BRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF Tl 
 
 
 BRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF T! 
 
 
OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 OJ/Aip 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR 
 
SOCIETY IN AMERICA 
 
 I 
 
 BY 
 
 HARRIET MARTINEAU, 
 
 AUTHOR OP "ILLUSTRATIONS OP POLITICAL ECONOMY." 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 .UNDERS AND OTLEY, ANN STREET, 
 AND CONDUIT STREET, LONDON. 
 
 1837. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To Seize a character, even that of one man, in its life 
 and secret mechanism, requires a philosopher ; to deline 
 ate it with truth and impressiveness is work for a poet. 
 How then shall one or two sleek clerical tutors, with here 
 and there a tedium-stricken esquire, or speculative half- 
 pay captain, give us views on such a subject ? How shall 
 a man, to whom all characters of individual men are like 
 sealed books, of which he sees only the title and the 
 covers, decipher from his four-wheeled vehicle, and depict 
 to us, the character of a nation ? He courageously de 
 picts his own optical delusions ; notes this to be incom 
 prehensible, that other to be insignificant ; much to be 
 good, much to be bad, and most of all indifferent; and 
 so, with a few flowing strokes, completes a picture, which, 
 though it may not resemble any possible object, his coun 
 trymen are to take for a national portrait. Nor is the 
 
11 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fraud so readily detected : for the character of a people 
 has such a complexity of aspect, that even the honest ob 
 server knows not always, not perhaps after long inspec 
 tion, what to determine regarding it. From his, only 
 accidental, point of view, the figure stands before him like 
 the tracings on veined marble, a mass of mere random 
 lines, and tints, and entangled strokes, out of which a 
 lively fancy may shape almost any image. But the image 
 he brings with him is always the readiest ; this is tried ; 
 it answers as well as another; and a second voucher now 
 testifies its correctness. Thus each, in confident tones, 
 though it be with a secret misgiving, repeats his precur 
 sor ; the hundred-times-repeated comes in the end to be 
 believed ; the foreign nation is now once for all under 
 stood, decided on, and registered accordingly ; and 
 dunce the thousandth writes of it like dunce the first." 
 Edinburgh Review, No. xlvi. p. 309. 
 
 THIS passage cannot but strike upon the heart 
 of any traveller who meditates giving to the world 
 an account of the foreign country he has visited. 
 It is the mirror held up before his face ; and he 
 inevitably feels himself, for the moment, " dunce 
 the thousandth." For my own part, I felt the 
 truth contained in this picture so strongly, before 
 I was acquainted with the passage itself, that I 
 had again and again put away the idea of saying 
 one word in print on the condition of society in 
 the United States. Whenever I encountered half- 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 a-dozen irreconcilable, but respectable opinions 
 on a single point of political doctrine ; whenever 
 half-a-dozen fair-seeming versions of a single fact 
 were offered to me ; whenever the glow of pleasure 
 at obtaining, by some trivial accident, a piece of 
 important knowledge passed into a throb of pain 
 at the thought of how much must remain concealed 
 where a casual glimpse disclosed so much ; when 
 ever I felt how I, with my pittance of knowledge 
 and amidst my glimmerings of conviction, was at 
 the mercy of unmanageable circumstances, wafted 
 now here and now there, by the currents of opi 
 nion, like one surveying a continent from a bal 
 loon, with only starlight above him, I was tempted 
 to decline the task of generalising at all from what 
 I saw and heard. In the intervals, however, I felt 
 that this would be wrong. Men will never arrive 
 at a knowledge of each other, if those who have the 
 opportunity of foreign observation refuse to relate 
 what they think they have learned; or even to lay 
 before others the materials from which they them 
 selves hesitate to construct a theory, or draw large 
 conclusions. 
 
 In seeking for methods by which I might com 
 municate what I have observed in my travels, 
 without offering any pretension to teach the Eng 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lish, or judge the Americans, two expedients oc 
 curred to me; both of which I have adopted. One 
 is, to compare the existing state of society in Ame 
 rica with the principles on which it is professedly 
 founded; thus testing Institutions, Morals, and 
 Manners by an indisputable, instead of an arbi 
 trary standard, and securing to myself the same 
 point of view with my readers of both nations. 
 
 In working according to this method, my princi 
 pal dangers are two. I am in danger of not fully 
 apprehending the principles on which society in 
 the United States is founded ; and of erring in the 
 application to these of the facts which came under 
 my notice. In the last respect, I am utterly hope 
 less of my own accuracy. It is in the highest de 
 gree improbable that my scanty gleanings in the 
 wide field of American society should present a 
 precisely fair sample of the whole. I can only 
 explain that I have spared no pains to discover the 
 truth, in both divisions of my task ; and invite cor 
 rection, in all errors of fact. This I earnestly 
 do ; holding myself, of course, an equal judge with 
 others on matters of opinion. 
 
 My readers, on their part, will bear in mind 
 that, in showing discrepancies between an ac 
 tual condition and a pure and noble theory of 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 society, I am not finding fault with the Ameri 
 cans, as for falling behind the English, or the 
 French, or any other nation. I decline the office of 
 censor altogether. I dare not undertake it. Nor 
 will my readers, I trust, regard the subject other 
 wise than as a compound of philosophy and fact. 
 If we can all, for once, allay our personal feelings, 
 dismiss our too great regard to mutual opinion, 
 and put praise and blame as nearly as possible 
 out of the question, more that is advantageous to 
 us may perhaps be learned than by any invidious 
 comparisons and proud judgments that were ever 
 instituted and pronounced. 
 
 The other method by which I propose to lessen 
 my own responsibility, is to enable my readers to 
 judge for themselves, better than I can for them, 
 what my testimony is worth. For this purpose, I 
 offer a brief account of my travels, wilji-daifis. i n 
 _full ; and a report of the principal means I enjoyed 
 of obtaining a knowledge of the country. 
 
 At the close of a long work which I completed 
 in 1834, it was thought desirable that I should 
 travel for two years. I determined to go to the 
 JLJnited States, chiefly because I felt a strong cu 
 riosity to witness the actual working of republican 
 institutions i and partly because the circumstance 
 
 *"* ~ *"*- ~*~* -.--.-*-^_ >*., 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the language being the same as my own is very 
 important to one who, like myself, is too deaf to 
 enjoy anything like an average opportunity of ob 
 taining correct knowledge, where intercourse is 
 carried on in a foreign language. I went with a 
 mind, I believe, as nearly as possible unprejudiced 
 about America, with a strong disposition to ad 
 mire democratic institutions, but an entire igno 
 rance how far the people of the United States lived 
 up to, or fell below, their own theory. I had read 
 whatever I could lay hold of that had been writ 
 ten about them ; but was unable to satisfy myself 
 that, after all, I understood anything whatever of 
 their condition. As to knowledge of them, my 
 mind was nearly a blank: as to opinion of their 
 state, I did not carry the germ of one. 
 
 I landed at New York on the 19th of Septem 
 ber^! 834: paid a short visit the next week to 
 Paterson, in New Jersey, to see the cotton facto 
 ries there, and the falls of the Passaic ; and passed 
 through New York again on my way to stay with 
 some friends on the banks of the Hudson, and at 
 Stockbridge, Massachusetts. On the 6th of October, 
 I joined some companions at Albany, with whom I 
 travelled through the State of New York, seeing 
 Trenton Falls, Auburn, and Buffalo, to the Falls 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 of Niagara. Here I remained nearly a week ; then, 
 after spending a few days at Buffalo, I embarked 
 on Lake Erie, landing in the back of Pennsylva 
 nia, and travelling down through Meadville to 
 Pittsburgh, spending a few days at each place. 
 Then, over the Alleghanies to Northumberland, 
 on the fork of the Susquehanna, the abode of 
 Priestley after his exile, and his burial place. I 
 arrived at Northumberland on the llth of Octo 
 ber, and left it, after visiting some villages in the 
 neighbourhood, on the 17th, for Philadelphia, 
 where I remained nearly six weeks, having very 
 extensive intercourses with its various society. 
 My stay at Baltimore was three weeks, and at 
 Washington five. Congress was at that time in 
 session, and I enjoyed peculiar opportunities of 
 witnessing the proceedings of the Supreme Court 
 and both houses of Congress. I was acquainted 
 with almost every eminent senator and representa 
 tive, both on the administration and opposition 
 sides ; and was on friendly and intimate terms with 
 some of the judges of the Supreme Court. I en 
 joyed the hospitality of the President, and of se 
 veral of the heads of departments: and was, like 
 everybody else, in society from morning till night 
 of every day ; as the custom is at Washington. One 
 
Viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 day was devoted to a visit to Mount Vernon, the 
 abode and burial-place of Washington. 
 
 On the 18th of February I arrived at Montpe- 
 lier, the seat of Mr. and Mrs. Madison, with whom 
 I spent two days, which were wholly occupied with 
 rapid conversation ; Mr. Madison s share of which, 
 various and beautiful to a remarkable degree, will 
 never be forgotten by me. His clear reports of 
 the principles and history of the Constitution of 
 the United States, his insight into the condition, 
 his speculations on the prospects of nations, his 
 wise playfulness, his placid contemplation of pre 
 sent affairs, his abundant household anecdotes of 
 Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson, were incal 
 culably valuable and exceedingly delightful to me- 
 
 The intercourse which I had with Chief Justice 
 Marshall was of the same character, though not 
 nearly so copious. Nothing in either delighted me 
 more than their hearty admiration of each other, 
 notwithstanding some wide differences in their po 
 litical views. They are both gone; and I now 
 deeply feel what a privilege it is to have known 
 them. 
 
 From Mr. Madison s I proceeded to Charlottes- 
 ville, and passed two days amidst the hospitalities 
 of the Professors of Jefferson s University, and their 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 families. I was astonished to learn that this in 
 stitution had never before been visited by a Bri 
 tish traveller. I can only be sorry for British tra 
 vellers who have missed the pleasure. A few days 
 more were given to Richmond, where the Virginia 
 legislature was in session ; and then ensued a 
 long wintry journey though North and South Ca 
 rolina to Charleston, occupying from the 2nd to 
 the 1 1th of March. The hospitalities of Charles 
 ton are renowned ; and I enjoyed them in their 
 perfection for a fortnight ; and then a renewal of 
 the same kind of pleasures at Columbia, South 
 Carolina, for ten days. I traversed the southern 
 States, staying three days at Augusta, Georgia, 
 and nearly a fortnight in and near Montgomery, 
 Alabama; descending next the Alabama river to 
 Mobile. After a short stay there, and a residence 
 of ten days at New Orleans, I went up the Missis 
 sippi and Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland 
 river, which I ascended to Nashville, Tennessee. 
 I visited the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and 
 spent three weeks at Lexington. I descended the 
 Ohio to Cincinnati ; and after staying there ten 
 days, ascended the river again, landing in Vir 
 ginia, visiting the Hawk s Nest, Sulphur Springs, 
 Natural Bridge, and Weyer s Cave, arriving at New 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 York again on the 14th of July, 1835. The au 
 tumn was spent among the villages and smaller 
 towns of Massachusetts, in a visit to Dr. Chan- 
 ning in Rhode Island, and in an excursion to the 
 mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. The 
 winter was passed in Boston, with the exception of 
 a trip to Plymouth, for " Forefather s Day." In the 
 Spring I spent seven weeks in New York ; and a 
 month in a farmhouse at Stockbridge, Massachu 
 setts ; making an excursion, meanwhile, to Saratoga 
 and Lake George. My last journey was with a party 
 of friends, far into the west, visiting Niagara again, 
 proceeding by Lake Erie to Detroit, and across 
 the territory of Michigan. We swept round the 
 southern extremity of Lake Michigan to Chicago : 
 went along day s journey down into the prairies, back 
 to Chicago, and by the Lakes Michigan, Huron, and 
 St. Clair to Detroit, visiting Mackinaw by the way. 
 We landed from Lake Erie at Cleveland, Ohio, on 
 the 13th of July; and travelled through the interior 
 of Ohio till we joined the river at Beaver. We 
 visited Rapp s Settlement at Economy, on the Ohio, 
 and returned to New York from Pittsburgh, by the 
 canal route through Pennsylvania, and the rail 
 road over the Alleghanies. I sailed from New 
 York for England on the 1st of August, 1836, 
 having then been absent just two years. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 In the course of this tour, I visited almost every 
 kind of institution. The prisons of Auburn, Phila 
 delphia, and Nashville : the insane and other hospi 
 tals of almost every considerable place : the literary 
 and scientific institutions ; the factories of the north; 
 the plantations of the south; the farms of the 
 west. I lived in houses which might be called pa 
 laces, in log-houses, and in a farm-house. I travelled 
 much in wagons, as well as stages ; also on horse 
 back, and in some of the best and worst of steam 
 boats. I saw weddings, and christenings ; the ga 
 therings of the richer at watering places, and of 
 the humbler at country festivals. I was present at 
 orations, at land sales, and in the slave market. I 
 was in frequent attendance on the Supreme Court 
 and the Senate ; and witnessed some of the pro 
 ceedings of state legislatures. Above all, I was re 
 ceived into the bosom of many families, not as a 
 stranger, but as a daughter or a sister. I am quali 
 fied, if any one is, to testify to the virtues and the 
 peace of the homes of the United States ; and let 
 it not be thought a breach of confidence, if I 
 should be found occasionally to have spoken of 
 these out of the fulness of my heart. 
 
