I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES AN AUTUMN TOUR WOEKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR MODERN RATIONAL CHRISTIAN- ITY. A Creed, by a Layman. Crown 8vo. cloth, Is. 6d. ; paper covers, Is. London : KOBEET HAEDWICKE, 192 Piccadilly. INDIA and INDIAN ENGINEERING: Three Lectures delivered at the Eoyal Engineer Institute, Chatham, in July 1872. Crown 8vo. cloth, 3s. London : E. & F. N. SPON, 48 Charing Cross. AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA BY JULIUS GEORGE MEDLEY LIEUT.-COL. ROYAL ENGINEERS FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA HENRY S. KING & Co. 65 CORNHILL & 12 PATERNOSTER Row, LONDON 1873 (All rights reserved) E K-g TO MY DEAR AUNT AND GODMOTHER MARY THOMAS THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 1145579 CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY THE UNITED STATES i II. THE VOYAGE NEW YORK THE AMERICANS THEIR ENERGY THEIR SILENCE III. AMERICAN SOCIETY SPEECH HOSPITALITY ABSENCE OF PAUPERISM AND DRUNKENNESS TOBACCO-CHEWING NATIONAL VANITY IN- FERIOR EDUCATION Low TONE OF THE PRESS AMERICAN PATIENCE GENEROSITY RELIGIOUS FEELING 26 IV. AMERICAN POLITICS AMERICAN AND ENGLISH SOCIAL SYSTEMS CONTRASTED POLITICAL QUESTIONS . 46 V. AMERICAN TRAVELLING RAILROADS STEAM BOATS HOTELS 69 VI. THE HUDSON WEST POINT LAKES GEORGE AND CHAMPLAIN NIAGARA DETROIT CHICAGO THE MISSISSIPPI ST. JOSEPH THE MISSOURI THE EMIGRATION QUESTION . . . .82 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE VII. ST. Louis CINCINNATI PITTSBURG WASHING- TON PHILADELPHIA BOSTON -r- THE GREAT FIRE HARVARD UNIVERSITY AMERICAN TECH- NICAL EDUCATION 102 VIII. CANADA MONTREAL QUEBEC OTTAWA THE COLONIAL QUESTION TORONTO . . .125 IX. AMERICAN ENGINEERING RAILROADS CHICAGO WATER-WORKS ST. JOSEPH BRIDGE THE MISSOURI ST. Louis BRIDGE EAST RIVER BRIDGE TORPEDOES HELLGATE RIVER WORKS 142 APPENDIX 167 An Autumn Tour in the United States and Canada. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY THE UNITED STATES. THERE are few of the usual attractions to tempt the ordinary tourist to America. The voyage across the Atlantic is always rather formidable, the cost of travelling is high especially since the Civil War, and the country has but few antiquities or historical memorials, its cities and public buildings being mere copies of those in Europe. Even its natural beauties, great as they are, have scarcely enough speciality about them to tempt the traveller to undertake the voyage and the many hundred miles of wearisome travel necessary to reach them. B 2 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE Yet, to the thoughtful and intelligent English traveller, there are, I think, ample in- ducements to be offered. It must surely be interesting to see this vast territory, so lately a part of the mother country, being gradually settled and peopled to mark how the energy and ability of the race to which he himself belongs have, in so short a time, built large cities, cultivated great tracts of country, covered them with a network of railways and canals, and introduced all, the modern ap- pliances of science and civilisation into what was but a few years ago an uncleared wilder- ness above all, to observe the development of English laws, social customs, and political prin- ciples, under totally different circumstances from those under which they originated. Whether I may class myself amongst the thoughtful and intelligent or not, such, at any rate, were the motives that had long made me anxious to visit the United States ; and though the time which I was able to devote to my visit was unfortunately but too short, still I trust I have brought away some clear impressions of the country and people, which are in the main truthful, as they certainly are honest. I went with every disposition to be pleased and with no pre-conceived theories to UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 3 maintain. I did not go altogether ignorant of the geography, history or politics of the country ; and therefore, necessarily, I had formed opinions on many points. But I may fairly say that I held those opinions in abey- ance, and though many have been confirmed, others have been considerably modified or altogether changed. If it be objected that a traveller has no right to record his impressions after so short a visit, it may be replied that while a longer residence will of course give greater value to his remarks, yet those very peculiarities which are most important to be noticed will elude his observation as he becomes accustomed to them. Thus, though his picture would, in the latter case, be more highly finished, it would probably be wanting in sharpness of outline, and in the very individuality which makes it a portrait. Perhaps an Anglo-Indian is more compe- tent to a task of this sort than the ordinary Englishman. His ultra-English experience stands him in good stead ; he has been accustomed to view things from a different stand-point, and to judge of them to a great extent apart from English prejudices. In many respects, however, no two countries B 2 4 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE present a more striking- contrast to one another than India and the United States : the one, so intensely conservative that even five hundred years count but little in modifying the physical aspect of the country or the social character of the people ; the other, so progres- sive that it is difficult for the annalist to keep pace with its rapid growth. The one, a country whose history reaches back into the far-distant past, with a civilisation, art and science of its own, however corrupt and de- graded at present, with a dense population of many different races, under the government of a handful of foreigners, who rule it with a despotism tempered only by their own sense of justice and duty ; the other, a country whose history is not yet a hundred years old, with a civilisation, religion, customs and even political ideas brought second-hand from Europe, and whose small population, increas- ing yearly at a prodigious rate, and drawn from many distinct nationalities, yet converts them all into one homogeneous people, governed entirely by themselves. In one respect, certainly, I found it an advantage, while in America, to have lived many years in a country like India I was better able to realise the great distances and UNITED STATES AND CANADA. '5 vast extent of the States. The Englishman who has never quitted England, or even if he has only travelled on the European continent, has great difficulty in appreciating the magni- tude of a single country which is larger than all the kingdoms of Europe put together. But having travelled 1,500 miles continuously on the Indian railways, I could at least compre- hend the meaning of a journey more than twice as long from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. I had also travelled sufficiently in other countries, besides Great Britain and India, not to waste time in visiting what could be equally well seen in Europe or in attempt- ing to see too much ; and I endeavoured to guard myself from the common fault of every traveller, that of generalising too much from individual instances. Before attempting to give an account of my tour or of my impressions of the country and people, I shall take the liberty of offering to the reader a little general informa- tion about the United States, with which he may or may not be already acquainted. The United States of America comprehend an area of more than three and a half millions 6 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE