to leave Washington the same night, and so missed the honour of an interview. On the bank of the river, commanded by the frojt windows of the President's house, is the commencement of the Washing- ton monument, a great national work, to which every state has contributed its block of stone, and which is to be 500 feet in height, and of surpassing magnitude in all ways. The works proceed slowly; but, if finished according to the design, it will THE TELEGRAPH. 113 be the highest and the raost costly column, perhap", in the world. XX. New Yokk, Sfpfember 25, 18r>I. The electro-magnetic telegraph — which, by tlie way, was invented originally by Mr. Ronalds, who published his discovery and experiments in 1823 — has worked a revolution every where ; but no country has felt its effect so greatly as America ; and no other country possesses an equal length of telegraphic line, or ean boast of equal cheapness or regi'Iarity in the transmission of information. With us the telegraph lias hitherto been the instrument of the Stock Exchange, and the slave of commerce and the rich, rather than a universal agent used b}' all classes of the people. I noticed with interest the tall red or white poles, surmounted by insulators, and bound together by long lines of telegrai)hic wire, planted like trees through many of the main streets of New York, of Boston, of Philadelphia, of Baltimore; and contrasted this sacrifice of the feelings of street commissioners with the ridiculous regulations enforced at home, by which the ordinary telegraphic wii*es laid through towns, are, to the great injury and obstruction of the enterprise, buried in the ground under flags and pavements. In riding out amongst the forests too, far away from any cleared country, along roads cut straight out of the woods for miles, there again were rough poles, and a single, thin, dan^-ling wire, stretching away into the distance. There were wires under the rivers and over them; across prairies and over mountains. Indeed the single wire telegraph, erected at a cost of some £20 or f 30 a-mile, is pushed out every where, almost iu advance of the population — the pioneer of civilisation. 1. 114 TUir TO TUE UNITED STATES. There are now above eleven thousand 'nlles of telegraphic line in the States. You may transmit information from Quebec or Montreal in the north, to New Orleans in the south — a distance of 2000 miles, or 4O00 miles there and back — and have your reply in about two hours, including delivery and all delays. You may telegraph from New York to Fond du Lac, in Wis- consin, a distance by the telegraph route of 1500 miles, or 3000 miles there and back, and have your reply delivered to you in an hour, including al! delays. A tenth of the time would suffice for mere transmission and reply; but I speak now of the practical interval within which, in the most ad- verse averi»gc circumstances, the message may be sent, writ- ten out, and delivered ; and the reply "'^ceived, transmi^teu, written out, and placed in your hands by messenger. Your message is not, however, invariably written. The printing tele- graph is much ia vogue; and although in our own country it has made no progress, and has been considered rather as p toy, or pretty trifle for experiment, than as adapted to everyday work- ing, and its accidents — in the United States its inventor appears to have so perfected it, that its action is certain and unexcep- tionable. It is relied upon for a large mass of important daily intelligence, including the price lists of stocks and funds, and the market rates for staple commodities. People in America buy by the telegraph, and sell by it— order their beds at hotels, and their clean linen Irom home, by it^ notify all domestic wants of urgency by it — use it as the fairy wand by which distant relatives and friends are brought to speak to them, as it were under their very windows, and at tlieir doors, from the other side of a mighty country. And, in fine, it serves them universally from the cottage to the palace — if such a thing be allowed in so "practical" a country. An old woman, the mother of a labourer in "Wisconsin, addressed me, in the THE TELEORAPn. 115 steamer on Lake Erie, to ask if the telegraph had been extended to Fond du Lac. She had come all alone from some out-of- the-way place in Maine, and was on her way to Fonu du Lac to join her son, she said; and she wished to telegraph hira from New Buffalo, on the east side of Lake Michigan, to meet her at Chicago. A glance at *he map will show the wonder of this. New Buf- falo has CO miles of water between it and Chicago, and Fond du Lac is 350 miles north of Chicago. Fond du Lac is a place of yesterday, and yet it is placed within a few minutes, in point of intelligence, of New York, Boston, or Philadelphia. Thus prices are equalized ; the only disturbing element being cost of conveyance. Labour flovs at once to the place where a demand exists for it. A I "^ker, consul, or employer, Las merely to telegraph to some great cenu e, a thousand miles off, with the word of high wages, cheap bread, and good privileges — the newspaper gets hold of the intelligence, and the stream turns in that direction as truly as water in corning to its level. The secret of this extensive use of the telegraph is the low charge, stimulated of course by the locomotive and enterprisin"' habits of the people, and by the special demand for economy of time in so Avide and so new a country. But the connection between the telegraph and the press is the great aspect of this question : — There are in America some 2500 separate newspapers pub- lished daily, weekly, or at other periods. The total circulation of these newspapers averages one jiillion copies per day. Now see the working of this cheap telegraph. The steamer from England comes in at New York or Boston — say at two o'clock ; at a quarter to four the heads, or leading "items" of news, are printed and circulated in New York by an issue of thirty thousand evening papers. And in two hours the same news is transmitted, prialed, and iu circulation all over I ^ II 116 TIUP TO Tin-: UNITED STATES. w tliose parts of the Union where the telegraph aiul the daily paper exist. Thus you may be sleeping and musing at some out-of-lhe way place, in a newly settled state, having the events of two months ago in your head, when an " extra" of the local paper is put into your hand, and you learn, perhaps, as " im- portant news i'rom Europe," that Lord Palmerston has put on a '.atiff upper lip" to Russia — that a horrid accident has hap- pened on the Great Western Railway — or that som'j Italian songstress is i oining over by next ^a.';ket. This news is i>erhap9 an hour, or at most two or three hours, old, in New York, while a passaire of nine and a half or ten days has brought it from England. This telegraphic communication is outstripped only by the diffusion of light; and— just as in that beautiful and glorious phenomenon of nature — rapidity of progress is accompanied by universality. Not one line or course of country only, but the whole Union, far and near, accessible or otherwise by travel, is thus made by it to ring with the same intelligence, to weep at the same woes, to rejoice at the same successes, and to dis- cuss the same political intbrniation on the sai'ie day. Is it strange, therefore, that news is taking the place of mere leading articles ; and that the truth — the daily history of the world and its leaders, little and big — is becoming, happily, of far more interest than the cloudy speculations, and dreary pointless abuse with which the hacks of political parties still disfigure the press of America ? Men are now reading for news — desiring to form their own opinions, and requiring, in connection with the data they search for, and now obtain at first hand, no better speculations than their own. I conf .S3 to have been startled over and over again by being questioned, far away from those places which seemed to me to be the circles of population and intelligence, on some English THE TIXRClRAiMI. 