 Jt would be nearly impossible to relate whom I 
 knew, during my travels. Nearly every eminent 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ^ man in politics, science and literature, and almost 
 every distinguished woman, would grace my list. 
 I have respected and beloved friends of each poli 
 tical party ; and of nearly every religious denomi 
 nation ; among slave-holders, colonizationists, and 
 abolitionists; among farmers, lawyers, merchants, 
 professors, and clergy. I travelled among several 
 tribes of Indians ; and spent months in the southern 
 States, with negroes ever at my heels. 
 
 Such were my means of information. With re 
 gard to my power of making use of them, I have 
 but a few words to say. 
 
 It has been frequently mentioned to me that my 
 being a woman was one disadvantage ; and my being 
 previously heard of, another. In this I do not 
 agree. 
 
 I I am sure, I have seen much more of domestic 
 
 life than could possibly have been exhibited to any 
 gentleman travelling through the country. The 
 nursery, the boudoir, the kitchen, are all excellent 
 schools in which to learn the morals and manners 
 of a people: and, as for public and professional 
 affairs, those may always gain full information 
 upon such matters, who really feel an interest in 
 theni 3 be they men or women. No people in 
 the world can be more frank, confiding and affeo 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 tionate, or more skilful and liberal in communi 
 cating information, than I have ever found the 
 Americans to be. I never asked in vain ; and I 
 seldom had to ask at all; so carefully were my 
 inquiries anticipated, and my aims so completely 
 understood. I doubt whether a single fact that I 
 wished to learn, or any doctrine that I desired to 
 comprehend, was ever kept from me because I was/ 
 a woman. 
 
 As for the other objection, I can only state 
 my belief, that my friends and I found personal ac 
 quaintance so much pleasanter than any previous 
 knowledge by hearsay, that we always forgot that 
 we had heard of each other before. It would be 
 preposterous to suppose that, received as I was into 
 intimate confidence, any false appearances could 
 be kept up on account of any preconceptions that 
 could have been entertained of me. 
 
 I laboured under only one peculiar disadvantage, 
 that I am aware of ; but that one is incalculable* 
 I mean my -deafness. ^This does not endanger the 
 accuracy of my information, I believe, as far as it 
 goes ; because \I carry a trumpet of remarkable 
 fidelity ;7 an instrument, moreover, which seems to 
 exert some winning power, by which I gain more in 
 tcte-a-tttes than is given to people who hear gene- 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ral conversation. Probably its charm consists in 
 the new feeling which it imparts of ease and pri 
 vacy in conversing with a deaf person. However 
 this may be, I can hardly imagine fuller revela 
 tions to be made in household intercourse than my 
 trumpet brought to me. But I am aware that 
 there is no estimating the loss, in a foreign coun 
 try, from not hearing the casual conversation of 
 all kinds of people, in the streets, stages, hotels, &c. 
 I am aware that the lights which are thus gathered 
 up by the traveller for himself are often far more 
 valuable than the most elaborate accounts of things 
 offered to him with an express design. This was 
 my peculiar disadvantage. It could not be helped ; 
 and it cannot be explained away. I mention it, 
 that the value of my testimony may be lowered ac 
 cording to the supposed wvth of this circum 
 stance. 
 
 Much is olten said about the delicacy to be ob 
 served, in the act of revealing the history of one s 
 travels, towards the hosts and other friends of the 
 traveller who have reposed confidence in him. The 
 rule seems to me a very plain one, which reconciles 
 truth, honour and utility. 0\ly rule is to speak of 
 the public acts of public persons, precisely as if 
 I had known them only in their public character.") 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 This may be sometimes difficult, and sometimes 
 painful, to the writer ; but it leaves no just cause 
 of complaint to any one else. Moreover, I hold it 
 allowable and necessary to make use of opinions 
 and facts offered in fire-side confidence, as long as 
 no clue is offered by which they may be traced 
 back to any particular fire-side. If any of my 
 American friends should find in this bock traces of 
 old conversations and incidents, let them keep their 
 own counsel, and be assured that the conversation 
 and facts remain private between them and me. 
 Thus far, all is safe ; and further than this, no ho 
 nourable person would wish to go. 
 
 This is not the place in which to speak of my 
 obligations or of my friendships. Those who know 
 best what I have in my heart to say meet me here 
 under a new relation. In these pages, we meet as 
 writer and readers. I would only entreat them to 
 bear this distinction in mind, and not to measure 
 my attachment to themselves by anything this 
 book may contain about their country and their 
 nation. The bond which unites us bears no rela 
 tion to clime, birth-place ; or institutions. In as 
 far as our friendship is faithful, we are fellow-citi 
 zens of another and a better country than theirs or 
 mine. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Page 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 PARTJES 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPARATUS OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 SECTION I. The General Government 
 H. The Executive . 
 HI. The State Governments 
 
 33 
 35 
 52 
 64 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Page 
 
 MORALS OF POLITICS .... 82 
 
 SECTION I. Office .... 84 
 
 II. Newspapers . . . 109 
 
 III. Apathy in Citizenship . 115 
 
 IV. Allegiance to Law . . 120 
 
 V. Sectional Prejudice . . 135 
 
 VI. Citizenship of People of Colour 144 
 
 VII. Political Non-Existence of Women 148 
 
 PART II. 
 
 ECONOMY . .... 155 
 
 Solitaires ...... 162 
 
 Springs of Virginia .... 175 
 
 New England Farm-house . . .193 
 
 West Country Life . . . 201 
 
 Township of Gloucester . . . 205 
 
 South Country Life . . . 212 
 
 Picture of Michigan ... 232 
 
 The Northern Lakes . . . 270 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AGRICULTURE . . . 291 
 
 SECTION I. Disposal of Land . . 318 
 
 II. Rural Labour . . 338 
 
SOCIETY IN AMERICA 
 
 PART I. 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 " ...... . Those unalterable relations which Providence has 
 
 ordained that everything should bear to every other. These rela 
 tions, which are truth itself, the foundation of virtue, and conse 
 quently, the only measures of happiness, should be likewise the 
 only measures by which we should direct oar reasoning. To these 
 we should conform in good earnest, and not think to force nature, 
 and the whole order of her system, by a compliance with our pride 
 and folly, to conform to our artificial regulations. It is by a con 
 formity to this method we owe the discovery of the few truths wo 
 know, and the little liberty and rational happiness we enjoy." Burke 
 
 MR. MADISON remarked to me, that the United 
 States had been "useful in proving things before 
 held impossible." Of such proofs, he adduced 
 several. Others, which he did not mention, have 
 since occurred to me ; and, among them, the pur- 1 
 suit of the a priori method in forming a constitu- I 
 tion : the a priori method, as it is styled by its 
 enemies, though its advocates, with more reason, 
 call it the inductive method. Till the formation of 
 the government of the United States, it had been 
 generally supposed, and it is so still by the majority 
 of the old world* that a sound theory of government 
 can be constructed only out of the experience of 
 VOL. i. B 
 
2 POLITICS. 
 
 man in governments ; the experience mankind has 
 had of despotisms, oligarchies, and the mixtures of 
 these with small portions of democracy. But the 
 essential condition of the fidelity of the inductive 
 method is, that all the elements of experience 
 should be included. If, in this particular problem, 
 of the true theory of government, we take all expe 
 rience of government, and leave out all experience 
 of man, except in his hitherto governing or go 
 verned state, we shall never reach a philosophical 
 conclusion. The true application of the inductive 
 method here is to test a theory of government de 
 duced from the principles of human nature, by the 
 results of all governments of which mankind has 
 had experience. No narrower basis will serve for 
 such an induction. Such a method of finding a 
 good theory of government was considered impossi 
 ble, till the United States " proved" it. 
 
 This proof can never be invalidated by anything 
 that can now happen in the United States. It is 
 | common to say " Wait ; these are early days. The 
 I experiment will fail yet." The experiment of the 
 , particular constitution of the United States may 
 fail; but the great principle which, whether suc 
 cessfully or not, it strives to embody, the capacity 
 of mankind for self-government, is established for 
 ever. It has, as Mr. Madison said, proved a thing 
 previously held impossible. If a revolution were 
 to take place to-morrow in the United States, it 
 remains an historical fact that, for half a century, a 
 people has been self-governed ; and, till it can be 
 proved that the self-government is the cause of the 
 instability, no revolution, or series of revolutions, 
 can tarnish the lustre, any more than they can im- 
 ^pair the soundness of the principle that mankind 
 are capable of self-government. The United States 
 have indeed been useful in proving these two things, 
 before held impossible ; the finding a true theory 
 
POLITICS. 8 
 
 of government, by reasoning from the principles of 
 human nature, as well as from the experience of 
 governments ; and the capacity of mankind for self- 
 government. 
 
 It seems strange that while politics are unques 
 tionably a branch of moral science, bearing no 
 other relation than to the duty and happiness of 
 man, the great principles of his nature should have 
 been neglected by politicians with the exception 
 of his love of power and desire of gain, till a set 
 of men assembled in the State House at Phila 
 delphia, in the eighteenth century, and there throned 
 a legitimate political philosophy in the place of a 
 deposed king. The rationale of all preceding go 
 vernments had been, "men love power, therefore 
 there must be punishments for rulers who, having 
 already much, would seize more. Men desire gain ; 
 therefore there must be punishments for those, 
 rulers or ruled, tfho would appropriate the gains of 
 others." Tho rationale of the new and " impossi 
 ble" government is " that all men are created equal ; 
 that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
 inalienable rights; that among them are life, li 
 berty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure 
 those rights, governments are instituted among men, 
 deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed."* This last recognizes, over and above 
 what the former admits, the great principles of in 
 defeasible rights; human equality in relation to 
 these ; and the obligation of universal justice. 
 
 These, then, are the principles which the states 
 men in the State House at Philadelphia announced 
 as the soul of their embryo institutions; and the 
 rule through which they were to work was no less 
 tiian that golden one which seems to have been, by 
 some unhappy chance, omitted in the bibles of 
 other statesmen " Do unto others as ye would 
 
 * Declaration of Independence. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 POLITICS. 
 
 that they should do unto you." Perhaps it may be 
 reserved for their country to prove yet one more 
 impossible thing that men can live by the rule 
 which their Maker has given them to live by. 
 Meanwhile, every true citizen of that country must 
 necessarily be content to have his self-government 
 tried by the test of these principles, to which, by 
 his citizenship, he has become a subscriber. He 
 will scorn all comparisons, instituted as a test of 
 merit, between his own government and those of 
 other countries, which -he must necessarily consider 
 as of narrower scope and lower aim. Whether such 
 comparisons be instituted abroad in a spirit of con 
 tempt, or at home in a spirit of complacency, he 
 will regard them equally as irrelevant, and proving 
 nothing to the best purposes of true citizens. He 
 will disdain every .test but that furnished by the 
 great principles propounded in the State House at 
 Philadelphia ; and he will quarrel with no results 
 fairly brought out by such a test, whether they in 
 spire him with shame, or with complacency. In 
 either case, he will be animated by them. 
 
 ^If the politics of a country be really derived from 
 fundamental principles of human nature and morals, 
 the economy, manners, and religion of that country 
 must be designed to harmonise with these princi 
 ples.^ The same test must be applicable to all. 
 The inalienable right of all the human race to life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, must control 
 the economical, as well as the political arrange 
 ments of a people ; and the law of universal justice 
 must regulate all social intercourse, and direct all 
 administration of religion, 
 
 - Politics are morals, all the world over ; that is, 
 politics universally implicate the duty and happi 
 ness of man. Every branch of morals is, and 
 
 ought to be considered, a universal concern. Under 
 
 despotic governments, there is a pretension, more 
 
POLITICS. 5 
 
 or less sincere, on the part of the rulers, to moral 
 regards ; but from these the bulk of the people 
 are, by common consent, cut off. /^If the bulk of 
 the people saw the truth, that the principles of po 
 litic* affect them, are the message of their Maker 
 as principles are) to them, as well as to their 
 rulers, they would become moral agents in regard 
 to politics, and despotism would be at an end/7 As 
 it is, they pay their taxes, and go out to war when 
 they are bid, are thankful when they are left un 
 molested by their government, and sorry or angry 
 when they feel themselves oppressed ; and there 
 they end. It is owingtp their ignorant n f po1it^ g 
 being morals i. e. matters of equal concern to 
 
 in every colInTT^5ifMdpJ)^^ 
 melit ciiriffr 
 
 TEeTsame is the case of the unrepresented under 
 governments which are not called despotic. Ac 
 cording to the principles professed by the United 
 States, there is there a rectification of this mighty 
 error a correction of this grand oversight. In 
 that self-governing nation, all are held to have an 
 equal interest in the principles of its institutions, 
 and to be bound in equal duty to watch their work 
 ings. Politics there are universal duty. \/None are 
 exempted from obligation but the unrepresented ; 
 and they, in theory, are none. However various 
 may be the tribes of inhabitants in those States, 
 whatever part of the world may have been their 
 birth-place, or that of their fathers, however broken 
 may be their language, however noble or servile 
 their employments, however exalted or despised 
 their state, <$ill are declared to be bound together 
 by equal political obligation, as firmly as under any 
 other law of personal or social duty.^> The pre 
 sident, the senator, the governor, may take upon 
 himself some additional responsibility, as the phy- 
 