of square miles : larger, that is, than the whole of Europe, and entirely within the temperate zone. This great country pos- sesses the longest river in the world, and many others second only to it, and that magnificent chain of fresh water lakes which, with the rivers, gives it such unequalled facilities for inland navigation. Its grand mountain ranges, the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas, besides the Alleghanies and others, hold untold mineral wealth and inexhaustible supplies of coal. It has vast forests of valuable timber; prairie lands of such extent and fertility that they could grow corn for ten times its present population ; and bottom lands along the rivers which produce the finest cotton, sugar, and other tropical crops. The climate is, of course, very various over such an extent of country. That of the Northern, Eastern and Central States may be said to be much drier than our own, with greater extremes of cold and heat. The Southern States are semi-tropical in character. The climate of the Western States, between the Mississippi and the Pacific, is modified con- siderably by the mountain ranges and the sea coast. The rain-fall is generally moderate and UNITED STATES AND CANADA. pretty evenly distributed ; but some of the States, such as New Mexico and Colorado, suffer greatly from drought, and have to resort to artificial irrigation to secure their crops. The Northern and Eastern States are generally hilly or undulating and well wooded ; as we advance into the interior, the country becomes flatter and more open, until we cross the great plains or rolling prairies in the centre of the continent ; then we reach the great Rocky Mountain chain, and finally the beautifully varied scenery of the Pacific States. The following list of the States and terri- tories 1 with their area and population is taken from the official census for 1870. Area, Population, etc. of the United States in 1870. * Area. Sq. miles. Population. Chief Cities. NEW ENGLAND STATES 6. Maine 35,000 626,915 Augusta, Portland. New Hampshire 9,280 318,300 Concord, Portsmouth. Vermont 10,212 330,351 Montpelier, Burlington. Massachusetts 7,800 1,457,351 Boston, Worcester. Connecticut 4,750 537,454 Hartford, New Haven. Rhode Island . 1,306 217,353 Newport, Providence. TOTAL 68,368 3,487,724 1 The newly settled districts not yet entitled to be fully represented in Congress by reason of the sparseness of their population, are called Territories and not States. AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE Area, Population, etc. of the United States in 1870 (cont. Area. Sq. miles. Population. Chief Cities. MIDDLE STATES 6. New York 46,000 4,382,759 Albany, New York. New Jersey . 8,320 906,096 Trenton, Newark. Pennsylvania . 47,OOO 3,521,791 Harrisburg, Philadelphia. Delaware 2,120 125,015 Dover, Wilmington. Maryland 11,124 780,894 Annapolis, Baltimore. District of Columbia 60 131,700 WASHINGTON. TOTAL . 114,624 9,848,255 WESTERN STATES 9. Ohio 39,964 2,665,260 Columbus, Cincinnati. Indiana . 33,809 1,680,637 Indianapolis. Illinois . 55,409 2,539,891 Springfield, Chicago. Michigan 56,243 1,184,059 Lansing, Detroit. Wisconsin 53,924 1,054,670 Madison, Milwaukee. Iowa 55,ooo 1,191,792 Des Moines, Davenport. Minnesota 83,53i 439,706 St. Paul, Minneapolis. Kansas . 80,000 364,299 Topeka, Lawrence. Nebraska 70,000 122,993 Lincoln, Omaha. TOTAL . 527,880 11,243,307 SOUTH-WESTERN STATES 8. Alabama 50,722 996,992 Montgomery, Mobile. Mississippi 47,156 827,922 Jackson, Vicksburg. Louisiana 4i,346 726,915 New Orleans. Texas . 274,356 818,579 Austin, Galveston. Arkansas 52,198 484,471 Little Rock. Tennessee 45,000 1,258,520 Nashville, Memphis. Kentucky 37,68o 1,321,011 Frankford, Louisville. Missouri 65,037 1,721,295 Jefferson City, St. Louis. TOTAL 6i3,495 8,155,705 SOUTHERN STATES 6. Virginia ^ 37,35 2 1,225,163 Richmond, Norfolk. West Virginia 24,000 442,014 Wheeling. North Carolina . 50,700 1,071,361 Raleigh, Wilmington. South Carolina 34,000 705,606 Columbia, Charleston. Georgia . 58,000 1,184,109 Atlanta, Savannah. Florida . 59,268 187,748 Tallahassee. TOTAL . * . 263,320 4,816,001 UNITED STATES AND CANADA. Area, Population, etc. of the United States in 1870 (cont.) Area. Sq. miles. Population. Chief Cities. PACIFIC STATES 3. California 169,000 560,247 Sacramento, San Francisco. Nevada . .90,000 42,491 Carson City. Oregon . lOOjOOO 90,923 Salem, Portland. TOTAL . 359,000 693,661 TERRITORIES 10. Arizona . 131,000 9,658 Tucson New Mexico . 110,000 91,874 Santa F. Colorado 104,000 39,864 Denver. Utah . 121. OOO 86,786 Salt Lake City. Idaho lOOjOOO 14,999 Boise City. Montana I5O,OOO 20,595 Virginia City. Dakota . 22O,OOO 14,181 Yancton. Wyoming lOOjOOO 9,118 Cheyenne. Washington . Indian Territory 71,000 70,OOO 27,955 Est.6o,ooo ' Olympia. Tah-le-quah. TOTAL . 1,177,000 375,130 Alaska . 400,000 Unknown. Sitka. Recapitulation. STATES, &c Area. Total Popu- lation 1870. Free coloured. 6 New England States 68,368 3,487,724 30,805 6 Middle States, &c. . 114,624 9,848,255 389,662 6 Southern States 263,320 4,8l6,OOI 1,975,116 8 South- Western States 613,495 8,155^05 2,312,177 9 Western States 527,880 11,243,307 154,915 3 Pacific States . 359,ooo 693,661 4,973 10 Territories . 1,177,000 375,130 i,499 Alaska . 400,000 GRAND TOTAL . 3,523,687 38,619,783 4,869,107 1 Not enumerated in the Census. 1O AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE It will be seen that the area and population are very unequally distributed. Rhode Island, the smallest State, is not much larger than Yorkshire ; Texas, the largest, is five times as large, as England. The New England and Middle States, whose united area is little more than one-twentieth of the whole country, have more than one-third of the total popula- tion ; and in wealth, education and influence are far ahead of the others, including as they do nearly all the great cities, commercial ports, and manufacturing centres. The Southern and South-Western groups, comprising the old slave-holding States, are almost entirely agricultural, and rich in cotton, rice and other tropical productions. They have however one great port, New Orleans, besides three others of some importance. The Western States are entirely agricul- tural and comprise the great wheat and corn growing area, the level or rolling prairie lands so admirably adapted to farming purposes. The Pacific group comprises the great and rising State of California with its fine port, San Francisco, (the New York of the Pacific) its fertile soil, magnificent scenery, varied climate and important mineral wealth. The UNITED STATES AND CANADA. I 1 other two States of this group are also rich in minerals. The thinly peopled Territories, forming one-third of the whole area, with a united population less, than that of the small State of Connecticut, are partly agricultural and partly mineral in character, and only await popula- tion to develope their vast internal resources. The population of the States which is now about 40,000,000, is increasing so fast that in fifty years it will probably amount to 100,000,000. The number of immigrants is about 250,000 yearly, the Irish and Germans forming by far the largest numbers ; but there are also many English, Welsh, Scottish, Swedes, Italians and others ; and of late years there has been a very extensive Chinese immigration into the Pacific States. There are nearly 5,000,000 of coloured people in the whole country, who are now all free and have been admitted to the privilege of the franchise. With regard to the political constitution of the country, each