117 or Continental event, of which my letters of three days back containeil no mention; and by hearing daily from the mouths of the humblest, discussions upon what was passing, which showed, to use an Americanism, that every one was " posted up" to the latest date with all the important news of the world. The telegraph, diiri.ig Congress time, supplies all the princi- pal daily papers with v.wo, three, or sometimes five co'umns of debate per day, tliroughout the ses; i. I s'' uld not wish to draw any parallel between the sys- tems pursued by tlic Telegraph i^ompanies of the States and of England. I perceive that ou'" Telegraph company have reduced their charges very recently, for messages of not ex- ceeding twenty weds, and for distances of 100 miles and under, to 9.s. Cd. ; and for distances of over 100 miles, to 5s. — vvith 3d. for every word additional. This is a great step, and I hope it may increase the revenue of the company. That the English scale of charges can ever approach the American, with profit in the working, is a question upon which I have considerable doubts, founded on the natural difference of the two countries, and on the lesser necessity for the telegraph in an older, far smaller, and more settled dominion, than in a new and widely extending republic. I would, therefore, merely state a few facts, which will give you some idea of the scale of charge adopted in the States on some of the principal lines of commu- nication. The *' North American telegraph line," stands in a similar position to that of our Electric telegraph company. It has the largest extent of communication imder its command; and, though competed with, has the great run of business in its extended district between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,"\Vashington, ii I* \ P ,18 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. and the South and West. It connects with O'Roillcy's "Atlantic, Lake, Ohio, and Mississipi telegraphs." It transmits informa- tion to some 4O0 through stations, and works over several thousand miles of wires. Thj directions issued by this Company to parties sending messages are : — " Write your message plain, so that it can be read by the operator ; also give dates, full address, and signature, as no charge is made for either." The practice of making no charge for addresses, is at once a curtailment of one-third of the cost of short messa-ies as charjied with us. But e' en with this concession, and with low rates also, the Company notify to the public, that they "respectfully solicit a share of tel'graphic business, and in return, every eiTort ".ill be made to give satisfaction to their numerous patrons.'* The current rates charged by this Company for messages, will be gathered from the following selections from their list of rates. I have given English money instead of American : — NEW YORK TO Boston Philadelphia Baltimore New Orleans Natchez Mobile St. Louis Chicagc Fond du Lac Halifax, Nova Scotia Milrl tVolil !«■«■«• Viirk liy Telcfrrupli Uuute. 237 87 184 1,CC3 1,942 1,585 1,100 1,180 1,520 850 For Ten U.n.i.. or k'U. 8. (1. 10 1 Oi 2 1 10 9 7 8 -} C oi 4 2 7 8* 6 lOi Bjirh Mflilitlonol WonL 8. d. 1 1 2 7 7 (> 5 3 64 5 TIIR TELEOnA"n. 110 The ratas charged by the " New lork and New Orleans" line are sirailur. For instance — KEW VOUK TO IMiUnce. 302 Fof Ton Word* Richmond. Vu ■. d. -.' 7} Wi!mingtr.i 599 778 918 I,3»0 1 4 3 j Charleston ■■ 4 III 6 1 7 10 Savannah Cabawba. Ala F.nrh W..n) uiliUtioiiitL •. d. H 4 4 *i G The "Baltimore and New Orlcnng line" announce, that "the business of this extensive line will bo conducted with efficiency, urbanity, and despatch. The uen brought doAvn by the necessity of making a little capital go a great way, and by the sacrifice of many of the elements of permanent endurance which attach to our railways. We have deemed the invention of railways a final improvement in the means of locomdtion, and we have, therefore, constructed our works to last for the " for ever" of brick and mortar. We have made our rails strong enough for any possible weight of engine; our drainage capacious enough to remove any conceiv- able flood; our cuttings and embankments with slopes Avhich defy the chance of slips; our bridges firm enough for many times the weight that can ever come upon thi'm ; and our tunnels with a solidity worthy of works of sucli magnitude, — iiot forgetting their huge stone " faces," seen only by our engine-drivers, but equal to the architecture of the catacombs. Then our display of ornament; our paint, fancy iron-work, and plantations; our Elizabethan architecture and triumphal arches, — are all testi- monies of the spirit of some of our countrymen, who esteem it a public duty to promote the fine arts of their country, without reference to so mercenary a consideration as dividend. In America, the answer to all this is, that " they are a young country, and must be satisfied with the practical and essential." They tell you, also, that they want railways for "work, and that if the roadway is sound, the rails strong enough, and the gradients good, they do not care if the line be single, the bridges of piles, the fencing rough, or the slopes unsoiled. They bay, too, that our desire for " permanence " is a bar to future improvement ; while their plan of putting up Avith " what will do," leaves the door open for invention. Tlius, with the exception of a few of the New England lines, the older railways were at first unballasted, and laid as "flat bar track;" that is, with a thin, flat bar of iron nailed on to longitudinal sleepers. The cars cannot run fast on AMERICAN RAILWAYS. 125 this road ; and " snake heads," the starting up of tlie bar under the wheels, cause frequent accidents. This kind of track has, how- ever, been to a great extent superseded by a well-ballasted road, laid with good transverse sleepers, and solid flat-bottomed rails of from 56 to 72 lbs. to the yard. These rails are either simply spiked dov/n to the sleepers^ or have a wrought or cast iron chair at the joints, the Intermediate sleepers being secured by 3 inch spikes only. The Avrought iron c-iiair most in vogue is made from a piece of half-inch plate, eight inches by six, cut on each side, and turned up to receive the thin, flat, bottom flange if the rail, and has four spike-holes. On many of the newer lines ther ■^ are Avorks as fine and as permanent as our own; and on all these railways the difficult works, tested by their economy, itre worthy of admiration. The terminal stations, too, are often costly, and always capaciou.