5 POLITICS. 
 
 sician and lawyer do in other departments of office ; 
 but they are under precisely the same political ob 
 ligation as the German settler, whose axe echoes 
 through the lonely forest ; and the Southern planter, 
 who is occupied with his hospitalities ; and the New 
 England merchant, whose thoughts are on the sea ; 
 and the Irishman, in his shanty on the canal-bank ; 
 and the negro, hoeing cotton in the hot field, or 
 basking away his sabbath on the shore of the Mis 
 sissippi. Genius, knowledge, wealth, may in other 
 affairs set a man above his fellows ; but not in this. 
 Weakness, ignorance, poverty may exempt a man 
 from other obligations; but not from this. The 
 theory of the government of the United States has 
 grasped and embodied the mighty principle, that 
 politics are morals ; that is, ajuajter of universal 
 anjTecuial concern. We shairhave to see whether 
 tliisprinciple^TsTully acted out. ^ 
 r~ Implicated with this is the theory, that the ma- 
 / jority will be in the right, both as to the choice of 
 principles which are to govern particular cases, 
 and the agents who are to work them. This theory, 
 obviously just as it appears, as long as it is applied 
 to matters of universal and equal concern, cannot 
 be set aside without overthrowing all with which it 
 is involved. We shall have to see, also, whether 
 this principle is effectually carried out. 
 | Implicated with this, again, is the principle that 
 a mutable, or rather elastic form, must be given to 
 every institution. " The majority are in the right." 
 $uch is the theory. Few individuals of this majo 
 rity can act for longer than two-score years and ten; 
 few for so long. No one can suppose that his suc 
 cessor will think or feel as he does, however strict 
 may be the regard of each to the fundamental prin 
 ciples which are to regulate his citizenship. It is 
 absolutely necessary, to secure permanence to the 
 recognition of those principles, that there should 
 
POLITICS. 7 
 
 be liberty to change the form which contains them. 
 Else, in the endless variety of human views and in 
 terests, there is danger lest men, being prohibited 
 from producing a correspondence between the prin 
 ciples they recognise, and the forms they desire, 
 should, because interdicted from outward change, 
 gradually alter the spirit of their government. In 
 such a case, men would be some time in discovering 
 that the fair body of their constitution has become 
 possessed, while they had supposed her inspired : 
 and, to pass over the mischiefs which might happen 
 during the period of her possession, the work of ex 
 orcism would be difficult and perilous. 
 
8 PARTIES. 
 
 V 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 PARTIES. 
 
 For these are the men that, when they have played their parts, 
 and had their exits, must step out, and give the moral of their 
 scenes, and deliver unto posterity an inventory of their virtues 
 and vices." 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne. 
 
 THE first gentleman who greeted me on my arrival 
 in the United States, a few minutes after I had 
 landed, informed me without delay, that I had 
 arrived at an unhappy crisis ; that the institutions 
 of the country would be in ruins before my return 
 to England; that the levelling spirit was desolat 
 ing society; and that the United States were 
 on the verge of a military despotism. This was 
 so very like what I had been accustomed to hear 
 at home, from time to time, since my childhood, 
 that I was not quite so much alarmed as I might 
 have been without such prior experience. It was 
 amusing too to find America so veritably the 
 daughter of England. 
 
 I looked around me carefully, in all my travels, 
 till I reached Washington, but could see no signs 
 of despotism ; even less of military. Except the 
 officers and cadets at West Point, and some militia 
 on a training day at Saugerties, higher up on the 
 Hudson, I saw nothing that could be called mill- 
 
PARTIES. Q 
 
 tary ; and officers, cadets, and militia, appeared all 
 perfectly innocent of any design to seize upon the 
 government. At Washington, I ventured to ask 
 an explanation from one of the most honoured 
 statesmen now living ; who told me, with a smile, 
 that the country had been in " a crisis" for fifty 
 years past ; and would be for fifty years to come. 
 
 This information was my comfort, from day to 
 day, till I became sufficiently acquainted with the 
 country to need such support no longer. Mourn 
 ful predictions, like that I have quoted, were made 
 so often, that it was easy to learn how they origi 
 nated. 
 
 In the United States, as elsewhere, there are, 
 and IiaTe aWays been, two parties in politicSjwhoni 
 it is difficult to distinguish on paper, by a statement 
 of their principles, but whose course of action may, 
 in any given case, be pretty confidently anticipated. 
 It is remarkable how nearly, their positive state 
 ments of political doctrine agree, while they differ 
 in almost every possible application of their com 
 mon principles. Close and continued observation 
 of their agreements and differences is necessary 
 before the British traveller can fully comprehend 
 their mutual relation. In England, the differences 
 of parties are so broad, between these who would 
 have the people governed for the convenience of 
 their rulers ; those who would have the many go 
 verned, for their good, by the will of the few ; and 
 those who would have the people govern them 
 selves ; that it is, for some time, difficult to com 
 prehend how there should be party differences as 
 wide in a country where the first principle of go 
 vernment is that the people are to govern them 
 selves. The case, however, becomes clear in time: 
 and, amidst a half century of " crises," the same 
 order and sequence become discernible which run 
 through the whole course of human affairs. 
 
 B 5 
 
<r<T> PARTIES. 
 
 As long as men continue as differently organized 
 as they now are, there will be two parties under 
 every government. Even if their outward fortunes 
 could be absolutely equalised, there would be, from 
 individual constitution alone, an aristocracy and a 
 
 . democracy in every land. The fearful by nature 
 would compose an aristocracy, the hopeful by na 
 ture a democracy, were all other causes of diverg 
 ence done away. When to these constitutional 
 differences are added all those outward circum 
 stances which go to increase the fear and the hope, 
 the mutual misunderstandings of parties are no 
 longer to be wondered at. Men who have gamed 
 ,wealth, whose hope is fulfilled, and who fear loss 
 ./ by change, are naturally of the aristocratic class. 
 
 /So are men of learning, who, unconsciously identi 
 fying learning and wisdom, fear the elevation of the 
 ignorant to a station like their own. So are men 
 of talent, who,, having gained the power which is 
 the fit recompense of achievement, dread the having 
 to yield it to numbers instead of desert. So are 
 many more who feel the almost universal fear of 
 having to part with educational prejudices, with 
 doctrines with which honoured teachers nourished 
 the pride of youth, and prepossessions inwoven 
 with all that has been to them most {jure, lofty, 
 and graceful. Out of these a large aristocratic 
 class must everywhere be formed. 
 
 / Out of the hopeful, the rising, not the risen, 
 the aspiring, not the satisfied, must a still larger 
 class be everywhere formed. It will include all who 
 have most to gain arid least to lose ; and most of 
 
 {/those who, in the present state of education, have 
 gained their knowledge from actual life, rather 
 than, or as well as, from books. It will include 
 the adventurers of society, and also the philan 
 thropists. It will include, moreover, an acces 
 sion small in number, but inestimable in power, 
 
PARTIES. 11 
 
 the men of genius. It is characteristic of genius 
 to be hopeful and aspiring. It is characteristic of 
 genius to break up the artificial arrangements of 
 conventionalism, and to view mankind in true per 
 spective, in their gradations of inherent rather 
 than of adventitious worth. Genius is therefore 
 essentially democratic, and has always been so, 
 whatever titles its gifted ones may have worn, or on 
 whatever subjects they may have exercised their 
 gifts. To whatever extent men of genius have 
 been aristocratic, they have been so in spite of 
 their genius, not in consistency with it. The in 
 stances are so few, and their deviations from the 
 democratic principle so small, that men of genius 
 must be considered as included in the democratic 
 class. 
 
 Genius being rare, and its claims but tardily al 
 lowed by those who have attained greatness by 
 other means, it seems as if the weight of influence 
 possessed by the aristocratic party, by that party 
 which, generally speaking, includes the wealth, 
 learning, and talents of the country, must over 
 power all opposition. If this is found not to be the 
 case, if it be found that the democratic party has 
 achieved everything that has been achieved since 
 the United States constitution began to work, it is 
 no wonder that there is panic in many hearty and 
 that I heard from so many tongues of the desola 
 tions of the " levelling spirit," and the approaching 
 ruin of political institutions. 
 
 These classes may be distinguished in another 
 way. The description which Jefferson gave of 
 the federal and republican parties of 1799 ap 
 plies to the federal and democratic parties of this 
 day, and to the aristocratic and democratic parties 
 of every time and country. "One," says Jefferson, 
 " fears most the ignorance of the people j tho 
 
v PARTIES. 
 
 other, the selfishness of rulers independent of 
 them." 
 
 There is much reason in both these fears. The 
 unreasonableness of party lies in entertaining the 
 one fear, and not the other. No argument is 
 needed to prove that rulers are prone to selfish 
 ness and narrowness of views: and no one can 
 have witnessed the injuries that the poor suffer in 
 old countries, the education of hardship and in 
 sult that furnishes them with their only knowledge 
 of the highest classes, without being convinced 
 that their ignorance is to be feared ; their igno 
 rance, not so much of books as of liberty and law. 
 In old countries, the question remains open whe 
 ther the many should, on account of their igno 
 rance, be kept still in a state of political servitude, 
 as some declare ; or whether they should be gradu 
 ally prepared for political freedom, as others 
 think, by an amelioration of their condition, and by 
 being educated in schools; or whether, as yet 
 others maintain, the exercise of political rights 
 and duties be not the only possible political educa 
 tion. In the New World, no such question re 
 mains to be debated. It has no large, degraded, 
 injured, dangerous (white) class who can afford 
 the slightest pretence for a panic-cry about agra- 
 rianism. Throughout the prodigious expanse of 
 that country, I saw no poor men, except a few in 
 temperate ones. I saw some very poor women ; 
 but God and man know that the time has not come 
 fo women to make their injuries even heard of. 
 JL3^-. n ? Beggars but two professional ones, who 
 are making their fortunes in the streets of Wash 
 ington. I^sawno table spread, in the lowest order 
 of houses,^that had not meat and bread on, it. 
 Every factory "child carries its umbrella ; and pig- 
 drivers wear spectacles. With the exception of 
 
PARTIES. l( 
 
 the foreign paupers on the seaboard, and those 
 who are steeped in sensual vice, neither of which 
 classes can be politically dangerous, there are none 
 who have not the same interest in the security of 
 property as the richest merchant of Salem, or 
 planter of Louisiana. Whether the less wealthy 
 class will not be the first to draw out from reason 
 and experience the true philosophy of property, is 
 another question. All we have to do with now is 
 their equal interest with their richer neighbours in 
 the security of property, in the present state of so 
 ciety. Law and order are as important to the man 
 who holds land for the subsistence of his family, or 
 who earns wages that he may have land of his own to 
 die upon, as to any member of the president s cabinet. 
 Nor is there much more to fear from the igno 
 rance of the bulk of the people in the United 
 States, than from their poverty. It is too true that 
 there is much ignorance ; so much as to be an ever- 
 present peril. Though, as a whole, the nation is, 
 probably, better informed than any other entire 
 nation, it cannot be denied that their knowledge is 
 far inferior to what their safety and their virtue re 
 quire. But whose ignorance is it ? And ignorance 
 of what ? If the professors of colleges have book- 
 knowledge, which the owner of a log-house has 
 not ; the owner of a log-house has very often, as 1 
 can testify, a knowledge of natural law, political 
 rights, and economical fact, which the college-pro 
 fessor has not. I often longed to confront some of 
 each class, to see whether there was any common 
 ground on which they could meet. If not, the one 
 might bring the charge of ignorance as justly as the 
 other. If a common ground could be discovered, 
 it would have been in their equal relation to the 
 .government under which they live: in which case, 
 the natural conclusion would be, that each under 
 stood his own interests best, and neither could 
 
=Jt4 PARTIES. 
 
 assume superiority over the other. The particular 
 ignorance of the countryman may expose him to be 
 flattered and cheated by an oratorical office-seeker, 
 or a dishonest newspaper. But, on the other hand, 
 the professor s want of knowledge of the actual 
 affairs of the many, and his educational biases, 
 are just as likely to cause him to vote contrary to 
 ..the public interest. No, one who has observed 
 society in America will question the existence or 
 the evil of ignorance there : but neither will he 
 question that such real knowledge as they have is 
 pretty fairly shared among them. 
 
 I travelled by wagon, with a party of friends, in 
 the interior of Ohio. Our driver must be a man of 
 great and various knowledge, if he questions all 
 strangers as he did us, and obtains as copious 
 answers. He told us where and how he lived, of 
 his nine children, of his literary daughters, and the 
 pains he was at to get books for them; and of his 
 hopes from his ghi of fourteen, who writes poetry, 
 which he keeps a secret, lest she should be spoiled. 
 He told us that he seldom lets his fingers touch a 
 novel, because the consequence always is that his 
 Business stands still till the novel is finished ; " and 
 that doesn t suit," He recited to us, Pope s 
 * Happy the man whose wish and care," &c. say 
 ing that it suited his idea exactly. He asked both 
 the ladies present whether they had written a book. 
 Both had ; and he carried away the titles, that he 
 might buy the books for his daughters. This man 
 is fully informed of the value of the Union, as we 
 had reason to perceive; and it is difficult to see 
 why he is not as fit as any other man to choose the 
 representatives of his interests. Yet, here is a spe 
 cimen of his conversation with one of the ladies of 
 the party. 
 