of the thirty-seven States delegates a certain portion of its power to the Central Government at Washington, return- ing two Senators to Congress as representing the State in its sovereign capacity and one 12 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE Member to the House of Representatives, for every 1 20,000 of its population : the Senators are chosen for six years, the Re- presentatives for two. Besides this, each State has its own Legislative Assembly, consisting of a Senate and a House of Repre- sentatives, and makes its own laws, electing its own Governor and other officials. The President of the United States is chosen every four years and is eligible for re-election. He has the power of a veto over any act passed by the two Houses of Congress, but if they then pass it by a majority of two- thirds, it becomes law. The Vice- President is chosen at the same time as the President, and is ex-officio President of the Senate. Manhood suffrage prevails in all the States without any educational or property qualification. The Senators are, however, chosen by the Legislatures of the various States, and not directly by the people; while the President and Vice- President are chosen by electors nominated by the people for that particular purpose, who are in number equal to the two Houses of Legislature of the Stated but who must not be Members of either House. The Secretaries of State and other executive officers cannot sit in Congress. UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 13 The Supreme Court consists of a Chief and eight Associate Judges, who are nomi- nated by the President for life or during good behaviour. The judges of the district courts are elected by the people. The Revenue of the United States is at present about 75,ooo,ooo/. sterling, raised from customs, taxes, Government lands &c. ; it has been largely augmented since the War, chiefly by heavy customs' duties being im- posed. The States raise their own revenue for local purposes. The currency since the War has been entirely in paper, and consists of dollars and cents : the dollar being nomi- nally worth about 45-. 2d., and the cent a halfpenny. The premium on gold is at present about thirteen per cent, in New York. There is no established religion in the States no hereditary titles of any sort no law of entail. There is a standing army of about 30,000 men and a small navy, both largely recruited from foreigners. The ex- penditure on both was only i i,ooo,ooo/. ster- ling in the past year. The public debt incurred during the War is being paid off at the rate of 2O,ooo,ooo/. sterling annually. 14 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE CHAPTER II. THE VOYAGE NEW YORK THE AMERICANS THEIR ENERGY THEIR SILENCE. I LEFT Liverpool on Thursday, September 5th, 1872, in the Inman screw steamer ' City of Brooklyn.' We carried no cabin passen- gers, besides some 500 in the steerage. After a rough night in the Irish Channel, we reached Queenstown, Ireland, at 9 o'clock the following morning, and I took the oppor- tunity of landing to call on General Sherman, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, who happened to be at the hotel, waiting to em- bark in the ' Baltic.' At 4 p.m. we had received the express mails, via Dublin, and were steaming along the south coast of Ire- land on our way to New York. Almost all our passengers were Americans, many of whom had been making a summer tour in England or on the Continent. We had also the late U.S^ Consul at Liverpool on UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 15 board, to whose ability and energy during the War his Government chiefly owed their suc- cessful prosecution of the Alabama claims. I was indebted to this gentleman for much excellent advice and information in regard to my projected tour, and to his amiable family for an intimacy which made the voyage only too short. The weather was generally cold, and occasionally rainy ; for two days we had strong head winds and the usual discomfort attending a pitching steamer. On the 1 2th we were running over the Great Bank of Newfoundland, passing Cape Race in the night ; this is sometimes sighted on the voyage. This is the region of icebergs, which however are rarely met with at this time of year ; from April to July a sharp look-out is kept for them, and a more southerly course is generally pursued on the Great Circle. The ' City of Boston/ which was lost three or four years ago, belonged to the Inman line ; she sailed from Halifax in the month of February and was never more heard of ; it is supposed that she perished in the pack- ice floating down from the north ; a hurri- cane was blowing at the time and she prob- ably broke up and foundered in a few minutes. 1 6 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE The passage of the North Atlantic can indeed never be considered free from danger. In winter there are storms which often last for days, and seas such as are probably met with on no other ocean ; in summer there are thunderstorms and icebergs ; so that a smooth passage at any time is altogether exceptional. In one season, three steamers went ashore one after the other, owing to their compasses being affected by a magnetic storm. However, we escaped all these casualties, took the pilot on board on Sunday night, the 1 5th, and on Monday morning were running past Sandy Hook through a cold wind and drizzling rain. But the weather fortunately cleared up just in time, and leaving Staten Island with its green and wooded heights and picturesque villas on our left, we entered the beautiful harbour of New York, anchored in the North River about 10 o'clock, and after some delay were carried off by the tender to the Custom House Wharf. A cursory and very civil inspection of baggage followed and consigning it all to the care of one of the express agents, I started on foot and enquired my way to the St. Nicholas Hotel, in Broadway, to which I had been UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 17 recommended as a thoroughly American house in every respect. New York is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, in latitude 41, longitude 74. The city proper is built on Manhattan Island, which is separated by the Hudson from Jersey City on the west, and by the East River from Brooklyn and the smaller suburbs on Long Island. The south or lower end of Manhattan Island forms the business quarter of the city and is the older portion. The upper end contains the more fashionable quarter and the majority of the dwelling houses, and stretches along to the Central Park, which may perhaps be ' cen- tral ' before many years. Broadway, the principal thoroughfare, runs about midway through the length of the city, and is in breadth and general appearance very like Ox- ford Street, London. New York proper has about 1,000,000 in- habitants, but including Brooklyn, Jersey City and the other suburbs, the whole population is over a million and a half. The general aspect of the city is like London, with a touch of Paris about it. Stone and even marble are extensively used in the houses, and many of the public buildings, and even c 1 8 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE the shops, or 'stores' as they are always called, are on a magnificent scale. The houses in Fifth and Madison Avenues, and the cross streets between Fourth and Sixth Avenues, which include the best of the dwelling houses, are generally of brown stone and of about the size and general appearance of our second-class residences in Belgravia or Tyburnia. The streets are generally wide, straight and well kept, and several of the Avenues are planted with young trees. Except Broadway itself, every principal street has at least one line of rail for the horse-cars, which are generally used by the whole population. 