- 
 

A 
 
 SUMMARY VIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 AMERICA: 
 
 COMPRISING A 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY, AND OF 
 SEVERAL OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES ; 
 
 AND 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 ON THE SOCIAL, MORAL AND POLITICAL CHARACTER OF 
 THE PEOPLE: 
 
 BEING THE RESULT OF 
 
 OBSERVATIONS AND ENQUIRIES 
 
 DURING 
 
 A JOURNEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 L: 
 
 BY AN ENGLISHMAN. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND ; AND 
 W. BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1824. 
 
G.,Woodfall, Printer, 
 Augel Court, Skinner Street, London. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 So many books respecting America have 
 of late years been given to the public, that 
 it seems incumbent on me to state the mo 
 tives, which induce me to offer this volume 
 to their notice. Soon after I landed at 
 New York, I began to make memoran 
 dums of those things which attracted my 
 attention either by their novelty or import 
 ance, and continued to do so during my 
 stay in the country. On looking over 
 them, I thought that I could compile a vo 
 lume of a nature likely to be generally in 
 teresting ; an opinion in which I was con 
 firmed, by an examination of the works of 
 preceding travellers. For though a tolera 
 bly correct estimate of America may be; 
 A 2 
 
 151683953 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 formed by comparing the different ac 
 counts, there is no one, so far as my inform 
 ation extends, which gives under general 
 heads those particulars that are the most 
 interesting to common readers. To supply 
 this deficiency has been my object. The 
 reader therefore is not to expect to find in 
 this book, profound disquisitions on sta 
 tistics or politics. I have rather endeavour 
 ed to give a popular sketch of a variety of 
 subjects, hoping that all may find some 
 thing to please, while few will have reason 
 to complain of being tired. Much of the 
 information will I doubt not be novel to 
 most, as it is on subjects but little advert 
 ed to by the writers who have preceded 
 me. 
 
 As I have ventured to draw general con 
 clusions, it is needful for me to state, that my 
 travels though extensive, were confined to 
 the following States : Massachusetts, Rhode 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jer 
 sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 Virginia and North Carolina. Perhaps if 
 I had gone further west and south, I might 
 have arrived at some conclusions different 
 to those which I have now formed; but as 
 my engagements were of a kind offering 
 me considerable leisure, of which I en 
 deavoured to make good use, I trust that 
 few errors of consequence will be found. 
 My range was certainly sufficiently wide 
 for the formation of correct opinions, as it 
 enabled me to see the difference between 
 the old and newly settled parts, and between 
 those where slavery prevails and where it is 
 abolished. It was in 1823, and part of the 
 preceding year, that my journey was made. 
 
 Some apology seems necessary for the 
 occasional repetitions of particular facts 
 and opinions. It will I think be found that 
 they seldom or never occur except in illus- 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 tration of something different to what pre 
 ceded. They are certainly not introduced 
 for the purpose of swelling the volume ; 
 and if they contribute to clearness of con 
 ception, they are surely excusable. 
 
 If I had been writing for rny own coun 
 trymen only, some of the paragraphs would 
 never have appeared ; but as it is probable, 
 and indeed almost certain, that my book, 
 if of any value, will obtain readers in Ame 
 rica, I have been willing to call their atten 
 tion to several objects particularly deserv 
 ing of it. Some of these however, may be 
 equally useful to English readers, by lead 
 ing them to examine into matters of a 
 similar nature at home. Should such be 
 their effect, a double purpose will be an 
 swered, and I shall have the satisfaction of 
 believing that I have not written, in vain. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Face of the Country 1 
 
 II. Cities, Towns and Villages 21 
 
 III. Modes and Conveniences of Travelling 39 
 
 IV. The Men 56 
 
 V. The Women / 63 
 
 VI. Domestic Life 77 
 
 VII. Spirit of Conversation 92 
 
 VIII. Intelligence 102 
 
 IX. Patriotism 114 
 
 X. Hospitality 125 
 
 XI. Politeness 150 
 
 XII. Religion 162 
 
 XIII. The Episcopalians 175 
 
 XIV. The Catholics 191 
 
 XV. The Friends 199 
 
 XVI. The Methodists 211 
 
 XVII. The Shakers 217 
 
 XVIII. The Indians 235 
 
 XIX. Slavery 249 
 
 XX. The Slave Trade 273 
 
 XXI. The Free Blacks 280 
 
 XXII. The Colonization Society 303 
 
 XXIII. The English Language 326 
 
 XXIV. Oratory 335 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 (?it 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXV. Literature 349 
 
 XXVI. The Government 379 
 
 XXVII. Political Parties 403 
 
 XXVIII. Law and Jurisprudence 414 
 
 XXIX. Manufactures and Commerce 432 
 
 XXX. The Fine Arts 445 
 
 XXXI. Morals 451 
 
 XXXII. National Character 460 
 
 XXXIII. Conclusion.. 494 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 Page 370, line 17,/or Louis read Lucicn. 
 
- 
 
 A 
 
 SUMMARY VIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 THE face of the country in the United States 
 is, as may be supposed, exceedingly varied. The 
 land for a prodigious extent on the borders of 
 the Atlantic is flat, and in Virginia for a great 
 distance inland. In Massachusetts more variety 
 exists. In the level districts it is not easy to 
 obtain an extensive prospect, owing to the quan 
 tity of timber encumbering the ground; and 
 even where a good view is obtained, it is formal 
 and uninteresting. The houses, generally built 
 of wood, have no ornamental gardens about 
 them, while the zigzag wooden fences have no 
 beauty in themselves, and mar what little beauty 
 there is in the landscape. Even where a river 
 bursts upon the view, wide and magnificent, the 
 
2 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 spectator is disappointed as to its beauty, from 
 the want of high banks. Where no prominent 
 object appears for the eye to fix on, the surround 
 ing beauties want the benefit of contrast. In 
 the interior the scene improves. Nature in 
 many parts is lavish of her bounties, as if laugh 
 ing at the littleness of art. Hills and moun 
 tains, some rude and bare, others covered with 
 trees ; fertile valleys, watered by meandering 
 streams ; huge rocks, with tremendous preci 
 pices ; cascades, cataracts, and torrents ; these 
 are all to be found in abundance. But as gene 
 ral descriptions fail of giving a distinct idea, I 
 shall mention with some minuteness some of the 
 parts I passed through, persuaded that the lover 
 of nature will excuse a little tediousness to gain 
 correct ideas. 
 
 From New York I sailed up the Hudson to Al 
 bany, a distance of about one hundred and fifty 
 miles in a sloop. The steam-packet from its ex 
 pedition would have been preferable, hati I not 
 learnt that it passed by the most interesting part 
 during the night. Having but little wind the 
 voyage was long, and but for the variety and 
 beauty of the scenery, would have been exceed 
 ingly tiresome. The banks adorned with a variety 
 of forest trees rise in some places nearly precipit- 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 3 
 
 ously from the water ; in others, small cultivated 
 hills here and there ornamented with a gentle 
 man s house attract the eye. In one part, where 
 the river passes through the Kaatskill mountains, 
 it expands into a capacious basin resembling a 
 lake, having that seclusion in the midst of mag 
 nificence, which gives to lake scenery its charac 
 teristic charm. We cast anchor in it, and just at 
 twilight the steam-boat passed us. No sound was 
 to be heard but that of its paddles striking the 
 water. I looked around me, and while surveying 
 the hills dark below, and bright above with the 
 sunshine, I felt the power of a placid, majestic 
 scene on the mind. It is productive of that 
 pleasing melancholy described by Dyer, 
 
 " There is a mood, 
 
 There is a kindly mood of melancholy 
 That wings the soul and points her to the skies." 
 
 On the following morning we came in sight of 
 two towns, one on each side of the river. They 
 formed an agreeable spectacle, as showing us, 
 that notwithstanding our last evening s lone 
 liness, we were still near man and his haunts ; 
 for beautiful as nature is, it is in society that 
 our chief delight is found. Beauty after beauty 
 claimed my attention till we reached Albany. 
 The Hudson at a future day will attract Ame 
 ricans as the Rhine now attracts Europeans. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 From Albany I proceeded* to Schenectady, 
 through rough uninviting lands. From that 
 place to Little Falls, the road runs by the side 
 of the Mohawk, a river tributary to the Hudson, 
 With rocky hills on one side, and water on the 
 other, the prospect is in some parts picturesque, 
 though there is more often Ti dreariness dis 
 pleasing to the eye, and repelling to the fancy. 
 The village of Little Falls is quite romantic. 
 The river being impeded in its course by huge 
 stones, in a spot where the descent is rapid, 
 dashes through them with fearful impetuosity. 
 A little below the rapids, stands an aqueduct for 
 supplying the Erie canal, and though of only 
 three arches, yet being a handsome piece of 
 masonry, it contrasts well with the rugged scene 
 around. Below the aqueduct is an islet covered 
 with trees ; an interesting feature in the land 
 scape. Parallel with the river runs the canal, 
 and it having been necessary in its formation to 
 remove a large portion of the rock by blasting, 
 a wall of great height surmounted by trees flanks 
 it for some distance. Above, below, and oppo 
 site, the rock remains in its natural state, knoll 
 upon knoll as if nature were in a vagary. If the 
 hand of taste were judiciously applied in this en 
 chanting spot, it might be rendered like what we 
 fancy of fairy land. Westward of Little Falls 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 5 
 
 extends a tract called the German Flatts. Nume 
 rous farm houses having an appearance of great 
 comfort, surrounded by land in a middling state 
 of cultivation and in sight of lofty hills, make 
 this an agreeable part to travel in. 
 
 The lakes in New York are worthy the notice 
 of the admirer of nature, for though not encom 
 passed by mountains, and of course not sublime, 
 they have beauties by no means despicable. The 
 native forest at present occupies the circumjacent 
 land, removed here and there however to make 
 way for a village with its little church spire, and 
 for green pastures where sheep and oxen are seen 
 grazing. Where a small stream falls into the lake, 
 there is a beautiful opening in the bank exhibit 
 ing trees of various heights and foliage. It was 
 a fine day when I made the voyage of Lake 
 Cayuga in a steam-packet. Autumn had just 
 begun to embrown and redden the forest, giving 
 it its most attractive aspect. The cultivated 
 patches, refreshed by some recent showers, seem 
 ed in their holiday dress : and who but could re 
 joice in the thought that the whole wilderness 
 was likely in a few years to give place to corn 
 and pasture ? It was animating to reflect that a 
 numerous population will be here settled, and 
 that that land where the roaming savage pursued 
 
O , FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 his prey, never advancing one step in civilization, 
 will be occupied by an industrious people, culti 
 vating the arts and charities of social life with 
 the domestic gratifications and virtues. If a 
 copy of my book should chance to reach poste 
 rity, some future inhabitant of this region may 
 exult in the realization of my anticipations. 
 Near the village of Ithaca at the south end of 
 the lake are some fine waterfalls, to which I was 
 conducted by an inhabitant with whom I fell in 
 to conversation. A small creek called Fall creek 
 has seven of them differing from each other in 
 appearance, and all beautiful. In one the de 
 scent is perpendicular, in another the masses of 
 rock are so arranged, as to look like a natural 
 staircase, over which the water tumbles and 
 foams, the dark brown rock showing itself in 
 places through the white froth. The rocks on 
 each side rise in several parts perpendicularly to 
 the height of one hundred and fifty or two hun 
 dred feet : in other parts, the swell is gradual : 
 in all, timber is abundant. There are two or 
 three tremendous fissures in the hills ; and the 
 spectator standing on the brink of one of them, 
 if he first surveys the cascade, then directs his 
 eyes to the gulf below, and the prodigious rocks 
 around, will find in the whole a truly majestic 
 scene. Taken separately the parts are beautiful, 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 combined almost awful. To add to the general 
 interest, there is a passage between two lofty 
 walls, made by digging and blasting the rock to 
 form a sluice for the supply of a mill. Few ob 
 jects of the kind are more imposing. Besides 
 the cascades in Fall creek, there are several 
 others in the neighbourhood of Ithaca, in one of 
 which, the water falls into a basin of considerable 
 depth, from a height of fifteen or twenty feet. 
 A person told me, that he had plunged from the 
 ledge of the rock over which it passes into the 
 stream, and had been driven by it to the bottom 
 of the basin. Being informed that on the other 
 side of the lake, there was a fall still more worthy 
 of notice than those I had seen, I walked to Tru- 
 mansberg, near which village it is situate; and 
 richly indeed was I recompensed. A sheet of wa 
 ter about twenty feet wide has an unbroken fall 
 of two hundred, appearing before it reaches the 
 bottom like mist. The rocks rise around it per 
 pendicularly on every side, and are three hun 
 dred feet high, forming an amphitheatre of pro 
 digious dimensions. I should have liked to view 
 this from below ; but I found it would require 
 more time to descend to the bottom than I could 
 conveniently spare, and my companion was eager 
 to return. From above, it was the sublimest and 
 most thrilling object I had ever seen. I crept to 
 
8 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 the brink of the rock, holding by a tree while I 
 leaned over, and surveyed it with a degree of 
 terror, knowing that if my hand slipped, my eyes 
 would be closed for ever ! My companion took 
 care to keep at a safe distance. A little above 
 the fall, the rock is of romantic appearance from 
 the winding channel of the creek. It must in all 
 probability have been abraded by the water; but 
 unless the stream is larger at times than -when I 
 saw it, it is difficult to conceive the agency suf 
 ficient. The land west of this is for the greater 
 part in the state of nature. Forests of pines, 
 hollies, oaks, locusts, and other trees extending 
 in every direction so as to give the traveller a 
 very limited prospect, are not so agreeable as a 
 more open country, from the sameness of the 
 views : and in winter when the trees are denuded 
 it is dismal indeed travelling here. The only 
 relief to the eye is the log-house of the settler 
 with his patch of half cleared ground, where the 
 black stumps of trees are left to disfigure it ; or 
 spots where they are left standing like masses of 
 charcoal, having been scathed with fire, or lying 
 rotting on the ground overgrown with fungi. 
 Even in such a district as this however, the 
 cheering view of industry encroaching on the 
 domains of desolation, is sufficient to make the 
 solitary wanderer proceed with joyous feelings. 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 9 
 
 Having mentioned the log-houses of the set 
 tlers, I may just observe, that though some of 
 them are built two stories high, and with some 
 regard to comfort, yet that the greater number 
 have only one room. They are made of trunks 
 of trees notched at the corners to fit into each 
 other, the interstices being filled with turf or 
 clay. They add as little to the beauty of the 
 landscape as the mud-built cottages in some 
 parts of Devonshire. The log-house is succeed 
 ed by the frame-house as cultivation advances. 
 The latter, though far more comfortable and 
 complete, is what every landscape painter fond of 
 the picturesque would wish removed from view. 
 
 It may be expected that I should say some 
 thing of Niagara cataract, the most celebrated in 
 the world, though inferior in magnitude to the 
 Riakan-fossen in Norway; but so marry descrip 
 tions of it have been given, as to render it need 
 less to say much. I found I had formed a to 
 lerably correct idea of it; yet the reality was 
 rather below than above my expectation, though 
 not so much as is often the case with travellers, 
 having learnt by experience to make liberal de 
 ductions from the accounts by tourists of the 
 wonders of both art and nature. One reason 
 why Niagara so often disappoints expectation is, 
 
10 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 that its height is not proportionate to the body 
 of water. The greatest fall, which is on the 
 Canadian side, is estimated at one hundred and 
 sixty feet, being less than that of many cataracts 
 in Europe and South America. Taking this 
 into consideration, and the circumstance that 
 the surrounding land is level and of uninviting 
 aspect, it is not surprising that those whose 
 imaginations are active, should find Niagara in 
 ferior in interest to their preconceived ideas. 
 But if the first view disappoints, the second gene 
 rally gratifies, there being nothing to abate the 
 interest. A wide, deep river precipitated one 
 hundred and sixty feet is in itself magnificent ; 
 and when the turmoil and ebullition produced 
 by it in the gulf below are considered, and the 
 mist rising in a cloud higher than the upper 
 banks of the river, it will be readily supposed 
 that its impression on the mind is one of the 
 most awful of all nature s stupendous works. 
 The rainbow formed by the mist gives a variety 
 to the whole, though I think it rather detracts 
 from the sublimity. In some situations it ap 
 pears with its outer circle to the earth, an ap 
 pearance very striking to those who have never 
 witnessed the like. Goat Island which is in the 
 middle of the river, and separates it so as to oc 
 casion two falls, is accessible by a bridge from 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 11 
 
 the New York side. From this island is obtain 
 ed one of the finest views of the cataract, as well 
 as of the rapids above ; and the latter being re 
 garded by many as of nearly equal interest, the 
 island has many visiters. I found a solitary fa 
 mily living here in a log-house ; and on going in 
 to ask them a few questions, I was surprised to 
 find they were English, the man being a Lanca 
 shire weaver ! How agreeable was it to me to 
 find those of my own country in such a situation ! 
 And when I told them of my being an English 
 man, they were pleased too. It may be supposed 
 that a situation like theirs cannot be comfort 
 able from the stunning, thundering noise of 
 which Goldsmith makes mention, especially 
 when we consider, that it is heard according to 
 travellers at forty miles distance. On this point 
 however very erroneous opinions prevail. Con 
 versation is as easily supported within a few yards 
 of the cataract as in the most silent spot. When 
 the wind is adverse it cannot be heard two miles 
 off. Before concluding, let me add as matter of 
 curiosity, that a deer was drawn down some time 
 since, and when taken up was found to be not 
 quite dead, though so far gone that means failed 
 to restore it. It survived but a short time. A 
 cat which was thrown over, soon found its way 
 home again. Several human beings have been 
 
12 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 drawn into the rapids, and have also been pre 
 cipitated into the dreadful abyss ; but no one so 
 far as is known has ever survived : yet if a strong 
 man, being a good swimmer, could reach the 
 edge without encountering the rapids, I think 
 it is barely possible that he might save his life. 
 
 It being in the winter when I travelled in New 
 England, it cannot be supposed that I should 
 have much to remark on its scenery. I noticed 
 that more land is under cultivation than in the 
 parts of New York I had passed through, and 
 much more neatness in the farms and farm 
 houses. In Connecticut, stone fences have over 
 a large space superseded wooden ones, and are 
 I think superior to them except where the latter 
 are formed like good hurdles. Hawthorn hedges 
 are seldom seen, and do not thrive well. It is 
 a little remarkable that the American farmers 
 do not plant hazel hedges, which are strong and 
 will thrive on a variety of soils, besides having 
 the additional recommendation of being orna 
 mental, as those who have travelled in South 
 Wales can testify, In Delaware I noticed some 
 lofty hedges of a sort of privet, which are as beau 
 tiful as almost any hedges I ever saw. In Vir 
 ginia they have cypress hedges, which are pleas 
 ing to the eye in comparison with the zigzag 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 13 
 
 wooden fences, though inferior to those of thorn 
 or hazel. 
 
 In Lanaster county, Pennsylvania, there are 
 the most extensive views of cultivated nature I 
 saw in the United States ; and though the pas 
 tures are browner than those of our humid cli 
 mate, the general aspect of the country is bright 
 and enlivening. The groves of fine trees are 
 here as great an addition to the beauty of the 
 prospect as can be well imagined. And then 
 there is such apparent comfort in the substantial 
 well-built farm-houses, that it is quite delightful. 
 Even the barns and out-houses are large and 
 weather-proof, a general characteristic of Penn 
 sylvania : but on entering Maryland how great 
 is the change ! the farm-houses slovenly, the out 
 buildings of rude structure, and the negro huts 
 no better than pig-sties : these were what struck 
 my attention in Maryland. The land too is as 
 barren and dismal looking as is perhaps to be 
 found in the United States, though I after 
 wards found that some parts of that State are 
 pre-eminently beautiful, particularly around the 
 town of Frederick. The land there is so rich 
 that I gazed with a sort of rapturous feeling. I 
 proceeded from Frederick to Harper s Ferry in 
 Virginia, a place worthy of notice on two ac- 
 
14 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 counts; one, its picturesque situation, the other, 
 the extravagant eulogium bestowed on it by 
 Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia; a book which 
 shows the enthusiasm of the author, as well as 
 his bigotry and narrow mindedness. After an 
 animated description of Harper s Ferry, he con 
 cludes by observing that it is worth a voyage 
 across the Atlantic to see it. The scenery is un 
 questionably fine. The steep, rugged hills be 
 tween which the water runs or rather dashes, are 
 adorned with trees, and when surveyed from 
 their summit at noon day, appear with what 
 Pope calls "a flood of glory"; but the European, 
 without crossing the Atlantic, may survey many 
 spots of superior interest. And this leads me to 
 mention the Natural Bridge, which Jefferson 
 characterizes in as high terms as Harper s Ferry. 
 As a natural curiosity it deserves attention and 
 may excite wonder. It spans the creek at an 
 altitude of one hundred and eighty feet, the rocks 
 on each side rising perpendicularly ; and has all 
 the security and utility of the most laboured ma 
 sonry. The road over it is between two rows of 
 trees, which it is to be hoped will not be re 
 moved : for though houses on a bridge are a 
 deformity, the same cannot be said of trees on a 
 bridge like this. 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 15 
 
 Another of the natural curiosities mentioned 
 by Jefferson is Madison s Cave, which is now 
 however seldom visited, as a larger and more in 
 teresting one named Weir s Cave has been dis 
 covered near it. I explored every part of this 
 in company with three young men. It is so spa 
 cious and has so many recesses that we were three 
 hours in viewing it. The stalactites being in- 
 crusted with a lutarious substance, are of course 
 less beautiful, than those which are described as 
 being in the grotto of Antiparos brilliant as dia 
 monds. Such however is their variety in shape, 
 that tables, thrones, bridges, candelabras, toi 
 lettes, and twenty other things, present them 
 selves to the eye of fancy. Many of these are 
 named after public characters ; others accord 
 ing to their resemblance to particular objects. 
 In some parts we had to stoop very low to pass 
 along ; in others, the roof rose to the height of 
 I suppose one hundred feet. Here the sides were 
 straight as a brick wall, there irregular and fan 
 tastic as the cliffs in the Isle of Wight. We came 
 in one spot to a spring of clear water which we 
 were requested to taste, it being conformable to 
 rule to pay this respect to the genius of the place. 
 What nymph has fixed on this for her palace I 
 was not informed, but she has manifested as much 
 taste as the Empress Anne in her palace of ice. 
 
16 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 In the eastern parts of Virginia, the country 
 is flat, very poorly cultivated, and as unattractive 
 as the fens of Cambridgeshire. The better parts, 
 where the planters have made cypress hedges, 
 reminded me of Suffolk ; but the negro huts 
 where nothing like comfort is to be seen, cause 
 one to turn away disgusted. In the central parts 
 of the State, the ridges of mountains forming 
 part of the Alleghany, give a diversified aspect 
 to the land. From the top of one of the moun 
 tains of the Blue ridge I had a very extensive 
 and grand prospect. Owing to taking a wrong 
 turn in going through a wood at its foot, I devi 
 ated widely from the track, and climbed by a 
 difficult and laborious ascent to the summit, a 
 thing which I minded but little, as I found my- 
 self on much higher ground than if I had kept to 
 the road. On one side, hill beyond hill stretched 
 to the horizon, in appearance like the ocean, blue 
 and undulated. On the other I looked into the 
 valley I had left, where I perceived a village at 
 about six miles distant with a slip of cleared land 
 around it, the forest extending in every other di 
 rection, broken here and there by a few small 
 patches of cleared ground near the houses of 
 some poor people. A stream winding through 
 the valley was perceptible in places, offering a 
 bright contrast to the gloomy forest. On one part 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 17 
 
 of the mountain, I observed enormous masses 
 of rock piled irregularly on each other, as if some 
 subterraneous eruption had taken place there. 
 From the spot where I stood, I had to make my 
 way by a circuitous route to the high road. This 
 I accomplished just before sunset, having been 
 engaged nearly the whole day in traversing the 
 mountain, tasting nothing and seeing no fellow 
 being. I had yet six miles to walk to reach a 
 house of shelter for the night, and pushing for 
 ward with vigour, I had not long to walk in the 
 dark. Mountainous scenery is beheld to most ad 
 vantage by twilight, indistinctness contributing 
 to its majesty. Never before was I so struck 
 with it, the total silence adding to the whole a 
 sort of religious reverence. Just as I gained the 
 farm-house where I requested and obtained a 
 lodging, the moon rose from behind the moun 
 tain giving a new and more lovely aspect to both 
 mountain and valley, and enabling me to see it 
 in its various hues of blue, brown, yellow, and 
 white. The valley into which I had now en 
 tered was uncultivated to a great extent, and 
 destitute of beauty. I made my way to Char- 
 lottesville where fine scenery again claims the 
 notice of the traveller. But it seems unneces 
 sary to say more in illustration of American sce 
 nery, except in a few general particulars. 
 
18 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 In no part is cultivation so finished as to ex 
 hibit all the charms of which it is susceptible ; 
 hence, where nature has not been liberal, travel 
 ling, as far as external appearances contribute to 
 enjoyment, is little interesting, especially, as 
 there are no large houses of tasteful architecture 
 surrounded by lawns and woods of regular for 
 mation. Ornamental gardening is seldom seen ; 
 picturesque gardening totally unknown. It may 
 have been these things which led an American 
 author to say of his country, that it is the land 
 of dull realities. The pleasure I experienced in 
 surveying many different spots where grandeur 
 reigns triumphant, and in tracing the minute 
 beauties of others, as the banks of the Brandy- 
 wine and Schuylkill, which though different from 
 each other are both rich in attractions, forbid 
 my concurring in this remark. The proportion 
 of land incapable of being made arable is small, 
 consequently absolute barrenness seldom dis 
 pleases the eye. Even in swampy ground all is 
 not desolate. The Dismal Swamp in Virginia 
 and North Carolina is covered with juniper and 
 cedar trees. And on the whole it may be said, 
 that if art has done comparatively little in im 
 proving nature, nature in many instances is on 
 a scale so large as to need scarcely any of her 
 assistance. I ought not here to omit mentioning 
 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 19 
 
 that the sun sets in America with a radiance so 
 surpassing, that it filled me with wonder and de 
 light. How often have I stopped in my evening 
 rambles to feast my eyes with the glorious pros 
 pect ! The sky seemed in flame, as bright as an 
 iron furnace when the liquid metal flows from it 
 into the moulds. 
 
 In my walks through the country, especially 
 when traversing the native forest, I was forcibly 
 struck with the general silence of nature. How 
 little was there to please compared with the 
 melody of our groves ! Frequently, nothing was 
 to be heard but the woodpecker striking his bill 
 against a tree. At other times I heard a chorus 
 of frogs chirping rather than croaking. In the 
 evening, I have stopped to listen to the plaintive 
 but tiresome note of the whipperwill, a bird, 
 named like the cuckow from its unvarying voice. 
 But the lark springing upward to the sky, and 
 making every thing resound with its lively, in 
 spiriting strain ; or the blackbird with its clear 
 whistle ; or the nightingale with its full, rich, 
 voluptuous swell and fall ; these are not to be 
 heard in America, to say nothing of the linnet, 
 the thrush, or the whole tribe of finches. They 
 have indeed birds called by these names, but 
 they are quite different from ours. Some how- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 ever they have of very pleasant song, which may 
 be heard at daybreak, and for an hour or two 
 after. I cannot speak of the mocking-bird, for 
 I was not fortunate enough to hear it ; but I 
 heard several whose names I have forgotten, 
 which made the woods vocal in an enchanting 
 manner. But no sooner does the sun gain con 
 siderable power, than a silence like the grave 
 supervenes, except in the ponds and bogs, where 
 the frogs and toads have fixed their abode. In 
 many parts you may listen in vain to hear any 
 sound at all. In the words of Dr. Young, 
 
 " Listening ear no object finds ; 
 Creation sleeps. Tis as the general pulse 
 Of life stood still, and nature made a pause j 
 An awful pause ! prophetic of her end." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 As the place where I first landed in America 
 was New York, I shall begin by giving some ac 
 count of that city. Standing like Constanti 
 nople on a point of land, it is nearly encom 
 passed by water, and appears at a little distance 
 as if afloat. Ships of the largest burden can 
 approach it at all times of the year, and obtain 
 secure anchorage in its harbour. It unites the 
 advantages of a port on the sea-board, with those 
 of a port like London or Hamburg, without the 
 delays incident to a long river navigation. So 
 important is this felt to be, that it is common 
 for persons from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Mont 
 real and Quebec to come to New York to take 
 ship for Europe. That fine river the Hudson, 
 after running longitudinally for upwards of three 
 hundred miles, empties itself into New York bay. 
 By means of canals now in progress, the city 
 will soon be able to transport its merchandise 
 into the western regions as well as the northern. 
 Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain will directly 
 communicate with it, and contribute to its pros- 
 
22 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 perity. On the whole continent of North Ame 
 rica, New Orleans is the only one rivalling it in 
 commercial advantages ; and from the insalu 
 brity of its climate, that city will not probably, 
 for centuries to come, equal New York in popu 
 lation, enterprise, and capital. New York, like 
 Liverpool, Petersburg, and Calcutta, has risen 
 into eminence in a comparatively short period. 
 It is still increasing in magnitude and import 
 ance, and will continue to do so for a long time 
 to come ; but the idea which the Americans en 
 tertain, that in another century it will equal 
 London needs only to be mentioned to show its 
 absurdity ; yet this idea is not confined to the 
 vulgar; a gentleman, formerly a member of con 
 gress, and of high reputation for talents and 
 learning, gravely insisted when in conversation 
 with me on its probability ! The reader will pro 
 bably commend my judgment for not attempting 
 to argue the point with him : it seemed to be so 
 much a favourite with him, that his happiness 
 might have been diminished by breaking the 
 illusion. 
 
 New York viewed from a distance at which 
 the eye can take in its full length, from Hobo- 
 ken for instance, or the heights of Brooklyn, has 
 the air of a metropolis. The long line of ship 
 ping before the wharfs, the numerous lofty 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 23 
 
 spires and turrets, the steam-boats incessantly 
 moving ; all these manifest it to be a place of 
 vast importance. A walk through it, however, 
 dissipates much of the idea of grandeur excited 
 by a distant view. With the exception of Broad 
 way, Hudson Street, and Greenwich Street, 
 there are few streets deserving particular notice. 
 Most of the steeples are of wood, appearing 
 mean to those accustomed to the sight of stone 
 ones. Of the public buildings, the City Hall 
 and St. Paul s church, are the only two of taste 
 ful architecture. The Catholic cathedral is 
 large but not beautiful. There is no exchange 
 for the merchants, and the shops are less splendid 
 than the size of the city would lead one to ex 
 pect. But when the feelings of disappointment 
 have subsided, and the pedestrian knows what 
 to regard, he may find enough to gratify. Broad 
 way extends the whole length of the city, di 
 viding it into two nearly equal parts. It is wide, 
 and in several parts planted with trees. The 
 houses are built of red brick, and are lofty and 
 spacious. Several churches are placed in it, 
 and others are within view ; and the City Hall, 
 an elegant marble structure on a stone base 
 ment, with an open space before it surrounded 
 by iron railing, breaks the uniformity of the 
 ranges of houses, and adds to the general beauty. 
 
24 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 The Battery-walk at its lower extremity over 
 looking the bay, is an agreeable promenade. 
 Hudson and Greenwich Streets are handsome, 
 though of the latter, part only is entitled to that 
 epithet. The markets are commodious and well 
 supplied. The upper part of the city consists 
 principally of wooden houses, the further erec 
 tion of which ought to be prohibited, on account 
 of their danger, especially as other building ma 
 terials are abundant. 
 
 The streets are not so cleanly swept as they 
 should be ; the reason for which is, that it is left 
 to each housekeeper to sweep before his own 
 door, instead of sweepers being appointed by the 
 corporation. Pigs^are suffered to run at large, 
 a thing of which many of the inhabitants are 
 ashamed, but which ftte greater part contend 
 for as contributory to the healthiness of the city! 
 The animal and vegetable patter thrown into 
 the streets would, it is contended, putrify and 
 taint the air, were it not for the pigs. But what 
 a beastly idea is it, that the people are so lazy 
 or dirty, as to use pigs for scavengers ! The 
 corporation have, however, issued ordinances 
 against this nuisance. Why, then, it may be 
 inquired, is it suffered to remain ? I reply, be- 
 cause the enforcement of the ordinances would 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. ( 25 
 
 endanger the popularity of the members of the 
 corporation, and the security of their seats. No 
 city in America is, I suppose, under more mob 
 influence than New York. Pigs ought not to 
 be allowed to be kept even in a yard within the 
 boundary of a city. Private gain must yield to 
 the public good ; and what can more conduce 
 to the general comfort than the removal, as far 
 as practicable, of all those unpleasant smells 
 which render the atmosphere of cities unwhole 
 some ? The prohibition to keep pigs in London 
 and Bristol is approved by the Hrfhabitants at 
 large. 
 
 Boston is built on a peninsula, 
 most entirely covers, and e nds along {he i 
 mus to the main land. W has a fine harbour; 
 but from its want of iflfiGid navigation is vastly 
 inferior to New YorMn situation. Its trade to 
 India, South AnffijEa, and the West Indies, is 
 great, some of, -the greatest capitalists irr the 
 country being established there. In general 
 appearance, Boston is more like an English town 
 than most in America. It does not seem so 
 newly built as New York, Philadelphia, or Balti 
 more, the streets being more varied in their size 
 and shape, some being crooked and narrow, 
 others straight and wide. The principal private 
 
26 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 dwelling houses have a very elegant appearance, 
 and some few have a splendour which would at 
 tract admiration in London or Paris. The pub 
 lic walk near the State-house is almost surround 
 ed by fine houses. The view from the State- 
 house is very fine. The harbour with its nu 
 merous vessels, beyond which the bay studded 
 with islets looks like a smooth beautiful lake, be 
 ing protected from the ocean by a promontory ; 
 the numerous lofty church spires ; the ranges of 
 large warehouses round the docks; the long 
 bridges connecting the peninsula with the main 
 land ; the surrounding country varied with hill 
 and dale, towns and villages, the neighbouring 
 University conspicuous amongst them : these al 
 together form a very delightful picture. 
 
 Of all the cities in the United States, no one 
 is so celebrated for its beauty as Philadelphia, be 
 ing built like Babylon, which Dean Prideaux 
 says Penn took as his model, on the quadrangu 
 lar plan ; that is, the streets intersecting each 
 other at right angles. As almost every traveller 
 has praised this plan for its beauty, I shall be 
 thought a heretic in matters of taste, for avow 
 ing that I do not admire it. Regularity in build 
 ings is doubtless pleasing ; but in a large city, 
 there should also be variety. But where the 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. J 
 
 streets uniformly intersect each other at right 
 angles, a tiresome formality is the result. Be 
 sides, interminable streets afford no situation for 
 showing a fine building to advantage, as a distant 
 front view cannot be obtained. In Philadelphia 
 it is necessary to be close to a building to see its 
 beauties ; or, if there be an exception, it is the 
 Episcopal church in Tenth Street, which stand 
 ing opposite a lane, may be seen further off than 
 others, and just serves to show the citizens how 
 much may be gained by the judicious position of 
 public edifices. I speak of edifices in the streets, 
 for those in the squares can of course be viewed 
 at a proper distance. What is the most wanted 
 in Philadelphia is a curve. Who with the slight 
 est pretensions to taste, but must have noticed 
 the superior beauty of High Street in Oxford 
 from its fine sweep ? college after college, tower 
 after tower, gradually displaying .their propor 
 tions to the spectator, till his admiration is lost 
 in wonder. Who has seen the crescents and 
 circus at Bath and not admitted their preemi 
 nence over a square? Who has walked in Regent 
 Street in London and been insensible to the 
 beauties of the elliptical turn ? And what Pa 
 risian but will direct the visiter to the Boule 
 vards, for a town walk of varied attractions ? In 
 short, when I hear persons praising the plan of 
 
28 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 Philadelphia, I cannot help telling them, that it 
 is a square-cut, formal place, reminding one of 
 those old fashioned gardens on the Dutch plan, 
 so satirised by Pope. Altering the words used by 
 him, it may be said of Philadelphia, 
 
 " Street nods at street, each alley has a brother, 
 And half the city just reflects the other." 
 
 " But," say the Philadelphians when the plan of 
 their city is objected to, " surely Pearl Street in 
 New York, which deviates from the straight line, 
 is far from handsome." This is very true ; but 
 then it is to be observed, that it has neither re 
 gularity nor fine buildings : though for my own 
 part, I prefer a city having streets like Pearl Street 
 with all its irregularity, to one having no variety. 
 The only place in England on the same plan as 
 Philadelphia is Salisbury ; at least, after having 
 seen almost every town in the country, it is the 
 only one I can call to mind. The fact is, that 
 most of our towns and cities are built without 
 any plan, and of course, many of them are very 
 ugly ; witness Stockport, Folkestone and Whit- 
 by : but of others it may be said, that the irre 
 gularity itself is beautiful ; such are Oxford, 
 Worcester, Colchester and Lancaster. These 
 places are generally admired ; but I never heard 
 Salisbury praised for its beauty. I am therefore 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 9 
 
 fully convinced, that in objecting to Philadel 
 phia, I do so on substantial grounds. The new 
 town of Edinburgh was commenced on the quad 
 rangular plan ; and with great propriety, as the 
 old town exhibited nothing of the kind, and one 
 served to set off the other : but the citizens have 
 been wise enough to deviate from strict uniform 
 ity, perceiving that when carried to a great extent 
 it becomes faulty. What is the consequence ? 
 Why, that as a whole, Edinburgh is paramount 
 in beauty. Its superior locality certainly contri 
 butes to it ; but art has done wonders in making 
 a proper use of this superior locality. Philadel 
 phia is on a level surface, making the uniformity 
 of the plan still more displeasing. I knew before 
 I saw it, from the description I had heard of it, 
 that I should not admire it ; and yet with such 
 an impression on my mind, I found it less pleas 
 ing than I anticipated. There is only one street 
 of great width, being the one which runs cen 
 trally from east to west, but which having a mar 
 ket-house in it, cannot be called handsome. It 
 is much on a par with Fleet-market in London. 
 Several of the streets are however truly beauti 
 ful, Chesnut Street and Arch Street for instance. 
 Never before, did I see ranges of houses so neat, 
 comfortable, and simply elegant. The bricks are 
 kept nicely painted, looking as fresh as if newly 
 
SO CITIES, TOWNS, ANt) VILLAGES. 
 
 erected ; and then they are so set off by the win 
 dow marble slabs, and the marble steps to the 
 doors which are kept nicely washed, that I sup 
 pose no European city can show the like. To 
 complete the beauty, trees are planted on each 
 side of the street. An evening s walk in Ches- 
 nut Street, when the best dressed citizens with 
 their wives and smiling daughters are enjoying 
 the luxury of a stroll after the suspension of busi 
 ness, is to a stranger delightful indeed. Dull 
 must be the heart of him who does not participate 
 in the hilarity of the hour. 
 
 I have hitherto made no mention of the pub 
 lic buildings in Philadelphia ; nor shall I attempt 
 to describe them minutely. Few of the churches 
 have steeples ; the reason for which is, that the 
 founders of the city being Quakers, had no liking 
 to them ; and the Presbyterians who followed, 
 brought with them opinions of their Popish ori 
 gin and superstitious tendency, there being at 
 that time a controversy in Scotland on the sub 
 ject. The modern Presbyterians having lost the 
 objections of their ancestors, and the Episcopa 
 lians never holding them, the recently erected 
 churches have the additional ornament of steeples, 
 some of them lofty. The Episcopal church in 
 Tenth Street pleased me the most of all the re- 
 
, CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 31 
 
 ligious edifices, though not so spacious as some 
 others. It is as chaste a specimen of modern 
 Gothic as is perhaps any where to be seen ; and 
 only wants towers of greater height to make it 
 the greatest ornament the city can show. The 
 University, the Hospital, and two of the Banks, 
 are fine buildings, more particularly the latter, 
 which are of tasteful, elegant architecture. The 
 water-works for supplying the city from the 
 Schuylkill are in substantial stone buildings ; and 
 are creditable to the public spirit of the citizens, 
 who in this instance have combined embellish 
 ment with utility. 
 
 Of the different cities which I saw in America, 
 Baltimore was the one which I the most admired ; 
 not but I could point out how susceptible it is 
 of improvement. With too much adherence to 
 the quadrangular plan, it has some variety, the 
 ground on which it stands not being level. The 
 houses, though not so tasteful as those in Phila 
 delphia, are generally good, and some of them 
 superb. The streets are wide : the public build 
 ings numerous and beautiful. The Exchange 
 is surmounted by a dome of no mean dimensions, 
 topping the other buildings as in the pride of 
 superiority. The Catholic cathedral has also a 
 large dome, and though unfinished from the want 
 
32 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 of funds, is both externally and internally a fine 
 edifice. The Unitarian church placed near it, 
 is one of the most exactly finished edifices in the 
 country. The Presbyterians and Episcopalians 
 have each a fine church ; that of the latter in 
 particular is ornamental to the city. When it is 
 considered that in addition to these, Baltimore 
 has a tasteful monument, to commemorate those 
 of her citizens who fell in the action at North 
 Point, and a lofty one, like the Monument in 
 London, in honour of Washington, it will be ad 
 mitted that it is both a beautiful and interesting 
 city. The public springs which supply the in 
 habitants with water, are made contributory to 
 elegance as well as comfort, being received into 
 basins protected by iron railing, and are quite 
 equal in appearance to half the fountains in Paris. 
 The prospect from the Washington monument 
 is extensive, but vastly inferior in beauty to that 
 from the State-house at Boston, the circumjacent 
 land being very imperfectly cultivated. 
 
 Richmond, the capital of Virginia, has a beau 
 tiful site, but it cannot be called a beautiful city. 
 The Capitol stands on an eminence near the 
 Governor s house; but neither of them has much 
 architectural embellishment. They are both 
 unworthy of the State. Why should Virginia, 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 38 
 
 nearly the largest and most populous State in the 
 Union, not have a house for its legislature, equal 
 to that of Pennsylvania or of New York ? Of 
 the other public buildings, none deserve notice 
 as ornaments. The Jail is a large ugly building, 
 seeming as if designed by the architect to fright 
 en people from becoming its inmates ; and if 
 such had been its effect, I could well have par 
 doned its ugliness ; but I found it crowded with 
 criminals, black, white and tawny. How much 
 did I regret while walking in Richmond, that a 
 place which from its site might have been made 
 conspicuously beautiful, should be so formal, 
 dull and heavy ! Had the streets been planned, 
 so as to take advantage of the inequalities of the 
 ground, it would have been the object of general 
 admiration, instead of being regarded with con 
 tempt. Nothing however would suit the citizens 
 but imitating Philadelphia, just as if, admitting 
 the plan of that city to be beautiful, it was the 
 only beautiful one that could be devised ; or as 
 if a town standing on hilly ground should ex 
 actly correspond with one on a level. This la 
 mentable mistake will be perceived when it is 
 too late to remedy it. 
 
 Washington, the seat of the government of 
 the United States, whence it is sometimes called 
 
84f CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 the Federal city, is more varied than those I 
 have objected to. The person who laid its plan 
 was a Frenchman, who took care to have some 
 diagonal streets to diversify it, as well as to afford 
 opportunity for the display of the glories of ar 
 chitecture. If the outline be ever filled up, 
 Washington will be a metropolis worthy of the 
 country : at present, it is a straggling and not 
 very captivating place, having in conjunction 
 with Georgetown, which bears the same relation 
 to it that Southwark does to London, a popula 
 tion of twelve thousand in a space three miles 
 long and half a mile wide. The President s 
 House is substantial and plain, and not destitute 
 of elegance. It would be considered in England 
 a good second-rate country seat. The Capitol, 
 with several considerable defects, is the largest 
 and finest building in the United States. If 
 placed beside the Houses of Parliament, it would 
 cast them in the shade ; for England, as is well 
 known, cannot boast of the structures where her 
 legislators assemble. The street from the Pre 
 sident s House to the Capitol is upwards of a 
 mile long, very wide, having a double row of 
 trees on 6ach side, and with moderate sized brick 
 houses. In some of the other streets, are rows 
 of elegant private dwellings, though the best of 
 them, even those occupied by foreign ministers, 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 35 
 
 will not compare with the houses of the wealthy 
 merchants of Baltimore and Boston. The view 
 from the Capitol is very extensive, but neither 
 beautiful nor grand. The Potowmac with its 
 two branches, is to be sure an object on which 
 the eye satisfactorily rests ; but then the land 
 scape is so brown, so bleak (almost every thing 
 appearing stunted), and so destitute of villages, 
 that it affords little gratification to the spectator. 
 The embryo city appears meaner, than a walk 
 through it would lead one to imagine. 
 
 Of the smaller, or less important places in the 
 United States, I may say, that there is more uni 
 formity, than any one unacquainted with jthe 
 country would easily suppose ; the reason for 
 which is, that almost all are on the model of Phi 
 ladelphia. The exceptions are principally to be 
 found in those towns founded by the early colo 
 nists, whose want of regularity is often conspi 
 cuous. Albany, the seat of government of New 
 York, named as well as the State in compliment 
 to James II. when Duke of York and Albany, 
 has two or three handsome streets. I recom 
 mend the Philadelphia^ who chance to stop 
 there on their way to Niagara, to notice the ca- 
 pitol of that city, and see if they cannot find the 
 D 2 
 
36 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 exceeding beauty of terminating a street by a 
 fine building. If they should make this disco 
 very, for such I must suppose it would be to 
 them, let them thereafter be cautious of extrava 
 gant eulogiums on their own monotonous city. 
 Penn was a man of talents, but he did not un 
 derstand the art of planning cities. 
 
 Norfolk in Virginia is a town not at all re 
 markable for elegance, yet it pleased me from 
 its similarity to many of our small towns, espe 
 cially to my native place. Springfield in Con 
 necticut was another town that pleased me. It 
 is a small place with a pretty church, and was 
 so clean, airy and cheerful-looking, that a visit 
 to it was quite refreshing. Burlington in New 
 Jersey standing on that noble river the Dela 
 ware, is a quiet, retired town, just fitted for one 
 who having been engaged in active life, is desir 
 ous of terminating his days in a place, where he 
 can have a small genteel circle of acquaintance 
 removed from the bustle of the world. The 
 number of private dwelling houses struck me as 
 numerous for the size of the town. Being sha 
 ded by trees they have something of a rural as 
 pect : the very atmosphere seemed redolent of 
 tranquillity. It is one of the few small places 
 
CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 37 
 
 in America with an adjacent public promenade, 
 which is on the bank of the river, and is very 
 pleasant. 
 
 The villages are not picturesque. Instead of 
 white-washed cottages with patches of garden 
 ground, and honeysuckles and roses twined 
 around the little porch, we see plain wooden 
 houses, where nothing beyond bare convenience 
 has been attended to. Some, perhaps most, are 
 tolerably neat, but others are as miserable look 
 ing as those on the Yorkshire moors. When 
 placed in the midst of fine scenery, they are 
 however interesting. There is one on the Bran- 
 dywine about six miles from Wilmington in De 
 laware, the name of which has escaped my recol 
 lection, which may be mentioned as an instance. 
 Ellicot s mills near Baltimore is another. In the 
 western parts of Maryland and the midland of 
 Virginia, are one or two others, which would if 
 in England be visited by our fashionable tourists, 
 and dilated on with enthusiasm. 
 
 The complaint made against the American 
 cities, that they have few interesting associations, 
 is incident to every newly erected place. Yet 
 perhaps even this complaint is scarcely well 
 founded. Is there not something interesting for 
 
38 CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES. 
 
 instance in Philadelphia, in considering that 
 within its bounds the declaration of independ 
 ence was signed ? That Penn there formed his 
 celebrated treaty with the Indians ? that Frank 
 lin there passed his youth and declining years ? 
 not to mention some other particulars. Is it not 
 animating to an American when at Boston to 
 think of Bunker s Hill ? or at New York to re 
 flect on the advantages of steam navigation first 
 brought into successful operation there ? And 
 after all, who can wish a more cheering associa 
 tion, than that springing from the fact, that only 
 about a century and a half ago, all was wilder 
 ness and savage life, where flourishing cities now 
 stand, and civilization with all its kindness and 
 heart-felt sympathies prevails ? Nay, even fifty 
 years ago, Baltimore, now containing sixty thou 
 sand inhabitants, and so many specimens of ar 
 chitectural beauty, was only an insignificant vil 
 lage. What a proud triumph obtained by ci 
 vilized, industrious man ! These associations, if 
 not so poetical as those connected with some of 
 the events of antiquity, are at least as cheering. 
 The rising sun has not the glorious radiance of 
 the setting sun ; but who does not rejoice at see 
 ing darkness give place to light ? 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MODES AND CONVENIENCES OF TRAVELLING. 
 
 ON the principal rivers there are very fine steam- 
 packets, agreeing with ours in every respect, ex 
 cept in there being no difference in the charge 
 between the fore and aft cabin, and of course no 
 separation between the genteel part of society, 
 and the less polished. Republican notions of 
 equality may contribute to this want of separa 
 tion, but a more probable reason for it is, that it 
 has been adopted in consequence of the stage 
 coaches having no seats for outside passengers, 
 thus accustoming all classes to travel together 
 without regard to station in life. Whatever may 
 be the cause, considerable benefits result from it. 
 The wealthy merchant, the learned lawyer, and 
 the independent gentlemen, are likely to feel 
 sympathy and respect for their less fortunate 
 neighbours when they meet on the same footing ; 
 and to repress haughty deportment or manifest 
 ations of superiority. The poor learn to avoid 
 that crouching so common to the poor in most 
 parts of Europe, while, at the same time, the as 
 perities of their manners and tempers are cor- 
 
40 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 reeled by the example of those who have been 
 taught to conciliate by gentleness and courtesy. 
 
 The coaches I have said carry no outside pas^ 
 sengers, the alleged reason for which is, that the 
 roads are not smooth enough to render outside 
 travelling safe. This is true of most of the roads 
 but not of all. In the neighbourhood of Boston, 
 in Long Island, and between Philadelphia and 
 Trenton, are roads sufficiently compact and level. 
 How it is, that the coach proprietors on these 
 and other good roads do not start coaches on the 
 English model I cannot explain. None of the 
 stage-coaches have any approach to stylishness ; 
 many of them are little adapted to secure the 
 passengers from the inclemencies of the weather, 
 having only leather curtains to exclude the wind 
 and rain. In the winter, the better sort are pad 
 ded with woollen cushions, The coach-box be^ 
 ing nearly on a level with the seats, the driver 
 can hear what passes in conversation between 
 the passengers, when these cushions are removed, 
 and the leather curtains only are left. In the 
 newly settled parts, and in the bye-roads of the 
 older, the traveller must content himself as well 
 as he can in a light, tilted waggon, in which, if 
 the road be rough, he will experience a jolting 
 painful to flesh and bones. Great command pf 
 
OF TRAVELLING. 41 
 
 temper is necessary for one, who after being ac 
 customed to smooth roads and easy carriages, is 
 for the first time seated in one of these waggons 
 when travelling on what is technically called a 
 gridiron road, that is, a road formed as that be 
 tween St. Petersburg and Moscow originally was, 
 of trunks of trees, placed across from side to side, 
 covered with a layer of soil. On such a road, I 
 have found the jolting so great as to knock my 
 head violently against the sides and top of the 
 vehicle, besides its making my hip-bones quite 
 sore. What was the torture of Sisyphus com 
 pared to this! The man who can endure it with 
 out peevishness is a practical philosopher worthy 
 of being ranked with the Stoics. I cannot give 
 a person who has travelled in France, a better 
 idea of American conveyances, than by saying 
 they are much on a par with the French. On 
 the other hand, the New York hackney-coaches 
 are as superior to those of Paris or London, as 
 English stage-coaches are to French. Post- 
 chaises have not yet been introduced. 
 
 The inns, or taverns as in many districts they 
 are called, are correspondent to the roads by 
 which they stand. Where but few travellers 
 pass, they are as destitute of comfort as can be 
 well supposed. Large rooms without carpets or 
 
MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 other covering for the floor, the windows with 
 broken panes of glass, the chairs and tables dirty, 
 the chambers crowded with ten or a dozen beds 
 having no curtains ; these are the common cha 
 racteristics. In the more frequented roads, the 
 accommodations are of course better; and in 
 many places so good, that the complainer of them 
 is unreasonable, proving himself to be of a dis 
 contented, grumbling disposition. In the prin 
 cipal cities, the accommodations are equal to 
 those to be found in our commercial towns : 
 though there are no taverns in America furnished 
 in the splendid style of the hotels of Bath, Edin 
 burgh and Brighton. Such establishments could 
 not at present succeed. 
 
 The usual reception the traveller finds at the 
 inns, is that of cold civility ; but the landlord 
 and the waiter, though not obsequious, are ge 
 nerally sufficiently attentive. Some things in 
 country places a little discomposed me at first, 
 but resolving to act on the adage of doing 
 at Rome as Rome does, and not suffer trifles to 
 fret me, I found that I soon lost the sense of 
 uneasiness. At Schenectady I requested to have 
 a jug of water in my bed-room, but after waiting 
 for some time and not receiving it, I resolved to 
 get it for myself. The bar-keeper stared at me 
 
OF TRAVELLING. 43 
 
 with some surprize, for which I knew not how 
 to account ; but I afterwards observed that 
 stage-coach passengers were expected to wash 
 below. In small villages, this is the common 
 practice ; and I had sometimes to wipe on a 
 towel which perhaps a dozen persons had used 
 before me. Complaint would probably have been 
 taken in ill part. I should have been considered 
 troublesome, and perhaps told that if dissatisfied, 
 I might look for other quarters. As to the beds, 
 a point of great consequence to a traveller, I 
 found it best not to be too particular. In several 
 places, I had only one sheet, in others the sheets 
 appeared to have been slept in several times 
 since washing. But the worst is, that in many 
 places several beds are placed in one room, and 
 without regard to the feelings of the guests, or 
 in any way consulting their desires, they are 
 shown to them indiscriminately. At a tavern in 
 North Carolina, I was shown to a bed into which 
 a young man was about to enter, though no en 
 quiry had been made of me if I had any objec 
 tion to a bedfellow. I recognized him as a jour 
 neyman carpenter who was at work on the pre 
 mises, a decently dressed, clean young fellow; 
 but as I knew nothing of him, I was determined 
 to sit up all night rather than share the bed with 
 him. It had not entered their heads that I 
 
44 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 should object ! however, on enquiring if I could 
 not be accommodated with a bed to myself, they 
 managed, after manifesting some surprise, to 
 let me have one. I made my request in as polite 
 a manner as possible, considering that if I af 
 fronted either the journeyman or the host, I 
 might have to regret my presumption. At 
 Rochester in New York, having occasion to re 
 main several days, I secured a room with only 
 one bed in it to myself, when lo ! on retiring 
 one night, I found my bed preoccupied. I had 
 learnt enough of American inns to know the 
 trouble I should fall into by making much com 
 plaint; accordingly, on an apology being made, 
 I took another in a triple-bedded room without 
 enquiry as to the occupants of the other two 
 beds. Seldom is a bed room door fitted up with 
 either lock or bolt ; however, I felt no fear, and 
 never lost any thing. Notwithstanding what I 
 have stated, I can truly say, that in by far the 
 greater number of the inns I stopped at, I found 
 comfort, civility and attention. But then I en 
 deavoured to give as little trouble as possible, 
 and make myself familiar with the family of the 
 house, the proper plan for a traveller in a 
 foreign land. Good temper may be sometimes 
 requisite : indeed without it, no person should 
 think of leaving his native country; with it, he 
 
OF TRAVELLING. 
 
 may proceed easily notwithstanding occasional 
 causes of irritation, as a steam-boat preserves 
 its steadiness against both wind and tide. 
 
 As to meals, ordinaries are common every 
 where. The landlord s wife or daughter gene 
 rally presides at the breakfast table, but not so 
 commonly at the dinner table. The supply of 
 provisions at both of them is almost universally 
 plentiful ; in large towns quite luxurious. De 
 canters of brandy and whiskey are placed on the 
 table. It is usual to pour a very small quantity 
 into a glass, diluting it with water till it is quite 
 weak. This is the most common beverage. Beer 
 has become of late years a favourite drink, but 
 in some parts of Virginia it is not to be obtained 
 either in draught or bottled. Cyder of excellent 
 quality is as common as in Normandy. Peach- 
 brandy and apple-brandy are much used in some 
 districts, and when properly diluted are palat 
 able and wholesome. The dinner ordinary has 
 almost every thing to recommend it except con 
 versation, which according to American notions 
 is unnecessary to the enjoyment of dinner ; so 
 completely sensual are they at that meal. The 
 bell rings. A rush ensues. The table is sur 
 rounded by guests who devour rather than eat 
 what is before them, as if business were so ur- 
 
46 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 gent, that not a moment was to be lost. Each 
 one rises as he finishes, and without waiting for 
 the rest of the company, leaves the table with a 
 precipitation as if he feared an infection. I used 
 often to be the last to rise, not being able to eat 
 so ravenously as is common. 
 
 Besides the public taverns, there are in many 
 parts what are called houses of private enter 
 tainment, being houses where the traveller, who 
 has no objection to take his meals with the fa 
 mily, and conform in every respect to their 
 habits, may find himself comfortable. To a 
 pedestrian like myself, they are very acceptable. 
 One of the best houses that I stopped at in the 
 whole country was of this description. It was 
 in the heart of Virginia, and so remote from any 
 town, that I little expected in such a situation 
 to find a house elegantly furnished. It being 
 dark when I entered, the sun having set about 
 an hour, and I a humble pedestrian, I was fear 
 ful I might find some difficulty in removing any 
 suspicions which might arise from the visit of a 
 solitary traveller at such an hour. But when I 
 inquired if I could have a night s lodging, no 
 difficulties were started. My host soon began 
 to inquire where I was from, and on my telling 
 him I was an Englishman, he spoke with so 
 
OF TRAVELLING. 47 
 
 much respect of my country and its institutions, 
 that I took the opportunity of giving him my 
 favourable opinions of America. The conver 
 sation was to our mutual satisfaction. After 
 supper he gave out a hymn, which his wife and 
 daughters joined in singing. They were mem 
 bers of that useful but despised body, the Wes- 
 leyan Methodists. On getting to my bed cham 
 ber, I found it was one which for neatness and 
 comfort would have done credit to any European 
 city ; yet this was in the mountainous district of 
 Virginia, and surrounded by forests ! But what 
 pleased me the best was to find a book-case well 
 stored with choice authors ; a luxury I had not 
 enjoyed for some weeks previous, except at a 
 private house at Charlottesville to which I was 
 introduced by letter. Besides these houses it is 
 easy in many remote parts to obtain a meal or a 
 night s lodging at a farm-house, and in some in 
 stances, the parties who accommodate the traveller 
 refuse to receive any compensation. A farmer s 
 wife in a remote part of Virginia told me that 
 they had often entertained travellers, and were 
 willing still to afford reasonable accommoda 
 tion ; but that they never had taken any remu 
 neration, and should think it beneath them to 
 do so. I met only a single instance of repul- 
 siveness, and that I could not be surprised at ; 
 
48 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 for the house being situated off the high roadv 
 and it being after nightfall when I called, the 
 farmer might justly view me with suspicion or 
 fear. He gave me a direction to a tavern distant 
 about two miles ; but having to track my path 
 through a thick wood, I again lost my way and 
 knew not what to do. I began to think I must 
 climb a tree to sleep in ; but after toiling up a 
 steep hill, where my way was impeded at almost 
 every step, I got sight of a distant light. When 
 I reached the house where it was, I roused the 
 people from their beds, and got a clear direc 
 tion to the tavern, which was not far off. At 
 this tavern, I obtained a supper as well as a bed, 
 the landlord not having retired to rest. 
 
 I have mentioned my pedestrianism ; but the 
 fact is, that I traversed the country in a variety 
 of ways, a plan proper to be pursued by every 
 one desirous of knowing what are the feelings, 
 habits and condition of the different classes. I 
 saw the impolicy of confining to one mode, by 
 learning the opinions of a New York gentleman 
 respecting England, through which he travelled 
 in a private carriage. He was evidently a man 
 of extensive reading and considerable study ; 
 but as for real knowledge of the people of Eng 
 land, he might as well have never left his na- 
 
OF TRAVELLING^ 49 
 
 tive city. He had formed such erroneous opi 
 nions, as in one of his candid and enquiring 
 mind, I could only attribute to want of oppor 
 tunity for acquiring such as would be more con 
 sonant to correctness. For myself, if my opi 
 nions of America be incorrect, it must be attri 
 buted to my prejudice, to my want of discrimi 
 nation or some similar cause, for as to opportu 
 nity for forming right judgment, I walked in 
 different directions upwards of six hundred 
 miles, stopping as occasions offered to ask ques 
 tions at the houses of the poor, to converse with 
 negro slaves and labourers, and to ascertain the 
 feelings of the middle class of the community on 
 the government, laws and institutions of the 
 land. A considerable part w r as visited in gigs 
 and private carriages of gentlemen who interest 
 ed themselves in my behalf. Steam-boats and 
 stage-coaches conveyed me the chief part of the 
 distance ; and I went for two hundred miles on 
 the Erie canal in a packet-boat towed by horses. 
 The latter conveyance though tedious was pre 
 ferable to a rough road. Going by night as well 
 as by day at the rate of three miles and a half 
 in the hour, my progress was faster than by con 
 fining to day-travelling in the stage-coach. Tra 
 velling by canal is not the way to see the beau 
 ties of the country; but in the present instance, 
 
 E 
 
50 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 I was glad that I availed myself of the passage- 
 boat, since it threw me into company of a num 
 ber of gentlemen of high standing in the legal 
 profession. The Supreme Court of the State of 
 New York which had been sitting at Utica, 
 broke up on the morning of the day I got thi 
 ther. In consequence lawyers and their clients 
 crowded the boat ; and it being autumn, we had 
 besides, several country dealers who had been 
 to Albany and New York to purchase their win 
 ter stocks. Having been but a short time in 
 the country, I informed several of them of my 
 being a foreigner, requesting at the same time 
 to be informed of several particulars. These 
 were readily communicated, and my attention 
 was from time to time called to objects worthy 
 notice. Owing to the great number of passen 
 gers, beds could not be provided for all ; ac 
 cordingly several, of whom I was one, had to 
 sit by the fire all night. The time passed plea 
 santly in conversation till two o clock in the 
 morning, when one of the hammocks giving 
 way, several were roused from sleep. One of 
 them jumped up, and offered me the use of a 
 mattrass on which he had been lying; for in 
 addition to the births, and hammocks suspended 
 from the deck, mattrasses were placed on 
 benches and tables for some to repose on with- 
 
OP TRAVELLING. 51 
 
 out undressing. I accepted his offer and slept 
 soundly till daylight. Though the boat was too 
 much crowded to be comfortable, yet it was 
 very agreeable to me to meet such a motly com 
 pany, and mark their behaviour and conversa 
 tion. Some of them sat down to cards ; but the 
 rallyings of the counsel on a judge who joined a 
 whist party broke up nearly all the games. 
 
 In my stage-coach journies, I frequently fell 
 into agreeable company. On one occasion, I 
 travelled several stages with a religious zealot 
 who wore his beard, a man who however had 
 as much pleasantry in conversation as most. 
 Whether it was his singularity that turned our 
 thoughts to the subject of religion, or whether 
 it was his wish to introduce it as a topic I do 
 not know, but we talked of nothing else for the 
 greater part of the way. He enforced his opi 
 nions with less dogmatism than many persons of 
 a similar stamp, and with thorough good humour 
 till his beard was alluded to. I believe he felt 
 that his deviation from common practice was 
 untenable on a religious basis, and was therefore 
 reluctant to be put on the defensive. The com 
 mandment to observe the sabbath-day brought 
 on an astronomical discussion which was not 
 conducted with equal temper, one of the party 
 
3 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 being quite offended at one of his notions being 
 rejected. Exclusive of this, the journey was 
 amusing and agreeable ; and to me who was 
 studying the character of American citizens, 
 particularly useful. On another occasion, I had 
 as fellow passenger a gentleman who had tra 
 velled extensively in the south of Europe. His 
 comparisons of the United States with Spain and 
 Italy were valuable to me. He had never been 
 in England ; but I told him that I had ; so we 
 had a good opportunity for forming right esti 
 mates of national advantages. Several hours 
 after, another passenger began to guess what 
 State I was from. He fixed on New York ; but 
 when after a little concealment, I told him what 
 countryman I was, he was greatly surprised ; a 
 circumstance pleasing to me, since it showed 
 that I had learnt enough of the manners and 
 sentiments of the country to talk freely of it in 
 the assumed character of a native without be 
 traying my secret; an attainment more difficult 
 than some who have never been from home 
 would suppose. 
 
 In voyaging from Norfolk to Richmond by 
 the steam-packet, I made acquaintance with the 
 Spanish consul whom I found an intelligent, 
 educated man. From his long residence in the 
 
OF TRAVELLING. 53 
 
 United States, I attached importance to his re 
 marks. This voyage was one of the most in 
 teresting I made. The number of passengers 
 might be about sixty, about one third of whom 
 were foreigners, there being persons from eight 
 different countries. I found out and made this 
 circumstance known, when it excited a lively in 
 terest. To learn the opinions of persons from 
 so many different countries, of that in which 
 they were, was both entertaining and instruct 
 ive. I think it right to add that all spoke more 
 favourably than otherwise. I was conversing 
 with some Germans when a Dane who spoke 
 their language with tolerable fluency joined us. 
 We became quite in high glee ; but whatever 
 laughs were made at American peculiarities, 
 there was no other than a cordial feeling to the 
 citizens in general. 
 
 I have now perhaps written more than enough 
 to show what the traveller in America may ex 
 pect to meet ; yet I think it right to add that 
 in many places, I found tavern-keepers who 
 showed me a kindness beyond that required by 
 their calling. This probably arose from the 
 familiarity I constantly adopted. Though in 
 England I had not been in the habit of convers 
 ing with persons in their station in a similar 
 
54 MODES AND CONVENIENCES 
 
 manner, I considered that it was best in America 
 not only to conform to established customs, but 
 to avail myself of every chance of learning some 
 thing new and confirming or correcting what I 
 had learnt. The plan I found had its advan 
 tages. The hostess of the house at which I 
 stopped at Buffalo on Lake Erie, gave me an 
 interesting account of the skirmishes in Canada 
 during the late war. Not only was her conver 
 sation pleasing, but her manners were soft and 
 considerably refined. A widow at a solitary 
 house distant about seven miles from Buffalo 
 communicated some particulars of the Indians 
 in the vicinity. She was an animated woman ; 
 and though removed from society by her remote 
 situation, one who knew how to demean herself 
 with great propriety. She begged that if I 
 should ever go that road again I would give 
 them a call. This was not spoken in reference 
 to her wishing my custom, but to show her 
 friendly feeling to a foreigner. I was sensible 
 of it by her tone and manner. The landlord of 
 an inn in Connecticut answered my enquiries 
 respecting the Shakers, who have a settlement 
 near his house ; and seemed both capable and 
 ready to give me information of every sort re 
 specting the vicinity. One of his daughters was 
 beautiful and fascinating. I held a long conver- 
 
OF TRAVELLING. 55 
 
 sation with her, and found her quite intelligent. 
 The morning I spent at this house is one to 
 which I recur with pleasure. At the inn at Har 
 per s Ferry in Virginia, I met a gentleman and 
 his wife from Tennessee ; they, the mistress of 
 the house and her daughter, with myself, passed 
 a sociable evening together conversing princi 
 pally on literary topics. The master who had 
 been from home, returned on the following 
 morning. He was a Protestant, his wife and 
 daughter Catholics, All of them behaved in an 
 agreeable manner ; and made me feel as if I 
 were at home. His bookcase contained some 
 valuable historical works of which while I staid 
 I made good use. Books are so scarce in most 
 country places in America, that when I hap 
 pened of a few, I found myself as refreshed as 
 after bathing in cold water in a hot day. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MEN. 
 
 IN the remarks I am about to make on the men, 
 I shall confine myself principally to their habits 
 and behaviour, reserving some remarks on their 
 character to a future chapter. 
 
 One of the first things that strikes the atten 
 tion of a stranger in America, is the coldness and 
 apparent heartlessness with which they greet an 
 acquaintance. Their deportment is quite chill 
 ing. Yet it is soon perceptible that this arises 
 not so much from apathy as from habit. It is 
 however proper to observe that the Virginians 
 are to be exempted from this particular, since 
 they are not at all backward to manifest their 
 feelings. Of the men in general it is not 
 withstanding to be said, that they never show 
 that boisterousness of manner so common with 
 the Irish. In their houses, they lounge when 
 seated, in a way which in some other coun 
 tries, would be viewed as quite indecorous. It 
 is quite common even in company to lean back 
 in the chair so as to let it stand on its hind legs ; 
 
THE MEN, o7 
 
 and when in this position near a h re, they \vill 
 sometimes place their feet against the mantle 
 piece. Imagine a man sitting in this manner 
 with a segar in his mouth, and you have a com 
 plete picture of American independence ! So ge 
 neral, and indeed almost universal is the habit of 
 lounging, that I noticed in the Supreme Court 
 of Massachusetts sitting at Boston, counsellors 
 when engaged in a cause leaning back in the way 
 I have described ; and at Harrisburg in Pennsyl 
 vania, legislators with their legs stretched on the 
 writing desk before them ! The same habits I 
 noticed in courts of justice in several other states, 
 and in the House of Representatives at Wash 
 ington. True it is that there are many gentle 
 men who are careful to avoid lounging, more es 
 pecially in company, but they are exceptions to 
 the generality. 
 
 The dirty, disagreeable practice of snuff taking, 
 so prevalent in Europe, is but little in vogue : 
 but then smoking and chewing tobacco, both 
 nearly as bad, are very general. The idea of the 
 soothing tendency, and consequent utility of 
 smoking in concentrating thought, is urged in 
 its favour, but chiefly by those who think, or at 
 least reason but little. The most active minds 
 need not its assistance. Bonaparte never smoked. 
 
THE MEN. 
 
 The use of quids is in my opinion as indefensible 
 as smoking. Like dram-drinking it may operate 
 on the animal spirits, but like that be injurious 
 except in a few special cases. But my chief ob 
 jection to it is, that it is disliked by females. 
 Surely there is a strange want of attention to them 
 on the part of those men who chew tobacco, since 
 they are all averse to it. Those who do so must 
 frequently spit, it not being pleasant to swallow 
 the juice. What is the consequence ? Why that 
 carpets, fire-places, and stair-cases bear marks of 
 the stains. The pews in many places of worship 
 are discoloured by the tobacco juice, though the 
 stricter professions deny themselves the indul 
 gence of a quid during service time. Perhaps I 
 ought not to censure the Americans for spitting 
 on floors and carpets, as the French who value 
 themselves on the scrupulosity of their atten 
 tions to the minute points of behaviour, do the 
 same thing: but it is a habit very offensive to me. 
 In reference to this subject, let me mention how 
 diverted I was at the reluctance of some persons 
 to admit that they were chargeable with the ha 
 bit at all. Conversing with a gentleman in Phi 
 ladelphia on the state of society in America, he 
 requested me to mention any unpleasant habits 
 that I had noticed amongst them ; when I named 
 this of spitting on the floor. He could not allow 
 
THE MEN. 
 
 that such a habit existed, for if it did, he must, 
 he said, have noticed it. But when I assured 
 him that I had noticed it in every part where I 
 had been, and in genteel families too, he was ob 
 liged to yield the point. I was in a lecture-room, 
 at Ovid in New York, the floor of which was as 
 wet, as if a watering-pot had been used to lay 
 the dust: this was occasioned entirely by the spit* 
 ting of the men. 
 