 " Was the book that you wrote on natural phi 
 losophy, madam ?" 
 
PARTIES. 15 
 
 " No ; I know nothing about natural philosophy." 
 
 " Hum ! Because one lady has done that pretty 
 well : hit it ! Miss Porter, you know." 
 
 What Miss Porter ?" 
 
 "She that wrote Thaddeus of Warsaw, you 
 know. She did it pretty well there." 
 
 As an antagonist case, take the wailings of a 
 gentleman of very distinguished station in a highly 
 aristocratic section of society ; wailings over the 
 extent of the suffrage. 
 
 "W T hat an enormity it is that such a man as 
 
 Judge 9 there, should stand on no higher level 
 
 in politics than the man that grooms his horse !" 
 
 " \Vhy should he ? I suppose they have both 
 got all they want, fall representation: and they 
 thus bear precisely the same relation to the go 
 vernment/ 
 
 " No ; the judge seldom votes, because of his 
 office : while his groom can, perhaps, carry nine 
 teen men to vote as he pleases. It is monstrous !" 
 
 " It seems monstrous that the judge should omit 
 his political duty for the sake of his office ; and 
 also that nineteen men should be led by one. But 
 limiting the suffrage would not mend the matter. 
 Would it not do better to teach all the parties their 
 duty?" 
 
 Let who will choose between the wagon-driver 
 and the scholar. Each will vote according to his 
 own views ; and the event, the ultimate majority, 
 will prove which is so far the wiser. 
 
 The vagueness of the antagonism between 
 the two parties is for some time perplexing to 
 the traveller in America; and he does not know 
 whether to be most amazed or amused at the ap 
 parent triviality of the circumstances which arouse 
 the strongest party emotions. After a while, a body 
 comes out of the mystery, and he grasps a substantial 
 cause of dissension. From the day when the first 
 
16 PARTIES. 
 
 constitution was formed, there have been alarmists, 
 who talk of a " crisis :" and from the day when the 
 second began its operations, the alarm has, very 
 naturally, taken its subject matter from the failure 
 of the first. The first general government came 
 to a stand through weakness. The entire nation 
 kept itself in order till a new one was formed and 
 set to work. As soon as the danger was over, and 
 the nation proved, by the last possible test, duly 
 convinced of the advantages of public order, the 
 timid party took fright lest the general government 
 should still not be strong enough; and this ten 
 dency, of course, set the hopeful party to watch 
 lest it should be made too strong. The panic and 
 antagonism were at their height in 1799.* A fear 
 ful collision of parties took place, which ended in 
 the establishment of the hopeful policy, which has 
 continued, with few interruptions, since. The exe 
 cutive patronage was retrenched, taxes were taken 
 jpff, the people were re-assured, and all is, as yet, 
 /safe. While the leaders of the old federal party re 
 tired to their Essex junto, and elsewhere, to sigh for 
 monarchy, and yearn towards England, the greater 
 
 * Jefferson writes, September, 1798, " The most long-sighted 
 politician could not, seven years ago, have imagined that the 
 people of this wide extended country could have been enveloped 
 in such delusion, and made so much afraid of themselves and their 
 own power, as to surrender it spontaneously to those who are ma- 
 nosuvring them into a form of government, the principal branches 
 of which may be bevond their control." 
 
 Again, March, 1801 : " You have understood that the revo 
 lutionary movements in Europe had, by industry and artifice, 
 been wrought into objects of terror in this country, and had really 
 involved a great portion of our well-meaning citizens in a panic 
 which was perfectly unaccountable, and during the prevalence of 
 which they were led to support measures the most insane. They 
 are now pretty thoroughly recovered from it, and sensible of tho 
 mischief which was done, and preparing to be done, had their 
 minds continued a little longer under that derangement. The re 
 covery bids fair to be complete, and to obliterate entirely the line 
 of party division, which had been so strongly drawn." Jefferson t 
 Correspondence, vol. iii. pp. 401, 457. 
 
PARTIES. I? 
 
 number threw off their fears, and joined the repub 
 lican party. There are now very few left to pro 
 fess the politics of the old federalists. I met with 
 only two who openly avowed their desire for a mo 
 narchy ; and not many more who prophesied one. 
 But there still is a federal party, and there ever , 
 will be. It is as inevitable that there will be 
 always some who will fear the too great strength of 
 the state governments, as that there will be many 
 who will have the same fear about the general go 
 vernment. Instead of seeing in this any cause for 
 dismay, or even regret, the impartial observer will 
 recognise in this mutual watchfulness the best 
 security that the case admits of for the general and 
 state governments preserving their due relation 
 to one another. No government ever yet worked 
 both well and indisputably. A pure despotism 
 works (apparently) indisputably ; but the bulk of 
 its subjects will not allow that it works well, while 
 it wrings their heads from their shoulders, or their 
 earnings from their hands. The government of 
 the United States is disputed at every step of its 
 workings : but the bulk of the people declare that 
 it works well, while every man is his own security 
 for his life and property. 
 
 The extreme panic of the old federal party is 
 accounted for, and almost justified, when we re 
 member, not only that the commerce of England 
 had penetrated every part of the country, and that 
 great pecuniary interests were therefore everywhere 
 supposed to be at stake ; but that republicanism, 
 like that which now exists in America, was a thing 
 unheard of an idea only half-developed in the 
 minds of those who were to live under it. Wisdom 
 may spring, full-formed and accomplished, from the 
 head of a god, but not from the brains of men. 
 The Americans of the Revolution looked round 
 
18 PARTIES. 
 
 upon the republics of the world, tested them by the 
 principles of human nature, found them republican 
 in nothing but the name, and produced something, 
 more democratic than any of them ; but not demo 
 cratic enough for the circumstances which were in 
 the course of arising. They saw that in Holland 
 the people had nothing to do with the erection of 
 the supreme power; that in Poland (which was 
 called a republic in their day) the people were op 
 pressed by an incubus of monarchy and aristocracy, 
 at once, in their most aggravated forms ; and that 
 in Venice a small body of hereditary nobles exer 
 cised a stern sway. They planned something far 
 transcending in democracy any republic yet heard 
 of; and they are not to be wondered at, or blamed, 
 if, when their work was done, they feared they had 
 gone too far. They had done much in preparing 
 the way for the second birth of their republic in 
 1789, and for a third in 1801, when the repub- 
 licans came into power ; and from which date, free 
 government in the United States may be said to 
 have started on its course. 
 
 A remarkable sign of those times remains on re 
 cord, which shows how different the state of feeling 
 and opinion was then from any that could now pre 
 vail among a large and honourable body in the 
 republic. The society of the Cincinnati, an asso 
 ciation of officers of the revolutionary army, and 
 other honourable persons, ordered their proceed 
 ings in a manner totally inconsistent with the first 
 principles of republicanism ; having secret corres 
 pondences, decking themselves with an order, which 
 was to be hereditary, drawing a line of distinction 
 between military and other citizens, and uniting in 
 a secret bond the chiefs of the first families of "the 
 respective States. Such an association, formed on 
 the model of some which might be more or less 
 
PARTIES. 
 
 necessary or convenient in the monarchies of the 
 old world, could not be allowed to exist in its 
 feudal form in the young republic ; and, accord 
 ingly, the hereditary principle, and the power of 
 adopting honorary members, were relinquished; 
 and the society is heard of no more. It has had 
 its use in showing how the minds of the earlier re 
 publicans were imbued with monarchical prepos 
 sessions, and how large is the reasonable allowance 
 which must be made for the apprehensions of men, 
 who, having gone further in democracy than any 
 who had preceded them, were destined to see others 
 outstrip themselves. Adams, Hamilton, Wash 
 ington ! what names are these ! Yet Adams in 
 those days believed the English constitution would 
 be perfect, if some defects and abuses were reme 
 died. Hamilton believed it would be impracti 
 cable, if such alterations were made ; and that, in 
 its then existing state, it was the very best govern 
 ment that had ever been devised. Washington was 
 absolutely republican in his principles, but did not 
 enjoy the strong faith, the entire trust in the 
 people, which is the attendant privilege of those 
 principles. Such men, pressed out from among 
 the multitude by the strong force of emergency, 
 proved themselves worthy of their mission of na 
 tional redemption ; but, though we may now be 
 unable to single out any who, in these compara 
 tively quiet times, can be measured against them, 
 we are not thence to conclude that society, as a 
 whole, has not advanced ; and that a policy which 
 would have appeared dangerous to them, may not 
 be, at present, safe and reasonable. 
 
 Advantageous, therefore, as it may be, that the 
 present federal party should be perpetually on the 
 watch against the encroachments of the state go 
 vernments, useful as- their incessant recurrence to 
 
20 v PARTIES. 
 
 the first practices, as well as principles, of the con 
 stitution may be, it would be for their comfort to 
 remember, that the elasticity of their institutions is 
 a perpetual safeguard ; and, also, that the silent in 
 fluence of the federal head of their republics has a 
 sedative effect which its framers themselves did not 
 anticipate. If they compare the fickleness and 
 turbulence of very small republics, Rhode Island, 
 for instance, with the tranquillity of the largest, 
 or of the confederated number, it is obvious that 
 the existence of a federal head keeps down more 
 quarrels than ever appear. . 
 
 When the views of the present apprehensive 
 federal party are closely looked into, they appear to 
 be inconsistent with one or more of the primary 
 principles of the constitution which we have stated. 
 "The majority are right." Any fears of the 
 majority are inconsistent with this maxim, and 
 were always felt by me to be so, from the time I 
 entered the country till I left it. 
 
 One sunny October morning I was taking a drive, 
 with my party, along the shores of the pretty 
 Owasco Lake, in New York state, and conversing 
 on the condition of the country with a gentleman 
 who thought the political prospect less bright than 
 the landscape. I had been less than three weeks 
 in the country, and was in a state of something 
 like awe at the prevalence of, not only external 
 competence, but intellectual ability. The striking 
 effect upon a stranger of witnessing, for the first 
 time, the absence of poverty, of gross ignorance, of 
 all servility, of all insolence of manner, cannot be 
 exaggerated in description. I had seen every man 
 in the towns an independent citizen ; every man in 
 ^the country a land-owner. I had seen that the 
 ^villages had their newspapers, the factory girls 
 their libraries. I had witnessed the controversies 
 between candidates for office on some difficult sub- 
 
PARTIES. 21 
 
 jects, of which the people were to be the judges* 
 With all these things in my mind, and with every 
 evidence of prosperity about me in the comfortable 
 homesteads which every turn in the road, and every 
 reach of the lake, brought into view, I was thrown 
 into a painful amazement by being told that the 
 grand question of the time was " whether the peo 
 ple should be encouraged to govern themselves, or 
 whether the wise should save them from them 
 selves." The confusion of inconsistencies was here 
 so great as to defy argument: the patronage 
 among equals that was implied ; the assumption as 
 to who were the wise ; and the conclusion that all 
 the rest must be foolish. This one sentence seemed 
 to be the most extraordinary combination that could 
 proceed from the lips of a republican. 
 
 The expressions of fear vary according to the 
 pursuits, or habits of mind of those who entertain 
 them : but all are inconsistent with the theory that 
 the majority are right. One fears the influence in 
 the national councils of the " Tartar population" of 
 the west, observing that men retrograde in civili 
 sation when thinly settled in a fruitful country. 
 But the representatives from these regions will be 
 few while they are thinly settled, and will be in the 
 minority when in the wrong. When these repre 
 sentatives become numerous, from the thick settle 
 ment of those regions, their character will have 
 ceased to become Tartar-like and formidable : even 
 supposing that a Tartar-like character could co-exist 
 with the commerce of the Mississippi. Another 
 tells me that the State has been, again and again, 
 " on a lee shore, and a flaw has blown it off, and 
 postponed the danger; but this cannot go on for 
 ever." The fact here is true ; and it would seem 
 to lead to a directly contrary inference. "The 
 flaw" is the will of the majority, whicft might be 
 better indicated by a figure of something more sta- 
 
A 
 
 . PARTIES. 
 
 Ue. "The majority is right." It has thus far 
 preserved the safety of the state ; and this is the 
 best ground for supposing that it will continue to 
 be a safeguard. 
 