1 The harbour of New York is among the best and handsomest in the world, and is crowded with shipping ; while steam-ferries ply continually over the north and east rivers to keep up the communication with the suburbs. A project is now on foot for bridging the East River, and so connecting 1 They are certainly a great convenience to the general public, especially as the cabs, or rather hackney-coaches, of New York, are little used for general purposes owing to their extortionate charges, but the rails of the horse-cars, both here and in every other town, are an abominable nuisance to private vehicles. In Broadway, omnibuses are used similar to our own. UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 19 New York and Brooklyn by a suspension bridge of 1,600 feet span, the towers of which are already nearly completed. Among the most noticeable buildings in New York are the New Post Office (not yet completed), the Town Hall, many of the Churches, the principal Hotels, and several of the leading Banks, Insurance Offices, and Stores ; for information about all of which I must refer the reader to Appleton's excel- lent guide-book. There are several squares in the city, but they all seem public property and have a very ' unkempt ' appearance com- pared with ours. The Central Park is beautifully laid out and planted, and is more like the Bois de Boulogne than Hyde Park ; in the evening it is crowded with carriages ; but there are very few riders, and horseman ship is evidently not a favourite art with Americans. The shops or stores are like those of London or Paris, but there must be a greater number of large ones than in either of those cities. The book-stores struck me as very fine ; they have excellent reprints of all the best English works, and regular importations of English books as well. All the leading magazines and reviews are regularly received, c 2 2O AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE also ' Punch,' the ' Saturday Review,' ' Illus- trated News,' and a few other weeklies. Prices are everywhere very high : heavy duties have been imposed since the War in order to pay off the National Debt, and the cost of everything has been raised in propor- tion. Articles of clothing are double or triple the English price ; books are dearer ; meat and bread about the same as in London. If I were asked what first struck me when I landed in New York, I should say it was the feeling of surprise, which I scarcely liked to own to myself, at finding so large and sub- stantial a copy of London, 3,000 miles across the ocean ; and this feeling continued to increase as I visited the great cities of the West. It is doubtless an absurd confession to have to make, but knowing, as one does, the youthfulness of these great towns, one has a vague idea that they cannot but be flimsy affairs after all wooden or lath and plaster houses, and a new-country look about the whole thing. But a very short inspection is enough to show the falseness of such an idea ; the splendid edifices of granite and marble which everywhere abound, and UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 21 the substantial character of the streets and houses and stores gave me the first insight into the energy and force of the American character. It is that energy which has almost rebuilt Chicago in a year after the greatest fire of modern times, and which commenced to clear away the ruins in Boston while the fire was still smoking. It is the same energy which has covered the country with railroads, which are pushed into the heart of the most thinly settled districts, at once attracting settlers and paying for their cost by the sale of the lands opened up, and which, in a hundred ways, forcibly impresses the traveller with the conviction that he is amongst the same race that has conquered India and colonised two great continents. As I sat at dinner the first day of my arrival, at one of the largest hotels in New York, and studied the countenances of the four or five hundred men at table who swiftly and silently despatched their dinner and then glided rapidly and gravely from the room, I instinctively felt that I was amongst a strong, earnest, resolute people, whom one would rather have as friends than foes. They were not at all English-looking ; they are, as a rule, darker and sallower than our- 22 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE selves ; the face is longer and leaner, and the almost universal practice of shaving the whiskers and growing a beard, tends still more to give them a foreign look. Of course New York has a large foreign population in it, and the feeling I have mentioned faded somewhat as I went West ; but I have a strong belief in the value of first impressions, and am inclined to think that on the whole mine were correct. The foreign immigration into America is so great that it seems to me one of the strongest points of the American institutions that these foreign elements are so quickly assimilated, and that after the lapse of a single generation, Irishmen, Germans, Swedes, Italians, and others, are all turned into American citizens with a distinct nation- ality about them. Of late years, I am told, this assimilating process does not go on so fast as it ought ; both the Irish and Ger- man elements are yearly becoming stronger and more separated from the mass of the population. Fortunately, I think, these two important elements are radically opposed to each other in character, religion, and politics, and thus may neutralise each other. It is also said, and I believe with some truth, that UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 23 there is a want of vitality in the original Anglo-American stock. Whether the Anglo- Saxon race will not bear transplanting with- out degenerating, or whether there are other reasons, it is asserted that but for the con- stant importation and admixture of foreign blood, the original race would soon die out. Such an opinion can of course be nothing but a theory ; at any rate the original stock gives the tone and colouring to all the rest, and I believe it is strong enough to assimilate them all in time. The Americans struck me generally as a silent people ; though the very contrary idea is prevalent in England, I know not on what grounds. But they certainly seemed to me more taciturn and reserved than ourselves, and I think most travellers will confirm the remark. In the dining-rooms of the large hotels, in the railway cars and elsewhere, they made less noise than half the number of English would have done ; there was but little conversation even amongst those acquainted with each other, and those who were unacquainted never spoke at all. In the whole course of my travels, I don't think I was ever addressed in the first instance ; I always received perfectly civil replies to my 24 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE questions and had many pleasant conversa- tions with strangers on the steam-boats, rail- ways, and other public places, but there was always a certain amount of ice to be broken through first No one can deny them the faculty of wit, or at least an extravagant humour which is characteristically American, yet you rarely hear jokes or a hearty laugh amongst them ; there seems a total absence of jollity or jovi- ality in all classes, a tendency rather to gravity or even melancholy, 1 and an American