 In the principal cities, proper attention is paid 
 to personal cleanliness and neatness of dress ; 
 but in many parts of the country, considerable 
 neglect is apparent. I found it needful to carry 
 a piece of soap constantly with me, as the article 
 is hardly ever to be found at inns on the road. 
 Even in genteel private houses, I have noticed 
 occasionally a want of it. I have slept in a room 
 furnished in the first style, where this necessary 
 article was omitted. Little matters of this kind 
 are sometimes more elucidatory of the habits of 
 a people, than formal dissertations. Let me 
 therefore mention that I went into a draper s 
 shop at Fredericsburg in Virginia to purchase a 
 nightcap, but no such thing was to be had. I 
 tried at a second, and was told that no dealer in 
 the town kept nightcaps, as the people did not 
 use them. At Richmond I obtained one. 
 
60 THE MEN. 
 
 The men everywhere are less attentive to the 
 softer sex than social happiness requires. When 
 in visiting parties, they are of course more atten 
 tive than at othe.r times, but they seem on such 
 occasions rather desirous of gaining the favour 
 able opinion of the ladies by affected ease and 
 sprightliness, than by those minute attentions, 
 which when in union with cheerfulness, are con 
 sidered by us as the best recommendations. 
 They make a great mistake in supposing that 
 women dislike rational conversation. Chester 
 field with all his knowledge of the world fell into 
 the same mistake. It certainly is not to be 
 wished that mathematics or metaphysics should 
 be discussed in their company ; but polite litera 
 ture in its various departments may be intro 
 duced with great propriety. Topics of this kind 
 are as agreeable to young ladies of cultivated 
 minds, as everlasting criticisms on the best 
 dancers, or witticisms on the blunders and awk 
 wardness of others. The American gentlemen 
 when convinced of this, and disposed to try the 
 experiment, will find that it has at least this ad 
 vantage in it, that it will be beneficial to them, 
 even if it should chance to be insufficiently al 
 luring to the ladies ; a result I do not anticipate. 
 If it be true, as I was several times assured, that 
 the ladies prefer Europeans to their own country- 
 
THE MEN. 61 
 
 men, may it not be in part attributed to the su 
 perior respect paid to their understandings by 
 the former ? What sensible young lady admires 
 being treated as if she were only a dressed doll ? 
 
 In their intercourse with each other the men 
 are easy and polite. The coldness shown in sa 
 lutation to which I alluded before, soon gives 
 place to more genial behaviour. And if they 
 have not the tinsel of compliment, or the most 
 refined address, they have what is of incompara 
 bly more value, a disposition to promote the 
 kindly feelings by anticipations of the wishes of 
 others. If their introductory deportment does 
 not raise expectations, their conduct after is sure 
 to gratify : the essence of politeness they emi 
 nently possess. 
 
 It is proper to say something of the labouring 
 class of society, who have generally been repre 
 sented as a rude, undisciplined set. I met now 
 and then with a rude fellow, but I must say that 
 in general they are civil and respectful though 
 not crouching. I asked a bricklayer who was 
 at work in Washington which was the way to the 
 Catholic church. He immediately laid down his 
 trowel, and walked with me for some distance 
 till we came in sight of it, fearful that if he gave 
 
MEN. 
 
 me only an oral direction, I should be puzzled 
 to find it. I walked one day about ten miles 
 with a journeyman tailor whom I overtook on 
 the road, and observed that in talking with me 
 on different subjects, he showed a correctness of 
 behaviour, highly creditable to one whose means 
 of improvement had evidently been scanty. He 
 was a Jersey man. More rudeness, or at any 
 rate more latitude in behaviour, is observable in 
 the Irish labourers in America than in the na 
 tives, the reason for which is I presume, that 
 considering themselves in the land of liberty, 
 they may assume any airs with impunity. Work 
 is so easily to be had, that they do not mind be 
 ing paid off. That the poor in general are not 
 inattentive to behaviour, is evident from the 
 manners of children. When walking in the un- 
 felled native forest, I have been surprised by 
 the boys touching their hats, and the girls curt 
 seying to me, as I passed the log house of their 
 parents. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WOMEN. 
 i 
 
 THE condition of women is in all countries at 
 matter of great interest, since it is indicative of 
 the state of civilization and happiness of the men. 
 It is only in countries highly civilized that wo 
 men are placed in their proper station, and treat 
 ed as they deserve. In the savage state, they 
 are regarded as beasts of burden ; in a semi- 
 civilized state, they are often valued only as 
 ministers of sensual gratification. During the 
 chivalrous ages, they were idolized, but assured 
 ly not made so happy as in a more advanced state 
 of society. It is only when women are treated 
 as rational beings, when neither brutal neglect 
 nor idolatrous submission are shown in the beha 
 viour of men, that their virtues expand and pro 
 duce all that harmony and decorum, without 
 which life is like a garden overrun with weeds 
 and wild-flowers, having few charms and no fra 
 grance. The women in America are less influ 
 ential than they should be, the reason for which 
 is, that they are brought up with too much re- 
 
64 THE WOMEN. 
 
 serve. Modesty and retiredness are however 
 such great charms in the female character, that 
 I shall give my objections with caution and I 
 hope with suitable diffidence. In the United 
 States it necessarily happens, that by far the 
 greater part of the community have but little 
 leisure. It is therefore very desirable that those 
 hours which a young man can call his own, should 
 be employed in cultivating his mind, and mould 
 ing his disposition to what is amiable. Now 
 both these objects are promoted by an acquaint 
 ance with educated young women. The desire 
 of pleasing operates so powerfully, that a youth 
 possessing the advantage of their acquaintance, 
 soon learns to apply to mental improvement lest 
 they should despise him for his ignorance. The 
 development of his faculties is attended by 
 an improvement of manners, and the improve 
 ment of manners produces a correspondent im 
 provement of temper and disposition. Of course,! 
 do not mean that these are the invariable results, 
 but that the causes are adequate to their produc 
 tion. But owing to the restraint imposed on fe 
 males in America, it is seldom that a young man 
 is fortunate enough to enjoy their society with 
 out being suspected of more than common 
 friendship. Of this, I was myself an instance. 
 When at New York I became acquainted with the 
 
THE WOMEN. 65 
 
 family of a merchant in whose society I took 
 great delight, and knowing that my intimacy 
 with them must soon cease, I was their frequent 
 visiter. But what was my surprise when I was 
 one day informed by a gentleman, that it was 
 reported on change that I was likely to marry 
 one of them before I embarked for England ! A 
 similar report was raised of an English gentle 
 man resident at Washington, though a mutual 
 friend of the parties told me that he believed 
 neither of them had any idea of such a thing. 
 Now it is evident that if a greater degree of free 
 dom were allowed, reports of this nature would 
 not so often occur to check familiar intercourse. 
 It may be said, that the intimacy and love sub 
 sisting between brothers and sisters, are quite 
 sufficient to produce all the good, without any 
 of the disadvantages, of the greater freedom I 
 am advocating. To this I reply, that invaluable 
 as is the company of sisters to a young man, it 
 seldom produces that spirit of improvement 
 which I have mentioned as the consequence of 
 a more extended acquaintance with the female 
 sex. Sisters may correct faults and foibles in 
 their brothers, but they cannot so easily produce 
 in them a captivating grace. A young man is 
 satisfied with the esteem and affection of his sis 
 ters, but likes to be admired by other young la- 
 
THE WOMEN. 
 
 dies ; and without the desire to please be ex 
 cited in early life, the attempt in a subsequent 
 period, generally proves a partial failure. 
 
 In all places of public resort, except those of 
 amusement where the company is select, the 
 American ladies are chary both in their deport 
 ment and language. The practice of conversing 
 freely and instantaneously as the French do, 
 with persons who are entire strangers, is what 
 shocks their ideas of female delicacy and reserve. 
 But in their own private circles, they are as com 
 municative and free as can be desired. Though 
 they have not the enthusiasm of the Irish, nor 
 the sprightliness of the French, they are exceed 
 ingly to be admired, as they possess in a super- 
 eminent degree, that softness which throws so 
 much grace over feminine actions, and when 
 united with good sense makes the strongest im 
 pression on the heart. Another trait, and a 
 most interesting one it is, is the confidence they 
 repose on those with whom they are familiar. 
 They manifest no desire to conceal under the 
 garb of affectation, that warmth of heart which 
 women in every country but France are said to 
 possess. What is much to their credit, they will 
 without hesitation, when a topic is introduced of 
 which they chance to be ignorant, request in- 
 
THE WOMEN. j 
 
 formation in the most artless manner. This ren 
 ders them very fascinating. A French girl thinks 
 herself qualified to say something on every point: 
 an English girl does not like to talk on subjects 
 she does not understand, but will not ask for in 
 formation, lest she should betray her ignorance : 
 an American girl will confess her ignorance, 
 and desire to be put in possession of such mate 
 rials as may enable her to talk. There is no dif 
 ficulty in deciding which of the three act most 
 conformably to reason, and become in conse 
 quence the most agreeable. Certain it is, that 
 Europeans from different countries concur in ad 
 mitting that no ladies are more captivating than 
 the American. A German in Philadelphia witl> 
 whom I was conversing respecting them, spoke 
 quite in raptures of their amiability, and told me 
 he believed I should not leave the country with 
 out taking a wife home with me, a point how 
 ever in which he happened to be mistaken. And 
 yet, I believe few women make better wives ; 
 all of them being, as far as I could ascertain, in 
 structed in domestic management, a very com 
 mendable regulation ; for a woman who knows 
 not how to superintend the concerns of her 
 houshold, is like a watch without its hands, de 
 ficient in that which is indispensable to useful 
 ness. If in any part of the country, this is neg 
 lected, it is in the Slave States. The rich 
 
68 THK WOMEN. 
 
 planters keep female housekeepers, who take 
 that part which it would be advantageous to their 
 daughters to be capable of doing themselves. 
 Accustomed from early life to be attended by 
 slaves, they acquire habits of laziness both men 
 tal and corporeal, which the heat of the climate 
 disposes them to continue. The little exertion 
 they are capable of making is truly surprising. 
 A walk of a mile or two for recreation is what 
 they cannot think of. It appears as formidable 
 to them as a lesson in Greek does to a school 
 boy. The description given by Thomson, of 
 some of the inmates of his Castle of Indolence, 
 may be applied to them : 
 
 " Their only labour is to kill the time, 
 And labour dire it is, and weary woe, 
 They sit, they loll, turn o er some idle rhyme ; 
 Then rising sudden to the glass they go, 
 Or saunter forth with tottering step and slow : 
 This soon too rude an exercise they find ; 
 Straight on the couch their limbs again they throw, 
 Where hours on hours they sighing lie reclined, 
 And court the vapoury God soft breathing in the wind." 
 
 Notwithstanding this inaction they are amiable, 
 and in conversation quite as volatile as their 
 northern neighbours. 
 
 It is neither in the ball-room, the theatre, nor 
 the card-party, that the American ladies are seen 
 to most advantage. It is, and may it long con- 
 
THE WOMEN. 
 
 tinue to be the case, in their own domestic cir 
 cle that we must meet them, to enjoy their 
 company and witness the full display of their ge 
 nuine characters. The man admitted to their 
 society at their own homes, must be insensible 
 to the most refined feelings if he fails to experi 
 ence delight. When very young, they are viva 
 cious ; but it is remarkable that their vivacity 
 abates and gives way to a staidness of manner 
 approaching to demureness, by the time they 
 reach the middle period of life. Whether this 
 change is produced by the climate or their ha 
 bits, I do not pretend to know : perhaps both 
 may have their influence. Their complexion 
 also undergoes a change. The ruddiness of 
 youth gives way to paleness by the time they ar 
 rive at puberty, and is succeeded by sallowness. 
 In figure they appear to great advantage. Finer 
 forms nature never produced than are to be 
 found in America. If any thing is wanting to 
 complete the outline, it is in the bosom which is 
 too flat ; yet if Pygmalion had seen such forms, 
 he would never have become enamoured of his 
 statue. They dress neatly and elegantly, so that 
 their fine figures are shown to great advantage. 
 They copy the French fashions rather more than 
 the English, and seem to unite the elegance of 
 each. 
 
70 THE WOMEN* 
 
 When walking the streets with a gentleman, 
 single ladies are not accustomed to accept his 
 arm, lest they should be considered forward ; a 
 particular in which they correspond with the 
 Welsh and the Irish, as well as with some of the 
 nations of continental Europe. After sunset, 
 or when they stand engaged, they are less scru 
 pulous. An Englishman told me that soon after 
 his arrival in America, he called on a gentleman 
 in Philadelphia whose daughter politely offered 
 to conduct him to some part of the city to which 
 he was a stranger. He gladly accepted her offer, 
 and on leaving the door tendered her his arm, 
 when to his surprise and mortification she de 
 clined it. He was so confounded, that making 
 her a bow, he was about to retreat, when, calling 
 him back, she explained to him the custom of 
 the country, on which he apologised and walked 
 by her side. This needless piece of refinement 
 takes place in the middle and southern States. In 
 New England, they manage things better. But 
 let me state matters fairly. In Virginia, where 
 the ladies are so exceedingly precise, that they 
 will scarcely stop to speak a word to a gentleman 
 in the street, they are unreserved within doors. 
 I could not but be pleased when on entering a 
 room to which I had before been introduced, the 
 girls rose and offered me their hands in the kind- 
 
THE WOMEN. 71 
 
 est, frankest manner. The Virginians are all 
 partial, and with reason, to a friendly shake of 
 the hand. I must not dismiss the subject of 
 walking without adding that their gait is ungrace 
 ful. A swing of the arm, one of the worst faults, 
 is very common. Instead of stepping " on the 
 light, fantastic toe," they seem as if they imitat 
 ed the witches in Tarn o Shanter, on whom the 
 music operated so as to " put life and mettle in 
 their heels." Yet though the American ladies 
 must rank far below those of Spain, who are con 
 sidered to be the most elegant walkers in Europe, 
 they are I think equal to the English, for though 
 their gait is different, it is not more faulty. 
 
 The education of females in America is incom 
 plete. Reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, 
 and geography, with a smattering of French, and 
 a few lessons in music and dancing, are all that 
 even with the wealthiest are commonly thought 
 necessary for their daughters. Now it appears 
 to me that a popular knowledge of astronomy, 
 chemistry and electricity might properly be add 
 ed, with perhaps the elements of the higher 
 branches of mathematics : and if a taste for moral 
 and physical philosophy could be infused, it 
 would have its use in checking that propensity 
 to novel-reading which now so unfortunately pre- 
 
72 THE WOMEN. 
 
 vails to the exclusion of more profitable matter. 
 The state of education in New England is supe 
 rior to what I have mentioned above, Latin be 
 ing made in that district part of a young lady s 
 studies, though in my opinion with little pro 
 priety. I am not of Milton s opinion that one 
 tongue is enough for a woman, except in the sense 
 in which I think that the remark applies to a man.. 
 Doubtless many persons acquainted only with 
 their vernacular language, are more intelligent 
 and sensible than vast numbers of others more 
 learned ; yet there is so much pleasure derivable 
 from the study of other languages, that I wish 
 women as well as men to be partakers of it. But 
 then a question occurs as to the superior utility 
 of ancient or modem languages. To satisfy our 
 selves on this point, we must consider that the 
 ancient languages are of far less importance than 
 they were two centuries ago, when no informa 
 tion was to be gained but through their medium. 
 We delight to read of the acquisitions of the 
 beautiful, unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and of the daughters of Sir Thomas 
 More. How interesting it is to find the Lady 
 Jane giving as a reason for absenting herself from 
 a party of pleasure, that the perusal of Plato gave 
 her more delight than they could possibly feel 
 from all their sport and gaiety ! But had she lived 
 
THE WOMEN. 7 
 
 at a later period, she might have experienced a 
 kindred feeling from authors of her own country, 
 and have learnt Plato s arguments in an English 
 translation. It is true that many beauties are 
 generally lost in a translation, from the impossi 
 bility of infusing them into another language; 
 but when we take into account the circumstance 
 that the substance and general outline are usu 
 ally faithfully preserved, and that no new works 
 are published in Latin and Greek, we shall pro 
 bably be led to the conclusion, that a young la 
 dy s time is more improved by mastering Italian 
 and German. To one engaged in composition, 
 an intimate acquaintance with the classics is in 
 valuable ; but to a lady who desires only to cul 
 tivate her faculties to such a degree as to render 
 herself agreeable to others, and able to pass her 
 time alone without experiencing the absence of 
 company as an intolerable privation, of how much 
 less importance are they than the works of mo 
 dern writers! There are so few occasions for a 
 woman to make use of classical attainments in 
 company (besides the danger of subjecting her 
 self to the imputation of pedantry), that I be 
 lieve few women ever derive any benefit from 
 the study of the dead languages. I know an En 
 glishwoman who is well versed in Greek, who in 
 a company of learned men where the discourse 
 
7 THE WOMEN. 
 
 turned on Greek literature, had not courage to 
 take part in it lest she shoul d be thought defi 
 cient in modesty ; though she would have felt lit 
 tle or no scruple had the topic been the litera 
 ture of France or Italy. Another point worth 
 considering is, whether the works of Roman and 
 Greek authors, defiled as they too generally are 
 by impurities unfit for the eye of a chaste maid 
 en, are suitable to form the basis of instruction 
 in female schools. It will be said that many En 
 glish authors are quite as exceptionable, and 
 some French authors more so. But in spite of 
 this, most productions of recent date may be ta 
 ken up without fear of raising a blush on the cheek 
 of modesty ; and from those of an earlier period 
 a good selection may be made. We have indeed 
 of late seen the mighty genius of Byron prosti 
 tuted to the base purpose of pandering to the 
 corrupt appetites of sensualists, but we have at 
 the same time seen a manifestation of public feel 
 ing hostile to such degradation of intellect. To 
 the credit of the American ladies be it record 
 ed, that since the character of Don Juan has 
 become known, it has been proscribed. Their 
 good sense and native modesty have made them 
 refuse to read it. Upon the whole then, I am 
 brought to the conclusion, that a change in the 
 system of female education may be properly 
 
THE WOMEN. 75 
 
 made in New England, and that in the southern 
 and middle States some considerable additions 
 are requisite. With a more enlarged education, 
 and some increase of latitude in their acquaint 
 ance with the gentlemen in the same sphere as 
 themselves, they will become more conspicuously 
 beneficial to their country. That their present 
 influence is inadequate to the production of all 
 the improvement in society which they are ca 
 pable of effecting, is evident from one simple cir 
 cumstance. They are universally averse to the 
 practice of chewing tobacco, and yet cannot per 
 suade their friends of the other sex to disconti 
 nue it. 
 
 The female poor are reared with more modest 
 feelings than the same class in Europe. This I 
 give as the general case, deferring a considera 
 tion of the exceptions to it to a future chapter 
 where it will be more in place. In no instance, 
 either at a public or private house, was I shown 
 to my bed-room by a female servant ; and consi 
 dering the character of chamber-maids in Eng 
 land, I think the Americans have done right in 
 establishing a custom different to ours. The 
 daughters of the petty traders are in much the 
 same condition as those in England. They are 
 more retired but less animated. They are not 
 
76 THE WOMEN. 
 
 so much employed as shopmaids as is desirable; 
 hence they find it difficult to obtain suitable situ 
 ations. The case is different in France, and so it 
 ought to be in England and America. To put 
 poor girls to learn millinery, is to put their virtue 
 to a strong test. Fondness for dress is the natu 
 ral result of employing girls in making dresses ; 
 their wages are insufficient to its indulgence, and 
 they too often become the victims of the wealthy 
 seducer : but millinery is almost the only occu 
 pation except servitude which their parents can 
 get for them. This is a disadvantage. Why 
 should not women act as clerks in counting- 
 houses ? They are competent to the required du 
 ties, and would be quite in a becoming station. 
 Why should they not be taught surgery, at least 
 that part of it relative to parturition ? In short, 
 there are a variety of employments from which 
 custom excludes them, though on insufficient 
 grounds, which they would be glad to follow if 
 public opinion were not at variance with their 
 own. The hardship is more felt in America than 
 with us, from the paucity of manufactories re 
 quiring female help. I am now alluding to the 
 town population. In country villages, more es 
 pecially in the western parts, spinning and weav 
 ing are done at home. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 IT is remarked by Hume, in one of the notes in 
 his History of England, that as luxury spreads, 
 the hours of rising and of meals become later ; 
 and that this takes place in all countries. In 
 America, early hours are general with all ranks, 
 a proof that luxury has not yet had so much 
 baneful influence as in Europe. The ball, be 
 ginning at midnight and ending at daylight, is 
 unknown ; when one is given, it is seldom con 
 tinued to an unseasonable hour. Some of the 
 fashionable follies are altogether alien, and it is 
 to be hoped will so continue. The Americans 
 are eminently a domestic people, and conse 
 quently a happy people ; for notwithstanding all 
 that may be urged in favour of midnight assem 
 blies, where the young may display the charms 
 of person and the elegance of dress, it is un 
 questionable, that purer happiness is to be found 
 in the quiet domestic circle. The excitement 
 of spirits produced by the former, is like the 
 waves of the ocean, rising high for a moment, 
 then sinking below the medium level ; that of 
 
78 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 the latter, is like the waters of a lake, seldom 
 swelling beyond the natural limits, but always 
 smooth, clear, and reflecting the light of heaven. 
 He, whose home has not more attractions for 
 him than extraneous pleasures, is in a distem 
 pered state, and needs a moral physician. 
 
 From the familiar intercourse I maintained 
 with several families, I had the opportunity of 
 entering their houses at any time, without being 
 treated as a formal visiter ; the most agreeable 
 mode by far to me, and certainly the best to 
 get an insight into the real character and habits 
 of the people. The breakfast hour may be fixed 
 at eight o clock for cities, and something earlier 
 for the country. Those who are fond of a sub 
 stantial breakfast should visit the United States, 
 though the Scotch and the French would pro 
 bably prefer such a one as they find at home. 
 Coffee is the usual beverage. For eatables, be 
 sides rolls and eggs, broiled fish, beef-steaks, 
 ham, and sausages are placed on the table ; and 
 in Connecticut, cheesecake and pumpkin-pie, 
 with cyder to drink. Buck-wheat cakes are in 
 much estimation as a winter diet. I tried to be 
 pleased with them, but all in vain, and fancied 
 they did not suit my stomach. In Virginia, 
 small cakes of wheat flour are almost universal, 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 79 
 
 instead of the solid loaf. The natives being 
 partial to them hot, a fresh supply is brought 
 in during the middle of the meal. Cakes made 
 of maize are also in great request amongst them, 
 as well as a pudding of the same material mixed 
 with eggs. Both these are considered very 
 wholesome ; but those whose palates are unused 
 to them seldom find them agreeable at first. 
 
 Dinner takes place at two, or seldom later 
 than three o clock, and nearly corresponds with 
 ours. Soups are in much use. In Virginia and 
 Carolina, solid joints of meat are less frequently 
 seen, than fowls with ham and greens. Turkies 
 are very common. I cannot say much in praise 
 of their cookery. When I first landed, I fancied 
 that every article on table was inferior to what 
 I had been accustomed to at home ; further ex 
 perience convinced me, that the difference was 
 mainly occasioned by the cookery. The Ame 
 ricans should take a few lessons from the French 
 on this valuable science. They are particularly 
 unskilful in making pastry. The pie is baked 
 in a shallow dish so that it has no syrup. I did 
 not taste a single fruit pie of prime quality. 
 The wines commonly taken, are Claret in sum 
 mer, and Madeira in winter. Dr. Johnson said 
 that he could abstain from wine, but that when 
 
80 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 he took it, he liked a copious draught. The 
 Americans are more rational. The decanters 
 are frequently removed with the cloth ; if not, 
 seldom above two or three glasses are drank 
 after, as they are not, like the English, in the 
 habit of sitting for an hour or two passing the 
 bottle round ; and it is earnestly to be desired 
 that they never may. It is expensive, injurious 
 to health, and deprives us of the company of 
 " the sex whose presence civilizes ours." They 
 never urge their guests to take more than is 
 agreeable. O ! that the Scotch, many of whom 
 in the middle rank of life are prone to jollity, 
 would generally imitate them in this. True po 
 liteness seems to dictate, that each should be 
 left to his own free inclination. Though in this 
 particular I approve the Americans, I think 
 they might make their dinners more comfort 
 able than they do. Where is the necessity of 
 eating so rapidly, as to distance an Englishman 
 to a degree quite perplexing ? Their country 
 man Count Rumford gave them a lesson on this 
 point, which has been apparently quite neglect 
 ed. He knew that to enjoy a dinner properly, 
 to obtain the flavour of the different dishes, it 
 was necessary to eat slowly ; and as our appe 
 tites are given us to be enjoyed with moderation 
 and thankfulness, why should we deprive our- 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 81 
 
 selves of gratifications resulting from their right 
 use ? To prove how little the Americans un 
 derstand the art of enjoying a dinner, it is only 
 necessary to mention, that they take two or 
 three sorts of vegetables on to the plate at once, 
 thus losing the peculiar taste of each. The 
 French and Spanish plan, of eating vegetables 
 after meat, is preferable to this. While men 
 tioning the dinner, let me add that the rivers 
 abound with fish, some of which are not to be 
 found in our waters, amongst which the Bass 
 deserves distinction, from its being both deli 
 cate and substantial. The Sturgeon, so rare 
 with us, is so plentiful with them, that the citi 
 zens of New York and Baltimore disregard it. 
 The Virginians are better judges. The table is 
 tolerably well supplied with game during the 
 season, though they have no hares. Canvas- 
 back ducks arc shot by sportsmen in great num 
 bers. Their flavour is so delicious, that they 
 ought to be transported to our side of the At 
 lantic. But if I continue longer on the luxuries 
 of the table, I shall be suspected for a second 
 Apicius. I confess I am not enough of a Trap- 
 pist, to think that these matters are beneath 
 my notice. Hilarity is often as much promoted 
 by a good dinner, as by an amusing tale : on 
 that ground therefore, I may be excused for 
 
8 C 2 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 the particulars I have given. I can fare hard 
 without grumbling, when need requires ; but 
 when I meet with a good dinner, I like to eat 
 it with a relish. I was surprised in Maryland 
 and Virginia, to see a young lady s plate co 
 vered with a profusion, which with us would be 
 considered fit only for a ploughman ; but I af 
 terwards noticed that it was customary never to 
 clear the plate, I suppose under the notion of 
 gentility. Of course, I must have been re 
 garded as of vulgar habits, before I found this 
 out, being in the habit of leaving nothing but 
 bones, unless when over plentifully helped. The 
 reason of my not at first noticing it, was owing 
 to my having been in several States where the 
 custom was quite different before I entered Mary 
 land ; and I had ceased to make such particular 
 observation as I at first did, supposing that I 
 had already learnt exactly how to conform. 
 The dessert consists of fruits according to the 
 season. Peaches and melons are abundant ; 
 and the apples are of a particularly fine flavour. 
 Cherries, gooseberries and strawberries are in 
 ferior to the same fruits in England ; and the 
 grapes are too poor to be worth notice to those 
 persons who have eaten the grapes of France or 
 Portugal. 
 
POMESTIC LIFE. 83 
 
 Tea, in which supper is included, is taken at 
 six or seven o clock. It is in general not quite 
 so substantial as breakfast, but with a vast va 
 riety. Preserved fruits, in which they excel, 
 are commonly on table, except during the sea 
 son for ripe fruit, when a variety of delicious 
 garden productions tempts the palate. Thin 
 bread and butter is seldom met with ; for no 
 thing solid being taken after, the repast is more 
 substantial than with us. Hard and soft bis 
 cuits and toast are usually part of it. The lat 
 ter article is sometimes soaked in milk ; but in 
 this state it was far from palatable to me. With 
 respect to this meal, what always surprised me 
 was, though I never ventured to hint such a 
 thing, that they should place such incongruous 
 articles on table together : oysters and sweet 
 cakes, strawberries and cheese placed side by 
 side ! I at first stared with wonder, and could 
 not but regard as passing strange, that Milton s 
 description of Eve, should never have caught 
 the eye of one of her fair American daughters. 
 He represents her, 
 
 cc With hospitable thoughts intent, 
 What choice to mix for delicacy best, 
 What order so contrived as not to mix 
 Tastes not well joined, inelegant, but bring 
 Taste after taste, upheld by kindliest change/ 
 
84 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 All sit round the table at the evening meal as 
 well as at breakfast, except when there is a vi 
 siting party, in which case the servant hands 
 the cups round to the company. In summer 
 time, so great are the swarms of flies, that it is 
 usual for much of the servant s time to be oc 
 cupied in driving them off the table with a fly- 
 flap. 
 
 I met with only two or three instances of 
 supper being taken as a separate meal after tea. 
 One was at a gentleman s house in Pennsylvania, 
 and was I suspected partly in compliment to me 
 as an Englishman ; for he had been in England 
 when a boy, and knew the habits of our middle 
 classes. Another was in the family of a New 
 York merchant, who told me it was an esta 
 blished custom with him. 
 
 I know that many of my countrymen after 
 reading this account of American meals, will 
 infer that the Americans are far from being a 
 refined people. Such an inference would how 
 ever be incorrect. No two nations correspond 
 in all things in ideas and habits. Several of our 
 habits are offensive to the French, and several 
 of theirs to us. The Turks and the Persians 
 are opposite in many things. Yet all value 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 85 
 
 themselves on their superiority to their neigh 
 bours. The Americans in my opinion, may lay 
 claim to at least as much refinement as our 
 selves ; in some particulars they have certainly 
 more. 
 
 After tea, an hour or two often passes agree 
 ably in conversation. Some of the happiest time 
 I experienced, during my abode in the United 
 States, was in evening conversation parties. What 
 are routs, and balls, and assemblies, and music 
 meetings, compared with free discourse on lite 
 rary or other improving topics ? Every one has 
 his favourite pursuit or diversion, and I like one 
 of an intellectual kind. I recur to some of these 
 evening conversations, with a feeling consonant 
 to that brought by the remembrance of youthful 
 days, when all was gaiety and pleasure ; but 
 heightened in the present case by rationality. 
 One such evening I had at the house of the 
 Secretary of war at Washington. One of the 
 judges of the Supreme Court of the United States 
 was present part of the time. The Secretary, 
 who as I was assured, has risen solely by his ta 
 lents, is a man of comprehensive mind, and of 
 deportment truly gentlemanly. His counte 
 nance, which I wished to study more than I had 
 opportunity to do, bears as strikingly the im- 
 
86 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 press of thought as any one of Lavater s imagi 
 nary faces. The features are not exactly regular ; 
 but in their combination they are admirable. 
 His small eyes twinkle under his dark, thick eye 
 brows, speaking intelligence. His forehead, 
 though not bold, is marked by prominences in 
 dicative of the reasoning faculty. His small 
 mouth and chin seem formed to express amiabi 
 lity. Perhaps I might say, that not one of the 
 features except the chin, is handsome ; yet I saw 
 only two other faces in the whole country, that 
 I thought equally expressive of superior intel 
 lect, one, that of a Virginian Senator in Congress 
 seventy years old, the other that of the Chief 
 Justice of the United States, also an old man. The 
 Secretary I took to be about forty, rather under 
 than over. He heard all my objections to the 
 American Constitution with admirable patience, 
 taking care to correct me when in error. He 
 made various enquiries respecting England, 
 which it gave me pleasure to answer. I met him 
 in the street some time after, and apologised for 
 the latitude of my remarks, which on reflection 
 appeared to me greater than I was justified in 
 having used. He assured me that I had given 
 him no offence, that he did not expect foreign 
 ers to view their institutions as they did, and 
 that he was glad to have heard my opinions. 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 87 
 
 For his candour and condescension I thus pub 
 licly thank him. 
 
 Several other of my evenings at Washington 
 are remembered by me with pleasure, particu 
 larly two or three at the houses of some of the 
 Presbyterian clergy. One of them was a young 
 man of literary taste married to a pleasing Vir 
 ginian lady : with them I kept up an animated 
 conversation to a late hour. Another was one 
 of whose company I had but little, he having 
 some indispensable engagements j but his wife 
 manifested such a sweet and catholic spirit, that 
 I took leave of her with a strong feeling of 
 esteem. She was very desirous that I should 
 form a proper estimate of the American charac 
 ter. I hope it will be found that I have been 
 successful in this respect ; and if so, I may part 
 ly thank her for it, as she gave me considerable 
 information. At the house of a third, who is a 
 Scotchman by birth, I met a Cherokee Indian 
 who has embraced the Christian faith. We ex 
 changed information respecting the Indians and 
 the English, and were I believe mutually pleased. 
 I am sure at least that I was. He invited me 
 to meet some of their chiefs who had come to 
 the city on a mission from their own tribe. I 
 gladly assented, and was introduced to two of 
 
88 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 the shrewdest looking men I ever saw. Another, 
 the brother of my companion, was more digni 
 fied, and not so easily read. They behaved like 
 men under some feeling of restraint, occasioned 
 no doubt by their endeavour to conform to ci 
 vilized habits ; but I soon set them more at ease, 
 and enjoyed to witness their manners. The 
 evening passed off quite lively. 
 
 I spent an evening at the house of a clergy 
 man at Richmond, which was very interesting. 
 He is considered one of the most learned men 
 in that city and its neighbourhood. His wife 
 had an unusual share of animation ; and several 
 young ladies of cultivated minds were of the 
 party. We touched on divinity, poetry, national 
 characters and other subjects, in a cursory but en 
 livening manner, and separated in good humour. 
 These different visits tended more and more to 
 confirm my favourable opinion of the Americans. 
 After mentioning so many different evenings, it 
 is proper to add, that in the southern States, it 
 is customary for the heads of the family and all 
 of advanced years, to retire into an adjoining 
 room, leaving the young to enter into convers 
 ation, without that restraint which is always felt 
 in the presence of their elders. In the middle 
 and northern States, this separation is less com- 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 89 
 
 mon, though a little reflection may show its pro 
 priety. There is a passage, if I remember right 
 ly, in Hurdis s Adriano illustrative of this. 
 
 Besides evenings like those I have described, 
 where no formality is used, and no other restraint 
 than that required by decorum, they have their 
 dress and card parties. A gentleman in Phila 
 delphia, from whom I had received various marks 
 of kindness, requested me to call on him one 
 evening, as he wished to introduce me to some 
 of his friends. Without letting me know before 
 hand what sort of a company I was to meet, he 
 took me to one of these dress-parties. When I 
 entered the room and perceived about a dozen 
 ladies in full dress, I felt a little confused. My 
 shoes were not very clean ; and my face was not 
 so smooth as usual, owing to the razor I had 
 used in the morning, being out of order. And 
 when my name was mentioned, with the addi 
 tion of my being an Englishman, I was in worse 
 condition, owing to the eyes of all being turned 
 towards me. What was to be done ? To retreat 
 was impossible. To apologise, would cause some 
 to notice me still more minutely. I therefore 
 placed myself, as quickly as I decently could, 
 in one corner of the room, where I thought I 
 should escape attention, and began conversing 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 with a young lady near me. However I was 
 soon obliged to change my seat, and considering 
 that the appearance of embarrassment was un 
 pleasant, I put a good face upon things, and 
 enjoyed myself probably nearly as much, as if I 
 had gone fully prepared for company. Formal 
 visiting parties have never had charms for me ; 
 but in the present case, the great variety of the 
 entertainment, and the smiles of the fair, served 
 to pass the evening pleasantly. Lemonade, wine 
 of different sorts, ice-creams, and spirituous com 
 pounds, were handed round, as well as straw 
 berries, raspberries, preserved peaches, sweet 
 cakes and other delicious articles. The party 
 broke up about eleven o clock. On two similar 
 occasions at New York, I was nearly as awk 
 wardly circumstanced ; but I found that a cheer 
 ful spirit carried me through with little diffi 
 culty. Why should we suffer mortification to 
 supersede pleasure, when all around are gay? 
 Birds whose feathers are plain, sing not the less 
 lively tunes, for being in company with others of 
 beautiful plumage. 
 
 It is very common in a summer s evening af 
 ter the heat has subsided, for persons to sit at 
 their doors to enjoy the cool breezes. A walk 
 at such a time through a village or small town 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE. 91 
 
 is quite enlivening. The ladies are often in 
 their best dresses, generally in white, and seem 
 to take pleasure in showing the utmost good hu 
 mour and hilarity to the gentlemen who stop to 
 chat with them. This custom has in it some 
 thing of a patriarchal or oriental character, es 
 pecially in Virginia, where a stranger who re 
 ceives entertainment has to wait while the cakes 
 are made and baked. Perhaps in no part of the 
 domestic life of the Americans, is there any thing 
 in which their sociability and amiability are more 
 apparent than in their summer evening parties. 
 How delightful it is to witness the general cheer 
 fulness ! To an Englishman it is very amusing 
 to listen to the conversation of a party sitting 
 outside of the door, and at the same time watch 
 the motions of the fire-flies, whose phosphoric 
 scintillations give the air a curious appearance. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 
 
 A STRANGER in America may soon perceive that 
 conversation has not been much studied as an 
 art. The Americans converse sensibly and ra 
 tionally ; but they appear to have no ambition 
 to attract attention by clever, smart, or witty say 
 ings, like the French, or by throwing a fictitious 
 interest over common matters by sentimental re 
 finement, like the Germans. Like a gently-flow 
 ing limpid brook, their conversation has no tur 
 bulence, but shows every thing at the bottom at 
 a glance. That it is deficient in energy and ani 
 mation, will from this at once be conceived. It 
 produces a feeling akin to that experienced by 
 every one who sits down to enjoy rest after fa 
 tigue. Now I am one of those, who admire in 
 preference, a more spirit-stirring sensation. The 
 vehemence of the Irish is more to my taste than 
 the calmness of the Americans. During my stay 
 amongst them, I met not with a single indivi 
 dual whose colloquial talents were such as I 
 should denominate first-rate ; though there were 
 several whom I greatly admired for one or an 
 other good quality. A lawyer at Norfolk in Vir- 
 
SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 93 
 
 ginia, to whom I had an introductory letter, 
 showed an aptness of illustration very pleasing, 
 and from a minute acquaintance with polite lite 
 rature, was qualified to excel if he had been 
 placed in the midst of a society of kindred minds. 
 A clergyman in Philadelphia to whom also I had 
 a letter, was more animated than most. He 
 could keep the ball moving when once struck 
 by another hand. A judge whom I met at Har- 
 risburg was a good punster, and knew how to 
 cause a smile by curious illustrations. He was 
 attached to poetry, and could press allusions to 
 it into his service so as to enliven discourse 
 agreeably. But of all whom it was my fortune 
 to hear, I give the first place to a man whom I 
 met at a tavern at Providence in Rhode Island. 
 He was neither learned nor witty, but had so 
 great a share of pleasantry joined to so much in 
 genuity in argument, that he kept the whole 
 company listening as if afraid to lose a syllable. 
 I grappled with him once or twice, but he slip 
 ped from my grasp like an eel, instantly making 
 two or three involutions in his own sophisms, 
 before I could tell where he had escaped to. 
 Ki was a Connecticut man, a circumstance 
 which I mention, as the people of that state are 
 regarded by the Virginians as deficient in fancy, 
 and probably with considerable truth as compar- 
 
94 SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 
 
 ed with themselves. If conversation be better 
 practised in one State than another, I am inclin 
 ed to think that that State is Virginia. 
 
 The colloquial topics introduced into Ameri 
 can circles are too few. Politics engross too 
 much attention : polite literature too little. The 
 merits of the last new poem may be discussed; 
 the beauties of a novel may be expatiated on ; 
 but if a person ventures to introduce higher sub 
 jects, he subjects himself to be branded for a pe 
 dant. In mixed companies, it is indeed proper 
 and almost necessary, to exclude abstruse sub 
 jects; but when a select party of educated per 
 sons takes place, a wide and nearly boundless 
 range may be suitably allowed. The question 
 as to the next governor or president, how impor 
 tant soever to the community, is not the one best 
 adapted for mental improvement or social delight. 
 The ephemeral productions of the press, are com 
 monly less interesting than those of permanent 
 reputation. It may therefore be advantageous 
 to society in America, when the fear of the im 
 putation of pedantry, will no longer prevail to 
 the exclusion of topics of more importance, re 
 quiring some intellectual exertion. Of course it 
 must not be supposed, that such matters are now 
 proscribed entirely. All that I wish to convey 
 is, that it seems to be regarded as treason to 
 
SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 95 
 
 good behaviour, to descant on subjects in com 
 pany, which may chance to be tedious or dis 
 agreeable to some of those present, and that this 
 fastidiousness is injurious to the spirit of conver 
 sation, and tends to damp the ardour of the 
 youthful mind. In a circle exclusively literary, 
 the shackles are broken, and the spirit roams at 
 large. 
 
 Of the scrupulosity used in promiscuous com 
 pany, let me mention an instance or two, illus 
 trative of what I have stated. We were on one 
 occasion conversing in a desultory manner, when 
 the French Revolution was alluded to. A gen 
 tleman who sat next to me, whispered something 
 about the Pursuits of Literature, as if fearful the 
 ladies should condemn him for rudeness, for 
 making reference to a book, which they might 
 reasonably be supposed never to have seen. If 
 he had wished to call my attention to any doc 
 trine in Helvetius or Malebranche, I should 
 have approved his discretion ; but I confess it 
 seems scarcely consonant to proper respect for 
 our company, to suppose that the mention of a 
 work like the Pursuits of Literature, a work 
 containing no elaborate disquisitions, should be 
 regarded as displeasing. On another occasion, 
 I was in a company consisting of more than a 
 
96 SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 
 
 dozen educated persons, at least sufficiently edu 
 cated to enter on an examination of many im 
 proving and interesting matters, when for two 
 hours, I heard not a single remark worth remem 
 bering. The only thing beyond mere chit-chat, 
 was a little talk on the war between France and 
 Spain, and that was soon dismissed. In one 
 pretty large company to which I was invited, I 
 resolved to try the experiment of deviating from 
 the beaten track. The consequence was, that 
 as the prospect enlarged we felt sensations of a 
 new kind, like the man who, as Milton expresses 
 it, in populous city pent, finds every object in a 
 rural walk delightful. After the company broke 
 up, a gentleman came and thanked me for the 
 gratification he had experienced, assuring me 
 that it was quite a novelty. Neither he nor any 
 other person would have ventured to make such 
 an inroad on established customs. It is evident 
 therefore, that the regulations for conversation 
 may be relaxed with benefit. I believe that not 
 a single person in the company, male or female, 
 regretted the change. All appeared pleased, and 
 I doubt not were so. 
 
 I wish however in this point to be clearly un 
 derstood. I am not so cynical as to condemn all 
 trifling, nor so circumscribed in my ideas, as to 
 
SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 97 
 
 suppose that we should always be philosophizing. 
 Human life is made up of little things, and if a 
 smile can be called forth by something insignifi 
 cant in itself, it is surely folly to be always aim 
 ing at objects of magnitude. But then, I am 
 opposed to the disposition to confine the conver 
 sations of adults, to the limits of children s capa 
 city. And I wish when conversation fit for men 
 is introduced, that it should neither be tiresome 
 nor heartless. Good conversation, like gener 
 ous wine, cheers the spirits and invigorates the 
 frame. 
 
 Perhaps there is no part of conversation in 
 which the Americans are more deficient, than in 
 the art of telling a tale. Like a painter who is 
 unskilled in perspective, they fail in giving due 
 relief: the inferior and subordinate parts become 
 too conspicuous. All this I can excuse ; but 
 there is one thing which I must condemn. Some 
 words have two or three meanings, and when it 
 happens that one of them conveys an idea of 
 something vulgar, or of something too gross for 
 polite ears, it must not according to their delicate 
 notions be used at all ! I cannot with propriety 
 cite examples ; but a little consideration will be 
 sufficient to understand me. In most European 
 countries, if my information be correct, some 
 
 H 
 
 c Si i t < C (/&< 
 
98 SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 
 
 things are too often called by plain names. But 
 when there is nothing in expressions to raise the 
 blush of modesty, or offend the ear of chastity, 
 or violate correct taste, it seems preposterous to 
 reject them, merely because, if used in another 
 sense than that in which they are obviously ap 
 plied, they would convey a disagreeable idea. 
 Unless an attention to delicacy be observed in 
 conversation, it is evident that there cannot long 
 remain that happy familiarity between the young 
 of both sexes, which conduces so greatly to their 
 mutual improvement. But when under the idea 
 of delicacy, words are proscribed simply because 
 they have two senses, one of them being such 
 as no person would use in company, the very 
 evil sought to be avoided is liable to be produc 
 ed. But this is not all. Such is the refinement 
 of language in America, that an Englishman ac 
 customed to genteel life, and taught to use the 
 most polished phrases, may use expressions 
 which in England would be suffered in any so 
 ciety, but which in America would subject him 
 to the imputation of vulgarity. I was Apprised 
 of this circumstance by an intelligent Scotch 
 man, who has resided some years at Baltimore, 
 and who related some humourous instances, that 
 had come under his own observation. Feeling 
 myself unwilling to offend, I became very care- 
 
SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 99 
 
 ful in the selection of my words. But it some 
 times happened, that I inadvertently used such 
 as are considered unwarrantable. To apologise 
 for them would only have added to the error ; 
 I was therefore several times obliged to hint, 
 that different practices prevailed in the two coun 
 tries in reference to the use of words. With all 
 the care I used, I may sometimes have trans 
 gressed. What Englishman for example, would 
 have an idea of there being an impropriety in 
 remarking of a lady, that she has a well-shaped 
 ancle ? Yet this would be too gross for American 
 ears ; while to say that she had a handsome leg, 
 would be intolerable. Even to make mention 
 of a shirt is enough to subject a person to the 
 charge of vulgarity and indelicacy. It is how 
 ever to be noted, that it is principally in the 
 southern States, that so much squeamishness is 
 apparent. The Scotchman whom I just men- 
 tioned, gave me some specimens of this sort of 
 squeamishness so exceedingly ludicrous, that I 
 should like to repeat them, if real delicacy did 
 not forbid. Several nearly equal to them, were 
 shown in different companies where I was pre 
 sent, but they must not be put into print. What 
 would Dean Swift have said to such things ? A 
 little observation may satisfy any one, that the 
 most fastidious are not .always the most refined. 
 
100 SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION; 
 
 Swift was neither the one nor the other. His 
 pleasure was to revile human nature, by repre 
 senting man as fond of grossness as a hog of wal 
 lowing in mire ; yet his satiric shaft sometimes 
 aimed at the opposite extreme. He would have 
 found fine quarry in the fashionable circles of 
 Virginia and Carolina. 
 
 As the strictness which I have mentioned must 
 be observed in conversation, so must it be at 
 tended to in reading to a company from any po 
 pular author. I unwittingly subjected myself 
 once or twice to a glance of surprise, for read 
 ing passages perfectly unexceptionable. I be 
 lieve that no difficulty would be felt in an Eng 
 lish circle with any of Walter Scott s poems, but 
 there are several passages in Marmion and the 
 Lady of the Lake which it would be unadvisable 
 to read to American ladies. The animated 
 stanza in Burns s Vision beginning, 
 
 " Down flowed her robe, a tartan sheen," 
 
 is one which I was obliged to skip lest I should 
 be guilty of offending. I cannot believe that any 
 necessity exists for the upholding of so much 
 scrupulosity, though I should be exceedingly 
 reluctant to forego the advantages of that seem 
 ly delicacy, without which conversation becomes 
 
SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION. 101 
 
 offensive, leaving like the slinie of the snail the 
 track of impurity. 
 
 But whatever may be the defects and errors 
 of American conversation, it would be unjust to 
 deny it the praise of decorum. Great care is 
 taken to avoid hurting the feelings of any one. 
 When a dissentient opinion is expressed, it is 
 done with mildness. That bold and decisive 
 opposition, which has been supposed part of the 
 national character of the English, is rejected as 
 being too rude for civilization. I speak of the edu 
 cated part of the community, but with some qua 
 lification it applies to the whole. In no country 
 probably, taking the people in their collective 
 capacity, is there more decorum in conversation, 
 than in .the United States. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 THE Americans have a current saying, that they 
 are the most enlightened people on earth, and 
 Congress actually passed a resolution to that ef 
 fect many years ago ! What a people assert of 
 themselves is entitled to attention. Let us there 
 fore examine how far we may yield credence 
 to this assertion. 
 
 That the Americans in proportion to their 
 numbers, have not so many learned and scientific 
 men as several European countries, is a position 
 that will scarcely be disputed, even by them 
 selves. Their meaning therefore must be, ei 
 ther, that the mass of people have more inform 
 ation diffused among them, than the mass of 
 other nations, or, that there is in the lower and 
 middling classes, a greater proportion of enlight 
 ened minds, than is to be found in other lands. 
 To ascertain the correctness of these opinions, 
 we must know the extent and state of education. 
 In the northern and middle States, the rudi 
 ments of learning are communicated to most of 
 the poor ; but in Virginia, Maryland and North 
 
INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 103 
 
 Carolina, different indeed is the state of things ; 
 for ignorance prevails to a lamentable extent. 
 Even in Pennsylvania, where great attention has 
 been given to the education of the poor, instruc 
 tion is not given to all. This I learnt from the 
 Report for the present year 1823, of the control 
 lers of one of the school districts in that State. 
 But supposing that education were more general 
 than it is, it would not prove the Americans to 
 be a more enlightened people than the Germans 
 or the Scotch, as the proper criterion is, how the 
 little acquired at school, is improved afterwards. 
 Children may be taught to read and write; but 
 unless they use their attainments, the benefit is 
 nearly nugatory. In New York and Philadel 
 phia, possibly in one or two other places, there 
 are libraries for the special use of Apprentices. 
 I examined one of them, and was pleased to find 
 a very judicious selection from practical and 
 standard English authors. But in villages and 
 small towns, almost the only book read is the 
 Bible. The newspapers circulated are however 
 exceedingly numerous; so that I believe the 
 poor are generally well informed on subjects of 
 domestic policy. From their migratory habits, 
 they are also tolerably well acquainted with the 
 geography of the country. But on other sub 
 jects, they are as ignorant as the poor of Spain 
 
104 INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 or Russia, though certainly not quite so super 
 stitious. 
 
 The degree of intelligence amongst the mid 
 dling class, is not equal to what might be sup 
 posed from the state of the poor. This I shall 
 endeavour to make manifest by a few facts. Al 
 bany, the seat of the government of New York, 
 containing a population of 12,000 souls, had not, 
 when I was there, a single circulating library. 
 A bookseller told me that he had it in contem 
 plation to establish one; but what must we think 
 of a town with so large a population being witl> 
 out one ? Certainly we may infer that the en 
 lightened state the Americans boast of, is not 
 very brilliant. At Richmond, the seat of the 
 government of Virginia, I found a small li 
 brary of valuable books by authors of the last 
 century, but scarcely any published during the 
 present ; the fact being, that the subscriptions 
 are only sufficient to pay the librarian s salary 
 and the rent of the room : at least, I could ob 
 tain no other solution of its stagnant state. What 
 few books there were, seemed to have been lit 
 tle read. I remained in the room several hours, 
 and only one person came to exchange a volume 
 during the whole time. In Philadelphia there 
 is a good public library, and an establishment 
 
INTELLIGENCE. 105 
 
 called the Atheneum where periodicals are taken 
 in ; but the two united, would not equal the 
 provision for literary appetite, in some Euro 
 pean towns of half the size. In New York there 
 are several small libraries, one of which belong 
 ing to the Historical Society, has a collection as 
 judiciously made, as is perhaps possible to be 
 found any where. But the state of literature in 
 that city is evidently below that of Philadelphia 
 and Boston, and far below what I should expect 
 in the commercial metropolis of the most en 
 lightened people upon earth. Baltimore has 
 two libraries, but neither of them large. The 
 colleges at Schenectady and Providence have 
 libraries quite inadequate to a first-rate educa 
 tion. On the whole, there are not so many li 
 terary establishments in the United States, as to 
 manifest a high degree of mental culture. The 
 only place which appeared to me to be properly 
 furnished with a literary establishment, is Bos 
 ton ; for though Philadelphia has, as I have 
 mentioned, a good library, besides a reading 
 room where the periodical journals may be seen, 
 and a scientific library belonging to a public in 
 stitution, yet when the population of that city is 
 taken into account, the means of gaining im 
 provement appear comparatively small. With 
 respect to science, not being myself of a scien- 
 
106 INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 tific turn, it may be supposed that I did not 
 make sufficient enquiries to give an opinion on 
 it. I shall therefore only state, that I visited se 
 veral scientific institutions, which so far as I 
 could judge, were generally on a level with those 
 of a literary nature. 
 
 From what has been stated, it will be readily 
 inferred, that I attribute to national vanity, the 
 high opinion of the Americans respecting them 
 selves. This vanity doubtless originated in their 
 successful struggle for independence, and for 
 mation of republican constitutions ; and the mass 
 of the people are so ignorant of the real state of 
 other countries, that it is not wonderful that the 
 delusion should continue. But why do I say 
 the mass of the people ? Even amongst those 
 who rank themselves, whatever others may do, 
 with the educated class, I met with numbers 
 betraying ignorance disgraceful to a school-boy. 
 Many would not believe that there is a free press 
 in England. One man was almost in a passion 
 with me, for saying that the press is as free in 
 England, as in the United States. Another, a 
 public lecturer, was surprised at the fact, and 
 considered it quite a new feature in monarchical 
 government! And yet their newspapers have 
 large extracts from our opposition and radical 
 
INTELLIGENCE. 107 
 
 journals. I was conversing with another lectu 
 rer, who told me that he had been informed, 
 that the Members of Parliament were in the 
 habit of sitting in the House with their hats 
 on, which he considered a pregnant instance 
 of the little liberty enjoyed by the people of 
 England ! The reader will of course imagine 
 that this gentleman was bantering, or adopting 
 language manifestly absurd, for the purpose of 
 eliciting my opinions. But the fact is, that he 
 was in good earnest, his argument being, that the 
 people being kept in subjection too great, they 
 availed themselves of what little liberty they had, 
 to make it appear as great as possible ! Now 
 this person be it observed is at the head of a mi 
 litary academy, and stands in good estimation 
 as a scientific character. I heard him deliver a 
 lecture at Boston on military tactics, and will do 
 him the justice to own, that it was one of the 
 clearest and most explanatory I ever heard. Stop 
 ping at the same tavern, and being afterwards 
 fellow passengers in a steam packet, I conversed 
 a good deal with him, and found him a man 
 whose head was so full of prejudice and non 
 sense about England, that there was no convin 
 cing him of any thing favourable ; and yet he was 
 a man of good sense in other matters, and appa 
 rently of extensive reading. He might have 
 
108 INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 known that the House of Representatives sit co 
 vered as well as the House of Commons ; and it 
 is preposterous to suppose that the House of 
 Lords sit covered to testify their independence. 
 
 A circumstance to which I have not yet al 
 luded, is still further elucidatory of the state of 
 literature and general information : it is the high 
 value attached to the dictum of a few distin 
 guished individuals. In Virginia, the opinion 
 of the quondam President Jefferson on literary 
 matters, seems to possess the potent influence of 
 the magician s wand. I called upon him at his 
 seat at Monticello, and doubt not from the 
 short interview I had with him, that he is a scho 
 lar and man of taste, whose opinion is entitled 
 to respect. But it certainly would not be re 
 ceived in the undisputed manner it is, if litera 
 ture were as generally diffused as the Americans 
 would have the world believe. Popes in litera 
 ture, are as incompatible with an enlightened 
 era as Popes in religion. A person who was 
 speaking to me about him, told me that he was 
 considered to be the most learned man in the 
 world. I could name one or two others, whose 
 authority in their respective districts is received 
 with almost unbounded submission. Many books 
 are published with the sanction of such persons 
 
INTELLIGENCE, 10f) 
 
 printed at the beginning, as if a censorship ex 
 isted in the land. A gentleman who resides at 
 New York appears to have been absolutely in 
 toxicated with the fumes of flattery, and de 
 ference to his literary and scientific reputation. 
 When I was at his house, he displayed more va 
 nity than I ever before witnessed in one of his 
 various attainments. He told me of the notice 
 taken of him by this and by that foreigner, of the 
 numerous letters he received from Europe and 
 Asia, and of the compliments paid to him by 
 such and such an institution. He mentioned with 
 particular complacency, that a speech of his in 
 CongVess some years back, was repaid by a ge 
 neral clapping of hands ; an honour never before 
 nor since paid to any one. As I was about leav 
 ing, he presented me with a printed paper, which 
 might, he said, be of use to me as a traveller. I 
 found that it was a chronological summary of 
 the events of his life ! A solitary instance like 
 this would of itself weigh little or nothing ; but 
 when taken into account in connexion with other 
 matters, may be allowed to indicate, that the 
 number of eminent scholars is small, and that the 
 degree of learning in the public at large, is not 
 such as to deserve boastful language. 
 
 The education of those designed for the legal 
 
110 INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 profession is worthy some attention. In most of 
 the States, the requisite qualifications are so low, 
 that Coke, Blackstone, a few volumes of com 
 mon law cases, a copy of the laws of the State, 
 and of those of the United States, are nearly all 
 the books thought essential. I believe that hun 
 dreds, if not thousands of instances occur, of per 
 sons being called to the bar, who know no more 
 than a school-boy of civil, canon and maritime 
 law, and of the laws of war, and the law of na 
 tions. Improvement may and does take place 
 afterwards ; but can any one think, that so con 
 fined a study, is commensurate with a lawyer s 
 duties ? All however are not so deficient as is 
 implied by my remark. America can refer at 
 this time to her courts in New York, Massachu 
 setts and some other States, with perfect satis 
 faction of men being found there competent to 
 their stations, or to any legal station : and she 
 can say of some of them, that they may com 
 pare with any lawyers in the world. But cer 
 tainly till some new regulations are adopted in 
 some of the States, neither the bar nor the bench 
 will become so respectable as is desirable. I was 
 in a court in Pennsylvania, where the Judge was 
 laughed at by the counsel for his ignorance of 
 law. It was evident to me, who am no lawyer, 
 that many an attorney s clerk might have super- 
 
INTELLIGENCE. Ill 
 
 seded him with advantage. These things must 
 be borne in mind, when forming an estimate of 
 the degree of intelligence in the country. 
 
 Of the medical profession I can only speak 
 from hearsay ; for though I conversed with se 
 veral physicians, it was chiefly on other subjects 
 than their profession. Several persons assured 
 me that it was in a disgracefully low state. They 
 were persons capable of knowing, and too fond 
 of their country to wish to disparage it. I at 
 tended a lecture at Baltimore delivered by a 
 physician of repute. He might be a good doc 
 tor, but he was a bad lecturer. The medical 
 college in that city is considered nearly the best 
 in the Union. At the hospital, I saw numerous 
 very beautifully-executed anatomical prepara 
 tions, butnotwithstan ding the advantages which 
 students may have in that city, in the study of 
 surgery and pharmacy, I am of opinion from 
 what I heard, that their theoretical knowledge 
 is very limited. 
 
 If it be thought that I have represented the 
 intelligence of the country too low, let it be re 
 membered, that the national vanity led me to 
 examine the subject with great suspicion. Af 
 ter weighing the evidence maturely and without 
 
INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 prejudice, my judgment is, that America is con 
 siderably below several European countries 5 and 
 I believe that intelligent Americans who have 
 travelled, will confirm this opinion at least hi de 
 gree. Several with whom I argued this point, 
 admitted that the nation was grossly in error in 
 its self-estimation. Perhaps if I had got ac 
 quainted with the citizens of Boston, I should 
 be willing to admit more than I now can, con 
 sistently with my sense of justice. Boston has 
 the character of being the most intellectual city 
 in the United States ; but provokingly, I had 
 not a single letter of introduction to it. I walk 
 ed about the streets, and saw its fine buildings, 
 docks and harbour ; I entered its noble public 
 library and reading rooms ; I got acquainted 
 with two or three civil persons, who were ready 
 to do me all reasonable kindness ; I attended its 
 debating society, and heard two or three orators; 
 but as to the mind of the city, I had no means of 
 forming any thing like a tolerable judgment. I 
 felt the uncomfortableness of my situation, and 
 at last resolved to venture to make a call on a 
 gentleman with whose fame as a scholar I was 
 acquainted ; for as I knew he could give me a 
 piece of information which I much wanted, and 
 knew not how else to gain, I thought that he 
 would probably excuse the liberty in a foreigner 
 
INTELLIGENCE. 113 
 
 circumstanced as I was. I enquired for his re 
 sidence and set out ; but before I reached it, the 
 consideration that he might be troubled more 
 than is agreeable by the presence of strangers, 
 and that a scholar like himself could feel no in 
 terest in an obscure traveller like me, who had 
 no fame, no title, to serve as a passport, operat 
 ed so strongly on my mind, that I passed the 
 door without giving a knock. In consequence 
 of my irresolution, I lost my only chance of be 
 ing introduced into the most intelligent circle in 
 the land ; which, whatever regret it occasions, is 
 partly compensated by the better chances I had 
 in other places. I left the city without obtain 
 ing the information I wanted. 
 
 Let me add, that the state of learning is in 
 many parts evidently improving, and that the 
 yearly additions to the number of scholars are 
 not few. It is likely that in half a century more, 
 America will not be behind any country in the 
 world. The prospect of such a state is little less 
 cheering to a European than to a native, since 
 whatever considerable improvements take place 
 in learning or science, will soon extend their in 
 fluence across the Atlantic. Rome learnt arts 
 from Greece after she had subdued her, and 
 England may learn arts from the colonies she 
 has planted. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 SOAME JENYNS, in his View of the internal evi 
 dences of the Christian Religion, has endeavour 
 ed to prove that patriotism is not a Christian vir 
 tue. That he has not made many converts is 
 well known, and it is improbable that he ever 
 will. The enlightened Christian will doubtless 
 consider all mankind as his brethren ; but he may 
 surely prefer the people of his own country to 
 those of other lands. There is no more impro 
 priety in being attached in a superior degree to 
 the nation of which we form a part, and in es 
 pousing its interests in preference to others, than 
 in regarding our own family as nearer and dearer 
 than one of no relationship. The man so expans 
 ive in his benevolence as to have no partialities, is 
 not likely to be an actively useful member of so- 
 ciety. He may soar high in imagination, but 
 like Icarus he will soon sink. The love of coun 
 try is implanted by nature, and ought to be che 
 rished ; but like other good qualities, it requires, 
 pruning to prevent a rank luxuriance. The Ame 
 ricans are as ardently attached to their country 
 
PATRIOTISM. 115 
 
 as the Swiss, the Scotch or the Icelanders ; and 
 when its honour is assailed, they feel their pas 
 sions roused. The accounts of them by En 
 glish travellers and the comments of reviewers, 
 have excited their indignation to an extraordi 
 nary degree. It is therefore my intention to 
 examine, whether they are justified in their com 
 plaints of English bigotry and English misrepre 
 sentation. Such an enquiry may perhaps be 
 serviceable to both parties. 
 
 On examining most of the books of travels in 
 America by Englishmen, it will be found that 
 the impression they are calculated to make is on 
 the whole unfavourable. Who after reading the 
 narratives of Ashe, Jansen, Fearon,Weld, Howitt, 
 Howisson, Welby, and Faux, but would conclude 
 that the Americans are a rude, wild, dirty, craf 
 ty and low-minded people ? But then it remains 
 to be seen, whether these authors can be justly 
 charged with falsehood, or wilful misrepresent 
 ation. There are unquestionably some errone 
 ous statements in one or two of them ; but I as 
 sert as undeniable, that truth has for the most 
 part been supported, though candour has been 
 laid aside. Now it is obvious that where this 
 course is pursued, the object of publishing books 
 of travels is defeated ; understanding as I do, 
 
116 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 that an author professing to inform his country 
 men of a foreign land, its inhabitants and insti 
 tutions, ought in justice to give the good as well 
 as bad traits that present themselves. But when 
 it is borne in mind, that the travellers above 
 named appear to have passed through the coun 
 try without becoming acquainted with the most 
 intelligent part of the community, or at least 
 without that disposition to be pleased which is so 
 necessary in foreign lands, it may be inferred 
 with great probability, that they were not qua 
 lified to do justice to the people, concerning 
 whom they have written. Suppose that a fo 
 reigner travelling through England, were to pub 
 lish an account of all his observations at the inns 
 and public houses where he stopped, on the 
 rudeness of one, the affected importance of an 
 other, and the peevishness of a third ; and with 
 out having visited in genteel private families, 
 were to endeavour to persuade his readers that 
 England had nothing better, should we not laugh 
 at him for a simpleton and despise his book ? 
 But the Americans, who in degree have been 
 thus treated, have manifested anger instead of 
 mirth ; in which they have been as unwise as the 
 travellers in the fable, who quarrelled about the 
 colour of the chameleon. I scarcely met with a 
 single person, except the Secretary of war, who 
 
PATRIOTISM. 117 
 
 viewed the subject in its right light. Many 
 were quite furious on it, and nearly all seemed 
 as sorely wounded as poor Christian after he had 
 had Giant Despair s cudgelling. Walsh s Ap 
 peal was evidently written under irritated feel 
 ings. It pleased his countrymen for a time, but 
 was soon laid on the shelf as a clumsy book, ac 
 cording to the author s definition of it, being in 
 adequate to its professed object, and written in 
 a bad spirit. But the most amusing proof of the 
 feelings of the Americans, on the treatment 
 they have received from English authors, is a 
 book entitled, A Sketch of Old England by a 
 New Englander. The author with commendable 
 diligence, has collected a mass of facts and as 
 sumed facts, elucidatory of the miserable state 
 of England ; and having arranged them with 
 some ingenuity, and commented on them with ma 
 lignant satisfaction, has given them to the world 
 partly in revenge, but principally with the view 
 of compelling Englishmen to speak respectfully 
 of America ! And was this writer so ignorant 
 of human nature, as to suppose that vulgar abuse 
 is the most likely means to ensure respect? It is 
 a proof however of that morbid sensibility which 
 I have mentioned. While they complain so 
 loudly of English travellers, they seem to forget 
 that the works of Hall, Harris, and more espe- 
 
118 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 cially of Frances Wright, represent them in very 
 favourable colours. A series of letters which 
 appeared in the Christian Observer, and which 
 are the production of a Liverpool merchant, are 
 also written with candour and liberality. 
 
 Not only do the Americans complain of En 
 glish travellers, but of English critics, and more 
 especially of the Edinburgh Reviewers. These 
 writers, say they, profess to uphold liberal prin 
 ciples and to be advocates for political liberty, 
 and claim merit for their labours in the cause of 
 philanthropy ; and yet they have been continu 
 ally abusing us, who have done the most of any 
 .people in the world, in advancing the rights and 
 happiness of man. Without stopping to examine 
 how far the Americans are entitled to the gene 
 ral gratitude of the human race, I shall proceed 
 to examine the charge against the Reviewers. 
 Let any dispassionate person turn over the vo 
 lumes of the Edinburgh Review, and he will find 
 more praise of America than censure. True, 
 there are some flippant, ill-natured sarcasms, but 
 what then ? Has not their satire on their own 
 country been quite as poignant ? Have they not 
 been as severe in their strictures on the English 
 government, as in any thing they have said re 
 specting America? Why then should the Ame 
 ricans complain ? If they had traduced America 
 
PATRIOTISM. 119 
 
 and lauded Great Britain, it must be admitted 
 that they would stand condemned in the judg 
 ment of impartial persons ; but while they speak 
 of one country with the same freedom they do 
 of the other, it seems unjust to charge them with 
 illiberality, and with acting at variance with 
 their principles. But, say the Americans, the 
 Reviewers have been so unfair, as to ridicule 
 different publications, merely because they were 
 the productions of American citizens. The di 
 rect answer to this is to deny the assertion. Let 
 any one examine the criticisms on Montgomery s 
 Wanderer of Switzerland, Sir John Sinclair s 
 Code of Health, Wraxall s Memoirs, Words 
 worth s Excursion and sundry works of Southey 
 and Coleridge, and then say if Barlow s Colum- 
 biad, Marshall s Life of Washington and a few 
 other American books were censured from na 
 tional prejudice. Nothing can be further from 
 the truth. But to hear the indignant language 
 of the Americans, one might fancy that it is high 
 treason against their government, to satirize any 
 thing they do or say. The sovereign people, 
 like other sovereigns, want to be fumed with the 
 incense of flattery. 
 
 Of the tone of several articles in the Quarter 
 ly Review, they may complain with some rea- 
 
120 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 son ; not only because they are written in the 
 same malignant spirit as the Sketch of Old Eng 
 land, but because that Review is filled with eu- 
 logiums on England, and some of them unmerit 
 ed. But instead of returning railing for railing, 
 it would be better for the Americans to act on 
 a different plan. What however is the fact ? 
 Their newspapers teem with scurrility on Eng 
 land. And for one objectionable paragraph by 
 our writers, there are probably ten by theirs. 
 This is not as it should be. Let us speak free 
 ly, but without undue asperity of each other. 
 The rival ship between the nations, will under 
 due regulations, tend to their mutual benefit. 
 
 The patriotic notions of many Americans, 
 combined with their ignorance of other coun 
 tries, lead them into gross errors. Not satisfied 
 with hearing their country spoken of respect 
 fully, they want it extolled ; and if a foreigner 
 ventures to hint that improvement might be 
 made in this or that thing, he is almost sure to be 
 condemned as illiberal and bigoted. Of this I had 
 numerous instances. Having had a long con 
 versation with a naval officer on different sub 
 jects, he asked my opinion of the country. I 
 spoke strongly in its favour, and assured him 
 that next to my own, it stood first in my regard, 
 
PATRIOTISM. 
 
 at the same time pointing out several things that 
 I disapproved. I had not the remotest idea, that 
 I should in consequence be condemned for a 
 want of candour, for controversy we had none, 
 and were both in good humour and apparent 
 harmony ; and yet a few days after, I was told 
 by another person that this officer had reported, 
 that I was going as a spy through the land, and 
 intended on my return home, to vilify it like 
 other English travellers ! As I was in a stage 
 coach, the conversation turned on the improve 
 ments going on ; and the Erie canal was advert 
 ed to. One of the passengers described it, as 
 the wonder of the world, as the glory of the age. 
 I remarked that it certainly was a great and use 
 ful work, and manifested conspicuously the spi 
 rit and enterprise of the people, but that 1 could 
 not think such strong language as he used, was 
 altogether applicable to it. Some hours after, 
 another passenger asked me, what State I was a 
 native of. I told him that I was an Englishman. 
 " I thought so," said the first, " from your re 
 marks on the canal : you did not speak of it like 
 an American." The reader will perhaps sup 
 pose, that there was something in my tone and 
 manner, calculated to make an impression that 
 I thought meanly of the work. Quite the con 
 trary : I spoke of it as I thought, and even add- 
 
PATRIOTISM. 
 
 ed, that it was a work of which the country might 
 justly be proud. But because I subtracted from 
 his extravagant eulogium, I could not forsooth 
 be an American ! But this is the case through 
 out. The Capitol at Washington surpasses all 
 other edifices : Philadelphia is the perfection of 
 beauty : New York is the most enterprising city 
 in the world : the Americans are the only peo 
 ple who possess liberty. Those who venture 
 to express a doubt on these points, no matter 
 how diffidently, are stared at with wonder. That 
 this should be the case with the vulgar and igno 
 rant need excite no surprise ; but that in the su 
 perior ranks, there should be a large proportion 
 who thus express themselves, is a fact quite start 
 ling. Patriotism may surely be felt and mani 
 fested without the use of extravagant terms ; butcs* 
 this the Americans do not seem to understand. 
 A gentleman who also spoke of the canal, told J 
 me, that taking the circumstances of the people 
 into consideration, it was equal to the Pyramids 
 of Egypt, or the wall of China ! 
 