-i, and the workshops have tools equal or superior to ours in all practi- cal respects. Althougii daily wages arc higher in the States than with us, I imagine that the work of construction is done as cheaply. In a recent contract, made in a part of the country where the average of prices is not disturbed by any transient or per- manent cause, — the prices were, for earth^vork in embankments, 8d. per cube yard ; earthwork in common excavations, 7d. per cube yard; rock cutting, os. 3d. per cube yard; masonry, 29s. 2d. per cube yard; cleaning and grubbing, S^d. per yaru; fencing, 6s. 3d. per rod of 1 6 feet. The Michigan Central Company have let the lifting and reballasting with gravel of 21 miles of their old flat bar track, at 6^d. per cube yard, the company findlu'^ power and Avaggons. Some of the railway enterprises noAV in hand in the States are truly grand conceptions. To make a railway where population \i t$6 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. exists is one thing, bu ■ ':o make one in order to call forth a popu- lation is another. , The "Pacific Railroad," which is the beginning of an iron way from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean, and the "Illinoig Central Railroad," which is the northern link of a complete con- nection between the great lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, are instances of how far enterprise in America can look ahead, and by anticipating, ensure the progress of population, and the culti- vation of otherwise inaccessible tracts of country. To aid both these great enterprises, the Federal government have gi-anted to the states through which the intended lines and their prospective extensions are to pass, alternate sections of land, twelve miles >vide, along the entire course of tiie proposed routes; and the states so endowed with this territory, have re-granted it in pai't to companies willing to construct sections of the railways. Tlie Illinois Central Railroad is to commence at Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and Jlississipi rivers, and proceed through the heart of Illinois to Chicago and Galena. The estimated traffic and profits of this line, which is to open up a country now producing little, are curious. The estimated traffic is stated as — 1 50,000 Tons of Coal, an average of 150,000 „ Luniber, „ loO 1,000,000 „ l^roduce (Indian corn,&c.) 100 125,000 „ Merchandise back, 100 60,000 Passengers, local, 300 26,000 „ tlirongh, 400 20,000 Tons through freight, 400 Mails .. Expenses, at 1 cent per Ton or per Passenger, Dollars. 75 miles, 225,000 300,000 4,000,000 625,000 Estimated Nctt proSt, .. 540,000 "12,000 200,000 6,202,000 98,000 6,300,000 2,58 \0U0 3,720,000 AMERICAN RAILWAYS. 127 The stock estimated to be requireJ for working this traffic is stated to be— 75 engines, 90 passenger cars, 9C0 freight cars, and G40 coal cars. The passenger veliicles or "cars," used on these railways, resemble, in external appearance, the caravans which once were nsed by Mr. AVombwell for his lions ; but they are much larger, and have ten times the number of windows. They are lonf* boxes, either very plain or very gaudy outside, according to their age and the taste of the superintendent, but are usually fitted up inside with taste and great regard for comfort. They work on bogie-frames, and, long as they art, will go round the sharpest curves. They are invariably h'-h enough to enable you to stand upright, and usually large enough to hold from GO to 80 persons, the passengers sitting tv>'o together in rows, and a passage being left down the middle of the vehicle. In cars of the best construc- tion, the back of ecch scat is moveable, so that you may sit either with your face or back to the engine, as you happen to prefer it ; or you may thus separate your party from intrusion. Small plat- forms are placed on the end of each car, upon which the doors open out, and thus you may walk from one end to the otlicr of the train with perfect facility. The conductor marches through the cars, receives your fare, if you have not cliosen to pay it at the depot before starting; and takes your ticket or check, if you have one. To enable the conductor to conirol the motions of the engine-driver in case of need, a cord is run through rings at the top of the cars, and connected through the train; and by means of this he can make two or three simple signals, and stop, start, or reduce the speed of running. Every car has a break at each end; and in very long trains the conductor is assisted by one or more breaksmen. The cars are warmed by stoves in winter. In summer the stove is removed ; but on well-managed lines, a GItcr, containing clear iced water is substituted, and ^ • I 1} '^i ■ 4 i • 1 i28 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATE?. placed in some convenient corner of one or more of the cars, for the use of the passengers. This is a great comfort in hot weather ; for the railroads are usually very dusty in summer, and the fine wood ashes from the engine drive in at the windows of the cars, very frequently in showers. In long through trains, at least one car is fitted with separate closets for ladies and for gentlemen ; and a small compartment is partitioned off, and fitted up with seats and a couch for invalids. These cars cost from £450 to £G00 each. To travel for twelve hours at a stretch, shut up in a car along with sixty or eighty other persons of every class, and of varying manncs, is hardly conformable to exclusive English notions of the comfort of a semi-solitary coupee, and of first-class travelling. Though en most of the lines second class cars are provided, in which the traveller, by the way, may smoke if he please, the low fares and the abundant resources of the people, lead to a very general use of the first-class. Thus you may sometimes see a dis- tinguished doctor of the church, a judge of the supreme court, or one of the President's ministers, in close proximity to some honest carpenter, or village storekeeper on a very small scale; and it is a very common sight to see the elegant silk or satin dress, in true French " mode," of some " upper crust" lady, -„lthin a few feet of the rough coat of a country farmer, or the homely shawl of the farmer's strapping wife or daughter. Yet with all this mixing together of classes ir continual contrast, I never saw any approach to studied rudeness, or even incivility; and it is • :otoriou^ that in the United States— would it were so in England — a lady may travel alone through the whole coun- try, in any public conveyance she chooses, without the chance of insult or personal inconvenience arising from her want of a protector. In this particular, the people of the United States prove their essentially good feeling and gentility, and set an AMERICAN RAILWAYS. 129 example to us which — now that railway travelling has become so great a necessity, that a hundred millions of journeys are made in the United Kingdom every year — it is essential to enforce, if we would ensure the comfort of ladies travelling alone. The fare? charged on the railways in the Northern States are, generally speaking, lower than those demanded in districts of less population: and especially in the Southern States. The through first-class fares on some of the principal Northern rail- ways are as follows :■ — Name of Unilwiiys. Eric Railroad .Mklii;^an Central Pennsylvania Western , Ilousatonic , Bo»iton and Providence ..., Atlantic and St. Lawrence- Long Island , Hudson niver Old Colony Length, 4(;" 21S isn 200 88 43 47 95 75 ft7 state of Fir.-t Class Fare IHT mile. ■^' 'w York -MU'liiSan Pcnnsj-lvania -Massachusetts Connecticut Massachusetts Maine Haw York New York Massachusetts 8. d. 0* li U u u n 01 11 1* 0| ii The usual far'33 on the Southern lines may be gathered from the following selection : — I) j f I ill Name of RuUnrnys. Baltimore and Ohio Central Virginia Georgia Macon and Western Montgomery and West Point South Carolina Ditto Columbia Branch West Feliciana Wilmington and We'don ... Lengtli. 