owned to me, half-seriously, that he thought there was something of the Red Indian reticence and gravity appearing in the national character. I am inclined to think that this tristesse, as the French would call it, arises from the general absorption of all classes in business and money-making ; no one is idle, no one loafs, and nobody seems to have time for enjoyment or pleasure. It is the same charge that other nations make against the English, and with a certain amount of truth, that we take our pleasures sadly, which means, partly, that we work hard at our pleasures, carrying the same seriousness into them as into our 1 The almost invariable habit of wearing black cloths probably adds to this impression of the men. UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 25 business, but which also, I think, arises from the greater manliness of the English character, that prevents our finding pleasure or relaxa- tion in the same childish amusements as the French or Italians. In America, this national trait has been reproduced, and is intensified by the simple fact that there is no idle class there ; no class, as with us (though of course there are individuals), which is exempt from the necessity of working for a living. I never fully appreciated the value of this class at home before ; now that I have been to America, (and I make the remark in all sin- cerity), I recognise it fully. Such a class, removed from the anxieties inseparable from the conduct of business or the practice of a profession, has leisure not only for the cultiva- tion of the taste, the pursuit of art, science and literature, and for studying the amenities of social intercourse, but also for the not less valuable art of pleasure-seeking generally, and of carrying manliness and refinement into our sports and amusements. To the value of such a class in politics I shall allude further on. 26 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE CHAPTER III. AMERICAN SOCIETY SPEECH HOSPITALITY ABSENCE OB' PAUPERISM AND DRUNKENNESS TOBACCO-CHEWING VANITY INFERIOR EDUCATION LOW TONE OF THE PRESS AMERICAN PATIENCE GENEROSITY RELIGIOUS FEELING. OF American society I scarcely saw enough to enable me to say much about it. So far as I could judge, good society in America, i.e. the society of well-educated men and women in easy circumstances, is much the same as in our own country ; but I am disposed to think that it is inferior to the very best English society ; or, rather, that there is nothing in America corresponding to the latter, partly from the general abstinence of the upper classes of Americans from politics, and partly from an inferiority in the highest kind of education, of both of which I shall speak presently. The travelled Ameri- can is as superior to his untravelled compatriot as is the travelled Englishman, and if there UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 27 are but too many amongst them who have seen every country in the world except their own, it is not for us to find fault with them on that account. Few Englishmen know anything of our own great Colonies, and many of those who flock annually to Switzerland, the Rhine, or the Italian lakes, are utterly ignorant of the scenery of the United King- dom. I have often been asked whether what is generally termed ' the American accent ' is as common as is generally supposed. Amongst the educated classes, I think the only differ- ence from the English accent generally noticeable is a slight raising of the voice at the end of the sentence, or what is commonly called a sing-song intonation ; and even this is by no means universal. With other classes, the nasal twang is often very strong in some ; in others it is less, or even not at all, percep- tible. At any rate, the very broadest Yankee accent or provincialism is more easily under- stood, and not more offensive to the educated ear, than that of the Yorkshire ' tyke ' or Glasgow ' body.' As to the use, or misuse, of English words, many Americanisms are well known ; but there are very few used by the best classes. ' I guess ' is common enough, 28 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE and certain strange verbs such as ' collided,' ' loaned,' and a few others ; also the use of ' some ' and ' any ' adverbially ; as ' Did you sleep any last night ? ' A shop is always called a ' store ; ' a railway station is a ' depot.' ' Quite a number ' means a great number. Amongst other classes, ' Say ' is constantly used for, I say ; ' Mister ' for Sir ; ' On time ' for in time. ' Donated,' ' interviewed ' and ' excursed ' are also strange verbs to English ears. ' Stranger ' I never heard used ; and ' You bet ' and ' I want to know,' as expressions of assent and incredulity, are provincialisms, even in America. I have already noticed in passing the peculiarity of American humour its extrava- gance, and I may add its grimness both of which seem to characterise it specially. Mark Twain and Bret Harte, both well known to English readers, appear to me to stand at the head of the list ; the former especially, in ' The Innocents Abroad ' and ' The New Pilgrim's Progress,' seems to me to have produced the best and most original book of travels that we have had for several years ; while his 'Roughing it' is scarcely inferior. The illustra- tions of all three in the American editions are nearly as good as the letterpress, and I am UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 2Q surprised that they have not been reproduced in England. Of American hospitality, I had heard a good deal and was rather disappointed with it. The reserve and coldness of which I have already spoken require so much time to break through, that a mere passing traveller is apt to be chilled by the want of warmth in his reception. In India, if you are the bearer of a letter of introduction to a resident, he throws open his house to you and expects you to be his guest for as long as you choose to stay. In England, such a letter at least insures you an invitation to dinner. In America it may or may not do so ; I found often that a man thought he had done all that civility required by leaving his card on me at the hotel. In one case, while at Boston, I called upon one of the leading merchants to whom I had a letter, and not finding him at home left the letter and my card. He called three times upon me at my hotel, finding me out each time, but did not invite me to his house, delaying to do so, I presume, until he could first see me to make sure that I was worthy of the honour. From other people, however, and in many cases of chance acquaintanceship by the way, I received great kindness and a cordial wel- 3O AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE come, and regretted only that I could not stay longer to know more of them. If I were asked what struck me most agreeably during my visit to America, I should say it was the general absence of the pauper class of the population, to whose presence we are unfortunately but too much accustomed at home ; there is nothing of that squalid misery, or abject poverty, which forms so painful a contrast to the luxury and refinement of London and other European cities. In the two months of my travels I was only twice accosted by beggars, and of those one was blind and the other lame. This happy state of things of course arises from the fact that the country, so far from being crowded, is still eagerly demanding all kinds of manual labour. Vast provinces are awaiting the advent of the farmer and labourer to break their virgin soil ; new railways are every year projected ; new towns