 One of the most painful apprehensions seems to 
 J be that the poorer will heavily tax the richer mem- 
 -Cbers of society ; the rich being always a small class. 
 If it be true, as all parties appear to suppose, that 
 rulers in general are prone to use their power for 
 selfish purposes, there remains the alternative, whe 
 ther the poor shall over-tax the rich, or whether the 
 rich shall over-tax the poor : and, if one of these 
 evils were necessary, few would doubt which would 
 be the least. But the danger appears much dimi 
 nished on the consideration that, in the country 
 under oar notice, there are not, nor are likely to 
 be, the wide differences in property which exist in 
 old countries. There is_ no class of hereditary rich 
 or poor. Few are very wealthy ; few are poor ; and 
 | every man h~as~a fair chance of being rich. No such 
 1 unequal taxation has yet been ordained by the 
 sovereign people ; nor does there appear to be any 
 danger of it, while the total amount of taxation is 
 so very small as in the United States, and the in 
 terest that every one has in the protection of pro 
 perty is so great. A friend in the South, while 
 eulogizing to me the state of society there, spoke 
 with compassion of his northern fellow citizens, 
 who were exposed to the risks of "a perpetual 
 struggle between pauperism and property." To 
 which a northern friend replied, that it is true that 
 there is a perpetual struggle everywhere between 
 pauperism and property. The question is, which 
 succeeds. In the United States, the prospect is 
 that each will succeed. Paupers may obtain what 
 they want, and proprietors will keep that which 
 they have. JkAs a mere matter of convenience, it is 
 shorter and easier to obtain property by enterprise 
 j 
 
PARTIES. 3 
 
 and labour in the United States, than by pulling 
 down the wealthy X Even the most desponding do 
 not consider the case as very urgent, at present. I 
 asked one of my wealthy friends, who was predict 
 ing that in thirty years his children would be living 
 under a despotism, why he did not remove. " Where," 
 said he, with a countenance of perplexity, " could I 
 be better off? "-which appeared to me a truly rea 
 sonable question. 
 
 In a country, the fundamental principle of whose 
 politics is, that its "rulers derive their just powers 
 from the consent of the governed," it is clear that 
 there can be no narrowing of the suffrage. How 
 ever earnestly some may desire this, no one hopes 
 it. But it does not follow that the apprehensive 
 minority has nothing left but discontent. The en 
 lightenment of society remains not only matter for 
 hope, but for achievement. The prudent speak of 
 the benefits of education as a matter of policy, 
 while the philanthropic promote it as a matter of 
 justice. Security of person and property follows 
 naturally upon a knowledge of rights. However 
 the aristocracy of wealth, learning, and talent may 
 differ among themselves, as to what is the most 
 valuable kind of knowledge, all will agree that 
 every kind will strengthen the bonds of society. In 
 this direction must the aristocracy work for their 
 own security. If they sufficiently provide the means 
 of knowledge to the community, they may dismiss 
 their fears, and rest assured that the great theory 
 of their government will bear any test; and that 
 " the majority will be in the right." 
 / If the fears of the aristocracy are inconsistent 
 j( with the theory of the government under which 
 f they live, so is much of the practice of the demo 
 cracy. Their hopefulness is reasonable ; their re 
 liance on the majority is reasonable. But there 
 are evils attendant on their practice of their true 
 
PARTIES. 
 
 theories which may account for the propounding of 
 worse theories by their opponents. 
 
 Learning by experience is slow work. How 
 ever sure it may be, it is slow ; ancTgreat is the 
 faith and patience required by men who are in 
 advance of a nation on a point which they feel that 
 they could carry, if they had not to wait the plea 
 sure of the majority. Though the majority be 
 right in respect of the whole of politics, there is 
 scarcely a sensible man who may not be more in 
 the right than the majority with regard to some 
 one point ; and no allowance can be too great for 
 the perpetual discouragement hence arising. The 
 majority eventually wills the best ; but, in the pre 
 sent imperfection of knowledge, the will is long in 
 exhibiting itself; and the ultimate demonstration 
 often crowns a series of mistakes and failures. 
 From this fact arises the complaint of many fede 
 ralists that the democratic party is apt to adopt 
 their measures, after railing both at those mea 
 sures, and at the men who framed them. This is 
 often true : and it is true that, if the people had 
 only had the requisite knowledge, they would have 
 done wisely to have accepted good measures from 
 the beginning, without any railing at all. But the 
 knowledge was wanting. The next best thing that 
 can happen is, that which does happen : thatvthe 
 people learn, and act upon their learning. \ If they 
 are not wise enough to adopt a good measure at 
 first, it would be no improvement of the case that 
 they should be too obstinate to accept it at last. 
 The case proves only that out of ignorance come 
 knowledge, conviction, and action; and the ma 
 jority is ultimately in the right. Whenever there 
 is less of ignorance to begin with, there will be less 
 of the railing, which is childish enough, whether as 
 a mere imputation, or as a reality. 
 "The great theory presumes that the majority 
 
PARTIES. 
 
 not only will the best measures, but choose the 
 best men. This is far from being true in practice. 
 In no respect, perhaps, are the people more behind 
 their theory than in this. The noble set of public 
 servants with which the people were blessed in 
 their revolutionary period seems to have inspired 
 them at first with a somewhat romantic faith in 
 men who profess strong attachment to whatever 
 has been erected into Ji glory of the nation ; and, 
 from that time to thisfthe federal party has, from 
 causes which will be hereafter explained, furnished 
 a far superior set of njen to the public service than 
 the democratic partjy I found this fact almost 
 universally admitted oy the wisest adherents ,of 
 democracy ; and out of it has arisen the mournful 
 question Avhether an honest man with false political 
 principles be not more dangerous as a ruler than 
 an unscrupulous man with true political principles^ 
 I have heard the case put thus : " There is not 
 yet a sufficiency of real friends of the people 
 willing to be their servants. They must take 
 either a somewhat better set of men whose politics 
 they disapprove, or a somewhat worse set of men 
 to make tools of. They take the tools, use them, 
 and throw them away." 
 
 This is true; and a melancholy truth it is; since 
 it is certain that whenever the people shall perti 
 naciously require honest servants, and take due 
 pains to ascertain their honesty, true men will be 
 forthcoming. Under God s providence, the work 
 never waits for the workman. 
 
 This fact, however, has one side as bright as the 
 other is dark. It is certain that many corrupt 
 public servants are supported under the belief that 
 they are good and great men. No one can have 
 attended assiduously on the course of public affairs 
 at Washington, and afterwards listened to conver 
 sation in the stages, without being convinced of 
 
 TOL. i. c 
 
36 PARTIES. 
 
 this. As soon as the mistake is discovered, it is 
 rectified. Retribution often comes sooner than it 
 could have been looked for. Though it be long 
 delayed, the remedy is ultimately secure. Every 
 corrupt faction breaks up, sooner or later, and cha 
 racter is revealed : the people let down their fa 
 vourite, to hide his head, or continue to show his 
 face, as may best suit his convenience ; and forth 
 with choose a better man^ or one believed to be 
 better. In such cases, the 6vil lies in ignorance 
 a temporary evil; while tfie principle of rectifica 
 tion may work, for aught we, can see, eternally. 
 
 Two considerations, one of fact, another of in 
 ference, may reassure those who are discouraged 
 by these discrepancies between the theories of the 
 United States government, and the practice of 
 the democratic party, with regard to Doth mea 
 sures and rnen. The Americans are practically 
 acquainted with the old proverb, " What is every 
 body s business is nobody s business." No man 
 stirs first against an abuse which is no more his 
 than other people s. The abuse goes on till it be 
 gins to overbear law and liberty. Then the multi 
 tude arises, in the strength of the law, and 
 crushes the abuse. Sufficient confirmation of 
 this will occur to any one who has known the 
 State histories of the Union for the last twenty 
 years, and will not be wholly contradicted by the 
 condition of certain affairs there which now present 
 a bad aspect. Past experience sanctions the hope 
 that when these bad affairs have grown a little 
 worse, they will be suddenly and completely re 
 dressed. Illustrations in abundance are at hand. 
 
 Lotteries were formerly a great inducement to 
 gaming in Massachusetts. Prudent fathers warned 
 fticir sons against lotteries; employers warned 
 Sheir servants; clergymen warned their flocks. 
 Tracts, denouncing lotteries, were circulated; 
 
PARTIES. 127 
 
 Siiuch eloquence was expended, not in vain, 
 though all sober people were already convinced, and 
 weak people were still unable to resist the seduc 
 tion. At length, a young man drowned himself. 
 A disappointment in a lottery was found to be the 
 cause. A thrill of horror ran through the com 
 munity. Every man helped to carry his horror of 
 lotteries into the legislature ; and their abolition 
 followed in a trice. 
 
 Fiii5^^^ in. the United 
 
 States; and no "one seemeid to think any harm of 
 it, though, when examined, it clearly appears an 
 institution incompatible with true republicanism. 
 The account^given of if" "By sbmeTrTelids "of mine, 
 formerly masons, is, that it is utterly puerile in 
 itself ; that it may be dignified, under a despotism, 
 by an application to foreign objects, but that it is 
 purely mischievous in a republic. Its object, of 
 course, is power. It can have no other ; and ought 
 not to have this, where the making of the laws is 
 the office of the people. Its interior obligations 
 are also violations of the democratic principle. 
 All this was as true of masonry twelve years 
 ago as it is now; but masonry was allo\ped to 
 spread far and wide. One Morgan, a freemason, 
 living in the western parrof the state of New 
 York, did a remarkable deed, for which various 
 motives are assigned. He wrote a book in expo 
 sure of masonry, its facts and tendencies. When 
 the first part was printed and secured, some masons 
 broke into tne printing-office where it was de 
 posited, and destroyed as much of the work a$ they 
 could lay hold of. Being partly foiled, they be 
 thought themselves of stopping the work by carry 
 ing off the author. He was arrested for a trifling 
 debt, (probably fictitious,) conveyed hastily to a 
 magistrate, some miles off, who committed him for 
 want of bail. The ostensible creditor arrived at 
 
 c2 
 
28 PARTIES";. 
 
 \ 
 
 the jail, in the middle of the night, and let him out; 
 four or five men put him into a carriage, which 
 made for the Canada frontier. On landing him on 
 British ground, the masons there refused to have 
 any concern in a matter which had gone so far, and 
 Morgan was shut up in the fort at Niagara village, 
 where the Niagara river flows into Lake Ontario. 
 There he was fed and guarded for two days. Thus 
 far, the testimony is express ; and concerning the 
 succeeding circumstances there is no reasonable 
 doubt. He was put into a boat, carried out into 
 the middle of the river, and thrown in, with a stone 
 tied to his neck. For four years, there were at 
 tempts to bring the conspirators to justice ; but 
 little was done. The lodges subscribed funds to 
 carry the actual murderers out of the country. 
 Sheriffs, jurymen, constables, all omitted their duty 
 with regard to the rest The people were roused 
 to action by finding the law thus overawed. Anti- 
 masonic societies were formed. Massachusetts and 
 other States passed laws against extra-judicial 
 oaths. In such States, the lodges can make no 
 new members, and are becoming deserted by the 
 old^tThe anti-masonic party flourishes, having^a 
 great principle as its basis. It has the control in 
 a few States, and powerful influence in others. 
 Morgan s disclosures have been carried on by 
 other hands. A had institution is overthrown. 
 The people have learned an important lesson ; and 
 tney have gone through an honourable piece of 
 discipline in making a stand for the law, which is 
 the life of their body politic. 
 
 Thus end, and tkus, we may trust, will end the 
 mistakes of the people, whose professed interest is 
 in a wise self-government. Some worse institu 
 tions even than masonry remain to be cast out 
 The law has been again overawed ; not once, but 
 many times ; and the eyes of the world are on the 
 
PARTIES. 29 
 
 people of the United States, to see what they will 
 do. The world is watching to discover whether 
 they are still sensible of the sacred value of un- 
 violated law ; whether they are examining who it 
 is that threatens and overbears the law, and why ; 
 and whether they are proceeding towards the re- 
 establishment of the peace and security of their 
 whole community, by resolutely rooting out from 
 among their institutions every one which will not 
 bear the test of the first principles of the whole. 
 
 The other ground of hope of which I spoke as 
 being inferential, arises out of the imaginative po 
 litical character of the Americans. ^They have not 
 yet grown old in the ways of the world."? Their 
 immediate fathers have done such a deed as the 
 world never saw ; and the children have not yet 
 passed out nf thp intoxication ol success. With far 
 less of vanity and presumption than might have 
 been looked for from their youth among the na 
 tions, with an extraordinary amount of shrewdness 
 and practical talent shared among individuals, the 
 merican people are as imaginative as any na- 
 T happen to have heard or read of. They 
 reminded me every day of the Irish. The frank, 
 confiding character of their private intercourses, 
 the generous nature of their mutual services, the 
 quickness and dexterity of their doings, their ferti 
 lity of resource, their proneness to be run away 
 with by a notion, into any extreme of absurdity 
 in all this, and in everything but^their deficiency of 
 moral independence,)(for which a difference of cir 
 cumstances will fully account,) they resemble the 
 Irish. I regard the American people as a great 
 embryo poet : now moody, now wild, but bringing 
 out results of absolute good sense : restless and 
 wayward in action, but with deep peace at his 
 heart : exulting that he has caught the true aspect 
 of things past, and at the depth of futurity which 
 
30 
 
 PARTIES. 
 
 lies before him, wherein to create something so 
 magnificent as the world has scarcely begun to 
 dream of. There is the strongest hope of a nation 
 that is capable of being possessed with an idea ; 
 and this kind of possession has been the peculiarity 
 of the Americans from their first day of national 
 existence till now. Their first idea was loftier than 
 some which have succeeded ; but they have never 
 lost sight of the first. It remains to be, at in 
 tervals, apprehended anew ; and whenever the 
 time shall arrive, which cannot but arrive, when 
 the nation shall be so fully possessed of the com 
 plete idea as by a moral necessity to act it out, 
 they will be as far superior to nations which act 
 upon the experience and expediency of their time 
 as the great poet is superior to common men. 
 