 But the most diverting specimens of national 
 vanity, were exhibited by two gentlemen who 
 had made the tour of Europe. One told me 
 that as he was walking in the gardens at Ver 
 sailles, a boy pointing to him said to another, 
 
PATRIOTISM. 
 
 " There goes an Englishman ;" on which he told 
 the boy that he was not an Englishman but an 
 American. The boy begged his pardon, saying, 
 thathe certainly had taken him for an Englishman, 
 but hoped he had not given offence. The other 
 gentleman said that as he was at Dieppe, a man 
 accosted him as an Englishman, who on being 
 told that he was an American, exclaimed, " So 
 much the better." So little had these two tra 
 vellers learnt of French habits and manners, that 
 they actually related these anecdotes to me to 
 prove the superior estimation in which Ame 
 rican citizens are held on the continent of Eu 
 rope ! Now when patriotism gives birth to va 
 nity like this, it becomes as ridiculous, as under 
 due regulations it is noble. 
 
 Though the Americans are generally patriotic 
 to bigotry, I met, as might be supposed, with 
 some amongst them who manifested a totally dif 
 ferent feeling. One gentleman, whom I met at 
 York in Pennsylvania, expressed himself so dis 
 satisfied with the country, that I told him I did 
 not admire his want of patriotism. In reply, he 
 said that he had been in France, which country 
 he so much loved that he cared nothing about 
 his own. If he had adopted France as his per 
 manent abode, he would have been right in at- 
 
PATRIOTISM. 
 
 taching himself more strongly to it than to his 
 native country ; though even in such a case, I 
 should think it rather unnatural in him to feel no 
 regard for the latter. But the opinion, that it is 
 right or justifiable to be careless of the welfare 
 of a nation of which we are a component part, 
 is not apprehensible by me. Two persons at Bos 
 ton with whom I got acquainted, expressed 
 themselves in language not quite so unpatriotic 
 as in the last cited case, but with little affection 
 for their country. Another at Albany was of 
 sentiments apparently correspondent. But the 
 bitterest spirit against America which I any 
 where witnessed, was in an Englishman resident 
 in Philadelphia, who though a naturalized citi 
 zen, was displeased with the climate, the govern 
 ment, the people, the laws, and the administra 
 tion of justice ; and yet he had been thirty years 
 settled in the country. Several other of my 
 countrymen told me they should be glad to re 
 turn home, and intended it at a future time, but 
 spoke with a due appreciation of America and 
 her citizens. I am glad to be able to state, that 
 most of those who manifested a hatred of Ame 
 rica, were persons who left England from a si 
 milar hatred. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 HOSPITALITY is a quality generally to be found 
 amongst the inhabitants of thinly-peopled coun 
 tries. Pastoral nations, as the Hebrews of old, 
 and the Arabs and Tartars of the present day, 
 have always been distinguished for their readi 
 ness to receive the wayfaring man under their 
 roof. The reason for it may be found in the 
 paucity of travellers, and the consequent want 
 of inns. The sight and conversation of a stranger 
 are pleasing to persons living in such countries, 
 to a degree of which city residents can from their 
 own experience form no idea. But when citi 
 zens are charged, as they often are, with a want 
 of hospitality, due allowance is not made for the 
 circumstances attending their situation. Where 
 the number of strangers is great, and the public 
 accommodations are handsome, how can it be 
 expected that a stranger should be noticed? 
 Accordingly, the rule in cities is to be free from 
 any obligation to notice strangers unless furnish 
 ed with introductory letters : and when such let 
 ters are satisfactory, citizens are seldom behind 
 
126 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 hand in kind attentions. But so truly hospita 
 ble are the Americans, that even in cities I re 
 ceived the most flattering attentions from per 
 sons to whom I was a total stranger, without be 
 ing furnished with any introduction. Wherever 
 I went in town or country I met with friends. 
 My feelings of gratitude therefore induce me to 
 give a number of instances. And as I shall 
 mingle particulars illustrative of the habits and 
 manners of the people, I doubt not that the re 
 cital will be interesting to all my readers. 
 
 Soon after I landed at New York, I fell acci 
 dentally into conversation with a lawyer, whom 
 I met at a house where I called on business. 
 Learning that I was an Englishman just arrived, 
 he made numerous enquiries respecting England, 
 and conducting me to his house, invited me to 
 spend the evening with him. I accepted the in 
 vitation, and passed the time in that agreeable 
 manner, which conversation with intelligent per 
 sons generally produces. Being about to leave 
 the city, he requested me on my return to call 
 and see him again. I did so ; and was received 
 with the same kind attention as before. And on 
 my reaching New York a third time, I renewed 
 my acquaintance with him and still found him 
 disposed to gratify and oblige me. On one oc- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 127 
 
 casion, he took me a ride into the country ; and 
 stopping at a farm-hotuse on our return, he in- 
 troduced me to the farmer and his wife, by whom 
 we were invited to tea. We remained with them 
 about two hours and were regaled with raspber 
 ries and cream. Our ride, which was on Long 
 Island, was a particularly pleasant one, it being 
 in the early part of summer, when the landscape 
 is green. In short, this gentleman was so polite 
 and attentive, that I avoided calling on him, not 
 liking to receive so many favours from one to 
 whom I could not make an adequate return. 
 
 As I was in a bookseller s shop at Albany, a 
 gentleman present asked me some question con 
 cerning a book on the shelf, and in replying, 
 finding it necessary to refer to England, he ask 
 ed if I had been in England ; and on learning 
 that I was an Englishman who was but recently 
 come into the country, he furnished me with his 
 address, rand requested my company. I went to 
 call upon him the following evening, but there 
 being another person of his name in the same 
 street, I went to the wrong house. Owing to a 
 curious circumstance, I did not discover my mis 
 take for nearly a quarter of an hour ; for I sup 
 posed that the person I was speaking to, was an 
 inmate of the house, and not the master. How- 
 
128 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 ever, this mistake was the means of bringing me 
 acquainted with two families instead of one. I 
 afterwards waited on the first, who was a man of 
 candid, liberal sentiments, and one of the Epis 
 copal clergy. He told me that it gave him plea 
 sure to entertain a foreigner, and he doubted 
 not that I should find his countrymen generally 
 disposed to shew attention to strangers. He be 
 ing of Welsh origin, he alluded to the Princi 
 pality with great interest. Indeed I almost in 
 variably noticed that educated Americans look 
 to the land of their fathers with filial regard. My 
 time being limited, I had not so much of this 
 gentleman s company as I desired ; but his frank, 
 kind disposition gave me a favourable opinion 
 of him. 
 
 In a former chapter, I have mentioned being 
 in a passage-boat on the Erie canal. I received 
 from several of my fellow passengers the most 
 pressing invitations to their houses, three of 
 which I accepted. One was from a hatter re 
 siding at Trumansberg, a village near Cayuga 
 Lake. He walked with me three miles, to shew 
 me the magnificent cascade which I have de 
 scribed. On our return he gave me a hearty 
 welcome to a good dinner. Though not a man 
 of much education, his conversation was agree- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 
 
 able. Another invitation was from a shopkeeper 
 at Geneva, a village at the outlet of Seneca 
 Lake. He was by birth an Englishman, but be 
 ing carried over when a boy, is to be considered 
 as an American in reference to the object of this 
 chapter. At his house, I dined and spent the 
 remainder of the day. His wife and sister-in- 
 law with ourselves formed the company. We 
 talked on a variety of subjects, and amongst 
 other, things did not forget Old England. They 
 were much pleased with hearing my description 
 of London, while I listened with equal pleasure 
 to their accounts of America. This visit seem 
 ed to me like one with old friends, rather than 
 casual acquaintances. The other invitation was 
 from a lawyer at Canandaigua, who was formerly 
 a member of Congress, and the only American I 
 met with, who completely understood English 
 politics. He directed my attention to those ob 
 jects of curiosity and interest that lay in my 
 route, and took pains to make me appreciate 
 duly the great natural advantages of the country. 
 
 Having occasion to stay two or three days at 
 Rochester, a thriving town on the Genessee, I 
 got acquainted with several of the inhabitants, 
 and was kindly and liberally entertained by them. 
 One invitation was given to me in a place of 
 
 K 
 
130 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 worship, by a person who had noticed me in the 
 town as a stranger. Though I had not spoken 
 a word to him, he came up to me, offering his 
 hand, and asked me to dinner. Though a man 
 of rather contracted and bigoted mind, he proved 
 himself of a kind disposition. 
 
 The instances I have hitherto mentioned are 
 in the State of New York. It may therefore be 
 proper to take a few cases from those that oc 
 curred in other States, to show that hospitality 
 is not limited to one district. As I was in the 
 coach between Boston and Providence, I had a 
 good deal of lively talk with an inhabitant of the 
 latter place. The result was, that he invited me 
 to his house. On calling there, I found that 
 he was a schoolmaster. After walking through 
 the school and examining the state of the chil 
 dren s education, we took tea. One of the 
 teachers who sat near me, was a young woman 
 of as sensible mind as I have often met, and so 
 easy in her manners and at the same time so mo 
 dest, that I could not but be gratified with my 
 visit, more especially as much of our discourse 
 was on literary topics, in which she took great 
 interest. They invited me to repeat my visit, 
 but I had not an opportunity. Another case in 
 Providence that I wish to mention is this. I 
 
HOSPITALITY. 131 
 
 stopped a man in the street to ask for some in 
 formation. He gave it me, and then said that 
 he was going home to dinner, and if I were dis 
 posed to take my chance for a family dinner 
 with him I was welcome to a seat at his table. 
 Something in his manner pleased me and I went 
 with him. He introduced me to his wife, who 
 soon set before us a plain, substantial dinner, 
 such as it is customary to find at tradesmen s 
 tables, and which was particularly acceptable to 
 me, as I had been faring sumptuously for some 
 days previously. I sat with them about an hour 
 after dinner holding conversation on America. 
 In the evening, as I was at the tavern, their son 
 came to me with an invitation to give them an 
 other call. I walked back with him, when they 
 told me that thinking I might perhaps be in 
 company not the most agreeable, as is often the 
 case at houses of public resort, they had resolv 
 ed to invite me to join their circle. This ex 
 traordinary proof of kindness deserves to be re 
 membered, for where in the records of hospita 
 lity can it be excelled ? When this person first 
 asked me to dinner, he knew nothing of me. 
 From the enquiry I made, he perceived I was a 
 stranger, and that was enough to induce him to 
 notice me. When he learnt that I was an En 
 glishman, he was still more minute in his atten- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 
 
 tions. The evening passed pleasantly ; and on 
 taking leave, he requested that if I should ever 
 be in Providence again, I would not fail to call 
 on them, 
 
 When I was at Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, a 
 young man, a merchant of Philadelphia, stopped 
 at the house where I put up. In the course of 
 conversation, he enquired of me where I was 
 from ; and on my saying I was an Englishman, 
 he said that his mother was an Englishwoman ; 
 and further particulars led to the knowledge of 
 the circumstance, that she and I were natives of 
 the same town. He told me that his mother 
 took particular pleasure in the company of her 
 own countrymen, and that he doubted not she 
 would be glad to see one from her native town ; 
 and desired me to give them a call on my return 
 to Philadelphia. It so happened that I met this 
 gentleman in the street a few hours after my re 
 turn. He invited me to take tea with them that 
 evening, an invitation which I readily accepted ; 
 and was in consequence introduced to a very 
 agreeable family. The father, an old gentleman 
 of a cheerful turn of mind, and very open-heart 
 ed, had when a young man resided in London, 
 where he married. His wife made many en 
 quiries respecting her old neighbours in our na- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 133 
 
 tive town, and was so much interested in the 
 particulars I gave her, that she remarked she 
 had not been so gratified for the thirty years of 
 her residence in America. Whether it be that 
 her natural disposition is lively, or that the revi 
 val of past days had a more than ordinary effect 
 upon her I know not ; but she showed a vivacity 
 very striking and pleasing in one of her years. 
 She told me that during my stay in the city, I 
 was to consider their house as one where I might 
 at any time step in. She informed me what were 
 their dinner hours, and added that a knife and 
 fork would always be laid for me when I inclin 
 ed to join them, as she wished me to feel at 
 home. The sons, all of whom but the one I 
 mentioned had been in England, were intelligent 
 and polite. They took so much pains to gratify 
 me in every thing connected with their city and 
 its environs, that I hardly know in what terms 
 to speak of their kindness. One of them took 
 me in his chaise to a Lunatic Asylum at about 
 six miles distant : on another occasion, he pro 
 posed my joining a party of five or six young 
 persons who were going to view a gentleman s 
 garden near the city. I did so, and though the 
 weather was oppressively hot, we had a delight 
 ful ride. The garden is one of the few ornamen 
 tal ones to be seen in the United States ; and 
 
HOSPITALITY. 
 
 though not laid out in the best taste in all parts, 
 has many beauties. We remained in it for I 
 suppose at least an hour, now resting in a sum 
 mer-house, now under a tree, and then walking 
 again through the varied paths. What with the 
 charms of the place, and the company of the la 
 dies who were all in good spirits, I have seldom 
 had a pleasanter afternoon. One of his brothers 
 called me one day to take a ride with him, when 
 he drove me round what is called the neck, be 
 ing the land below the city between the two ri 
 vers. It is flat ; but some part of it being cul 
 tivated by market gardeners, has a regular and 
 pleasing appearance. On our return into the 
 city, we stopped at the Academy of Arts to view 
 an exhibition of paintings, which though not so 
 large as the exhibition at Somerset House, was 
 well worth viewing. Another day he drove me 
 to the Orphan Asylum. In short, they one and 
 all were so exceedingly obliging, that my stay in 
 Philadelphia is a sort of era in my life. 
 
 One of the family having a country house near 
 the Schuylkill about six miles from the city, I 
 went there to spend an evening. A gentleman 
 who has a cotton manufactory near the house 
 proposed taking me round in his gig, to see the 
 beauties of the river and inspect his establish- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 135 
 
 This was a very pleasant proposal, and 
 one that I cheerfully embraced. The scenery 
 on the banks of the river is quite picturesque, 
 and different from most of the rivers I have seen. 
 Though not magnificent, it is so varied by the 
 mixture of rude nature and cultivation, here a 
 small cascade, there a well-built house, and a little 
 further a pile of huge stones, that our ride was 
 quite delightful. I had to cross a ferry to get to 
 my friend s house, the amenity of which at once 
 caught my attention, it being on a small emi 
 nence embracing views which if not picturesque, 
 were simply rural and elegant. As I was ap 
 proaching it he came out to meet me, and giv 
 ing me his hand introduced me to his wife and 
 daughter. Judging from the comparatively lit 
 tle I had of their company, I should suppose the 
 former to be a woman of great good sense and 
 considerable reading : her politeness and collo 
 quial talents were conspicuous. The daughter, a 
 girl about fifteen years of age, was one whose edu 
 cation had evidently been very carefully attended 
 to, and carried further than is common in Ame 
 rica. She had not assumed the carriage of a wo 
 man, a circumstance in her favour, as it made 
 her attainments appear to more advantage, but 
 she was lively and conversable. We took tea in 
 a handsome porch looking over a green field. 
 
136 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 and in such company it will easily be supposed I 
 thoroughly enjoyed myself. Early the next morn 
 ing, my kind, attentive host entered into my bed 
 room and inquired if I should like to take a bath. 
 I replied in the affirmative, and immediately ri 
 sing, was conducted to one in an adjoining field 
 which is filled by a small brook and is therefore 
 always fresh. He then showed me round his lit 
 tle farm which is in excellent order. After break 
 fast we took a walk in the garden, which though 
 not large, was more tasteful, and with few ex 
 ceptions had a greater variety of shrubs and flow 
 ers than any other garden I saw in the country. 
 He then drove me to the house of a neighbour, a 
 Judge of one of their courts. After walking in 
 his grounds for some time, where I was shown 
 two trees planted by General Washington, I re 
 turned to the city. When on taking leave of 
 this family, I acknowledged the flattering atten 
 tions I had received, the mother my countrywo 
 man desired I would not mention them, as it was 
 always agreeable to see her countrymen, and a 
 double pleasure to see a townsman. One of her 
 sons came to shake hands with me on board the 
 steam-boat, and on my making the same acknow 
 ledgments to him, he said that he was only re 
 turning the kindness he had received from Eng 
 lishmen in England. May this feeling of mu- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 137 
 
 tual kindness continue to increase, till all bitter 
 ness, wrath and evil-speaking on the part of each 
 nation of the other totally subside ! Peace may 
 then be considered as permanently established; 
 and how happy will it be for both countries when 
 this is the case ! None but wicked men can de 
 sire a rupture between two countries so formed 
 by the ties of language, relationship and religion, 
 to be united for ever in the bonds of friendship. 
 
 As I was walking on the bank of the canal 
 which is cut through the Dismal Swamp in Virgi 
 nia, I stopped to rest on a bench. While sitting 
 there, a man accosted me by saying that he per 
 ceived I was a stranger. I replied that I was. 
 " Well," said he, " my house lies three miles offj 
 and I am now going home : will you please to ac 
 company me and take a night s lodging ?" I 
 thanked him for his kind proposal, but declined 
 it as I was proceeding in another direction. But 
 it would not do. He seemed determined that I 
 should accompany him ; and as I found that such 
 a deviation would not materially affect my ar 
 rangements, I complied. As we entered his farm 
 yard, his little children came running out to 
 meet him. He kissed one, took another in his 
 arms, and proved himself so affectionate a fa 
 ther, that it was a tendering sight. After we had 
 
138 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 taken some refreshment, he conducted me round 
 his farm of about three hundred acres, informing 
 me of his management, and showing me his stock. 
 Thougli myself almost entirely ignorant of rural 
 affairs, having from a child lived a town life, yet 
 I contrived to hold a conversation with him with 
 some interest. What pleased me the best, was 
 to find that he had no negroes on his farm though 
 living in the midst of a slave population. He 
 told me that he was principled against slavery, 
 and had formed a resolution early in life never 
 to hold a fellow man in bondage ; a resolution 
 which he had never seen reason to depart from 
 or regret. " It is true," said he, " that I work 
 harder than my neighbours ; but I am able to keep 
 the sheriff and constable from the door, and should 
 not fear a comparison of profits with any of the 
 farmers round ; and then I have the consolation 
 of reflecting that I am guilty of no oppression, 
 and that my children will be brought up to more 
 industry and virtue, than if the demoralizing ex 
 ample of slavery was always before their eyes." 
 Happy man, thought I, art thou to have broken 
 through the prejudices of education, and though 
 like Milton s Abdiel thou standest alone, thou 
 wilt surely have thy reward in an approving con 
 science. After supper, he took a religious book 
 from the shelf, and began reading to the family. 
 
HOSPITALTTY. 139 
 
 How similar was it to the description given in 
 Burns s poem, the Cotter s Saturday night ! As 
 I lay in bed, my mind was filled with reflections 
 on what I had seen and heard. The simplicity, 
 benevolence and piety of my worthy host ; the 
 industry and hospitable entertainment of his wife; 
 the prattling and playfulness of their children ; 
 the absence of slavery ; the happiness of the 
 wholefamily: thought rushed upon thought and 
 I could not sleep. But that evening will surely 
 long be remembered by me with keen interest. 
 After breakfast on the following morning, I rose 
 to depart, when I had another proof of the farm 
 er s kindness. He would walk with me a mile 
 on my way to testify his regard to a stranger. I 
 seemed thrown back into the patriarchal times, 
 by this remarkably friendly act. I think proper 
 to add, that he was one of the Arminian Bap 
 tists, a class of religionists of whom I know lit 
 tle, but of whom I am disposed to think favour 
 ably from the few whom I have occasionally met. 
 
 When at Fredericsburg in the same State, I 
 left my watch at a shop to be repaired. On 
 calling again for it, I fell into conversation with 
 the watchmaker, an agreeable, intelligent man. 
 He walked with me to the spring which supplies 
 the town with water, giving me information on 
 
140 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 all the points of my enquiries about the town 
 and its vicinity. I afterwards took tea with him, 
 and was very handsomely entertained. Like 
 most intelligent Americans, he was much grati 
 fied to hear me speak well of my country ; for 
 notwithstanding the revolutionary war and the 
 late war between the two countries, they have a 
 sincere regard for England. 
 
 Desirous of seeing every class of persons in 
 the country, I walked from Fredericsburg to the 
 seat of a wealthy planter, distant about twenty 
 miles. I had voyaged with him some weeks be 
 fore in a steam-boat, and had then received an 
 invitation from him. He had been recently 
 elected a Senator in Congress, though upwards 
 of seventy years old. His age had not in the 
 slightest degree impaired his reasoning faculties. 
 On the contrary, he was as clear-headed and 
 cheerful as if he had been half a century younger. 
 He received me with that hearty welcome which 
 makes a person feel that he is no intruder, and 
 with that polite attention which in a foreign 
 land is particularly acceptable. His counte 
 nance was as pleasing as his manners, being 
 enlivened by a smile when he spoke ; and his 
 eyes and forehead seemed to speak as plainly as 
 his conversation, that his intellectual powers 
 
HOSPITALITY. 141 
 
 were far above mediocrity. So much blandness 
 united to clear comprehension, I have rarely 
 witnessed in one so old. What was particularly 
 observable in him was, that he took no offence 
 at the expression of opinions contrary to his own, 
 when proceeding from young persons ; an attain 
 ment which is often wanting in those of advan 
 ced life. This gentleman is noted for his agri 
 cultural improvements directed by the hand of 
 taste. His farm appeared to me to be neater 
 and better cultivated than any in the neighbour 
 hood. His house stands about a mile from the 
 road ; and the approach to it between two rows 
 of peach and other fruit trees is delightful. A 
 river runs behind it not without its beauties, but 
 the country is too flat to be very interesting. 
 The old gentleman having served under General 
 Washington, entertained me by relating some 
 particulars of the revolutionary war. Before it 
 broke out ne had strongly deprecated it, but 
 when the colonies had once entered into it, he 
 thought that the best way was to prosecute it 
 with vigour, to bring it to a speedy conclusion. 
 He still remains the friend of England, express 
 ing himself to me on this point, in stronger lan 
 guage than I dare say he would think prudent 
 to utter in the Senate ; for he told me, that he 
 had great doubts whether the country had bene- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 
 
 fited by its separation from the parent state. 
 After remaining two days at his house, where I 
 had abundance of good things for the palate, and 
 conversation of a superior kind, and where, with 
 out being considered intrusive I might have re 
 mained much longer, I took my leave and set 
 off. He having told me that his son lived at a 
 farm-house on my way, I thought I would give 
 him a call. I did so ; and though an entire 
 stranger was received in a very courteous man 
 ner. On asking for a glass of water, he sent the 
 servant to get some fresh for me ; and setting 
 before me wine and spirits requested me to help 
 myself. He then asked me to stop and dine. 
 I hesitated ; but finding I was not asked out of 
 mere compliment, I accepted his kindness. His 
 wife, and two young ladies whom I took for vi- 
 siters were at the table, and O ! what a dinner 
 we had ! Dishes of various kinds were placed 
 before us arranged with some regard to ele 
 gance j and then there was choice of wine and 
 liquors to dilute the more solid parts of the ban 
 quet, and smiles and pleasantry to enliven the 
 whole : and then for conversation, we went over 
 Scotland and England, and the war between 
 France and Spain. We adverted to Byron and 
 Scott, and other literary heroes of the day. We 
 touched on this subject and on that, and then 
 
HOSPITALITY. 143 
 
 recurred to former topics. How animated were 
 we! To a stranger like me it was delightful in 
 deed ! And if ever I should be in Virginia again, 
 (which I do not expect) I intend once again to 
 put this gentleman s hospitality to the test. He 
 treated me so well the first time, that I should 
 like to venture a second call upon him. In the 
 course of the afternoon, I rose to take my leave. 
 A bed was offered to me if I would stop all 
 night. I would gladly have accepted this offer 
 both for the sake of company and my own con 
 venience ; but considering that I should not be 
 justified in encroaching so much on the kindness 
 of one, on whom I had called without any pre 
 vious invitation, I departed. 
 
 On my return to New York to embark for 
 England, I called at a merchant s counting- 
 house to leave a letter from one of his corre 
 spondents in Philadelphia. This merchant was 
 an Irishman, and invited me to take tea with him. 
 At his house I met a gentleman who is lecturer 
 to a scientific institution in the city, and hence 
 in the style of the country is denominated pro 
 fessor ; for the Americans are fond of titles. The 
 Professor and I got into a conversation together 
 on certain doctrines in vogue, and found our sen 
 timents on them nearly coincident. He was 
 
144 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 pleased to request me to renew our acquaintance 
 at his house, which I did. I frequently call 
 ed on him during my stay in New York, and 
 was always received with easy politeness. Every 
 thing in his house, his manners, and his person 
 was the opposite of display ; but there was neat 
 ness and elegant simplicity. He entertains his 
 guests without any of that foolish parade and 
 formality, too often, even in America, shown to 
 strangers. Those who visit him have, what is 
 more agreeable, a reception which at once re 
 moves all embarrassment and restraint, and makes 
 them feel domestic comfort. I passed many plea 
 sant and improving hours in conversation with 
 him and his intelligent family. One evening 
 when I was at his house, a young man from an 
 adjoining street stepped in to walk home with 
 his sister, who had been passing about an hour 
 there. He was kind enough to give me a friendly 
 invitation to his father s house. I thanked him, 
 though I had no intention of accepting it ; but 
 an accidental circumstance induced me to call, 
 and glad indeed was I afterwards that I did, as 
 it was the means of my becoming intimate with 
 a most interesting family. A feeling of friend 
 ship arose on the first visit ; the second strength 
 ened it ; the third completed it. During the re 
 mainder of my abode in the city, which was about 
 
HOSPITALITY* 145 
 
 three weeks, few days elapsed without my call 
 ing on my friends. There seemed to be some 
 impropriety in my burdening them with so 
 much of my company ; but considering that my 
 time was nearly at an end, I knew not how to 
 resist the temptation of frequently renewing my 
 intercourse with such a family. As the time of 
 my departure approached, the thought of taking 
 leave for ever became painful. In the evening 
 before the day fixed for my embarkation, we 
 crossed the ferry from New York to Hoboken. 
 The weather was delightful ; the steam-boat con 
 veyed us in high style ; every thing appeared 
 pleasing. The view of the city rising from the 
 water, with its numerous spires and turrets, the 
 Hudson with ships at anchor and sloops sailing, 
 the Jersey shore rich in beauty, the setting sun 
 reflected from the windows of the opposite shore ; 
 these united to that silence which Milton notices 
 as the accompaniment of evening, and the 
 thought that this walk must be our last, brought 
 a feeling over the mind approaching to melan 
 choly, yet softened so as to be grateful. We re 
 turned and took tea : I then rose to bid adieu. 
 As I took each by the hand, I felt that I was 
 parting from one dear to me : my heart was 
 touched, but my voice was mute. It might be 
 that they had a portion of the same feeling, for 
 
14(3 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 our parting was in silence. Farewell! dear 
 Friends ; accept the warm tribute of ray thanks 
 for your unremitted kindness to the foreigner. 
 Never, never, while my faculties remain, can it 
 be forgotten by me : the remembrance of it is 
 sweet and will so continue. 
 
 The hospitality which I experienced in all 
 these cases was without an introductory letter ; 
 and they are only selections from the numbers I 
 could mention. I have given them in preference 
 to those where I had letters, because, having no 
 claim on the parties, they are the more remark 
 able. If it were necessary to give more instances 
 of a similar kind, I could do it in Connecticut, 
 New Jersey and Maryland. In the latter State 
 in particular, I could relate many very gratifying 
 proofs of American generosity. One reflection 
 arises in the mind on a review of them. All that 
 a traveller has any right to expect are civility, a 
 willingness to grant information, and in places 
 where there are no taverns, a readiness to grant 
 him food and lodging on his paying for them. 
 But how much beyond do the Americans go ! If 
 they were all Catholics, they would have a long 
 catalogue of their works of supererogation. And 
 are these the people whom Englishmen are 
 taught to regard as low in the scale of civiliza- 
 
HOSPITALITY. 147 
 
 tion ? Let us hope that juster ideas will here 
 after prevail. 
 
 It may seem superfluous to make any mention 
 of cases of parties to whom I had letters. Yet 
 there are two or three which I wish to notice, as 
 they serve to throw light on the American cha 
 racter. On presenting a letter to a merchant 
 in Baltimore, he gave me as soon as he had read 
 it, a welcome shake of the hand and an invita 
 tion to dinner. I met at his table an Episcopal 
 clergyman whose company was very pleasant to 
 me. He was a young man of enquiring mind, 
 and as ready to answer questions as to put them. 
 After dinner, the gentleman s sons walked with 
 me to different objects of curiosity in the city. 
 We walked to the Washington Monument and 
 ascended it, to the Jail, and to other buildings 
 whose names I have forgotten. During my stay 
 in the city, which was several weeks, I continu 
 ed from time to time to receive proofs of their 
 kind attention. The merchant s wife conversed 
 with me a great deal about America, of which she 
 was desirous I should form a correct opinion. 
 Whether I have done so or not, it is right to 
 state that it was her arguments and kind beha 
 viour which first made me heartily attached to 
 the country ; for though I had before formed a 
 
148 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 favourable opinion, I still retained some of my 
 English prejudices. 
 
 I called to deliver a letter to a schoolmaster, 
 whose house was in a part of Virginia remote 
 from the high roads. Before I got to the door 
 he came out to welcome me, though he had 
 never seen me previously, and knew nothing of 
 my having an introductory letter. I remained 
 half a day with him, during which he was very 
 attentive to me. His son, a young man about 
 twenty-two years of age, seemed very partial to 
 polite literature. His company was particularly 
 acceptable to me, as our conversation turned on 
 topics which are too seldom introduced in Ame 
 rican families. I examined several of the boys 
 as to their progress in learning, and found it in 
 a fair state. The worthy schoolmaster was so 
 kind, as to invite me to stay a week with him. 
 Instances like this are not uncommon in the re 
 mote parts of the country, where they seldom 
 see foreigners ; and I fear that their liberality is 
 sometimes taken advantage of, by persons re 
 maining longer than is agreeable. 
 
 A Physician at Petersburg in Virginia intro 
 duced me to some very intelligent company. 
 He had received his education in Edinburgh* 
 
HOSPITALITY. 149 
 
 and when I was giving him an account of its 
 present state, he begged me to desist, as he was 
 afraid that his interest would be so much exci 
 ted as to make him wish to return to it. He held 
 a long argument with me on the cause of the 
 variety of colour in the human species, a subject,- 
 which, reasoning on the assumption of the truth 
 of the Mosaic account of the creation, is exceed 
 ingly puzzling. I do not know that either con 
 vinced the other, but we were quite interested in 
 the discussion. At his house, a number of young 
 ladies meet weekly as a benevolent society. I 
 was admitted into the room where they were 
 sitting at work with their needles and thread, 
 and had some lively chat with them. It was an 
 interesting scene to observe so many devote their 
 time to the benefit of the poor. The Doctor s 
 sensible conversation and his warm-heartedness 
 made my visit to him one of the pleasantest I 
 paid in America. With several of the clergy at 
 Washington both Episcopalian and Presbyterian, 
 I spent some improving hours. Three or four 
 of the members of Congress to whom also I had 
 letters, were ready to give me information and 
 assistance. In fine, the hospitality shown to me 
 was joined to so much more devotedness of at 
 tention than I had any reason to expect, that my 
 heart was thoroughly warmed. America is cer 
 tainly the land of kind dispositions. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 POLITENESS. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter there are various in 
 stances of politeness ; and yet I doubt whether 
 the Americans can properly be called a polite 
 people. The first class are indeed very polite ; 
 but the middling and lower classes, though not 
 rude as some have asserted, are deficient in that 
 sort of minute observance of respectful address 
 so conspicuous in the French. I suspect that 
 those travellers who have complained of the 
 rudeness of the Americans, must have demean 
 ed themselves in an arrogant or otherwise un 
 pleasant manner ; for the instances of rudeness 
 that I met with were so rare, and those of civi 
 lity so general, that the former must in all fair 
 ness be regarded as exceptions to the general 
 rule. My object in the present chapter is to ex 
 hibit the politeness of the upper class. This 
 object will I think be best attained by a few par 
 ticulars. As there is not in America any con 
 siderable body of persons living independent of 
 business, and constituting an order of gentry, I 
 include in the upper class, merchants, lawyers, 
 and clergymen, with all those of whatever pro- 
 
POLITENESS. 151 
 
 fession whose property or education gives them 
 influence in their respective neighbourhoods. 
 
 On entering the Senate of the Pennsylvaniaii 
 Assembly, one of the members with whom I had 
 had some previous conversation, came as soon as 
 he observed me, and invited me to a seat below 
 the bar ; an act of courtesy to a stranger that I 
 could not but admire. In the lower house, I 
 had a similar invitation. One of the members 
 who lodged at a private house, introduced me 
 to the family, with whom I spent an evening. 
 The Judge of the county court, who was in the 
 town in the exercise of his functions, took me 
 into the State record-chamber, and showed me 
 the original charter granted by Charles II. to 
 Penn for forming the colony ; and on my visit 
 ing the court where he presided, he requested 
 me to take a seat at the counsellors table. Se 
 veral of the members of Assembly who were at 
 the tavern where I stopped, were of very gen 
 tlemanly behaviour. Their politeness to me will 
 not soon be forgotten. 
 
 When at Providence in Rhode Island, I walk 
 ed to Brown s University, and enquiring of one 
 of the students if there was any thing worth the 
 notice of a stranger, he conducted me to his 
 
POLITENESS. 
 
 room, and after a little conversation, went and 
 informed his tutor of my being there. He re 
 turned with a message from him, inviting me to 
 accompany him through the building. This I 
 did, gaining from him the information that I 
 wanted, and receiving that pleasing attention 
 which in a foreign land endears the inhabitants 
 to the traveller. 
 
 I met with a person at a tavern at Sehenecta- 
 dy in New York, who was one of the surveyors 
 of the Erie canal. He was of liberal sentiments 
 as it respects other nations and governments, 
 manifesting none of that bigoted disposition to 
 extol to the skies whatever was American, 
 though he had a rational attachment to his coun 
 try. After a long, desultory discourse with him, 
 I told him that I thought of calling at Union 
 College in that town. He said he was acquaint 
 ed with the Professor of Chemistry, and would 
 give me a note to him. The Professor, a young 
 man of pleasing manners, showed me every thing 
 worth the notice of a stranger and introduced 
 me to another of the tutors who accompanied 
 us over part of the College. They very press- 
 ingly invited me to stay and dine with them ; 
 but as the note I took was from a casual ac 
 quaintance, and not one of a stamp conferring a 
 
POLITENESS. 153 
 
 degree of freedom in the bearer, I returned to 
 rny quarters to dinner, though I would gladly 
 have had more conversation with two such cha 
 racters as they appeared to be. If I had had 
 no introduction to them, I might perhaps have 
 accepted their invitation ; but I could not recon 
 cile the idea of encroaching on kindness, when 
 my only claim to their notice was a note from a 
 stranger at a tavern. I never myself gave a 
 letter under such a circumstance, and I believe 
 I never shall ; but I thought I might not impro 
 perly use the one I had, for the simple purpose 
 of gaining information. I have no reason to re 
 gret having done so, as my object in visiting the 
 College was accomplished more easily, than 
 would in all likelihood have been the case with 
 out any introduction, and I met with two polite 
 gentlemen. 
 
 Being one day at a private house in New 
 York, I mentioned my intention of visiting the 
 Lancastrian Female School, on which a lady 
 present, said that she should take a pleasure in 
 showing it to me. I was glad to avail myself of 
 her offer, and fixed a time for the visit. On en 
 tering the school, she came forward to meet me, 
 offered me her hand in the most courteous man 
 ner, and gave me all the needful information 
 
POLITENESS. 
 
 respecting the progress of the children. Her 
 polite and fascinating manners could not but 
 gain my admiration. On another occasion I was 
 in a company, where a manuscript poem was 
 read. It excited general attention, and I passed 
 some commendation on it. Calling afterwards 
 at the same house, the lady who had read it pre 
 sented me with a copy of it neatly written, and 
 requested my acceptance of it. As it occupied 
 several folio pages, I thought it manifested great 
 politeness in her to take so much pains for 
 my gratification. I still keep it in remembrance 
 .of her. 
 
 When at Washington in the Capitol, I en 
 quired of a gentleman in the lobby of the Se 
 nate-chamber, if there was admission for stran 
 gers. He immediately conducted me to a seat, 
 which I observed from a paper on the door, was 
 appropriated to lawyers of the Supreme Court 
 and a few other privileged persons. On ex 
 pressing my surprise that he should shew me to 
 this seat, he told me that he was Vice-President 
 of the United States, and in virtue of his office 
 had a right to invite any person to it. I acknow 
 ledged his condescension and politeness, telling 
 him at the same time, that if I had been aware 
 pf his station, I certainly should not have made 
 
POLITENESS, 
 
 155 
 
 so free as to speak to him. He soon after took 
 his seat as President of the Senate. 
 
 The Supreme Court of Virginia being in ses 
 sion at Richmond when I was there, I entered 
 it to deliver a letter to the Deputy-Governor of 
 the State, he being a barrister. As soon as he 
 had read it, he left his seat, and coming forward 
 offered me his hand, and begged to know if he 
 could assist me in any way. He invited me to 
 his house ; but I told him that I should have 
 no opportunity for a visit, and merely requested 
 the favour of a ticket of admission to the jail. 
 He directly furnished me with the latter ; and 
 as if willing that the few minutes I could spare, 
 should be improved to my advantage, began to 
 ask my opinion of their Courts of Justice. So 
 much pleasantry and politeness I seldom wit 
 nessed in America at a first interview. 
 
 But if I were to relate all the instances of po 
 liteness in those to whom I had letters, I should 
 fill a volume. I therefore prefer showing the 
 general polite behaviour of the upper class, by a 
 reference to the important subject of slavery. I 
 was cautioned by several gentlemen in Pennsyl 
 vania and New York, not to introduce it as a 
 topic in any company in Virginia, as with my 
 
156 POLITENESS. 
 
 sentiments on it, I should probably excite ill will 
 and subject myself to obloquy. I could not 
 however take their advice so far as to close my 
 mouth on the subject. I introduced it several 
 times ; and after I had a little ascertained the 
 feeling of the inhabitants, so as to know how 
 to treat it in the least offensive manner, I spoke 
 about it with great freedom. My remarks were 
 listened to with patience, and in almost every case 
 met by great composure. Whatever might be 
 the feelings of the Virginian planters, they had 
 so much politeness as not to take offence at the 
 boldness with which I condemned slavery, al 
 though not accustomed to hear it spoken of as 
 it was by me. I had one most remarkable in 
 stance, that my freedom so far from giving of 
 fence, was received with good humour and po 
 liteness, that it deserves recording. In travel 
 ling by the stage from Lexington to Staunton, 
 I had as fellow-passenger a planter, who had just 
 returned from Louisiana, whither he had been in 
 search of land, he having it in contemplation to 
 cultivate sugar there. He informed me very can 
 didly of the horrible condition and treatment of 
 the slaves in that State. I gave him my opinion 
 of the impolicy and injustice of slavery in un 
 equivocal terms, condemning it as disgraceful 
 to the country. To suppose that my remarks 
 
POLITENESS. 157 
 
 were agreeable would be preposterous, as he was 
 by his own account the owner of several hundred 
 slaves ; yet so little was he disposed to take in 
 ill part what I said, that on my telling him I 
 was proceeding to Harper s Ferry, he gave me 
 his name and address. His house, he said, was 
 only twelve miles from that village, and if I 
 would call and pay him a visit, and stop a day 
 or two with him, he would lend me a horse to 
 ride there, and his servant should go with me 
 on another to bring it back. Was politeness 
 ever more conspicuously manifested? I regretted 
 that I had not an opportunity of at least giving 
 him a call ; but I found that it would too much 
 interfere with my arrangements. If slavery could 
 be discussed with a Virginian planter without 
 reference to his own interests, and as a mere ab 
 stract question, the abstaining from recrimina 
 tion would not be worth remarking. But when 
 it is considered that a great part of his property, 
 or supposed property is in slaves, great credit is 
 due to him on the score of politeness. Satan 
 said that Job would curse God to his face, if he 
 destroyed his property; and it would cause no 
 wonder -to find a slave-owner retorting with as 
 perity, when the institutions on which the sta 
 bility of his property rests, are attacked. The 
 forbearance must therefore enhance our sense 
 
158 POLITENESS. 
 
 of his politeness. How much then must it be 
 increased when a person behaves as this gentle 
 man did to me ! 
 
 I several times witnessed a trait of politeness 
 of a very striking kind. On calling at a house 
 after the family have dined, they have had a cloth 
 spread for me, and that I might feel myself tho 
 roughly comfortable, one of them has taken a 
 seat at the table and eaten a little to bear me 
 company. I remember an instance of this in 
 the mother of the family at New York, with 
 whom, as I mentioned in the preceding chapter, 
 I unexpectedly contracted a warm friendship. 
 She was one of the politest women I met in the 
 United States, or indeed have met in the course of 
 my life. But hardly any of the numerous cases of 
 politeness I received, is more strongly impressed 
 on my memory, than one which occurred to me 
 at a time when my feelings were painfully exci 
 ted by distressing intelligence of a domestic na 
 ture. I called at a house to which I had before 
 been introduced, when on mentioning the cir^ 
 cumstance, such sympathy was manifested as was 
 truly grateful and consolatory. A lady put into 
 my hands a short poem suitable to the occasion, 
 and endeavoured to make me feel as lightly as 
 possible the cause of my affliction. The polite- 
 
POLITENESS. 1 59 
 
 ness shown in the moments of gaiety is pleasing ; 
 that in those of sadness tends to excite gratitude. 
 
 Lest the accounts I have given should how 
 ever lead to the supposition that nothing but po 
 liteness prevails amongst the upper class in 
 America, I must state that I met with two in 
 stances of repulsive coldness in gentlemen to 
 whom I delivered introductory letters, though 
 these letters were from a high quarter, and that 
 one of the members of Congress behaved like 
 a brute. Some travellers would probably dwell 
 on such behaviour with malignancy, and exhi 
 bit it as a specimen of the national character. 
 This however would be evidently unjust ; for 
 in all countries, there will be some of manners 
 below the general standard. Where that stand 
 ard, as in America, is high, the contrast becomes 
 more striking. If their politeness is in any re- 
 spect deficient, it is as it respects gentility. It 
 is plain that they do not, in general, understand 
 the art of doing little things with grace. I 
 could not but notice that when as a mark of 
 respect, some small present was tendered to my 
 acceptance, it was not done in that captivating 
 manner which imparts value to a trifle for the 
 sake of the donor ; yet in minute attentions 
 they are not backward. No person of proper 
 
160 POLITENESS. 
 
 sensibility can mix in American society of the 
 better sort, without feeling the spring of grati 
 tude, affection and cheerfulness. Where polite 
 ness is joined to other good and amiable quali 
 ties, how can it be otherwise ? 
 
 Those who are unwilling to admit that the 
 Americans are deserving of praise for their po 
 liteness, will perhaps urge that the instances I 
 have given, are rather those of civility than po 
 liteness. But I confess that I cannot consent 
 to consider them in that character solely. Ci 
 vility may certainly be a constituent in the be 
 haviour of one who knows not how to be polite, 
 but when civility is shown by little acts of kind 
 ness which are prompted by a desire to please, 
 and is united to suavity, it would be unjust to 
 deny that it is entitled to be called politeness. 
 This is the description of American politeness 
 which is most generally visible. Whether it 
 would be improved by the addition of compli 
 mentary gesture is a matter of taste ; but that 
 it is not deficient in the more essential requisites 
 I must maintain. I saw several whose manners 
 would, I believe, be admired in any court of Eu 
 rope, provided that the fact of their being Ame 
 ricans was unknown ; for many persons seem to 
 have adopted the idea that republicanism and 
 
POLITENESS. 161 
 
 refinement in manners are incompatible, an error 
 which a short visit to the United States is suffi 
 cient to dissipate. 
 
 Perhaps I cannot more strikingly illustrate the 
 effects of their politeness in conjunction with other 
 good and amiable qualities, than by adding, that 
 on taking leave of many of them, I felt a wish 
 arise in my heart, that our acquaintance might 
 be renewed in a higher and better state of exist 
 ence. I remember that on one such occasion, 
 Addison s Vision of Mirza occurred to my recol 
 lection, particularly the part where the Genius 
 asks Mirza, if the habitations he had viewed were 
 not objects worthy of his ambition. My heart 
 responded, that the hope of enjoying everlasting 
 happiness with some of the characters I have 
 mentioned, was indeed a sufficient stimulus to 
 become a candidate for the favour of Heaven. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 THE importance of religion in civil society is too 
 great not to demand great attention. No peo 
 ple, except perhaps the savages of Australia, 
 have ever existed uninfluenced by religion of 
 some kind. The characters of nations have 
 been changed by it, and its revolutions have 
 been as great as those of governments. In 
 America, its effects, though similar to those it 
 has produced in England, are not so exactly 
 correspondent as to be passed over unnoticed. 
 
 Assemblies of almost every denomination of 
 Christians exist in the United States, generally in 
 harmony. No religion being in alliance with the 
 government, one great cause of jealousy and 
 dislike is removed. No large endowments be 
 ing in possession of any denomination, and the 
 incomes of the clergy being regulated in nearly 
 all cases by their congregations, but little dispa 
 rity of station in society exists amongst them. 
 Hence the proud, consequential air so obvious 
 in some of the English clergy, is seldom or ne 
 ver seen. Nor is there much appearance of dif- 
 
RELIGION. 163 
 
 fereilce in dress between the clergy and the laity. 
 Except that black is a more prevalent colour 
 among the former than the latter, I observed 
 nothing by way of distinction. Yet though 
 without a badge to impress the populace with 
 the opinion of sanctity, without gilded chariots 
 to loll in, without the prospect of obtaining rich 
 sinecures to operate as a stimulus, they have 
 great influence. The rivalship between the 
 different sects, instead of producing a constant 
 jar as might be supposed, seems to be productive 
 of a decent observance of religious duties 
 amongst all classes. In few countries, if any, is 
 public worship more generally attended than 
 in the United States. Instances of openly avow 
 ed deism are rare. Persons who hold deistical 
 opinions generally either keep them to them 
 selves, or veil them under the garb of flimsy hy 
 pocrisy. I recollect only two persons of all 
 with whom I conversed on religion, who unhe 
 sitatingly proclaimed their disbelief in Christia 
 nity ; though I met with several whom I sus 
 pected to be concealed deists. In many parts 
 a man s reputation would be seriously injured 
 if he were to avow himself one. 
 
 But though instances of avowed deism are 
 rare, a strong deistical feeling is apparent in the 
 M 2 
 
l(3l< RELIGIOK. 
 
 
 
 opposition made to missionary societies. Those 
 societies have certainly deputed persons to the 
 task of heathen conversion, who, in many in 
 stances, have been as little qualified for the duty 
 as Robespierre to establish liberty. But because 
 some of their agents have acted improperly, 
 sometimes manifesting undue presumption, 
 sometimes interfering too much with political af 
 fairs, and on most occasions evincing fanaticism, 
 are we to infer that no good has resulted from 
 their labours ? Far otherwise : but the Ameri 
 can opponents of those societies have endea 
 voured to persuade the public that evil, without 
 any redeeming qualities, has been the result. 
 On examining some of the numerous pamphlets 
 on missionary societies, I was struck by observ 
 ing that the opposition to them was not founded 
 on a well grounded jealousy of the cause of 
 Christ being injured, but in a concealed hatred 
 to vital Christianity. Yet neither their labours 
 against missions, nor against Christianity itself 
 (which though concealed, are still apparent), 
 have had the effect of withdrawing public sup 
 port from them : still less, of inducing a neglect 
 of public worship, or a contempt for the prac- 
 tisers of it. 
 
 From these circumstances, those persons who 
 
RELIGION. 165 
 
 suppose that a compulsory provision for the 
 clergy is necessary to the support of Christianity, 
 may see the groundlessness of their opinions. 
 They may also learn that ecclesiastical authority 
 may be maintained without an alliance with the 
 State, in matters purely ecclesiastical. Prelacy, 
 both Protestant and Catholic, is established in 
 America ; and though with respect to the latter, 
 it has been found defective on one or two oc 
 casions, that is no more than has been the case 
 in England and Ireland with the Established 
 Church. So long as Virginia continued a Bri 
 tish colony, the episcopal clergy were supported 
 by tithes, or rather by a smaller provision of the 
 same nature. In whom the superior authority 
 was lodged I cannot state, there being no bishop 
 in the colony. But I was assured by many per 
 sons that they were exceedingly lax in morals, 
 and negligent of their duties ; so much so in 
 deed, that their Church sunk into disgrace from 
 which it has not yet fully emerged. After the 
 alliance with government was broken, an amend 
 ment was soon perceptible ; a convincing proof 
 of the inutility of the alliance. Another point 
 of importance proved by the experience of Ame 
 rica is, that edifices for public worship will be 
 built and kept in repair, without any rate being 
 levied on the inhabitants. Not only so, many 
 
166 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 of them are not merely commodious and com 
 fortable ; they are ornamental. Their number 
 too, seems quite as proportionate to the popula 
 tion as in England. This is exemplified in the 
 following list of those within the limits of the 
 city of New York, which will be examined with 
 interest by such persons as like to trace the 
 progress of religious sects. It was made out in 
 the summer of 1823 : 
 
 Episcopalians 15 Moravians 1 
 
 Presbyterians 14 Evangelical Lutherans,..! 
 
 Methodists 13 New Jerusalemites 1 
 
 Reformed Dutch 10 ReformedPresbyterians.l 
 
 Baptists 10 AssociatePresbyterians .1 
 
 Friends 4 Universalists 1 
 
 Lutherans 2 Unitarians *. 1 
 
 Catholics 2 German Reformed 1 
 
 Besides these, there are a Mariners 5 Church and 
 one at the Alms- House, neither of which is 
 exclusively for one body of professors, and a 
 Jews Synagogue. The population for whose use 
 they are built, is about 130,000. Let this state 
 ment be compared with a similar one of Liver 
 pool, Manchester or Birmingham, and it will I 
 believe be found to show, that accommodations 
 for worshippers are equal, if not superior to those 
 in each of those towns. Yet, be it again observ 
 ed, that every one in the United States is left 
 at liberty to pay or not as he thinks fit, or, if 
 
RELIGION. 167 
 
 there be any exception to this, it is I believe 
 only in the small State of Rhode Island, where 
 the original colonial charter is still in force: yet 
 even there, it is optional with the person paying, 
 to fix on the sect to which the amount levied 
 shall be transferred. 
 
 On looking over the list of the New York 
 Churches, I was much struck by there being 
 none belonging to the Congregationalists, who 
 are so numerous in New England. I suppose 
 that when persons of that denomination settle at 
 New York, they join the Presbyterians, who dif 
 fer from them only in church government. 
 
 Whether the Universalists correspond precise 
 ly in doctrine with the same people in England, 
 I do not know. But this I know, that I was 
 never so scandalized with the gloomy tenets of 
 Calvinism, as with the principles contained in 
 a book published by one of the most distinguish 
 ed Universalist preachers in America. The Cal- 
 vinists reason on premises from which it is clear 
 ly deducible that God was the author of sin, 
 though they themselves pretend that their prin 
 ciples are adverse to such a deduction. But 
 what the Calvinists shrink from, this Universal 
 ist author unhesitatingly maintains j and it is 
 
168 RELIGION. 
 
 worthy of note, that he argues on Calvinistic 
 grounds. No wonder therefore need be felt, 
 that the Calvinists denounce Universalism with 
 particular acrimony, just as persons are more 
 angry with their professed friends who make an 
 injudicious defence of them, than with their ene 
 mies who boldly attack them. The proverb too 
 is verified that extremes meet. 
 
 Often hearing mention made of revivals 
 of religion, I was desirous of knowing what 
 is meant by them. I found that the term was 
 applied, to a sudden and general appearance in 
 a neighbourhood, of conviction for sin and de 
 sire of holiness. On learning some particulars 
 of these revivals, it was evident to me that there 
 is often much deception in them. No doubt, on 
 particular occasions of great calamity, such as 
 pestilence or earthquake, men s minds are awak 
 ened to the necessity of preparation for death. 
 Many at such times think seriously of salvation, 
 who never thought of it before, as the fear of 
 sudden death has a powerful operation on the 
 mind. But it is difficult to suppose that on or 
 dinary occasions, in the midst of health and com 
 fort, a general change from carelessness to se 
 riousness can often occur. There is therefore 
 no uncharitableness in attributing most of these 
 
RELIGION. 169 
 
 revivals to fanaticism or hypocrisy. Human 
 nature is so apt to deceive itself, that cases in 
 numerable might be cited of the workings of 
 imagination having been mistaken for the influ 
 ence of the Holy Spirit. The early Methodists 
 fell into such errors, as is proved by their groan- 
 ings and frantic gestures ; irregularities which 
 the present Methodists in England discounte 
 nance. Nor were the Friends free from them, as 
 may be seen in the case of Naylor mentioned in 
 Hume s History of England, and in the lives of 
 several of their ministers who candidly acknow 
 ledge them. In proportion as knowledge is dif 
 fused, we may expect persons will be more cau 
 tious in attaching importance to these revivals ; 
 yet men of education and even erudition are at 
 present in the habit of laying stress on them : at 
 least, I found that to be the case with several. 
 I doubt not that God is ready at all times to 
 show mercy to the sincerely penitent who resolve 
 to forsake their sins ; and when a reformation 
 has taken place in their conduct, they will be 
 desirous of influencing others to holiness by their 
 example ; but though the effect may sometimes 
 be extensive, in most cases it will be gradual. 
 
 These religious revivals are not confined to adults 
 if we are to believe their advocates, but extend 
 
170 RELIGION. 
 
 to children. I was diverted, though at the same 
 time rather displeased, at a relation which was 
 made to me by a gentleman, of a revival in the 
 town of Petersburg, when amongst other things, 
 he mentioned the particulars communicated to 
 him by a little girl, of her experience in reli 
 gious matters. There can be no doubt that a 
 child may be influenced by religious feelings at 
 a very early age ; but it appears to me to be as 
 absurd to teach a child who scarcely knows the 
 right hand from the left, to talk of her experi 
 ence in the work of conversion, as to listen to 
 a lecture from a swineherd on court etiquette. 
 It is probable that the accustoming of children 
 to talk much on religious subjects, may induce 
 a habit of superficiality, adverse to that very 
 prostration of soul which is supposed to be en 
 couraged by it. Religious conversation, when 
 conducted in a right frame of mind and at suit 
 able times, is one of the strongest means of en 
 couraging piety and humility : but when com 
 menced at random on improper occasions, is 
 generally as little beneficial as indigestible food 
 to a weak stomach. The advocates for religious 
 revivals have I fear in too many cases produced 
 evils by encouraging those to talk, whom they 
 should rather have persuaded to silent medi 
 tation, and in particular by persuading children 
 
RELIGION. 
 
 to use language fit only for their elders. Let it 
 never be forgotten that in the time of Oliver 
 Cromwell, there was more constant talk about 
 religion joined to more hypocrisy than at almost 
 any other period. 
 
 I have said that harmony generally prevails 
 
 amongst the different denominations. I happen 
 
 ed to call at a house at Norfolk in Virginia with 
 
 an introductory letter to a clergyman, at a time 
 
 when he was immediately able to give me an op 
 
 portunity of witnessing something of it in that 
 
 town. Several of his clerical brethren of differ 
 
 ent denominations, had met at his house to dis 
 
 cuss some missionary proposals. They gave their 
 
 views of them in a manner testifying much cor 
 
 diality. I observed that they generally used the 
 
 appellation of brother in addressing each other. 
 
 After listening some time to the discussion, I re 
 
 quested to give my opinion. Though quite at 
 
 variance with theirs, they heard it without show 
 
 ing any of that impatience so characteristic of 
 
 bigoted minds. I was favourably impressed with 
 
 their zeal and charity, two virtues often widely 
 
 separate. The only instances of hostility to 
 
 others that came under my notice, were to 
 
 the Universalists, Unitarians and Jews. But 
 
 then it is to be considered that the other sects 
 
RELIGION. 
 
 look upon them, as the inculcators of doctrines 
 adverse to the well-being of any Christian com 
 munity. But except hearing them branded as 
 Deists, an appellation assignable to those only 
 who deny that God has ever revealed his will, I 
 noticed little in the language used respecting 
 them inconsistent with Gospel charity. Doc 
 trines and principles may be condemned in 
 strong terms, without asperity to the teachers of 
 them. Protestants generally proclaim the ador 
 ation of the elements by Catholics as idolatrous 
 and damnable, yet there are few, it is presum 
 able, who would dispute the piety of such men 
 as Fenelon, Sir Thomas More, or even that 
 doughty champion Bellarmin. 
 
 When I was at Washington a Unitarian cler 
 gyman preached before Congress in the House 
 of Representatives, in which worship is regu 
 larly performed every week during the session, 
 the minister for the day being chosen by the 
 Speaker. The following week an Episcopal 
 clergyman in his own Church, denounced the 
 Divine vengeance on the nation for allowing its 
 legislative body to be corrupted by Unitarian 
 doctrines. This, and another fact I am going 
 to mention, may show that bigotry sometimes 
 rears its head ; for bad as Unitarianism may be 
 
RELIGION. 
 
 thought (and to me it appears irreconcileable 
 with the Gospel covenant), surely the circum 
 stance of a single sermon being preached before 
 Congress, is insufficient to call for such terms 
 as were used by the Episcopalian. And what is 
 to be said in defence of a Presbyterian clergy 
 man in New York, who published a sermon en 
 titled, " The Pestilence a punishment for public 
 sins," when amongst the causes assigned by him 
 for the city s being visited by yellow fever, we 
 find one to be, that the citizens had elected a 
 Jew to serve the office of sheriff? Just as if God 
 should be more offended with the people during 
 a Jew s shrievalty, than at any other time. A 
 Jew is as competent to have the custody of pri 
 sons, as to transact merchandise ; and who would 
 think it wrong to employ a Jew to act as agent 
 or broker ? 
 
 The affairs of most of the churches are regu 
 lated by annual conferences. I attended a sit 
 ting of that of the coloured Methodists, being 
 admitted by special favour. The discussions 
 were maintained orderly. Great care was taken 
 in the appointment of deacons to exclude unfit 
 persons. I was also present at the General As 
 sembly of the Presbyterians, the doors of which 
 were wide open. There seemed to be more ora- 
 
RELIGION. 
 
 torical display than evangelical humility. The 
 Moderator made one remark during my presence 
 of very questionable soundness. " It is better," 
 said he, " to decide amiss, than not to decide at 
 all." I believe that the Presbyterians pray for 
 divine assistance in the settlement of their affairs. 
 If so, is it not something akin to mockery to de 
 cide so hastily as to endanger justice ? Yet this re 
 mark of the Moderator passed without comment. 
 
 Before dismissing the general subject of reli 
 gion, it is proper to state that in the remote set 
 tlements, little or no public worship takes place 
 at stated times. But when an itinerant preacher 
 or a missionary, chances to be at one of them, 
 he generally collects the inhabitants and worship 
 is performed. After a time, some one amongst 
 them, if no regular minister be present, reads 
 prayers and gives out a hymn at a stated place 
 and time, and thus by degrees a congregation is 
 formed, sufficiently large to build a church. It 
 may here be proper to mention that Deism has 
 been so far abandoned by some English Deists 
 who emigrated to Illinois, that they have esta 
 blished weekly worship under the Christian name, 
 from a conviction of its salutary influence on the 
 welfare of their settlement. How forcibly does 
 this demonstrate the excellence of Christianity I 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 THE Protestant Episcopal Church in America is 
 a scion of the Church of England. It extends 
 into most parts of the country, and has nine or 
 ten dioceses. As it has in several respects de 
 viated from its mother-church, and as its present 
 state must be interesting to Englishmen, I pro 
 pose to give a few particulars concerning it. 
 
 A Convention of each diocese is held annually, 
 the Bishop presiding as chairman, and having a 
 casting vote ; and a general Convention of the 
 whole church is held triennially. The latter 
 consists of two houses, the Bishops forming the 
 upper one, and clerical and lay delegates the 
 lower. Perhaps this assembly would be more 
 appropriately called a Conclave, as all its pro 
 ceedings are with closed doors. Like the Church 
 of England, this Church is divided into two par 
 ties, one giving an Arminian, the other a Calvi- 
 nistic interpretation to its obscure articles. I 
 apprehend that these parties are much more 
 nearly balanced in America than in England ;. 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 though I believe the Arminian party has the as 
 cendancy in the former as well as in the latter. 
 The gradations of rank amongst the American 
 clergy are scarcely perceptible. They have no 
 Archbishop, no Archdeacons, no Deans. The 
 incomes allotted to the Bishops are riot so enor 
 mous as to place them at an almost immeasura 
 ble distance from the inferior Clergy, and they 
 are not exempted from parochial duty ; yet I 
 heard no complaints of their want of attention 
 to their episcopal functions. The senior Bishop 
 takes precedence of the others by courtesy, but 
 has no spiritual authority over them. 
 
 Sir Richard Steele observes, that the differ 
 ence between the Churches of Rome and Eng 
 land is, that the Church of Rome is always in 
 the right, and the Church of England never in 
 the wrong. Certain it is, that since the days of 
 Archbishop Laud, the latter has been as careful 
 as the former to guard against innovation, that 
 word which intimidates so many from the at 
 tempt to effect improvements however essential. 
 The Church in America, however, has made va 
 rious alterations in the Articles, the Liturgy, and 
 the Ceremonies ; most, if not all of which are 
 such, as would meet the concurrence of the most 
 enlightened men in the Church of England, if 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 177 
 
 once introduced. It would have been surpris 
 ing indeed, if the reformers from Popery had 
 been able at once to free their minds from all 
 the prejudices of education, and establish a 
 church conformable to pristine purity. As well 
 might we expect to find a man who had long 
 been confined in a dark dungeon, capable of 
 bearing the full light of the sun when brought 
 suddenly to view it, without being dazzled and 
 overpowered by the brilliancy. Yet were there 
 some amongst them who would have proceeded 
 further in the work of reformation, could they 
 have persuaded their brethren to act in unison 
 with them. Of this number was Bishop Hooper, 
 one of the first martyrs to the cruel bigotry of 
 Mary, and whose name deserves to be had in 
 everlasting remembrance for his faith, zeal and 
 willingness to suffer. But for the untimely 
 death of Edward VI. it is probable that the 
 wishes of Hooper and his friends would have 
 been in part realized ; for that pious prince was 
 favourable to needful changes. But Elizabeth 
 so far from desiring to carry forward the work 
 of improvement, used her influence to thwart it. 
 She had considerable attachment to some of the 
 discarded ceremonies ; how then could she wish 
 to place the Protestant Church at a still greater 
 distance from the Catholic? James I. made 
 
 N 
 
178 THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 several wise regulations in Council, for the be 
 nefit of the Church, but from causes which are 
 not sufficiently known, several of them continued 
 inoperative. The troublous times which fol 
 lowed his reign, were not adapted for a calm and 
 judicious examination of abuses in order to their 
 removal. The minds of men were drawn to 
 abuses in the civil government, and when after 
 wards the contention between the king and par 
 liament became religious, the ground of dispute 
 was not the refusal of the former to make need 
 ful alterations in the doctrines and ceremonies 
 of the Church, but the propriety of supporting 
 episcopacy. The harsh treatment which many 
 of the loyalists received from Cromwell, nearly 
 all of whom were averse to the Presbyterian 
 Church established under his sanction, led them 
 to cling pertinaciously to every part of the over 
 turned Church. Hence almost immediately after 
 the Restoration of Charles II. the Directory 
 was superseded by the Book of Common Prayer, 
 the supporters of episcopacy showing at the same 
 time very little desire to conciliate the advocates 
 of presbyterianism. The attempts to produce 
 uniformity were evidently conducted in an un 
 yielding spirit, and ended in the settlement of 
 affairs much in their former state. Some partial 
 attempts have been made since that period, but 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 179 
 
 always unsuccessfully. The reason why the dig- 
 nitaries of the Church are averse to apy altera 
 tion, is to be found in the fears they entertain, 
 that no reformation in spirituals can be effected 
 without endangering the temporalities. Thus, 
 notwithstanding the opinions of such men as 
 Lord Bacon, Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop Bur- 
 net and Bishop Watson, errors and inconsist- 
 ences are continued from age to age, as if their 
 removal were unnecessary. 
 
 In the United States, there were no large ec 
 clesiastical possessions to be put in jeopardy ; 
 accordingly, almost immediately after the Inde 
 pendence, and as soon as the different episcopal 
 congregations were consolidated under a gene 
 ral head, some alterations were made. From 
 time to time others have taken place ; and the 
 object of the remainder of this chapter will be to 
 exhibit the most material of them, with such re 
 marks as may suggest themselves. As the pre 
 sent state of the Episcopal Church is compara 
 tively little known to the English public, the 
 statement cannot fail to be interesting to many. 
 
 In the first place let me mention that the 
 Athanasian Creed is omitted. Archbishop Til 
 lotson wished the Church well rid of it ; and a 
 
 N 2 
 
180 THE EPISCQPALIANS. 
 
 very good riddance it is for the Americans, since 
 whatever tends unnecessarily to produce disuni 
 on as that creed does, is improperly retained. 
 Suppose that a Bishop or other dignitary, were 
 at the present day to draw up a creed, and ap 
 pend to it a remark like this ; " This is my be 
 lief, and if you do not believe as I do, you will 
 be damned," would not every person censure 
 his presumption and arrogance? Why then 
 should any particular respect be paid to the Creed 
 of the Bishop of Alexandria? True, he lived 
 1500 years ago, but darkness had then spread 
 over a great part, perhaps the greater part, of 
 the Christian Church. The damnatory denun 
 ciations in the Athanasian Creed, are uttered, it 
 is presumable, by few persons without some 
 mental reservation. Bishop Burnet candidly ad 
 mits that they are not to be received without 
 qualification. How lamentable is it then, that 
 they should be continued at all ! The creed it 
 self seems to aim at explicitness on a very mys 
 terious subject, which it would be better to leave 
 in the words of scripture. The Americans have 
 acted wisely in rejecting it altogether. 
 
 The Article respecting the Homilies contains 
 a proviso, that those parts of them bearing on the 
 laws and constitution of England are to be re- 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 181 
 
 garded as of no authority. This proviso was of 
 course necessary, but perhaps it would have been 
 better if the Article had been omitted. Why is 
 it necessary for a Church to testify, that a vo 
 lume of sermons written three centuries ago, 
 contains Christian doctrine ? It seems quite ri 
 diculous to make a fundamental article respect 
 ing them. If we examine the explications of 
 Burnet or Tomline, we shall find that neither of 
 those prelates attaches so much value to them 
 as to render it apprehensible that the Church if 
 new modelled, would think the retention of the 
 Article indispensable. Besides, there are seve 
 ral reasons, which so far as I have information 
 have never weighed with the Americans, why it 
 should be discontinued. The apocryphal books 
 are often referred to in them as if they were ca 
 nonical. The Book of Wisdom is quoted eleven 
 times in the Homily for rogation week. That 
 of Baruch is cited as part of the scriptures in the 
 first Homily against rebellion, and he is twice 
 styled a Prophet. In the second Homily of alms- 
 deeds, the Book of Tobit is mentioned as an in 
 spired work, and in the sentences to be read at 
 the offertory, it is placed with those of acknow 
 ledged inspiration. How are these particulars 
 to be reconciled with the sixth Article ? In the 
 Homily against rebellion, the doctrine of passive 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 obedience and non-resistance is insisted on in 
 such a manner, as to condemn totally the strug 
 gle of the American colonies against the power 
 and authority of Great Britain. In that on the 
 peril of idolatry, there are one or two positions, 
 which would, I suspect, be received by the Ame 
 rican churches in a limited sense only. The first 
 Homily on swearing, contains a paragraph in 
 which matrimony is spoken of as a sacrament. 
 But the most remarkable passage occurs in the 
 third Homily on Charity, where Henry VIII. 
 is characterised as God s faithful and true mi 
 nister, enlightened in heart by him, and endow 
 ed with the same spirit as Jehoshaphat, Josiah 
 and Hezekiah ! Taking these things into con 
 sideration, it may be reasonably concluded that 
 the Episcopal Church in America would have 
 acted more consistently in omitting the Article 
 under notice, than retaining it with so partial a 
 qualification as it has done. A principal cause 
 for its retention was, I apprehend, a desire to be 
 as near the Church of England as possible. The 
 latter body could well dispense with it ; but a 
 fondness for antiquity would make many averse 
 to yield it. The retention of things after their 
 original use has subsided, is that to which all 
 public bodies are prone ; but, like the wooden 
 centreing of a stone arch, they are better re- 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 183 
 
 moved when no longer of use : they cumber 
 without beautifying. 
 
 The thirty-seventh article is thus worded. 
 " The power of the civil magistrate extendeth to 
 all men, as well clergy as laity, in all things tem 
 poral ; but hath no authority in things purely 
 spiritual. And we hold it to be the duty of all 
 men who profess the Gospel, to pay respectful 
 obedience to the civil authority, regularly and 
 legitimately constituted." In this instance, the 
 American Church differs essentially from the 
 English. Would our controversialists admit that 
 the king s authority is confined exclusively to 
 temporals ? Certainly not ; because that would 
 be to deny his claim to be head of the Church, 
 and his right to appoint special days for fasting 
 or thanksgiving. 
 
 In the marriage ceremony those parts are 
 omitted which offend modern delicacy, as well 
 as the nonsensical phrase, " with my body I thee 
 worship/ 5 It is remarkable that the ring is still 
 retained, for what can be more Popish ? In the 
 reign of James I. Lord Bacon suggested that 
 its use was objectionable, as appearing even to 
 the vulgar, a ceremony not grave enough. Now 
 if, two centuries ago, such was the opinion en- 
 
184 THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 tertained of it, where can be the advantage of 
 it at the present day ? It is supposed that the 
 ring in matrimony, and the signing with a cross 
 in baptism, were continued by the reformers to 
 conciliate some whose Popish prejudices were 
 strong. The American Church has decided 
 that the latter shall be omitted by the minister, 
 if the parents desire it. Why should not the 
 former be put on a similar ground ? 
 