are everywhere being built ; new mines are being discovered and worked. While I was at Chicago, bricklayers were getting four dollars and a half (about eighteen shillings) a day, for twelve hours' work ; and 5,000 of them were on strike for a reduction to eight hours on four dollars. All over the West, common labourers were in UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 31 demand at from eight to ten shillings, and carpenters and mechanics at from twelve to twenty-five shillings a day. Miners in Colo- rado were getting seven dollars in gold, equivalent to nearly thirty shillings, a day. And in the West, meat is sixpence a pound and other things in proportion, except clothing which was a good deal dearer than in England. I have no doubt there is a pauper class in the back slums of New York and possibly elsewhere, but every great city, especially if a sea-port, collects a certain population of this sort who prefer the life of the streets to life elsewhere under healthier conditions ; there is always ample means of escape from such a state to the newly settled towns and vast plains of the West. Nothing perhaps can better illustrate this ready absorption of labour in America than the quiet subsidence of the great armies raised during the Civil War, after the struggle was over. In no country in Europe could half a million of men, who had been with- drawn from civil life for military duties, have been safely disbanded at once ; their former places would have been filled up and they would have found themselves adrift on the world, a mob of disciplined men, bound Z2 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE J together by military habits and instincts, and dangerous to the community they had saved. In the States, fortunately, the War did not last long enough to give the citizen soldiers a distaste for their civil work ; no leader of commanding genius arose (on the Federal side at least) to attach his men to him, by strong personal ties, and the whole army was absorbed so rapidly and quietly into the civil population that the event scarcely excited remark. Another point that struck me everywhere as an agreeable feature was the absence of drunkenness. I should have set down the whole population as singularly temperate, had I not been assured by many Americans that I was giving them more credit than they deserved, and that there is a good deal of hard drinking amongst many classes. It may be so ; I can only say I did not see it. I scarcely ever met a drunken man, and the streets at night, in all the cities I visited, certainly presented a favourable contrast to those of English towns. I believe, however, that there is a good deal of whisky and brandy drunk at the hotel bars and drinking saloons, and abominable stuff it is. No good ale is made in the country, I don't know why ; UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 33 the German Lager beer is the best. There seems no reason whatever why a good and cheap light wine might not be produced in most of the vine-growing States, but the native wine usually sold is as dear as that imported from Europe. As men of the Anglo-Saxon race will drink, it seems really an important matter to provide them with a cheap and wholesome beverage that may save them from the pernicious vice of dram- drinking. In the vicinity of New York is one of the Asylums for the Inebriate (as they are elegantly termed), of which I understand there are several in the States ; in which people of the respectable classes who have become drunkards are confined, at their own request, until they are discharged as cured. In thus treating drunkenness as a disease, the Americans, I believe, show more sense than ourselves, who are accustomed to look upon it simply as a vice. There is no doubt it may be treated as a vice in its early stages, but as to the confirmed drunkard, it is about as useful to preach to him to abstain as it would be to implore him not to catch the small-pox the vice has become a disease in his case and he must be treated accordingly, D 34 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE though of course it is not the only disease which has commenced in vice. The best chance of cure is total abstinence and the entire removal of temptation ; and this should be the aim, as it is the true defence, of all legislation on the subject. It may be per- fectly true that you cannot make men moral by Act of Parliament, but you can to a great extent protect them from disease ; and in this sense, by diminishing the temptation to drink, there can be no doubt that you can diminish the habit of drunkenness. If I have praised the Americans for their comparative freedom from drunkenness, I cannot help expressing disgust at the general frequency of the habit of tobacco-chewing, and the consequent hawking and spitting that go on incessantly. The entrance halls of every hotel in the country are liberally furnished with spittoons, but are also stained all over with discoloured spittle. It is the same in the railway cars, in almost every public place, and on the staircases and in the lobbies of the Houses of Congress. I do not believe that gentlemen in good society in- dulge in the filthy habit, but everyone else does, and the effect on the Englishman is simply disgusting. It is an unpleasant sub- UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 35 ject to allude to, but the practice is so general everywhere that it is impossible to pass it over in silence. The trait of character, however, that strikes one most forcibly _and disagreeably, is their national vanity and egotism. That they have much to be vain of is undeniable ; they feel how much they have done in a short time, how much they are still doing, and what a great future lies before them. But their conceit of themselves and their own achievements is perpetually displayed in a manner that would be irritating if it were not amusing. They are not even satisfied by your admiration unless you admire exactly what they do, and their admiration is often bestowed on objects which do not seem to you admirable simply because you look, at them from a different point of view and measure them by other standards. It was not enough that I praised the Niagara Falls and the scenery of the Hudson and St. Lawrence, as beautiful in themselves and differing from anything I had yet seen ; I must also praise the scenery of Lakes George and Champlain as being far superior to any lake scenery in Europe which they are not ; I must admire the prairies simply because D 2 36 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE they are so vast, and the Mississippi because it is the biggest river in the world. Indeed, size is evidently their great criterion of beauty, and I suspect they are disappointed that the Rocky Mountains are not as high as the Himalayas. I could admire New York in all honesty, with its noble harbour, its crowds of shipping, and its beautiful suburbs, though I could not admit that the Fifth Avenue quarter was as fine as Bel- gravia, or the city itself is as large as London or as handsome as Paris. But the town that I was always called upon to admire was Chicago, for no other reason but that it had sprung up so rapidly into existence, and after being half burnt down, was so quickly being built up again. As, however, Chicago is a mere mass of streets and houses erected on a perfectly flat piece of ground, as the ravages of the great fire were still everywhere visible, and the town was in all the discomfort inci- dental to workmen, stone, and mortar, all that could properly call forth a stranger's