179 71 171 101 08 130 68 2G 102 State of Maryland &Va Virginia Georgia Ditto Alabama South Carolina Ditto Louisiana North Carolina Furc iwr mile. & d. 2 2| U 2 a li 2« 2i IJ ij 1 130 TRIP TO THK UNITED STATES. It must be recollected that, so far as the elements of the cost of working are concerned, America is a dear country; yet we see fares in force, even where no competition of any kind exists, from twenty-five to fifty per cent, lower than our own. The dif- ference is to be accounted for primarily by the lower first cost of the railways themselves, and in lesser degree by the lower speed and more economical system of working adopted. Capital must have its return : and though competition may bring down prices for a time, or permanently, the public will ultimately have to pay such rates as will not merely defra- the bare cost ot working, but yield a reasonable pr< fit also; and the scale of that profit must always be more or less mea- sured by the extent of capital requiring a divi ' nd. Therefore the public have a deep, though undoubtedly indirect, interest in cheapening, instead of enhancing, the first cost of railways. Then, again, in England we cover our lines over with superintendents, police, guards, porters, and a host of other officials; and relieve the passenger of many of those troubles which, in America, he contends with himself. Travellers in our country would " write to the Times" in a moment, if they were not attended almost from the door of the booking-office at one end of a railway, to the cab-stand at the other, by some smirking official in full uniform. In America, the traveller " fixes " most matters himself. You go up to some gentleman at a station, whom you suspect to be one of the porters of the company, — for, as no uniform is worn, the identification is difficult, and request to be informed " If he is one jf the offi- cials?" He will, in all probability, reply, "Well, suppose I am, now?" On which you will politely point to your trunk, and state that you require its deposit in the baggage car. If the trunk be a very little one, tiie chances are that he will do \ AMEUICAy KAILV-.VrS. 131 what you ask ; but if, unfortunat ,iy, it shouM be a very ig one, he niay answer, " Well, now, j^acss I ain't." When the train 1 .eady to move on, the conductor usually ca% out twice, "All ON boaud ?" and then off it goes; the man never thinking it necessary to see that all his passengers arc inside: .and if his attention should be called to the fact, that some pursy gentleman is left behind, he will most likely lean over, and, listlessly examining the di:.tancod passenger, coolly Si y, " Suspect, now, he'll come by next train, he will." Americans learn very early the excellent rule of self-dependence; and the railway travelling public wisely consider it their duty to look after themselves. So there is less need of porter. , police, interpreters, and enquiry offices than with us. Tho locomotive use 1 in the United States is an ugly machine, with a " pilot," or iron guard before it. It runs on ten, twelve, or fourteen wheels, in order more e(iually to distribute the weight in driving over light metals ; and aas a chimney, broad -i.t the top, and narrow at the bottom, like a great inverted bell, which assists the air draught. These machines cost about £1,500 each. They burn wood, in lieu of coke or co»l, almost universally. This necessitates frequent stoppages, every- twenty or twenty-five miles, to take in wood at stations, and the heat evolved is not so regular and constant as that derived froui the consumption of coke. The average cost for this fuel is from twopence three fai-thirgs to fivepcnce per mile run. The wages, or " compensation," of engine-drivers will average about two dollars a-day, an extreme price being two dollars and a l.ilf ; but they work longer hours, and run more miles with the same engine, than is usual with us. Firemen's wages are seldom more than half those of drivers. The conductor, who is a for more important officer than the guard of an English train, usually receives from two to three dollars a-day. I I '1 132 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATE?. The freight cars arc hirge and long, like the passenger cars. They are usually built to hold from seven to twelve tons, and are almost invariably covered, having slide doors at the side. This class of waggon is jsed for all purposes; and I have seen a horse, a cow, a hogshead of sugar, and two or three tons of shingle board, all loaded in the same vehicle. Those cars cost from £150 to £230 each. The working of the Massachusetts railways may perhaps be fairly taken • illustrating the ordinary mileage, earnings, and expenses, of American railways, where, from the number of lines open, there is considerable competition. The statistics of these roads, as made up last year, show the following results: — Total number of Miles of Railway then oper .... 1,025 Total number of Miles run by Trains in year 4,436,895 Number of Miles run by Passenger Trains 2,608,201 Number of Miles run by freight (Gooils) Trains 1,768,694 Number of Passengers carried 8,78i,742 Number of Tons of Merchandise carried 2,2o:),165 To-"' Income from Passengers £712,810 : Total Income from Merchandise £574,723 Total income from all sources £1.350,833 Total Working Charges, and all other Expenses £797,436 These figures give the following averages: — «. (I. Average Gross Eiunings per Mile run 6 1 Average Expenses do 3 7:^ Average Passenger Receipts do 5 4 Average Merchandise Receipts do 6 5 Average Sum Received for each Passenger I 8 Average Sum Received for each Ton of Merchandise 5 3 -.^''T AMKRICAN RAILWAYS. 133 I must observe, that the sums charged as " cxpen?©?'," seem to include many items which are not Ptrictly working charges*. The railway companies in Massachusetts and New Yorlc States arc managed witli great prudence, and reserve finids are retained in hand, sometimes to a considerable amt-.u:*;. The same may be said of many of the companies in I'cnnsyhania and elsewhere. But, at the same time, it must be observe'' Miat in a majority of cases, the policy pursued is to extract a dividend at the earliest possible moment; to pay that dividend to the last farthing of available surplus over working expenses; and to trust to the increase of traffic for providing, wlien the emergency may arrive, for the deterioration of the permanent way, and the rebuilding or replacement of worn-out stock. Very few com- panies, indeed, systematically provide for the renewal of the perishable parts of their proper'" by a reserve fund, regularly put aside out of the annual revenue ; and the reason given for the omission is, simp'y, that by the time permanent way reciuircs renewal, or timber bridges and viaducts replacen\cnt, the traffic of the lines will have become so greatly developed that it will be then more advisable toenla/ge the capital to the extent requiicd, and replace and renew every thing on a more permanent and substantial scale. Timber is cheap; and the sleepc*; or "sill," v/hich costs us four shillings, is vo be had for a shilling here. The Pliiladelphia and Reading Railroad Company, whose ac- counts give an extraordinary amount of valuable statistical detail have a renewal fund, based upon an assumed calculation of so much ^ er ton conveyed. For instance, in the past year, a gross weight of 297,108,427 tons has been taken as conveyed over one mile ; and tlu-ee-halfpencc per hundred tons s'^ conveyed, or, in total, £l8,o68, has been put aside to meet renewals of road and stock. This is on nir ty-five miles of double line, bearing a gi'oss revenue of £492,483 per annum, or £.!I,184 per mile 4 ■ ? i ll 4 < 134 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. which is the