 This tune is yet very far disHnt ; and the Ame-- 
 rican people have not only much to learn, and a 
 painful discipline to endure, but some disgraceful 
 faults to repent of and amend. They must give a 
 perpetual and earnest heed to one point ; to^cjierish 
 their high democratic hoj^ej^lj^ir^Mtl^^^ii-jnan. 
 THe older they growJTRe" more must they " re 
 verence the dreams of their youth." They must 
 eschew the folly and profaneness so prevalent in 
 the old world, of exalting man, abstractedly and in 
 dividually, as a piece of God s creation, and de- 
 spising men in the mass. The statesman in a 
 London theatre feels his heart in a tumult, while 
 a deep amen echoes through its chambers at 
 Hamlet s adoration of humanity ; but not the less, 
 when he goes home, does he speak slightingly, 
 compassionately, or protectingly of the masses, 
 the population, the canaille. He is awestruck 
 with the grandeur of an individual spirit ; but feels 
 nothing of the grandeur of a congregated million of 
 like spirits, because they happen to be far off. 
 This proves nothing but the short-sightedness of 
 
PARTIES. 81 
 
 such a man. Such shortness of sight afflicts some 
 of the wisest and best men in the n#w world. I 
 know of one who regards with a humble and reli 
 gious reverence the three or four spirits which 
 have their habitation under his roof, and close at 
 hand ; who begins to doubt and question, in the 
 face of far stronger outward evidence of good, per 
 sons who are a hundred miles off ; and has scarcely 
 any faith left for those who happen to be over the 
 sea - The true democratic hope cannot coexist 
 with such distrust.^ Its basis is the unmeasured 
 scope~ of humanity ; and its rationale the truth, 
 applicable alike to individuals and nations, that 
 men are what they are taken for granted to be. 
 " Countrymen," cries Brutus dying, 
 
 " My heart doth joy that yet in all n:y life, 
 I found no man but lie was true to me." 
 
 The philosophy of this fact is clear : it followed 
 of course from Brutus always supposing that men 
 were true. Whenever the Americans, or any other 
 people, shall make integrity their rule, their crite 
 rion, their invariable supposition, the first princi 
 ples of political philosophy will be fairly acted out, 
 and the high democratic hope will be its own jus 
 tification. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPARATUS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " The true foundation of republican government is the equal 
 right of every citizen, in his person and property, and in their 
 management. . Try by this, as a tally, every provision of our con 
 stitution, and see if it hangs directly on the will of the people." 
 
 Jefferson. 
 
 THOUGH it be true that the principles of govern 
 ment are to be deduced more from experience of 
 human nature than experience of human govern 
 ments, the institutions in which those principles 
 are to be embodied must be infinitely modified by 
 preceding circumstances. Bentham must have for- 
 
 fotten this when he oiTered, at sixty-four, to codify 
 >r several of the United States, and also for Russia. 
 He proposed to introduce a new set of terms. 
 These could not, from his want of local knowledge, 
 have been very specific ; and if general, what was 
 society to do till the lawyers had done arguing? 
 How could even a Solomon legislate, three thou 
 sand miles off, for a republic like that of Connecti 
 cut, which set out with taking its morals and politics 
 by handfuls, out of Numbers and Deuteronomy? 
 or for Virginia, rank with feudal prejudices and 
 methods? or for Delaware, with its monarchical 
 
APPARATUS OF GOVERNMENT. 33 
 
 martyr spirit? or for Louisiana, compounded of 
 Spain, France, and America ? Though at the time 
 of the framing of the constitution, the States bore 
 a strong general resemblance in their forms of go 
 vernment, endless minor differences existed, mainly 
 arising from the different tenure on which they had 
 been held under ffie English crowprr "Some had been 
 provinces, governed by royal commissions, according 
 to royal convenience. These were New Hampshire, 
 New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. 
 Others had been under propjcieloiy government ; as 
 Maryland, held under patent, by Lord Baltimore ; 
 and Pennsylvania and Delaware, held by William 
 Penn. Others, again, were under charter govern 
 ments ; ruled and altogether disposed of by political 
 corporations. Such were Massachusetts, Rhode 
 Island, and Connecticut. Within the memory of 
 middle-aged men, the governor of New Hampshire 
 used to travel in a coach and six, while the go 
 vernor of the much more important Massachusetts 
 went on a horse, with Ins wife on a pillion. It is 
 within the memory of living men how Massachusetts 
 rose up in rejection of the imposition of a clergy by 
 England; while the colonial law of Virginia ordained 
 parsons to be paid yearly six thousand weight of 
 prime tobacco, in addition to marriage, burial, and 
 birth-fees; in which days, an unholy pastor, ap 
 pointed by Lord Baltimore, was seen to ride about 
 with the church key in one hand, and a pistol in 
 the other. It is absurd to suppose that communi 
 ties, where wide differences of customs, prejudices, 
 and manners still exist, can be, or ought to be, 
 brought into a state of exact conformity of institu 
 tions. Diversities, not only of old custom, but of 
 climate, productions and genealogy, forbid it ; and 
 reason does not require it. That institutions should 
 harmonise with the same first principles, is all that 
 is requisite. . Some, who would not go so far as to 
 
 c 5 
 
34 APPARATUS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 } 
 
 offer to codify for countries where they have not 
 set their foot, are yet apt to ask the use of one or 
 another institution, to which the Americans seem 
 to be unreasonably attached. It is a sufficient ge 
 neral answer that institutions are rarely sudden 
 and complete inventions. They have usually an 
 historical origin, even when renovated by revolution. 
 Their protracted existence, and the attachment of 
 the people to them are strong presumptions of their 
 having some use. If their purposes can be better 
 attained in another way, they will surely be modi 
 fied. If they are the result of compromise, they 
 Trill be abolished, according to the invariable law by 
 fc-hich expediency finally succumbs to principle. 
 That this will be the fate of certain of the United 
 States institutions which no one yet dreams of 
 touching, and few dare to analyze, has been clearly 
 foreseen, for forty years past, by many of the most 
 upright and able men in the country* Some of 
 them entertain an agonizing alarm at the prospect 
 of change. Others, more reasonably, trust that, 
 where no large pecuniary interests are at stake, the 
 \vork of rectifying may very quietly and safely suc 
 ceed that of reconciling : , and the majority have no 
 idea of jthe changes which their own hands, or their 
 childrjen^s, will have to effect. The gradual ripening 
 for change may be an advantage in more respects 
 than one. Political changes which are the result 
 of full conviction in a free people, are pretty sure 
 to be safe. Time is also allowed, meanwhile, for 
 men to practice their new lesson of separating the 
 idea of revolution from the horrors which have no 
 more natural connexion with it than burning at 
 the stake has with the firm grasp of speculative 
 truth. 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 35 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " WE, the people of the United States, in order to 
 form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure 
 domestic tranquillity, provide for the common de 
 fence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, 
 do ordain and establish this Constitution for the 
 United States of America." 
 
 So much _fo^ the., autboi^ty, and^ the objects of 
 this celebrated constitution, as set forth in its 
 preamble. 
 
 Its provisions are so well known that it is need 
 ful only to indicate them. In Europe, the diffi 
 culty is to avoid supposing the state governments 
 to be subordinate to the general. " They are co 
 ordinate departments of one simple and integral 
 whole." State government legislates and admi 
 nisters in all affairs which concern its own citizens. 
 To the federal government are consigned all affairs 
 which concern citizens, as foreigners from other 
 states, or as fellow-citizens with all in certain spe 
 cified relations. 
 
 The general objects of the instrument are easily 
 stated ; and an apparently clear case of separation 
 between the general and state governments drawn 
 out upon paper. But the application of the instru 
 ment to practice is the difficulty. 
 
 In this, there are two grand difficulties, among 
 many of inferior importance. The one is, to con 
 strue the instrument ; the other is, to bridge over 
 its awful chasms of compromise. 
 
6 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 There has never been a solemn instrument 
 drawn up yet without leaving room for varieties of 
 construction. There never can be, under our pre 
 sent use of abstract terms ; no two men s abstrac 
 tions being alike, or discoverably so. Of course, 
 the profession in this case is, that words are to be 
 taken according to their just and natural import ; 
 that there is to be no straining ; that they are to be 
 judged of according to common sense; and so on. 
 The old jests against etymologists are enough to 
 prove how far men are from agreeing what strain 
 ing is. As to common sense, men respond in uni 
 son to a revelation of it; but they rarely agree, 
 a priori, as to what it is. This difficulty is a wholly 
 unavoidable one. The refuge under it is in the 
 maxim. " the majority are right." If the case 
 in dispute be one of judicial import, the citizen 
 may appeal to the Supreme Court. If it be of a 
 different nature, it must be left to that other kind 
 of supreme court, the majority, and the verdict 
 will be given through the ballot-boxes. 
 
 The other difficulty, that of compromise, is de 
 clared to have been equally unavoidable. Qoijces- 
 sion, larg^jiuiJUia^concession, was clearly neees- 
 sar}V-^[o whatexfent, mayijeTanifly conceived 
 "fr5m-the following extract from the Federalist 
 To some readers, who arc more interested in the 
 present workings of the government, than in the 
 embarrassments of its inventors, this extract may 
 appear dull. But it is useful to be presented with 
 an outline of the difficulties incurred in legislating 
 for a federal republic, both as a fact in political 
 science ; as a means of forming something like a 
 just judgment of the framers of the constitution ; 
 and as a ground of hope that, so much danger hav 
 ing been surmounted, that which remains may be 
 also overcome. 
 
 This one tells us r that the proposed constiti*- 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 37 
 
 tion ought to be rejected, because it is not a con 
 federation of the States, but a government over 
 individuals. Another admits, that it ought to be 
 a government over individuals, to a certain extent, 
 but by no means to the extent proposed. A third 
 does not object to the government over individuals, 
 or ^ 6 the ex leu L proposed rirolrto Ihe want of a 
 Bill^f Rights; A fuurlli euuiiursrtir the" "absolute 
 necessity of a Bill of Rights, but contends that it 
 ought to be declaratory, not of the personal rights 
 of individuals, but of the rights reserved to the 
 States in their political capacity. A fifth is of 
 opinion that a Bill of Rights of any sort would be 
 suerttnuus aiid^ffiis^la^tn ancl ""{Hal; ~ the ~~plan 
 wouT3~tie"Tiriexceptionable, but for the fatal power 
 of regulating the times and places of election. An 
 objector in a large State exclaims loudly against the 
 unreasonable equality of representation in the 
 senate. An objector in a small State is equally 
 loud against the dangerous inequality in the House 
 of Representatives. From one quarter, we are 
 alarmed with the amazing expense, from the num 
 ber of persons who are to administer the new go 
 vernment. From another quarter, and sometimes 
 from the same quarter on another occasion, the cry 
 is that the Congress will be but the shadow of a re 
 presentation ; and that the government would be 
 far less objectionable, if the number of the expenses 
 were doubled. A patriot in a State that does not 
 import or export, discerns insuperable objections 
 against the power of direct taxation. The patri 
 otic adversary, in a State of great exports and im 
 ports, is not iesf> dissatisfied that the whole burthen 
 of taxes may be thrown on consumption. This 
 politician discovers in the constitution a direct and 
 irresistible tendency to monarchy. That, is equally 
 sure that it will end in aristocracy. Another is 
 puzzled to say which of these shapes it will ulti- 
 
58 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mately assume, but sees clearly it must be one or 
 other of them. While a fourth is not wanting, who, 
 with no less confidence, affirms, that the constitu 
 tion is so far from having a bias towards either of 
 these dangers, that the weight on that side will not 
 be sufficient to keep it upright and firm against its 
 opposite propensities. With another class of ad 
 versaries to the constitution, the language is, that 
 the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments 
 are intermixed in such a manner as to contradict 
 all the ideas of regular government, and all the re 
 quisite precautions in favour of liberty. Whilst this 
 objection circulates in vague and general expres 
 sions, there are not a few who lend their sanction 
 to it. Let each one come forward with his par 
 ticular explanation, and scarcely any two are ex 
 actly agreed on the subject. In the eyes of one, 
 the junction of the senate with the president, in 
 the responsible function of appointing to offices, 
 instead of vesting this power in the executive alone, 
 is the vicious part of the organisation. To another, 
 the exclusion of the House of Representatives, 
 whose numbers alone could be a due security 
 against corruption and partiality in the exercise of 
 such a power, is equally obnoxious. With a third, 
 the admission of the president into any share of a 
 power, which must ever be a dangerous engine in 
 the hands of -the executive magistrate, is an un 
 pardonable violation of the maxims of republican 
 jealousy. No part of the arrangement, according 
 to some, is more inadmissible than the trial of im 
 peachments by the Senate, which is alternately a 
 member both of the legislative and executive de 
 partments, when this power so evidently belonged 
 to the judiciary department. We concur fully, re 
 ply others, in the objection to this part of the 
 plan ; but we can never agree that a reference of 
 impeachments to the judiciary authority would b 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 39 
 
 an amendment of the error : our principal dislike 
 to the organisation arises from the extensive 
 powers already lodged in that department. Even 
 among the zealous patrons of a council of state, the 
 most irreconcilable variance is discovered, con 
 cerning the mode in which it ought to be con 
 stituted. The demand of one gentleman is, that 
 the council should consist of a small number, to be 
 appointed by the most numerous branch of the 
 legislature. Another would prefer a larger num 
 ber, and considers it a fundamental condition, that 
 the appointment should be made by the president 
 himself."* 
 
 It must have cost Mr. Madison some trouble to 
 vary the mode of expression in putting this host 
 of objections. We cannot but admire the ingenuity 
 with which he has brought them into view. But 
 what should we say to the management which 
 should reconcile the differences themselves ? Con 
 cessions, various and large, were obviously neces 
 sary. I am not about to give a catalogue of what 
 these actually were. They may be learned from 
 any history of the period. Suffice it that the ge 
 neral and state governments not only urged and 
 established claims, but admitted a set of prohibi 
 tions on themselves. 
 