admiration had really to be taken on trust. It is the same with other things. Ameri- can oysters I was told were very superior to English oysters ; if I did not think so, it was because I missed the ' coppery ' taste in the UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 37 latter (whatever that may mean), at any rate they were bigger. American peaches were better than English peaches at any rate they were more numerous and cheaper. American hotels, with their noisy, spitting crowds and bad cookery, were superior to the quiet comfortable English hotels, or the brilliant, well-furnished French hotels with their perfect cookery and cheerful tables- d'Jwte at any rate they could accommodate twice as many people. I think they like Englishmen to praise their country, but I doubt if they care very much about it ; the mass of the people seem to take very little interest in any other country except their own, and are, on the whole, very self-sufficient and too self-satis- fied to care about the good opinion of other nations, or indeed to waste much thought or attention on other parts of the world. The brief notices of foreign affairs contained in the American papers generally appeared to me to be drawn up in a tone of good- natured contempt, as if America was rather amused than otherwise at witnessing the vain struggles of Europe to imitate her greatness, and preserve itself from ruin and revolution ! A good deal of this conceit of course arises 38 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE from the youth of the nation ; it is the natural arrogance of a young man who has had his head turned by success, and who does not yet foresee the rocks and shoals of life that are ahead. But much of it also arises from their narrow education. I had expected to find this very much the reverse as compared with England ; and undoubtedly education is more widely diffused in the States, and the lower classes are better instructed than our own. But it is certainly not the case with the middle classes, i.e. the mass of the nation ; they have less information, are narrower in their views, and less capable of generalising. There are plenty of schools and colleges, no doubt, but very few with any high standard of scholarship ; the education given is too utilitarian and the pupils leave too early. Moreover, they miss the education which an Englishman insensibly gets by living in Europe, and being perpetually interested in other politics besides his own. What I have asserted is, of course, a matter of opinion and hardly susceptible of direct proof, but I think the difference in the tone of the Press of the two countries goes o far to corroborate my views. There are more newspapers in the States than in Eng- UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 39 land, because education, as I have allowed, is more diffused in the former ; they are inferior in tone and character, because the education of their readers is so too. It is impossible to sup- pose, if there existed a demand for a superior class of journals, that in such a country as America, there would not be at once an adequate supply. If any one doubts the in- feriority of which I have spoken, let him compare a number of ' The Times,' or ' The Daily News,' or ' The Standard' with 'The New York Times,' or ' Tribune,' or ' Herald.' The leading articles of the latter are simply beneath criticism ; their regular or special correspondence and critical notices are poor and meagre, while their columns of intelli- gence are sensationalised in headings, style and contents, in a way that would disgrace a penny-a-liner. As to such papers as the 1 Saturday Review ' or ' Spectator,' with their brilliant criticism and scholarly information, there are none like them in the States ; they would not be appreciated if there were. While travelling in America, you appear to be altogether cut off from the European world of politics and news, so meagre is the flippant summary put before you in the American papers, and so shallow and ignorant are their 4O AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE comments on the scanty scraps of news they furnish. Doubtless it is a good thing for America in many ways that she should be self-reliant, and even all-sufficient to herself in most things ; but so long as she has to import so largely from Europe her literature, science and art, she should interest herself more in that current literature and that political life from which, in truth, the others all really spring. Lest it may be thought that in my delinea tion of the American character I have dwelt too much on the blemishes, let me hasten to express my admiration of other features in it, one of which I may call their patience ; they have the good temper and forbearance of a strong race, which are the more to be com- mended as their great energy might fairly be expected to produce impatience and irrita- bility. So far from this, you rarely hear quarrelling, or bad language, even amongst the lowest classes ; and there is a singular quiet ness and patience shown everywhere, which are a pleasant contrast to the grumbling of an Englishman. I never heard a dispute about a fare, in omnibus or railway ; a complaint about a dinner ; or a threat of an appeal to the Press or to superior authority. In fact, UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 4! anyone in authority appears to be deferred to at once, for, after all, he is their servant ; and the principle of self-government is carried out fully and effectually. Its abuses, of which I shall speak presently, arise from mistakes and excrescences which in no way affect the main principle. Thus, a disorderly mob is a rare thing in America ; I was there during the height of the presidential contest and on the day of the election. Not a day passed without party processions and political meet- ings where the speeches were often of a virulently personal character, yet I do not remember a single instance of a row, or that the militia were once called out, or that a single extra policeman was sworn in. The public-houses are closed everywhere on election day by universal consent, the whole thing passed off quietly and good-humouredly and impressed me forcibly with an idea of the self-restraint and self-respect of the people. Let me also add that I never was treated otherwise than with perfect courtesy by every official with whom I came in contact, and that I never asked a question or enquired my road from anyone, without the greatest pains being taken to give me the desired information. Another point too I may honestly praise, 42 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE and that is their generosity and liberality, or at least their want of pettiness or meanness. You are not subjected to irritating exactions either at hotels or elsewhere, and men are not always touching their hats and expecting you to tip them for doing some act of common civility. If the Americans make money fast, they spend it freely and gener- ously, and I cannot imagine such a being as a Yankee miser. Large sums are easily raised by subscription for any religious or charitable purpose. Mr. Henry Ward- Beecher raises annually, I am told, from 5o,ooo/. to ioo,ooo/. for the support of his church and different institutions connected therewith. After the Boston fire, Chicago sent the sufferers 4O,ooo/. as a free gift ; it was declined, as also aid from other places, on the ground that the Bostonians were wealthy and could afford the loss, and were too proud to let their poor be aided by other cities. Let me add too, that although