largest mileage receipt in America. The gross expenses of this line average three shillings and sevenpence- halfpenny per train mile; and the gross receipts, eight shillings and fourpence-halfpenny per train mile, which latter is an extremely high average. The enormous trains, which carry a load of three hundred and seventy-two tons of coal, for which the company's usual charge is five shillings and nine- pence-halfpenny per ton for ninety -five miles, or nearly three farthings per mile, yicli these heavy receipts per mile. XXII. Philadelphia. No subject can be more interesting than the organisation of the public land system of the United States. After the struggle for indepen.ience, the founders of the Republic turned their attention to the establishment of a system for the division and disposal of the vast tracts of land which were either then the property of the nation, or miglit afterwards be acquired. A committee of the Continental Congress, consisting of Thomas Jeiferson, chairman, and delegates Williamson, Howell, Gerry, and Reas, was appointed, and on the 7th May, 1784, they brought up "an ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of land in the Western territory, and for other purposes therein mentioned." This ordinance stipulated ;hat the public land should be divided into " hundreds," of ten miles square each, and that these " hundreds" should be subdivided into " lots " of one mile square each; each lot being numbered from 1 to 100, " beginning on the north-west cox'ner, and counting from west to east, and from east to west, continuously." Also, that the land, as so subdivided, should be offered, in the first instance, for sale by public auction. I PLBLIC LAND?. 13o The ordinance was amended, on discussion, by Congress, the size of the "hundred," or "township," being reduced to six square miles, and was finally adopted on the 20th May, 1785. A very interesting little book, published by J. H. Colton, of New York, " The Western Tourist," gives the following suc- cinct description of the practical mode in which the surveys, sale, and location of these lands are eifected : — Our land system thus founded has gradually grown up to its present perfection, having been modified from time to time, as the condition of the country and the wants of the people required. This system, the work of our republican fathers — so simple in its theory and practice, so certain and admirable in its results — is now operating upon the organized land districts of the United States, as found in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and in the newly-formed territory of :Minesota. The principles of surveying are uniform and very easy of comprehension. Meridian lines are established and surveyed in a line due north from some important point, generally from the junction of some important water-courses. These arc intersected at right angles with a base line. On the meridians the "townships" arc numbered north or south from the hase lines, and on the base line " ranges " arc numbered east or west of the meridian. There arc si.K principal meridians used in the surveys of the western states and territories. The " first " principal meridian is a line due north from the mouth of the Great Miami River to the old northern boundary of Ohio, with a base line extending due E. on the 41st degree of north latitude. The " second " principal meridian is a line due north from a point on the Ohio river to the northern boundary of Indiana. The "third" principal meridian is a line due north from the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the northern boundary of Illinois. The base line for the second and third principal mcri'lians commcn.:os on the Ohio at 38 c'eg. 30 min. N. lat., and extends due W. to the Mississippi. The " fomth " principal meridian commences on the Illinois river, at a point 72 miles due north from its mouth (here also commences its base line, and runs due west to the Mississippi river). The meridian continues north (.crossing and recrossing the Mississippi river) to the Wisconsin river, with l! li 13G TRIP TO TEE UNITED STATES. an additional base line on the north boundary of Illinois for the surveys in Wisconsin, The " fifth " principal meridian is a line beginning at the mouth of the Arkansas river, tlience 'hiough the states of Arkansas and Slissouri to township 54 north, where it crosses the Mississippi, iccrosscs into Iowa, and continues to the Mississippi river near Cassville. . Its base line extends due west from the mouth of White river to the western boundary of Arkansas. The " sixth " princ-pal meridian is used for the state of Michigan, and begins on the south boundary of the state in a due north direction from the junction of the Maumee and Au-G!aize rivers to the Strains of Mackinaw, having a base line crossing the peninsula in a due west line from about the centre of Lake St. Clair to Lake Jlichigan. When a meridian and base line have been laid out, township lincy are run (at a dis- tance of six miles) parallel to the meridian and base line. These form townships of .six miles sipiarc, containing an area of 36 scpiare miles. Each square mile is a " sec- tion," and contains 640 acres. The sections arc numbered from 1 to 36, beginning at the north-east corner of the township, as sei:n in the annexed diagram. Sections are subdivided into half sections of 320 acres (see diagram No. 1); into quarter sections of ICO acres (see No. 2) ; and half quarter sections of 80 acres (see No. 3). Prior to the year 1820 no i)erson could purchase less than a quarter, but in that year legal authority was given for the division and sale of the sections into eighths. And in 1832, as a further accom.nodation to settler ■. they were divided into sixteenths, or 40 acre lots (see No. 4). The following diagrams will illustrate the plan of dividing adopted in the surveys; — No. 1. No. 2. Xo. 3. No. \. 6 5 4 3 2 1 ' 8 9 10 11 12 18 17 16* 15 14 13 VJ 20 21 22 23 24 1 30 29 28 27 26 25' i 31 32 33 34 35 36 II • The 16th section of each townsliip is appropriated for school purposes in all tlie neir states. h PUBLIC LANDS. 137 The privilego of having thcin thus minutely subdivided was, by a<'t of Congress, 1846, extended to all purchasers at private sale. The corners of townships, sections, and quarter sections, arc designated by inonunicnts established by the surveyors on the field. After the lands have been thus surveyed, they are proclaimed by the President for sale, and olTered at public auction at not less than 1 "25 dol. per acre ; and such as thereafter remain unsold are subject to be purchased at private saic at that rate. As only a small ])ortion of the lands thus offered are disposed of at public sales, our own citizens, as well as eniigrants from all parts of the world, have at all times an opportunity of selectinji and purchasing at private sale rich and fertile tracts possessing every requisite for desirable farms. The security of titles emanating under this system has greatly contributed to the rapid settlement of the public lands. The positions of all tracts are shown by the surveys on the ground, in strict conformity with legislative direction ; so that even when the monuments, by which they arc indicated, perish under the consuming influence of time, they can still be identified, and their boundaries determined with unemng accuracy. In conveying these lands to purchasers, the brief designation of the numlwr of the lot, or its position in the section, with tlie number of the section, township, and range, will as fully and certainly convey the title as could be done