 In the burial service, instead of the clause, 
 " in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to 
 eternal life," they have substituted, " looking for 
 the general resurrection in the last day, and the 
 life of the world to come." Those who consi 
 der how many minds amongst both clergy and 
 laity in England, have been dissatisfied with the 
 original words, will most likely think that an al 
 teration was called for. If it were proposed to 
 change the words adopted for those discontinued, 
 I believe few or none would be found to advocate 
 the change. 
 
 The Commination for the first day of Lent 
 has been struck out: but I suspect that several if 
 not most of the English Clergy and Bishops would 
 be reluctant to give it up. And yet it has been 
 called and not without reason a solemn farce. 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 185 
 
 What are we to think of a Church, which for three 
 centuries has been expressing a wish to have a 
 godly discipline restored, and yet has made no at 
 tempts at a restoration? But there is another, and 
 perhaps a weightier objection to the Commina- 
 tion. The Congregation are taught to make so 
 lemn profession to God that they do then, indivi 
 dually and collectively, turn to him with weep 
 ing, fasting, and praying. In how few in 
 stances, this can be said with sincerity, let any 
 impartial person judge. 
 
 In the office for the visitation of the sick, 
 sundry prayers are added, while the form of ab 
 solution is omitted. It is indeed lamentable to 
 think, that the Protestant Church of England 
 should retain one of the most objectionable 
 parts of the Church of Rome, especially as few 
 of the Clergy really believe they possess the 
 power of pardoning sins. Yet how strong are the 
 words ! " Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left 
 power to his Church to absolve all sinners who 
 truly repent and believe in him, of his great 
 mercy forgive thee thine offences : and by his 
 authority committed to me, I absolve thee from 
 all thy sins in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." What is 
 the meaning of this ? Taken according to its 
 express wording, Popish absolution, and nothing 
 
186 THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 short of it, is here maintained. If a meaning 
 not obvious to common understandings be to be 
 drawn from it, why are not the words altered ? 
 It is very dangerons in religious as well as in ci 
 vil matters, to say one thing, and mean another. 
 It is worse than speaking in an unknown tongue. 
 But the Americans have not been consistent in 
 one point; for though they have rejected the 
 sentence just quoted, they have retained in the 
 ordination service, the words spoken by the Bish 
 op empowering the minister to forgive sins. If 
 they believe that such a power is conferred by 
 ordination, why have they struck out the only 
 passage in the prayer-book where it is put in re 
 quisition ? I was present at the ordination of a 
 Bishop in a church in Philadelphia, on which 
 occasion a sermon was preached by the Bishop 
 of the Eastern Diocese, who enlarged on this 
 very topic. As far as I was able to understand 
 him (for his delivery was languid and weari 
 some), he insisted that the power of absolution 
 given to the Apostles, had as a matter of course 
 descended to their successors. If such be the 
 opinion of the Episcopalians in America, I know 
 not how to account for their rejection of the sen 
 tence before given. 
 
 Several additions are made to the Liturgy. 
 There are forms for consecrating a Church, for 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 187 
 
 attendance on prisoners, and for private or fa 
 mily devotion. And in addition to the Psalmody, 
 there is a small collection of Hymns allowed to 
 be used. I was surprised in looking over the 
 latter to observe one or two of Dr. Watts s, 
 How must this stagger some of our high Church 
 men, who regard the compositions of Dissenters 
 with as much mistrust, as the Chinese the inno 
 vations of foreigners. 
 
 I suppose that some latitude is given either to 
 the Clergyman or his congregation, in the use of 
 vestments, as in some Churches the surplice is 
 laid aside, and in others the cassock. I was at 
 a funeral at Baltimore one winter s day when the 
 weather was severe, on which occasion the Cler 
 gyman was not in any way distinguished from the 
 attendants, he having like them, a comfortable 
 cloak over him. The service consisted of only a 
 few sentences, lasting about five minutes, he 
 thinking, I suppose, that more hurt might be 
 taken by remaining long in the cold, than good 
 from hearing the exhortations. The whole ser 
 vice is considerably abridged from the English. 
 
 In none of the Churches in America is there 
 such a person as parish clerk. The responses 
 are made by the congregation at large ; a mode 
 
188 THE EPISCOPALIANS, 
 
 far more impressive than that of hearing them 
 repeated by a clerk in a drawling tone of voice. 
 Another part of worship in which they differ 
 from the English Church is in their style of 
 preaching. The English clergy preach sermons 
 which are often but imperfectly understood by the 
 illiterate ; while the American clergy , so far as 
 I could form an opinion from those I heard, are 
 unambitious of conciliating the pride of learning 
 by elaborate, argumentative discourses, and 
 strive rather to be practical and simple than spe 
 culative and complex. The orderly, religious 
 part of the poor in England have become great 
 ly alienated from the Establishment owing to 
 the false notions of the clergy. The Episcopal 
 Church in America seems to be as much in 
 their affections as can reasonably be expected. 
 I once heard part of a sermon preached to a 
 number of poor weavers in London, the style of 
 which was so remote from common apprehen 
 sion, that I had a difficulty in understanding the 
 preacher. He compared the glory of the future 
 state of being to the prismatic colours ; but to one 
 unacquainted with Sir Isaac Newton s optical dis 
 coveries, the comparison no more illustrated his 
 positions than black reflects white. Such an 
 egregious departure from common propriety I 
 never witnessed in America, nor indeed any ap- 
 
THE EPISCOPALIANS. 189 
 
 proach to it. No Protestant church in America 
 could long preserve itself from decay, if such a 
 course were commonly pursued by its clergy. 
 
 It is said that the Episcopalians number in 
 their body a greater proportion of the fashion 
 able than the Presbyterians; the reason for 
 which is stated to be, that they are less particu 
 lar as to dress, and other similar matters. Pro 
 bably the organs in the Churches of the former 
 allure some. I do not know that the Presbyte 
 rians absolutely proscribe them, but I do not re 
 collect having seen one in any of their Churches. 
 On the contrary, the Episcopal Churches are ge 
 nerally furnished with them, where the congre 
 gations are sufficiently rich to purchase them. 
 Another cause may be, that concealed and avow 
 ed Deists, though for what reason I cannot state, 
 seem generally to prefer the Episcopalians to 
 any other body of Christians. This is well 
 known to be the case in England, and excites 
 no wonder, as it is natural that they should lean 
 to that body which is supported by the most 
 distinguished persons in the land. But in Ame 
 rica, where no Church has any legal pre-emin 
 ence, and where a Methodist or a Baptist is re 
 garded with as much respect as any other pro 
 fessor, we might suppose that a Deist would as 
 
190 THE EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 readily filiate himself with one denomination as 
 another, except where extravagancies in conduct 
 or language take the place of moderation. The 
 friends of the Episcopal Church will probably 
 urge this deistical preference as a proof of its 
 adaptation to its purposes, since persons hostile 
 to Christianity relinquish their opposition when 
 they enter within its walls : its enemies on the 
 contrary will represent the same preference, as 
 indicating that its doctrines and discipline are 
 so little consonant to the strictness of Chris 
 tianity, that those make alliance with it who 
 would scornfully spurn a purer system. What 
 ever may be the cause, the fact is I believe un 
 disputed and indisputable. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 THE State of Maryland being first settled by 
 Catholics, it has a larger proportion of them than 
 most of the other States. Taking the whole 
 country into consideration, their numbers are 
 probably not a tenth of the population. But 
 in no part are they viewed with any jealousy. 
 The people have no more fear of losing their 
 liberties by admitting them to places of profit 
 and trust in the judicial or administrative de 
 partments of the government, or by electing 
 them to seats in the legislature, than from an in 
 vading army packed and paid by the Pope him 
 self. The American Catholics are as warm 
 friends to rational liberty, and as averse to per 
 secution as the Presbyterians or Episcopalians ; 
 and it is as unjust to charge them with the 
 crimes of their ancestors, as either of the other 
 bodies. It is well known that the Presbyterians 
 who fled from persecution in England, became 
 themselves persecutors in America. In conse 
 quence of this, and from some charges of a si 
 milar kind that can be brought against them in 
 Scotland, Holland and Switzerland, a recent 
 
192 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 controversialist in New Jersey has endeavoured 
 to convince his readers that persecution is, if 
 not a constituent part of the Presbyterian creed, 
 at least, a natural result of it. The Episcopal 
 Church of England has shown itself a persecut 
 ing Church in various periods of its history. Yet 
 I presume that no candid person would charge 
 any denomination of Protestants at the present 
 day, as wishing either secretly or openly to abet 
 persecution. Why then should the Catholics 
 be viewed with suspicion and hatred ? Because, 
 it is said, they have a persecuting creed, and 
 have shown themselves at all times when in 
 power, the friends of tyranny, priestcraft and 
 intolerance. Whatever may be their creed, cer 
 tain it is that enlightened Catholics have no more 
 wish to tread in the bloody footsteps of their 
 ancestors, than Protestants to kneel at the ele 
 vation of the host. And the history of various 
 Catholic countries shows that religious liberty 
 may be enjoyed under them as well as under 
 Protestants. Fenelon and other Catholic prelates 
 have testified as strongly against persecution as 
 their Protestant opponents. Contrast his cha 
 racter with Laud s, and how superior in this re 
 spect does it appear ! 
 
 The Americans finding that no evils arise 
 
THE CATHOLICS. 193 
 
 from placing all religious parties on a level as it 
 concerns government, are often puzzled to as 
 certain the opposition made by the English Dis 
 senters to the admittance of the Catholics into 
 power. They can conceive that Churchmen 
 from some fear for their temporalities, may ea 
 sily be persuaded to think that such a change 
 would be dangerous ; but it appears to them un 
 accountable, that the Dissenters who have no 
 thing to lose and every thing to gain, and who 
 profess themselves the friends of civil and reli 
 gious liberty, should object to a measure so in 
 separably in accordance with their professed 
 principles. Whenever I was questioned on this 
 point, I was obliged to confess that it arose from 
 prejudice, and from a little of the old Popish 
 spirit which they charge upon the present Ca 
 tholics. In countries where there is an equality 
 of rights, there can be no more danger from the 
 Catholics than any other class. The experience 
 of America abundantly proves this ; and it is 
 to be hoped will shame intolerant Dissenters 
 (for happily all are not intolerant) into more li 
 berality and justice. 
 
 The boast of the Catholics, that their Church 
 is both unchangeable and unchanged, is like other 
 boasts, more than is true. Formerly it was a 
 
194 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 persecuting Church. Now, it has ceased to be 
 such in most parts of the world. The beneficial 
 effects of the Reformation were not confined to 
 those who separated from its community : they 
 extended to those who remained in it. The 
 light of reason and common sense diffused at 
 that memorable era, has dispersed much of the 
 ancient darkness in which bigotry and supersti 
 tion enveloped themselves. Galileo might now 
 support the Copernican system without fear of 
 the Inquisition ; Roger Bacon might pursue 
 his chemical studies without the imputation of 
 magic; and St. Dunstan, however good a me 
 chanician, would certainly not gain the credit of 
 having pulled the Devil by the nose. And if 
 some German prince, now and then sets up for 
 a Thaumaturgus, he incurs the laughter of the 
 sensible part of the community. Still, it must 
 be admitted, that it is principally in countries 
 where Catholics are mixed with Protestants, and 
 where a free press is established, that the Popish 
 superstitions and mummeries have lost their as 
 tonishing influence on the public mind. In the 
 United States, as in England, Catholicism ap 
 pears a very different thing to what it is in Spain 
 or Italy. The priests bear a good character; 
 morality has taken the place of lewdness and li 
 centiousness ; and processions to dazzle and be- 
 
THE CATHOLICS. 195 
 
 wilder the multitude are unknown. Still less in 
 America, would the juggle of liquefying the 
 blood of St. Januarius, or the virtuous qualifies 
 of the parings of St. Anthony s nails, obtain any 
 credit. If there be persons silly enough to be 
 lieve in such nonsense, they are prudent enough 
 not to divulge their opinions, lest the general 
 laugh should be directed against them. Even 
 the infallibility of the Pope is treated by the 
 American Catholics, as it was by Henry VIII. 
 in the latter part of his reign. His authority 
 they consider binding when coincident with their 
 wishes, but of no power when at variance. . The 
 Bishop of Philadelphia suspended one of his 
 priests ; the Archbishop of Baltimore confirmed 
 the decision of his suffragan ; an appeal to Rome 
 had a similar result : but regardless of these pro 
 ceedings, the parishioners supported their pastor. 
 Of course there was a party who espoused the 
 cause of the Bishop ; but I believe that few 
 amongst them would consent to an unlimited 
 obedience to Papal bulls. The very circumstance 
 however, of the Catholics having approximated 
 to the Protestants, may be a cause of the reform 
 ed doctrines not becoming general amongst them. 
 The grosser absurdities being removed or kept 
 out of sight, those which are retained are likely 
 to be adhered to pertinaciously. The ridicule 
 
196 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 of the Protestants is less felt, and less regarded. 
 As a proof of the difference between American 
 Catholicism at the present day, and that of Eu 
 rope prior to the Reformation, I may mention 
 that a Catholic in Virginia, with whom I was con 
 versing respecting their doctrines and practices, 
 disbelieved that the sale of indulgences had ever 
 been allowed in their Church. The account of 
 Tetzel he viewed as a Protestant fabrication. 
 
 The less absurdity there is in any system of 
 religion which has many votaries, the more se 
 cure it is of maintaining its ground in an en 
 lightened age. The more enlightened the age 
 is, the less likelihood is there of absurdities be 
 ing established except under the influence of 
 worldly advantage. Hence, though monachism 
 may obtain a few establishments in America, it 
 is not likely to become extensive ; nor is there 
 any danger of the horrible ancient cruelties be 
 ing revived. A sinful brother or sister will ne 
 ver be told to go in peace into the niche, which 
 is to be enclosed on the living victim. Deeds 
 like this, whatever Catholics may say to the con 
 trary, were certainly done in former ages. To 
 deny them is as preposterous as to deny the bar 
 barous Acts of Faith of the Inquisition. That 
 they no longer exist is owing mainly to the 
 
THE CATHOLICS. 197 
 
 mental light which dawned at the Reformation, 
 and which has been gradually increasing almost 
 ever since. Good government and a free press 
 render innoxious the principles of the Catholics ; 
 a truth, which it is to be hoped will in future be 
 disputed by none but those interested in support 
 ing abuses in Church and State. It ought too, 
 to be borne in mind, that when Lord Baltimore 
 settled the Constitution of the colony of Mary 
 land, he established the equitable principle of 
 allowing the eligibility of Christians, of whatever 
 denomination they might be, for all the offices 
 of government. This example being set by a 
 Catholic, in an age when the principles of civil 
 and religious liberty were very imperfectly un 
 derstood, ought to convince persons hostile to a 
 concession of equal rights to the Catholics, of 
 their own inferior sense of justice. Penn, when 
 he issued proposals for colonizing Pennsylvania, 
 offered protection and equality to all without, 
 distinction of religious belief, and guarantied 
 them afterwards by law, for which he has re 
 ceived applause of the highest kind : but the 
 fact is, that he followed instead of leading, in the 
 path of even-handed justice. It was a Catholic 
 who first led the way. All the American States 
 at the present day have Constitutions framed on 
 the basis of the same equality as the colonies of 
 
198 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 Maryland and Pennsylvania; the benefit of which 
 is felt by all and acknowledged by all. The co 
 lonial legislature of New York had at one time 
 exclusory laws operating on the Catholics : their 
 repeal produced nothing but good. From these 
 circumstances, may we not cherish the hope that 
 the day is approaching, when England will adopt 
 a similar policy towards them ? Let not that 
 country which was the first to exhibit to the 
 world a government founded on rational princi 
 ples of liberty (for the Grecian and Italian re 
 publics were badly framed) be the last to per 
 form an act of justice to men who profess the 
 same principles as the Barons at Runnymead, 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FRIENDS. 
 
 THOUGH the Friends are a more numerous body 
 in the United States than in Great Britain, their 
 influence in society at large is evidently less. 
 Instead of co-operating with other Christian pro 
 fessors, as far as they can without compromise 
 of principle, they stand aloof. Instead of trying 
 to find points of union, they seem to delight in 
 proving the incompatibility of reconciling their 
 principles with those of others, in a harmonious 
 design to promote the general welfare of the 
 community. The Friends in England are known 
 to be warm supporters of the Bible Society. The 
 Friends in America on the contrary, are in con 
 junction with Deists its principal opponents. 
 For though the Catholics are averse to it, they 
 content themselves with neutrality ; and though 
 some of the Episcopalians are of similar senti 
 ments, the great body of them are friendly to it. 
 The Friends not only speak against it in private, 
 but some of their ministers denounce it in pub 
 lic. On enquiring of several of them the reason 
 
200 THE FRIENDS. 
 
 of their hostility, I learnt that it arose princi 
 pally from a notion that the Bible Society is 
 founded on priestcraft, and is auxiliary to it. 
 In former ages they say, priests opposed the cir 
 culation of the scriptures, from a fear of the peo 
 ple s becoming so enlightened, as to see the road 
 to salvation sufficiently plain without paying for 
 guidance. Now, since the people have learnt 
 to reverence the Bible, priests avail themselves 
 of this sentiment, and advocate the Bible Society 
 to ingratiate themselves into public estimation ; 
 since, whether they desire it or not, the Bible cannot 
 be confined to the sanctuary. But the Friends do 
 not confine themselves to the appearance of ar 
 gument. They speak of the clergy and of other 
 professors with a degree of asperity which their 
 English brethren have long since disused, not 
 withstanding the examples for it to be found in 
 the writings of some of their early ministers ; 
 and which is the more remarkable in the Ame 
 ricans, from the mildness generally adopted by 
 the other religious professors in their country 
 when speaking or writing of those who differ 
 from them. 
 
 An examination of the history and regulations 
 of the Bible Society is sufficient to convince an 
 unbiassed person that it did not originate in 
 
THE FRIENDS. 201 
 
 priestcraft. In what way it is peculiarly calcu 
 lated to support the interests of priests distinct 
 from the well-being of the people, I cannot ima 
 gine. At any rate, as the Friends in England 
 are as jealous of priestcraft as the Friends in 
 America, it might be well for the latter to 
 examine anew the grounds of their opposition 
 to an institution which the former support. Let 
 them also discard unworthy prejudice. Were 
 Wickliffe, Luther, Knox, and the whole host 
 of reformers from Papal superstitions, actuated 
 by priestcraft when they translated and circu 
 lated the Bible? Did Hooper, Latimer and Rid 
 ley suffer martyrdom for the support of priest 
 craft? Why then should it be supposed that the 
 priests of our time are influenced solely by secu 
 lar considerations when they promote the Bible 
 Society ? And if they are so influenced, is that 
 a reason for supposing that no good can result 
 from their labours ? The money wrung from the 
 grasp of the miser at the approach of death as a 
 penance for sins, or that given by the profligate 
 in ostentation, is no less serviceable to the re 
 lief of poverty, than that given privately by the 
 compassionate and charitable. The man who per 
 forms a good action from a bad motive, may fail 
 to obtain the approval of heaven, but the benefit 
 to others is the same as if the motive were good. 
 
THE FRIENDS. 
 
 The Bible Society has had some injudicious ad 
 vocates; fanaticism has had some influence in en- 
 larging the sphere of its operations ; and it is in 
 disputable that many of its supporters have been 
 enemies to godliness : but as its tendency is to 
 weaken the strong holds of bigotry, infidelity and 
 superstition, and assist the cause of morality and 
 piety, it seems foolish to oppose it from the sup 
 position that priests make it an instrument sub 
 servient to their spiritual predominance and 
 worldly interests. As well might we oppose 
 Christianity itself, because one of the Apostles 
 betrayed his Lord for gain. 
 
 But after all, I believe that a strict scrutiny 
 will lead to the conviction, that the opposition 
 made by the Friends to the Bible Society, arises 
 mainly from the spread of deistical opinions 
 amongst them. I do not make this assertion 
 hastily, well knowing that it is one which they 
 will be reluctant to admit. But facts so fully 
 confirm me in my opinion of this matter, that it 
 would be wrong to disguise it. Doctrines such 
 as Fox never preached, and for which the wri 
 tings of Barclay and Penn may be searched in 
 vain, are now openly promulgated amongst them. 
 One of their ministers resident at Jericho in Long 
 Island, has travelled much in New York, Penn- 
 
THE FKIENIJS. 
 
 sylvania and other States, and by his zeal and 
 talents has raised a party whose views are by no 
 means coincident with those of the founders of 
 the society. He has considerable force of mind 
 and oratorical talents, though he is neither a pro 
 found reasoner nor a rhetorician. It is by bold 
 ness in avowing his opinions, and fluency of lan 
 guage in expressing them, that he has succeeded 
 in making converts. He is a favourite amongst 
 the young, and those of more advanced age 
 whose principles are unsettled. Such is his in 
 fluence over his followers, that probably no Pope 
 had ever more implicit reliance placed in him. 
 To call in question the soundness of his doc 
 trines, or their conformity with those which have 
 been always understood as belonging to the so 
 ciety, is a sort of high treason which his follow 
 ers know not how to pardon, for they are not 
 conspicuous for their tolerance. He teaches that 
 the books of both the Old and New Testament 
 are less valuable than the writings of some more 
 modern authors ; that the validity of some of 
 them is more than dubious ; that collectively 
 they have done more injury than good ; that the 
 doctrine of the Atonement is false ; and that 
 neither the primitive Christians including the 
 Apostles, nor the reformers from Popery, nor 
 the early Quakers, possessed that clear discern- 
 
THE FRIENDS. 
 
 ment of spiritual things which some persons now 
 enjoy. Consequently, so far from paying defer 
 ence to Barclay s Apology, to the Epistles issued 
 yearly by the Friends in England, or to any of 
 those works which are considered authorities for 
 the right understanding of their principles, he 
 treats them all as of suspicious or dubious import. 
 Now it is remarkable that one who deviates so 
 widely from the generality of his brethren should 
 be suffered by them to preach in their meetings. 
 Their Church government must be very lax, or 
 the fear of a schism must operate to prevent its 
 enforcement. Certainly the Friends in England 
 would not consent to tolerate such departure 
 from their ancient principles in any one of their 
 ministers. If they did not expel him from their 
 communion, they would at least silence him as 
 a preacher. 
 
 It need excite no surprise that this person 
 should oppose the Bible Society, for he told me 
 in a conversation I had with him at his own 
 house, that he believed that half the Bible was 
 the composition of uninspired men, and that a 
 large portion of it he did not believe at all. Nor 
 need it excite surprise that his disciples should 
 coincide with him in opinion, as in most cases 
 where a party is formed, the leader of it is unhe- 
 
THE FRIENDS. 205 
 
 sitatirigly relied on. But it appears extraordi 
 nary that those members of the society who so 
 far from uniting with him, use their endeavours 
 to counteract the spread of his principles, should 
 agree with him in denouncing the Bible Society. 
 They do not indeed use the harsh language to 
 wards it which he and his followers adopt, but 
 they manifest no friendly feeling towards it, 
 and condemn all active co-operation with it. 
 Amongst the whole body of the Friends in Ame 
 rica, few, very few, uphold the Bible Society 
 either actively or passively. Some I believe 
 would render their assistance to promote its ob 
 ject, were it not that the desire of preserving 
 harmony with their brethren prompts them to 
 neutrality. The wish to maintain love is an 
 amiable feeling, but it may possibly lead to error 
 when it urges to a compromise of principle, as 
 by a mixture of liquids their respective proper 
 ties are sometimes changed. I believe that the 
 indecision of some of the Friends has had a si 
 milar effect. 
 
 The Friends in Massachusetts have been near 
 ly split into two bodies by a controversy on the 
 power of the Scriptures in effecting salvation ; 
 some maintaining and others disputing their ef 
 ficacy. I do not know that this controversy 
 
206 THE FRIENDS. 
 
 has arisen in consequence of any active pole 
 mic having exerted himself to disturb the tran 
 quillity of the society. But whatever be its 
 cause, the symptoms of disunion are as obvious 
 in that State as in the middle States. The 
 Friends are generally so mild and moderate in 
 their proceedings, that the parties may perhaps 
 be reconciled ; but if any sudden excitement 
 should arise, a disruption of the society seems to 
 me to be the almost inevitable result. The ma 
 terials are so combustible, that a spark may oc 
 casion an explosion. Should such an event take 
 place, the party which adheres to the doctrines 
 of Fox and Barclay, and which embraces nearly 
 all of the acknowledged ministers of the society, 
 would probably make a closer approximation to 
 the primitive standard, than is the case at pre 
 sent in either England or America. The other 
 party would be likely to slide into practices, so 
 much at variance with what has ever been 
 looked on as Quakerism, that the public would 
 bestow upon it some new name. 
 
 From the best accounts I obtained of the state 
 of their schools and private tuition, as well as 
 from intercourse with them, I apprehend that the 
 Friends have less learning diffused amongst them 
 than their English brethren. Some of them are, 
 
THE FRIENDS. 207 
 
 it is true, exceedingly well informed, and are re 
 spected for their literary and scientific attain 
 ments by their fellow citizens at large, as well as 
 by those of their own society ; yet in general I 
 think they are below their English brethren. It 
 is not very creditable to the Friends, that Penn, 
 who may be regarded as the most distinguished 
 man ever enrolled in their list of worthies, should 
 remain at the period of a century from his de 
 cease, without a biographer worthy of his cha 
 racter and distinction. His name is inseparably 
 connected with America as one of her wisest le 
 gislators ; he stands recorded in the History of 
 England as enjoying the friendship and confi 
 dence of one of her monarchs, and as the sup 
 porter of popular rights against arbitrary power; 
 and yet in neither country has one of his own 
 profession given the world a religious and philo 
 sophical account of his actions. The philan 
 thropic Clarkson who is not a Quaker published 
 a life of him some years ago ; but it is a tedious 
 book and full of puerilities. 
 
 The Friends it is well known discard the plu 
 ral pronoun when addressing an individual, al 
 ways substituting the singular. When asked 
 their reason for this, they allege that the former 
 is a violation of grammatical rule, and that as it 
 
208 THE FRIENDS. 
 
 originated in courtly flattery it is at variance with 
 Christian simplicity. The latter reason I shall 
 leave untouched ; but I must express my surprise 
 that they should mention the subject of grammar, 
 while they so generally disregard it by using the 
 pronoun of the second person in the accusative 
 instead of the nominative case in violation of all 
 rule. This is a common error in England, and 
 apparently an error without exception in Ame 
 rica. There seems also to be an inconsistency, 
 in their refusing to call the days and the months 
 by their common names on the plea of their hea 
 then origin, while they use the names of the pla 
 nets and other words whose etymology is from 
 pagan deities, without scruple. If the second 
 day of the week ought not to be called Monday, 
 because it was so named in honour of the moon, 
 or of a goddess personating the moon, can it be 
 right to call a deranged person a lunatic, when 
 it is known that the derivation is precisely the 
 same ? The Friends in America seem to be in 
 creasingly aware, that their principles and prac 
 tice in the use of language are not in unison. 
 From the opinions which I heard some of their 
 influential members express, I think that some 
 general change may probably take place amongst 
 them before many years. 
 
THE FRIENDS. 209 
 
 In several of the States the Friends are ex 
 empted from military duty, in compliance with 
 their religious objections to war, they believing 
 it to be, whether offensive or defensive, unlaw 
 ful for a Christian. In some of the States they 
 are subject to a small fine for refusing to serve. 
 When this fine is levied, they refuse payment 
 and subject themselves to a distraint. 
 
 The Friends have been long known to be 
 averse to the punishment of death for crimes 
 short of murder. Some of them carry their opin 
 ions so far as to contend, that no legislature act 
 ing conformably to Christianity, can decree its 
 exercise even for that crime. These opinions 
 involve them in a difficulty from which those in 
 England are exempt. The latter are never re 
 quired to serve on juries, their affirmation not 
 being allowed in law to be equivalent to an oath, 
 for the due exercise of any office. But in the 
 United States, where their affirmation is accept 
 ed on every occasion, they must take their turn 
 in serving on juries. To this, they make no ob 
 jection in civil matters, nor in criminal cases pu 
 nishable in any other manner than by death ; but 
 when the verdict of the jury may be followed 
 by a sentence to the gallows, they conceive that 
 by concurring in that verdict, they would become 
 
210 THE FRIENDS. 
 
 participators in the guilt of infracting the mild 
 spirit of the Christian religion. It is therefore 
 their practice to solicit of the court, exemption 
 from the office of jurymen in all such cases. 
 Sometimes their request is complied with ; some 
 times they are fined for their refusal to serve. 
 
 In their meetings for worship many of their 
 ministers preach in the drawling tone so com 
 mon amongst their English brethren, and which 
 is so unpleasant to those unaccustomed to it, that 
 strangers sometimes depart abruptly in conse 
 quence. I heard a minister at New York during 
 the Yearly Meeting of the society, whose sermon 
 from its extraordinary sing-song caused a ge 
 neral stare of surprise. How much better would 
 it be to speak in a natural, dignified manner ! I 
 believe that their ministers are not spoken freely 
 to, in reference to their defective or faulty de 
 livery. The words of Cowper deserve their at 
 tention, 
 
 " I seek divine simplicity in him 
 Who handles things divine." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE METHODISTS. 
 
 UNDER the denomination of Methodists, I place 
 those only who are the disciples of Wesley ; a 
 distinction necessary to be mentioned, because 
 the term is frequently applied reproachfully to 
 those of other sects who are unusually devout. 
 They are, in comparison with the Presbyterians 
 and Episcopalians, not a large body; but as 
 their present rate of increase is I believe great 
 er than that of any other sect, the time may 
 come when they will rank first in number, if not 
 in importance. Some persons in America wit 
 nessing their zeal in proselyting, and their tena 
 city of their converts, have gone so far as to 
 assert, that ultimately there will be only two 
 classes in Christendom, Methodists and Unita 
 rians ; or as they are pleased otherwise to ex 
 press it, those who are influenced by fanaticism, 
 and those who are guided solely by reason. This 
 however, must be admitted to be an extravagant 
 supposition. Still, whether we regard the influ 
 ence of the Methodists on the populace, or their 
 prodigious increase, they deserve great attention. 
 
 p 2 
 
THE METHODISTS. 
 
 Their ministers both local and itinerant, actuated 
 with the zeal of Jesuits, though not with their 
 temporizing principles, have laboured assiduous 
 ly in all places where vice and wretchedness are 
 congregated. Wherever a society has been set 
 tled in such places, a visible reformation has 
 been the consequence. The grosser vices have 
 subsided ; and a decent demeanour, combined 
 with I trust true piety, has taken their place. I 
 confess I am no admirer of their pulpit denuncia 
 tions of fire and brimstone in the gulf of Hell, 
 with malignant devils for tormentors ; yet while 
 I see good attend their labours, I infer that the 
 ignorant are more easily roused by such terrible 
 language, than allured by what is attractive in 
 the love, mercy and goodness of the great Re 
 deemer. I was at one of their meetings at a so 
 litary house in the woods of Virginia ; the only 
 place of worship it appeared within a compass of 
 fourteen or fifteen miles. The preacher was a 
 young man of that repulsive look characteristic of 
 their ministers. His text was from the Revela 
 tions ; a book, which from its obscurity, seems to 
 be a great favourite with the whole tribe of mys 
 tics from Behmen to Swedenborg and Joanna 
 Southcote, and with most of those who believe 
 that a spiritual signification is couched under the 
 literal sense of every passage. His exposition, 
 
THS METHODISTS. 213 
 
 though not what I should consider strained, was 
 not quite so clear or so full as might have been 
 expected. The violence of his language was 
 harsh to my ears ; but as a number of negro slaves 
 was present, the discourse might be better adapt 
 ed for the auditory than one more refined. On 
 reflecting on it afterwards, I was led to the con 
 clusion, that some present might have been 
 aroused from careless security, and others ani 
 mated to a perseverance in the path of devoted- 
 ness to religion. 
 
 The Methodists are almost the only persons 
 who have paid attention to the religious and mo 
 ral instruction of the slaves. The Catholics, to 
 be sure, who are slave-owners, have converted 
 the negroes on their estates to their ceremonious 
 worship ; but their labours in very few instances 
 have, I believe, extended beyond their own es 
 tates. The mass of the free coloured popula 
 tion, as well as of the slaves who profess religion, 
 are Methodists ; though congregations exist of 
 several other denominations. 
 
 The annual celebration of camp-meetings is 
 kept up amongst the Methodists in various parts 
 of the United States, though the practice is dis 
 countenanced by their brethren in England. I 
 
THE METHODISTS. 
 
 had a great desire to witness one of them, but 
 had no opportunity. I heard various reports of 
 their immoral effects on the youth of both sexes. 
 Probably these reports have little foundation in 
 truth, as the Methodists are generally consider 
 ed to be a moral people. The success of their 
 labours to prevent drunkenness is said to be great. 
 
 If it be enquired why they have been so much 
 more successful in proselyting the poor and ig 
 norant, than other sects who have used endea 
 vours for the same purpose, the reason may be 
 found in their singular policy and the plainness 
 of their preaching. If a poor man be admitted 
 a member of a Methodist society, he soon finds 
 himself of some importance ; he may speedily 
 become, or have the prospect of becoming, a 
 class-leader ; and if he have a ready utterance, 
 he may be permitted to practise as an exhorter, 
 and perhaps be elevated into a local preacher; 
 That person must be ignorant indeed of human 
 nature, who perceives not that these distinctions 
 are more alluring than the perpetual obscurity 
 attendant on a union with most other societies. 
 The plain, natural style adopted by the Me 
 thodist ministers in their sermons, is so much 
 better adapted to the understandings of the illi 
 terate, than the polished diction and balanced 
 
THE METHODISTS. 215 
 
 periods of which the Clergy in general are so 
 fond, that we need not wonder at the preference 
 given to them. Let any one read one of the 
 neat and critically exact Sermons of Blair, or of 
 the unimpassioned, argumentative Sermons of 
 Tillotson, or of the redundant though rich and 
 illustrative Sermons of Chalmers, and then read 
 one of Wesley s, where without the charms of 
 rhetoric, conviction is carried to the heart ; 
 and then say which of the four would be the best 
 comprehended by a peasant or mechanic. The 
 extemporaneous delivery of sermons, so general 
 if not universal amongst the Methodists, has its 
 use in preserving simplicity, and giving scope to 
 the preacher to work upon the passions. The 
 reading of written sermons will seldom do more 
 than fill the mind with indistinctness, except the 
 hearers are sufficiently educated to understand 
 logic ; unless indeed the sermons be so plain and 
 practical that they cannot be misunderstood. In 
 that case, the understanding may be convinced, 
 and yet, because no warmth is infused into the 
 heart, the impression may be as transient as the 
 shade on a green field occasioned by a passing 
 cloud. The idea of the Clergy who are pur 
 posely educated for the ministry, that they can 
 not preach extemporaneously without confusing 
 themselves and falling into nonsense, is one of 
 
THE METHODISTS. 
 
 those which is proved to be nugatory by the ex 
 ample of the illiterate Methodists. The sermon 
 I heard in Virginia was as well arranged as one 
 of South s or Clarke s, and yet the preacher had 
 no notes, and did not know that he was to preach 
 till about five minutes before he entered the pul 
 pit. I heard another delivered at the State Pri 
 son in New York, which was both regular and 
 impassioned. This was also extemporaneously 
 delivered by a Methodist. Why the feelings 
 should not be operated on as well as the under 
 standing, I cannot conceive. The orator of a 
 popular assembly is often glad to rouse the pas 
 sions : why then should the preacher be indif 
 ferent to the power of pathetic or animating ap 
 peals ? 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE SHAKERS. 
 
 AMONGST the various sects in the United States, 
 one of the most curious is that of the Shakers- 
 As these people have been grossly misrepresent 
 ed in some recent publications, and as but little 
 is known of them in England, a somewhat mi* 
 nute account of them seems necessary. The per 
 son who must be considered as their founder was 
 Ann Lee of Manchester, a blacksmith s daugh 
 ter ; for though some of the doctrines of the fu 
 ture society were publicly taught by two young 
 men before Ann had adopted them, yet she 
 must have the credit, if any there be, of mould 
 ing the elementary parts into a system. On the 
 ground of alleged, and perhaps real intolerance 
 towards her and her disciples, they quitted Eng 
 land for the United States. During a storm on 
 their passage, which was so tremendous as to 
 place their lives in the utmost jeopardy, it is said 
 that Ann was the stay of both passengers and 
 crew. The passengers doubtless paid more de 
 ference to her, than the centurion under similar 
 circumstances to the Apostle Paul, for her ob- 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 scure expressions were treasured up as oracles, 
 and she was as devoutly appealed to as the 
 priestess at Delphi. High pretensions to special 
 Divine illumination, when accompanied by the 
 appearance of sanctity and mortification, have 
 often produced amongst the ignorant this blind 
 confidence. It was by such means that Maho 
 met secured such devotedness in his followers, 
 and that Peter the Hermit produced the Cru 
 sades. If we consider that human nature is in 
 all ages and countries the same, always prone to 
 rely on supposed infallibility, we shall not won 
 der at the authority obtained by Ann Lee. The 
 disciples gave her the appellation of Mother, 
 but she used to say of herself, " I am Ann the 
 Word !" However foolish or blasphemous this 
 language may appear, it is consonant to their be 
 lief that Jesus Christ made his second appear 
 ance in her ! And they remind those, who 
 shocked at such presumption manifest abhor 
 rence of it, that his first appearance as the re 
 puted son of a carpenter, was no less abhorrent 
 to the preconceived ideas of the Jews. 
 
 Soon after the disembarkation of Ann and her 
 disciples, they settled near Albany in New York. 
 For several years, little or nothing was done to 
 wards the settlement of a new society j the rea- 
 
SHAKERS. 219 
 
 son for which I apprehend to be, that they had 
 not a sufficiency of property to enable them to 
 relax from business to travel in pursuit of con 
 verts. After a time however, they began in 
 good earnest. Success attended them. As their 
 numbers increased, a new polity was developed ; 
 and a society was gradually formed, more pecu 
 liar than most that preceded it. They establish 
 ed a community of property ; they practised ce 
 libacy; they instituted a novel mode of worship, 
 and a system of discipline more exact than that 
 of the army. Instead however of mixing with 
 society at large, they purchased tracts of land, 
 built villages in which none who refused to con 
 form were allowed to settle, and by thus keeping 
 themselves distinct from others, they could easily 
 enforce their strict regulations. By industry 
 and economy, they accumulated considerable 
 property. New settlements were from time to 
 time formed, and their present number is sup 
 posed to be about five thousand. 
 
 The idea of property being held in common 
 has often been acted on. To say nothing of the 
 early Christians as recorded in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, the Jesuits in Paraguay had, as is well 
 known, established a community of property in 
 the districts which they laid out in that country. 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 One party of the two into which the Dutch Men- 
 nonists were divided, did the same thing, and 
 obtained in consequence the title of the perfect 
 Mennonists. The Labadists in France profess 
 ed and acted in like manner. It is not generally 
 known, but it is nevertheless true, that they ex 
 tended their system amongst the colonists in 
 Maryland. In other respects too, they were like 
 the Shakers ; but they soon ceased as a separate 
 community. The Duhobortsi in Russia, and 
 the Harmonists in Illinois have adopted the sys 
 tem ; and at the school at Hofwyl, and in the 
 cotton factory at New Lanark an approximation 
 to it exists. From these various trials of the 
 system of a common property, we may infer that 
 under judicious regulations, it is by no means 
 unfavourable to industry. How extensive it is 
 possible to make the system, it is not now my 
 business to enquire. That it will never become 
 general, will be admitted by most, notwithstand 
 ing the arguments in Godwin s Political Jus 
 tice, or the benevolent enthusiasm of Robert 
 Owen. It must, I conceive, soon be brought to 
 an end, in all cases where marriage is allowed ; 
 but as the Shakers practise celibacy, it may 
 continue amongst them for ages to come, if no 
 internal dissensions cause a dissolution of the 
 society. 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 The men and women, like monks and nuns, 
 live separate from each other ; that is, they have 
 separate ranges of apartments ; but they dine 
 together, though at different tables. They have 
 social meetings after the day s labour is conclu 
 ded -, and speak familiarly to each other, when 
 they chance to meet during the day. It of 
 course becomes an interesting object of enquiry, 
 whether irregularities like those which have been 
 supposed prevalent in convents, exist amongst 
 the Shakers. Strong suspicions have been en 
 tertained by many persons on this matter, nor 
 was my own mind entirely free from them when 
 I first visited one of their villages. I questioned 
 the deacon and several others on this point. 
 They admitted that one or two instances had oc 
 curred amongst them, but assured me that the 
 offenders had been expelled the settlement. But 
 I did not satisfy myself with their own account : 
 I enquired of persons resident in their vicinity. 
 One informed me, that he had noticed the men 
 and women when riding together, exchange looks 
 of more than Platonic meaning ; but on this per 
 son s evidence I could not place much reliance, 
 as lie was a sort of rattle-brained madcap. All 
 their other neighbours of whom I requested in 
 formation concerning them, and I spoke to both 
 poor and rich, concurred in believing them to 
 
THE SHAKERS* 
 
 be a strictly chaste people. If many improprie 
 ties had taken place amongst them, they would 
 in all probability have come to the knowledge of 
 their neighbours by some means or other. My 
 opinion therefore decidedly is, that they are, as 
 they profess to be, of regular conduct. Of their 
 benevolence and disposition to be serviceable to 
 others in case of need, I had many assurances. 
 Their honesty is considered so great, that a 
 tradesman told me, that he would at any time, 
 as readily take the word of one of them as his 
 bond. 
 
 I attended one of their meetings for worship, 
 but unluckily was too late to witness the dan 
 cing. It is spoken of as being so far from ludi 
 crous, as to deserve the character of solemnity. 
 When I entered the room where they were as 
 sembled there was perfect silence. The men 
 habited in a uniform like the dress of the Qua 
 kers, sat on benches on one side of the room ; 
 the women, also in a plain uniform, on the other. 
 Their behaviour, though decorous, was formal 
 and stiff. No lounging, no stretching of the 
 legs, was to be seen. All sat upright with their 
 hands before them. In a short time, a young 
 man advanced to the vacant space at the upper 
 end of the room, and in a plain, though rather 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 drawling manner, addressed the assembly. He 
 expatiated on the necessity of self-denial, com 
 mented on the deficiency of most professing 
 Christians in this respect, and urged that greater 
 purity was essential than was generally supposed. 
 Not only was excess to be avoided, but restraints 
 were to be imposed on the thoughts. After a 
 pause a hymn was sung ; not however in the cus 
 tomary mode, there being, if I remember rightly, 
 no repetition, and but little vocal inflection. The 
 tune, if such it may be called, seemed to be all 
 in one key. I have rarely witnessed more dis 
 sonance in union. After the hymn, an elderly 
 man, who was I believe a deacon, rose and spoke 
 to this purport. " I can truly say that I feel 
 thankful for the opportunity we have just had in 
 worshipping Almighty God. It is indeed my 
 brethren and sisters a great favour, that we are 
 able at the present day to worship him in the way 
 we believe to be most acceptable to him, with 
 out hinderance or molestation ; so different to 
 former ages. May the favours we enjoy, incite 
 us to more watchfulness, to more humility, to 
 more purity ; then our reward will be peace : 
 and it is for the enjoyment of this blessed peace 
 that we renounce the world, since its acquisi 
 tion is of more value than all the treasures of the 
 world." 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 The Shaker villages are particularly neat. The 
 houses are all nicely painted. The yards are 
 kept very clean. Even the workshops from the 
 absence of dirt and litters, are as comfortable as 
 common sitting rooms. Some of their rules 
 deserve observance by their neighbours, particu 
 larly those against spitting on the floor, and shut 
 ting doors violently. The household work is 
 performed by the women ; the field and me 
 chanical labour by the men. So noted are they 
 for the excellence of their workmanship in what 
 ever they undertake, that the farmers around 
 are glad to trade with them for such implements 
 as they manufacture. 
 
 I visited these people at one of their settle 
 ments in Connecticut, and at another in Massa 
 chusetts ; and at both places was hospitably en 
 tertained. I was not allowed to take my meals 
 at the common table, the reason for which I did 
 not enquire, not liking to be troublesome with 
 trivial questions. However I was permitted to 
 enter the room where they were eating. The 
 supply on table was plentiful and varied. No 
 thing stronger than cyder was used for drink. 
 Wine and spirits are sometimes used medicinally, 
 but never as a common beverage. When all 
 had finished, they rose from the table simulta- 
 
THE SHAKERS. 2^5 
 
 neously, arranged themselves in rows opposite 
 each other in the order of their sitting, and then 
 falling on their knees, continued in the attitude 
 of prayer for about two minutes. Their prayers 
 are I believe always mental : vocal prayer at 
 least is rare. My dinner was given to me in 
 another room. One of the sisters, a pleasing, dif 
 fident girl about seventeen years of age, waited 
 on me. I conversed with her on different to 
 pics ; but when I smilingly adverted to their 
 opinions on the necessity of celibacy, she seem 
 ed to manifest that I was taking a license scarce 
 ly warrantable. I of course turned to something 
 else, and found her quite willing to answer my 
 enquiries. She told me that she had been rear 
 ed in the settlement, her parents entering when 
 she was quite young, and that she was too happy 
 to desire to exchange her course of life for an 
 other. 
 
 The Shakers have very little learning amongst 
 them, though one man of some considerable 
 scholastic attainments has enrolled himself in 
 their society. On enquiring for books, they 
 brought me the Bible, and two volumes expla 
 natory of their principles ; being I guessed all 
 the books they had ; though I make no doubt 
 that at their principal establishment, which is at 
 
 Q 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 Lebanon in New York, I could have obtained a 
 variety. I carefully inspected the two volumes. 
 Amidst a mass of not very intelligible matter, 
 where shreds of scripture were patched with 
 quotations from theological writers, and where 
 obscurity and light seemed blended together like 
 the smoke and flame of a building on fire, I ma 
 naged to extract their main principles. The fol 
 lowing summary may amuse. 
 
 Adam was created perfect and destined for 
 immortality. By transgression lie fell, and with 
 all his offspring became subject to death. Jesus 
 Christ was sent to restore man to his original 
 state of perfection. His followers were to be 
 distinguished from the rest of mankind by a mark 
 so plain as to be obvious to every one. That 
 mark is a total abstinence from sexual inter 
 course ; consequently, marriage is unlawful to 
 them. Those who conform to his precepts and 
 imitate him in living a single life, become per 
 fect. When his precepts are obeyed, oaths and 
 war cease ; superfluity in food and apparel are 
 not coveted ; compulsory measures in religion 
 cannot be enforced ; anger can never have place ; 
 and no vain compliments can be used. Luther, 
 Calvin and the other reformers were men who 
 obscured the light then dawning. Fox and the 
 
THE SHAKERS. 227 
 
 other early Quakers were men who bore a faith 
 ful testimony to the light manifested, and pre 
 dicted a further effulgence. This complete il 
 lumination began with Ann Lee. All men have 
 not an equal portion of it ; but all who act in 
 conformity to what they have, will be saved. 
 
 These appear to be the principles of Shakerism. 
 When I asked a Deacon to give me a statement 
 of them, he replied that he was willing to give it, 
 but that he must premise, that if after learning 
 them, I did not embrace them, I should never 
 be easy in mind. It is I suppose by the excite 
 ment of fears on this plan, that the Shakers and 
 similar professors obtain an ascendency over the 
 ignorant. But I believe that their numbers are 
 principally kept up and increased by the poor 
 and distressed. If a man or woman be brought 
 into difficulties, and knows not how to obtain a 
 livelihood, a union with the Shakers offers a com 
 fortable asylum. Their rules must to be sure 
 be complied with ; but then the labour required 
 is not more than it is easy to perform, and all 
 fear of a want of subsistence is removed, besides 
 having the comfort of decent, warm clothing, 
 and a house to live in, not only weather-proof 
 but neatly furnished. When married couples, 
 join the society, they must separate, and live as 
 
 Q 2 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 though they had never known each other in any 
 character but that of friends. There have been 
 instances of husband and wife with a large fa 
 mily of children joining the society. 
 
 I had no reason from any thing I saw or heard 
 to infer that they are not a brotherly or content 
 ed people. But I saw abundant reasons for be 
 lieving that they are strangers to* the warmest 
 sympathetic feelings. Their whole system is of 
 a tendency to break the bonds of natural affec 
 tion. A young man whose parents had intro 
 duced him into the society during his childhood, 
 they at the same time entering, told me that he 
 regarded them exactly as he did other members 
 of the society. How should it be otherwise when 
 the parents observe the progress of their children 
 in life, without hoping for their advancement, 
 and the children feel no particular gratitude to 
 the parents ? The idea of affection existing in 
 dependent of external circumstances has been 
 long renounced by philosophers ; for certain it 
 is, that if an infant soon after its birth were 
 changed for another infant, without the mother s 
 suspecting the circumstance, she would feel pre 
 cisely the same interest and affection for the spu 
 rious infant as for her own. In the Shaker vil 
 lages, all peculiar bias is as far as possible re- 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 moved. The means used are adequate to the ef 
 fects ; and the interest felt by the members is 
 general, and of course rather cold. 
 
 I have mentioned that war is one of those 
 things which they believe to be incompatible 
 with the Christian religion. In Massachusetts, 
 the law requiring the performance of military du 
 ties is relaxed in their favour. In New York, 
 they are subject to a fine for refusal to serve. 
 For many years they were in the practice of pay 
 ing this fine ; but lately, they have submitted 
 to imprisonment, rather than by paying it com 
 promise their principles. Thisjs as it should be; 
 and if the Moravians were equally consistent, 
 we might hope that their example joined to that 
 of the Friends, would have a salutary influence 
 on the Christian world. War, like duelling, is 
 unfit for civilized people, and will doubtless, 
 agreeably to the sure word of prophecy, sooner 
 or later cease to afflict mankind. Civilization 
 can never be complete so long as the sword is 
 drawn to settle differences. The number of so 
 cieties for the preservation of peace on Christian 
 principles in America, the firmness I have just 
 instanced in the Shakers, and some other signs 
 of the times, all lead to the belief that improve 
 ment in the condition of man is preparing the 
 
230 THE SHAKERS. 
 
 way for more harmony between nations than has 
 hitherto been the case. Another dreadful war 
 may desolate Europe in the settlement of the 
 rights of the people on a secure basis; after that 
 we may hope that a new system will produce new 
 results. 
 
 The Shakers object to a greater degree of 
 learning than is necessary for the common pur 
 poses of life. So far from desiring it as an or 
 nament, they take a very confined view of its 
 utility. They have no idea of the happiness it 
 confers on its possesser ; or if they have, they 
 regard the sort of happiness it produces, as unde 
 sirable as that arising from the love of women. 
 Man according to them has but two legitimate 
 objects of pursuit ; one, the attainment of a 
 simply comfortable existence ; the other, the se 
 curity of the favour of heaven. Whatever plea 
 sures therefore spring from a cultivation of the 
 understanding, or a yielding to the passion of 
 love, are, however pure or refined they may be, 
 to be shut out. With these ascetic notions, it 
 will be readily imagined that their life is mono 
 tonous and placid. The spirits of men under 
 their discipline, experience none of that ebulli 
 tion which is sometimes felt by men of the world, 
 when under powerful excitement. Nothing can 
 
THE SHAKERS. 231 
 
 be more opposite to their ideas than the fictitious 
 joys of -Odin s hall. Those persons who make 
 happiness consist in quiescence may find it in 
 perfection in Shaker ism. 
 
 A question naturally arises, whether their 
 system will be of long continuance. I know of 
 no particular cause why it should not, except 
 that the accumulation of wealth may produce a 
 change in their character and habits. When the 
 Benedictines established themselves at Monte 
 Cassino, they were poor, and at least negatively 
 virtuous. They afterwards became rich and de 
 praved. Can we suppose that wealth will be less 
 influential on the Shakers than the Benedictines? 
 And that the Shakers will become rich, I see no 
 reason to doubt. A society where no idlers are 
 allowed, and where none able to work, either 
 male or female, are excused from contributing 
 to the common welfare, must in the common 
 course of things acquire large property. When 
 property more than sufficient for its object is 
 possessed by those who have no intellectual pur 
 suit, the danger of its abuse is increased. St. 
 Jerome, it is said, subdued his passions by learn 
 ing Hebrew. The secret no doubt was, that his 
 mind was employed on an object sufficiently 
 strong to engross his undivided attention. But 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 if the Shakers refuse to allow themselves to de 
 vote their time to study, the effect of wealth will 
 probably be to introduce excess in the pleasures 
 of the table. Luxury and laziness are generally 
 concomitant, and when once yielded to, produce 
 other evils. If the principles of Shakerism be 
 able to preserve all its professors from contagion, 
 under circumstances like these, a novelty will 
 be exhibited in the moral history of man. 
 
 Archbishop Leighton expressed his regret that 
 at the period of the Reformation all monastic 
 establishments were destroyed ; and a writer in 
 a late number of the Quarterly Review advo 
 cated the propriety of establishing a Protestant 
 nunnery. In the example of the Shakers we 
 have a specimen of the kind. But notwithstand 
 ing the comparative mildness of the regulations, 
 and the strictness of morality which I believe to 
 prevail amongst them, I do not think they ex 
 hibit such a view of human happiness as to ren 
 der, it desirable to have their example followed. 
 Even if learning were introduced and encou 
 raged, the most formidable objection would re 
 main ; namely, that the monastic life is contra 
 dictory to the dictates of nature. Christianity 
 doubtless requires, that nature shall be brought 
 under regulations productive of individual and 
 
THE SHAKERS. 233 
 
 general good ; but it does not require that na 
 ture shall be so thwarted as to deprive us of en 
 joyments compatible with our duties to God and 
 the harmony of creation. The married state, 
 when entered upon with prudence and affection, 
 is found to improve the disposition and enlarge the 
 heart. It adds more than any thing else to the 
 sum of human happiness. The formation of a 
 state of society where it is prohibited, is as un 
 natural as a government, where there is no will 
 but the will of a despot. 
 
 The mention of government reminds me that 
 that of the Shakers is professedly a theocracy. 
 Whatever alteration is proposed, either in the 
 laws or the executive officers, is discussed by 
 the body at large. But no division on a question 
 ever takes place, it being their opinion that the 
 spirit of judgment is given to some, and must be 
 yielded to by the rest. I suppose that the aged 
 and a few leading characters decide the part to 
 be taken on all momentous occasions. Unani 
 mity is probably secured by the fear that refrac 
 toriness may be followed by expulsion. If any 
 breach of harmony occurs, the knowledge of it 
 is confined to the members, all their proceedings 
 except worship, being confined exclusively to 
 themselves. Their general prosperity and good 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 order are indicative of a government competent 
 to its purpose ; yet Shakerism as a system, ap 
 pears like some complex piece of mechanism, 
 beautiful and regular, but liable to be put out of 
 order if any of the concealed springs lose their 
 elasticity. 
 
CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 THE INDIANS. 
 
 HAVING mentioned the state of religion in gene 
 ral, and of that of several independent societies, 
 I am led by a natural chain to take some notice 
 of the Indians, whose religion seems to demand 
 more notice that it has hitherto obtained. When 
 Penn first landed in Pennsylvania, he was so 
 struck with their Jewish countenances, and with 
 the similarity of some of their customs to those 
 of that people, that he conjectured they might 
 be the descendants of the lost ten tribes. He 
 supposed, what has since been proved true, that 
 Asia and North America were so nearly contigu 
 ous, that they might have migrated from one con 
 tinent to the other. Whether the Indians Penn 
 saw, were of different aspect to the other tribes 
 cannot now be known, but none of the present 
 race, so far as my observation goes, and judg 
 ment may be formed from portraits, are like the 
 Jews. I certainly saw a youth among the Se 
 neca Indians, whom if I had met in Hounds- 
 ditch, or in any other street in London where 
 they haunt, I should have taken for one of them ; 
 
1236 THE INDIANS. 
 
 but this was a solitary instance. The customs 
 alluded to by Penn are in degree correspondent 
 to some of the Jewish, but not more so than 
 some prevalent amongst the Negroes in one 
 district in Africa, nor than others amongst 
 the Asiatics. There is however one remarkable 
 particular in which they agree with the Jews, 
 and which deserves the more notice from its be 
 ing one that no other barbarous people share with 
 them. Their religion is pure theism undefiled 
 by idolatry or symbolical representations of the 
 Deity. But if they were the descendants of the 
 Jews, is it probable that their worship would be 
 without ceremonies? Doctrines may be forgot 
 ten or changed, but ceremonies are generally 
 continued, even after their origin is forgotten, 
 and when they are totally useless. Now the In 
 dians have so few ceremonies that it strongly 
 militates against Penn s idea. But how aston 
 ishing is it, that they alone of all savage nations 
 should believe in the unity of God, and worship 
 him without the aid of visible objects! With the 
 exception of a tribe or two in Virginia now ex 
 tinct, who had framed an image to which they 
 paid their adorations, there is not I believe an 
 instance to the contrary on record within the 
 territory of the United States. One of the early 
 colonists in New Jersey, who has left some ac- 
 
THE INDIANS-. 237 
 
 count of the Indians in that State, mentions that 
 their worship consisted in the abstraction of the 
 mind from external objects, under the belief that 
 the Great Spirit would hold communion with the 
 soul when humbly prostrated before him. This 
 worship is still practised by them, at least by 
 such amongst them as are religious. They are 
 all believers in a future state of rewards and pu 
 nishments, which they generally suppose will be 
 of a kind like those desired or dreaded on earth, 
 such as the abundance or privation of corporeal 
 comforts. The great purity of their worship 
 may be a cause why missionaries have been able 
 to effect so little change amongst them. It may 
 be possible, and in some cases comparatively 
 easy to convince a man of the absurdity and 
 wickedness of idolatry ; and when that convic 
 tion is established, to persuade him of the Divine 
 origin of Christianity. But those who labour to 
 convert the Indians have no such ground to 
 work on. Though the foundation for Chris 
 tianity is laid, the superstructure cannot easily be 
 raised. If it could have been raised by any peo 
 ple, we might suppose that the Friends^ whose 
 principles tally so much with theirs as far as 
 they go, would have done it. But they have 
 effected as little as others. Indeed it would be 
 a very difficult thing to persuade them to em- 
 
238 THE INDIANS. 
 
 brace a religion which forbids war, and retalia 
 tion for injuries. 
 
 The origin of the Indians, like that of most 
 other nations, is involved in obscurity. Many 
 hypotheses have been formed, but all insuffi 
 ciently supported by facts to carry full conviction. 
 That of their being the descendants of the ten 
 tribes of Israel has been a favourite one with 
 others besides Penn. A volume entitled the Star 
 in the West, was published by an American a few 
 years ago, for the express purpose of proving its 
 probability. But the author was so incompetent 
 to his task, that his book has the appearance of 
 being the production of a schoolboy. The in 
 stances he has given of a few Hebrew words 
 amount to little, since it is well known that they 
 speak nearly as many languages as there are 
 tribes. Many of these may be reasonably sup 
 posed to be cognate. But I was assured by In 
 dians of several tribes that they had listened to 
 the conversation of other Indians without being 
 able to understand a single word. There must 
 therefore be a radical difference. The language 
 of one tribe has, as I was assured by a literary 
 gentleman, many Welsh words in it ; a circum 
 stance which may be credited without attaching 
 any faith in the idea of Madoc s settlement in 
 
THE INDIANS. 23Q 
 
 America, since dialects of the Celtic partially 
 intelligible to a Welshman prevail in the north of 
 Africa; and there is an instance on record of a 
 Negro slave who could make himself understood 
 by the Indians in his native tongue. As how 
 ever the Celtic is traced to an Asiatic stock, and 
 as various peculiarities of the Indians indicate 
 an acquaintance at some former period with the 
 orientals, little doubt need be entertained that 
 Asia was the parent of America. If any excep 
 tion be made, it must be respecting the Esqui 
 maux who are supposed to be of European ori 
 gin. Yet some antiquarians in the United States, 
 have endeavoured to show the reasonableness of 
 a supposition, that America was the part of the 
 world first peopled. Recent researches in Ohio 
 and in the district west of the Mississippi, have 
 brought to light some particulars which lead to 
 the belief, that a race of people acquainted with 
 more arts than the Indians, inhabited the conti 
 nent anterior to them. But that this people was 
 the parent stock of the human race, cannot easily 
 be proved, or elucidated so as to make it appear 
 so probable, as that Asia was the chosen seat for 
 them. 
 
 The Indians have made but slender progress 
 in civilization. Though it is up wards of two cen- 
 
240 THE INDIANS. 
 
 turies since the first settlement was made ifi 
 North America by the English, the Indians are 
 nearly as rude as if they had never had an exam 
 ple of the inestimable benefits of agriculture and 
 the mechanical arts. The cause of this lies deeper 
 than many speculative philosophers have imagin 
 ed. Since Locke overturned the unstable doc 
 trine of innate ideas, an opinion has been preva 
 lent, that all the inequalities observable amongst 
 men, may be traced to the difference in their ca 
 pacities and education. Dr. Johnson, by his de 
 finition of genius in his Life of Cowley, has con 
 tributed to this opinion. He says 5 " the true 
 genius is the mind of large general powers, ac 
 cidentally determined to some particular direc 
 tion ;" and he rejects the notion not only of in 
 nate ideas but of innate propensities. He is re 
 ported to have said, that Newton might have 
 been an epic poet, or Milton a natural philoso 
 pher, and each as eminent as the other now is. 
 Dr. Watts seems to have gone nearly as far. But 
 it may be observed, that as in the breed of horses 
 some are formed for swiftness and others for 
 draught, so in the races of men, some are dis 
 tinguished for lively imaginations, and others for 
 the exercise of the reasoning faculties ; and 
 though I will not go so far as to assert, that men 
 have innate propensities, I maintain that they 
 
THE INDIANS. 
 
 have naturally a greater aptitude for some pur 
 suits than others. And as there are individual 
 characteristics, so there are national. The Ger 
 mans are said to be inventive, the Russians imi 
 tative ; the Celts resisted civilization longer than 
 the Goths ; and the Indians have a great aver 
 sion to labour. Fatigue and privation of food 
 when engaged in war or hunting they can bear ; 
 but the fatigue of settled labour is intolerable to 
 them. Nearly all those who have been removed 
 when children from their tribe, and instructed in 
 the arts of civilization, and enlarged in mind by 
 a knowledge of sciences, have in after life re 
 turned to the rude state of their nation. A few 
 Indians on Long Island had every advantage for 
 improvement placed within their reach ; the ex 
 periment of inuring them to labour by early in 
 dustry was fully tried, but Leviathan was not so 
 tamed. And as a proof how constitutionally they 
 were affected, the children of some of them who 
 married negroes, were brought within the pale 
 of civilization with comparative ease. I saw se 
 veral of these at a farm-house, who were in the 
 employ of the farmer. They behaved well ; and 
 their master told me that he found them docile 
 and tolerably industrious. But if further proof 
 be wanted of the influence of nature on the cha 
 racter, habits and pursuits of mankind, it may be 
 
 n 
 
THE INDIANS. 
 
 found in . the English gypsies. These people 
 have been roaming over the country for centu 
 ries, and though doubtless of more mixed blood 
 now than formerly, are still impatient of the re 
 straints of civilization. Some of them will in 
 deed confine to the towns in winter, and obtain 
 subsistence by acting as tinkers or chimney 
 sweeps ; but as soon as spring returns, away they 
 fly into the country to resume their favourite 
 occupations of pilfering and fortune-telling. A 
 gentleman in Rutlandshire told me, that he had 
 one in his family for some years as a domestic 
 servant, who by being a little humoured, was a 
 useful, handy fellow. This is the only case of 
 the kind I ever heard of 5 but even this was not 
 attended with the success of reclaiming him from 
 his early habits ; for on some of his tribe being 
 in the vicinity, he left the comfortable home of 
 his master where he had an easy life and plenty 
 to eat, to join them in their mode of sleeping in 
 tents and obtaining a precarious subsistence. 
 These circumstances lead to the belief that the 
 Indians will never become a civilized people. A 
 few individuals perhaps may adopt some of the 
 improvements of civilized life. But unless in 
 termarriages with either the whites or blacks 
 take place, I fear no other prospect remains than 
 that of their gradual extinction. 
 
THE INDIANS. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the Indians are far 
 less numerous now than formerly. The policy 
 and plans of the American government contri 
 bute to their diminution. The territory occu 
 pied by a tribe is the general property, and as 
 the whites form settlements around it, is increas 
 ed in value as an article for sale. To a people 
 to whom spirituous liquors are so alluring as they 
 are to the Indians, the offer of a large sum of 
 money is very tempting. The government agents 
 accordingly, generally succeed in persuading 
 them to accept a price for any land which it ap 
 pears desirable to purchase. When the Indians 
 have disposed of their land, no alternative re 
 mains: for them but to strike into the territories 
 of other tribes. In endeavouring to obtain a 
 settlement, a war is the almost necessary conse 
 quence. Either one or the other tribe is so much 
 reduced before terms are settled, that if a fresh 
 war chaftces to break out soon after, an extermi 
 nation almost total results. The number of ex 
 tinct tribes is very great. However, it cannot 
 be said that the American government violates 
 any principle of justice in purchasing the Indian 
 territories for its own citizens. And much as we 
 may regret that the aborigines should relinquish 
 the possessions of their fathers to strangers, when 
 that relinquishment is so fatal to themselves, yet 
 R 2 
 
244 THE INDIANS. 
 
 we ought perhaps rather to rejoice, from the con 
 sideration that civilization with its concomitant 
 blessings, supersedes barbarism, ignorance 1 and 
 sloth ; and that the population is necessarily in 
 creased a hundred or a thousand-fold. But 
 though the Americans are clear of injustice in 
 their treaties with the Indians for their land, it 
 is doubtful whether it be consistent with sound 
 policy to purchase to the extent they have done; 
 for from the low price of land it results, that the 
 population is allured from the old settled dis 
 tricts, before they are brought into so great a 
 degree of improvement as is desirable. A large 
 extent of territory badly cultivated, is less con 
 ducive to comfort than a small one well culti 
 vated. 
 
 The Indians have amongst them much sense 
 of honour, A tradesman, whose dealings with 
 them are considerable, told me that he could de 
 pend on their word for the payment of money 
 at a fixed future day, though till he got their 
 promise, he could not be sure of receiving any 
 thing. The sheriff of a county in New York told 
 me that he released one of them from prison, 
 on his promising to deliver himself up on the 
 day fixed for his trial, two others at the same 
 time pledging themselves for his appearance. I 
 
THE INDIANS. 245 
 
 asked the sheriff if he had no fear of losing his 
 prisoner. His answer was, that he had none 
 whatever. The event showed that his confi 
 dence was not misplaced. 
 
 The best symptoms of Indian civilization are 
 to be found amongst the Cherokees inhabiting 
 the country through which the Arkansaw flows. 
 Several of these have become good farmers, and 
 have adopted the dress and habits of the whites. 
 A person told me that he stopped at a tavern 
 kept by one of them, whose wife sat at the head 
 of the table at dinner conducting herself with 
 complete propriety. Next to the Cherokees, I 
 believe I may rank the Senecas. I visited one 
 of their villages near Buffalo where I found some 
 houses vastly superior to the wigwams formerly 
 their only shelter. On opening the door of one 
 of these houses I observed a man with his wife 
 and daughter busily engaged in making moca- 
 sins. On my telling them that I was a stranger 
 from a great distance come to see the Indians, 
 the man rose from his chair and offered it to me 
 with perfect politeness. The next house I called 
 at belonged to one who had been in England. 
 The examples of cleanliness he had seen abroad 
 had been lost on him, for the room was disgust 
 ingly filthy. On my telling him that I had seen 
 
246 THE INDIANS. 
 
 him in London, he came forward and offered 
 me his hand which I shook cordially. I then 
 requested that he would show me his skill as a 
 marksman. He immediately took his rifle and 
 walked with me into the forest. Presently see 
 ing a squirrel on the top of a high tree, he aimed 
 at its throat and shot it there. He soon began 
 to ask me if I knew such and such persons in 
 London, telling me not only their names but 
 their trades and the streets they lived in, proving 
 himself to be possessed of a good memory. But 
 I could not find that his journey in Great Bri 
 tain and Ireland, whatever new ideas it might 
 have given him, had tended to the increase of 
 his comforts by inspiring him with any desire for 
 improving his condition. How lamentable is it 
 that a race of men, like the Indians, gifted by na 
 ture with good mental powers, should so reso 
 lutely persist in retaining their old habits, arid 
 thus remaining stationary, while the South sea 
 islanders, the African negroes, and the Russian 
 boors are all advancing ! 
 
 After I left this man, I overtook another driv 
 ing a cart with a yoke of oxen. He enquired of 
 me if I would bargain with him for the beasts. 
 This gave me an opportunity of conversing with 
 him at great length, for he spoke English fluent* 
 
THE INDIANS. 24-7 
 
 ly. Though with more compass of intelligence 
 and thought than the others, he was still the wild 
 son of the forest. One of his remarks struck me 
 forcibly. I asked him if the Indians had not a 
 dislike to the Negroes. He said, by no means ; 
 that they judged of men by their worth, and 
 not by their colour. "Besides," added he, " why 
 should we dislike them more than the whites ? 
 The whites came in first, and then brought in 
 the blacks ; and the two together have taken 
 away our country, and we are under no obliga 
 tions to either of them." 
 