 In all this there appears no fatal compromise. 
 But there were some which made the wisest men 
 of the time tremble for the stability of their noble 
 work. There seems peril enough in the liability 
 to the occurrence of new questions, which could 
 not be foreseen, and for which an opening might, 
 or might not, happen to be left. When, in ad 
 dition to such, there were some questions left to 
 be settled by a future government, from the in 
 ability of the statesmen of 1787 to agree upon 
 
 * The Federalist, vol.i. p. 277. 
 
40 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 them, these statesmen might well be uneasy about 
 the stability of their work. Of the first order of 
 questions is that which is now debated with great 
 animosity, whether Congress has power to abolish 
 slavery in the District of Columbia : a disputed 
 point of construction, on which it seems to me that 
 no plain person can be blamed for not anticipating 
 any difference of opinion. Of the second class is 
 that great question, or nest of questions, respecting 
 Reserved Rights. It was agreed that all unforeseen 
 questions which might arise with regard to the re 
 spective powers of the general and state govern 
 ments, should be settled by the state governments ; 
 but then, there was an indefinite limitation intro 
 duced in the clause, that the general government 
 should have all powers necessary for the prosecu 
 tion of such and such purposes. This vague clause 
 has been the occasion of the Union being shaken to 
 its centre ; and it may be thus shaken again, before 
 the questions arising out of it are all settled. 
 
 Even these, being open questions, are less 
 formidable than the compromise of the true repub 
 lican principle which is apparent in some pro 
 visions of the constitution, and in some of the most 
 important institutions of the country. The north 
 ern States, which had abolished, on principle, a far 
 milder slavery than that of the cotton and sugar- 
 growing south, agreed to admit slavery in the 
 south as a basis for direct taxation, and for repre 
 sentation. They did worse. They agreed to act 
 in behalf of their southern fellow-citizens in the 
 capture and restitution of runaway slaves, and in 
 the defence of masters against rebellious slaves. ,. 
 What bitter sorrows of conscience and of feeling 
 this compromise has cost their children, it is im 
 possible fully to describe. Of course, the law, 
 being against conscience, i. e. the law of man 
 coming into collision with the law of God, is con- 
 
THE GENERAL GOVEI^MENT. 41 
 
 stantly broken; and causes of dissension hence 
 arise. I know that slavery is only recognised by the 
 constitution as a matter of fact ; and that it is only 
 twice mentioned ; in connexion with representation, 
 and with the restitution to their masters of " per 
 sons held to labour escaping into another State :" 
 but the fact remains that a man who abhors sla 
 very is compellable by the law which his fathers 
 made, to deliver up to the owner a slave whose act 
 of absconding he approves. It is impossible to 
 estimate the evils which have proceeded from, and 
 which will yet arise out of this guilty but " neces 
 sary" compromise. 
 
 .- There was difficulty in bringing the greater and 
 smaller States into union. The smaller States 
 could not agree to such an unequal representation 
 as should render them liable to be swallowed up by 
 the larger ; while the Jarger could not consent to 
 be reduced to an equality with the smaller. The 
 Senate .was established to afford an equal state 
 representation |TwnTI(ftEe HouseToF Representa~ 
 tivtjy "aflbrdy ^^ a^irTepfe~senfaIi5n of the Batiou"iju- 
 fhTr~aggregate; ^cbrtJiiig "to li umbers* QBut the 
 principle of the general government is, that it 
 governs the entire people as one nation, and not as 
 a league of States. ^There ought, in consistency 
 with this, to be no state representation at all ; and 
 the Senate is an anomaly. An anomalous insti 
 tution cannot be very long-lived. A second cham 
 ber, on a more consistent principle, will probably 
 be established in its place, to fulfil its functions as 
 a Court^pfReview, and as a check uponthe preci 
 pitation of the^oth15r "fiou^e, and, TiQeeilSeJ optm-- 
 the^errcroacliments" of the executive. ~ There is yet 
 more of compromise involved in this "institution of 
 the Senate ; as might be expected, since there is 
 no end of compromise when principle is once de 
 parted from ; yet there are statesmen who defend 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 it on other grounds than that its establishment 
 was necessary to the foundation of any federal go 
 vernment at all. One observed to me, " Some 
 things look well in theory, and fail in practice. 
 This may not be justifiable in theory; but it 
 works well." If this last sentence be true, the 
 well-working of the Senate is only a temporary 
 affair; an accident. Its radical change becomes a 
 question of time merely ; and the recent agitation 
 of the question of Instructions seems to indicate 
 that the time is not very far distant. 
 
 The appointment of the judges for life is another 
 departure from the .absojute .republican principle. 
 There isno aclual control over them. Theirs is a 
 virtually irresponsible office. Much can be and is 
 said in defence of this arrangement ; and whatever 
 . is said, is most powerfully enforced by the weight 
 of character possessed by the judiciary, up to this 
 day. But all this does not alter the fact that irre^- 
 p^n^ible_offices_are an inconsistency in a republic. 
 WitK~regard to aTTthls" compromise, ncTplea of etf- 
 pediency can alter the fact that, while the House of 
 Representatives is mainly republican, the Senate is 
 only partially so, being anomalous in its character, 
 and its members not being elected immediately by 
 the people ; and that the judiciary is not republican 
 at all, since the judges are independent of the 
 nation, from the time of their appointment. 
 
 I was told, on high authority, that the assent of 
 the first nine States to the constitution, in 1788, 
 was obtained by means not absolutely fair. What 
 devices were used to procure an apparent majority, 
 I was not informed ; but it is generally supposed 
 that if there had been no legislatures active on the 
 occasion, if it had been put to the vote throughout 
 the nation, the ratification would not have taken 
 place when it did Chief Justice Marshall gives 
 testimony to this effect in his Life of Washington.. 
 
<r- 
 
 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT, 43 
 
 " So small, in many instances, was the majority in 
 favour of the constitution, as to afford strong 
 ground for the opinion that, had the influence of 
 character been removed, the intrinsic merits of the 
 instrument would not have secured its adoption. 
 Indeed, it is scarcely to be doubted that, in some 
 of the adopting States, a majority of the people 
 were in opposition." 
 
 That a constitution, so framed, and so carried, 
 should have worked as well as it has done, seems 
 to point out two very encouraging things ; that we 
 may, without rashness, speak of it as Washington 
 did, when he said, " I was convinced it approached 
 nearer to perfection than any government hitherto 
 instituted among men ;" and that the world may 
 quietly and hopefully await the further proceed 
 ings of the American people, in their advances to 
 wards an uncompromising democracy. There will 
 be changes, but not therefore convulsion. There 
 will be the change which Jefferson foresaw, and 
 provided for without dread. " Still," says he, so 
 lately as June, 1824, " we consider our constitu 
 tions not otherwise .changeable than by the au 
 thority of the people, on a special election of re 
 presentatives for that very purpose : they are, 
 until then, the lex legum. But can they be made 
 unchangeable ? Can one generation bind another, 
 and all others, in succession for ever ? I think 
 not. The Creator has made the earth for the 
 living, not the dead."" A generation may bind 
 itself as long as its majority continues in life ; when 
 that has disappeared, another majority is in place, 
 holds all the rights and powers their predecessors 
 once held, and may change their laws and institu 
 tions to suit themselves. Nothing then is un 
 changeable but the inherent and inalienable rights 
 of man."* 
 
 * Correspondence, yol. iv. p. 396. 
 
.& 
 
 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Nothing can be more striking to a stranger than 
 the experience gained, after some residence in the 
 United States, of the ultimate ascendency of the 
 will of the majprity^^TTigf the right in defiance 
 of all appearances to the contrary. The review of 
 what I witnessed of this kind, in the course of two 
 years, with regard to the conduct of Congress 
 alone, surprises and cheers me. It is true that I 
 see several wrongs unredressed; several wounds 
 inflicted on the people s liberties yet unhealed ; but 
 these are cases in which the people do not yet un 
 derstand what has been done; or have not yet 
 roused themselves to show that they do. 
 
 In the Senate, the people s right of petition is 
 invaded. Last session, it was ordained that all 
 petitions and memorials relating to a particular 
 Subject slavery ^n_tb,fi^J}J B triet of Columbia 
 should be laid on the table unread, and never re 
 curred to. OT course, the people will not long 
 submit to this. What has been already achieved 
 in Congress on this topic is a security that the rest 
 will follow. ^tVhen I entered the United States, 
 there was an absolute and most ominous silence 
 in Congress about slavery. Almost every leading 
 man there told me in conversation that it was the 
 grand question of all ; that every member s mind 
 was full of it ; that nearly all other questions were 
 much affected, or wholly determined by it ; yet riTT 
 one even alluded to it in public. v ^!Before I left, it 
 had found its way into both houses. The houses 
 had, in some sort, come to a vote upon it, which 
 showed the absolute abolition strength in the 
 House of Representatives to be forty-seven. 
 The entering wedge having been thus far driven, 
 it is inconceivable that the nation will allow it to 
 be withdrawn by surrendering their right of peti 
 tion. When I left, however, the people had vir 
 tually no right of petition with regard to the Dis- 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 45 
 
 trict over which they i. e. their Congress have 
 an exclusive jurisdiction. 
 
 Again. There were loud and extensive com 
 plaints, last session, of the despotism of the chair 
 in the House of Representatives, chiefly in con 
 nexion with the subject of slavery. No members, 
 it was said, were allowed a fair hearing but those 
 who sat in a particular part of the house. If this 
 complaint arises out of the peevishness of political 
 disappointment, it will soon be contradicted by 
 facts. If it is true, ; ; is a grave injury. In either 
 case, the chair will not long possess this power of 
 despotism. If the favoured are few, as the com 
 plaint states, the injured many will demand and 
 obtain the power to make themselves heard in turn ; 
 and no spirit of party can long stand in the way of 
 a claim so just. 
 
 Again. After the gentlemen of Charleston had 
 disgraced their city and country, by breaking into 
 the post-office, and burning the contents of the 
 mail-bags, in their dread of abolition papers, a 
 post-master wrote to a member of the cabinet, de 
 siring his approbation for having examined and re 
 fused to forward certain papers mailed at his office. 
 The member of the cabinet, Kendall, gave the de 
 sired sanction to this audacious stoppage of the 
 post-office function, declaring that the good of the 
 community (as judged of by the individual) is a 
 consideration above the law. The strangers in tHe 
 land knew not what to make of the fool-hardiness 
 of hazarding such a declaration, in a man of 
 Kendall s wit. It was known that he desired the 
 office of post-master-general; that the president 
 wished him to have it, and that the doubt was 
 whether the Senate would confirm the appoint 
 ment. Soon after this apparently fatal declara 
 tion, he was nominated, and the Senate confirmed 
 his appointment. The declaration, no doubt, 
 
?46 , THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 >s-^ 
 
 seated him in office. The southern members were 
 won by it. Kendall calculated rightly for his im 
 mediate object. What is to become of him when 
 the people shall at length recognise the peril and 
 insult to themselves of one of their favoured ser 
 vants declaring the will of an individual to be oc 
 casionally subversive of the law i. e. of the will 
 of the majority remains to be seen. Meantime, 
 the continuance in office of the person whose de 
 claration to the above effect remains unretracted, 
 may be regarded as one of the deepest wounds 
 which has been inflicted on the liberties of the 
 nation. 
 