by the most critical detail of boundaries and laboured description of courses and distances. This is fully shown by the fiict, that although this system has been extended over hundreds of millions of acres, including every variety of soil and climate, occupied by jieople from almost overy civilized portion of the vorld, litigation, as to boundaries, has been so incon- siderable as to place the superiority of this national system in striking con- trast with those of the older states of the confederacy. Indeed, where there has been litigation, it has been mainly caused by frauds, and not by any defect in the plan of operation. This wise Jind comprehensive systom has had more to do with the success of the " republican experiment," as it is called, than any other circumstance. For all the conditions — of open pur- chase without favouritism or ditliculty of actress, of easy iden- tification, and of safe and simple title without legal expense, or the chance of litigation, required to assure and facilitate the Ai ,s 1^1 i •^m^ms:m^s^ 138 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. operations of settlers from all parts of the workl are thus provide^l for, as the result has proved, with entire success. Under this system the country has become settled ^vithout noise, confusion, or dispute ; and tliose strangers who have purchased an interest in the soil have, by the very fairness and enlightenment of the conditions of their admission to the Republic, become attfiched to its institutions. Not unmindful of the mental, while considering the material interests of the country, the originators of this system made a provision for education part of their great scheme, and more recently every sixteenth section of land in each township, or one thirty-second part of the whole of the public land, has been set apart for the support of schools, and for general purposes of tuition. The interest of the squatters has not been forgotten ; and although these persons have obtained a clandestine occupation, Congress, considering that they have improved the soil upon which they have settled, by their own labour, has given them the right of pre-emptive purchase, at a minimum price, to the exclusion of other parties. The manngeraent of the public land is vested in a Com- missioner, subordinate to the Secretary of the Interior ; and a Surveyor and Receiver is placed in the central portion of each state in which public land exists. The public lands embrace an estimated area of 1,584,000,000 ivcres, of which 146,000,000 had been disposed of up to the end of 1849 ; leaving 1,438,000,00 J acres unsold. -gaasg- .--T^ K rrnr i ? [ 4afr . -.^at-^ . 'y^Wtr. -r!BnjrsiaB ^-*mr. OMNIBUSES — DAGUERRKOTTPE. XXIII. 139 New York, Septemler 25th, 1851. The United State? excel in two very opposite features of the age — omnibuses and the daguerreot}iie. The omnibuses of New York, and of other large cities, are comfortable, commodious in size, and driven rapidly. In New York they are worked in districts, each omnibus plying between particular streets intersecting Broadway or other great thorough- fares. The usual charge is at the rate of three cents, or three- halfpence per mile ; these low fares contrast with the high fares charged for cabs — the latter being at the rate of half a dollar a mile, or a dollar an hour — and immense numbers of persons make use of them. Broadway is, if possible, more completely infested by omnibuses than Cheapside ; and if he omnibus of New- York be smaller than that of London, the greater numbi ply- ing make up for the ditference of size. a hot weather, ^ e '«le do not " admire " walking; and the open sides and well-ni. .^ blinds of the New York omnibus, render it a very pleasant means of circulating through the streets. The American omnibus cannot afford the surplus labour of a conductor. The driver lias entire charge of the machine; he drives; opens and shuts, or "fixes," the door; takes the money; exhorts the passengers to be " smart," all by himself— yet he never quits his box. He keeps command of the door, by having beside him the end of a leather strap, which is fastened to the door, and passes along the roof through a number of rings to a catch by his side. When he wishes to open the door, lie slackens, when he desires to shut it, he tightens the strap, and thus no one can give liim leg-bail and be off without paying fare. The money is paid I >'l I dut^?&sb£-^; 140 TRIP TO THE UXITED STATES. (1^ to him, and directions to stop given, tlirough a liole in the roof just behind his seat ; and it is marvellous with what celerity and sang-froid \\Q takes your money, and perhaps gives you change, with one hand, while driving his team with the other through a crowded neighbourhood. He seems, too, to possess the power of speaking to his horses and his passengers at the same time, and sometimes you doubt wliether he is not practising a kind of ventriloquism — for you hear him call out to you the name of your street, invite some new customer to join his vehicle, and ironi- cally inform rival drivers that he "just does guess they are particular smart" for running across his track or stopping in his Avay — almost in the same breath. The daguerreotype is universal in the States. Whether the Califoniian fever has induced people going out to leave their portraits behind them, never expecting to come back themselves ; or whether the twelve millions of possible Presidents consider it sim})Ie justice to posterity to preserve their likenesses — I know not. Certain it is, that wherever you go you see daguerreotypists by the dozen ; I believe I noticed about a score at Saratoga, as many at Chicago, two or three in each small town elsewhere ; and I counted fifty here, ia Broadway, and then gave over from fatigue. The artists who devote themselves to this beautiful invention in New York, have an institution of their own, and are doing much to promote the improvement of the art. The clear atmosphere which usually prevails is greatly in their favour, and the specimens they obtain usually possess, in consequence, a strength of outline and a brilliancy, which you seldom see in similar works at home. The daguerreotypists have a low " tariff" of prices, and thus bring the use of the invention down to the means of all classes. Von "i\i\v h.avo vour ni'inifold beauties perpetuated in " small," bv ]v CROTON AVATEn WOUKS. U\ a thircl-rate practitioner, for a shilling Engli.^li ; while, for a dol- lar, you may have a magnificent likeness by a fir.st-rate artist. For two dollars, you may bo " taken," and also " done up," in a mo- rocco case; and for five dollars, you may have every button displayed on the largest scale. The prices charged are not more than a third of those demanded in London, and the like- nesses are fully equal, if n(jt superior, to any executed by the first artists of the metropolis, or of Paris. The use of the daguerreotype is not confined to portrait- making. It is extended to landscapes. At Niagara, for instance, it is used to obtain views of the Falls; and you may have a fine picture, with the additional attraction of seeing yourself dei)icted, in a sentimental attitude, in tlie foregi'ound, — taken for five dollars. \ ► V XXIV. New York, Sepiemher 2(jtk, 1851. Having a day to spare, before leaving New York, I joined a party and drove out to visit the " Higli Bridge" across the Harlaem river, over which is conveyed the water-sup[>ly of New York. Before 1S42, New York was extremely ill supplied with water, and its inhabitants suifered greatly from the bad (Quality, scarcity, and dearness, of this