 Some of these Senecas have embraced Chris 
 tianity ; but I did not learn that they are at all 
 superior in either morals or habits to the rest. 
 An intelligent tradesman resident in their vici 
 nity, insisted that the labours of the missionaries 
 had not only been useless but absolutely preju-, 
 dicial. He said that he was persuaded, that 
 many amongst those whom we denominate hea 
 then, were men and women of real piety, ac 
 knowledging the influence of the Great Spirit on 
 their hearts, reclaiming them from evil and draw 
 ing them to good. A people of so much doc 
 trinal purity, are certainly less likely to be bene- 
 fitted by missionaries, than idolaters and canni 
 bals. One thing is admitted by all travellers ta 
 
THE INDIANS. 
 
 the western regions of North America, namely, 
 that in proportion as the Indians know less of 
 the whites, the better they are in morals. The 
 accounts published by the missionaries of con 
 versions, triumphant deaths and the like, require 
 to be cautiously relied on. The Indians, so long 
 as they continue Indians, that is, so long as they 
 continue to subsist by hunting rather than agri 
 culture, will in all probability never become sin 
 cere, enlightened Christians. They may perhaps 
 become professors of Christianity, but their 
 profession will not give them the mildness and 
 forbearance required by Christianity, unless they 
 adopt civilization. The Friends, sensible of 
 this, have endeavoured to persuade them to turn 
 to agriculture, but after all the labour they have 
 bestowed, their success has been so small, that 
 I should not be surprised if they were ultimately 
 to abandon their object. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 THE evils of slavery are felt and acknowledged in 
 the slave States, but I fear that habit, early preju 
 dice, and other concurring causes, have produced 
 a torpor on the subject amongst the inhabitants 
 who are free. It is true that few or none will ad 
 vocate slavery abstractedly, but most are willing 
 to defend it under existing circumstances. So 
 obvious are the evils of slavery, that in passing 
 from Pennsylvania into Maryland, the former a 
 free, the latter a slave State, I was struck with 
 the difference between them almost at first enter 
 ing. Instead of neat farm-houses with spacious 
 substantial out-buildings, and surrounding cot 
 tages with small gardens attached, where the 
 poor might be supposed to reside in comfort, a 
 different scene presented. The farm-houses large 
 but of slovenly appearance ; the barns of rude 
 structure ; and the negro huts no better than 
 pigstyes: these were the objects I was obliged to 
 see. As a proof how great is the contrast be 
 tween Pennsylvania and Maryland, I may men 
 tion that as we were in the stage-coach, one of 
 
250 SLAVERY. 
 
 the passengers suddenly remarked that we had 
 passed the boundary line. I asked him how he 
 knew it as he had never been that road before. 
 He directed my attention to a barn, and said that 
 he knew by that we must have entered Mary 
 land, as Pennsylvania he was sure had nothing 
 so shabby. This was his own spontaneous re 
 mark, no part of our previous conversation hav 
 ing been on slavery, or the comparative merits 
 of the two States. In Virginia, I found that the 
 farm-houses had an aristocratical appearance in 
 comparison with the other houses, some of them 
 being not only large, but approaching to splen 
 dour. The roads were so bad, as to be in some 
 parts nearly impassable for carriages, and where 
 crossed by a brook or small creek, without even 
 the accommodation of a foot-bridge ; a deficien 
 cy, which to a pedestrian like me, was a most 
 troublesome inconvenience. On several occa 
 sions, I was beholden to persons for the use of a 
 horse for getting over ; on others, I had to make 
 circuitous routes to find a ford, or avail myself 
 of the trunk of a tree placed across for the ge 
 neral accommodation. At one place where I 
 crossed, the water was about four feet deep, and 
 the log so unsteady that I had to crawl on hands 
 and knees to avoid the chance of a ducking. If 
 these things had occurred on the newly formed 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 roads in the western wilderness, I should have 
 passed them as matters of course. But after the 
 good roads and bridges of Pennsylvania, to find 
 such things in a part of the country of older 
 date in settlement, I was led to the belief that 
 the existence of slavery was the main cause of 
 the inferiority. 
 
 In New York and Pennsylvania, the work of 
 improvement was evidently rapidly proceeding. 
 Villages were rising up in various places in which 
 I observed many good houses and some elegant 
 ones. The churches were numerous, displaying 
 considerable beauty of architecture. The whole 
 appearance of the new villages was exceedingly 
 comfortable ; and every where life, bustle and 
 improvement were apparent. But in Virginia 
 how dismal was the look of things ! Few, very 
 few villages attracted the eye. From Richmond 
 to Charlottesville, a distance of eighty miles, there 
 was hardly one deserving the name : in other 
 parts I remarked the same circumstance. The 
 places for worship were small frame houses, built 
 in the plainest manner, having poor accommoda 
 tions for the frequenters of them. The log- 
 houses of the poor white and free coloured peo 
 ple were little adapted to exclude cold and wet. 
 seemed dormant. Gangs of negro slaves un- 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 der the eye of an overseer were at work in the 
 fields ; but there was none of that lively, improv 
 ing aspect so conspicuous in districts where sla 
 very does not prevail. 
 
 From these particulars it will be inferred, and 
 with truth, that the injurious effects of slavery 
 are not confined to its victims: they extend 
 throughout society. The masters are indolent, 
 the poor whites are much worse off than the same 
 class in the free States, and the free blacks are 
 horribly degraded. Leaving the situation of the 
 latter for the present, let me glance at that of 
 the whites. When a person is accustomed from 
 early youth to see every description of work per 
 formed by slaves, and by slaves of a different 
 colour from himself, he imbibes an opinion which 
 is not to be wondered at, that labour is deroga 
 tory to a free white man. When he is taught in 
 addition to this, to consider the blacks as an in 
 ferior race to the whites, he acquires not only 
 the greatest reluctance to work, but habits of 
 indolence from which he seldom recovers. And 
 though many of the Virginians are persevering 
 in mental pursuits, neither reason nor common 
 sense is sufficiently powerful to break the tram 
 mels of early formed prejudice against manual 
 labour. To show how far this prejudice prevails, 
 
SLAVERY. 253 
 
 I may mention that as I was walking in Virginia, 
 I was overtaken by a farmer on horseback with 
 whom I got into conversation. He pointed out 
 to me a farm near where we were, the owner of 
 which kept a house of entertainment for travel 
 lers, and asked me if I did not admire it. I re 
 plied in the affirmative, it being nearly the neat 
 est I had seen for many days. " That farm," 
 said he, " was brought into its present state by the 
 man and his sons who are all whites." I replied 
 that it did them great credit. He assented to 
 this, but added a hint on the impropriety of 
 white men doing the work of blacks, mentioning 
 that it was not till lately that they had a black 
 man for ostler. The alteration in that particu 
 lar was, he said, very proper. I enquired his 
 reason for preferring the black. " Why," said 
 he, " I think it is degrading to a white man to 
 be an ostler." I told him that I saw nothing de 
 grading in it. " Why then," he replied, " I 
 reckon you are a Methodist parson." I assured 
 him I was neither a Methodist nor a parson ; 
 and he rode on, puzzled to make out what I 
 could be, and where I had been raised. As I 
 was travelling on the road which runs alongside 
 that beautiful river the Mohawk in New York, 
 I had as fellow passenger in the stage coach, a 
 Virginian lady who had never been in that State 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 before. She found fault with every thing she 
 saw ; and on enquiring of her why she felt so 
 displeased, she remarked that she could not bear 
 a country where the cows were milked, and the 
 horses cleaned by white people ! A sight so dif 
 ferent to what she had been accustomed to, ope 
 rated on her so unpleasantly, as to make her dis 
 regard, or at least unwilling to praise, even the 
 beauties of nature. Her vision, darkened by 
 early-formed prejudice, misrepresented every 
 thing. , 
 
 While such are the feelings prevalent in the 
 slave States, can we wonder that the poor whites 
 should be in a comfortless condition? They are 
 of course obliged to work to obtain a livelihood; 
 but though they have the means of improvement, 
 they neglect to avail themselves of them. They 
 would rather remain in poverty than place them 
 selves above it by hard labour. The small oc 
 cupier of land in the free States, is an independ 
 ent, industrious man with children industrious 
 as himself. In the slave States, he is poor and 
 lazy, and his children are brought up without 
 having their powers either mental or corporeal 
 properly developed. The house of the former 
 is comfortable, that of the latter miserable. It 
 is therefore not at all surprising, that the free 
 
SLAVERY. 255 
 
 States should advance in improvement, in a ra 
 tio much greater than the slave States. Vir 
 ginia, which from its extent and population, was 
 at the Independence of the most weight in the 
 political balance, is now of only third or fourth 
 rate power. But it will be enquired if the slave 
 holders are not sensible of these things. Sensi 
 ble of them ? Yes ; but as those who have been 
 long in the habit of taking opium, though they 
 feel their strength decay, and know that the vi 
 tal functions are becoming increasingly weak, 
 yet cannot summon resolution to discard the 
 slow, deadly poison, so the effort requisite to 
 free themselves from the evils of slavery, is too 
 great for the slave-holders. They would prefer 
 sinking into inanity, to undergoing such a 
 change as must be produced by the removal of 
 slavery. 
 
 So far are the slave-holders from wishing to 
 put an end to slavery, that in nearly all, if not 
 in all the slave States, the legislatures have 
 enacted laws to perpetuate and increase it ; and 
 the general government of the United States has 
 lent its aid to extend it into yet unpeopled dis 
 tricts. This may startle those amongst us, who 
 in their simplicity have imagined, that republic 
 anism is more favourable to the rights of man- 
 
256 SLAVERY. 
 
 kind than monarchy, but it is nevertheless true. 
 Whenever I conversed with persons in America 
 on the subject of slavery, and charged the Ame 
 rican people with the guilt of slavery the answer 
 I almost invariably received was, " we are in 
 debted to you for it ;" and this seemed quite 
 sufficient in their eyes to exculpate them from 
 any guilt in continuing it. In order properly to 
 understand the subject, it is necessary to revert 
 to the colonial history. The first introduction 
 of slaves into the colonies took place in 1620, 
 being but a few years after the foundation of the 
 first permanent settlement. A Dutch vessel 
 brought a cargo of them into Virginia which the 
 colonists purchased. The trade once begun, 
 was continued without any check on the part of 
 the colonial, or of the English government. It 
 seems therefore rather unfair to charge England 
 with the crime of originating slavery in America, 
 since, though she might have prevented it, she 
 would have restricted the colonies by so doing, 
 in what they supposed essential to their welfare. 
 All that can be fairly admitted in extenuation of 
 slavery at the present day is, that it was intro 
 duced, not by the present lords of the soil, but 
 by their ancestors. And if England be consi 
 dered as a sharer in the guilt, a position I shall 
 not attempt to dispute, that circumstance is no> 
 
SLAVERY. 257 
 
 justification of America for not putting an end 
 to it now. The ancestors of the slave holders 
 entailed the evil on the country ; but after ad 
 mitting this in excuse for the slave holders, it is 
 of importance to ascertain how far they stand 
 clear of equal guilt to their posterity. 
 
 When an evil has taken deep root, the skilful 
 eradication of it is a work of difficulty. Slavery 
 had spread itself so widely over the colonies, es 
 pecially of those in the south, that its sudden re 
 moval might have been accompanied and fol 
 lowed by a general disorganization of society. 
 The first object therefore was to put an end to 
 the further importation of slaves from Africa. 
 When it is remembered that our own govern 
 ment did not decree the Abolition of the 
 Slave-trade till 1807, though the question had 
 been agitated for twenty years before, we must 
 render our meed of praise to the Americans for 
 their more speedy justice, as the following facts 
 will prove. Virginia abolished the African slave 
 trade in 1778, Pennsylvania two years after, and 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut soon followed ; 
 and finally, the trade was abolished for the re 
 maining States by Congress in 1794. Even so 
 early as 1767 a bill was passed through the As 
 sembly of Massachusetts ; but to the disgrace of 
 
258 SLAVERY. 
 
 England, special directions had been sent to the 
 Governor to refuse his sanction to it. As far 
 therefore as the preliminary measure concerns 
 this question, I am ready to give the Americans 
 full credit for their disinterestedness, justice, and 
 hatred of oppression. 
 
 The next step was to enact laws by which sla 
 very itself would gradually cease ; for independ 
 ent of its injustice and cruelty, it was found to 
 be an institution in society which enriched a few 
 individuals, but impoverished the mass ; which 
 acted like certain manures on land, producing 
 for a time an unnatural vegetation, luxurious in 
 deed but rank, and so blended with noisome 
 weeds as to be only half as valuable as a crop 
 unmixed with refuse. In the good work of pu 
 rifying the country, several of the States were 
 not tardy. In Pennsylvania, Ohio, and all the 
 States to the north of them, slavery is either abo 
 lished, or in a course of abolition. The propor 
 tion of slaves in these States to the free popula 
 tion, was certainly much smaller than in those 
 to the south ; hence the measure was a compa 
 ratively easy one ; and there being a large body 
 of persons who were not slave-holders, the influ 
 ence of the slave-holders was insufficient to con 
 tinue the evil. In Maryland, Virginia and the 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 other southern States, nearly all the members of 
 the legislatures were slave-holders. The conse 
 quence was, as might be expected, that the voice 
 of justice and mercy would be overborne by the 
 clamour of interest. Prejudice and fear were 
 also in action ; and so far from any endeavours 
 having been used to abolish slavery, laws have 
 been passed of an opposite tendency. In Vir 
 ginia for example, no person can manumit his 
 slave except he removes him from the State, or 
 obtains a special act for the purpose. In both 
 ways, the expense must be great ; and in the lat 
 ter, the attempt would assuredly fail unless un 
 der very peculiar circumstances. In Kentucky 
 and Tenessee, the admission of free blacks is 
 prohibited, while that of slaves is allowed ! This 
 is putting an end to slavery with a vengeance ! 
 But it is not of this or of that State that I shall 
 particularly complain. I say that the whole Ame 
 rican people are guilty of extending slavery into 
 regions yet unpeopled, notwithstanding their fa 
 mous Declaration of Independence, in which li 
 berty is mentioned as a natural and inalienable 
 right. Congress decided that slavery should be 
 allowed to extend into Missouri and Arkansaw, 
 territories not a fiftieth part settled, and where 
 the evil had hardly found its way. Congress is 
 said to be a fair representation of the people. 
 
260 SLAVERY. 
 
 How then can they acquit themselves of aiding 
 in the continuance and extension of that blot 
 which they curse England for having introdu 
 ced ? It is no answer to say that the northern 
 States not only have abolished slavery within 
 their boundaries, but that their representatives 
 in Congress were unanimous in voting against 
 the admission of slavery into the territories just 
 mentioned. They have their praise. They de 
 serve well of their country for their exertions 
 and patriotism. But noble as their endeavours 
 were to preserve the country from the foul stain, 
 they failed. And as in every assembly freely 
 chosen by the people, the acts of a majority 
 must be taken for the will of their constituents, 
 the decision of Congress in this case has pro 
 claimed to the world, that the Americans who 
 boast of their love of freedom, are in reality the 
 friends of slavery ! I am aware of the constitu 
 tional difficulties respecting the admission of Mis 
 souri into the Union under the stipulation of a 
 prohibitory act. But how lamentable is it to think 
 that they should have operated against the rights 
 of unborn thousands ! The city of Washington 
 in such a case had more the appearance of Vi 
 enna or St. Petersburg, than the capital of a 
 people who understand the principles of liberty. 
 But whatever were the difficulties respecting 
 
SLAVERY. 261 
 
 Missouri, they did not apply to Arkansaw, yet 
 such is unhappily the predilection of the self- 
 styled sons of liberty for slavery, that even that 
 extensive district must be blessed with it ! A still 
 more recent instance of this predilection was ex 
 hibited in Illinois; and as that State is compound 
 ed of the citizens of other States, owing to its 
 being of recent settlement, it may perhaps be 
 considered as good a summary of the people at 
 large, as any one State in the Union. By the 
 present constitution of that State slavery is ex 
 cluded ; and so little agreeable is this to the sons 
 of liberty, that they resolved if possible to obtain 
 a convention to alter it. To effect this, it was 
 necessary that two thirds of the legislature should 
 favour the measure ; and so eager were the advo 
 cates of slavery to carry their point, that they 
 were driven to a curious and iniquitous proce 
 dure. The case was this. The return of one 
 of the members against which a petition had 
 been presented, was referred to a committee, 
 who, after hearing the statement, confirmed the 
 election. When subsequently the motion for a 
 convention came before the house, this member 
 voted against it; and it so happened that one 
 vote short of the requisite number was the re 
 sult. When this became known, the house re 
 solved that this member whose election had been 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 declared valid by the committee, should vacate 
 his seat in favour of his opponent. No protest 
 ation on his part against such flagrant injustice 
 availed any thing. The change took place. The 
 new member voted on the other side and turned 
 the scale in favour of slavery. Let it be remem 
 bered that this memorable event took place soon 
 after the news had arrived in America of the ex 
 pulsion of a member from the French Chamber 
 of Deputies, which had been denounced in their 
 newspapers, as a proof how little the French un 
 derstood the principles of liberty. Whether it 
 was a few days before or after the transaction in 
 the Illinois Assembly, I know not ; but about 
 that time the following toast was drunk at a pub 
 lic dinner in that State : " A new constitution 
 purely republican, which may guaranty to the 
 people of Illinois the peaceable possession of all 
 species of property/ Here then we have them 
 implying that a constitution which prohibits sla 
 very is n.ot purely republican ; for by the phrase, 
 all species of property, slaves were meant, other 
 property being before secured to them. Another 
 toast at the same dinner was still more explicit ; 
 but it is unnecessary to cite it, as the reader must 
 perceive that the matter is plain enough already. 
 It may however be proper to mention another 
 fact relative to another State, to show still more 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 263 
 
 clearly, how culpable the Americans are as a bo 
 dy, in using their endeavours to perpetuate sla 
 very. The legislature of Georgia decreed that 
 if any of their courts condemned a vessel for car 
 rying on the African slave-trade, the negroes on 
 board should not have their liberty, as every one 
 would have supposed they ought, but be sold 
 publicly as slaves, and the proceeds paid into the 
 treasury. This was actually done in several in 
 stances. And if the reader still thinks that the 
 Americans are the friends of liberty, he must 
 have a prodigious stock of charity. 
 
 Perhaps it may be supposed by some, who are 
 willing to put the most favourable construction 
 on the acts of the Americans, that their decision 
 to extend slavery into Missouri and Arkansaw, 
 was with a view to extinguish it throughout the 
 United States ; emancipation being a measure 
 which might be more easily carried into effect 
 in a country where slaves are scattered over a 
 wide space, than where they are congregated 
 thickly. I should be glad if I could think so. 
 But it is obvious that they had no such object 
 in view. Imaginary interest and a hatred of 
 freedom were the undoubted causes. If the 
 slave-holders in the southern States were desir 
 ous of abolishing slavery, would they not ere 
 
264 SLAVERY. 
 
 now have adopted some preliminary means ? I 
 have instanced them, because they were undoubt 
 edly the parties, by whose influence the obnox 
 ious bill to extend slavery, was carried through 
 Congress. So far are they from having adopted 
 any means, that they resolutely contend that the 
 general emancipation of the slaves, even if 
 brought about gradually, would be a pernicious 
 thing, destructive of the peace and and well-be 
 ing of society. Their argument is, that the slaves 
 are so degraded, so ignorant, so brutalized, that 
 it is totally unsafe to trust them with freedom ; 
 for that if they were manumitted, they would 
 avail themselves of their liberty to destroy the 
 whites and become masters of the country. There 
 can be no doubt that to be capable of making a 
 right use of liberty, it is needful to be enlighten 
 ed. And if the slaves, instead of being enlight 
 ened, are so ignorant as to be incapable of enjoy 
 ing liberty, it would be well for the planters to 
 ascertain, who it is that are chargeable with their 
 present degraded condition. Have the slave 
 holders established schools for the instruction of 
 the slaves ? On the contrary, the legislatures of 
 several of the States have enacted laws prohibi 
 tory of education. The real state of the case 
 then is this. The slave-holders having no wish 
 to put an end to slavery, and knowing that if 
 
SLAVERY. 265 
 
 knowledge be communicated to the slaves, the 
 difficulty of continuing slavery must be increased, 
 have exerted themselves to prevent the establish 
 ment of schools, or the communication of any 
 learning to them. By this line of conduct, and 
 by other abominable ways, they have succeeded 
 in degrading the slaves to the utmost of their 
 wishes. And then, when they are asked why 
 they do not institute an emancipation law, they 
 reply by saying, that a people in such a state of 
 degradation as the slaves are, are unfit for free 
 dom. They first degrade them, and then urge 
 their degradation as a reason for not granting 
 them those rights to which nature entitles them. 
 And what is to be said in justification of the law, 
 which throws impediments in the way of any be 
 nevolent master who is desirous of liberating his 
 slaves ? To tell us that like impediments were 
 sanctioned by the laws of Lycurgus and of the 
 Romans can avail nothing. The Virginian Bill 
 of Rights declares, that "all men are by nature 
 equally free and independent, and have certain 
 rights of which they cannot deprive or divest 
 their posterity ; namely, the enjoyment of life 
 and liberty, with the means of acquiring or pos 
 sessing property." And yet if a citizen of that 
 State wishes to do all in his power towards the 
 fulfilment of this declaration, by giving freedom 
 
266 SLAVERY. 
 
 to a slave, the expense of it is a bar to this act 
 of justice. Unless therefore it can be shown, 
 that the Greeks and Romans had a similar decla 
 ration of the rights of man, the example of their 
 laws is neither a justification nor palliation of the 
 Virginians. But as certain religionists profess 
 to believe that faith independent of works is suf 
 ficient for salvation, so the Virginians think that 
 their public declaration of the natural liberty 
 and equality of mankind, exempts them from the 
 observance of it. 
 
 The degradation of the slaves is not occa 
 sioned solely by the want of education. That, 
 though injurious, is far less operative than other 
 causes, a few of which it is right to mention. 
 The nonestablishment of marriage amongst them 
 tends to produce that laxity of chastity for which 
 they are so conspicuous. Doubtless on some es 
 tates, marriage is instituted ; but I believe that 
 on by far the greater number, the marriage com 
 pact if made at all, is made to be broken at plea 
 sure. Very few masters would think of punish 
 ing a man who should separate from his wife, and 
 the law has no provision to meet the case. If a 
 master himself desires the company of a negress, 
 be she married or single she has no alternative 
 but compliance : for resistance would be resent- 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 267 
 
 ed and force used, and no where could she obtain 
 redress. Such is the unhappy condition of these 
 miserable beings ! It generally happens, that 
 they become victims at a very early age, to the 
 lust of either the master, his sons, or the over 
 seer. So little regard is paid to decency and 
 the common feelings of mankind, that incest is 
 a crime of by no means rare occurrence. Who 
 does not shudder at the horrid evils of slavery ! 
 Charity is doubly blest, and slavery is doubly 
 cursed. 
 
 The slaves are not allowed the benefit of trial 
 by jury. This perhaps may signify little to them, 
 for where prejudice is so strong as it is against 
 them, there is but a slender probability of jus 
 tice being rendered. The magistrates decide ou 
 their cases without the intervention of a third 
 party. One hardship and indeed cruelty to which 
 the slaves are subjected, and which tends mate 
 rially to debase them and keep them in debase 
 ment, is their not being allowed to give evidence 
 against a white man. If their evidence be to 
 tally unworthy of credence, why are they per 
 mitted to testify against a fellow-slave ? If some 
 value be attached to it, why are they not allow 
 ed to give it ? Bolinbroke in his account of De- 
 rnerara, gives it as his opinion that the evidence 
 
268" SLAVERY. 
 
 of slaves ought to be received in all cases pre 
 cisely as that of other men. His opinion is at 
 least worthy of regard, as he is an advocate not 
 only for slavery but the slave-trade. 
 
 But of all the degrading measures, scarcely any 
 one appears to me so bad, as that of selling men 
 and women by public auction in a market-place. 
 Look at a poor creature elevated on a table to be 
 seen by the purchasers, having to hear the scoff 
 of one, the reviling of another, and the jokes of 
 a third, and then to be disposed of to the high 
 est bidder like a horse or an ox. Can any thing 
 make such a one feel his own debased condition 
 more than this ? When men are placed on a le 
 vel with the brutes, it is no wonder if they be 
 come like them. 
 
 As to the general treatment of the slaves em 
 ployed in domestic service, it is as may be sup 
 posed, superior to that of the field labourers. 
 But of the latter I can report, and it is with plea 
 sure that I do so, that they are decently clothed, 
 well fed, and not overworked. I questioned 
 many of them respecting their condition, all of 
 whom assured me that they had nothing to com 
 plain of, except their being kept in bondage. I 
 did not witness a single act of cruelty to any one 
 
SLAVERY. 269 
 
 during my whole journey. One old man told 
 me that when he was a boy, great cruelties were 
 frequently inflicted, but that of late years, he had 
 heard of scarcely a single instance. I speak of 
 the parts that came under my own observation, 
 for I was assured that in Georgia, Alabama, and 
 Louisiana, shameful is the treatment. In Virgi 
 nia, there is not only a milder treatment than 
 formerly was the case, but the severity of the 
 laws has been much mitigated. It was enacted 
 in 1 669, that if a master punished a slave who 
 resisted his authority, to such an extremity as to 
 cause death, it should not be accounted a felony. 
 In 1672, it was declared lawful for any person in 
 pursuit of a runaway slave, to kill him in case of 
 resistance, without being questioned for the act. 
 In 1705, two justices might by proclamation, 
 outlaw runaways who might then be killed by 
 any one in any manner, without being impeached 
 for so doing. In 1723, a person indicted for the 
 murder of a slave, was not liable to any punish 
 ment, if the jury returned a verdict of man 
 slaughter. And in the same year, a slave going 
 abroad by night, if notoriously guilty of the of 
 fence, might be punished by dismembering, or in 
 any other manner not touching life. Whoever 
 will take the trouble to compare these horrible 
 laws with those now in force, will see the great 
 
270 SLAVERY. 
 
 amendment that has taken place. We may there 
 fore reasonably hope that the remaining unjust 
 laws will be repealed one after the other. 
 
 But neither the repeal of these laws, nor the 
 amelioration of the slaves, will be adequate to the 
 establishment of happiness and security without 
 the total abolition of slavery itself. To that ob 
 ject the efforts of every American patriot should 
 be directed. Already symptoms of rebellion 
 have shown themselves in South Carolina. And 
 though they were soon extinguished, it does not 
 follow that in all future cases, a similar result 
 may take place. Something also should be con 
 sidered of the spirit of the times. Can the 
 Americans rejoice at the successful struggle 
 made by the Greeks to free themselves from 
 Turkish thraldom, and suppose that the rest of 
 mankind would contemplate a similar struggle 
 of their slaves with indifference ? If they do 
 suppose so, they know little of the feelings of 
 Europeans. Whether tyranny be practised at 
 Constantinople or at Washington, at Algiers or 
 at New Orleans, mankind will manifest their ab 
 horrence at it, and sympathize with its victims. 
 And when the yoke is snapped asunder, and the 
 slave walks erect in freedom, joy and exultation 
 will be felt by millions. 
 
SLAVERY. 271 
 
 The longer slavery is continued, the more dif 
 ficult it becomes to remove it. Certainly the 
 dangers to posterity are great, for by some means 
 or other it will cease. To suppose that slavery 
 will endure for ever in an enlightened land, is as 
 absurd as to imagine that mankind will relapse 
 into primitive barbarism. In the language of 
 Campbell, a poet who is admired on each side 
 of the Atlantic, we may truly exclaim, 
 
 " Yes, thy proud lords, America, shall see 
 That man hath yet a soul, and dare be free. 
 A little while along thy saddening plains, 
 The starless night of desolation reigns. 
 Truth shall restore the light by nature given, 
 And like Prometheus bring the fire of heaven. 
 Prone to the dust Oppression shall be hurled, 
 Her name, her nature, blotted from the world." 
 
 The horrors attendant on a general convulsion 
 may be avoided by timely expedients. It is 
 clear that slavery may be safely abolished if done 
 gradually. The energies of the country can 
 never be fully shown so long as it remains. Jus 
 tice, policy and patriotism call loudly upon the 
 Americans to purge their country of this deadly 
 sin. May the call not be in vain ! May the 
 generous spirit of Washington and Franklin ani 
 mate some qualified person to commence the 
 work. Let him never relax in his labour till he 
 has completely succeeded. Let every real friend 
 
SLAVERY. 
 
 to liberty aid him, and perhaps the wishes of the 
 most sanguine may then be realized. Finally, I 
 say to the Americans in the words of another 
 poet; 
 
 " Bring 
 
 From forth your camp the accursed thing, 
 Consign it to remorseless fire, 
 Watch till the latest spark expire, 
 Then cast the ashes on the wind, 
 Nor leave one atom wreck behind." 
 
 But I really fear from the present feeling on the 
 subject, that nothing effectual will be attempted. 
 It appears likely that slavery and its concomi 
 tant evils will be continued, till in some agitated 
 time, the flame long pent will burst out like 
 a volcano, and spread death and destruction 
 around. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 CONGRESS has enacted that the African slave 
 trade shall be considered piracy as far as Ame 
 rican citizens are concerned in it. It is to be 
 hoped that the example set by the Americans 
 in this particular, will be followed by the Euro 
 pean governments, for surely piracy itself cannot 
 be more wicked or barbarous. The only two 
 governments which have hitherto manifested a 
 sincere desire to prevent a continuance of that 
 diabolical traffic are the English and American, 
 both of which have used strong endeavours ; 
 and, as we see, the Americans have taken one 
 step further than the English, by declaring the 
 trade to be piracy. This does them credit. But 
 while they have been laudably endeavouring to 
 put an end to the African slave trade, what have 
 they done to check the American slave trade ? 
 To understand what I mean by this, I must men 
 tion that thousands and tens of thousands of 
 slaves are purchased in Maryland and Virginia 
 for sale in Georgia, Louisiana and other States. 
 Agents are stationed at Norfolk, Richmond, 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 Baltimore, and other places, to attend to the 
 purchase and shipment of these unfortunate 
 creatures. Now though it must not be supposed 
 that this trade is attended with all the horrors of 
 the African slave trade, it is yet sufficiently cruel 
 to demand the interference of the government. 
 So long as it continues, all hopes of abolishing 
 slavery are vain, and it increases the evils of it 
 at least threefold. As Cowper says, 
 
 " Fleecy locks and black complexion 
 
 Cannot forfeit nature s claim : 
 Skins may differ, but affection 
 
 Dwells in white and black the same." 
 
 But in this trade, husbands are torn from their 
 wives, (for marriage is sometimes strictly kept 
 by the slaves,) brothers from their sisters, chil 
 dren from their parents. It is true that humane 
 persons will not forcibly separate children from 
 their parents at a very early age, nor sell a man 
 and his wife without stipulating that they shall 
 be employed on the same estate. But in the lat 
 ter case, how can they expect that the conditions 
 of the bargain will be observed in cases where it 
 happens not to be convenient, except the other 
 parties are as humane as themselves ? Instances 
 have occurred, though for the honour of the na 
 tional character I trust very seldom, of the own 
 ers of slaves separating relations to gratify spleen, 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 and selling them to different persons from sheer 
 malignancy. Ought a trade like this to be tolerat 
 ed ? The African slave trade was condemned in 
 Congress as iniquitous. It s outrages on huma 
 nity were forcibly depicted. It was described as 
 fit only for demons. And is the American slave 
 trade fit for men ? Oh ! let the groans and tears of 
 its miserable victims answer the question. If the 
 crime of purchasing slaves in Africa for the pur 
 pose of transporting them across the Atlantic, is 
 to be branded as piracy, and punished with death, 
 what will mankind think of a government which 
 sanctions the sale of slaves to a distance of two 
 thousand miles from their dearest connexions? 
 If it be unconstitutional for the Federal govern 
 ment to legislate on this matter, it is not for the 
 State governments within their own limits. Not 
 only should slave-owners be prohibited from sell 
 ing their slaves out of the State, but out of the 
 county to which they belong. The anomaly of 
 condemning the African slave trade as piracy, 
 and permitting the continuance of the American 
 slave trade, without subjecting those concerned 
 in it to either pains or penalties, cannot fail to 
 strike the admirers and friends of America as a 
 circumstance throwing suspicion over the motive 
 which induced her to take the lead of Europe in 
 affixing a new name to the former. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 I believe that so long as slavery continues, 
 some sale of slaves must necessarily be allowed. 
 But it might with great propriety be confined 
 within very narrow limits. By restrictive enact 
 ments, nearly all the evils and horrors of this 
 trade may be removed. The world looks to 
 America to take the first, or at any rate the se 
 cond station in the career of improvement. Here 
 then is a subject deserving of her serious atten 
 tion. May the hopes of mankind respecting her 
 not be blasted, by a perseverance in a trade so 
 repugnant to our best feelings, so demoralising 
 in its tendency, so inimical to the national wel 
 fare. 
 
 There is one point of view to which I have not 
 yet directed the attention of the reader. One 
 part of the business of the agents of this traffic, 
 is to search for and obtain handsome mulatto 
 girls, to send them to New Orleans for the pur 
 pose of prostitution. What is the consequence ? 
 Why, by the unanimous accounts of all who have 
 visited that city, it is the most profligate and li 
 centious of any one in the United States. I 
 have been informed that chastity is as rare a vir- 
 tue there, as honesty within the walls of Newgate. 
 
 But of all the evils of this traffic, I cannot but 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. 277 
 
 think that next to its cruelty, the most lament 
 able is its never-ceasing tendency to prevent the 
 amelioration of the slaves so as to fit them for 
 freedom. Many persons in Maryland and Vir 
 ginia carry on the trade of rearing them for the 
 southern and western markets, just as other per 
 sons rear cattle. Those two States have long 
 ceased to import slaves, on which account it is, 
 that the treatment of them is so mild as to leave 
 no suspicion of danger of a revival of the seve 
 rity formerly practised. But in Georgia and the 
 other importing States far different is their lot. 
 I speak not it is true from my own observation, 
 not having been in those States, but the inform 
 ation I received was from witnesses entitled to 
 credence. A ver y intelligent and amiable mer 
 chant in Baltimore related to me circumstances 
 that had fallen under his immediate notice, too 
 horrible and disgusting to commit to paper. A 
 Massachusetts sailor whom I had every reason 
 to regard as a W9rthy fellow, gave me a similar 
 recital. And I was confirmed in my belief of 
 their accounts by the tone of some persons from 
 Louisiana with whom I chanced to fall into com 
 pany, when they were speaking of the slave po 
 pulation, which they seemed to consider hardly 
 human. Now if the States which import slaves 
 were prohibited from so doing, a kinder treat- 
 
278 THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 ment would speedily be adopted ; for the plant 
 ers finding that no slaves could be obtained but 
 those born within the territory, would be neces 
 sarily driven to use the women with humanity, 
 and the men without cruelty. 
 
 In whatever light this subject is viewed, it 
 will be seen that it is pregnant with evils. As 
 I before observed, if the slave trade be suffered 
 to continue, all hopes of the abolition of slavery 
 are vain. But as there no indications that I can 
 perceive, of a determination to accomplish the 
 latter, I entertain hopes almost as slender of see 
 ing the slave-exporting States putting fetters on 
 the trade. And as to the slave-importing States, 
 the idea that they will consent to give it up has 
 not entered my head. Yet it deserves the seri 
 ous consideration of those enlightened Ameri 
 cans who love their country, and feel for its ho 
 nour, whether the continuance of this traffic is 
 not as disreputable as the importation of negroes 
 from Africa ; and whether their country will not 
 sink in the estimation of the civilized world, by 
 allowing the one to be practised with impunity, 
 while the other is branded as piracy. 
 
 But if the slave States will not give up this 
 infamous and diabolical trade, they are at least 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 bound to put it under very strict regulations. 
 Mahomet ordained, that in the sale of captives, 
 the mothers should never be separated from the 
 children. Surely then, if the founder of Islam- 
 ism yielded to the feelings of humanity in such a 
 case, the followers of the merciful and tender 
 hearted Jesus must see the propriety of doing 
 likewise. 
 
 " For ah ! what wish can prosper, or what prayer, 
 For merchants rich in cargoes of despair, 
 Who drive a loathsome traffic, gage and span, 
 And buy the muscles and the bones of man ?" 
 
 Certainly if the trade be not speedily put under 
 very strict regulations, mankind will loudly ex 
 claim to America, 
 
 Oh ! shame to thee land of the slave" 
 
 and it is to be hoped that the time has not yet 
 arrived when the governments of Maryland and 
 Virginia may be regardless of the opinions of the 
 civilized world. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 UNDER this denomination I include mulattoes, 
 and all others of negro descent who are not 
 under the curse of slavery. Those persons in 
 England who have formed a high opinion of 
 America without being acquainted with the real 
 state of the opinions and sentiments of the inha 
 bitants, will be surprised to learn that through 
 out the country there prevails a prejudice against 
 the coloured people, as strong as that in Ger 
 many and Denmark against the Jews. It ex 
 tends from the highest to the lowest, like a gan 
 grene corrupting the whole. That this preju 
 dice is the strongest in the slave States will be 
 readily conceived ; for slavery and a black skin 
 being united, the whites have learned to look 
 upon one with the same contempt as the other. 
 But that in the northern and midland States 
 where slavery has ceased, the prejudice should 
 be so strong as it is, may excite both wonder and 
 regret. If a white person were to walk arm in 
 arm with a black, in Broadway or any other of 
 the leading streets in New York, he would pro- 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 281 
 
 bably be hooted and pelted by the populace. I 
 was once conversing in one of the streets of 
 Paris with a New York citizen, when two gen 
 teelly dressed persons, the one a white the other 
 a black walked by us in the way I have men 
 tioned. My acquaintance instantly calling my 
 attention to them, expressed his astonishment 
 and abhorrence at a white man s so degrading 
 himself. His surprise then may be easily guess 
 ed, when I informed him that there was not the 
 slightest degradation in it in the estimation of 
 Europeans. Soon after, I fell into company 
 with another gentleman from New York to whom 
 I mentioned this circumstance, when he told me, 
 that as he was travelling in France by the public 
 stage, a black woman was one of the passengers ; 
 but that rather than sit at the same table with 
 her as the other passengers did, he chose to go 
 without his dinner. A gentleman at Philadel 
 phia told me that he had lost his credit for vera 
 city, by mentioning to a company of his fellow 
 citizens, that he had seen a black man in Lon 
 don sitting on a sofa with some young white la 
 dies, and conversing familiarly with them. And 
 another person told me, that as he was walking 
 in Edinburgh with some American women, they 
 were quite shocked at the sight of a mulatto 
 gentleman with two white ladies walking with 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 him, one on each arm. The Americans hardly 
 knew how to repress their indignant feelings. 
 I will now mention an instance to show the 
 hardship which is sometimes felt by the blacks, 
 in consequence of this ridiculous prejudice. A 
 black woman applied for passage by the ship 
 which conveyed me to New York, but the cap 
 tain objecting, she offered to take her meals at a 
 separate table. This concession however was un 
 availing, for he refused to take her on any terms. 
 On his mentioning this circumstance during the 
 voyage, he was much applauded by the Ameri 
 can passengers, particularly by the females, who 
 so far from sympathizing with one of their own 
 sex under such a difficulty, rejoiced heartily at 
 the captain s decision, and said that they would 
 sound his praises in New York for it. 
 
 But the most remarkable peculiarity in this 
 prejudice is, that it is not the colour of the skin 
 which determines where it shall cease. I will 
 relate a few circumstances in exemplification. 
 The following I received from a Virginia plant 
 er. A number of persons were assembled at a 
 village in Virginia to see a horse race, and with 
 the usual hospitality of the country a resident of 
 the place invited several strangers to his house, 
 where he provided them with beds for the night, 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 283 
 
 but there being more visiters than beds, two 
 young men agreed to share one together. It so 
 happened that about a fortnight after, a disco 
 very was made that one of these young men was 
 of African descent, which from the lightness of 
 his complexion, none of them had suspected. 
 This was a terrible dilemma ! His bedfellow had 
 to bear the rallyings of his acquaintances and 
 was exceedingly mortified at the circumstance ; 
 and the master of the house came in for his share 
 of ridicule for having entertained such a person 
 at his house, Another case similar to this oc 
 curred in the Savannah Fencibles. A man who 
 had been two years in that company was acci 
 dentally found to have had a black ancestor. 
 This was enough. His comrades would no long 
 er associate with him, and he was discharged. 
 Thus it is not necessary for a man to have the 
 mark of his ancestry in the colour of his skin to 
 make him an outcast, and this too in a land 
 which boasts of being the most enlightened in 
 the world, and values itself on having broken 
 through the prejudices which have so long en 
 slaved Europe ! No property, no virtue, no learn 
 ing, no talent will suffice to remove from the de 
 scendant of a negro, the odium attached to him 
 from his birth. Of the truth of this, I learnt a 
 curious instance in the daughters of a Scotch- 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 man resident in Virginia. He had, in spite of 
 the sentiments of the Virginians, married a mu 
 latto woman, and so little different was the com 
 plexion of his children from that of the whites, 
 that they would have passed among strangers as 
 being of pure European origin. But notwith 
 standing this, and though he gave them a liberal 
 education and left them large property, no white 
 family would associate with them. If this be a 
 proof of the enlightened state of the Americans, 
 it is none of their humanity. But of all the ways 
 in which the prejudice against the blacks and 
 their children to the third and fourth generation 
 shows itself, no one that I know of, is more ridi 
 culous than that in barbers shops. A barber in 
 New York, himself a coloured man, told me, that 
 he dare not shave one of his own race, for fear 
 of losing the custom of the whites ! I put the 
 question to him in consequence of recollecting 
 what Fear on has related on this point. 
 
 After reading these statements, many will pro 
 bably be ready to enquire if religious persons as 
 well as others manifest such intolerance. Surely, 
 it will be said, they at least must know better 
 than to treat the blacks as if they were of an in 
 ferior species. Ah ! that was what I thought. 
 I concluded that those who believe according to 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 285 
 
 the Bible, that God made of one blood all the 
 families that dwell in all the earth, would look 
 upon all mankind as brethren, and would be will 
 ing to meet those amongst the blacks who move 
 in the same rank in society as themselves, if not 
 on equal footing, at least with some familiarity. 
 But no ; the professors of religion of every sect, 
 except perhaps a few amongst the Catholics and 
 Methodists, are just as inflexible here as the vo 
 taries of fashion and the disbelievers in revela 
 tion. Incredible as it may appear, I have seve 
 ral times heard it gravely maintained that the 
 blacks are the reprobate, and of course that the 
 whites are the elect ! Those who can believe 
 that God has condemned a certain portion of his 
 creatures to his eternal wrath without regard to 
 their virtue or vice, may, for aught I know, act 
 rationally in fixing on the negro race as the ob 
 jects of his wrath ; but those who believe that 
 God is a just being, and that his tender mercies 
 are over all his works, will consider such an as 
 sumption as profane and impious. They will say 
 with Pope, 
 
 " Let not this weak, unknowing hand 
 
 Presume thy bolts to throw, 
 And deal damnation round the land 
 
 On each I judge thy foe." 
 
 I believe that the spirit of that stanza is not 
 
286 
 
 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 sufficiently felt in America, especially amongst 
 the disciples of the Genevan doctor. 
 
 I have said I suppose quite enough, to show 
 the disposition of the white Americans to their 
 black brethren, whom they always speak of as 
 Africans, though just as much of Americans as 
 themselves. But as it is probable that this book 
 may fall into the hands of some of my country 
 men who may have occasion to sojourn in the 
 United States, I wish to apprize them of the 
 danger they may fall into by saying a word in 
 favour of the blacks. Just as I was leaving my 
 quarters at a boarding-house in Philadelphia to 
 proceed to the west, my landlady told me that 
 she thought it needful to give me a caution as 
 to my language. When I asked her to explain 
 herself, she said that the other boarders had 
 formed an opinion that I had been a frequenter 
 of low company. " How can that be ?" I en 
 quired. " Why," said she, " you told them that 
 you had once dined in company with a black, a 
 circumstance which has given them a mean opi 
 nion of you. And therefore," added she, " I 
 thought it would be right to give you a hint for 
 your future government." Notwithstanding 
 this hint, I once or twice fell into little difficul 
 ties. When I was at Norfolk, I was asked what 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 287 
 
 I thought of American beauty. Several females 
 being in the company, I could not of course do 
 otherwise than use a few complimentary expres 
 sions ; but I happened to add that some of the 
 prettiest girls I had seen were mulattoes. This 
 created such a sensation, that I was obliged to let 
 them know, that Englishmen had not that con 
 tempt for the coloured people which they had. 
 But I would not retract my assertion. Some of 
 the mulattoes whose features are correspondent 
 to the European, are eminently beautiful. I 
 was told at Burlington in New Jersey, that a 
 coloured girl lived in that town a few years ago, 
 who bore the character of being the handsomest 
 in the place. At the same time it must be ad 
 mitted that their countenances in general are far 
 from being the most agreeable. 
 
 Hitherto I have been endeavouring to show 
 how the prejudice against the blacks operates in 
 private life. Let me now advert to its influence 
 in political matters. In one respect, an atten 
 tion to this part of the subject is of the most 
 importance ; for if the blacks have full justice 
 rendered to them in all public things, the refu 
 sal of the whites to associate with them in pri 
 vate, will perhaps be no cause for complaint. 
 It may be excused on the ground of imperfect 
 
288 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 civilization. The Americans will probably think 
 that such an excuse is worse than the charge ; 
 and yet I know not how they can dispute its 
 correctness, when the state of other countries is 
 considered, where a particular class is severed 
 from the rest of the community and treated with 
 obloquy. In China the tanhoos, and in Hindostan 
 the sooders, are nearly on a par with the blacks 
 in America. It is universally admitted that no 
 thing but an improved degree of civilization can 
 remove the unnatural prejudice which prevails 
 against those two classes ; and what else can re 
 move the same feeling in America ? Some may 
 say that religion will. I know that many con 
 sider the Christian religion omnipotent in re 
 moving evil, and I shall not dispute its power 
 to this end ; yet it is obvious that its progress 
 in carrying conviction to a whole nation is so 
 slow, that reason and philosophy are auxiliaries 
 too valuable to be slighted. They are hand 
 maids to civilization ; and if they gain such an 
 ascendancy as to remove the present prejudice, 
 religion will be effective in preventing its revi 
 val. The only American I met with, who had 
 entirely got rid of his prejudices against the 
 blacks, was a moral philosopher who appeared 
 to be quite uninfluenced by any religious consi 
 derations in the case. He told me that a three 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 289 
 
 years residence in Europe had taught him to 
 view many things in a new light ; and on his re 
 turn to his native land he was particularly struck 
 with the condition of the coloured people. By 
 reflection, and from a desire to act conformably 
 to the deductions of right reason, he succeeded 
 in mastering his dislike to them, and in bringing 
 himself to behave to them precisely as to others. 
 He lamented the existence of the general preju 
 dice, which he fairly avowed to be disgraceful 
 to the national character. This gentleman was 
 one of the few Americans whose patriotism did 
 not lead him to adopt extravagant terms in 
 speaking of his country, fervent as that patriot 
 ism was. He was very desirous that I should 
 form a correct estimate of the virtues and good 
 qualities of his fellow citizens ; but he consider 
 ed that the contempt manifested to the blacks 
 was indefensible. Objectionable however as that 
 contempt is, I confess that I think it is more ex 
 cusable than the treatment of them in political 
 matters. 
 
 In Virginia, and I believe in all the slave 
 States, the evidence of a free black, even when 
 free born, is not received in the courts against a 
 white man. What sort of freedom is this ? And 
 what is to be said for that law of Virginia which 
 
 u 
 
290 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 imposes a tax on a black man who is nominally 
 free, merely because he is black ? Or for that law 
 of another state which prohibits such a one from 
 becoming a freeholder ? Or for that in the town 
 of Norfolk which enacts that after eight o clock 
 in the evening in winter, or nine o clock in sum 
 mer, no free black shall be seen in the streets 
 without being subject to a flogging ? A bell is 
 rung at the appointed hour, like the Conqueror s 
 curfew, and wo to the hapless wretch who chances 
 not to hear it ! I shall not however dwell upon 
 these matters since they take place in the slave 
 States, where as the slave holders are the legis 
 lators, we cannot be surprised at them. When 
 persons have despotic authority over one class of 
 their fellow-beings, they are not likely to be very 
 scrupulous in extending it to another, for tyranny 
 is ever encroaching ; and the free blacks in those 
 States are viewed with particular jealousy and 
 hatred. I rather wish to call the reader s atten 
 tion to the States where slavery is abolished, or 
 in the course of abolition. In New York, the 
 free blacks have no vote for members of Assem 
 bly or of Congress unless they are freeholders. 
 This regulation is good in itself, but then it ex 
 tends not to the whites, who may vote without 
 being worth a stiver. As a reason for this dis 
 tinction, the New Yorkers plead that the blacks 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 291 
 
 are excused from militia duty. Excused ! a 
 fine word in such a case. They are excused 
 from militia duty in the same way that they are 
 excused from voting, that is, they are told that 
 they are unworthy to be on the same footing as 
 their fellow citizens. The Quakers are excused 
 from militia duty. Are they too excused from 
 voting if they are not freeholders? But where pre 
 judice is so strong, it is of little use to reason. 
 
 Independently of the distinctions created by 
 law, there are others in practice. A coloured 
 man is never summoned on a jury, in either 
 Pennsylvania or New York, if my information 
 be correct. The reason for this must be, that it 
 would be derogatory to a white man to sit with 
 a black in the same seat, and more especially to 
 submit to consult with him respecting the ver 
 dict. And these proud whites are the people 
 who make the country resound with their cries 
 about liberty and equality ! And who profess 
 to pity the Europeans for being subject to the 
 contumely of nobility and kingship ! I will here 
 relate a circumstance which took place in the 
 city of New York a short time before I got there, 
 and which was communicated to me by a trades 
 man with whom I was conversing on the condi 
 tion of the coloured people. A poor fellow ap- 
 
 u 2 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 plied to the Mayor for a licence to act as a town 
 carman, producing the requisite certificates of 
 his fitness. The Mayor looked at the signatures, 
 told the man they were satisfactory, but added, 
 that he would grant no licence to any but a 
 white ; and thus the poor man was debarred from 
 obtaining an honest livelihood by his labour, 
 because he was not of the proper colour ! He 
 pressed his suit, as may be supposed, urged the 
 injustice of the refusal, but it was all in vain. 
 The Mayor excused himself, by expressing his 
 fears that a compliance would endanger not only 
 the man s safety but his own. He said that the 
 populace would be likely to pelt him as he walk 
 ed along the street, when it became known that 
 he had licensed a black as carman. The Mayor 
 was probably right in his apprehensions, as mob 
 influence is so great, that as a citizen observed 
 to me, they are under a sort of mob rule. As 
 I was on board a steam-boat in Virginia, I men 
 tioned these particulars to a New York citizen 
 who was a fellow passenger. He said he could 
 not believe that the man was refused at all, and 
 still less that the Mayor should assign as a rea 
 son for his refusal any fears of the populace. 
 Accordingly on my return to the city, I thought 
 proper to make particular enquiry as to the truth 
 of the story, when it was fully confirmed to me. 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 293 
 
 If any persons shall still dispute it, I would thank 
 them to account satisfactorily for the fact, of 
 there not being a single coloured man amongst 
 the carmen. 
 
 Having thus proved that the blacks though 
 nominally free citizens, have neither in law nor 
 practice the rights of freemen, I might stop. 
 But unfortunately I am compelled to go further. 
 A law was recently passed in South Carolina, 
 authorising the commitment to prison, of all free 
 coloured people, in the capacities of steward, 
 cook or mariner, in any ship entering any of the 
 ports in that State. And if the master of the 
 vessel did not claim them before sailing, they 
 were to be sold for slaves ! This law, be it ob 
 served, authorises the selling of free citizens of 
 the United States into slavery, without a crime 
 being alleged against them, and with no shadow 
 of a crime other than that of a dark skin. If 
 such a law had been passed in England or France, 
 what a clamour would the Americans have made 
 on the arbitrary policy of the European courts ! 
 But because the victims of this unjust law were 
 the descendants of Africans, and the law of 
 American origin, but little notice was taken of 
 it. Certainly no general indignation was mani 
 fested. Had this law applied to white persons 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 instead of black, would the New Englanders, the 
 New Yorkers and the Pennsylvanians have been 
 then silent? No, they would have strained every 
 nerve rather than suffer it to be carried into exe 
 cution. What then must the world think of their 
 professed devotion to the sacred cause of liberty, 
 when they are not to be roused at the oppression 
 of their own free citizens who are of a different 
 colour to themselves ? It is true, that this law 
 must be repealed, because it is unconstitutional ; 
 but the blacks will be indebted for its repeal to 
 the self interest of the masters of vessels, and 
 not to the spirit of liberty in the people. When 
 I have spoken to one or other white citizen on 
 this subject, I have received an answer like this ; 
 " Ah ! it is wrong. I wish we could send them 
 all to their own country." By their own coun 
 try, Africa is meant, just as if the blacks had not 
 the same right to call America their country as 
 the whites. When a man is born in a country 
 where his father and grandfather have lived be 
 fore him, it is hard indeed that he should be re 
 garded as an alien. Yet certainly the whites 
 constantly speak of the blacks as if they were no 
 part of the social compact. And as if it were 
 not enough to make a distinction while living, 
 the very burial grounds must bear witness to the 
 circumstance. A line of demarcation is drawn 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 between the space allotted for each. Whether 
 they think that the elect and the reprobate ought 
 not to have one common grave, I did not enquire. 
 
 The Americans think that they can find an 
 easy justification for the exclusion of the free 
 blacks from their political rights, in the example 
 of England respecting the Catholics. But they 
 should bear in mind, that one bad example should 
 never be pleaded in palliation of another. I well 
 know that the exclusion of the Catholics from 
 power in England is as unjust and impolitic as 
 that of the blacks in America. I lament that 
 such intolerance should prevail, and I am will 
 ing to do what little I can towards its removal 
 in both countries. But, let it be considered, that 
 the opponents of the Catholics are under an opin 
 ion, that an admission of them to power would 
 lead to the overthrow of the established Church, 
 and that persecution would ensue to the Protest 
 ants. It is no part of my present business to 
 examine the justice of such fears ; but let me 
 ask the Americans if they have any fear, that the 
 establishment of the blacks on an equality of 
 rights, would endanger the stability of their re 
 publican institutions. It is evident that while 
 one country wants to maintain Protestant ascend- 
 ancy, the other is equally strenuous for white as- 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 cendancy, and that both act at variance with true 
 liberty ; the difference between them being, that 
 the people of England have prejudice and fears, 
 the people of America prejudice only. 
 
 I have indeed heard two reasons assigned for 
 not admitting the blacks to equal privileges with 
 the whites, which it is proper to attend to. One 
 is, that as the blacks and whites will never amal 
 gamate, the attempt to bring about equality must 
 be inimical to the peace and harmony of society. 
 The other reason is directly the reverse, namely, 
 that the establishment of equality must inevit 
 ably effect a complete amalgamation of the two 
 races, and thus deteriorate the species. With re 
 spect to the first, there can be little doubt that at 
 no very distant day, marriages of one with the 
 other will frequently take place, whether the pre 
 sent restrictions continue or not. The records 
 of history lead to this conclusion. A feeling of 
 detestation between one people and another, re 
 sidents in the same country, but different in lan 
 guage, physiognomy or some other particular has 
 existed in various parts of the world, but it has 
 generally been ultimately removed from some 
 cause or other, and a happy union has been ef 
 fected. It required three centuries to reconcile 
 the Saxons and Normans in England, and about 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 ten to establish a friendly and cordial attachment 
 between the Highlanders and Lowlanders in 
 Scotland. The Romans and Goths were long 
 irreconcileably opposed, yet they at last lost their 
 dislike to each other. On the other hand, it may 
 be said that four centuries have not effected a 
 union between the Greeks and Turks. But it 
 must be remembered that the great obstacle to 
 a union has been the difference of their religions, 
 an obstacle which in the cited cases was scarce 
 ly felt. It is no doubt the religion of the Jews 
 which keeps them a distinct people in every coun 
 try where they are scattered, and keeps alive the 
 ancient antipathy to them. In the time of the 
 first Pharaoh, it was an abomination to the Egypt 
 ians to eat at the same table with the Hebrews, 
 and throughout the world they are the objects 
 of contumely to the present day. I believe that 
 the only country where no political line is drawn 
 between them and the rest of the population is 
 the United States, where their numbers are very 
 small. In England several disgraceful laws exist 
 on the Statute book which sometimes operate to 
 their disadvantage; but as to any personal dislike 
 to them, it is not felt, or at least not manifested, 
 by any but the vulgar. If the Americans have 
 so far laudably differed from the rest of the world, 
 as to lay aside all prejudice in their case and grant 
 
298 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 them those rights which are by nature the lot of 
 all, may we not reasonably hope that their Christ 
 ian brethren of a differently coloured skin will 
 experience similar indulgence ? This brings me 
 back to the question of a union between them 
 and the whites. The union sooner or later will 
 certainly take place, and much as the whites at 
 present may dislike the idea, it will contribute to 
 their mutual advantage. The notion that the 
 species will be deteriorated by the union is ridi 
 culous. Physical reasons may be given for be 
 lieving directly the reverse. The sooner the 
 union takes place the better, for a caste in soci 
 ety is a dangerous evil ; and as the removal of 
 all political and civil distinctions may accelerate 
 it, I think that on that ground alone, the whites 
 ought to consent to the removal. But I am per 
 suaded that this would be a reason with them for 
 continuing the present distinctions. It would in 
 troduce liberty and equality, two things to which 
 the Americans have a fixed hatred, though they 
 ever profess an attachment to them. 
 
 Probably some American after reading the 
 above, may say that I have omitted the most 
 material consideration in the enquiry, namely, 
 that the prejudice in America results from the dif 
 ference in colour between the two races, whereas, 
 
THE FREE BLACKS. 299 
 
 the prejudices in other countries have arisen from 
 political and religious feelings ; and he may add 
 that the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, is a 
 proof of the impossibility of a union between 
 two people so opposite. But it should be re 
 membered that the Spaniards and Moors, like the 
 Turks and Greeks, were of religions, neither of 
 which would compromise in faith, whereas the 
 negroes in America are generally Christians ; in 
 deed with the exception of a few native Africans 
 in the Slave states who retain their pagan super 
 stitions, they may all be ranked as such. Con 
 sequently the two cases are not analogous. If 
 there be no probability of marriages becoming 
 general between the whites and the blacks, I 
 should like to know why several of the States 
 have laid a heavy penalty on such marriages. In 
 Tennessee the penalty is five hundred dollars, 
 and in Massachusetts the amount is I believe 
 much the same. But what further proof need 
 we to show that the two races will become one, 
 than the prodigious number of mulattoes to be 
 seen in every direction, particularly in Virginia? 
 Unfortunately concubinage has superseded ma 
 trimony, but we must not thence infer that this 
 will continue to be the case for ever. At pre 
 sent a most horrible state of things exists, occa- 
 
300 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 sioned mainly by iniquitous laws ; but we may 
 hope that improvements will be gradually brought 
 about. Of one thing at least we may be nearly 
 certain, that unless a union cemented by mar 
 riage takes place between the two races, the con 
 sequences will be awful to posterity, in all those 
 States which persist in supporting slavery. When 
 a general insurrection of the slaves occurs, a 
 massacre of the whites must be expected, if they 
 should then be what they now are, determined 
 to prevent marriages by all possible means. 
 
 At present the seduction of a coloured girl is 
 regarded as a venial offence. A white man may 
 be the father of illegitimate mulattoes without 
 being considered a bad member of society, or 
 even being shunned by virtuous women of the 
 first rank. He may even rise to the highest sta 
 tion in the land, and be eulogised as a patriot; but 
 if he were to marry the mother of his children, 
 he would be considered to be degraded past re 
 medy. If a penalty of five hundred dollars ought 
 to be levied on the white man who marries a co 
 loured woman ; what should be the penalty for 
 seducing her and refusing to marry ? But it is 
 the fact, that there is no penalty whatever in the 
 latter case. Thus virtue is punished and vice 
 
THE FREE BLACKS., 301 
 
 escapes. Such are the inconsistencies into which 
 men run, when they legislate in corformity with 
 prejudice, rather than right reason. 
 
 The opinion that the blacks are so constitu 
 tionally prone to idleness, that they will never 
 become so industrious as the whites, deserves a 
 little attention. I have shown in a preceding 
 chapter, that natural organization has consider 
 able influence on the human character, and I 
 have adduced it to show the small probability of 
 civilization being established amongst the Indi 
 ans ; and I shall not dispute the fact that the ne 
 groes are naturally averse to labour, for from the 
 best and most unbiassed accounts I could obtain, 
 it is indisputable. There is however so much 
 difference between the condition of these two 
 races, that I see no reason to believe that the ne 
 groes will never become so industrious as the 
 whites. The negroes in America have never 
 been in the state of hunters ; they have always 
 been labourers, for which their robust constitu 
 tions well qualify them. Their labour has it is 
 true been generally extorted ; but in the north 
 ern States, many of the free blacks have proved 
 themselves capable of active exertion and volun 
 tary labour, to a degree quite equal to the majo 
 rity of their white neighbours. The colony of 
 
302 THE FREE BLACKS. 
 
 Sierra Leone is a proof that they may be brought 
 into industrious habits, for the directors of the 
 Colonization Society have informed the Ame 
 rican public, that that colony is in a state su 
 perior to any of those formed on their own con 
 tinent in an equal time from their origin. They 
 certainly will not maintain, that this is owing to 
 the superiority in mental powers of the blacks of 
 Sierra Leone over their own white ancestors. To 
 what then is it to be attributed, but to their in 
 dustry and desire of improvement ? To be con 
 vinced of the impropriety of hastily condemn 
 ing a whole race, it is only necessary to refer to 
 Scotland. Probably no people in the world are 
 more industrious and laborious than the Scotch 
 Lowlanders ; yet, little more than a century ago, 
 Fletcher of Saltoun, that staunch though mis 
 taken patriot, who was the strenuous advocate 
 of free government, actually proposed to sub 
 ject the great body of the people to slavery, un 
 der the impression that they could never be re 
 claimed from their slothful habits so long as they 
 continued to be their own masters; and he 
 thought the example of the Spartan Helots 
 would be a sufficient justification of the propo 
 sed measure. If then, his fears have been proved 
 completely groundless by time ; may we not in 
 dulge the hope, that time will be as effectual in 
 the case of the American negroes ? 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 A FEW years ago, a society was formed for the 
 purpose of promoting colonization. .Judging by 
 first impressions, the idea of America s sending 
 her citizens to colonise other lands, when not 
 half of her own soil is settled, would be pronoun 
 ced absurd ; but as this is a favourite project with 
 a large portion of the people, it demands exami 
 nation. The Phoenicians, the Greeks and other 
 nations of antiquity had their colonies under si 
 milar circumstances. Perhaps therefore praise 
 is due to the Americans for imitating them. The 
 part where they proposed forming a settlement 
 was neither in Patagonia, nor in the western parts 
 of North America, though we might have sup 
 posed that those districts needed civilization as 
 much as almost any in the world, and that colo 
 nies in either of them would be beneficial to the 
 nation. The directors of the society, however, 
 directed their attention to Africa. The western 
 shores of that vast continent had been long deso 
 lated by the slave trade ; and it was supposed 
 that some spot might be selected north of the 
 
304 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 equator suitable for a colony, which co-operating 
 with the English colony of Sierra Leone, might 
 not only make the native princes averse to sanc 
 tion the continuance of that terrible scourge, but 
 prepare them to accept the blessings of civilized 
 life. Agents were accordingly dispatched to as 
 certain the practicability of the measure, and if 
 satisfied that it was feasible, to purchase a tract 
 of land on which the experiment might be made. 
 They fulfilled their assigned task in a creditable 
 manner, making choice of Cape Mesurado about 
 five hundred miles from Sierra Leone. On their 
 return home, they published their journals, writ 
 ten in the style common amongst missionaries, 
 expatiating on the spiritual blessings bestowed 
 on them in their exploratory journey, the ho 
 nours that must redound to America for her dis 
 interestedness, and anticipating the favour of 
 Heaven on so righteous a work. The flame of 
 religious zeal was soon kindled. The emigrants 
 were to go forth in the strength of the Lord, to 
 reclaim from idolatry and superstition the in 
 habitants of those regions, from which so many 
 thousands had been torn to wear the bonds of 
 slavery. The Mumbo-jumboes, the fetiches, were 
 to fall like Dagon before the ark. The Cross 
 of Christ was to be displayed, and the eyes of 
 the sinful natives were to be directed towards it. 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 305 
 
 How glorious were the prospects ! How rich the 
 reward ! Africa which had had so much reason 
 to curse America, was henceforth to pronounce 
 blessings on her; and the names of the colonists 
 were to descend, like those of Cadmus and Peter 
 the Great, with honour to posterity. What then 
 must be the surprise of the reader to learn, that 
 this project of colonizing Africa, originated in 
 the hatred of the whites to their black fellow ci 
 tizens ! Yet so the fact stands. 
 
 Not content with heaping insult and cruelty 
 on the blacks, denying them their civil rights, 
 and treating them as outcasts, the whites formed 
 the design, ridiculous as it was, of freeing the 
 country of them altogether. If indeed they had 
 proposed to transport the slaves to the land of 
 their ancestors, and after establishing regulations 
 to secure their permanent freedom and safety, 
 had left them to improve the country by the in 
 troduction of the mechanical arts, the scheme 
 however impracticable, would have been laud- 
 able. But the agitators of it only proposed to 
 transport the free blacks. Many of the slave 
 holders in consequence, were warm advocates for 
 the Colonization Society, the ^reason for which 
 was, that the free blacks having generally more 
 information than the slaves, were objects of jea- 
 
306 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 lousy to the masters, who are aware that dis 
 content and dissatisfaction when once excited, 
 may lead to sedition. So long as the slaves are 
 kept in ignorance, they consider themselves safe. 
 Doubtless they are partly right in this opinion, 
 for tyranny and knowledge seldom exist long to 
 gether. But it appears extraordinary, that they 
 should have no fears of a revolt at a future time, 
 when the country will be thickly populated ; and 
 in the event of a revolt, the absence of the free 
 blacks will signify comparatively little. And 
 though an uneducated mass of people are unable 
 to proceed with the union and energy of the 
 better informed, yet they are more likely to fall 
 into excesses of the most horrid kind. But the 
 slave holders seem to have thought that if all 
 the free blacks were once removed, they could 
 effectually prevent the manumission of the slaves, 
 and then rivet the chains so firmly, that the at 
 tempt to break them must be vain. As however 
 they were desirous of having persons in the free 
 States as their coadjutors, they very prudently 
 took care to urge such arguments only as were 
 likely to meet the views of all. The active ma 
 nagers of the society were religious zealots, with 
 whom the greater part of the slave holders would 
 not have desired to join, if they could have sue- 
 ceededin their project by any other means. Indeed 
 
COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 307 
 
 I apprehend that the society would never have 
 been formed, if the zealots had not instigated 
 the slave holders to assist with their money and 
 patronage. 
 
 When the society Was once formed, it was 
 found expedient to resort to other motives than 
 those of benefiting Africa by the introduction of 
 civilization and Christianity ; for though those 
 motives might be strong enough to engage some 
 of the coloured people to become colonists, they 
 were insufficient to induce the opulent to con 
 tribute in a pecuniary way. Accordingly, it was 
 represented that if a colony were formed, the 
 free blacks would be ready to transport them 
 selves to it, in the hopes of attaining that respect 
 which is denied to them at home ; and that thus 
 in a few years the whole of them would be re 
 moved from the soil of America. How futile this 
 hope was, will be evident to any one who consi 
 ders the enormous expense of transporting near 
 ly a quarter of a million of men across the At 
 lantic, besides the certainty that the majority 
 would prefer the land of their birth with all its 
 disabilities, to the uncertain hope of obtaining 
 an improved condition in Africa. It is certain 
 that the Colonization Society could not remove 
 them so fast as they increase. Yet such was the 
 
 x 2 
 
308 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 infatuation on this subject, that many persons 
 actually believed, that not only nearly all the 
 free blacks would be removed, but that after 
 wards the slave holders would emancipate the 
 slaves, and send them after their brethren ; and 
 that thus the whites would be able to enjoy the 
 country, without the mortification of seeing men 
 of African origin sharing it with them. This was 
 currently believed by a very large portion of the 
 whites, notwithstanding the fact that the whole 
 coloured population was nearly two millions. 
 People may believe the marvellous travels of 
 Gulliver and Munchausen, there being some pro 
 bable incidents in them to give the appearance 
 of reality to the whole ; but what are we to 
 think of those who could persuade themselves 
 that the Colonization Society could effect the 
 riddance of two million men from the United 
 States? 
 
 But not only was the scheme of the promoters 
 of this society absurd, but it was full of contra 
 dictions. This was no more than was to be ex 
 pected in a measure the result of prejudice. It 
 was alledged that the free blacks were such a 
 degraded, worthless, lazy set of people, that it 
 was impossible for the country to attain to full 
 prosperity, so long as so great a portion of the 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 809 
 
 community were of that class. It was said, and 
 I heard it repeated over and over again, that 
 they were so profligate and corrupt, that no 
 good was ever to be expected from them. And 
 yet these were the people who were to ci 
 vilize Africa ! If it be said that it was the inten 
 tion of the managers to send out such only as 
 were moral and religious, I should like to know 
 if it could be beneficial to America, to lose the 
 best characters amongst the coloured people, and 
 retain the worst. This enquiry is of great im 
 portance, as, however disinterested the managers 
 may profess themselves, they cannot deny that 
 with all their professions of a desire to benefit 
 Africa, their main object was to benefit America. 
 It was this aiming at one thing and professing 
 another, which led them into so many contra 
 dictions as are apparent in their reports. Thus 
 an inconsistency shows itself in the arguments 
 to induce the northern and southern people to 
 believe that the object of the society was one de 
 serving the support of both classes. To gain the 
 contributions of people of the free States, the 
 managers represented, that the transportation 
 of the free blacks would render the abolition of 
 slavery a comparatively easy work ; but to pre 
 vent the slave holders from taking alarm, they 
 expressly declared that their funds should not be 
 
310 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 appropriated to any other object than coloniza- 
 tion. By thus trying to conciliate both parties, 
 they have been as oscillatory as a pendulum, but 
 the oscillation has kept the machine in motion. 
 Thus when wishing to urge persons to become 
 members of the society, from a consideration of 
 the benefits to their country, to be expected 
 from an emigration of the free blacks, they cha 
 racterise them as I have just mentioned. But 
 when taking the other side, of the good to Africa, 
 they state that one object of the society is " to 
 instruct the natives in the arts and the true re* 
 ligion, and exhibit before them the superior hap 
 piness of a humane, industrious and Christian 
 people." Now if the black Americans are a hu 
 mane, industrious and Christian people, why 
 should the whites desire to remove them from 
 the country ? But the fact is, that the common 
 character given of the coloured people is, that 
 they are lazy, vicious and almost every way bad, 
 and decidedly inferior to the whites in menta] 
 capacity. 
 
 In proof of their proneness to vice and crime, 
 it is asserted, that the number of black criminals 
 is far greater than that of white, in proportion 
 to their respective numerical amount. If such 
 be the fact, it is not to be wondered at, as those 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 311 
 
 put under a ban are generally worse than others. 
 But it is unfair to make the comparison with the 
 whole population, because nearly all the crimi 
 nals in jails are of the class of poor ; and very 
 few coloured people belong to any other class. 
 If these things be borne in mind, I believe that 
 the bad character of the coloured people will not 
 appear to so great disadvantage as it now does. 
 At Richmond, where the blacks are equal or 
 superior to the whites in number, I found on en 
 quiry that there were twice as many white pri 
 soners as black. In Philadelphia and Baltimore 
 the result was different, being if I remember 
 rightly (for I seem to have omitted to make a 
 memorandum) in the former place, nearly on a 
 level ; in the latter, a preponderance though a 
 small one of the blacks. However, admitting 
 for argument s sake that the blacks are worse 
 than the whites, I contend that their bad quali 
 ties arise not so much from inherent viciousness 
 as from bad government and popular prejudice. 
 Owing to bad government they want a proper 
 stimulus : owing to popular prejudice they are 
 debarred from the best opportunities for mental 
 improvement. 
 