there is no established church, the religious sentiment is generally strong everywhere, at any rate in those States which I visited. I never sat down to the simplest meal in a private house without grace being said, and in a reverent UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 43 manner very different from the mode in which it is often slurred over amongst our- selves. There is no town or village without several churches or chapels, and Sunday is generally pretty strictly observed, except in those towns which contain a large foreign population, as Chicago for instance. The Houses of Congress and of the various State Legislatures and even the Courts of Law are, I believe, opened with prayer. The Monday newspapers always contain long abstracts of the Sermons delivered the pre- vious day, and the excellent institution of Thanksgiving Day, appointed by the Gover- nors of the States, on which the people are enjoined by proclamation to repair to their several places of worship and thank God for the good harvest and the various blessings of the past year, is universally observed and might with advantage be copied by ourselves. I have no religious statistics to inflict upon the reader, but I believe all the leading Protestant sects are well represented all over the country, and the Roman Catholic Church is of course strong amongst the Irish and their descendants. The Episcopal Church of the U.S. uses our prayer-book with a few unimportant alterations, has its High and 44 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE Low Church divisions, and I should say generally includes the bulk of the upper classes in its communion. In the New England States, once the great home of Puritanism, I understand that Unitarianism has greatly increased and Evangelical principles have proportionally declined ; the former I should say numbers among its votaries the majority of the most intellectual men in the States. Though my own prepossessions are strongly in favour of an Established Church, I cannot say that I observed any ill consequences resulting from the want of it in the States, but it is not a subject on which the opinion of a passing traveller is worth much. It is perhaps in small scattered communities such as we have in India, that an established form of prayer has always seemed to me to meet a definite want ; without such a form, such communities, of which there must be many in the new settlements of America, are apt to fall into strange religious vagaries. Au- thorized forms of prayer in such cases become bonds of nationality rather than of religious doctrine, and in a small community dwelling amongst non-Christians in a strange land, the forms and words which have so often UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 45 been followed and heard at home, with no particular reverence perhaps, acquire a new meaning and interest in our eyes. It is, how- ever, too extensive a subject to be discussed here. 46 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE CHAPTER IV. AMERICAN POLITICS AMERICAN AND ENGLISH SOCIAL SYSTEMS CONTRASTED POLITICAL QUESTIONS. THE curse of the country seems to be Poli- tics the perpetual electioneering and voting that are always going on, and the low tone of politics and political morality generally. Perhaps I saw the very worst of it, as the time of my visit was that of the Presidential election ; but more or less of the same kind of thing must be generally going on, owing to the short tenure of the various offices. The President, as I have said, is elected every four years, the Senators of Congress every six years, the House of Representa- tives every two years. The Legislatures of the several States have different rules, but generally the members of the Lower House are chosen annually. Then there are the States' Governors, the Mayors and Aldermen of the towns, the States' Attorneys-General, UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 47 Coroners, Auditors, Presidential Electors and a host of other functionaries, including even the District Judges, who are all changed or liable to be changed so frequently, that the country is kept in a perpetual turmoil and excitement. Not only are all these offices paid, but there are thousands of placemen who are, as a matter of course, removed if the opposition party comes into power, and that too just as they have begun to learn their work, while the struggle for an office of any kind under Government is as keen as in France. Moreover, it is so generally as serted, that the assertion may be assumed to have considerable truth in it, that most public men, to use a vulgar expression, ' feather their nests ' pretty comfortably during their tenure of office, and that public corruption is the rule and not the exception. The tone of the Press on this point is per- fectly amazing to an Englishman ; the most scandalous charges are every day coolly made against the politicians of the opposite side, which, if only a tenth part were true, would render such men infamous in England. No doubt there is but little truth in them, but the effect of such language must be to lower the whole tone of politics throughout the 48 AN AUTUMN TOUR IN THE country, and no one who has travelled in the States can deny that the tone is very low indeed. One effect of this has been to degrade the business of politics to such a level in the public estimation that the best and highest classes of the country keep altogether aloof from it, and it is given over entirely to second- rate men and the lower classes generally ; the leading politicians are as a rule successful journalists or sharp lawyers. The race of statesmen does not exist, and as is well known, in late years at any rate, none of the really great men of America have ever been chosen as President. It is not too much to say that the contro- versy on the Alabama question is a proof of this. Our negotiators were statesmen and gentlemen ; those on the other side were politicians, who thought that the art of statesmanship consisted in chicanery, and that a question of national law between two great countries was to be determined on the same principles as a petty case in some in- ferior law court. I have more than once heard the remark made by Canadians that so long as England continues to send such men as she usually sends to negotiate treaties UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 49 with America, she is certain to be over- reached in every transaction, and that if Canadians had been employed who under- stood the nature of the American politician, the Alabama and San Juan questions would have terminated very differently. For the state of things that I have been describing, Universal Suffrage has been largely to blame. The swarms of uneducated Irishmen and others, and now the newly- enfranchised negroes, simply swamp the re- spectable voters who have a real stake in the maintenance of order and good government, fall into the hands of designing and unscru- pulous politicians, and are, it is generally understood, bought wholesale ; while it is constantly asserted that thousands of them are transferred from one State to another on purpose to vote, and often vote many times over. I conversed on the subject with many Americans, and I never met one who did not condemn Universal Suffrage, and I never found one Canadian who did not thank his stars that they were not cursed with it. If I am rightly informed, the same evils are show- ing themselves in the Australian legislatures. They are due to the same cause, and I fear the States have not seen the worst of them. E 5