prime necessary of life. In lS3o, however, the citizens decided to construct the " Croton Water Vv^orks," wliich were formally opened in July, ] 842. The cost of the works was nearly £3,000,000 sterling. The water is derived from the Croton river, at a point about forty miles from New York, and five miles from the Hudson. Near the source of the supply, a reservoii', covering 400 acres, and I I 142 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. containing 500,000,000 gallons, is provided. The aqueduct which proceeds from this reservoir is eight feet five inches high, and about seven feet wide, and has a descent of thirteen and a quarter inches per mile: it is capable of discharging 60,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. The aqueduct crosses the Iltirlaem river, a branch of the "East river," by the " High Bridge," a work of great magnitude, and exhibiting the utmost engineering ability. This bridge, which is built of fine stone, is 1450 feet long, and has fourteen arches; eight of them of eighty feet span, and six of fifty feet span; and its upper level is one hundred and fourteen feet above tide water. It cost more than £180,000. The aqueduct pours its supply into the " receiving reservoir," in Eighty-sixth Street; and this again communicates with the "distributing reservoir," in Fortieth Street. There are now laid down, in New York, nearly 200 miles of pipe, varying from six to thirty- six inches in diameter. It is estimated that the water supply would be abundant were the city five times its present size. The water is clear, pure, and delightful ; and no city in the world is now furnished with this wholesome article in greater abundance, or of better quality. The drive from New York, along the high banks of the Hudson, to the Harlaem river, is very pleasing. The scenery of the river is beautiful; and the number of villas placed along the banks, amidst plantations and ornamental groves, show that these fine situations are eagerly sought after by the richer classes. In driving through the suburbs of the city, I was forcioly struck with the rapid alternation Avhich, even here, is apparent, between the splendour and luxury of wealthy residences, and the poverty of the hastily built shanties in which many of the new-comers have installed themselves. A quarter of an hour's drive brought us from the "west end" of New Yorii to a small collection of wooden ^ MARSHAL IIAYNAU. 143 huts, on a ban-en and stony elevation, overlooking the river — which belong to some tquatters, who i»osses3 i itle to the soil on which they have placed themselves, and who will be cleared away without remorse, should the now valueless land become saleable for building purposes. But this contrast ai)pears every where ; and the strange mixture of the permanent and the temporary; the splendid and the squalid; the refined and the savage — is a feature which must distinguish the face of all new countries from their older rivals. We spent some time in examining the " High Bridge," and in walking over and under it. On the eastern side of the river we found that usual resort of the idle public, a shooting-gallery; and on entering it, at the earnest solicitation of its proprietor, we discovered that a small figure of poor Marshal Haynau was used as a target, and that the adventurous marksman was thus enabled to satisfy public opinion by riddling the poor effigy with pistol balls. The prospect from the terrace of the Washington Hotel, on the New York side of the river, above the Bridge, is extremely beautiful. It is the river at Richmond over again, but in the larger and harder features of American scenery. As we stood on the balcony — the river far down below, spanned by the white stone arches of the Bridge, and enclosed by high rocky banks, partially covered by trees, now tinged with the fading tints of autumn; a fertile country, enlivened by bright white churches and pretty villages here and there; and the dark woods of Long Island in the distance — I thought I never gazed upon a fairer scene. Holiday people come out here to enjoy the scenery; and the " High Bridge " is a favourite place of resort. # 144 TRIP TO THE UXITED STATES. XXV. Steam Ship Pacific, at Ska, October 6, 1851. Saturday, the t\vcnty-sc> nth of September, came : my leave of absence was out; and I left New York in the " Pacific," one of the steamers of the « Collins" or American mail line, hoi)ing to reaeh Liverpool on Tuesday, the 7th October. Though anxious to return home, and influen<:cd by that yearning for ivork which an unusually long absence from business produces— I still quitted New York with regret ; for I left behind me many kind friends, who had made my short stay in, and rapid journeys through, the States, most agreeable. It is a happiness, always, to see and lo learn something new; and every one whose ears and eyes are open must find travelling delightful. But how much is the happiness ard the delight inci^ased when you meet with a new continent, a new spirit, a new rate of progress, new institutions— in short, every thing new, to purely English or European notions,— in the midst of a people speaking the language of your own country, and regarding that country with filial reverence as their fothcrland. Then, again, in this youthful and improved edition of our own land, travelling is free,— there are no passports, no secret po^'-e, no military despotism, no suppression of political discus- sions—none of those painful and annoying contrasts to the freedom and unimpeded locomotion of Great Britain, which the Continent for several summers pjist has presented. You come io this country when you will, travel through it where you choose, and leave it when you like,— and no official ventures to ask your business, or to trouble you even to write down your name. But beyond this, the traveller is met by all with whom he comes in contact, especially by tlie native American, with a HOMEWARDS, 145 warmth of liospitality, and a sincere desire to throw open to him every source of information, which cannot be exceeded, a^.^ which I fear is not equalled, by the attention paid to tourists in En^-Uind. It was a delightful morning when, accompanied by several friends residing in New York, I went on board the PaciPc ; and the sunshine it'^elf could not be more bright than ray recollections of the genuine good feeling and kindness I had met with. But the tang, tang, tang, of the ship's bell soon warned the friends of all of us to go ashore, and at twelve o'clock v/e steamed out of the Bay, after many adieus, and amidst frequent salutes from the shore and from the steamers at anchor. We had fine weather for a day or two, and then got into dense fogs, which, after two or three days' endurance, were fol- lowed by drizzling rain and a gradually increasing western gale. The wind, however, was -with us; and though the vessel rolled uneasily — having little loading, the breeze right aft, and all her sails set — we did not heed it, since the daily reckoning showed a rapid progress — homeivards. We had but a small number of passengers on board, and had full opportunity of enjoying the ample accommodation of this splendid vessel. Amongst our complement were some Ger- man families returning to the continent — after an experiment for a year or two of living in America — to sell off their property, and finally bring over their remaining kindred to the new country. One old gentleman told me he was tired of Germany ; and, though not hopeless of her destiny, he conceived it his duty to transplant his family to America, believing that it was far better