 This brings me to the question of their sup 
 posed inferiority in intellect. I have no doubt that 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 the mental capacities of nations vary as much as 
 their bodily. There is perhaps as much difference 
 in mind between the savages of Australia and the 
 Greeks, as in stature between the Tartars and the 
 Patagonians. Education taken in its widest sense, 
 can certainly effect a prodigious change in the 
 character of man 5 but as it is impossible to make 
 a philosopher of an idiot, so it may be extreme 
 ly difficult to raise those nations to mental ener 
 gy, which have hitherto shown only timidity and 
 weakness. Voltaire has recorded as his opinion, 
 that the Chinese are so constituted as to be phy 
 sically incapable of advancing so high in civili 
 zation as many other people. The great diver 
 sity in the human species, both as it respects 
 mind and body, furnished him with an argument 
 against the Mosaic history of the creation, arid 
 led him to insist that the Deity must have ori 
 ginally created several pairs, and placed them in 
 different parts of the earth. Other authors of in 
 ferior celebrity have maintained the same. In 
 opposition to them, Doctor Prichard in his inge 
 nious dissertation on the causes of the diversity, 
 argues with some plausibility, that there was but 
 one original pair of human beings, and that they 
 were black. Without being convinced by his 
 reasoning of the truth of his positions, I must ad 
 mit that he has demonstrated convincingly, that 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 313 
 
 most of the varieties in colour and formation 
 may be traced to adequate causes. As a believer 
 in revelation, I question not the truth of all man 
 kind being of one blood, and therefore I cannot 
 believe that it is absolutely impossible, though 
 it may require several generations, to bring one 
 nation on a level with another. Hence I have 
 no fears that the negroes will ever prove them 
 selves unfit for the higher mental pursuits. In 
 deed it is a question with me, if they are much, 
 if any, below the whites in natural capacity. Se 
 veral of them in Hayti have exhibited to the 
 world powers of mind very extraordinary. Like 
 the ore of some precious metal, they have ap 
 peared to want only the refiner s fire to prove 
 their full value. Though America has not yet 
 produced negroes equally eminent, I doubt not 
 that when she places them in circumstances fa 
 vourable to the development of their powers, 
 she also will be able to boast of some of them 
 as ornaments. At present, few of them, even in 
 the northern States, attain more than the rudi 
 ments of learning, while in the southern States 
 every obstacle is thrown in the way of their im 
 provement. A young man opened a school for 
 the free blacks at Fredericsburg in Virginia, but 
 after continuing it awhile, he tried the experi 
 ment of a school for whites. The latter failed, 
 
314? THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 from the sole circumstance, as I was assured by 
 another schoolmaster, of his having begun with 
 the blacks. Such was the prejudice against him 
 that his qualifications availed him nothing. While 
 prejudice is thus strong, the assertion of the 
 whites, that the blacks are below them in men 
 tal capacity, must necessarily be received du 
 biously. The master of what is called the African 
 School in New York, but which is a Lancastrian 
 school for coloured American children, told me 
 that he could not allow that the negroes were de 
 ficient in intellect. He assured me, that if his 
 scholars were found not to have made progress 
 equal to others in similar schools for white child 
 ren, the fault must lie with him. " I shall not", 
 said he, " exempt myself from blame, on the plea 
 of their mental incapacity". In fact, the school 
 is one of the best managed I ever saw, and the 
 advancement of the children quite delightful to 
 witness : it does him great credit. Besides read 
 ing, writing, and the common rules of arithme 
 tic, they are taught some of the higher branches 
 of the latter, geography, and the drawing of 
 maps. He showed me maps of different coun 
 tries drawn by some of his scholars, which were 
 finished with great neatness, and would be exhi 
 bited with pleasure by any school-master in the 
 country. Shortly after my visit to this school, 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 315 
 
 I fell in company on Long Island with some 
 young Virginians who were making a tour for 
 pleasure and improvement. Finding that they 
 had adopted the prevalent opinion of the men 
 tal inferiority of negroes, I recommended them 
 to go to this school, and ascertain whether it was 
 correct. But they all made excuses, and I be 
 lieve not one of them went, the fact being, that 
 whatever desire they might have for improve 
 ment, they had no wish to relinquish a favourite 
 prejudice. 
 
 These remarks on the moral and mental con 
 dition of the free blacks, are by no means irre 
 levant to the subject of this chapter ; for the ad 
 vocates of the Colonization Society having re 
 presented that their present degradation is inca 
 pable of remedy, other than that of placing them 
 in another country, I was desirous of proving the 
 untenableness of the position. Indeed the 
 pamphlets issued by the society contain a refu 
 tation of it. In one, the free blacks are spoken 
 of as " an oppressed people" ; and surely the 
 managers of the society need not to be remind 
 ed, that oppression, as in the case of the Greeks 
 under Turkish domination, or of the Russian and 
 Polish boors under an aristocracy, invariably pro 
 duces degradation. Let me then ask them if the 
 
316 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 removal of the oppression, would not speedily be 
 followed by an amelioration of their condition. 
 Men have improved in all the countries of Eu 
 rope, where tyranny has ceased, and is America 
 alone to be an exception to such improvement ? 
 Besides, the managers in one of their reports 
 give us the strongest reason for believing, that 
 the negroes are susceptible of very great improve 
 ment. They say that the natives of Africa are 
 " mild, docile and amiable". How happens it 
 then, that Americans of African descent are so 
 much the reverse ? Let them answer that if 
 they can, without admitting that injustice and 
 contemptuous treatment have been the cause. 
 
 It has been said by Lord Byron that this is the 
 age of cant, a designation very apposite. The 
 American Colonization Society is a standing 
 proof how operative cant is, even on a shrewd, 
 intelligent people. The English have become 
 proverbial for their gullibility, but the Americans 
 seem to be quite as obnoxious to it. In what 
 other way can we account for the popularity of 
 this society? It must fail in the accomplishment 
 of its professed object, that of removing the 
 great body of free coloured people ; it is calcu 
 lated to retard the advancement of those who re 
 main ; and it may perhaps be instrumental to the 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 317 
 
 perpetuation of slavery. It may be said, that 
 amongst the promoters of the society, are many 
 who cannot be suspected of any sinister design, 
 or of any wish to favour the slave holders in fixing 
 the shackles of their slaves more firmly. Granted ; 
 but worthy men under prejudices often become 
 the dupes of more artful characters, who lead 
 them imperceptibly forward as the bell-wether 
 leads the flock. That many worthy men have 
 been duped respecting the tendency of this so 
 ciety I cannot doubt; for as I find in one report 
 a belief expressed, that the removal of the free 
 coloured people will amongst other benefits, make 
 the slave more obedient to his master, I must be 
 left to my suspicion that the designs of some of 
 the supporters of the society, are neither disin 
 terested nor patriotic. As to the civilization of 
 Africa, on which they so enlarge, it is certain that 
 that was altogether a piece of cant, put forward 
 to give a plausibility and amiability to the scheme 
 for promoting an emigration of the coloured peo 
 ple ; for if it had not been for the hope of free 
 ing the country of them, Africa might have wait 
 ed a century, before civilization would have been 
 introduced from America. 
 
 I attended the sixth anniversary of the society, 
 which took place at Washington during the sit- 
 
318 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 ting of Congress. The mover of the first reso 
 lution made a long, incoherent speech, abound 
 ing with high-flown metaphors and similes in the 
 style of Hibernian eloquence, mixed with senti 
 mentality on the condition of the blacks. He 
 said that he himself was the holder of two hun 
 dred slaves ; and that on retiring to his patrimo 
 nial estate, instead of seeing a thriving tenantry 
 around him, he saw abjectness and misery. Af 
 ter detailing some cruelties, that had in his pre 
 sence been inflicted on some slaves, and enlarg 
 ing on the evils of slavery, he concluded by ex 
 pressing his hope, that the society would do cre 
 dit to the only country that ever was truly free ! 
 This delectable climax was quite enough for 
 me ; but the auditory appeared perfectly to ac 
 quiesce in it. No symptoms of disapprobation 
 were observable ; none were publicly urged. 
 And yet it is curious that the Americans will 
 suffer such jokes as this to be passed upon them. 
 In. the Report of the managers, America was 
 mentioned as " the freest and happiest nation up 
 on the earth" ; on which I have to remark, that 
 so long as she contains a million and a half of 
 slaves, superlatives must appear ridiculous. Is 
 there no other country with a smaller proportion 
 than one sixth of slaves ? And as to happiness, 
 the society state in one of their reports, that 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 319 
 
 " the least observation shows, that free coloured 
 persons are not, and cannot, be either useful or 
 happy amongst us". They will scarcely, I pre 
 sume, contend that the slaves are happy. If then 
 about two millions of persons out of ten are un 
 happy, does it not require marvellous assurance 
 to boast of their country as the happiest in the 
 world? The Americans however, were never 
 thought deficient in self praise. 
 
 The free remarks I have offered on this socie 
 ty, are without the slightest wish to disparage 
 America. I should, if writing on some institu 
 tions in England, adopt just the same latitude, 
 or probably a wider. The founders of the so 
 ciety of course made use of their reason when 
 they projected it; but when reason is warped by 
 prejudice, it falls into gross inconsistencies. It 
 is often as difficult to bring right reason and pre 
 judice into cordial union as water and oil : the 
 latter will get uppermost. If the Colonization 
 Society persist in supporting the idea, that the 
 great body of free blacks will be persuaded to 
 emigrate across the Atlantic, it will become in 
 a few years the laughingstock of the country. 
 
 This society being, as I have shown, founded 
 on an insecure basis, and the superstructure be- 
 
320 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 ing neither ornamental nor useful, the whole 
 edifice will soon either moulder silently away, or 
 fall headlong into ruins. In the mean time, let 
 the founders of it look around, and ascertain 
 whether their time and money cannot be better 
 employed, than in endeavouring to prop it up. 
 In order to convince them that this may be the 
 case, I will inform them that several societies 
 have been recently formed in England, for the 
 express purpose of effecting the abolition of sla 
 very throughout the British dominions. May 
 this example be followed in America. The sup 
 position of the possibility of clearing the country 
 of the coloured people, is too preposterous to be 
 much longer entertained. In America they are : 
 in America they must remain. Their numbers 
 in time will be so formidable, that the con 
 tinuance of oppression will be dangerous. Let 
 the white inhabitants therefore, instead of con 
 tributing their money to colonize them, use their 
 endeavours to abolish slavery with all its evils, 
 and finally to raise the blacks to their proper sta 
 tion, that is, to a level with the whites. I well 
 know that this will be too republican, for the 
 whites to coincide with it at present. But let 
 them remember, that if the present system of ir 
 ritation and injustice be continued, America 
 when it becomes populous, will be as Ireland has 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 often been, the scene of rapine, murder and 
 every evil deed. Like causes will produce like 
 effects. It will be found in time, that permanent 
 tranquillity can only be ensured, by the diffusion 
 of knowledge and the practice of justice. To 
 those who say, 
 
 " That never can true reconcilement grow, 
 
 Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep ;" 
 
 I reply, that it is for savages and not for civili 
 zed beings to continue implacable. Liberal opi 
 nions work their way slowly into society, but 
 they generally ultimately prevail. As there are 
 some amongst the members of the Colonization 
 Society, who have favoured it under the idea, 
 that the blacks would never experience the be 
 nefit of liberal opinions so long as they continued 
 in America, I shall conclude this chapter by an 
 attempt to show, that further reflection and ob 
 servation may induce them to change their opi 
 nion. 
 
 No people in the world are more averse to 
 slavery than the religious society of the Friends. 
 They expel from their communion all those who 
 hold their fellow men in bondage. And yet a 
 century ago, Virginia and the West Indies 
 abounded with Friends who were slave holders to 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 a great extent. So little evil did they then view 
 in the practice, that they promoted it in their 
 corporate capacity. One of their ministers re 
 sident at Flushing in Long Island, informed me 
 that in the records of the meeting to which he 
 belonged, there was a curious instance of it. A 
 woman applied to the meeting for assistance in 
 the shape of a small loan to enable her to pur 
 chase a negro. The request was complied with, 
 and five pounds were advanced. Now if such an 
 alteration has taken place in their views, that 
 what a century ago was sanctioned by the body, 
 must not now be tolerated in a single member, 
 may we not suppose that the time is approach 
 ing, when they will regard it as anti-christian, 
 to show a disregard to the civil rights of their 
 coloured fellow citizens in their remaining dis 
 abilities ? Or is it too much to hope that they 
 will endeavour to introduce a complete and cor 
 dial union between them and the whites ? If 
 there be no symptoms of such a thing at present, 
 let it not thence be inferred that it is hopeless, 
 as short sighted observers probably saw no symp 
 toms of the Reformation, of the French Revo 
 lution, or of any other considerable change in 
 society. Without boasting of superior perspi 
 cacity, I may state, that I think I can perceive 
 that the way is gradually opening, for a more 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 323 
 
 equitable treatment of the free blacks in the 
 northern States, and that there is some little pro 
 spect of religion becoming auxiliary to the abo 
 lition of slavery in the southern ; a prospect, 
 indistinct and dim I confess, but which may pos 
 sibly brighten and become clear. A sensible, 
 pious woman, resident near Charlottesville in 
 Virginia, told me that though Virginia was her 
 native State, and the one she had always lived in, 
 she should prefer having a home in one not dis 
 graced by slavery. She said, that she could neither 
 reconcile slavery, nor the contemptuous treat 
 ment of the free coloured people, with the pre 
 cepts of the gospel ; and that she endeavoured as 
 far as she could, to diffuse more liberal opinions 
 respecting them. I know not to what denomi 
 nation of Christians she belonged, but she seem 
 ed to me to possess several Christian virtues. 
 I may also refer to the example of the farmer 
 near the Dismal Swamp, who so hospitably en 
 tertained me, as another proof that the subject 
 of slavery claims the serious attention of a few 
 religious persons who wish to see a lustration of 
 the land. In the General Assembly of the Pres 
 byterian Church, two measures have been re 
 cently proposed, which also tend to show, that 
 the subject will ere long, be forced on the atten 
 tion of those who profess religion. One was, to 
 
 Y 2 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 
 
 exclude all slave holders from the ministry; 
 the other, to deny communion to slave traders. 
 Both these proposals were, as was to be suppos 
 ed, negatived ; but the very making of them is 
 a good symptom. I anticipate some exertions 
 amongst the Methodists also. And though my 
 fears of a beneficial result exceed my hopes, yet, 
 if the members of the Colonization Society will 
 but co-operate, my views will be materially al 
 tered. The continuance of the society on its 
 present footing, I regard as inimical to the wel 
 fare of the country. As however, I know that 
 many members of the society are actuated by 
 what they believe to be pure motives, I will men 
 tion a circumstance to show how mistaken men 
 may be in the proper line of policy, and into 
 what inconsistencies they may fall even when 
 labouring in what they suppose to be the cause 
 of philanthropy. I was present at a private 
 meeting of several of the clergy at Norfolk, who 
 were assembled for the purpose of considering 
 the best means of aiding the Bible Society, the 
 Colonization Society, and the Society for the 
 Conversion of the Jews. With respect to the 
 first, I concurred in their views, for though I 
 can perceive several objectionable matters in the 
 Bible Society, yet as its main object is favour 
 able to the improvement of mankind, I readily 
 
THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 325 
 
 wave minor objections. As to the Colonization 
 Society, for the reasons I have given I could not 
 unite with them. One reason urged by them in 
 its favour was, that it is unfavourable to the com 
 mon welfare to have a separate body existing in 
 the country ; and as the blacks must continue a 
 separate body, it would be to their advantage, 
 as well as to the advantage of the whites, for 
 them to be transported to a country where the 
 inhabitants were like themselves. And yet while 
 these clergymen were for promoting the emi 
 gration of the blacks, they were also for encou 
 raging the immigration of the Jews ; though 
 they must have known that no people in the 
 world are more careful to keep themselves dis 
 tinct. I know of no particular harm to a com 
 munity in the existence of distinct classes, pro 
 vided they have equal rights. What is wanted 
 therefore, is neither the transportation of the 
 Jews from Europe to America, nor of the blacks 
 from America to Africa. All that is wanted is 
 that equality of rights, which both continents 
 refuse to the objects of their respective preju 
 dices. The application of another remedy is in 
 jurious, inasmuch as it must be very partial, and 
 has a tendency to withdraw the attention from 
 the radical one. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 WHEN we consider the prodigious extent of the 
 United States, and of the numerous British co 
 lonies in North America, the West Indies, Africa 
 and Australia, we may infer that the English 
 language will be spoken by more millions of peo 
 ple, than any other in the world. The Spanish, 
 the French and the Russian languages will be 
 spoken by many millions more than they now 
 are ; but it appears unlikely that they will be 
 either so widely diffused, or used by so numer 
 ous a population as the English. Even the 
 Chinese, though at present the predominant lan 
 guage, will probably in a few centuries yield the 
 supremacy to the English. Under these cir 
 cumstances, it is a subject of speculation whe 
 ther it will not more and more branch into dis 
 tinct dialects. At first sight we might suppose 
 that this will be the case, but when we reflect on 
 the communication subsisting between the vari 
 ous countries where it prevails, and bear in mind 
 that the standard and popular authors of Eng 
 land, are read in all of them, we may be led to 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 327 
 
 draw a different conclusion. Slight differences 
 must necessarily prevail ; but perhaps these may 
 increase its copiousness, without diminishing its 
 beauty or destroying its unity. 
 
 The United States having been peopled from 
 different parts of England and Ireland, the pe 
 culiarities of the various districts have in a great 
 measure ceased. As far as pronunciation is con 
 cerned, the mass of people speak better English, 
 than the mass of people in England. This I 
 know will startle some, but its correctness will 
 become manifest when I state, that in no part, 
 except in those occupied by the descendants of 
 the Dutch and German settlers, is any unintel 
 ligible jargon in vogue. We hear nothing so bad 
 in America as the Suffolk whine, the Yorkshire 
 clipping, or the Newcastle guttural. We never 
 hear the letter H aspirated improperly, nor omit 
 ted to be aspirated where propriety requires it. 
 The common pronunciation approximates to that 
 of the well educated class of London and its 
 vicinity. But it must not be supposed that there 
 is a perfect uniformity of pronunciation through 
 out the country. There is a marked difference 
 for instance, between Connecticut and Virginia ; 
 not so much however in the accentuation of 
 words, nor in the length of the vowel sounds, as 
 
328 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 
 
 in the inflection of the voice. In the former 
 State, if my memory be correct, the rising in 
 flection is prevalent, and in the latter, the falling 
 inflection. Of the two however, probably Con 
 necticut assimilates the most nearly to England, 
 as persons in that State took me for one of them 
 selves, and in Virginia, I was several times sup 
 posed to be a New Englander. A Virginian who 
 had resided in his youth for several years in Con 
 necticut, told me that I spoke so exactly like the 
 people of that State, that he had supposed, before 
 I told him what countryman I was, that I was a 
 native of it. On the other hand, I was told by 
 others in Virginia and Maryland, that they ob 
 served no difference between me and them. 
 From these particulars it will easily be inferred, 
 that much greater uniformity prevails in Ame 
 rica than in England. The nearest approach to 
 any of our provincial peculiarities is in the cen 
 tral part of New York, where I met with persons 
 whom I fully believed to be natives of Devon 
 shire, till on enquiry, I was told they were born 
 in the part where they resided. I recollect only 
 two or three instances, of words being pro 
 nounced differently to what is considered cor 
 rect amongst polite speakers in England. The 
 second syllable of engine is sounded long, where 
 as with us, it is 1 believe invariably short, or as 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 329 
 
 if there was no final vowel. The word learned, 
 which when used adjectively, we pronounce in 
 two syllables, they pronounce in one. We make 
 clerk rhyme to bark, while they make it rhyme to 
 jerk. There are most likely some others which ei 
 ther escaped my notice, or have slipped from my 
 memory ; but when I add, that their utterance is 
 less rapid than ours, and their articulation per- 
 haps rather more distinct, the reader will have a 
 correct account of their pronunciation. 
 
 With respect to the right application of words, 
 I cannot give so good an account. In New Eng 
 land the word clever is used for worthy, and 
 smart for clever. As smart is sometimes used in 
 that sense in England, and as there are examples 
 for it in our authors, -I shall not object. But I 
 think, that as no standard English author either 
 ancient or modern, uses clever in the sense they 
 do, and as the Virginians attach the same mean 
 ing to it as we do, the New Englanders must ac 
 knowledge themselves in error. For another pe 
 culiarity which has subjected them to much ban 
 tering, namely, the use of / guess, for I suppose, 
 or I think, I can offer for them this defence, that 
 in one part of Lancashire, the same use occurs. 
 Again, the word elegant is used in a sense signi 
 fying of good quality, as elegantbeef, an elegant 
 
330 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 log-house ; a sense never adopted by a correct 
 writer, but current in conversation in Ireland. 
 In Maryland, a person who has a house to let, 
 advertises it to hire ; and by the balance of any 
 thing he means the remainder : while instead of 
 / guess he says / reckon. These particulars it 
 might be as well to alter, though the phrase / 
 reckon is common in many parts of England. 
 Autumn is generally called the fall, an expres 
 sion sometimes to be heard in the western parts 
 of England amongst the vulgar. Shops are call 
 ed stores, to which I have no objection, the word 
 being expressive. Cocks are called roosters, 
 though that word is not inserted, so far as my 
 observation goes, in any dictionary. Woollen 
 and linen drapery articles are denominated dry 
 goods, and a draper is designated as the keeper 
 of a dry goods 9 store. Eew persons will think that 
 these alterations are improvements. But one of 
 the strangest misapplications of words is common 
 in Maryland and Virginia, though I believe not 
 in the midland and northern States : it is that of 
 calling small stones or pebbles, rocks. Traders 
 and shopkeepers are commonly styled merchants. 
 Does this arise from that fondness for high sound 
 ing words for which the Americans, notwith 
 standing their republicanism, have been long 
 marked ? The word grade for rank or station, 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 331 
 
 is I believe common in all parts of America, 
 though not sanctioned by good authorities ; the 
 same may be said of the verb to progress, and 
 the adjective lengthy. Of vulgarisms I shall take 
 no notice, further than to remark, that those Eng 
 lish travellers who have reported pot-house dia 
 logues where they abound, have shown a con 
 temptible spirit, in wishing by such means to 
 represent the Americans as incapable of speak 
 ing good English. 
 
 In the grammatical construction of sentences, 
 but little difference between the two countries is 
 observable. Perhaps however the educated part 
 of society in America, are not quite so careful 
 to observe the rules of syntax, as the same class 
 in England ; the reason for which I take to be, 
 that not finding it necessary to use endeavours 
 to free themselves from provincialisms in pro 
 nunciation, their attention is less called to the 
 niceties of language, than is the case with most 
 Englishmen. I must also remark, that some 
 amongst them seem too fond of adopting those 
 cant expressions, which from time to time become 
 current with persons who affect the airs and be 
 haviour of coachmen, stable-boys and the like ; 
 which expressions were condemned by Swift, as 
 the most ruinous of all corruptions in language. 
 
332 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 The Americans say, and say correctly, that 
 they have as much right to set themselves up for 
 authorities in the use of words as the English. 
 Still, I cannot help thinking, that it would be 
 better for them not to reject the authority of 
 those standard English authors whose works are 
 our common property. The preservation of our 
 language in uniformity and purity, is the inter- 
 est of both countries ; and as the colonies natu 
 rally appeal to England for example in the use 
 of words, America may find her advantage in 
 yielding allegiance. On the other hand, an Eng 
 lishman or a Scotchman desirous of learning to 
 speak English in such a manner as not to be 
 distinguished for provincial peculiarity, proba 
 bly he could not do better than to reside for a 
 few years in one of the principal cities in the Unit 
 ed States ; and if I were asked what city seems 
 to me to have the best pronunciation, I should 
 say that I think it is Baltimore. In Philadelphia 
 and New York, I observed that words with an 
 initial V, were pronounced by some, as if spelt 
 with a W. This is the only one of our vulgar 
 errors with which I can charge them ; and as a 
 counterpoise to this I may properly here add, 
 that the Americans universally pronounce the 
 letter H in words where it is preceded by W, 
 as the Scotch and Irish do ; whereas the unedu- 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 333 
 
 cated English almost universally pronounce such 
 words as if no H occurred. The only exception 
 to this that has come under my notice, is in that 
 part of Northumberland contiguous to Scotland. 
 Persons of education however, are careful to 
 make the proper distinction between when and 
 wen, whale and wale. 
 
 These remarks may appear trifling to some ; 
 but those who know how much pains were taken 
 by the Roman rhetoricians to pronounce their 
 language correctly, will not think them unim 
 portant. And those who are fond of observing 
 the mutations and diversities of our language, 
 will be pleased at gaining information of its pre 
 sent state in America. 
 
 This is a suitable place for me to mention, 
 that the German spoken in Pennsylvania and 
 the neighbouring parts of New York and Virgi 
 nia, is very corrupt, being a compound of Ger 
 man, English and I know not what besides. Some 
 idea may be formed of the corruption it has un 
 dergone, from a remark made by one with whom 
 I was conversing, which was, that I spoke better 
 German than he did. On smiling at his banter 
 ing, he said he was in earnest, for that natives 
 of Germany all told the German Americans of 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 their bad language, and that mine corresponded 
 with that of the native Germans much more than 
 his. Various as are the dialects in Germany, and 
 bad as some of them are, judging by the most 
 generally approved standards, perhaps the worst 
 is less faulty than that in Pennsylvania. It seems 
 to be what the author of Hudibras calls a Ba 
 bylonish dialect. I suspect that Adelung, with 
 all his knowledge as a linguist, would be as puz 
 zled with it, as the people in Sir John Mande- 
 ville s tale, when they heard the mingled voices 
 which the thaw had freed from their icy fetters. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ORATORY. 
 
 IN America, as in all countries where popular 
 government is established, oratory is much stu 
 died, it being one of the most powerful means 
 of obtaining the favour of the public. The com 
 plaint of Milton, that since the decay of Roman 
 eloquence, no revival has taken place, has been 
 long since refuted. France and England have 
 produced orators, of reputation scarcely inferior 
 to that of Demosthenes or Cicero ; and America 
 may justly be proud of her Patrick Henry, a man 
 whose eloquence illuminated with a sudden glare 
 like that of a meteor, so dazzling and terrific that 
 inferior lights were obscured in the blaze. She 
 likewise boasts of the names of Pinckney, Ames 
 and a few others. But of her living orators, there 
 is not, so far as my information reaches, a single 
 name of transcendent merit. I heard some of the 
 most distinguished lawyers in the United States, 
 as well as several of the most active members of 
 Congress ; but it was not my lot to hear a single 
 speech which was overpowering. Perhaps the 
 
336 ORATORY. 
 
 best plan I can adopt to give a correct idea of 
 American oratory, will be to mention what I ob 
 served on several public occasions. 
 
 I was present at a meeting of the Debating 
 Society of Boston, when a question was proposed 
 for discussion on the policy of prohibiting usury. 
 The first speaker was a short, jolly man, who seem 
 ed much more likely to please a dinner party by 
 acting as their chairman, than to throw light on 
 an abstract question. He began with diffidence, 
 a good symptom ; but after blundering through 
 his speech, bewildering himself and his auditory, 
 he concluded with no more confidence than he 
 manifested at the commencement. The second 
 speaker was quite as obscure, though with rather 
 more assurance. The third, with some appear 
 ance of method in the handling of his subject, and 
 with the air of a man who is to bear down all 
 opposition, floundered in the mud of his own 
 spreading, till he had tired himself and blinded 
 those about him. The chairman was about to put 
 the question, when a gentleman suggested that 
 if the debate were adjourned, some further light 
 would be thrown on it at another meeting. Some 
 one might have told him, that there had been 
 " no light, but rather darkness visible." The 
 motion for adjournment was carried, and the 
 
ORATORY. 337 
 
 meeting dispersed, having as I thought, shown a 
 most exemplary patience. 
 
 When I was at New York, a public meeting 
 was held for the purpose of raising a subscription 
 for the relief of the family of an officer who had 
 lost his life in the suppression of piracy off Cuba. 
 A friend of mine invited me to attend this meet 
 ing, telling me that he expected there would be 
 a fine display of eloquence. Accordingly I went, 
 but how great was my disappointment ! There 
 was not a single speech worth the trouble of the 
 walk, notwithstanding the admirable opportu 
 nity for awakening the sympathetic feelings, and 
 so inciting to generosity. Probably not a person 
 present gave a dollar, except those who had made 
 up their minds to contribute before they entered 
 the room. 
 
 I have mentioned the anniversary of the Co 
 lonization Society. The principal orator on that 
 occasion was animated, and so far agreeable ; 
 but then his speech was so bestrewed with daz 
 zling metaphors and similes, so full of repeti 
 tions, so incoherent and contradictory, that the 
 listening to it was as amusing and puzzling as 
 the attempt to thread a labyrinth. The other 
 speakers were not remarkable for any thing but 
 
 z 
 
338 ORATORY. 
 
 mediocrity, except one young man who seemed 
 to have the art of captivating, if an excess of dif 
 fidence had not kept his talents in check. 
 
 I attended one or two other public meetings 
 in which nothing particularly worth my noting 
 occurred. One reason why public discussions in 
 America are so little animated, is the omission of 
 the auditory to testify their approval or dislike. 
 There is no cheering, no hissing, no coughing. 
 All passes off as quietly as the water of a brook 
 with a smooth bottom. The Americans, I ima 
 gine, would consider it unpolite to make a ge 
 neral manifestation of their feelings ; but a more 
 probable cause of their quietness, is the Dutch- 
 like apathy which they feel, or at least assume, 
 in their general deportment. 
 
 Of their public lecturers I heard only three. 
 The first was a young man who delivered a lec 
 ture on mnemonics at Ovid in New York. His 
 voice was good, his tones were natural, and his 
 illustrations were familiar; but he evidently was 
 unacquainted with the principles of the science, 
 and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that in 
 attempting to explain them, he bewildered him 
 self, though the mechanical part he understood 
 well,and made familiar to his hearers. He was not 
 
ORATORY. 339 
 
 generous enough to make any allusion to Von 
 Feinagte, the author of his system, nor to the im 
 provers of it in England ; nor did he point out 
 in what its superiority to Grey s Memoria Tech- 
 nica consisted. 
 
 The next lecture that I heard was on military 
 tactics, delivered at Boston by a gentleman who 
 is at the head of a military academy in Vermont. 
 His voice was rather harsh, and his tones were 
 monotonous ; and what was a still worse fault, 
 his manner of expressing himself was cold and 
 repulsive, almost sepulchral. But then his mode 
 of illustration was so clear, his language so sim 
 ple and perspicuous, and his account of a battle 
 so graphical, that he made one fancy that gene 
 ralship was an art easily attained. In comment 
 ing on the battle of Waterloo, and the merits of 
 the Duke of Wellington, he made several refer 
 ences to a book, which I knew from the title, to 
 be the work of some Grub-street compiler ; but 
 perhaps it might answer his purpose as well as a 
 standard authority. He took, I believe, several 
 of his opinions from O Meara s Voice from St. 
 Helena, though he made no mention of it. Pro 
 bably every individual present was gratified, if 
 not delighted, with the lecture. 
 
340 ORATORY. 
 
 The last lecture that I heard was on chemist 
 ry. The lecturer bears the character of being 
 an eminently scientific man, and has I believe a 
 professorship in the college at Baltimore, where 
 the lecture was delivered. It is a pity however, 
 that his delivery is so bad, as to make one sup 
 pose that he felt no interest in the subject. He 
 seemed with all his knowledge, to be destitute 
 of almost every requisite for public speaking. 
 For myself, I fell asleep after an ineffectual strug 
 gle to keep my attention fixed on him. On rous 
 ing up and looking around, I saw two or three 
 others who seemed very quietly taking naps. 
 Some were stretched at length on the benches. 
 It was a great relief to me when he brought his 
 lecture to a conclusion, and I resolved never to 
 lose another hour in listening to him. 
 
 I cannot speak in very high terms of the pul 
 pit eloquence of the Americans. My curiosity 
 led me to hear a sermon from a very celebrated 
 itinerant preacher, who wears his beard in affecta 
 tion of primitive simplicity, hoping perhaps to 
 raise an opinion of his having superior sanctity. 
 I had heard so much said in praise of him, that my 
 expectations were considerable. He has the me 
 rit of fluency and energy, but very little besides. 
 
ORATORY. 341 
 
 His discourse was composed of a number of in 
 coherent paragraphs of reasoning and exhorta 
 tion, remarkable however for their good sense 
 and practical value. It might be compared to a 
 kitchen garden abounding with nutriment but 
 with little to please the fancy, and more likely 
 to be valued by a poor man than a rich one. I 
 also heard a popular preacher in New York of 
 the Presbyterian Church, whose oratorical talents 
 consisted in a strong, clear voice, and earnest 
 ness of manner, but who could be ranked only 
 in the second or third rate class of orators. A 
 sermon which I heard delivered at Philadelphia 
 by the Bishop of the Eastern Diocese fell as 
 cold on the mind (for it made no appeals to the 
 heart) as a shower of snow on the ground. 
 Some other preachers whom I heard, had the 
 drawling tone of a town crier. The rest might 
 be placed with the moderately good. 
 
 The eloquence of the American bar is de 
 cidedly different to that of the English bar, be 
 ing more diffuse. The first court I attended, was 
 the Supreme court of Massachusetts held at Bos 
 ton, where though I entered several times, I 
 heard nothing very striking. The charges of the 
 Judge were deficient in explicitness, and his man 
 ner was undignified. 
 
342 ORATORY. 
 
 In one of the courts in New York, I heard 
 some emphatic speaking. I may say the same 
 of the Supreme Court of Virginia. But in both 
 these courts, the counsellors appeared to me to 
 be lavish of words, thus weakening instead of 
 strengthening the impression first produced. I 
 have seen a remark in some American publica 
 tion, that it is customary in the United States, 
 to judge of the excellence of a speech by its 
 length. If such be the fact, the diffuseness of 
 the lawyers is accounted for. But to whatever 
 length it may be necessary to go in addressing 
 a jury, I should think that in arguing a point 
 before judges, it would be only proper policy to 
 be as concise as circumstances admit. Yet in the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, which was 
 sitting at Washington when I was there, I ob 
 served that the counsellors in moving for new 
 trials, adopted the same discursive style that they 
 use to juries. One whom I heard there is a Bos- 
 tonian of distinction in his profession. He has 
 very conspicuously the eloquence of composi 
 tion, his diction being chastely fervid, his 
 thoughts brilliant, and his periods elegantly 
 turned; yet his speeches produce little effect 
 from the inanimate, heartless manner in which 
 they are delivered. Seldom have I witnessed such 
 a contrast of powerful language with powerless 
 
ORATORY. 343 
 
 oratory as in him. His action is neither grace 
 ful nor appropriate, his tones are monotonous, 
 and his eye is seldom directed to the persons he 
 addresses. If it were not therefore for the rich- 
 ness of his language and the strength of his ar 
 guments, his speeches would have the almost pe 
 trifying effect of the glance of the Gorgons. 
 The eloquence of the Attorney General of the 
 United States is of a different kind. That learned 
 gentleman, who is I believe a Virginian, gives 
 play to his imagination, till it bubbles and froths, 
 and in its exuberance overflows and drowns what 
 it should embellish. His altisonant periods have 
 the effect of drawing the attention from the sub 
 ject to the orator, whose attitudes lead to the sup 
 position that he thinks too much of himself; but 
 to do him justice, he has the soul of an orator 
 who wishes to rule and subject the passions of 
 others. He is dignified in deportment and has 
 voice and countenance agreeable. 
 
 The eloquence of the legislative bodies in 
 America, is not perhaps so open to objection as 
 that of the bar. The orator who is addressing 
 an assembly of a hundred men, feels himself, 
 when he has sufficient confidence not to be daunt 
 ed by their gaze, supported by their presence and 
 necessitated to exert his energies. He feels a 
 
344 ORATORY. 
 
 sort of awe, which impels him to rush forward 
 like the soldier in an engagement, lest by hesi 
 tation he should expose his weakness. This im 
 petus assists his utterance ; and instead of check 
 ing his imagination as might be supposed, or 
 chilling his passions, or confounding his argu 
 ments, it has the effect quite opposite, of call 
 ing the faculties into full exertion, while at the 
 same time it so regulates them as to prevent ex 
 travagance or trifling. Accordingly, first-rate 
 orators succeed better in large assemblies than 
 in small. The listening crowd is to them what 
 drums and trumpets are to the war horse. Re 
 move the exciting cause, and both one and the 
 other become calm as the sea when the winds 
 are hushed. It may be said, that these remarks 
 are as applicable to forensic as to senatorial elo 
 quence, the spectators in a court of justice hav 
 ing precisely the same effect on the orator, as the 
 numbers in a legislative body. But it must be 
 considered, that the lawyer who is addressing a 
 jury, knows that he has nothing to do with the 
 surrounding spectators on ordinary occasions ; 
 and therefore, except on questions of great pub 
 lic interest, when his reputation is at stake, and 
 a large party is keenly waiting the issue of the 
 verdict, we seldom hear impassioned, overwhelm 
 ing speeches at the bar. He has to carry con- 
 
ORATORY. 345 
 
 viction to twelve ; the legislator to a multitude, 
 of whom many from party spirit are reluctant to 
 yield. If there be any truth in these remarks, 
 which have been made after considerable obser 
 vation and reflection, the reason why the elo 
 quence in the American legislature is less faulty 
 than that at the bar, becomes apparent. I heard 
 several speeches ir the Senate as well as in the 
 House of Representatives, characterised by force, 
 clearness and ingenuity ; and though it was not 
 my lot to hear one so overwhelming as to bear 
 down and render hopeless all attempts at opposi 
 tion, by making the listener believe that it was 
 meritorious to surrender feeling and judgment 
 to the enchanter; yet I heard enough to convince 
 me, that in case of any impending danger, there 
 would not be wanting those who could guide 
 and sway public opinion. I believe indeed, that 
 in the discussion of general questions, however 
 abstract or difficult, the House of Representa 
 tives is at least equal to the House of Commons. 
 
 The most powerful speech I heard any where 
 in the country, was in the State legislature of 
 Pennsylvania. A motion had been made in the 
 lower house to appropriate a sum of money for 
 printing the laws, when a member rose in oppo 
 sition to it. He was dressed so shabbily, and had 
 
346 ORATORY. 
 
 such a mass of uncombed hair on his head, that 
 I should have guessed him to be an ostler or some 
 such person, if I had met him in the street. But 
 he poured forth with a volubility and energy that 
 effectually aroused the sleepy, and rivetted the 
 attention of the careless. His address had such 
 an effect, that the opposite party was glad to 
 compromise the matter out of doors. 
 
 Whether it be that the Americans are deficient 
 in wit and humour, or that they only suppress 
 the indulgence of them in public, I witnessed no 
 displays of either, though many opportunities oc 
 curred where they might have been advantage 
 ously employed. 
 
 If I were asked to give in a few words my opi 
 nion of American oratory taken in the general, 
 1 should say, that it is rambling and diffuse, but 
 simple and perspicuous ; deficient in energy and 
 pathos, but lively and argumentative ; and better 
 adapted to convince the gainsay er than to arouse 
 the indifferent. 
 
 Having mentioned the deficiency in energy 
 and pathos, I wish to add a few words on what 
 appear to me to be the causes of it. The first 
 then is I think the neglect of prosody. The ele- 
 
ORATORY. 347 
 
 mentary rules of that part of grammar, including 
 those of versification, are probably taught in the 
 schools ; but I am almost certain, though not 
 from any information I received, that the higher 
 branches have, in a general way, no attention 
 whatever paid to them. I infer this, not only 
 from the prevalent monotony of public speakers, 
 but from the manner of reading in the domestic 
 circle. I did not hear a single reader who did 
 full justice to the author whose work he was read 
 ing, except perhaps in those passages requiring 
 no vocal inflection. There seems in fact to be 
 a notion in America, that if the pauses are cor 
 rectly made, and the emphases duly marked, the 
 perfection of reading is attained ; just as if the 
 spirit of the author could be communicated to 
 the hearer by cold correctness. The best reader 
 that I heard was a young lady at New York, who 
 read prose with propriety and elegance, but failed 
 in verse ; the failure in the latter being occasion 
 ed by her attending to the sense in disregard of 
 the metre. 
 
 The next cause of the alleged deficiency, I 
 suppose to be the slowness of utterance ; a fault 
 very general, but nearly as fatal to eloquence as 
 over fulness of pronunciation, which is the fault 
 of so many English orators. The orator whose 
 
348 ORATORY. 
 
 words follow each other like the ticking of a 
 clock, must necessarily fail in keeping the atten 
 tion properly fixed. I have constantly noticed, 
 that those orators whose utterrance is rapid but 
 distinct, are the most powerful. 
 
 The last cause to which I think it needful to 
 refer, is to that apathy which is so great an in 
 gredient in the national character. Without fer 
 vour, it is impossible for an orator to thrill and 
 hold captive his hearers. By elegance of diction 
 and a melodious voice he may delight and en 
 chant; but he cannot gain that ascendancy which 
 is the aim and object of the first-rate orator, with 
 out those 
 
 " Thoughts that breathe and words that burn," 
 
 which never flow spontaneously from one of cold 
 feelings. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 The literature of England is that of America. 
 Our popular and standard works are reprinted, 
 and circulated from Maine to Georgia, from New 
 Jersey to Illinois. At a solitary log-house stand 
 ing in the midst of the native forest, and remote 
 from town or village, I found books which may 
 be seen on the toilette of London ladies. The 
 poetry of Scott, Byron and Southey is as fami 
 liar to the Americans as to us, and the Waver- 
 ley novels are devoured with equal avidity. The 
 Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, and several 
 of our Magazines are regularly reprinted. Of 
 native authors they have comparatively few, a 
 circumstance by no means discreditable to them, 
 as it is the almost necessary result of their situa 
 tion. Yet they were highly nettled and indig 
 nant, when a question was tauntingly put some 
 years ago in the Edinburgh Review, "Who reads 
 an American book ? " The fact was, that they 
 were sensible that from the paucity of their au 
 thors, the question was one not to be so easily 
 answered as such a one as this, Has America 
 
350 LITERATURE. 
 
 ever produced a great man ? If this question 
 had been put, it would have excited only a smile. 
 Hence they may perceive, that so long as they 
 manifest anger at English prejudices and sar 
 casms, it will not unreasonably be concluded that 
 they are not ill-founded. Would Julius Caesar 
 or Alexander the Great have been offended, if 
 they had been represented as cowards? Or 
 would their own Washington have been offend 
 ed, if he had been stigmatised as the enemy of 
 his country ? If then the taunting question of 
 the Reviewers excited wrath in the Americans, 
 we may be sure it was owing to their inability 
 to answer it, or at least to their consciousness of 
 its being a question naturally arising from the 
 state of their literature. 
 
 Since that question was put, Washington Ir 
 ving has redeemed the character of his country ; 
 though in my opinion, the want of native lite 
 rature is no disgrace to them since they are am 
 ply supplied from abroad. When a country is 
 furnished with an article, what signifies it whe 
 ther it be of native growth or of foreign import 
 ation? Before however proceeding to offer any 
 remarks on his writings or those of other authors 
 of note, let me advert to the miscellaneous 
 pamphlets constantly issuing from the press. I 
 
LITERATURE. 351 
 
 was surprised on inspecting a number of these, 
 to find that they were written so carelessly and 
 slovenly, as to appear like the productions of a 
 schoolboy unskilled in grammar. The Annual 
 Report of one of the New York charity schools, 
 was the most faulty composition I almost ever 
 saw. Some violation of syntax was perceptible 
 in nearly every sentence, certainly in every para 
 graph. It is likely that the framers of that Re 
 port had had only a commercial education, and 
 had never bestowed much time in reading any 
 books besides their bibles and ledgers; as such, 
 the errors may be pardoned. But what defence 
 can be offered for the numerous errors in the pub 
 lications of the Philadelphian Society for pro 
 moting Agriculture ? a society which enrols on 
 its list of members several men of literary repu 
 tation. These errors might in many cases pass 
 unobserved, if it were not for the occasional at 
 tempt at fine writing ; for where that is conspi 
 cuous we begin to criticise. I was much amused 
 at an attempt of this sort in one of the pamphlets 
 issued by the Colonization Society, which as a 
 specimen I here insert, assuring the reader that 
 it is only one instance out of many. " Africa," 
 says the writer, " has been the cradle of a race 
 of men, having characteristics sufficiently bold 
 to distinguish them from every other people. 
 
352 LITERATURE. 
 
 Africa, which has been their cradle, is a store 
 house furnished with rich and various supplies to 
 nurture them to manhood, and when the voice 
 of nature shall pronounce their exit, will afford 
 a sepulchre for the slumber of their ashes ! " 
 Till I read this, I had never let in the idea, that 
 there was any country on the earth so filled with 
 corpses, as to have no vacant space for a new 
 grave. But, as the adage is, we live and learn. 
 A still more amusing passage of a similar stamp, 
 may be seen in a memoir of Fulton of steam 
 boat memory, read before a literary society in 
 New York. The author, if I remember rightly, 
 (for I have not the book by me) is anticipating 
 the future glory of his country ; and whenever 
 an American gives the reins to his imagination 
 on that subject he is like a wild animal, pursuing 
 the chase so eagerly that he sees neither posts 
 nor pitfalls. 
 
 The Americans often make a remark when 
 speaking of their literature, which appears to me 
 to be perfectly preposterous. It is, that Milton, 
 Locke, Swift, and the whole host of authors an 
 terior to the Independence are their countrymen. 
 We might with as great propriety claim Frank 
 lin and Washington as our countrymen. They 
 say that the separation from the mother country 
 
LITERATURE. 353 
 
 was in government and laws, but not in litera 
 ture ; and that as they speak our language, they 
 have a right to consider themselves as participa 
 tors in the honour which those writers conferred 
 on their native land. But surely this claim is 
 one that no other people would have set up, for 
 it confounds all the established notions attached 
 to what we call our country. The population 
 of America is a compound race from English, 
 French, Dutch, German, Spanish and African 
 stocks ; and though the English language is by 
 far the most general, yet there are districts 
 where other languages are exclusively spoken. 
 In the midland parts of Pennsylvania, German 
 is spoken ; in New York, Dutch ; in Louisiana, 
 French ; and in Florida, Spanish. Are the per 
 sons who speak these different languages to 
 claim our authors for their countrymen? Yet 
 they are Americans as well as those who speak 
 English. In short, it seems wonderful that the 
 claim producing these remarks, should ever have 
 been set up. 
 
 Though the number of native authors whose 
 works are destined to rank as standard classics 
 is small, there is no deficiency of pamphleteers 
 and authors of the common sort, whose writings 
 are calculated to serve a temporary purpose. Of 
 A A 
 
354< LITERATURE. 
 
 periodical literary journals, they have but one of 
 conspicuous excellence. This is the North Ame 
 rican Review, conducted on the plan of the Edin 
 burgh and Quarterly Reviews, and justly enti 
 tled to rank side by side with them ; for though 
 trumpery articles have occasionally appeared in 
 it, its general character is highly respectable. 
 Its chief defect is want of courage in attacking 
 the faults or follies of the country. Like those 
 preachers 
 
 " Who never mention Hell to ears polite," 
 
 the writers in it seem afraid of giving offence by 
 plain speaking. They will 
 
 " Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike." 
 
 No doubt this caution has been occasioned by 
 the knowledge of the impatience of their coun 
 trymen at satire on themselves ; but it has the 
 effect of giving insipidity to the work. An in 
 fusion of the essence of Swift or Juvenal would 
 make the mixture, like a dish seasoned with 
 spices, excite the palate, and promote a thirst 
 for knowledge. Several attempts at wit have 
 been made in the North American ; but like 
 bladders blown by children with soap and water, 
 they have been showy but empty. The writers 
 have produced nothing in this way, equal to 
 some of the half earnest, half jocular pieces in 
 Blackwood s Magazine. On the other hand, they 
 
LITERATURE. 355 
 
 have not fallen into the flippant petulance so ob 
 servable in the early numbers of the Edinburgh 
 Review, nor into the arrogant acerbity so often 
 conspicuous in the Quarterly. I believe that no 
 work of the kind can produce finer examples of 
 eloquent composition, than the North American 
 Review. Some of these remain on my mind still 
 giving delight, as the music of a well tuned in 
 strument continues to vibrate on the ear after 
 the sound has ceased. If I had read them in 
 the heyday of youth, when fancy was lively and 
 feelings were keen, I should have been ready to 
 dance for joy, and class myself with the fairies 
 of the olden time revelling in the moonshine of 
 imagination. Now that I am a little sobered, I 
 find myself too much of earthly mould to realize 
 such flights of fancy, yet when reading some of 
 the papers of the North American, I can recal 
 the days that are gone, and partially resign my 
 self to the witchery which can no longer deceive 
 me. This journal has for its editor, a man of 
 eminent repute as a scholar; a circumstance 
 which I mention, because he has set an example 
 which it would be well for other journals to fol 
 low. In quoting from books in French and other 
 foreign languages, a translation is given instead 
 of the original. French and Latin are supposed 
 to be so generally understood in England, as to 
 
 AA 
 
356 LITERATURE. 
 
 render a translation unnecessary ; but I believe 
 that at least half, and probably three quarters of 
 the readers of our reviews, are unacquainted with 
 either. The same I doubt not is the case in 
 America. I think therefore that the editor 
 of the North American Review, has acted with 
 singular propriety in the plan he has adopted. 
 If the original be inserted it should be in a note at 
 the foot of a page, that being one of the few cases 
 where a note is excusable. Another particular 
 which I noticed in the Review 7 , is the absence 
 of French phrases. The author who made 
 the practice fashionable of interlarding English 
 books with French phrases was Lord Chester 
 field ; a man to whom we ought to pay little re 
 gard as a writer of language, whatever respect 
 may be due to his opinion on points of behavi 
 our. Since his time, the practice has been gain 
 ing ground, till at last, Lady Morgan has had 
 the folly to introduce them so frequently, as to 
 give her book the appearance of being written 
 by a Frenchman, who understood English so im 
 perfectly as to be obliged to resort to his native 
 language. I myself while engaged in this work 
 have been several times about to make use of a 
 French phrase ; but considering that our lan 
 guage is adequate to the expression of all our 
 ideas, I have carefully abstained. 
 
LITERATURE. 357 
 
 Of works describing the resources and natural 
 advantages of the country, there are several of 
 considerable value ; but it would be foreign to 
 my purpose to speak of them particularly. Jef 
 ferson s Notes on Virginia deserves however 
 some notice from the celebrity of the author. 
 Though in many respects inapplicable to the 
 present condition of Virginia, it is a book which 
 may be read with pleasure and advantage. His 
 enthusiasm leads him to describe things with 
 too much warmth, but that is I think an error on 
 the right side. His prejudice against England 
 I can less excuse, especially as he writes in some 
 respects as a philosopher. His disbelief of the 
 Mosaic account of the creation is plainly avowed; 
 but however some may regret this, they will 
 surely admit that openness and sincerity are pre 
 ferable to the covert infidelity of Gibbon in his 
 attempt to cause distrust of Christianity. If the 
 work did not add much to Jefferson s literary 
 reputation, it at least exhibited him as a man of 
 enquiring mind and of reflection. Exclusive of 
 the bigotry and prejudice conspicuous in it, the 
 performance is creditable to him. 
 
 It is remarkable that no historian has yet 
 arisen, to do full justice to the revolutionary his 
 tory of America. There are compilations and 
 
358 LITERATURE. 
 
 annals in abundance ; but no history, where with 
 out the tediousness of military detail, we may 
 find a succinct and spirited account of the differ 
 ent engagements, of the conflicts of the different 
 political parties amongst the natives, and a phi 
 losophical estimate of the causes and conse 
 quences of the whole. Such a work is yet a de 
 sideratum. Marshall s Life of Washington is 
 too cumbersome. Ramsay s History is incom 
 plete. Two or three volumes have lately ap 
 peared, which are part of a work entitled. Bio 
 graphy of the Signers of the Declaration of In 
 dependence. The author s choice was hardly a 
 judicious one. The names of most of those who 
 signed the Declaration, will be as little familiar 
 to posterity, as the names of the barons who ex 
 torted Magna Charta from the tyrant John. 
 The attempt to place them on a pedestal in the 
 temple of fame, will prove as unsuccessful as 
 that of the suitors to bend the bow of Ulysses. 
 The revolutionary history might doubtless be 
 combined with the biography of a few public 
 characters, so as to be made very interesting, 
 as the mixture of domestic scenes with historical 
 events gives us a picture of the times particularly 
 pleasing. But then the characters chosen, should 
 be such as are really eminent, Macdiarmid, in 
 his Lives of British Statesmen, especially in that 
 
LITERATURE. 359 
 
 of Sir Thomas More, has exhibited the best sam 
 ples of this kind of writing that I am acquaint^ 
 ed with. If Sanderson, the author of the work 
 now under consideration, had taken him for a 
 model, he might have produced a work honour 
 able to himself and valuable to his country. But 
 he has evidently been an imitator of Gibbon, a 
 fatal mistake in a biographer. The lofty lan 
 guage and rotund periods of Gibbon, produce 
 satiety to the mind like honey to the palate. 
 Faulty however, and tiresome as his style is, it 
 is pardoned for the plenitude of his information 
 and the majesty of his theme ; but nothing but 
 great want of judgment and of taste, would 
 have led any one to relate biography in a similar 
 style. The Life of Franklin written by himself 
 exceedingly interests us. We enter into his feel 
 ings of satisfaction on finding his business pros 
 perous ; we delight to witness the development 
 of his faculties ; we take a lively concern in the 
 issue of his various schemes. But how different 
 are our sensations in reading his Life by Sander 
 son ! The simplicity which charmed us has fled, 
 and we have instead pompous inanity. He will 
 never be the Plutarch of his country. But if he 
 be incompetent to biography, it is only from a 
 misapplication of his talents ; for it is plain from 
 his historical introduction, written on the plan 
 
360 LITERATURE. 
 
 adopted by Dr. Robertson in the first book of 
 the History of America, that he is capable of 
 producing a work of merit. Let him peruse the 
 works of Dr. Gillies, or any other of Gibbon s 
 imitators, and then turn to the pages of Hume 
 or Voltaire, and he may soon become sensible of 
 the cause of his failure. An octavo volume was 
 published at Boston during my stay in America, 
 containing a personal narrative of several im 
 portant events in the revolutionary war. A copy 
 of it falling into the hands of the editor of the 
 New York Albion newspaper, I wrote at his re 
 quest a short review of it for insertion in that 
 journal. I have forgotten both the author s name 
 and the title of the book ; but I mention it for 
 the purpose of stating, that though it contains 
 some very interesting particulars, its literary me 
 rits are not such as to reflect honour on the coun 
 try. It may be placed on a level with Carleton s 
 Memoirs, or the narratives of some of our offi 
 cers of the peninsular campaign. In my review 
 of it, I bestowed as much praise as I could con 
 sistently with my sense of justice. The Me 
 moirs of a Life chiefly passed in Pennsylvania 
 may serve to amuse an idle hour, but the book 
 seems little adapted to maintain a permanent 
 standing in our libraries. Some of the parti- 
 ulars are too trifling for publication, and the 
 
LITERATURE. 86 1 
 
 style is not sufficiently polished. Tudor, in his 
 Life of Otis seems to have failed as egregiously 
 as Sanderson, though from different causes. 
 Judge Johnson, in his Life of Greene, has also 
 failed. These works may be useful to the future 
 historian, but who would have patience to go 
 through them ? Dr. Johnson has well observed 
 that tediousness propagates itself. Wirt s Life of 
 Patrick Henry is of a higher stamp ; but in draw 
 ing his hero s character, he has overcharged the 
 colouring so much, that the different features ap 
 pear distorted. These works confirm the remark 
 I before made, that the revolutionary history has 
 not yet had full justice done it. 
 
 Of books, the result of foreign travel, the Ame 
 ricans have fewer than we might suppose, when 
 we consider that such of their young men as tra 
 vel for improvement, visit almost every country 
 in Europe. Now and then, some one makes an 
 exploratory journey into Africa or Asia. Yet 
 how little have they contributed to cosmography ! 
 Even those works relative to their own continent, 
 are generally so badly written, that few would 
 read them besides those whose studies are direct 
 ed to the Indian character and history. Major 
 Long s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains is 
 narrated in a slovenly manner. I took it up, but 
 
LITERATURE. 
 
 found that it was a work which would not suit 
 me. When afterwards I saw a review of it in the 
 North American, I expected to find either an 
 analysis of it, or a selection of the more striking 
 parts with appropriate remarks ; but I was dis 
 appointed. The article was meagre and unsatis 
 factory. If the editor will compare it with the 
 correspondent one in the Quarterly Review, he 
 will perceive the inferiority of his own. Hunter s 
 Captivity among the Indians is an interesting 
 work, though not very skilfully compiled. It is, 
 I apprehend, the best account extant of the tribes 
 amongst whom his lot was cast. This book is sa 
 evidently the workmanship of some other person 
 than the professed author, that it should have 
 been mentioned in the preface, and the third 
 person used instead of the first. Mariner s ac 
 count of the Tonga Islands was published in that 
 manner by Dr. Martin, who set an example of 
 narrative, illustrated by philosophical investiga 
 tion, which it would have been well for the Ame 
 rican editor to have followed. 
 
 Amongst their books of travels in Europe, two 
 or three deserve notice. Of Griscom s Year in 
 Europe, I am scarcely competent to give an opi 
 nion, having seen only a few sheets of it during 
 its passage through the press, which the author 
 
LITERATURE. 
 
 363 
 
 did me the honour to submit to my inspection 
 and revisal. I saw enough however, to satisfy 
 me of his candour and amiability. The style, 
 though not so nicely polished as modern refine 
 ment requires, is flowing and animated. The 
 principal fault of the work, is as it appeared to 
 me, an unnecessary minuteness of detail, though 
 that very minuteness is sometimes charming. Such 
 minuteness respecting countries little known, 
 would have been entitled to unqualified praise* 
 
 Silliman s Tour in England is written with 
 considerable elegance, though with too much of 
 German prolixity. He relates and describes 
 things accurately, but whatever is offensive or 
 disagreeable is cast so much in the shade, that 
 England appears more like a terrestrial paradise, 
 than a country where good and evil are blend 
 ed ; thus deception is produced, though unde- 
 signedly. Of an opposite character, is a work 
 entitled, A Sketch of Old England by a New 
 Englander. This book contains a collection of 
 particulars illustrative of the misery and degra 
 dation of England, and of the tyranny and wick 
 edness of her government. If the author s ob 
 ject had been to effect a reformation in the coun-, 
 try, it would have been a commendable one, 
 though the means he has used are evidently in- 
 
36 if LITERATURE. 
 
 adequate to the end ; but helms told his readers 
 that his object in this publication was to compel 
 English writers to do justice to America ! The 
 work is compiled in such a snarling, moody man 
 ner, as to raise a smile at the author s galled feel 
 ings. When he regains his good humour, he will 
 probably regret that he ever gave it publicity. 
 Should he come in the spirit of kindness to tell us 
 of our faults, and try to shame us out of them, we 
 shall receive him as a valuable auxiliary. At pre 
 sent, his work is likely to be as little operative, 
 as the darts of Belzebub on the shield of Faith. 
 Walsh s Appeal from the Judgment of Great Bri 
 tain respecting the United States, is a work writ 
 ten in a similar spirit. It displays great industry ; 
 but there is far less talent shown in it, than a 
 perusal of the author s pamphlet on the French 
 government might lead one to expect to find in 
 it. The little effect it produced in England is 
 well known. Its tendency at home was very 
 different to what I would charitably hope was 
 Walsh s design ; for instead of allaying the ran 
 cour of his countrymen against the land of their 
 forefathers, it rather increased it. The great 
 mistake into which both he and the preceding 
 author fell, was in arguing on false premises. 
 They assume, in consequence of the illiberal 
 tone of some English writers, that the English 
 
LITERATURE. 3f)5 
 
 people at large were prejudiced against America; 
 though a little enquiry from recent American 
 tourists in England, might have removed this 
 false notion. The book added nothing to Walsh s 
 reputation, either as a literary character or as a 
 calm philosopher, and remains a proof of the 
 folly and impropriety of bringing a controversial 
 spirit into controversy, except where the au 
 thor s aim is victory at the sacrifice of truth. 
 
 Somerville s Letters from Paris should be read 
 by those American democrats, who have enter 
 tained the extravagant opinion that Napoleon 
 was the friend of liberty. He was their favour 
 ite, and almost their idol because he overturned 
 several of the old governments of Europe ; 
 whereas, they should have suspended their ad 
 miration, till he had established a system of li 
 berty. That he might have done so, will scarce 
 ly be disputed : that he knew how to do it, is 
 evident from his conversations at St. Helena. 
 Yet, as this work proves, he was a tyrant. He 
 to be sure declared, that it was his intention to 
 yield to the public desire at a future time ; but 
 who is to pay regard to the declarations of a man 
 who has lost power, when his whole career when 
 in power belies them ? Somerville has weighed 
 the virtues and vices of his government in an 
 
LITERATURE. 
 
 apparently dispassionate manner, and has pro 
 claimed that the latter preponderated. The 
 style of this work is too elaborate ; at least, it 
 bears too much the symptoms of labour. The 
 metaphors are sometimes strained.. It has how 
 ever a fulness and richness which may excuse 
 minor faults. It is written in a philosophical 
 spirit like Everett s Europe, which is a work of 
 merit. The author may draw some hasty conclu 
 sions, but his reasonings deserve to be weighed 
 by statesmen. His style is flowing and elegant. 
 
 I shall offer no remarks on the works of Ame 
 rican novelists, not being addicted to novel read 
 ing ; but it is proper for me to state, that one of 
 them has given to the public, works which have 
 been admired on both sides of the Atlantic, be 
 ing considered nearly equal in excellence to 
 those of the author of Waverley, who is his pro 
 totype. It should however be borne in mind* 
 that he who traverses fairy land in the footsteps 
 of another, is less deserving of praise, than he 
 who strikes into an untrodden path. Perhaps it 
 may be said with some truth, that the Ameri 
 cans generally, have been less adventurous than 
 sequacious. 
 
 Various volumes of memoirs of missionaries 
 
LITERATURE. 36? 
 
 have been given to the public, one or two of 
 which I inspected. They seemed to me to be 
 compiled with little taste or judgment. Setting 
 aside their literary defects, they may be esteem 
 ed as incentives to piety, just as some flowers 
 are valued for their fragrance rather than their 
 beauty. 
 
 A volume of essays under the title of the Old 
 Bachelor, which was published with the laudable 
 view of infusing a literary taste amongst the Vir 
 ginians, and of inciting their youth to an emu 
 lation of the best models, is a book containing 
 some very elegant passages. Few periodical es 
 sayists since the days of Addison, have proved 
 themselves more capable of interesting the feel 
 ings and rousing the imagination than the author 
 of the Old Bachelor. 
 
 The British Spy contains a very curious ac 
 count of a blind preacher, written with much art 
 and ingenuity, though unluckily terminated by 
 bathos. The other parts of the volume are but 
 moderate. Another book of a character some 
 what similar, though certainly superior, entitled 
 Letters from the South, is a good companion to 
 the Spy, though the attempts at wit are too fre 
 quent. Much as these two have been admired 
 
368 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 in America, I think they are little likely to be 
 popular in England. 
 
 Griscom s Discourse on Character and Edu 
 cation is an eloquent composition. The diction, 
 though rather too lofty in one or two paragraphs 
 to please my taste, is not overstrained. The 
 Discourse cannot fail to please those who take a 
 proper interest in the spread of knowledge and 
 virtue. In adverting to foreign countries, the 
 author uses language becoming a sensible, liberal- 
 minded man. His countrymen may profit by 
 the example he has given them. 
 
 Taylor s Enquiry is a work which has been so 
 highly commended, that it possesses, I conclude, 
 extraordinary merit ; but it is composed in a 
 style so unlike that of conversation, that I had 
 not patience to read much of it, though I should 
 have been glad to learn from it the true princi 
 ples of the American government. I can compare 
 the style to no other than that of Bentham, a 
 style so cramp and involved, so zigzag and per 
 plexing, that it has been pronounced to be nei 
 ther English nor any other language. How fool 
 ish is it to adopt such a one ! Bentham s works 
 are read and admired in Dupont s French trans 
 lation, appearing as much more beautiful than 
 
LITER ATURE. 36$ 
 
 the original as papilionaceous insects than the 
 grubs from which they emanate. Taylor s work 
 will, I believe, attract little public attention, un 
 less it undergo a similar metamorphosis* 
 
 Raymond s Elements of Political Economy is 
 a valuable work. In examining those principles 
 laid down by Adam Smith from which he dis 
 sents, he manifests very considerable acumen, 
 causing respect for his ingenuity even where he 
 fails to convince. The language is in some parts 
 perhaps rather too dogmatical for a philosophical 
 treatise, and in others disfigured by needless re 
 petition, but as the style is generally clear and 
 cogent, minor errors may be pardoned. It would 
 be foreign to my plan to comment on any of 
 Raymond s premises or deductions, though I 
 should like very well to do so ; I shall therefore 
 briefly remark, that his book evinces patient 
 thought and investigation, that his principles 
 though not always convincing are plausible, and 
 that some of them appear to be original. 
 
 As it is not my intention to comment on the 
 
 works of deceased Americans which are well 
 
 known and appreciated in England, and which 
 
 have taken a stand in most libraries, I shall only 
 
 B B 
 
370 LITERATURE, 
 
 add some remarks on American poetry and the 
 writings of Washington Irving. 
 
 America boasts of some of her poets, and it 
 will I suppose be attributed to English preju 
 dice, when it is known that none of them are 
 popular on this side the Atlantic : yet there are 
 many amongst us who would willingly render 
 praise to transatlantic genius, and hail its tri 
 umphs with sincere satisfaction. Indeed it may 
 be said of Englishmen generally, that they are 
 very favourably disposed to America and her 
 citizens. The reason therefore, why American 
 poetry has obtained so little notice is, because 
 so little of it is above mediocrity. Barlow s Co- 
 lumbiad is left, even at home, to gather dust and 
 cobwebs like Sir Richard Blackmore s epics and 
 Louis Buonaparte s Charlemagne. The person 
 who undertakes to read it through, may find 
 beauties in it, as Bunyan s pilgrim did in the 
 land of Beulah, and yet like the pilgrim, be over 
 powered by its papaverous influence. Splendid 
 passages may be found in Prior s Solomon or 
 Lucan s Pharsalia ; yet who cares about either 
 of them ? 
 
 Pierrepont s Airs of Palestine has sweetness 
 
LITERATURE. 371 
 
 and melody, but the style is too palpably an imi 
 tation of Campbell s ; a style which, whatever 
 may be its beauties, it is with the exception of 
 Darwin s, perhaps the most dangerous to attempt 
 to emulate of any in English poetry. Hilhouse s 
 Judgment has passages which remind one of 
 Blair s Grave and Porteus s Death. It seems 
 worthy to rank with them in public estimation. 
 When we consider that Young, whose talents 
 seem to have fitted him for solemn themes, fail 
 ed in his Last Day to describe the judgment in 
 an impressive manner, we must give additional 
 credit to Hilhouse for his success. His poem is 
 written in blank verse, the comparative facility 
 of which has led so many poets into rhapsodies 
 and tuneless periods. The author of the poem 
 entitled The Aborigines of America, has by 
 adopting it, been led into tediousness. Like 
 Thomson s Liberty, it appears to be the produc 
 tion of a man capable of something better. 
 
 The Poems of Percival have passages of very 
 considerable beauty, but the versification is sel 
 dom sufficiently exact. In those written in blank 
 verse, the imitation of the style of Southey is too 
 conspicuous, which, however pleasing, is by no 
 means the best model for a young poet. The 
 pieces in irregular rhyme like Milton s Lycidas, 
 BB 2 
 
372 LITERATURE. 
 
 as well as the poem in the Spenserian stanza en 
 titled Prometheus, too often remind the reader of 
 Lord Byron, though I will not assert that Per- 
 cival imitated his peculiar manner ; yet his fre 
 quent reference to his own secret feelings might 
 well induce the suspicion. Notwithstanding the 
 very considerable merits of some of PercivaPs 
 poems, I do not think that his name is likely to 
 be familiar to posterity, unless he produce some 
 thing still better than he has hitherto offered to 
 the public. As he is but a young man, perhaps 
 he may yet adorn our literature with flowers of 
 lasting fragrance, and enrich it with fruits grate 
 ful to the palate. His spring has exhibited buds 
 of no mean promise : may his autumn be answer- 
 ably rich. Pauling s Backwoodsman has in it 
 something delightfully original, but like the sub 
 ject, wants more polish before it is adapted for 
 the drawing-room. The ornamental parts are 
 rather too gaudy for the eye of taste. 
 
 Scott and Byron have their imitators in Ame 
 rica ; but who regards the works of imitators 
 when he can have those of their originals ? If it 
 be thought that the American poets have not 
 had their meed of praise from the English pub 
 lic, let it be remembered that we live in an age 
 fertile of poetic genius beyond all precedent \ and 
 
LITERATURE. 3^3 
 
 that two or three names engross the public fame, 
 
 " While Milton, Dryden, Pope, alike forgot, 
 Resign their hallowed bays to Walter Scott." 
 
 Besides, there is a great deal of fashion in the 
 estimation of literary productions, as well as in 
 the shape of a bonnet or coat. I cannot but 
 think that it is the influence of fashion which 
 has given such celebrity to Washington Irving, 
 with whose writings I must wind up this imper 
 fect survey of American literature. 
 
 His earliest publication was I believe Salma 
 gundi, a series of essays in the manner of Gold 
 smith s, and little, if at all, inferior to them. The 
 next was, I suppose, Knickerbocker, much ad 
 mired by many for its sly humour, but which al 
 ways appeared to me to be too forced to be na 
 tural. But it was the Sketch Book, and more 
 recently Bracebridge Hall, which established his 
 fame. Of these therefore I shall more particu 
 larly speak. He has the merit of a flowing, 
 mellifluous style, produced by the collocation of 
 the words in so artful a manner, as to conceal 
 the labour which has been bestowed. It is clear, 
 but not harsh ; full, but not redundant. His de 
 scriptions have much beauty in their minuteness, 
 reminding one of some of the finest passages in 
 
374 LITERATURE. 
 
 Gessner s Idylls, and in their richness of the 
 masterly delineations of Buffon. His sentiments 
 generally exhibit him as the friend of whatever 
 tends to good humour, peace and benevolence. 
 If such be the merits of his writings, how, it may 
 be said, can it be owing to fashion, that he has 
 risen into celebrity ? I reply, that his merits are 
 not of the common order, and that therefore he 
 was entitled to celebrity, but not to that extraor 
 dinary degree which has been his lot. He has 
 been represented as almost a faultless writer; 
 yet it may be observed that his words, however 
 beautifully arranged, are often ill chosen ; that 
 his narratives are un skillfully told ; and that his 
 humour, happy as it sometimes is, is often as mis 
 placed as roses in a garden by the side of pop 
 pies-. If his famous tale of the Legend of Sleepy 
 Hollow be read with attention, it will be found 
 to contain numerous faults of the kind I have 
 mentioned. 
 
 I will now endeavour to show in what way it 
 is, that fashion has operated respecting his writ 
 ings. In the first place, his being an American 
 was in his favour, public curiosity being excited 
 to see a production of acknowledged merit, by 
 one whose countrymen were supposed to have 
 done marvellously little in the embellishment of 
 
LITERATURE. 
 
 our common literature. Novelty attracts atten 
 tion, and when any thing extraordinary is uni 
 ted to it, the attention is doubled. Hence it is, 
 that when the poems of Bloomfield were an 
 nounced as the production of a plough-boy, and 
 those of Barton as the production of a Quaker, 
 curiosity was instantly on tiptoe, and praise was 
 unduly lavished. Few persons have courage to 
 deviate from generally received opinion; and as all 
 might find something to admire in each of those 
 poets, most were willing to return the echo, till 
 nothing was heard but the sound of praise. Now 
 though I readily admit, that Irving s works are 
 much above mediocrity, and that theirs are of only 
 moderate excellence, yet as many persons seem 
 ed to think that the circumstance of an Ameri 
 can s writing prose of conspicuous elegance, was 
 as anomalous as that of a ploughboy s or a Qua 
 ker s writing good verse, we may fairly attribute 
 much of his reputation to this cause. Probably 
 however, the periodical press was more effective 
 than any thing else in blinding people to his de 
 fects. The Edinburgh Review had been taxed 
 with unjust vituperation of American authors, 
 and the editor seemed determined to shew that 
 he had no hostile feeling to the country ; accor 
 dingly, he availed himself of his opportunity to 
 praise Irving, to do it in such terms as should 
 
37$ LITERATURE. 
 
 be perfectly satisfactory to his countrymen. The 
 writer of the article in the Quarterly Review 
 was almost bound to use recommendatory lan 
 guage, as the publisher of that Review was 
 also the publisher of the Sketch Book ; and it 
 may be supposed that he would not wish a cha 
 racter to be given of it, tending to check its cir 
 culation. From these combined causes, I con 
 ceive that the works of Washington Irving have 
 been rated beyond their real value. After all, 
 they are likely to maintain a permanence equal 
 to that of our most admired essayists. 
 
 America has not yet produced a single female 
 author of any eminence. I do not think that this 
 is a just subject of regret, seeing there are so few 
 female authors w r hose works bear the impression 
 of the softness and delicacy characteristic of their 
 sex : and who would desire to see women adopt 
 a masculine deportment or language ? There are 
 numerous instances of women having superior 
 understandings, and yet maintaining as strictly 
 as any, all the charms of their proper character ; 
 but it too often happens, that those who are said 
 to possess masculine minds, are also conspicuous 
 for other masculine qualities, and thus become 
 unamiable. A reference to the works of female 
 writers, may soon satisfy any one, of the liabi* 
 
LITERATURE. 
 
 lity of women of superior understandings, to de 
 part from the feminine character. To say nothing 
 of the French female writers in general, and of 
 that most extraordinary of all modern writers 
 Madame De Stael, how few are there of our own 
 female writers, whose works are free from pass 
 ages indicative of masculine traits ! In the Let 
 ters of Anna Seward, what a constant attempt is 
 there to display her logical talents, and court ap 
 plause for the justness of her reasonings. And 
 what are we to think of Elizabeth Hamilton s sys 
 tem of Education, founded on the metaphysical 
 subtleties of her countrymen Stewart and Reid ? 
 Who could read her book without perceiving 
 that she was one whom no man could easily love? 
 The works of Hannah More are justly esteemed 
 for their pious tendency ; but if the course of 
 study pointed out by her for young ladies were 
 generally followed, it may be reasonably sup 
 posed that the female character would lose as 
 much in grace as it gained in strength. But 
 one of the greatest proofs of what I wish to con 
 vey, is to be found in a beautiful romance lately 
 published, entitled, Views of Society and Man 
 ners in America by Frances Wright, and which 
 gives about as correct an idea of America, as Ar 
 cadian strains of pastoral life. The author re 
 commends the ladies of that country to learn to 
 
LITERATURE. 
 
 swim, to shoot, and to race. There is happily 
 no danger of her recommendations of such a 
 Spartan course being adopted ; and I think that 
 from a consideration of these and similar cases, 
 America may rest perfectly satisfied with the re 
 flection that though she cannot boast of her Hy- 
 patias, she can refer with satisfaction to her 
 thousands of Cornelias. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 AMERICA, which at the period of the Independ 
 ence consisted of only thirteen States, has now 
 twenty-four, besides East and West Florida, the 
 Territories of Arkansaw and Michigan, and the 
 District of Columbia. Each of the States has its 
 own government in what relates to its internal 
 regulations, the federal government being limited 
 to foreign affairs, and to a few special ones of 
 domestic policy. The plan of confederation is 
 admirable. It tends to unite in brotherly love, 
 States which would otherwise often be at vari 
 ance, and peace is so invaluable a blessing, that 
 whatever is calculated to preserve it, must pro 
 mote the happiness and welfare of the people. 
 If the Amphictyonic Council of Greece, had 
 been established on as broad a basis as the Ame 
 rican Congress, the evils of the Peloponnesian 
 war might have been prevented, and perhaps the 
 liberties of the country secured against Roman 
 and Turkish usurpation. Before however, offer 
 ing any remarks on the excellence or defects of 
 the federal government, it may be as well to ad- 
 vert to the State governments. 
 
380 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The Constitutions of these governments are 
 all republican, though no two are exactly cor 
 respondent. The electoral qualifications vary 
 considerably, in some, the suffrage being nearly 
 universal, in others, limited by property. From 
 the best accounts I could obtain, those States 
 are the best regulated where the qualifications 
 are the highest. In Maryland and New York, 
 where persons with little or no property vote, I 
 heard much dissatisfaction expressed. In Vir 
 ginia, where the suffrage is limited to the own 
 ers of fifty acres of freehold land, or a freehold 
 house of equivalent value, I found a general ap 
 proval of the conduct of the government. I of 
 course speak of the better informed classes, for 
 those who have no property at stake, are always 
 contenders for the superior excellence of uni 
 versal suffrage : yet even amongst the latter, I 
 found the ground of complaint to be, not that 
 any evil resulted from the limitation, but that 
 they had by nature a right to vote. 
 
 In most of the States, the magistracy are elect 
 ed by the people for a limited period. In Penn 
 sylvania, they are appointed by the Governor for 
 life, or at least, during good behaviour. From 
 this circumstance, I was led to enquire, whether 
 the Pennsylvanians are worse off than their neigta 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 381 
 
 hours. After due enquiry, I judged not. I learnt 
 that unfit persons are sometimes placed into of 
 fice, from political or selfish causes ; but I could 
 learn no reasonable objection to the system of ap 
 pointment, which would not apply with increas 
 ed weight to popular election. Hence I am led 
 to believe, that the advocates for universal suf 
 frage have fallen into a great error, in supposing 
 that natural justice demands it. All that is wanted 
 in society, is the promotion of the general good ; 
 and if this can be better secured, as it assuredly 
 can be, by a limited than by an unlimited right 
 of suffrage, natural justice requires, that some 
 should yield what otherwise they would be en 
 titled to. In New Jersey, voting at one time was 
 exercised by women as well as men. Indeed, 
 there seems to be about as much reason for every 
 woman having a right to vote, as every man. 
 Where suffrage is universal, it follows that power 
 is taken from the most intelligent, and given to 
 the least, as will be evident by considering that the 
 uneducated and ignorant abound most amongst 
 the poor, who are necessarily the most numer 
 ous class in society. At the same time, I think 
 that it is both unjust and impolitic, to exclude 
 from the exercise of suffrage, a whole class like 
 the blacks, merely because of the colour of their 
 skin. A poor man by industry and frugality may 
 
382 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 become rich ; but it is physically impossible for 
 a black to become white. There therefore the 
 hardship lies. He feels himself an outlaw with 
 out just cause, and irremediably so. 
 
 It is sometimes said, that universal suffrage is 
 the best security against the use of bribery, from 
 the impossibility of bribing a large multitude. 
 But a member of Congress told me, that he 
 could bribe half his constituents with whiskey; 
 and I was assured, that the election for Balti 
 more, had been secured by one of the candidates 
 solely by bribery, though not by the direct use 
 of money. Human nature is substantially the 
 same everywhere: hence arises the propriety of 
 limiting the suffrage to those who are least likely 
 to be corrupted. Many persons in America, 
 warm friends to their country and its institutions, 
 told me that great evils would be prevented in 
 several of the States, if the suffrage were more 
 limited than it is. One gentleman who formerly 
 advocated general, if not universal suffrage, as 
 sured me that the late extension of it in New 
 York, had not produced the good which he and 
 others had anticipated. As however, the mass 
 of the people have a strong liking for general 
 suffrage, demagogues avail themselves of the 
 feeling, to ingratiate themselves into public es- 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 383 
 
 timatioti, and obtain applause. And it seems 
 not improbable that the time will come, when 
 nearly all, if not all the States, will have suf 
 frage to the extent of the wishes of the popu 
 lace. Whether so general an extension of it 
 may not be injurious to the public welfare, 
 and even to the public liberty, demands the 
 serious attention of every well wisher to his 
 country. One point connected with this sub 
 ject appears to me clear, namely, that where- 
 ever the suffrage extends to the lowest of the 
 populace, the period for which the members are 
 elected should be of several years duration, that 
 they may have sufficient independence to pro 
 pose or advocate measures, which though unpo 
 pular, appear to be serviceable to the public wel 
 fare. If indeed the uneducated mass of the 
 community were qualified to decide on the po 
 licy of new measures, frequent elections and uni 
 versal suffrage would be consonant to reason and 
 propriety; but as this is never likely to be the 
 case, it is desirable that the representatives should 
 have such a degree of independence as to enable 
 them to speak and vote according to their un 
 biassed judgment. That such independence has 
 not been at all times felt, has been obvious on 
 various occasions. I was assured on unquestion 
 able authority, that members had been deterred 
 
384 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 from espousing measures which appeared to them 
 highly expedient from the fear of popular oblo 
 quy. Either therefore, the suffrage should be 
 less extensive, or the period for which the mem 
 bers are appointed should be of longer duration. 
 In a country where a free press is established, 
 and where the number of electors is sufficiently 
 large to ensure the people from the exercise of 
 despotism and the corrupt influence of the ene 
 mies of freedom, there is no occasion to render 
 legislators subservient to the capriciousness of 
 the mobility. Legislators should have an un 
 bounded range within the limits prescribed by 
 law, without fearing that a little restiveness 
 would be the cause of their dismissal from the 
 enclosure. 
 
 The only State legislature which I had an op 
 portunity of attending when in session, was that 
 of Pennsylvania. The business was conducted 
 with that decorum which marks all public bodies 
 in the United States. A question was before the 
 upper house involving several considerations of 
 political economy ; a science which seems to be 
 as little understood as religion, if we may judge 
 by the diversity of opinions on any given branch 
 of it. Two of the speakers handled the subject 
 in a masterly manner, bringing to the discussion, 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 385 
 
 minds evidently prepared by previous study to 
 develope their ideas clearly and logically. 
 Though their opponents could not match them 
 in argument, they were able to overpower them 
 by numbers, selfish considerations and party bias 
 bringing a decision contrary to sound policy. It 
 is proper to add, that the legislature of Pennsyl 
 vania is elected by a very general suffrage of the 
 people, wherefore, we need not be surprised that 
 some measures pass and others are rejected, 
 rather in compliance with popular clamour than 
 from the deliberate opinion of the members. 
 One thing which particularly struck me in their 
 proceedings, was the great number of petitions 
 presented on different subjects, and not only pe 
 titions but remonstrances. The reason of my 
 taking such particular notice of them, arose from 
 my remembering an argument used in the House 
 of Commons in favour of a reform in the repre 
 sentation of the people. It was contended, that 
 if the people of England were more faithfully 
 represented, the House would no longer be bur 
 dened with multitudes of petitions complaining 
 of grievances, as the people would have so much 
 confidence in the person* of their choice, as to 
 render petitioning almost unnecessary. The ex 
 perience of Pennsylvania with its nearly univer 
 sal suffrage, is not confirmatory of this argument. 
 
 c c 
 
386 THE GOVERNMENT* 
 
 In the lower house, a debate about a printing 
 job occupied two days. Matters of this kind 
 should be arranged by a committee empowered 
 to act definitively, an assembly of one hundred 
 men being little adapted to settle what quality 
 of paper, and size of type are requisite. And as 
 to price, if the committee cannot be trusted to 
 make a bargain, let public notice be issued for 
 tenders, the lowest bidder to be the contractor. 
 A gentleman to whom I expressed these senti 
 ments, contended in reply, that the representa 
 tives must as a body give their sanction to every 
 pecuniary grant ; consequently, that it was their 
 bounden duty to examine the items. I can see 
 no propriety in this. Power is delegated by the 
 many to the few, because the former find it im 
 possible to attend to the general interests. A 
 committee fairly chosen, may act with as much 
 propriety for a legislative assembly in certain 
 cases, as the assembly for the people. In the 
 case under notice, a considerable additional ex 
 pense was probably incurred, in consequence of 
 the time employed in its discussion ; for as the 
 House consists of one hundred members, each 
 of whom receives three dollars a day, an das two 
 days were occupied about it, here was a charge 
 upon the people of six hundred dollars, to effect 
 a saving of perhaps one hundred, if indeed, there 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 387 
 
 was any saving effected. The whole concern 
 seemed to me rather too beggarly for a legislative 
 body. It is said, with what truth I pretend not 
 to determine, that the members of all the legis 
 latures in America, are willing to protract the 
 time of their remaining in session to the longest 
 possible period, that the sum of money to be re 
 ceived by them for their services may be consi 
 derable. If so, the compensation should be by 
 an annual sum instead of a daily. 
 
 There is one circumstance resulting from so 
 many separate State governments, which may 
 in time lead to serious inconveniences ; I allude 
 to the difference in laws. Perhaps scarcely any 
 thing tends more to unite a people into general 
 harmony, and make them feel a common in 
 terest, than the being subject to the same laws 
 in all parts of the country. In America, how 
 ever, the difference in the laws between one 
 State and another is often considerable, and is 
 said to be constantly widening. In this there 
 must be considerable disadvantage ; though a 
 counterbalance may probably be found, in the ri- 
 valship of the States in enacting laws of a salutary 
 influence. The career of human improvement 
 is doubtless accelerated by the emulation of dif 
 ferent nations ; and if the Americans have also 
 c c 2 
 
388 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the same stimulus amongst themselves, they may 
 possibly improve in an increased ratio. 
 
 A common interest on many great points, 
 must necessarily be felt by the various States of 
 the Union. The general government is framed 
 on such equitable terms, that every state is in 
 terested in its preservation. The number of re 
 presentatives sent by each State to the House of 
 Representatives, is apportioned agreeably to 
 their respective numerical amounts of popula 
 tion, while to prevent the possibility of the in 
 terests of the minor States being overpowered by 
 the major, the Senate is constituted of an equal 
 number of members from each State. The repre 
 sentatives are elected biennially, the senators 
 sexennially. The former are elected by the 
 people, the latter by the State legislatures. Each 
 State determines on the qualifications of the 
 electors, and the mode of election. In most of 
 the States, ballot is I believe adopted. In Vir 
 ginia, however, the oral mode has always been 
 in use. Ballot has been supposed by many to 
 be favourable to freedom, by offering a mode of 
 voting which can never comport with bribery, 
 or with the influence of rank and power over the 
 lower classes. Cicero appears to have been of 
 this opinion, as we find him in his dialogue on 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 389 
 
 friendship, objecting to the Gabinian law, by 
 which ballot was enacted in lieu of oral voting, 
 on the ground that the populace would gain the 
 ascendancy in elections ; a degree of freedom 
 to which he was averse. But from what I saw 
 and heard in America, I was convinced that it 
 is a very imperfect method of preventing either 
 munerary or other influence ; for by means of 
 tickets printed on paper of a particular colour, 
 and by other similar devices, it is generally well 
 known for whom a person votes. Certainly bal 
 lot is unnecessary in all countries where proper 
 freedom prevails ; as a man truly free has no 
 fear of evil from any vote which he may think 
 fit to give. The less secrecy and mystery there 
 is in political matters, the better: every thing in 
 a land of freedom should be open to public in- 
 spection. Ballot, to my mind, implies a degree 
 of cowardice as unworthy of a free people, as 
 artificial supports are of expert swimmers. 
 
 One part of the American mode of election 
 might be very advantageously introduced into 
 England. Instead of having only one polling 
 booth in a county, there is commonly one in 
 each township ; by which means great expense 
 is saved, inducements to riot and disorder are 
 checked, and the whole is speedily terminated. 
 
390 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In Pennsylvania, the election of Governor is 
 the work of only one day. 
 
 The federal government is supported by im 
 port duties, and the sums raised by the sale of 
 land purchased of the Indians, no excise or as 
 sessment being established. It may however be 
 reasonably doubted, whether the prosperity of 
 the country be so much promoted by this absence 
 of taxation, as it would by a moderate excise. 
 John deWitt, the famous Pensionary of Holland, 
 and one of the greatest statesmen Europe ever 
 produced, was of opinion, that internal prosperi 
 ty was advanced by taxation perpetually increas 
 ing. This however, could of course only be 
 true, where the amount raised was judiciously 
 expended. That the Americans do not derive 
 so much benefit from their freedom of taxation 
 as is generally supposed, is evident from one 
 simple circumstance. In England, there is a 
 high duty on malt, hops, and beer; yet notwith 
 standing this triple duty, beer is retailed in Eng 
 land cheaper than in America. I mentioned this 
 to an American statesman of high repute, who 
 admitted that their policy was erroneous. 
 
 There is, however, an assessment on house 
 keepers for the support of the respective State 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 3Q1 
 
 governments ; a mode of taxation more excep 
 tionable than an excise for various reasons, and 
 not so likely to promote the general welfare of 
 the community. In New York, this assessment is 
 on property, probably the most equitable prin 
 ciple of direct taxation that can be devised, but 
 which is likely to lead to much malversation, 
 and become, as it did in England, odious to the 
 people from its inquisitorial nature. I must add, 
 for the information of many of my countrymen 
 who have deceived themselves respecting the 
 comparative advantages of a residence at home 
 or in the United States, that the sale of house 
 hold goods under the sheriff s authority is a mat 
 ter of common occurrence in many parts of the 
 country, so difficult, and indeed impossible, is it 
 to levy the taxes without resorting to legal 
 assistance. 
 
 It is not my intention to enter on an extended 
 examination of the constitution and principles of 
 the federal government, as such an examination 
 would scarcely harmonise with the other parts 
 of this book. A few general observations are 
 all I shall offer. It is proper for me to premise, 
 that I am not a great admirer of republicanism, 
 but strongly attached to a monarchy under the 
 limitations of law. 
 
392 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 People in England often confound the two 
 words, government and constitution, as if they 
 were synonimous or nearly so. In America, this 
 mistake is never made ; the reason for which is, 
 that each State government, as well as the federal 
 government, has a written constitution which is 
 unalterable without the concurrence of the peo 
 ple ; whereas, the English government has a con 
 stitution founded mainly on ancient usage and 
 modern precedents; but which may be altered by 
 the concurrence of its three estates without a se 
 parate appeal to the people. I have indeed heard 
 it maintained, that England has a written con 
 stitution, because the act of Union with Scot 
 land determined the number of representatives 
 which each country should have, and that the act 
 of Union with Ireland settled the proportion for 
 that country. But this is a very incomplete 
 statement of the case. Can any thing but pre 
 scription be pleaded for numerous decayed bo 
 roughs sending representatives to the House of 
 Commons ? But in America nothing is left to 
 prescription, the constitution defining accurately 
 the limits and powers of the government, a pro 
 vision being at the same time made for effecting 
 those changes in the constitution which may from 
 time to time be necessary or expedient. By this 
 regulation, if some positive good be sometimes 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 393 
 
 gained, evil is also liable to be introduced. Fre 
 quent changes are so injurious to the well-being 
 of a country, that it may be believed, that it is 
 often better to bear some present inconveniences 
 than to agree to alterations. 
 
 The principal error of the American constitu 
 tion, appears to me to be the weakness of the ex 
 ecutive power ; for dangerous as it is to trust too 
 much to individuals, it is often no less dangerous 
 to a nation to have the executive authority in 
 hands incapable of effecting full and prompt 
 measures. The President can conclude no treaty 
 without the consent of the Senate ; and the con 
 currence of that body is requisite in the appoint 
 ment of certain officers. This must be regarded 
 as rather a clumsy contrivance, and of little na 
 tional advantage ; for though some check is re 
 quisite, it should not be vested in so large a body 
 as the Senate, and which is only part of the year 
 in session. Besides, suppose that the President 
 should provisionally conclude a treaty, in which 
 some pecuniary compensation was to be made to 
 a foreign power, how can the Senate act in such 
 a case independent of the House of Representa 
 tives ? for the Senate has no power to originate 
 a money bill. The weakness of the executive 
 was remarkably manifested on a recent occasion. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 An expedition was fitted out to explore certain 
 parts of the territory west of the Mississippi ; 
 but after about half finishing its assigned task, it 
 was recalled, on the allegation that the finances 
 of the country were so low, that no additional 
 expense must be incurred ! In this instance, not 
 only did the government appear weak, but the 
 country itself contemptible. 
 
 Another error in the constitution, is the great 
 extent of the suffrage exercised by the people 
 in union with the frequency of the elections : 
 but on this subject I have before animadverted. 
 The objection, agreeably to what I stated a few 
 pages back, applies to the House of Representa 
 tives but not to the Senate, the Representatives 
 being elected for two years, and the Senators 
 for six, and the former being constituted by the 
 electors of the most numerous branch of each 
 State Assembly, while the latter are elected by 
 each Assembly itself. The number of members 
 which each State returns to the lower house is 
 proportionate to its population ; but to prevent 
 the undue ascendancy of the populous States, 
 the Senate is composed of an equal number 
 from each State. Thus the members of the 
 lower house represent the people, those of the 
 upper the respective governments. Probably no 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 395 
 
 regulation could be devised more equitable or 
 salutary than this, as by means of it, jealousy 
 between one State and another is prevented, 
 and a check is put on the exacerbation of the 
 multitude in times of effervescence. 
 
 I am by no means satisfied that the Americans 
 have acted discreetly in decreeing the entire 
 separation of the executive from the legislative 
 department. Information is often wanted which 
 none but official persons can supply. In Con 
 gress this can seldom be obtained at the mo 
 ment, and on the following day it may come 
 too late. The idea that much corruption and 
 undue influence are prevented by the separa 
 tion, will not be long held by those who know 
 what human nature is. I was repeatedly as 
 sured, that in proportion to its duration, a more 
 corrupt government than the American never 
 existed ; and I heard circumstances stated in il 
 lustration, which if true, appear to substantiate 
 the charge. It should seem therefore, that the 
 government is as much master of the citadel of 
 corruption, as Giant Despair was of Doubting 
 Castle. The executive now manage to have their 
 measures supported by indirect means, instead of 
 meeting their opponents openly in the field and 
 boldly contending with them. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 When Solon was asked to give a definition 
 of the best popular government, he replied, 
 that in which an injury done to the meanest ci 
 tizen, is resented as an insult upon the whole 
 constitution. If the American government be 
 tried by the test of the Athenian lawgiver, it 
 will be found defective. The meanest citizens 
 in America are the free blacks, for the slaves, 
 as a matter of course, are not entitled to the ap 
 pellation of citizens ; yet when the legislature 
 of South Carolina passed its oppressive law 
 against the blacks, subjecting them to imprison 
 ment and slavery for no offence, the voice of in 
 dignation was scarcely heard. Even the North 
 American Review, from which some active justice 
 might have been expected, was no more roused 
 to act, than the Christian senators in Constanti 
 nople, who continued their disputes about grace 
 and election till the Turks had entered the city. 
 Arethe oppressed in America, to wait like the 
 impotent at the pool of Bethesda for an angel to 
 stir the waters? Publish it not, lest the enemies 
 of the government rejoice. But whatever may 
 maybe the errors or defects of the government, 
 it would be folly to deny, that it is one which, 
 as far as the whites are concerned, is generally 
 agreeable to the people, and having excellencies 
 of no common order. It may not be so well 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 397 
 
 adapted as a limited monarchy to secure all 
 the good that is desirable, but it secures so 
 much, that the people have reason to be thank 
 ful, that they live in a land blessed with such a 
 one. 
 
 A question has often been started as to its pro 
 bable duration and extent. Plausible reasons 
 may be given for believing, that its duration will 
 be, if not perpetual, at least as long as that of 
 any government which has preceded it ; and that 
 its extent will be from the Atlantic to the Pa 
 cific, from Mexico to the shores of the arctic 
 ocean. But so differently constituted is the 
 American government from any of those of an 
 tiquity that the example of history is wanting to 
 enable us to judge of the soundness of these rea 
 sons. That at no distant day, the States west of 
 the Mississippi will have an interest opposed in 
 many points to those on the east, and more es 
 pecially to those forming the territory denomi 
 nated New England, will be obvious on a little 
 reflection. Whether this may not lead to a dis 
 ruption of the Union, is a question not easily 
 solved ; but there is great probability, that in 
 the event of a protracted war, an attempt at 
 least would be made to effect it. Another cir 
 cumstance worth considering is, whether the sta- 
 
398 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 bility of the Union may not be endangered by 
 the continuance of slavery in the southern States. 
 The republic of Colombia in South America has 
 decreed its abolition ; symptoms of a wish to fol 
 low in the same track, have been manifested by 
 Mexico ; Hayti is not only free from it, but the 
 blacks have the supremacy ; and Cuba, in the 
 event of its becoming independent of a foreign 
 power, would almost certainly be compelled to 
 put an end to it. The spirit of liberty would 
 not be confined to those countries. The south 
 ern States would be placed in great jeopardy, 
 not only from their example, but from that of 
 the free States of the Union. Louisiana would 
 be influenced by Mexico ; Carolina and Geor 
 gia, to say nothing of Florida, by Hayti and Cu 
 ba ; Maryland and Virginia by Pennsylvania ; 
 and Kentucky and Tennessee by Ohio, Indiana 
 and Illinois. Should a general insurrection of 
 the slave population once take place, and a mi 
 litary force be requisite to quell it, the people of 
 the free States would soon be disgusted at the 
 idea of contributing to the upholding of tyran 
 ny. The contest, if long continued, would be 
 come unpopular with nearly all but the slave own 
 ers. I know it will be said, that the slave States 
 have a militia sufficient for $11 the purposes of 
 preventing a successful revolt ; and that there- 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 399 
 
 fore the assistance of the other States would be 
 unnecessary. But it must be remembered, that 
 a general revolt is not very likely to occur with 
 out the instigation and succour of some foreign 
 power ; and in that case, the assistance of the 
 other States would soon be essential. Remote 
 as a general revolt of the slaves now appears to 
 the whites of the southern States, they cannot 
 deny that it is likely sooner or later to arise. It 
 therefore becomes the duty of American states 
 men, to ascertain how far such a matter is likely 
 to affect the general interest of the United States, 
 Probably they will find that it is not so unimport* 
 ant as is generally supposed. One thing is clear, 
 namely, that the Haytians must feel a hatred to 
 all those governments which uphold slavery, and 
 more especially to the government of the United 
 States, which has acknowledged the independ 
 ence of the Spanish colonies, and refused to per 
 form the same act of justice to them, notwith 
 standing their much greater claim. 
 
 It would be improper to finish this chapter, 
 without adverting to the probability of some of 
 the British provinces being added to the Union, 
 It must be the wish of the American government, 
 not only to have the free navigation of the St. 
 Lawrence, but to secure New Brunswick and 
 
400 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Canada, to prevent future hostility from those 
 quarters, and to allay those jealousies which must 
 arise so long as they continue separate. On the 
 other hand, Great Britain will be reluctant to 
 forego the supposed advantages of those exten 
 sive possessions, while the inhabitants may justly 
 doubt whether they would benefit by the change. 
 The influence of the Catholic clergy, which is 
 very great in Lower Canada, would be exerted 
 to prevent it, they having a dislike to the repub 
 licanism and protestantism of the United States, 
 and a natural fear, that the alliance between their 
 church and the government would cease, if the 
 measure should be carried. In Upper Canada 
 reasons of policy would operate to make the co 
 lonists distrust its expediency. Still it would be 
 absurd to suppose, that Great Britain will be able 
 to maintain her authority for ever ; and as the 
 three provinces I have named, and probably 
 Nova Scotia, are sufficiently populous and pow 
 erful to exist independent of the mother country, 
 it appears to me that it would be the interest of 
 the latter to cede them to the United States for 
 a proper compensation. If from any unforeseen 
 cause, the colonies should resist the power of 
 England, they would of course solicit, and most 
 likely obtain, the co-operation of the United 
 States. Under such circumstances, a war to keep 
 
THE GOVERNMENT. 401 
 
 them in subjection would be uncommonly ex 
 pensive, and almost certainly disastrous. 
 
 As to Mexico, California, and the West India 
 islands, being added to the Union, a circumstance 
 which some of the Americans are pleased to an 
 ticipate, the probabilities are so remote, that it 
 is not worth while to examine them. Yet it 
 must be admitted, that few things in govern 
 ment are more delightful, than a federal head to 
 settle all differences between rival states. If 
 the European governments had such a tribunal 
 equitably constituted, how much war and blood 
 shed would be prevented ! Penn suggested some 
 thing of this kind, and Louis XIV. conceived 
 the idea of effecting such an establishment, only 
 that he wanted France to be at the head of it. 
 If in a more enlightened age it should be adopt 
 ed, it w r ill be to the example of America that the 
 world will be indebted for it. 
 
 I have often been rather surprised that Dean 
 Swift, who is so unmerciful on regal governments 
 in his Blefuscu and Lilliput, should not have 
 aimed a blow at republics in his philosophical 
 island of Laputa. What a fine subject for satire 
 he might have found in the flattery which is of 
 fered to the people by their elected chiefs ! As 
 D D 
 
402 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Pericles used to enlarge before the Athenians 
 on their love of liberty, so the demagogues and 
 even the Presidents of America will condescend 
 to court popularity by reminding the people of 
 their possessing the sovereignty of the country. 
 By jugglery and fawning being incessantly em 
 ployed by the leaders, the sequacious herd have 
 learnt that disposition to extol their bravery and 
 virtue, which has excited such disgust in the 
 minds of foreigners, but which, though often 
 mentioned, is still as conspicuous as ever. Edu 
 cated persons have also taken the infection, 
 which has manifested itself in their extravagant 
 eulogiums on the country and its government. 
 Thus in one of the Addresses before the Penn- 
 sylvanian Agricultural Society, it is asserted, 
 that the only distinction known in the country is 
 that between virtue and vice ! The illative po 
 sition from this is, that slavery does not exist in 
 America, and that the free blacks are admissible 
 and admitted into all the public offices. Would 
 that the government merited the character which 
 this writer has bestowed on it ! Yet in spite of 
 all that may be urged against it, it is entitled to 
 admiration and respect, as the fragrance of the 
 rose delights notwithstanding the thorns that 
 encompass it. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 DURING the contest of the colonies with Eng 
 land, there were two parties, the one favourable 
 to a settlement of the differences between them 
 without a disruption of the connection, the other 
 bent on an unqualified separation. After the In 
 dependence was effected, two other parties were 
 formed, which with modifications still remain. 
 They assumed, or had bestowed on them, the 
 names of Democrats and Federalists. The De 
 mocrats espoused the cause of France, the Feder 
 alists that of England, in the subsequent contest 
 between the two powers ; and it required all the 
 energy and talent of Washington to prevent the 
 nation s offering assistance to France ; a measure 
 which must have been most injurious to Ame 
 rica. The Democrats had conceived the idea, 
 that the French in assisting the Americans to 
 throw off the authority of England, had been 
 actuated by the love of liberty, not perceiving 
 that the influential motive was jealousy and ha 
 tred of England. Accordingly, after the over 
 throw of the Bourbon dynasty, and the forma- 
 
 DD 2 
 
404 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 tion of a republic, they were very desirous of 
 supporting that republic against the arms of Eng 
 land and her allies. Gratitude, it was contend 
 ed, required that the Americans should assist 
 France, in return for her co-operation in the 
 struggle for Independence. Washington hap 
 pily saw that the interests of the country de 
 manded neutrality, and to its maintenance he 
 devoted himself. He was not possessed of so 
 grasping an intellect as Caesar or Napoleon ; but 
 he had a clear judgment, an ardent attachment 
 to rational liberty, and great firmness combined 
 with greater prudence. Though he had ambi 
 tion, it was not the mad ambition of a conqueror 
 who is content to desolate kingdoms to swell his 
 own triumph, but that of a patriot whose aim is 
 to improve his country by mild and moderate 
 measures. Happy indeed was it for America, 
 that such a man conducted her revolutionary 
 contest, and laid the foundations of her stability 
 and prosperity, The confidence which the peo 
 ple reposed in him, was the salvation of the coun 
 try from joining in the system of European po 
 litics. His successor in the Presidency trod in 
 his footsteps ; and it was not till the election of 
 Jefferson that the democratic faction gained the 
 ascendency. It would exceed the proper limits 
 and indeed object of this book, to attempt to 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES. 405 
 
 trace the effect of his measures whether success 
 ful or otherwise ; but it will be proper to show 
 the errors into which the Democrats were led, 
 by party bias and false zeal. 
 
 Perhaps no political chief ever had more re- 
 liance placed on him than Jefferson. He was 
 the man who according to his partisans was to 
 raise America to the pinnacle of prosperity, yet 
 it is worth noticing, that he fell far below 
 Washington in the success of his policy, and 
 was as inconsistent as Robespierre respecting 
 liberty. Not that it is meant to be insinuated 
 that Jefferson is to be regarded with horror like 
 that sanguinary monster, or that in his public 
 measures he was not actuated by patriotism : far 
 otherwise. Still he was inconsistent as it re- 
 spected liberty. He was the author of the cele 
 brated Declaration of Independence ; a docu 
 ment which speaks of liberty as a natural and 
 inalienable right, and which denounces George 
 III. as a tyrant for his attempts to deprive the 
 Americans of it : and yet this man was then the 
 owner of hundreds of slaves, and has continued 
 so to the present day! It certainly was not his 
 fault that his patrimonial estate was cultivated 
 by slaves ; the inconsistency lay in denouncing 
 George III. as a tyrant, while he himself con- 
 
406 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 tinued to hold slaves without making any attempt 
 to persuade the State Assembly to abolish sla 
 very, or instituting means to prepare his own 
 slaves for that freedom, which, according to the 
 Declaration, is the birthright of all men. Wash 
 ington too was the owner of slaves ; but when 
 we consider how little of his time was given to 
 his private affairs, and how little the public at 
 tention had been drawn to the injustice and ini 
 quity of slavery, we may fairly acquit him of a 
 like inconsistency. That he lamented the exist 
 ence of slavery and desired its extirpation, can 
 not be doubted ; for by his will, he manumitted 
 all his slaves ; a measure, however, which was 
 not consonant to his general prudence, as the 
 slaves on an estate should not be released in a 
 body, but gradually. His memory, however, 
 will be revered by posterity as it is by the pre 
 sent generation, for his noble devotion to his 
 country s interest, for his admirable and success 
 ful policy, for his avoiding the errors of heroes 
 and conquerors, and for having shown his modera 
 tion by retiring from power, as soon as the new 
 government had become sufficiently stable to con 
 tinue without his paternal superintendence. The 
 memory of Jefferson will be regarded with less 
 esteem, and with considerable drawbacks. Some 
 will censure his policy; others will question his 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES. 407 
 
 sincerity : his character at best will be consider 
 ed equivocal. Yet because he succeeded in gain 
 ing the ascendancy of the Federalists, he was 
 viewed by the Democrats as one of the greatest 
 benefactors to his country. 
 
 Jefferson had not only a dislike to England, 
 he had a detestation of it. While the policy of 
 Washington tended to allay the hostile feeling 
 occasioned by the revolutionary contest towards 
 the mother country, that of Jefferson fostered 
 and increased it. Hence the Democrats not only 
 professed themselves the friends of republican 
 France, but of Napoleon himself. It may ap 
 pear anomalous that the party in America which 
 advocated the cause of liberty (and it was this 
 cause to which the Democrats avowed them 
 selves particularly devoted,) should also espouse 
 that of Napoleon, since no European monarch 
 ruled more absolutely than he. Such inconsist- 
 ences are however so common that we need not 
 be surprised at them. The American advocates 
 for liberty looked to what he overturned, not to 
 what he established. They saw that the ancient 
 dynasties were falling before him, and that a 
 spirit of resistance to long established authority 
 >.was every where rising. These things were 
 enough for them. Napoleon s splendid deeds 
 
408 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 filled their imagination ; his genius captivated 
 their affections. Apparently regardless that he 
 was creating a power more despotic than those 
 he destroyed, they gave him full credit for in 
 tending to make his designs subservient to the 
 general freedom of Europe. They saw indeed 
 that his own power was augmenting ; that li 
 berty was more and more curtailed wherever it 
 extended ; that his brothers were placed on the 
 thrones of nations to whom they were aliens ; 
 and that these nations were plundered, and made 
 dependencies on France. All these were how 
 ever to be forgiven, under the hope that he 
 would effect, if not a conquest of England, at 
 least a revolution in it. The Democrats seemed 
 to think, that Napoleon, like some hero of ro 
 mance, was fitted to encounter giants and ma 
 gicians, to overthrow castles and slay their 
 guardian dragons, while his sole ambition was to 
 renovate the world. Even to the present day 
 the delusion has not quite vanished, his attempt 
 ed justification to his attendants at St. Helena, 
 having again dazzled arid almost blinded some, 
 who were before beginning to see clearly. 
 
 That the Democrats, notwithstanding their 
 declared devotion to liberty, are not in reality so 
 friendly to it as some of the opposite party, I had 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES. 409 
 
 good reasons for believing. I was conversing 
 with a hot-headed, violent clamourer for liberty, 
 who lavished his abuse on England for her into 
 lerance, when I asked him what he could offer in 
 vindication of the different State governments of 
 his own country for their laws concerning the 
 free negroes. " Why," said he, " I see nothing 
 inconsistent with civil liberty in excluding them 
 from power, as they do not belong to our nation. 
 They are to be considered as foreigners ; and 
 surely if a body of foreigners settle amongst us, 
 we have an undoubted right to decree, that they 
 and their posterity shall continue aliens." The 
 person who made this remark was a man of edu 
 cation, and of considerable repute for his attain 
 ments ; but at the same time so impatient of op 
 position, no matter how gentle, that I let him 
 keep the field in conscious triumph. Another 
 person of correspondent political sentiments, ar 
 gued with me so strongly in favour of the supe 
 rior intelligence of the Americans, and of their 
 being so much more enlightened than any other 
 people in all that regards government, that I 
 asked him if they could see further into a brick 
 wall than other people. This put him a little to 
 the nonplus; but he continued to speak of Ame 
 rica as the land of freemen, and England as that 
 of slaves. He was one who appeared to have 
 
410 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 studied much, though to little purpose as far as 
 the removal of prejudice was concerned. A third 
 person was speaking to me in praise of the go 
 vernment, when I remarked to him, that I thought 
 the Democrats were not sufficiently tolerant to 
 those who opposed the government. " Why," 
 said he, " I think that those who write against 
 so good a government ought to be hanged." I 
 remarked in reply, that though it was proper that 
 the transgressors of the libel laws should be pu 
 nished, there being no true liberty without re 
 straint, yet I could not accord with him in opi 
 nion that death was a proper punishment. How 
 ever he persisted in his opinion that it was. From 
 this, I judged that he could not be a man of 
 much education ; but I instance it to show that 
 those who are the loudest clamourers for liberty 
 are not always the readiest to grant it. 
 
 But the most curious case of the intolerant 
 spirit of the Democrats that came under my no 
 tice, was in the corporation of New York. Dur 
 ing my stay in that city, a small book was pub 
 lished bearing the title of " Gotham and the 
 Gothamites." It was a piece of low, vulgar 
 abuse decked with witticisms, intended to raise 
 a laugh at some members of the corporation, and 
 at several public characters, and was much on a 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 par with those caricatures of royalty so common 
 in England. The English tories would have been 
 ashamed to show any resentment at such a pro 
 duction against themselves ; but the New York 
 Democrats do not like to be laughed at, and or 
 dered the District Attorney to prepare an in 
 dictment. The thing seemed to me too con 
 temptible for prosecution, however the poor au 
 thor was brought to trial. What was the issue 
 of it I cannot say, as the proceedings were un 
 finished when I left. 
 
 The Federalists on their part have fallen into 
 errors respecting both their own government and 
 that of England. I fell into company with one 
 of the strongest partisans amongst them at Bos 
 ton, the tone of whose remarks on their govern 
 ment was so tinctured with unworthy prejudice, 
 that I endeavoured to convince him that more 
 good was to be found under it than he was will 
 ing to admit. The circumstance of my being 
 an Englishman induced him to think favourably 
 of my remarks, and in consequence of them his 
 tone was so much moderated, that one present 
 told me he had not seen him so reasonable for 
 years. 
 
 The great error of the Federalists respecting 
 
412 POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 England, has been their defending those parts 
 of the constitution, those acts of the government, 
 and those laws, which have been and are at va 
 riance with the times in which we live. Accord 
 ingly, some of them when in England have found 
 themselves put a little into difficulties : for in 
 conversing with the tories, they have had to argue 
 with men whose opinions on politics were mainly 
 correspondent with their own, but whose respect 
 for America was very little 5 while they have 
 found the whigs admirers of America, but op 
 posed to them in other matters. 
 
 At present, party spirit is nearly dormant in 
 the United States, compared at least with what it 
 was a few years ago, there being fewer exciting 
 causes. The question which has for some years 
 engaged the attention of American politicians, 
 on the expediency of prohibitory duties on fo 
 reign manufactured articles, is one rather of par 
 ticular local interests than of party feeling. In 
 the southern States where no manufactures are 
 carried on, and where none can be profitably car 
 ried on while slavery continues, there is of course 
 a hostile feeling to this measure. In other dis 
 tricts it is opposed on mercantile grounds ; while 
 in some, it is supported under the impression, 
 that their interests will be promoted by the in- 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES. 413 
 
 dependence of the nation on foreign countries. 
 The idea of a nation s being so independent, as 
 to flourish without foreign supplies, is one agree 
 able to patriotic feeling; but a little examination 
 may convince us of the folly of entertaining it. 
 The landed interest in England insisted much 
 on it, when the famous corn bill, which has been 
 productive of such melancholy results, was in agi 
 tation. The farmers in particular were to pro 
 fit by it ; yet there has been more agricultural 
 distress since it was passed than was the case be 
 fore. The freer the intercourse between the 
 different nations in the world, the greater must 
 be their common benefit and improvement. If 
 China permitted a free intercourse with foreign 
 countries, she would soon begin to emerge from 
 her present degraded mental condition. That 
 the American manufacturers might experience 
 a temporary improvement is highly probable ; 
 but that the country at large would find any be 
 nefits, or the manufacturers themselves for a per 
 manence, is by no means clear. England, after 
 a trial of two centuries of the exclusive system, 
 is at length giving it up, and certainly with 
 great prospects of advantage to the country. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 THE English common law is of authority in all 
 the States originally English. In Pennsylvania, 
 it is true, an act was passed many years ago de 
 claring it of no authority, but like many other 
 acts it is not regarded, the decisions of our courts 
 being cited as frequently in the courts of that 
 State as of the other States, and as much weight 
 being attached to them. It is worth remarking, 
 that the Americans, who profess to pay no re 
 gard to precedent in respect to the powers of go 
 vernment, are guided chiefly by precedent in 
 their judicatories. Whatever credit therefore 
 may be due to them for their improvements in 
 government, I can see little they can claim in 
 jurisprudence. Some of their statutes are doubt 
 less more worthy of the age, than those antiqua 
 ted laws relative to capital crimes which disgrace 
 the statute-book of England ; but the Americans 
 have not effected such a change in the system of 
 law proceedings, as their separation from Eng 
 land, and the superior intelligence of the age re 
 quire. Not one of the States has yet had its So- 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 415 
 
 Ion, Justinian or Napoleon. The lawyers have 
 found it so much to their interest and advantage 
 to support the anomalies of English law, that 
 few of them have been removed. Even in the 
 framing of acts, they have retained all that use 
 less and nonsensical repetition of words and 
 phrases which, under the pretence of preventing 
 mis-construction, is as often the cause of it, ren 
 dering such instruments unfit for their purpose, 
 as blindness or lameness disqualify for guidance. 
 Written laws ought to be so clear that he who 
 runs may read ; but they are commonly as obs 
 cure as a distant object in a cloudy day. 
 
 Though I cannot praise the Americans for 
 their improvements of law as a science, yet I ac 
 knowledge that they have shown a great readi 
 ness to remove some of the most objectionable 
 parts of old English law. In few of the States 
 are crimes short of murder punished with death ; 
 in none, I believe, is that terrible punishment 
 inflicted for crimes so small as in England : yet 
 property and tranquillity are on the whole not 
 badly secured, though the expense of such secu 
 rity is much less. It is remarkable however, that 
 notwithstanding the alterations they have made, 
 they still retain in most of the States, the laws 
 against usury, and in some, the assize of bread. 
 
416 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 A bill to establish a limitation to the interest of 
 money, passed the legislature of Louisiana, but 
 the Governor very properly refused to affix his 
 signature to it, so that it was relinquished. Lou 
 isiana, it must be remembered, was not originally 
 an English colony. 
 
 There is one remarkable difference between 
 the laws of the two countries on the subject of 
 insolvency. The punishment of imprisonment 
 for that offence, has been abolished in several of 
 the States, conformably with the Code Napoleon. 
 How far this may be found beneficial to the com 
 mon interest, has not yet been satisfactorily de 
 termined. Though the propriety of the measure 
 has been much eulogised by some writers and 
 speakers amongst them, I heard great dissatis 
 faction expressed by numbers. 
 
 One very striking feature in the American ju- 
 dicatories, is the reception of testimony without 
 the sanction of an oath ; not that oaths are abo 
 lished in any of the States, but because it is op 
 tional with a witness to take them. This option 
 was doubtless at first given, in compliance with 
 the conscientious scruples of the Society of 
 Friends ; but numbers amongst the Baptists and 
 other religionists avail themselves of it; and 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 417 
 
 what deserves remembrance, no inconvenience 
 that I could learn, has ever resulted from it. 
 The opinion is so established in England, that 
 juratory evidence is more worthy of credence 
 than that which is simply affirmative, that I sup 
 pose the experience and example of America will 
 have little effect at present : yet it is worth while 
 to endeavour to ascertain if the opinion is well 
 grounded. Oaths must have originated in a bar 
 barous age, and most probably from superstition. 
 As men become civilized and enlightened, the 
 necessity of them, supposing they are ever neces 
 sary, soon ceases. The tendering of an oath to a 
 person who has never been convicted of falsehood, 
 is at variance with justice and good sense. Like 
 the ordeals used to detect witchcraft, or the ap 
 peals to Heaven s justice by the knights of sin 
 gle combat, it is ill adapted to the sentiments of 
 those who have taught themselves to believe, 
 that reason and probability must decide in doubt 
 ful matters. Amongst the advocates for the uti 
 lity of oaths, are there many who would believe 
 a person on his oath, whose deliberate and so 
 lemn affirmation they would distrust ? I suspect 
 not ; for who does not perceive, that the man 
 who shudders not at mendacity, would be likely 
 to be guilty of perjury ? The security for obtain 
 ing truth in judicial cases, is to be found in the 
 
 E E 
 
418 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 cross examination, in public exposure, and in the 
 fear of incurring the punishment for false evi 
 dence. 
 
 That oaths do not tend to secure truth more 
 than simple affirmation, is abundantly evident, 
 for perjury is continually taking place on the 
 part of persons whose education and standing in 
 life exempt them from being suspected ignorant 
 of the importance of moral rectitude. English 
 juries have in a thousand cases, given verdicts 
 contrary to evidence to save criminals from the 
 gallows, thus suffering humanity to operate so 
 powerfully, as to induce them to believe that it 
 would be better to perjure themselves, than be 
 accessory to the death of persons, for crimes of 
 insufficient magnitude to demand the blood of 
 their perpetrators. The oath taken by the free 
 men and livery of London, is I believe rarely 
 observed completely. For instance, is there one 
 liveryman in a hundred, who thinks himself 
 bound to obey all the lawful summonses to the 
 court of his company ? Let any liveryman read 
 the words of his oath with attention, and he will 
 soon perceive how little it is regarded by most 
 in some other respects. The oaths taken on 
 matriculation at the two universities of Oxford 
 and Cambridge, are accompanied by explana- 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 419 
 
 tions, the purport of which is to prove that the 
 oaths themselves are to be understood different 
 ly to what their language conveys to every mind; 
 consequently, that the swearer is to adopt a men 
 tal reservation while using them, though such 
 reservation is as incompatible with morality and 
 religion as perjury itself. If it be said, that there 
 is no mental reservation in such cases, because 
 both the administrator and the taker of the oath, 
 are agreed in interpreting it in the same sense, 
 I reply, that this is a tergiversation which cannot 
 be admitted ; because, if it be allowable in any 
 case, to say one thing and mean another quite 
 opposite, truth will be, like a flexible body, capa 
 ble of being turned into any shape at pleasure, 
 and will be completely identified with falsehood. 
 Besides it should ever be borne in mind that a 
 third party exists, namely, the Being appealed 
 to ; and how are the other two parties to ascer 
 tain that he sanctions the departure from the 
 words used ? And yet without his sanction, how 
 can any one be justified in adopting any other 
 than the literal meaning ? A striking proof of 
 the uselessness of oaths, is to be found in the 
 practice of the two Houses of Parliament, evi 
 dence before the Lords being always juratory, 
 that before the Commons affirmative only. Are 
 witnesses before the latter, entitled to have less 
 EE 2 
 
420 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 confidence placed in their veracity, than those 
 before the Lords ? Or are the Commons more 
 perspicacious than they in detecting deception 
 and falsehood ? These questions must be answer 
 ed in the affirmative before the utility of oaths 
 can be proved ; and though an affirmative answer 
 should be given to the first on abstract princi 
 ples, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to sub 
 stantiate it by examples from the records of the 
 Houses. 
 
 It will be admitted, that if truth can be as well 
 elicited without oaths as with them, it is proper 
 to discard them, since evils arise from their 
 adoption. Must not unnecessary appeals to the 
 Deity, tend to abate the reverence with which 
 his name should be mentioned ? And must not 
 making him a party in our petty transactions, de 
 rogate from his high attributes? And is it not 
 probable that the use of oaths, leads many to be 
 lieve that they may violate truth in common con 
 versation, without being guilty of a breach of 
 morality ? Leaving the first two of these ques 
 tions to the reader s reflection, it may not be un 
 important to say a few words on the latter. 
 When a person arraigned in a court of justice 
 pleads guilty, it is customary for the Judge to re 
 commend him to withdraw the plea, and make 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 one of not guilty. Now if the prisoner had been 
 sworn to the plea, would the Judge think him 
 self justified in recommending perjury to him? 
 If not, how is he to reconcile the recommenda 
 tion of falsehood, one being in the eye of reason 
 as evil as the other ? It will be said, that the 
 Judge is actuated by humanity and equity, as the 
 evidence may be insufficient to convict the pri 
 soner, when, of course, he is entitled to a ver 
 dict of acquittal. But as it would be preposte 
 rous to suppose that an innocent person would 
 plead guilty, the conduct of the Judge in recom 
 mending deliberate falsehood, appears as incon 
 sistent as that of a jury, who give a verdict irre- 
 concileable with evidence to save a criminal from 
 the gallows. But the inference that I wish par 
 ticularly to draw is this, that if a man in the sta 
 tion of Judge, a man of education be it observ 
 ed, and accustomed to reason on right and 
 wrong, can in his official capacity recommend 
 falsehood, though he would shudder to recom 
 mend perjury, we must suppose that many per 
 sons of inferior endowments, will persuade them 
 selves into the belief, that when not under the 
 sanction of an oath, mendacity may be practised 
 with impunity. Let oaths be abolished, and 
 simple affirmation substituted, and one will soon 
 be as sacred as the other. 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 In answer to those who think, that many 
 amongst the vulgar and ignorant, can never be 
 brought to regard their words as sacred without 
 an appeal to Divine justice, or rather, without an 
 invocation of Divine vengeance, I would sub 
 mit, that it was a prevalent opinion three cen 
 turies ago,that without an abundance of ceremo 
 nials, men would cease to be religious. The Re 
 formation removed much of this false notion, and 
 subsequent experience has amply demonstrated 
 its futility. Treat men rationally, remove all 
 mystery, and they may be governed without the 
 influence of superstition. I have shown that 
 oaths are frequently disregarded by jurymen and 
 other persons above the vulgar herd ; and I know 
 of no good reason to suppose, that the ignorant 
 are more likely to consider oaths obligatory than 
 their better informed neighbours. I appeal to 
 every Old Bailey solicitor whether it is not true, 
 that oaths may be purchased at a small price of 
 some of the most ignorant men in London. 
 
 A conviction is spreading amongst enlightened 
 persons in the United States, that oaths are not 
 only useless in themselves, but prejudicial to the 
 cause of truth. This conviction too is said to 
 be spreading amongst those who have the best 
 means of judging, I mean the professors of the 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 423 
 
 law ; and an anticipation has been formed, that 
 the time is approaching, when several of the 
 States will altogether discard them in judicial 
 cases. It is desirable and important, that the 
 sentiments of the Americans on the effects of 
 those changes made by them in public matters, 
 whether relative to government or jurisprudence, 
 should be made known in Europe, especially in 
 England, that their example may incite or deter 
 as experience shall warrant. The prejudices of 
 mankind are generally so strong in favour of es 
 tablished customs, that they are reluctant to 
 forego them, till there is a clear probability of 
 no injury resulting from a change. From this 
 consideration, the intelligent reader will readily 
 excuse the minuteness of my remarks on this sub 
 ject; and therefore, though rather irrelevantly, 
 I shall submit to his reflection and examination, 
 whether even oaths to perform faithfully the du 
 ties of an office, might not be dispensed with. 
 The example of clerks in confidential situations 
 in the employ of merchants, may perhaps be al 
 most sufficient to show their needlessness. The 
 fidelity of clerks who have made no previous so 
 lemn declaration to that effect, is generally as 
 strictly adhered to, as that of government offi 
 cers bound by oath. 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 / 
 
 Connected with jurisprudence is prison disci 
 pline ; and the Americans valuing themselves 
 on the superiority of theirs, it seems needful to 
 advert to it. This subject early claimed the at 
 tention of the Pennsylvanians ; and the citizens 
 of some of the other States have also thought 
 much on the subject. It is one of so much im 
 portance, that philanthropists and statesmen in 
 Europe have not been unmindful of it, since the 
 time when the benevolent and indefatigable 
 Howard, first aroused the public feeling on the 
 necessity of improvement in the construction 
 and management of jails. His successor Neild 
 was of some service ; but in England, little was 
 done in effecting a thorough change till very re 
 cently. The publications of Roscoe, Buxton 
 and Gurney, in conjunction with the society es 
 tablished in London for a superintendence of the 
 subject, have been the means of very considera 
 ble changes and certainly some good being intro 
 duced. Yet it does not appear that prison dis 
 cipline on a right footing has yet been establish 
 ed on either side of the Atlantic. When men 
 however think long on a practical subject of a 
 simple nature, they generally arrive at a con 
 clusion near the true one. We may therefore 
 hope that the reasonings and experience of the 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 two countries will soon lead to this desirable 
 end. 
 
 The Pennsylvanians rightly judging that em 
 ployment for prisoners would be preferable to 
 idleness, established manufactures of various 
 kinds in their jails. Weaving, shoe making and 
 other handicraft and mechanical trades were re 
 gularly taught to the prisoners, who were then 
 required to perform a given quantity of work. 
 At the expiration of their sentence, a certain 
 part of their earnings was returned to them, that 
 they might be enabled to purchase tools and im 
 plements necessary to carry on the trade they had 
 learnt, and thus at once commence a reputable 
 course of life. The jailer and his turnkeys were 
 under the inspection of a committee of mana 
 gers, whose duty it was to see that no cruelty or 
 needless severity was used to the prisoners. Their 
 allowance of food was both ample and good. A 
 coarse dress was worn by each when within the 
 walls, their own being taken care of till the pe 
 riod of the expiration of their sentence. Good 
 beds were placed for their use ; and if they could 
 obtain sheets they were allowed to use them. 
 There was in this treatment too much of indul 
 gence. It is said that kindness is more influen 
 tial in reclaiming bad characters than harshness. 
 
426 
 
 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE, 
 
 This probably is the case when those characters 
 are convinced of the motives which prompt it ; 
 but still it is essential that such a degree of pu 
 nishment be inflicted, as to create a horror of con 
 finement. Prisoners whose comforts are as great 
 as at their own houses, will be apt to regard con 
 finement as so slight a punishment, as not to be 
 deterred from crime by it. But when as in the 
 Jail of Philadelphia, the comforts are even great 
 er, how can it be expected that criminals should 
 much dislike it ? The jail certainly exhibits a 
 pleasing scene of industry and order ; but its 
 discipline has been signally inefficient in reclaim 
 ing its inmates. I enquired of the jailer what 
 proportion of the convicts had been in his cus 
 tody before. He said he did not know the exact 
 proportion, but that there were more than half, 
 and he believed nearly two thirds. This fright 
 ful state of things has convinced many of the 
 necessity of a change of system. A new jail is 
 in progress of erection, in which it is intended 
 to try the effect of solitary confinement without 
 labour. This will be a most dreadful punish 
 ment, increasing the horrors of confinement in 
 a tenfold ratio. But if carried to the extreme 
 contemplated, it will I conceive be productive 
 of evils as great as those sought to be removed. 
 When a man has been confined solitarily for a 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 427 
 
 long period, without employment corporeal or 
 mental, his faculties sink into a state of torpor, 
 and sometimes, as was proved in the Bastile, into 
 idiotism. It seems to me, that solitary confine 
 ment if the period be short, may effect much 
 good ; if long, much evil. Unless therefore an 
 alteration take place in the existing laws, in the 
 apportionment of punishment to crime, they will 
 be oppressive and unjust. 
 
 The first object of punishment, it is contend 
 ed, ought to be the reformation of the criminal. 
 This is I think a mistake. Surely the first ob 
 ject, as has I believe been argued in the Edin 
 burgh Review, is the protection of society. Pu 
 nishment therefore should be of a nature to deter 
 not only the criminal from a repetition of his of 
 fences, but others from committing the like ; and 
 if at the same time, a moral reformation can be 
 effected in his character, it is of prodigious im 
 portance that it should be attempted. But un 
 less it can be shown, that this moral reformation 
 is the most effectual in protecting society from a 
 violation of the laws, I must think that it is only 
 a secondary object. As it is supposed by many, 
 that solitary confinement is conducive not only to 
 moral reformation, but is a terror to evil doers, 
 it may be exceedingly proper to adopt it on a 
 
428 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 limited scale, though I much question whether 
 the improvement anticipated will be realized. 
 That moral reformation alone is insufficient to 
 secure society from a repetition of offences, will 
 be evident from a consideration of the frailty of 
 human nature. Suppose a prisoner under the 
 discipline of a taskmaster, and from the effect 
 of religious exhortation, to have become so en 
 tirely changed in his views, as to be as desirous 
 of acting properly as he was before careless about 
 it, does it follow that he will never relapse into 
 his disregard of moral rectitude ? Human na 
 ture, alas ! is too prone to evil for us to suppose 
 it. He finds, when set at liberty, that he is no 
 longer what he was. His acquaintances of un 
 blemished reputation shun him ; but as he is na 
 turally desirous of some society, he gradually 
 slides into familiarity with the bad, rather than 
 have none. Temptation soon assails him, and 
 then, if the horrors of the jail are not before his 
 eyes, he is very likely to yield to it. If he has 
 been in a prison conducted on what is called the 
 comfortable system, this is almost sure to be the 
 case, as he remembers the days of his confine 
 ment with a degree of indifference as to their 
 renewal. The great number of recommitments 
 in the Philadelphian jail, is a proof of this. At 
 Baltimore and Richmond, I found on enquiry, that 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 429 
 
 the recommitments were in a smaller ratio than 
 at Philadelphia; but in the jails in those cities, the 
 punishment is severer than in the latter. These 
 particulars may be of some use, as the example 
 of America respecting prisons has been often 
 urged in England, more especially when it is 
 considered, that the system adopted at Philadel 
 phia, which has been represented as conspicuous 
 ly efficacious in reforming criminals, is shortly to 
 be superseded by one of a totally different nature, 
 owing to the complete failure of the one hitherto 
 used. It is needful to guard against the errors 
 into which benevolent and humane persons fall, 
 as well as into those of foolish and hard-hearted 
 ones. The former class have done mischief on 
 the subject of prison discipline, and are now de 
 sirous of repairing it. 1 wish that their new 
 system may be so judiciously regulated, as to 
 avoid errors of an opposite kind, but which may 
 be no less fatal. I have however my fears con 
 cerning it, fears which I expressed to some of its 
 promoters, and can therefore have no objection 
 to repeat. 
 
 Before closing this chapter, it is proper to add 
 that the administration of law is in general im 
 partial, at least as impartial as in most other 
 countries. I heard I confess some very strong 
 
430 LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 complaints of the contrary, but I paid little re 
 gard to them, as they were from persons evi 
 dently prejudiced. From this general character, 
 I regret to state that exceptions must be made 
 as it respects the coloured people, who are not 
 always sure of receiving even that limited mea 
 sure of justice to which they are entitled. Pre 
 judice often leads the person under its influence 
 into partiality, while at the same he is uncon 
 scious of its bias. 
 
 Though the bench has never been disgraced 
 in America by such men as Tresillian and Jef- 
 feries, numbers have been raised to it little qua 
 lified for the station. One reason and probably 
 the chief reason is, that the salaries attached to 
 the office of judge are in most cases inadequate 
 to tempt men of the first talents to accept it ; a 
 fatal mistake which the Americans have made, 
 owing to that niggardly feeling in regard to 
 needful expenses so remarkable in the different 
 States. In New York, a judge on attaining the age 
 of sixty years, must vacate his seat. This appears 
 a foolish and unwise regulation, the mental fa 
 culties being seldom impaired at that age. Lord 
 Mansfield, when on the bench at upwards of 
 eighty years of age, was sufficiently clear-headed ; 
 and in fact it is impossible to fix on the average 
 
LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE. 431 
 
 time when decay commences. But what ren 
 ders this regulatioh particularly objectionable is, 
 that these discarded judges have no pension al 
 lowed them. Hence, if they have not secured 
 a competency for their future subsistence, which 
 can seldom be the case, they must return to the 
 practice of the profession, perhaps even as attor 
 neys, owing to the small division of labour, the 
 same man in many cases being attorney, notary, 
 conveyancer, proctor and barrister. Can it then 
 be matter of surprise, that persons the most ca 
 pable of fulfilling the judicial functions, are often 
 amongst those who are the least willing to un 
 dertake them ? I consider that the low salaries 
 in the United States, are discreditable to the 
 American people. Montesquieu speaks of the 
 virtue of republics : a more conspicuous trait 
 is their parsimony. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 AMERICA is, and necessarily must be, chiefly an 
 agricultural country, the population not being 
 sufficiently dense to enable her to compete with 
 the manufacturing countries of Europe, except 
 in goods of coarse fabric. Of these, cotton is 
 the staple, the greatest manufactory of which is 
 I believe established at Waltham near Boston. 
 I regret much that I did not visit it, but some 
 untoward circumstance operated to prevent me. 
 It is said by persons who have visited the cotton 
 mills in Manchester, to be equal to any of them 
 in every respect ; a fact, to which I can give 
 full credit from the state of those on the Brandy- 
 wine in Delaware, several of which I inspected, 
 and found in a tine state as to the machinery 
 employed. On the same river, there are gun 
 powder and flour mills. The latter are vastly 
 superior to any I ever saw in England, not even 
 excepting the much praised steam mills in the 
 outskirts of London. The saving of manual la 
 bour in these mills was quite surprising to me, 
 the whole process from the hopper being effected 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 433 
 
 by machinery, with the exception of filling the 
 barrels, for which hands are in requisition. The 
 meal is conveyed into a long trough in which 
 a cylinder works. This cylinder being sur 
 rounded by diagonal flyers, the meal is moved 
 to one end of the trough where it is transferred 
 into small revolving buckets, which elevate it to 
 an upper floor, emptying it there as they de 
 scend. By means of an instrument like a harrow, 
 which is placed in a circular box or tub, the 
 mealis then kept in motion till it is sufficiently 
 cool for the last operation of dressing or bolting. 
 This is done with silk cloths of Dutch manufac 
 ture, which are preferred by the millers to Eng 
 lish worsted cloths or wires, and certainly answer 
 their purpose remarkably w r ell. The flour is 
 pressed into the barrel by means of a board 
 nearly the size of the rim, fixed in a frame at 
 tached to a lever, the power of moving which is 
 obtained from the water wheel. 
 
 A chemical laboratory at Baltimore which I 
 inspected is on a tolerably large scale. Its suc 
 cess may be in degree determined, by the fact 
 that the proprietors have made exports to Eng 
 land, Holland and Germany of several of their 
 articles. Calomel, blue vitriol, alum, and yellow 
 chrome are manufactured by them in large quan- 
 
 F F 
 
434 MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 titles. The acting partner in the concern is an 
 Englishman with whom I became acquainted 
 when we were boys. I renewed my acquaint 
 ance with him when I was at Baltimore, and re 
 ceived from him so much polite attention and 
 hospitable entertainment, that I take this oppor 
 tunity of expressing my acknowledgments to 
 him. I wish he may succeed prosperously in his 
 American undertaking, and see no reason to 
 doubt that he will. When we consider that few, 
 very few Englishmen, have found manufactures 
 profitable in the United States, considerable cre 
 dit must be given to those who establish such as 
 are profitable. 
 
 I saw a satin net manufactory on a large scale 
 at a small town in New Jersey. The carding, 
 spinning, weaving and dyeing are all carried on 
 at this establishment. The acting proprietor, a 
 young Irishman, showed me every part of it, the 
 whole concern being as I thought, creditable to 
 him. I saw gun manufactories at Ithaca in 
 New York, and at Harper s Ferry in Virginia. 
 The latter is an establishment belonging to the 
 United States Government, and is celebrated for 
 its lathe for turning gun-stocks. In ship-build 
 ing the Americans equal or surpass every other 
 people. Finer ships were never launched than 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 435 
 
 the packets which sail between New York and 
 Liverpool. The cabin of one I was on board, 
 surpassed in beauty and finish any thing I had 
 previously imagined. I do not believe that 
 Cleopatra s galley, splendid as it was, was half 
 so beautiful. 
 
 From the comparative high price of labour, the 
 ingenuity of the Americans has been exercised 
 in inventing machines, and when invented they 
 have been easily brought into operation, the in 
 ventors having little or nothing to fear from their 
 introduction, owing to the circumstance of the 
 paucity of manufactures, the immediate subsist 
 ence of thousands not being, as has been feared 
 in England, in danger of being taken away by 
 them. Hence it is, that some machines have 
 been invented and used in America superior to 
 those in England. Those for making cards, 
 screws, and nails, are particularly praised for 
 their exactness, besides a number for sundry 
 processes in the woollen and cotton branches. 
 There is a machine for making pins at Philadel- 
 pia so complete in itself, that a piece of wire of 
 the proper length being put in, it becomes in 
 passing through a perfect pin, headed and point 
 ed. Probably art will be able to go little beyond 
 this. The patent office at Washington where 
 F F 2 
 
436 MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 models are deposited, is a glorious display of 
 American ingenuity, inferior only to the similar 
 establishment at the Abbey of St. Martin in 
 Paris. 
 
 If the government acting on the principles of 
 modern political economists, leave manufactures 
 to establish themselves, they will spring up as 
 they are wanted, and become profitable to the 
 country ; but if their establishment be forced by 
 prohibitory import duties, the trade of the coun 
 try will decay, and sooner or later, the evil of 
 such short-sighted policy will be deplored. Smug 
 gling would soon be introduced with its conco 
 mitant demoralization ; the southern and north 
 ern States would view each other no longer with 
 the friendly regard now so happily prevailing ; 
 and if a relaxation became expedient, a concen 
 trated population would fall into those excesses 
 and outrages which have so often disgraced the 
 large towns in the north of England, and terri 
 fied the peaceable inhabitants. 
 
 The foreign commerce is at present very great. 
 American ships sail in every sea from China to 
 Peru, from Nootka to Australia. No chartered 
 companies with exclusive privileges being esta 
 blished, individual talent and enterprise have full 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 43? 
 
 scope, the beneficial effects of which are sensi 
 bly felt by the public at large, as well as by the 
 mercantile interest. The merchant can offer his 
 tea for instance, on lower terms than the East 
 India Company, though taking all circumstances 
 into account, that body ought to be able to sup 
 ply England with it at a cheaper rate than is paid 
 by the Americans. A considerable portion of 
 the American trade with China is carried on by 
 adventurers, who often make very profitable voy 
 ages. Sailing from Nantucket with a few arti 
 cles of European manufacture, they exchange 
 them at the Feejee and Sandwich Islands for pro 
 visions and sandal wood, and on the north-west 
 of their own continent for furs. With these they 
 steer for China, and barter them for tea. Some 
 times they will take a cargo adapted for the 
 South American market, which when disposed of 
 for dollars, and the proceeds expended in tea, 
 yields a good return. Tea however is not the only 
 commodity they obtain at Canton. Nankeens 
 and crapes sometimes make a fair portion of 
 their cargo. 
 
 It would be useless to enter into many parti 
 culars of their extensive traffic with the Baltic, 
 the Mediterranean and other parts of the eastern 
 hemisphere. Suffice it to say that their flag is 
 
438 MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 as well known and respected as the British or the 
 French. Having no export duties to pay, and 
 their port charges being moderate, they can ge 
 nerally compete with the merchants of any other 
 country. It is probable that in another half cen 
 tury, perhaps in a much shorter period, they will 
 cease to import salt, iron and coals, they having 
 mines of those articles. Though that should be 
 the case they still must carry on a large trade 
 with England, as it will be impossible for them 
 to manufacture many articles on so good terms 
 as we can supply them with. All their restrict 
 ive laws, if they should adopt such, would fail 
 to prevent it. It has often appeared very sur 
 prising to me, that they should export such pro 
 digious cargoes of linseed to Ireland. Why the 
 Irish farmers, who have of late years complain 
 ed so loudly of their distress, should be unable 
 to supply their country with this seed, when the 
 foreign pays a high duty to the government, I 
 cannot comprehend. 
 
 Whenever the West India islands become in 
 dependent of the European powers to which they 
 are now subject (and that their independence 
 sooner or later will take place, who can doubt ?) 
 the Americans will carry on a traffic with them 
 much greater than they now do. All the West 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 439 
 
 India productions are wanted in the United 
 States ; and where but from the American con 
 tinent can the West Indians look for a supply of 
 salt provisions, flour, and several sorts of timber? 
 At present the trade between them is much re 
 stricted by the high import duties levied by the 
 British government ; a policy unfair to the West 
 Indians, and which may eventually be injurious 
 to them in a still greater degree, by raising com 
 petitors for the European market in sugar, indi 
 go and sundry other commodities. Most West 
 India products might be cultivated in the States 
 bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Already much 
 sugar is made in Louisiana ; and if the restric 
 tions continue, the culture of the sugar-cane will 
 extend into Alabama and Florida. So true is it, 
 that whenever legislation is improperly directed, 
 its object in some way or other is thwarted. 
 This the Americans will experience, if ever the 
 suggestion of the President to exclude Euro 
 pean manufactures be carried, or attempted to 
 be carried, into effect. 
 