for them, looking to recent political events, to risk the per- manence of a new country, than to struggle, suffer, and perhaps die, in endeavouring to improve an old one. We had on board, also, two fine intelligent men, brothers, who, thirteen years ago, left Scotland to settle in Australia. i 14G TRir TO THE UNITED STATES. They had prospered out there, and were returning, for the first 'inie since their departure, to their native hind. They were full of the pleasure of again seein-; their old father, who would be waiting their arrival in London with deep anxiety; and it was indeed delightful to watch how their facis beamed as some familiar name, or well-known place at homo, was every now and then recalled in conversation . They had (piittcd ^Iclbourne about six months ago in a wool vessel, sailed round to Callao, and on to Lima, and then crossed the Isthmus to Chagrcs; from whence they had gone to Ilavanah, and then journeyed to New Orleans, and up the jMississipi into the heart of the United States. At ILuanah they had seen the execution of several of the Cuban invaders, and had been present at the death of Lopez. He was executed, they said, on a high scaffold placed in a large square, the place of execution being surrounded by troops, so that no attempt at rcLcue would have teen possible. Ho was brought out clothed in the long white dress and high white cap appro- priated to criminals. He ascended the scalfold with ditnculty, haviii" been wounded in several places, and bitten on the legs by the bloodhoands used to scent him out as he lay concealed amongst the woods. His face showed no sign of fear; and he was as composed as if the occasion were one of ordinary character. He attempted to speak ; but, uttering something distasteful to the authorities, he was at once pulled back, uttering in Spanish the correctly reported words, "Adieu, dear Cuba!" He sat down ([uietly in the chair, bis head resting a'^ainst the beam, and the iron collar was placed round his neck by the executioner. He adjusted the collar himself as vvell as his pinioned hands would alloAv him; and then the fotal lever — a long iron handle — was turned sharply round, his head fell upon his breast, his hands were twice raised convulsively, and in an instant he was motionless and dead. A GATE — AX OLD ACQUAIKTANCE. 147 AVe liad Leen steaming, sailing, and rolling our way home- wards, with a cheerfulness which neither winds nor waves could blow away or drown, for some days. At length came the most stormy day of our passage. It blew a gale of wind, and tlio sea ran high. The vessel rolled her worst; and our fellow-paspengers, tired of vain attempts to keep their legs on deck, one by one slunk out of sight — some hiding themselvcM in their berths, others clingin- with desperate tenacity to the benches of the smoking-room, and the rest gathering in sullen knots on the stair-heads and in the passages, or crouching over brandy and water around the cabin tables. Breakfast was a miserable meal — lunch still worse. Every one looked damp and disconsolate. Even the experienced American traveller, who, the night befi , entertained us with adventures at the North Pole, and was tlien full of Sir .John Franklin, looked as if he had left hope — with his wife and family — beliind. The only really cheerful face was that of Mr. , an English merchant, whose acquaintance I had made on coming out in the Asia, and whom I again met, unexpectedly, but witli pleasure, on board this vessel at New York. He and I had travelled over similar portions of the States; and as wc sailed homewards, we had day by day entertained each other with our comparative views of American men, women, politics, and scenery, and Avith all the ridiculous stories we had picked up. Like me, he had a wife and little children at home. He was anxious to return, and counted the hours which must intervene before his arrival, and the miles of water Avhich separated him from his native land. Not a day passed without some speculation between us as to ichen we should reach home. After lunch on the day T speak of, we went on deck together, and smoked and talked, while the vessel rolled and the wind whistled around us. We had the deck almost to ourselves; — a w^^w^^^m;x^y^m_ I { 148 TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES. gentleman from New Orleans, and a German merchant from New York, whc sat together by the funnel, ourselves, and the men on duty, being the only persons visible. Mr. was as merry as a schoolboy, and smoked as complacently as if seated in his garden-chair on a fine summer's evening; instead of upon a wet and slippery deck, one moment a precipice overhanging the ssa, and the nex^ a wall erected before him, with a heavy sea around, and a ccpper-coloured sky, hiding every vestige of the sun, above. Finishing his cigar, he invited me to go with him on to the fore- castle deckl in the bows of the vessel. I demurred, more from idleness than dislike, but did not refuse; and, after a joke or two, he rose, spoke to the mate on duty, and went down below, as I thought to obtain another cig^r. In a few minutes afterwards there was a cry amidships, " A man overboard: " I ran to the wheel and passed the word. Tlie life- buoy was thrown over in a moment, and lifting my eyes, I saw the head of the unfortunate man, whom I did not then recognise, just above the water, about a hundred yards astern. He had got out 01 the track of the vessel, and was swimming well, but Uie immense waves hid him every other moment from view. The engines were stopped— the captain ran on deck— tbe life- boat was got ready to lower— the second mate stnpped, and the men kicked oif their shoes, ready for an attempt, full of peril and little likely to be successful, to reach the drowning man. In the mean time, the first mate mounted the cross-trees, and after him went the captain ; and just as the anxious crowd, whom the event had called on deck, were expecting the sails to bo taken in, the vessel to be put about, and the boat to be lowered— a signal from aloft told us that the poor fellow had been seen to turn over in the dead-water of a huge breaking wave, and go down, never to rise again. A MAN OVERBOAi;D. 149 Missing Mr. , I went below to tell him of our misfor- tune. As I reached the cabin door, some one met me, and said, " It is your friend ! " I was struck dumb. I ran into bis berth. He was gone. "We were twelve hundred miles from land, encircled by great dark waves, and frowned upon b murky and threatening clouds. No vessel was in sight. At last on we went, leaving that sad spot farther and farther behind us. The wind blew, and we flew before it; and as if to mock us, just as the vessel got into rapid motion, the sun shot out for an instant in one broad smiling ray, which streaked the surface of the Avatcr, and painted the crest of every wave wHh rainbow c«. lours, and then disappeared, leaving; the sea and sky as dark and threatening as before. Tiiis misfortune has saddened the i-emaindc • of our passage, and to-day, ibr the first time siacc it happened, we have to some degree recovered our spirits on gaining sight of Cape Clear. To-morrow we hope to be in Liverpool. For myself, I look forward to landing with the greatest pleasure, for I am approaching those who will be anxiously looking out for my return ; and I am returning n invigorated health, to that which, after all, is the greatest of all pleasures, v/hen done with all one's heart, and with any degree of success — THE BLESSING OF DAILY WORK. XnE END. K M'CORuroDALE AND CO., PBINTEKS, LONDON — W0BK3, NEWTON. *-'^^-«^ '■^nm^^'