 From the extent of territory, diversity of cli 
 mate, difference in population, and other causes, 
 the trade carried on between the different States 
 in the Union is very great, the fine rivers contri 
 buting to it most materially. The produce from 
 
440 MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 the upper parts of Pennsylvania, conveyed by the 
 Susquehanna into the Bay of Chesapeake, and 
 along its margin is enormous. This has induced 
 the Philadelphians to project the forming of a 
 canal to unite the Susquehanna and the Dela 
 ware, in order to secure to themselves a portion 
 of that trade of their own State which is now in 
 a great measure monopolised by Baltimore and 
 Annapolis. Another canal is also in contem 
 plation, which may be perhaps of still more im 
 portance to the country, namely, one to unite 
 the Ohio with the Potowmac. Such a canal 
 passing through Washington, would have more 
 than most other things a strong tendency to 
 unite the western States with the southern, a 
 point which to every American statesman must 
 be obviously of first-rate importance. I have 
 already alluded to the canal between Lake Erie 
 and the Hudson. This great work will also great 
 ly advantage the relations of the country. With 
 in a very short time from the period of my writ 
 ing, an inland navigable communication will be 
 opened between New York and New Orleans. 
 What a wonderful alteration will this be from 
 America as it was only twenty years ago ! It 
 proclaims in audible language, that the Ameri 
 cans are equal in enterprise to any people in the 
 world. 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 441 
 
 The dealers in the western parts, resort to the 
 cities on the coast twice in the year, to lay in a 
 stock of manufactured goods. Accordingly for 
 two or three weeks every spring and autumn, 
 New York and Philadelphia exhibit a very bust 
 ling scene, though not equal to that at the fairs 
 of Leipsic and Frankfort. It is at such times 
 that strangers should if possible contrive to visit 
 those cities, as they are then in the way of meet 
 ing with persons from a very great distance in 
 land, of whom they may learn much valuable 
 information. These half-yearly assemblages are 
 the chief I believe that occur in the country ; 
 as there are neither fairs nor corn-markets. It 
 would surely be advantageous for the farmers in a 
 neighbourhood to meet together once a week, as 
 they mfght diffuse information amongst each other 
 to their common benefit. It seems therefore 
 extraordinary that they should omit to establish 
 markets. At present, if a farmer wishes to dis 
 pose of his produce, he must take a sample from 
 house to house till he finds a purchaser ; this 
 cannot be so convenient to either party as a ge 
 neral meeting in open market. 
 
 Much of the traffic in the newly settled parts 
 is transacted by barter owing to the want of spe 
 cie. The whole circulating medium in those 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 parts is bank-paper, silver and gold being as rare 
 as in England they are plentiful. Even in parts 
 more populous silver is far from plentiful. How 
 indeed should it, when the banks issue notes as 
 low as a dollar each. In Virginia, the Assembly 
 has prohibited notes of a lower denomination 
 than five dollars, the good effects of which may be 
 easily conceived. But the most surprising thing 
 connected with the currency is, that there are 
 scarcely any copper coins. The poor must I 
 should think often feel the want of them. The 
 reason why the government has been so remiss 
 in neglecting to provide a sufficiency, I cannot 
 tell, unless it be owing to its poverty ; for the 
 metal may be had in abundance from England, 
 Russia, and other countries. 
 
 The coasting trade is very great. The north 
 ern and southern States vary so much in climate, 
 and of course in natural productions, that an in 
 terchange of commodities is mutually essential 
 to their prosperity ; and there being no duties of 
 any kind on the goods of one State when carried 
 into another, all the evils arising from fluctu 
 ations are remedied, as well as jealousies and 
 contentions prevented. Some idea may be form 
 ed of the extent of traffic between the different 
 parts of the Union, from the circumstance of 
 
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 443 
 
 there being a regular steam-packet between New 
 York and New Orleans, notwithstanding the 
 prodigious distance of those cities from each 
 other. This packet touches at Charleston and 
 the Havannah, to lay in a fresh stock of fuel ; 
 and the trade with Cuba being considerable, 
 many persons take passage to and from the latter 
 place. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that a people so active 
 and enterprising as the Americans, should not 
 attempt to cultivate and bring to perfection many 
 of those productions for which they are now in 
 debted to foreign countries. The vine indeed 
 has been tried in Pennsylvania by Germans com 
 petent to its proper culture, but without success. 
 But surely many parts of the southern States 
 must be adapted to it both as it respects soil and 
 climate: yet France and Madeira supply the 
 whole country with wine. The olive would I 
 apprehend flourish equally with the vine. I 
 should suppose that the coffee tree would thrive 
 in the southern parts of East Florida, and that 
 the tea tree would grow in any of those parts 
 which are south of thirty-five degrees of latitude. 
 And why should it be necessary for them to re 
 sort to the Levant for a supply of currants and 
 figs ? There cannot be a doubt I think, that 
 
444 MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 some important changes in these respects will ere 
 long take place ; changes which may be bene 
 ficial to England as well as America, for the 
 greater the intercourse between the two coun 
 tries, the better it will I trust be for both. It 
 would in particular be advantageous to England 
 to be able to obtain a supply of tea from Ame 
 rica, the trade with China, owing to the restric 
 tions of the imperial government, being less 
 profitable than that with countries adopting a 
 liberal policy. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 : ; -vv-r ":. - t v*je/i so Dfiib*! >*(4n*| 
 
 THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 THE reader may smile at the mention of the 
 fine arts in America ; yet I cannot properly pass 
 them over without a slight notice. The Ameri 
 cans hitherto have had so much to do in neces 
 sary works, that they have had but little leisure 
 to attend to the merely ornamental. They have 
 had so many roads to form, so many bridges to 
 build, so much land to clear, that it would have 
 been wonderful indeed, if they had become emi 
 nent as sculptors and painters. I have not heard 
 of a single American sculptor, but West long 
 since became famous as a painter, and within 
 these few years several American artists have de 
 lighted Europe. The most remarkable thing 
 connected with them is, that their own country 
 offers so little encouragement to them, that 
 nearly all of them are obliged to settle in a fo 
 reign land. When I was at New York, endea 
 vours were used to persuade persons to purchase 
 tickets, to view a painting which was then exhi 
 biting for the benefit of the artist, that a suffi 
 cient sum might be raised to enable him to pro- 
 
446 THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 ceed to England. So little do the Americans en 
 courage their native artists, that it is a rare 
 thing to see even a portrait in a private house ; 
 and their public edifices have few of any kind. 
 The Capitols of Virginia and Pennsylvania are 
 almost destitute of them : that of New York has 
 a full length portrait of Washington, and of se 
 veral of the State governors : that of the United 
 States has two historical paintings of very inter 
 esting subjects, one being the signing of the 
 Declaration of Independence, the other the final 
 surrender of the British troops to the American, 
 by which the revolutionary war was terminated. 
 I must say however, that these two paintings 
 appeared to me to be too much of daubs to be 
 placed in the Capitol. The painting exhibited 
 at New York was of St. Paul preaching at 
 Athens. The execution, so far as I could judge, 
 was, with one or two defects, such as would re 
 flect credit on painters of more practice than the 
 young man whose performance it was. But the 
 design, exemplified a remark made by Dr. Adam 
 Clarke, in one of his notes on the Bible, that 
 painters are bad commentators. To produce 
 effect, they depart from probability. In this 
 painting, as in almost all those taken from scrip 
 ture, figures are introduced in situations quite 
 unnatural. The same fault is particularly con- 
 
THE FINE ARTS. 447 
 
 spicuous in West s painting of Christ Rejected, 
 where a woman is lying on the cross in a way 
 very unlikely to have been the case. Who 
 amongst painters except Teniers, deserves the 
 character of being a follower of nature ? In se 
 veral of the museums are some paintings credit 
 able to the country. 
 
 The museums themselves may properly be 
 here noticed. In Boston, New York, Philadel 
 phia, Baltimore and Richmond, are museums of 
 curiosities natural and artificial. Peele s Mu 
 seum in Philadelphia is considered the best in 
 the United States. It has treasures, of use to 
 the geologist, the ornithologist, the zoographer 
 and the antiquarian. To compare it with the 
 British Museum in London, or that in the Gar 
 den of Plants in Paris, would be unfair, yet it 
 may be believed, that few cities of the same mag 
 nitude in either England or France can show one 
 superior. Some great additions are however re 
 quisite in the departments of entomology and mi 
 neralogy. 
 
 The only public exhibition of a collection of 
 paintings by living artists that I saw or heard of, 
 was that of the Academy of Arts of Philadel 
 phia. It appeared to me to be a very creditable 
 
448 THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 exhibition. The number of pictures was about 
 the same as that in the annual exhibition at Nor 
 wich, and the talent displayed also much on a 
 par. Philadelphia however, be it observed, con 
 tains a population more than double that of Nor 
 wich, and is the metropolis of a State as large 
 as England, whereas Norwich, though the capi 
 tal of a county, is a city of only third rate im 
 portance. This is not mentioned with any invK 
 dious feeling, but with a view of giving a just 
 idea of the progress of the fine arts in America. 
 
 I have mentioned that in several of the cities 
 ornamental architecture has been in requisition 
 to embellish the public buildings, I have little 
 to add on this subject ; yet it is right to state, 
 that in some of the rising villages and small 
 towns, a similar attention to beauty is apparent. 
 In the western parts of New York in particular, 
 I was much struck with the elegance of some of 
 the church spires. 
 
 The University of Virginia at Charlottes ville 
 is a large building, in which the architect has 
 properly displayed all the different orders. Per 
 haps it may be called a beautiful building, though 
 I cannot think that its construction is such as to 
 manifest good taste. It has five divisions united 
 
THE FINE ARTS. 449 
 
 by colonnades, each of which divisions separate* 
 ly viewed seems elegant and complete ; but there 
 being no symmetry observed in their combina 
 tion, the general effect is displeasing. Except 
 when viewed from a distance, it appears too much 
 like a number of distinct buildings ; a fault which 
 I regard as capital, since whatever can be taken 
 in at one glance should have uniformity and com 
 pleteness. The plan of a city should be diver 
 sified ; that of a large edifice correspondent in 
 the parts. 
 
 The room in which the House of Representa 
 tives assemble in the Capitol of Washington is 
 one of the finest rooms in the world. This may be 
 thought a strong expression, but I believe that 
 all who have entered it will concur in its justice. 
 It is semicircular ; and the speaker s chair being 
 placed in the centre of the diametrical line, the 
 members are ranged in semicircles round him. 
 The roof is supported by marble pillars, crimson 
 curtains hanging in festoons being between them. 
 Over the speaker s chair is a gigantic female fi 
 gure, which is I believe intended to be emblema 
 tical of America. The floor being carpeted, no 
 thing seems wanting to the comfort and conve 
 nience of the members, or to the elegant finish 
 of the room. It has however one most unfortu- 
 
 G G 
 
450 THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 nate defect. The voice of the orator who Is ad 
 dressing the house is often lost in reverberation. 
 No corrective has hitherto been found for this 
 defect. I have seen rooms larger and more splen 
 did than this ; but I never saw one which seem 
 ed more completely to unite beauty and grandeur 
 with utility. 
 
 We are indebted to America for great im 
 provements in engraving, and particularly for 
 the application of steel to that beautiful art ; yet 
 the number of prints executed in the country is 
 comparatively few. Those which are inserted 
 in the editions of English books republished in 
 New York, Philadelphia and Boston are com 
 monly of very contemptible execution. I was 
 shown however one or two works to which I could 
 not refuse my praise, they being such as would 
 .have done honour to any artist. Lithography 
 has been but recently introduced. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 MORALS. 
 
 A PERSON who after travelling in New England 
 makes his way into Maryland and Virginia, may 
 soon perceive that he is in a district less moral 
 in several particulars than that he has left. How 
 much of this difference is attributable to slavery, 
 I shall not now enquire ; but the fact should be 
 remembered. The New Englanders, though 
 very circumspect in their general deportment, 
 are taxed by their southern neighbours with du 
 plicity manifesting itself in low cunning. There 
 may perhaps be good ground for a partial charge 
 of this nature, but I am of opinion that the na 
 tives of the southern States, instead of railing 
 against the ambidextrous New Englanders, ought 
 rather to charge themselves with a want of per 
 spicacity, since if they are often duped, the fault 
 is mainly their own. The cause of those of the 
 south entertaining a bad opinion of their north 
 ern neighbours, is, that nearly all the pedlers 
 amongst them are from New England ; and ped 
 lers being men who in all countries thrive by 
 meanness and trickery, they have been the means 
 
MORALS. 
 
 of raising suspicions respecting the character of 
 the natives of New England generally. As far 
 as my observations went, the people of the north 
 taken collectively may vie with those of the 
 other districts ; for if it be admitted that they 
 have amongst them a more than medium portion 
 of persons prone to base artifice, the people of 
 the midland and southern States, may be accused 
 of drunkenness and some other vices to an ex 
 tent beyond that perceptible in New England. 
 
 Drunkenness has been said to be the great 
 vice of the Americans. It must however be 
 confined very much to the labouring classes. 
 The upper class appeared to me to be very tem 
 perate, the middle bibacious more than health 
 requires, and the lower only, justly chargeable 
 with ebriety. As a people, the Americans are 
 certainly not so sober as the French or Germans, 
 but perhaps are about on a level with the Irish. 
 However a tradesman at Georgetown, who was 
 I believe a druggist though styled a doctor, a 
 man of intelligence and respectability, assured 
 me that it had been ascertained past doubt, that 
 in the District of Columbia there are more pints 
 of whiskey consumed than pounds of flour ! If 
 this be the fact, and he told me that I might 
 rely on it, it implies a still lower state of mora- 
 
MORALS. 453 
 
 lity in this particular than I have assigned to 
 them. 
 
 Profanity of language prevails to a most shock 
 ing extent in all parts. As I was walking in 
 Providence, my attention was arrested by the 
 horrid expressions used by the children at play 
 in the streets. They were as voluble in oaths 
 and curses as hoary sinners ; a lamentable de 
 gradation, for not correcting which I must think 
 the schoolmasters and clergy are to be blamed. 
 The educated in many places seem as prone to 
 profanity as the ignorant. The Americans want 
 some man amongst them with the energy and 
 zeal of Whitfield, whose abhorrence of such lan 
 guage was so great, that he once, it is said, be 
 gan a sermon by uttering imprecations on the 
 congregation to convince them of its offensive 
 and impious nature, and then changing his tone 
 after the manner of Sterne s sermon on the house 
 of mourning, thundered denunciations on those 
 who were guilty of it. 
 
 I have been surprised to find in some of the 
 publications respecting America, a charge, or at 
 least an insinuation, that honesty is a virtue so 
 little respected amongst the natives, that few of 
 them, even of the upper rank, were to be impli- 
 
454 MORALS. 
 
 citly confided in. How this unworthy idea ori 
 ginated I cannot say ; but it appeared to me not 
 substantiated by any thing I saw or heard. 
 The facility of obtaining a livelihood by honest 
 industry is so great, that temptations to petty 
 thefts are not so strong as in countries more 
 populous ; and I saw no reason to believe that 
 the rich are more suspicious of their poor neigh 
 bours than the people of England, though I must 
 confess that I believe the American poor are not 
 so generally clear of an addiction to pilfering as 
 the French. On the other hand, candour re 
 quires me to state, that during my abode in the 
 country, I never, whether in public or private 
 houses, was in the habit of fastening my bed 
 room door, having no fear of losing any thing. 
 The upper class seemed to have that frank con 
 fidence in each other, which is the best proof of 
 general good character. The great hospitality 
 which they so often manifest to entire strangers, 
 is another proof corroborative of it, since they 
 must become suspicious, if their kindness were 
 often infringed on by unprincipled men. 
 
 Amongst the upper class however, gambling 
 
 is very prevalent, more especially amongst those 
 
 of the southern States. The same may be said 
 
 of duelling, which has unfortunately been in fa- 
 
MORALS* 455 
 
 shion to a much greater degree than in any coun 
 try in Europe. That so disgraceful a remnant of 
 semi-barbarity should be continued amongst ci 
 vilized men, may justly excite our wonder and 
 pity. I know indeed, that some persons think 
 that the practice may as well be continued, as it 
 occasionally rids society of a few, whose fiery spi 
 rits not being under the restraint of reason, are 
 as well removed. Yet surely when we consider 
 how much distress it occasions in families, and 
 how greatly it tends to prevent an amicable ad 
 justment of differences, it is better to convince 
 men of its uselessness, impolicy and wickedness, 
 than to attempt to uphold it on some supposed 
 grounds of its benefit to society. If a man re 
 ceives a real injury from his neighbour, the laws 
 are competent to his redress, or at least, are more 
 competent to it than duelling. If he subjects 
 himself to an insult for which no legal remedy is 
 obtainable, it is better, in spite of what is urged 
 to the contrary by men of pretended acute ho 
 nour, for him to submit to it, and trust to his ge 
 neral past and future conduct as a security for 
 the approbation of his associates, rather than to 
 hazard his life and that of a fellow being. Nor 
 would such tame, inglorious submission be de 
 trimental to the best interests of society. A spi 
 rit would be manifested in favour of anaggriev 
 
456 MORALS. 
 
 ed individual, far more valuable than that arising 
 from the partial approbation bestowed for the 
 maintenance of honour by outrageous means. 
 When nations become completely civilized duel 
 ling must cease. Law can never tolerate it, and 
 that civilization is incomplete where law is not 
 paramount. As to the notion of obtaining sa 
 tisfaction for an insult, by the party s meeting 
 me with a loaded pistol, what sort of satisfaction 
 is that ? If I kill my opponent, surely I must 
 be a savage indeed to find satisfaction in having 
 committed murder. If he kills me, is it, or can 
 it be, a satisfaction to my friends to hear of my 
 death ? Duelling was instituted at a time when 
 the principles of morals being imperfectly un 
 derstood, false notions of right and wrong had 
 possession of the public mind ; and it has been 
 continued by fashion, whose influence is so pre 
 dominant that few minds have been sufficiently 
 strong to resist and despise it. However much 
 Europe may be indebted to Charles V. and Fran 
 cis I., it cannot be forgotten that it was to their 
 example, that duelling became so extensive and 
 general. Happy will it be for mankind, when 
 we can truly say in the words of Burke, that 
 " the age of chivalry is gone ;" for notwithstand 
 ing its beautiful appearance, it was unfit for cul 
 tivated man, however adapted in several respects 
 
MORALS. 457 
 
 to inspire generous sentiments in the breasts of 
 rude warriors. Man is said to be as naturally 
 pugnacious as he is selfish. It is the province 
 of civilization to correct the waywardness of na 
 ture, and make it submissive to the common in 
 terest, as the skilful gardener renders wild and 
 sour fruit trees capable of bearing fruit deli 
 cious to the palate. The American philosophers 
 and legislators ought to endeavour to mould the 
 dispositions of their countrymen into the pliabi 
 lity requisite in an enlightened age ; then will 
 the nation become more and more a pattern to 
 the rest of the world. Duelling though not so 
 atrocious as assassination is nearly allied to it. 
 Unhappily the Americans are as addicted to the 
 one as the Spaniards to the other. I am glad to 
 learn that the Assembly of South Carolina has 
 recently taken the subject into its consideration 
 with a view to enact measures to produce the 
 total extinction of it. 
 
 Female prostitution is I believe less general 
 in America than in most European countries. 
 Scotland and Wales are probably the only two 
 that may be said to be as free from it as Ame 
 rica. The coloured girls in the southern States 
 are however to be excepted from the general mo 
 ral character of the sex throughout the country, 
 
458 MORALS. 
 
 the reason for which is, that they are not taught 
 to respect themselves and value modesty. The 
 white women of respectability take care to in 
 fluence by their example and instructions those 
 of their own colour, but seem very regardless of 
 bringing to a proper sense of the value of repu 
 tation, those whose complexion is less fair than 
 their own. This inattention on their part, is the 
 cause of the seduction of a coloured girl being 
 passed by as a harmless thing, while that of a 
 white girl is regarded as a very heinous crime. 
 A tradesman at Fredericsburg told me, that the 
 seduction of a coloured girl was the almost in 
 variable result of her settling in that town. A 
 mulatto at Petersburg, by trade a barber, replied 
 to my enquiry why he did not marry, that no 
 white woman would consent to receive his ad 
 dresses, and that amongst those of his own co 
 lour, there were only three in the town whose 
 chastity was unimpeached. When making en 
 quiry respecting the state of morals at Norfolk, 
 I received an account nearly as bad. In the 
 northern States on the contrary, the seduction 
 of a coloured girl is as rare as that of a white, 
 and prostitution in general is less conspicuous 
 than in some parts of Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Crimes of great magnitude, such as murder, 
 
MORALS. 459 
 
 burglary and the like, are I believe as little to 
 be dreaded by the peaceable inhabitants, as in 
 most other countries. I take a pleasure in stat 
 ing this, as from the accounts published by some 
 of our countrymen, it might be inferred that 
 America is the land of lawless rapine. During 
 my whole journey, I heard of no alarming out 
 rages except by some incendiaries in Philadel 
 phia. The inhabitants in general seemed to be 
 as little afraid of aggression, as were the people 
 of the poetical Golden Age. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 FROM the antecedent chapters of this work, a to 
 lerably correct estimate of the national charac 
 ter of the Americans, may I believe be formed. 
 But as some advantage may arise from a concen 
 trated view, and as some traits have not yet been 
 alluded to, I shall endeavour in this chapter to 
 give such a sketch as may correspond with the 
 plan hitherto adopted. I am very sensible of the 
 mistakes into which writers prone to generaliza 
 tion are apt to fall ; but as my opportunities of 
 forming a right judgment were as considerable 
 as could reasonably be expected in the time I 
 had, and as candour will guide my pen, I trust 
 that I shall be found in general to be correct. 
 The repetition of a few particulars, will, under 
 this consideration, be excused by the reader who 
 has had the patience to accompany me regularly 
 thus far. I must premise that considerable di 
 versity prevails in the different districts of the 
 country. Yet as the general outline is sufficiently 
 correspondent to enable something of a common 
 character to be applicable to them all, I do not 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 461 
 
 think that much inconvenience will arise from 
 placing them in one group. It is however abso 
 lutely necessary to keep the blacks distinct from 
 the whites, as the two races are not at present so 
 incorporated as to be one people. In the first 
 place therefore, let me attempt to describe the 
 blacks. 
 
 Being chiefly in menial situations, and in all 
 parts ranked below the whites, the blacks have 
 had little opportunity of becoming polished and 
 educated ; and taking every thing into account 
 connected with their comparative disadvantages, 
 I think we ought rather to wonder that their cha 
 racter is so fair as it is, than that it is no better. 
 So long as men are excluded from the society of 
 those more refined and better informed than 
 themselves, they cannot be expected to advance 
 otherwise than slowly in the improvement of their 
 minds and manners. In mental cultivation the 
 blacks are particularly deficient. Of the thou 
 sands amongst them who possess a nominal free 
 dom, I question whether there are half a dozen 
 who have had a liberal, classical education. I 
 heard of only twp who had been so fortunate, to 
 neither of whom did I chance to get introduced. 
 Several of those however with whom I conversed 
 showed themselves equal to the whites in a simi- 
 
462 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 lar station, and two or three I thought rather su 
 perior. One man in particular who told me that 
 he was born a slave, showed a degree of good 
 sense and reason very pleasing. In their mo 
 rals, they are nearly on a level with the whites, 
 except the female coloured girls in the southern 
 States who have certainly more lubricity than the 
 white girls. As far as regularity in the attend 
 ance of public worship is a proof of being reli 
 gious, the coloured people may safely be com 
 pared with the rest of the community, and pro 
 nounced as religious as any. 
 
 In the slave States they are very obsequious 
 in their behaviour, scarcely daring to pass a white 
 man on the road without making some token in 
 dicative of his superiority. I do not now allude to 
 the slaves, but to those who have obtained their 
 freedom, for the slaves seem to be as much afraid 
 of their masters as Caliban of Prospero, and are 
 treated in their turn as contemptuously as Shak- 
 speare describes that hag-begotten monster to 
 have been, with the exception however of such of 
 them as are retained as domestic servants. In 
 the free States, the blacks assume a freer deport 
 ment, and which to whites who travel from the 
 south to the north is very annoying. I heard 
 some persons from New Orleans Complain loudly 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 465 
 
 of the insolence of the blacks of New York, in 
 presuming to take the wall in walking the streets, 
 instead of always yielding it to the whites. But 
 as to any real insolence, I must say that I noticed 
 as little of it in them as in the whites of the 
 working class. Amongst the blacks of the better 
 sort, I met several whose behaviour was entitled 
 to a higher epithet than civil ; it was, though not 
 very polished, decorous and respectfully atten 
 tive. Having a desire to attend a sitting of the 
 Conference of the Methodist church of the co 
 loured people, I waited on the chairman, and re 
 quested as a favour that I might be allowed to 
 enter the room. They usually sit with closed 
 doors ; but my request was complied with. On 
 entering, I was invited to take a seat near the 
 chairman. I did so, and both then and at other 
 times when I conversed with him, I found that 
 he could demean himself in a very agreeable 
 manner. A minister amongst the Baptists, with 
 whom I held a lengthened conversation, seemed 
 also to be of pleasing manners. And I saw a man 
 at Alexandria in the District of Columbia, who 
 had as captivating behaviour as I have often seen. 
 I believe I may say that I was more struck with 
 his elegance, than with that of any white in the 
 town, though I was at the houses of some of the 
 more wealthy inhabitants. 
 
464 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 It is said of the blacks by their white brethren, 
 that they are incapable of that elevation of soul, 
 that lofty enthusiasm, without which men cannot 
 be ranked high in the scale of existence. It is 
 certain that but few indications of such a spirit 
 have yet manifested themselves amongst them : 
 but are we thence to infer that they are incapa 
 ble of it ? The contumely with which they have 
 been regarded, the want of stimulus arising from 
 their possessing no prospect of sharing in the ho 
 nours of high offices, their exclusion from the 
 family circles of the whites ; these circumstances 
 sufficiently account for their depression, especial- 
 ly when weighed in connexion with their imper 
 fect education. But it would be unfair to sup 
 pose that under more favourable circumstances, 
 the development of their faculties would never 
 be accompanied by a correspondent elevation of 
 soul. I have read several accounts of the beha 
 viour of negroes in times of trial and at the hour 
 of death, fully proving that they were sustained 
 by the loftiness of their feelings. An instance 
 was also mentioned to me by a gentleman of 
 Charleston, into whose company I fell when in 
 Long Island. He told me that amongst the ne 
 groes condemned to death for the projected in 
 surrection in that city, there was one whom he 
 had bought many years before from an African 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 465 
 
 slave ship, but whom he had sold to another man. 
 This negro prior to his execution, was visited in 
 prison by his master, who desired him to men 
 tion how he could think of joining in a plot 
 which might have proved fatal to a master who 
 had used him kindly, and in particular to state 
 what induced him to join in it at all, since his 
 situation was an easy one. The negro looking 
 firmly at him, made this energetic reply : " you 
 were my master, and I wished for liberty". He 
 was then requested to communicate all that he 
 knew of the ramifications of the plot, but he re 
 fused to give any particulars, and turning to his 
 fellow prisoners said, " Tell them nothing. Die 
 as you will see me die, with firmness, and with 
 out letting them know any thing about it". He 
 continued unwavering to the last. This man s 
 conduct, if he had been a Greek condemned 
 to death by Turks, would have been ]auded as 
 heroic ; but because he was a negro condemned 
 to death by Americans, he must forsooth be 
 branded as obstinate and cruel ! From this re 
 lation, and from others of a similar nature, as 
 well as from the numerous cases I heard of no 
 ble conduct in other negroes under very differ 
 ent circumstances, I conclude that they only re 
 quire to have justice rendered them, to become 
 ornamental as well as useful to their country. If 
 H H 
 
466 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 a native born African who had been subjected 
 to American slavery, could manifest the spirit 
 of an old Roman when in the prospect of imme 
 diate death, surely it would be illogical to con 
 clude, that persons from the same stock, natives 
 of America, and possessing the rights and intel 
 ligence of freemen, are physically incapable of 
 rising to an equality with the descendants of Eu 
 ropeans ; to whom in the remaining remarks on 
 the national character I shall confine myself ex 
 clusively. 
 
 The first distinguishing trait that I shall notice 
 is that of sociability, a trait which fails not at 
 once to strike an Englishman, from its being so 
 different to that reserved air which is said to be 
 gentilitious to England. A person when travel 
 ling in America, may at once begin to converse 
 with his fellow passengers without fear of offend 
 ing by the familiarity. If his address be mild 
 and respectful, he will find no cold repulse, no 
 haughtiness to bid him stand aloof; and if he 
 continue to demean himself properly, he will be 
 treated as a brother. The Americans, aware that 
 in this respect they differ from the English, attri 
 bute the difference to their republican institu 
 tions. I rather suppose that the necessity of mu 
 tual kindness, which must have been felt by the 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 467 
 
 primitive colonists, was the origin of this agree 
 able trait in their character. When once estab 
 lished, it was not likely to become extinct, so 
 long as no great inequality of wealth prevailed 
 in the country. Whatever influence therefore, 
 republicanism may have had in preserving equa 
 lity amongst them, I cannot admit it to be the 
 proximate cause of their sociability. How in 
 deed should it be, when the French under a mo 
 narchy have nearly as much of it, and have been 
 celebrated for centuries on that very account? 
 The want of sociability in England is ascribed 
 by Goldsmith to the political freedom enjoyed 
 by the inhabitants, a deduction at variance with 
 that of the Americans. After describing the 
 blessings resulting from freedom, he thus pro 
 ceeds : 
 
 " Thine, freedom, thine,, the blessings pictured here, 
 Thine are those charms that dazzle and endear ; 
 Too blest indeed, were such without alloy, 
 Buf fostered e en by freedom ills annoy ; 
 That independence Britons prize too high, 
 Keeps man from man, and breaks the social tie ; 
 The self-dependent lordlings stand alone, 
 All claims that bind and sweeten life unknown ; 
 Here by the bonds of nature feebly held, 
 Minds combat minds, repelling and repelled : 
 Ferments arise, imprisoned factions roar, 
 Repressed ambition? struggles round her shore> 
 
 H H 2 
 
468 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 Till over-wrought, the general system feels 
 Its motion stop, or phrensy fire the wheels." 
 
 I certainly think that Goldsmith in this pas 
 sage is rather more poetical than philosophical, 
 yet I shall not now stop to attempt to give a so 
 lution of a more probable nature ; but as the 
 difference in sociability between the two coun 
 tries is very considerable, I shall be excused for 
 dwelling on the subject a little longer. 
 
 The English gentry when travelling by the 
 public vehicles, too often assume an airof distance 
 to their fellow passengers, and rarely indeed 
 adopt a pleasant familiarity with those who ap 
 pear to be much below them in rank. I was 
 once in a steam-boat on the Thames when there 
 was a large number of passengers, the Vice-chan 
 cellor being one ; yet with the exception of one 
 who was his companion, and another who had 
 some acquaintance with him, he did not deign 
 to converse with any of us, though some of the 
 passengers appeared very genteel, and had their 
 carriages on deck. As the Vice-chancellor rose 
 from a low station in life, he might think that if 
 he adopted a familiar deportment, some would 
 be ungracious enough not to show him that re 
 spect which is due to the occupant of his office ; 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 469 
 
 but a better apology may be found for him, by 
 considering that he was not deviating from the 
 general habits of the country. Yet familiarity in 
 mixed society when it does not descend to buf 
 foonery, but is supported by becoming self-re 
 spect, is not the cause of contemptuous or disre 
 spectful behaviour on the part of others, as I saw 
 abundantly in America. The Chief Justice of the 
 United States was on board a steam boat in James 
 river in Virginia when I was there, and manifested 
 that easy familiarity which gave facility to inter 
 course with him, with that attention to decorum 
 which prevented any, if so disposed, from un 
 duly encroaching on his good nature. More at 
 tention was shown to him than to any other per 
 son on board. 
 
 When a man stands aloof from his fellow men, 
 he loses the opportunity of diffusing benevolent 
 and joyous feelings, and so contributing to the 
 general happiness, besides the chance of rectify 
 ing either his own opinions or those of others. I 
 was witness to the advantages conferred by Ame 
 rican sociability in the latter particular, when 
 in the public room of a tavern in one of the vil 
 lages in the midland part of New York. It occur 
 red in a conversation between a judge of one of 
 the county courts and a man whom I supposed to 
 
470 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 be a petty trader. This man seemed to think 
 that political liberty should be unbounded. The 
 judge explained to him the distinction between 
 liberty in the state of nature and that in the so 
 cial compact, endeavouring to convince him of 
 the benefits gained by the limitations imposed by 
 law and government. I could not help think 
 ing, as I listened to this conversation, that the 
 advantages of such a free interchange of senti 
 ments between persons of different ranks, and 
 between the learned and the ignorant, must be 
 great to any community. Where the ingre 
 dients of society are kept as distinct as heteroge- 
 ous bodies, there can never be that cordial sym 
 pathy which is the best bond of union, 
 
 It maybe inferred from what I have stated, that 
 pride is scarcely an ingredient in the American 
 character: I believe that scarcely any vice is more 
 alien. There is notwithstanding, a kindred feel 
 ing prevalent amongst the natives of the south 
 ern States. I allude to that irritability which 
 they manifest at any supposed imputative ex 
 pression, and which so often leads them into the 
 diabolical practice of duelling. This fault ori 
 ginates, as I suppose, in their being accustomed 
 from early life to domineer over the slaves, thus 
 acquiring notions of superiority, which are pro-, 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 ductive of an impatience at a supposed slight, 
 or mark of contempt, beyond what is ordinarily 
 displayed by the natives of the free States. The 
 strongest instance of this irritable disposition that 
 came under my notice, was in the President s 
 private secretary, with whom I had considerable 
 conversation. Some casual expressions of mine 
 which were perfectly unexceptionable, and 
 which a New Englander would not have suffer 
 ed to discompose him for a moment, instantly 
 excited the wrath of this Virginian to such a de 
 gree, that I could scarcely refrain from laugh 
 ing. I witnessed several similar proofs of the 
 proneness of the natives of the southern States 
 to give way to irascible feelings, yet they were 
 quite as sociable in their general deportment as 
 their northern neighbours. The delightful qua 
 lity of sociability belongs to them all, producing 
 a harmony as beneficial to society at large, as a 
 reciprocity of affection between parents and 
 children to a private family. 
 
 Much however as I admire the sociability of 
 the Americans, and their freedom from that 
 haughtiness which is too perceptible in England, 
 I cannot approve of their want of dignity in the 
 discharge of their public duties. There is no 
 reason to suppose that familiarity in private and 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 dignity in public are incompatible qualities ; but 
 it is evident that very few amongst the Ameri 
 cans unite the two. In the courts of justice for 
 example, where, if any where, dignity ought to 
 be preserved, the want of it is often conspicu 
 ous. Counsellors examine and cross-examine 
 witnesses without rising from their seats, and 
 even while lounging as if they were at a public 
 tavern. I noticed a counsellor in the court room 
 of the City Hall in New York, sitting on a chair 
 which he balanced on its hind legs in the true 
 style of independence, while he was engaged in 
 a cross-examination. Where so little respect is 
 shown to the judge as is implied by this behavi 
 our, we must not expect to find in all cases, that 
 dignity on the bench which so much tends to 
 render justice respectable and respected. The 
 judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts 
 was particularly deficient in this respect, though 
 it is a point to which the members of the judi 
 ciary ought to be particularly attentive, as with 
 the exception of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, and as I was told, the Courts in South 
 Carolina, no forensic habiliments are used by 
 them. The proceedings of the courts and of 
 all public bodies are indeed generally very or 
 derly ; but the only really dignified bodies that 
 I saw, were the Senate of Congress, and the Su- 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 473 
 
 preme Court of the United States. One of the 
 judges of the Court however, degraded the dig 
 nity of his station during the time I was in Ame 
 rica, by maintaining a controversy in the news 
 papers on some parts of his own conduct. In 
 one of his letters he expressed himself in an 
 unguarded manner quite derogatory to a judicial 
 character, and concluded by informing his op 
 ponent, that he had instituted legal proceed 
 ings against him. It is passing strange, that a 
 judge who thought fit to appeal to the law in 
 vindication of himself from a criminatory charge, 
 should so far forget himself as to become a 
 newspaper disputant. It is a proof of that 
 general want of dignity which I have been stat 
 ing as so apparent. The House of Representa 
 tives is superior to the House of Commons in 
 several respects, but it is, like that body, not 
 sufficiently dignified on ordinary occasions. The 
 most unpleasant proof however, of this want of 
 dignity, was exhibited in the deportment of the 
 persons in whose company I visited the Phila- 
 delphian Jail, they suffering the prisoners to ad 
 dress them with as much familiarity as if they 
 were not convicts. This was carrying good na 
 ture beyond the bounds of propriety, as a prison 
 should be a place where the shame of degrada 
 tion may be felt, lest its terrors should lose their 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 force. Neither republicanism nor common 
 sense can justify the making of prisoners as 
 independent in their behaviour as those who 
 stand unconvicted. 
 
 The hospitality of the Americans is not shown 
 in a cold or niggardly manner, but in so grati 
 fying a way that an Englishman might almost 
 forget his absence from his native land, if the 
 extraordinary kindness did not remind him, that 
 it is more pleasing than his vernacular hospi 
 tality. 
 
 If the poorer class in America are less po 
 lished than the same class in France and some 
 other countries, they are at least generally civil 
 when civilly treated. The educated class have 
 so much politeness diffused among them, that I 
 believe few countries, if any, can exhibit a fairer 
 portion of persons of agreeable manners. They 
 have not, it is true, much of that suppleness and 
 constant profession of good offices, which Ches 
 terfield and his disciples make an indispensable 
 requisite in politeness ; but in that which is the 
 real essence of politeness, namely, the disposi 
 tion which seeks not simply to avoid what is dis 
 agreeable to others, but to captivate them by 
 suavity, and by attention to their wishes, I think 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 they may challenge comparison with any coun 
 try in Europe. Their introductory address sel 
 dom raises expectation high, being rather too 
 indifferent, but their subsequent behaviour raises 
 esteem and affection. The feeling produced on 
 the mind is analogous to that on the body occa 
 sioned by immersion in a cold spring bath, first 
 causing a chill and then a glow. Still it would 
 be wrong to conceal that apathy is a striking 
 constituent, not only in their behaviour but in 
 their feelings. No ebullition takes place in their 
 public meetings ; no hurrying, enthusiastic con 
 gratulations in their private ones. I should be 
 inclined to ascribe their calmness to a sense of 
 decorum and good breeding, were it not that 
 their general deportment evinces that they prac 
 tise very little reserve. As far as they really 
 feel, they plainly testify. They resemble the 
 lion in not being easily pleased or provoked, but 
 showing strongly gratitude or anger when once 
 the feelings are effectually roused. This cha 
 racter however, applies principally to the natives 
 of the midland and northern States, those of the 
 southern being less phlegmatic. A New York 
 citizen who was a fellow passenger with me to 
 America, gave during the voyage such a proof of 
 phlegm, as appeared to me most extraordinary. 
 During a tempest one night, there was so ter- 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 rific a crash, that he supposed, as he told me the 
 following morning, that the mainmast had gone 
 overboard. I asked him how under such an im 
 pression he could possibly keep in his birth ; to 
 which he answered, that he thought that if he 
 must perish, it was best for him to be ignorant 
 of the exact time of his approaching death, as 
 he should then die as easily as if he were falling 
 asleep. If a Marylander or a Virginian did not 
 wish to be cognitive of this particular, he would 
 at any rate be willing to see if there were no 
 possibility of preserving life. I do not mean to im 
 ply by this anecdote, that indifference to the ex 
 tent stated is at all common. I only instance it as 
 one amongst many proofs of the general apathy. 
 
 Their patriotism is warm, but not properly 
 moderated by reflection. Their national vanity 
 is ridiculous, and gives birth to a self-sufficiency 
 which is sometimes unpleasing. They think 
 themselves as a people qualified for every thing, 
 and inferior to no other nation either in the arts 
 of war or peace. Such of them as have seen 
 other countries will subtract a little from the 
 current opinions, but they are liable to be con 
 demned in consequence as unpatriotic. 
 
 Another disagreeable and indeed bad trait in 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 477 
 
 their character, is their jealousy of resident fo 
 reigners. Nothing can be kinder than their 
 treatment of foreign travellers ; but let a fo 
 reigner settle permanently amongst them and 
 become prosperous, and he is then to be marked 
 out for suspicion and almost hatred. I heard 
 so many complaints of this kind from foreigners 
 of respectability in the principal cities, that I 
 was compelled to give credence to them. 
 
 In their political opinions they are too bigoted ; 
 and in general in whatever concerns their coun 
 try, they are not sufficiently tolerant of the dis 
 sentient opinions of foreigners. I asked a Portu 
 guese whom I met in New York, who had been 
 nine months resident in the United States, and 
 who, prior to his settlement in the country, had 
 resided for three years in England, if he noticed 
 any particular difference between the two coun 
 tries. He said that he found one remarkable 
 difference ; that whereas he could say almost any 
 thing in England, in the language of censure of 
 what he did not like, without giving offence by 
 so doing, in America if he used the same li 
 berty, he was condemned for his illiberality, and 
 sometimes almost quarrelled with. During the 
 late war between the two countries, the re 
 straints imposed on naturalized Englishmen, were 
 
478 f NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 similar to those established in France amongst 
 the natives by the jealous tyranny of Napoleon ; 
 that being effected in America by the intolerance 
 of the people, which was done in France by the 
 system of government* 
 
 Here it is proper to notice as an exemplifica 
 tion of this intolerant disposition, as well as of 
 the self-sufficiency and vanity of the people, that 
 I was several times taxed with mistatement, and 
 censured for manifesting a willingness to decry 
 America, by mentioning that the events of the 
 war excited comparatively little interest in Eng 
 land. The Americans were so inflated with their 
 successes by sea and land, that they supposed 
 that other nations thought as much of their bra 
 very as they themselves. Hence the person who 
 ventures to insinuate that the war was contem 
 plated in Europe with unusual indifference, is to 
 be almost hooted from company as impolite. 
 When I was at Harrisburg, the late war became 
 a topic of conversation one day after dinner at 
 the tavern where I stopped. How I might have 
 fared on this occasion amongst the Pennsylva- 
 nian members of Assembly I cannot tell, except 
 that from my experience of their gentlemanly 
 behaviour, I am aware that they would have been 
 moderate ; but it so happened, that after I had 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER, 479 
 
 surprised them by letting them know, that thou 
 sands of persons in England had scarcely ever 
 heard of the war, or if they had, had forgotten 
 it, a gentleman present who was one of their own 
 body, told them that he could confirm my re 
 mark by what he himself had witnessed in Eng 
 land at the time. Few persons, he said, seemed to 
 trouble themselves about it, and except amongst 
 merchants whose interests were immediately af 
 fected, he seldom heard it mentioned. This ac 
 count settled the matter, and the subject drop 
 ped. But for the information of such of my 
 countrymen as may hereafter visit America, I 
 will just add, that it may be expedient for them 
 to acquaint themselves with the leading events of 
 the war, lest they should expose their ignorance 
 and subject themselves in consequence to pity or 
 contempt. I at first found my ignorance very 
 inconvenient ; for when I was asked my opinion 
 of this or that engagement, I was often obliged 
 to confess that I was ignorant of its result, and 
 thus lose the benefit of the conversation. After 
 I had been a few weeks in the country, I read a 
 history of the war in order to enable myself to 
 meet the remarks of the natives ; for though 
 my previous studies had in degree qualified me 
 to travel amongst them with advantage, I was 
 sadly deficient in information relative to the war. 
 
480 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 The defeat of the English troops at New Orleans 
 was as much unknown to me, to my shame be it 
 spoken, as if it had never occurred. Since my 
 return, I have found scholars and politicians as 
 ignorant as myself. The Americans, who seem 
 to believe that the fame of their achievements is 
 commensurate to that of the knowledge of their 
 name, may think that I am actuated by unworthy 
 motives in thus writing. Let the general scope 
 of my book be my defence. 
 
 As it respects morals, they are, when com 
 pared with other countries, entitled to rank high, 
 for though some vices are more prevalent with 
 them than with Europeans in general, yet I be 
 lieve few countries or provinces in Europe, have 
 a loftier sense of morality diffused amongst the 
 women of the most influence. This moral feel 
 ing is confirmed by the general respect in which 
 religion is held by the people at large. The re 
 ligion itself is often blended with fanaticism ; but 
 I have yet to learn that fanaticism, injurious as 
 it is, is worse than superstition, from which they 
 are freer than perhaps any other people. To 
 prevent any mistake on this point, I shall add, 
 that I regard fanaticism as the result of religious 
 zeal operating on a mind imperfectly enlight 
 ened, but of warm imagination ; and superstition, 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 481 
 
 as the adherence to a belief in something con 
 trary to nature and experience, without courage 
 to examine its reasonableness, or resolution to 
 renounce it when its folly is manifest. Fanati 
 cism leads into many extravagances as well as 
 superstition, and may sometimes give birth to it, 
 but it seldom keeps the mind in a complete state 
 of stagnation ; whereas superstition when stand 
 ing alone, benumbs the mental faculties, and 
 thwarts the spread of light and knowledge. 
 
 The Americans, so far from yielding to su 
 perstition and ignorance, are generally emulous 
 of other nations in all that relates to the in 
 struction of the poor in useful knowledge. In 
 deed they excel most except the Scotch, as I 
 found that geography and some of the higher 
 branches of arithmetic were taught in the Lan 
 castrian schools ; an example that ought to be 
 followed in all the similar establishments in Eng 
 land ; but which alas ! such is the narrow mind- 
 edness of many of the established clergy, is far 
 from being the case ; they being apparently as 
 fearful of the labouring poor becoming well in 
 formed, as the Catholics of the circulation of 
 the Bible. The Americans from their more li 
 beral policy are becoming increasingly an intel 
 ligent people. Though less of academic learn- 
 
 1 1 
 
482 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 ing is diffused among the upper class than is the 
 case in some other countries, they have a num 
 ber of men whose literary reputation is deserv 
 edly high, and some whose attainments would 
 be sufficient to ensure them distinction in any 
 part of the civilized world. In mechanical ge 
 nius they are probably equal to any other peo 
 ple, and superior to most. 
 
 Notwithstanding their intelligence they excel 
 not in conversation, though they are remarkably 
 domestic ; but then their conversation is so de 
 corous and refined, that its deficiency in other 
 respects is the more excusable. Concerning one 
 colloquial fault with which they have often been 
 accused, namely, that of impertinent inquisitive- 
 ness, I have to remark, that it applies principally 
 and almost entirely to the lower and middling 
 classes in remote situations and small villages. I 
 met with only two persons of the upper class 
 whose enquiries respecting myself were trouble 
 some or offensive, and one of these was a person 
 whom I judged to have mixed very little in so 
 ciety. I met him at a tavern at Schenectady ; 
 and to show how much, his inquisitiveness was 
 disapproved by others, I must add, that as soon 
 as he had left the room, another gentleman, who 
 was the surveyor I mentioned in a former chap- 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER* 
 
 ter, apologised for his rudeness, and hoped I 
 should not judge of the citizens generally by 
 him ; a remark elicited from my having stated 
 that I had been a short time only in the country- 
 Small farmers, traders and mechanics in remote 
 situations, are sometimes of exceedingly prying 
 dispositions. I used on some occasions to make 
 evasive answers, to testify my dislike at being- 
 subjected to a long concatenation of queries re 
 lative to private matters ; but I found it gene 
 rally best to satisfy them to a reasonable extent* 
 But though I acquit the Americans generally of 
 unpleasant inquisitiveness, I am aware that they 
 are very fond of learning particulars respect 
 ing the private affairs of those with whom they 
 come in contact. Their sense of politeness in 
 duces them to abstain from direct enquiries of a 
 party, but they nevertheless feel all the curiosity 
 of the inquisitive, and are eager to obtain inci 
 dental information to satisfy their craving appe 
 tite. Remaining for several days at Norfolk, 
 there was considerable enquiry in the town about 
 me. My landlady told me that numbers wished 
 to know who I was, and where I came from. 
 This was also the case at Fredericsburg, as I 
 learnt from a person who was quartered at the 
 tavern where I was, several persons having ask 
 ed him if he knew what State I was from, and 
 i i 2 
 
484 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 what business brought me to the town. I sup 
 pose that this prying disposition may be attri 
 buted to a want of taste for literature and the 
 fine arts ; for the mind having few things of 
 deep interest to fix on, small talk is resorted to 
 as a succedaneum. 
 
 Besides a want of taste for literature and the 
 fine arts, a want of it is obvious in various other 
 particulars. There are unquestionably some in 
 dividuals of refined taste, but I believe that their 
 number is very limited. The want of taste is 
 often conspicuous in first rate houses, in which 
 we sometimes see splendid furniture, while the 
 glass in the windows is so green and rough as to 
 occasion an unpleasant discrepancy. The very 
 few ornamental gardens is another proof of this 
 want of taste, which becomes still more apparent 
 from the circumstance of landscape gardening 
 being totally unknown. Is not the extravagant 
 praise lavished on the beauty of Philadelphia 
 another proof? I think it is, especially when we 
 consider that nearly all the rising towns are on 
 the same plan, and that the additions hereafter 
 to be made to New York and Baltimore are to 
 be correspondent. If a proper taste were in 
 fused into the people, they would not all adopt 
 one model, since whatever beauty there may be 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 485 
 
 in it, others may surely be designed which shall 
 also be pleasing to a critical eye, as fruits of dif 
 ferent flavour are grateful to the palate. Wash 
 ington was planned by a Frenchman ; a circum 
 stance favourable to the beauty of that city, as 
 he took care to have the quadrangles broken by 
 a few diagonal streets. The genius of an Ame 
 rican would not have carried his ideas beyond 
 right angles. If no deviation be made in the 
 plan of the new cities, America will become in 
 the course of time, as formal and uninteresting a 
 country, in whatever relates not to natural sce 
 nery, as the fancy of an old Dutchman could 
 make it. One thing in New York which not a 
 little tickled me, I must not leave unnoticed. 
 The emblem of justice on the City Hall is a fi 
 gure of Astraea with a steel-yard in her hand ! 
 The change from the balances to the steel-yard 
 is about as consonant to propriety, as would be 
 the placing of a full-bottomed wig on the head of 
 a statue of Apollo. There are other things also 
 indicative of a want of taste. In the arrangement 
 of the dishes on table, I was often struck with it, 
 not that I think it necessary for the Americans 
 to conform to the French, English, or any other 
 national standard, taste being influenced by ex 
 traneous circumstances, and being after all very 
 
486 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 arbitrary; but because when dishes which cannot 
 be taken together, are placed side by side, the 
 incongruity is apparent to all. But though a 
 want of taste is conspicuous in so many parti 
 culars, and which are quite enough to satisfy 
 me as to the general state of the country in 
 that respect, the opposite side of the case must 
 not be lost sight of. In dress, probably no 
 women in the world are more really tasteful 
 than the American. Without tawdriness they 
 are gay; without formality they are neat. Their 
 agreeable manners seem to be much regulated 
 by taste, every thing approaching to gross- 
 ness or rudeness being avoided. Hence it is, 
 that though they are very generally deficient in 
 dental and complexional beauty, they are so fas 
 cinating as to be admired by all foreigners. The 
 men, engaged as roost of them are in the active 
 pursuits of life, have less taste than the other 
 sex ; yet such of them as devote themselves to 
 literary pursuits manifest no small portion of it, 
 as is evident in their principal literary periodical, 
 in which numerous articles have appeared written 
 with a chastity and polish worthy the best pe 
 riods of English literature. From this it must 
 not be understood however, that a taste for li 
 terature is extensively diffused, but that those 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 4-87 
 
 who cultivate literature, have refined their taste 
 to a degree at least equal to the correspondent 
 class in other countries. 
 
 Allied to the general want of taste is the want 
 of exactness in the domestic and other common 
 transactions of life. In walking through a city 
 at noon-day, I have often noticed numbers of 
 the window-shutters left unfastened and other 
 matters of a similar kind, as if they thought with 
 Helvetius, that an attention to little things im 
 plied an ignorance of important ones, an opi-" 
 nion which that philosopher would not have pro- 
 mulged if he had had a proper acquaintance 
 with human nature ; for who knows not that the 
 uneducated are generally the most careless? 
 This want of exactness is obvious in the deport 
 ment of female servants, whom I have seen, when 
 not actually engaged in waiting on the company, 
 leaning on their elbows near the door or win 
 dow. Now it is evident that their mistresses 
 would teach them to adopt a more becoming 
 attitude, if they themselves did not share in the 
 prevalent carelessness. I am inclined to ascribe 
 the custom of female servants not wearing caps 
 to the same disposition. What can be said in 
 excuse for their mistresses, who might surely 
 persuade them to adopt a dress less disgusting 
 
488 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 than that of heads of hair loose and dirty 
 like mops? After they have finished their work, 
 they are it is true sufficiently neat ; but how is 
 it possible for them to keep their hair in order 
 without caps when engaged in it? I suppose 
 however, that such an attempt at innovation, 
 would be viewed as an encroachment on that 
 natural liberty, respecting which they are so 
 sensitive as to refuse in many cases to acknow 
 ledge themselves servants, thinking that appel 
 lation to be fit only for negroes. 
 
 The celebration of the anniversary of the In 
 dependence is general throughout the country. 
 I witnessed it at New York, and as illustrative of 
 the national character, especially in the point 
 under consideration, I shall give some particu 
 lars of it. On the preceding evening, booths 
 were erected in Broadway and round the City 
 Hall, where whiskey and other stimulants were 
 vended to the populace. The following morn 
 ing, the militia paraded through the streets, 
 forming with the firemen, carmen and others of 
 like occupations a motley group, reminding one 
 of a harlequin s jacket. The dress of the sol 
 diers, though military, was not uniform. Some 
 had white cravats, some black, some none at all ; 
 some were in boots, some in shoes. As the pro- 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 489 
 
 cession moved along, I looked to see in what 
 manner popular enthusiasm would show itself. 
 So little of it however was apparent, that a spec 
 tator might almost have fancied, that the gazing 
 crowds were viewing a funeral rather than a tri 
 umphal procession. The troops were marched 
 into a church to hear an oration and a prayer. 
 I have no belief in the sanctity of churches, but 
 I could not but be displeased at the incongruity 
 of blending religion with political celebrations 
 in places appropriated to worship ; a measure 
 which may in times of ferment breed fanaticism, 
 the mind when agitated not being in a suitable 
 state to approach the Divine Majesty. The 
 troops after quitting the church, were arranged 
 in a small field called the Park in front of the 
 City Hall, where they fired what they called a 
 feu-de-joie ; but such a one I never saw before, 
 as each man fired his gun without the least re 
 gard to his next comrade s discharge, like boys 
 at play with popguns. When the powder was 
 all spent, the men gave three cheers and dis 
 persed ; but the cheering, like the firing, was ir 
 regular, and of course not very animating. Un^ 
 less the Americans learn to pay more minute at 
 tention to things in common life, than is at pre 
 sent observable, they are not very likely to ce 
 lebrate their Independence in fine style, as a 
 
490 NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 carelessness in one respect begets carelessness 
 in another. The present mode of celebration is 
 injurious to public morals, as was evident from 
 the numbers of persons lying on the following 
 morning in the streets, unable to move from the 
 effects of the night s debauch. But this I sup 
 pose they think excusable, when testifying their 
 devotion to liberty. 
 
 But with respect to the love of liberty, which 
 passion the Americans suppose themselves to 
 possess in an extraordinary degree, and on which 
 they much value themselves, an equivocal cha 
 racter only can be given, since they are less an 
 xious to have liberty universal than would be the 
 case were that passion properly grounded in them. 
 They are certainly the friends of free governments, 
 that is of governments under popular control; 
 and they take a lively interest in the struggles of 
 the people of other countries to obtain their just 
 rights ; but then, so regardless are they of the in 
 justice of slavery at home, that their policy is di 
 rected to extend and perpetuate it. This I give 
 as the character of the majority. The people of the 
 northern and middle States have indeed not only 
 abolished slavery, but they testify their abhor 
 rence of it, and lament that a vestige of it should 
 continue in the country, considering it as their 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 491 
 
 greatest disgrace ; yet they are so inconsistent 
 with their professed principles, as to refuse to 
 give true and rational liberty to those amongst 
 them whose skins are a tinge darker than their 
 own. They will not allow a man of negro ori 
 gin to be a magistrate, a legislator, or even a ju 
 ryman. They are willing to grant liberty and 
 equality, where neither their imaginary interest 
 nor their prejudice interferes to prevent it ; but 
 let either of those present itself, and they are re 
 luctant to make any concession ; in which they 
 are on a level with the tyrants of antiquity, and 
 the self-styled Holy Allies of our own time : for 
 what but interest or prejudice prevents those 
 high personages from acting conformably to just 
 principles of liberty ? 
 
 The prejudice of the Americans against the 
 coloured people, is not a whit more reasonable 
 than that of the Hindoos against the sooders, or 
 of the Germans against the Jews. They are filled 
 with wonder and indignation when they hear of 
 the contempt shown to the descendants of Abra 
 ham, and pity the want of light which produces 
 that contempt ; and yet they cannot or do not 
 perceive, that their contemptuous treatment of 
 the blacks is just as irrational and unjustifiable. 
 On the contrary, Irving in his Sketch Book con- 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 gratulates his countrymen on their freedom from 
 prejudice, exclaiming ; " What have we to do 
 with national prejudices ?" implying by that in 
 terrogation, what I verily believe they assume for 
 granted, that they are the only people whose 
 minds are unbiassed by unworthy motives. Their 
 prejudices are I admit not so numerous as those 
 of some other nations, but in some particulars, 
 those relative to the blacks and foreign countries 
 for example, they are quite as strong. 
 
 I have now I believe pointed out most of the 
 prominent traits in the American character, hav 
 ing endeavoured to be impartial. I shall offer 
 no apology to such of my countrymen as may be 
 displeased at my having bestowed praise on a 
 nation they contemn, since men who indulge a 
 groundless hostile feeling to the Americans are 
 beneath their notice ; nor shall I offer any apo 
 logy to the Americans for the severity of my lan 
 guage when writing of their errors, being con 
 vinced that they must despise an author who had 
 not courage to avow his opinions, when they are 
 dispassionately formed. Yet I should be sorry 
 if the impression produced on the reader s mind 
 was in the main unfavourable ; for though the 
 American character is not without several con 
 siderable blemishes, it is on the whole deserving 
 
NATIONAL CHARACTER. 4Q3 
 
 of esteem and admiration. In judging of it, let 
 it be compared with that of any European peo 
 ple, and in particular, let an Englishman before 
 indulging in censure, consider how much there 
 is in the national character of his own country 
 requiring amendment. A careful comparison 
 may lead him to the conclusion, that the Ame 
 ricans are below few other nations and above se 
 veral, and ought therefore to be viewed as a peo 
 ple, with whom it is incumbent on us to cultivate 
 a friendly relation. Let it be borne in mind, 
 that no people approximate so nearly to our 
 selves as they, and that though they fall below 
 us in some particulars, and excel us in others, 
 they are yet in their mental bias, neither French 
 nor Spanish, but English. They are to be con 
 sidered, not as a satellite shining with a borrowed 
 lustre, but as a fixed star so like another fixed 
 star, that careless observers would be likely to 
 see but little difference between them ; just as a 
 man is often taken for his brother by strangers, 
 though persons intimate with either are sensible 
 that the resemblance is not perfect. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 SINCE my return to England, I have been so fre 
 quently asked my opinion on the policy of emi 
 grating to the United States, that I think I shall 
 be rendering an acceptable service to many, by 
 giving it here. Emigration then, should rarely 
 be ventured on, by persons capable of obtaining 
 a comfortable livelihood at home. The uncer 
 tainty of success in a foreign land is so great, 
 the prospect of accumulating considerable pro 
 perty is so small, and the difficulties under al 
 most any circumstance are so disheartening, that 
 a man should pause before he ventures to run 
 the risque of disappointment and ruin. A mer 
 chant with previously formed connexions might 
 probably do well ; the same may be said of hard 
 working farmers possessing a small capital ; but 
 artisans, mechanics, clerks, traders and profes 
 sional men, are likely, if they venture to cross 
 the Atlantic, to regret having left Old England. 
 There are two classes only who could not fail to 
 improve their condition ; but they are often with 
 out the means of defraying the expense of the 
 
CONCLUSION. 495 
 
 voyage : I allude to labourers and domestic ser 
 vants. The condition of these however, is not 
 so greatly superior to that of the same descrip 
 tion of persons in England, as to offer induce 
 ments to all. Such as have an established repu 
 tation for skill, activity and other good qualities, 
 will do well to remain at home ; such as have a 
 character to gain, may transport themselves to 
 America with a full conviction, that by indus 
 try, attention and honesty, they will be comfort 
 able and independent. But it is proper for me 
 to add, that several labourers told me they would 
 gladly return to their native land, if they pos 
 sessed the means of returning. 
 
 Several things render America disagreeable to 
 an English emigrant, let his station be what it 
 may, one of which is the climate. We complain 
 in England of the humidity of our atmosphere, 
 and of the frequent changes it undergoes j but 
 troublesome as are the drippings and variations, 
 they are not so trying to the frame as the sud 
 den, great changes which take place in America. 
 The thermometer will sometimes rise or fall forty 
 degrees in a few hours. But this is not the worst. 
 The winter s cold and the summer s heat are so 
 much in extremes, that neither season is agree 
 able. The winter may indeed be borne without 
 
496 CONCLUSION. 
 
 dissatisfaction, by those who, like me, are fond 
 of cold, as the air is generally dry. But as to 
 the summer, when nature is as it were panting 
 for breath, the earth arid, trees and plants droop 
 ing from the drought, musquittoes tormenting 
 by night as well as by day, and when the streets 
 of a city are sweltry like an oven, who is to 
 bear it patiently ? Not even the abundance of 
 peaches and water-melons, grateful as they are 
 to the palate, reconcile an Englishman to it. He 
 sighs, and wishes himself once more in the mild, 
 genial region he has left. The only pleasant sea 
 son is the autumn, which is very short, for the 
 spring is alternately hot and cold, till heat gains 
 the ascendancy. 
 
 Besides the climate, the circumstance of be 
 ing always regarded as an alien, abates from the 
 comfort of a permanent residence. True it is, 
 that a person after five years residence may be 
 come naturalized ; but what signifies the sanction 
 of law so long as in effect it is disregarded ? An 
 Englishman, to be sure, is not treated contempt 
 uously like a negro. He may associate on equal 
 terms with his neighbours, and obtain a portion 
 of their confidence ; but let him offer himself 
 a candidate for some vacant public post, or de 
 claim against the abuses of the government and 
 
CONCLUSION. 497 
 
 the violation of justice by the magistrates, and 
 he may soon have reason to repent his temerity, 
 and learn that the boasted land of liberty is not 
 the land the most tolerant to foreigners. But of 
 all who find America not to realize their expect 
 ations, none are likely to feel their disappointment 
 so keenly, as those who have emigrated under 
 the idea, that more happiness and liberty are to 
 be found under the American than the English 
 government. Such persons are often men of 
 morose dispositions, unlikely to be contented 
 anywhere. But the man of elastic spirit who 
 endeavours to reconcile himself to his new situ 
 ation, and knows how to appreciate the blessings 
 enjoyed by the people amongst whom his lot is 
 cast, will find that notwithstanding the draw 
 backs from the comforts of a residence in Ame 
 rica, he has a home, which, next to his native 
 home, is the most congenial to the feelings of 
 a patriotic Englishman, and of course the best 
 adapted to promote his happiness. 
 
 There are two descriptions of persons who 
 might visit the United States, and travel through 
 them with advantage. The first are scientific 
 characters, especially geologists and entomolo 
 gists, to whom a field so boundless is opened, that 
 there would be no danger of their lamenting like 
 K K 
 
498 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Alexander the want of more worlds to conquer. 
 The others are the sons of our nobility and gen 
 try. Great as is the improvement derivable from 
 a tour on the continent of Europe, it may be rea 
 sonably believed that one in America would to 
 many be far more advantageous. They could 
 not indeed in America be gratified with cabinets 
 of paintings, sculptures and medals. But they 
 would learn to see the difference between good 
 and bad government ; good as it concerns the 
 whites, bad in reference to the blacks. They 
 would mark the evils of slavery both on the mas 
 ter and his servant. They would find that reli 
 gion needs not the support of the secular power. 
 They would be compelled to admit that persons 
 of whatever religious denomination, may be ad 
 mitted to an equality of civil rights without dan 
 ger to the public tranquillity or harmony. They 
 would see that in proportion as trade is unfetter 
 ed by monopolies and other restrictions, its pros 
 perity is promoted. They would ascertain that 
 property may be protected without penal enact 
 ments at variance with equity. They would be 
 convinced that a large standing army in time of 
 peace is unnecessary. They would learn many 
 other truths no less useful, but of which too ma 
 ny of them are at present ignorant. For instance, 
 they would learn that their own happiness, as 
 
CONCLUSION. 499 
 
 well as that of others, would be increased by 
 their adopting a less reserved demeanour. Whilst 
 learning these things, their friends need be un 
 der no apprehension of their acquiring disagree 
 able manners, as the Americans would take a 
 pleasure, if not a pride, in showing hospitality and 
 politeness to such characters ; politeness too, I 
 say it with full conviction, which might tend to 
 smooth the asperity so obvious in the English cha 
 racter. In the degree to which the examination 
 of the beauties of nature operates to the refine 
 ment of the mind, no deficiency would be felt, 
 as the picturesque and the grand are liberally, 
 and in some districts lavishly spread. Young 
 educated Englishmen therefore, could not fail to 
 return to their native land after a tour in Ame 
 rica, without improvement both in mind and dis 
 position. 
 
 I have made few comparisons between Ameri 
 ca and England, the reason for which is, that if I 
 had indulged in them, I should often have appear 
 ed invidious ; accordingly so cautious have I 
 been of unduly advancing England, that some 
 may suppose that I have not a proper pride in 
 the name of Englishman. To prevent any mis 
 take on this point, I think it right to add, that 
 my patriotic feelings were strengthened by my 
 K K 2 
 
500 CONCLUSION. 
 
 journey in America ; for when I compared the 
 condition of the poor in the two countries, by 
 considering the degradation of the blacks in the 
 one, and of the occasional hardships of all the 
 labourers in the other, I was led to the conclu 
 sion that England is the happier, the state of the 
 poor being no bad criterion of national hap 
 piness. When I also surveyed the state of the 
 middle and upper ranks, I was still more forci 
 bly impressed with the same conviction. Yes ; 
 England is the country in which, with my pre 
 sent knowledge, I would rather have had my 
 birth than any other. I am indeed sensible that 
 many things in the laws and government are ad 
 verse to the enlightened state of the present age j 
 yet with all the grievances of which we may 
 justly complain, we have in my opinion substan 
 tial grounds for joy and exultation. America, 
 next to our own, is the land the most worthy of 
 our esteem and affection. If it should ever hap 
 pen that the liberty of England should be de 
 stroyed by the continental despots, we should 
 find in that country not only a secure asylum, but 
 a people whose character assimilates so nearly 
 with our own, that our lot would be vastly su 
 perior to that of men driven to countries, where 
 a different language and opposite manners are 
 established. I am putting an imaginary case ; 
 
CONCLUSION. 501 
 
 but though this country has little to fear a fo 
 reign conquest, it is by no means clear, that as 
 sistance to prevent it may never be required. 
 Should such a period arrive, we may look to 
 America with confidence that she would not be 
 backward in her good offices. 
 
 Meanwhile, the example of America ought 
 not to be lost upon our statesmen ; indeed as it 
 cannot be lost upon the country at large, it is the 
 height of folly for them to disregard it. Our in 
 stitutions are too firmly fixed to be safely sudden 
 ly changed ; but as many of them must inevitably 
 be changed at no distant period, either by law 
 less violence or legal enactment, the interest of 
 the country requires, that such preparation for 
 gradual changes be made as may render the for 
 mer unnecessary. It is obvious to the observers 
 of the times, that public opinion is more in fa 
 vour of a reform of the unsound parts of our 
 system of government, both in church and state, 
 than was the case only a few years ago. In 
 proportion to the increase of this feeling, the 
 necessity of complying with it becomes addi 
 tionally manifest, as the safety-valve must have 
 room to act, when the pressure of the steam is 
 too high. It therefore behoves the executive 
 authority, to encourage the prelation of virtue 
 
502 CONCLUSION. 
 
 and talent, rather than of birth and interest. 
 The approbation of the people at large, not that 
 of a few families for the sake of parliamentary 
 support, should now be the object of a British 
 statesman. Supported by the popular voice, he 
 might, as was formerly the case, give the law to 
 continental Europe, and promote the cause of 
 rational liberty. Unless such a course be pur 
 sued, this country, in the event of another re 
 volution in France, will be in the predicament 
 of a man, who having relinquished considerable 
 advantages for some supposed benefit, finds that 
 he has been cheated and betrayed. Another 
 crusade of thirty years against liberty is more 
 than the people could or would bear. Hence the 
 spirit of the age should be met by conciliation, 
 to prevent a recurrence of past misery at home, 
 and a disruption of society abroad ; for the ex 
 ample of this country is still influential on the 
 continent. The march of improvement may 
 be checked by power and bigotry for a time, 
 but it can no more be finally impeded, than 
 the intumescence of the sea could be controlled 
 by the command of Canute. The monarch s of 
 Europe and their ministers appear not to be so 
 fully aware as was that prince, that kings are not 
 omnipotent. They seem to think that reforma 
 tion in their respective governments may be pre- 
 
CONCLUSION. 503 
 
 vented, notwithstanding the diffusion of know 
 ledge which is now so extensive and increasing. 
 They would be glad to veil from the eyes of their 
 subjects the example of America in those points 
 which render her the most estimable, though they 
 might be willing that others in which she is cul 
 pable, should be generally known. But in all 
 their struggles to preserve abuses, they can no 
 more prevent the influence of America in what 
 is really good from being felt, than America can 
 avert the detestation of mankind, so long as she 
 continues to support the slave trade, and uses 
 no endeavours to extinguish slavery. Let us 
 then hope that the present friendly feeling be 
 tween America and England, will induce each 
 to emulate the other in the career of improve 
 ment, that so they may be more and more closely 
 united, and that the efforts of the tyrants of 
 other countries may be thwarted and overpower 
 ed. Then may we hope that a brighter day will 
 dawn upon Europe, the harbinger of permanent 
 tranquillity, freedom and happiness. 
 
 THE END, 
 
 G. Woodfall, Printer, 
 Angel Court, Skinner Street, London. 
 


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