 Another attempt, brought on, no doubt, by Ken 
 dall s success, to derange or stop the functions of 
 the post-office, has failed. Mr. Calhoun s Bill, 
 commonly called the Gag Bill, prohibiting post 
 masters from receiving and forwarding any papers 
 whatsoever containing anything relating to slavery, 
 actually was brought to a third reading by the cast 
 ing vote of the president of the Senate. There 
 Xvas fear, at the time, that this casting vote might 
 ensure the success of the bill, from the popularity 
 of the vice-president. But the bill was thrown 
 out on the third reading; and the effect of the 
 casting vote has been, not to aid the bill, but to in 
 jure materially the popularity of the vice-president. 
 This is so far well. It shows that the people are 
 preparing to grapple honestly with the great, the 
 hideous question, out of which arise these minor 
 encroachments upon their liberties, 
 
 Out of the slavery question arose the last mon 
 strous usurpation of Congress, for which the em 
 phatic rebuke of the nation awaits the sinning 
 members. The story deserves to be told at length, 
 on account both of its peculiarities, and of its fur 
 nishing a fair illustration of certain relations between 
 the state and general governments. 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 47 
 
 Great Britain was not very learned in the geo 
 graphy of the new world, in the early days of her 
 colonies there. She gave Virginia a patent for 
 lands, including what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 Michigan, Missouri, and on to the Pacific. Other 
 colonies obtained grants of equal moderation as to 
 size, and wisdom as to disposition. This absurd 
 partition, it was found, must occasion irreconcilable 
 quarrels among the members of the confederation ; 
 and Washington proposed that all, after fixing their 
 own boundaries, should throw into the common 
 stock the huge unoccupied domain. Virginia led 
 the way in making this honourable sacrifice. She 
 fixed her own boundary ; and the articles of com 
 pact between the United States and the people of 
 the territory north-west of the Ohio river, declared 
 that the territory should be divided into not more 
 than five, nor less than three States. This was in 
 1787. The boundary prescribed for Ohio and 
 Michigan, was found to be " not convenient." 
 That is, Ohio found it so ; and Michigan was not 
 in a situation, at the time when Ohio was admitted 
 into the Union, to insist upon the ancient boun 
 dary, prescribed at the time of the cession of land 
 by Virginia. When Ohio was made a State, the 
 boundary she desired was, among other particulars, 
 ratified by Congress. 
 
 In 1816, another portion of land, lying within 
 what Michigan supposed to be her own territory, 
 was taken from her, and added to Indiana, on the 
 latter being made a State. An equivalent is offered 
 to Michigan in a portion of land, to be taken out 
 of Wisconsin, on the western side of Lake Michi 
 gan, which is the natural boundary of the territory. 
 Michigan alleges that the inconvenience of a part 
 of her territory lying on the other side of the lake 
 would be so great, that the inhabitants would prefer 
 belonging to Wisconsin; and the land would be 
 
48 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ceded, as soon as Wisconsin becomes a State. The 
 decision of the right of this case is the proper busi 
 ness of the Supreme Court, whenever the contest 
 ing parties shall have all come into the Union. 
 Meantime, all parties are interested in bearing 
 down the claims of Michigan. Ohio and Indiana 
 desire to keep the lands Congress has authorised 
 them to take. The slave States are anxious to 
 hinder the increase in number of the free States ; 
 and by the ordinance of 1787, slavery is prohibited 
 for ever, north-west of the Ohio. The slave States 
 hope, by giving to Michigan a slice of Wisconsin, 
 to make Wisconsin too small to be hereafter divided 
 into two States. In this object, the south will be 
 foiled. Even if slavery should exist till Wisconsin 
 is ready for admission into the Union, there are two 
 ways by which the desire of the south may and 
 will be foiled. By the re-cession of the inconve 
 nient portion by Michigan, as mentioned above ; 
 and by the willingness of these northern States to 
 make themselves smaller, and add one to their 
 number, as, by a proviso in the original compact, 
 they have power to do, than let themselves be over 
 borne by the south. This part of the contest, for 
 " a balance of power," arises altogether out of the 
 slavery question. 
 
 Soon after I entered the country, Michigan be 
 came qualified to request admission into the Union. 
 She did so, declaring her discontent with the boun 
 daries prescribed to her by Congress, and her 
 intention to demand, in the Supreme Court, on her 
 admission, the re-establishment of the old ones. I 
 was amused with the different views of the affair 
 presented to me in different parts of the country. 
 At Cincinnati, in June, 1835, I was told that the 
 President had just transmitted a threat to Ohio, 
 that if she did not yield the boundary claimed by 
 Michigan, he would send the United States troops 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 49 
 
 to fight it out It was added that the vice-presi 
 dent had thus far prevailed with the President ; it 
 being of importance to Mr. Van Buren, that Mi 
 chigan, which he considered in his interest, should 
 be admitted into the Union in time to vote for him 
 in the presidential election of 1836. There was much 
 talk at Cincinnati of the resources of Ohio. The 
 people would turn out, to a man. The legislature 
 had instantly voted 300,000 dollars to raise troops ; 
 and one hundred and fifty thousand men would im 
 mediately be in the field: while Michigan had neither 
 men nor money ; had absolutely nothing to depend 
 upon but the six thousand United States soldiers. 
 This seemed to me to be too clear a case to be a 
 very true one : and the event belied the story in 
 almost every particular. Michigan did raise men ; 
 (though there was no war :) she had not the United 
 States troops : she is not in the interest of Van 
 Buren; and Ohio could bring no troops into the 
 field. 
 
 Michigan proceeded to organise her state go 
 vernment, and sent her senators to Washington, 
 during the session of 1835 and 1836. They were 
 allowed to witness the proceedings, but not, of 
 course, to vote. When 1 arrived at Detroit, the 
 capital of Michigan, in the middle of June, 1836, 
 the Governor told me that the Michiganians 
 were in the singular position of having a state go 
 vernment in full operation, while they were ex 
 cluded from the Union. The general opinion 
 seemed to be that some concession must be made 
 about the boundary line ; in which case, Michigan 
 would be admitted, in time to vote at the presiden 
 tial election. I pursued my travels through and 
 around the Territory; and when I returned to 
 Detroit, a month afterwards, 1 found the place in a 
 state of high excitement : an excitement fully war 
 ranted by the circumstances which had occurred. 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
50 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Congress had acknowledged Michigan to be a 
 sovereign State ; and had offered to admit her into 
 the Union, on condition of her surrendering all 
 claim to the disputed portions of territory. 
 
 A grosser usurpation of power can hardly be 
 conceived. Congress here usurped the function of 
 the Supreme Court in passing sentence against Mi 
 chigan : passing sentence, too, without hearing, or 
 having a right to listen to, evidence on the case. 
 Congress here required of Michigan to lay down her 
 rights on the threshold of the Union, if she meant 
 to be admitted. Mr. Adams intrepidly declared 
 in the House of Representatives, that Michigan 
 had more cause to ply the Nullification doctrine 
 than South Carolina ever had. A South Carolina 
 milliner declared in conversation, that he believed 
 the Michiganians claims to be just : but that, sooner 
 than give her the means of summoning another 
 sovereign State before the Supreme Court, he would 
 vote for her exclusion from the Union as long as 
 he lives. A strange posture of affairs, where all 
 justice seemed to be set aside, and the constitution 
 to have become a dead letter ! 
 
 The anxiety next was to know what Michigan 
 would do. There seemed too many symptoms of 
 yielding. It was mournful to those who felt that 
 
 JO, . . 
 
 now was the time, now the opportunity, so often 
 sighed for in the best moments of the best: men, 
 for making a heroic stand for the right, to hear the 
 forebodings about the canal shares, the lake trade, 
 the probable pecuniary loss in various ways, if 
 there should be delay in the admission of Michigan 
 into the Union. If we spoke of the constitution, 
 we were answered with the canal. If we spoke of 
 patriotism, we were answered with the surplus re 
 venue the share of it that would be lost. Then, 
 there were fears of war. \Ye were told that the alter 
 native was admission, with its advantages, and a 
 
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 51 
 
 surrender of the contested lands; and exclusion, 
 with war between infant Michigan and Ohio, 
 backed by the United States. The alternative 
 was rather, admission, with submission to uncon 
 stitutional force ; or exclusion, with the lonely en 
 joyment of an honest sovereignty. I kit this was 
 not the only alternative. Remaining out of the 
 Union did not involve war. Michigan might re 
 main out of the Union, peaceably, and under pro 
 test, till the people of the United States should 
 become fully possessed of her case, and aroused to 
 do her justice 1 . It was with heartfelt delight that 
 I found, at length, that this last honest course is 
 that which Michigan has determined to pursue. 
 It is so common for communities, as for indivi 
 duals, to miss the moment for doing the greatest 
 of their deeds, ta have the bright object of their 
 preceding worship eclipsed at the critical moment, 
 to pray incessantly that they may be honest, and 
 then stand aghast, after all, at an honest deed, 
 that the meeting of the Convention which was to 
 consider of this affair, was watched with deep anx 
 iety by the friends of Michigan. We, their visitors, 
 gathered hope from the tone of the Governor, and 
 others with whom we conversed ; from the aspect 
 of the legislators who were assembled to discuss 
 the Governor s message men with earnest and 
 sensible faces, who looked as if they were aware 
 that their liberties were at stake; and from the 
 spirited conduct of Michigan from the beginning of 
 
 I O O - O 
 
 the quarrel. Still, we were doubtful whether the 
 canal, the surplus revenue, and the probable war, 
 would not bo too much for the fortitude of so 
 young a people. They have shamed our fears, and 
 made a stand for constitutional liberty, which will 
 secure to them the gratitude of the Union, to the 
 latest day of its existence. They have refused to 
 enter the Union on the unconstitutional terms pro- 
 
 D 2 
 
52 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 posed. The people will see that they are honour 
 ably admitted, and that Congress is duly rebuked. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 THE principle which is professed in the ap 
 pointment of a chief magistrate in the United 
 States is, that his removal is to be as easy as pos 
 sible, and effected without disturbing for a moment 
 the proceedings of government. Under the idea 
 that this last must be impossible, some of the pa 
 triots of 1789 were opposed to the institution of the 
 office of President altogether ; and there are now 
 some who desire that the chief magistrate should 
 be, as nearly as possible, a cipher ; that, for this 
 purpose, his election should be annual; and that, 
 if this cannot be, the term should continue to be 
 four years, but without renewal. Such declare 
 that the office was made for the man, Washington, 
 who was wanted, to reconcile all parties. They 
 maintain that, though it was, for a considerable 
 time, well filled, it must become, sooner or later, 
 dangerous to the public welfare : that it compre 
 hends too much power for a citizen of a republic 
 to hold, presents too high a stake, occupies too 
 much thought, and employs too much endeavour, 
 to the exclusion of better objects. 
 
 Some desire that the office should have a dura 
 tion of six years, without renewal. 
 
 No one dreams of an attempt to hold the office 
 
 I 
 
THE EXECUTIVE. 53 
 
 for a third term ; and there is every prospect that, 
 4f any President should be ambitious enough to de- 
 sire a second re-election, he would fail, and descend 
 from his high station with a total loss of honour. 
 Some think so highly of the dignity of the chief 
 agistracy, as to propose that ex-presidents should 
 debarred from holding lower offices. This 
 looks too like an approximation to the monar 
 chical principle to be, or to become, a popular way 
 of viewing the subject. It is a proposition of the 
 high federalists. I was far more gratified than 
 amused at seeing Mr. Adams daily in his seat in 
 the House of Representatives, while the history of 
 his administration was perpetually referred to by 
 those who discussed the politics of the country 
 with me. I am aware that two interpretations may 
 be put upon the fact of an ex-president desiring a 
 lower office. It may occur from a patriotism which 
 finds its own dignity in the welfare of its country, 
 or from a restless ambition to be in the public eye. 
 In either case, it seems to be no matter for a fixed 
 rule. The republican principle supposes every man 
 to be at all times ready to serve his country, when 
 called upon. The rest must be left to the cha 
 racter of the man, and the views of his consti 
 tuents. 
 
 , Others think so much more highly of the dignity 
 Alii the Senate than of the executive, as to desire 
 that senators should be ineligible for tha-joffice of 
 President. The object here is two-fold rfo exalt 
 the Senate ; and, by making half a hundrrx}, offices 
 higher in honour than that of President^to drain 
 off some of the eager ambition which flows in the 
 direction of the executive function. But power is 
 more alluring than honour; and executive offices 
 will always be objects of choice, in preference to 
 legislative, except with a very small class of men. 
 Besides, the Senate is already further removed 
 
54 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 from the control of the people, than consistency 
 with the true republican principle allows: and if 
 the people are to be precluded from choosing their 
 chief magistrate from among the fifty wisest men 
 (as the senators are in theory) that the States can 
 choose for the guardianship of their interest?, the 
 dignity of both functions would be much lowered. 
 In theory, the people s range of choice for their 
 chief magistrate is to extend from the vice-presi 
 dent s chair to the humblest abode which nestles 
 in the rocks of their eastern coasts, or overlooks the 
 gulf of Mexico. The honour in which the Senate 
 is held must depend on its preserving the character, 
 which, on the whole, it has hitherto maintained. 
 A nobler legislative body, for power and principle, 
 has probably never been known. Considering the 
 number of individuals of whom it is composed, its 
 character has, perhaps, been as remarkable as that 
 of the noble array of Presidents, of which the 
 United States have to boast. If, amidst its indirect 
 mode of election, and long term of office, it should 
 prove equally stable in principle, and flexible in its 
 methods of progress, it may yet enjoy a long term 
 of existence, as honourable as could be secured by 
 any exclusion of its members from other offices in 
 the commonwealth. 
 
 By far the greatest apprehension connected with 
 the President s office, relates to the extent of his 
 patronage. It was highly alarming, at first, to 
 hear all that was said about the country being 
 ridden with administration-officers, and office-ex 
 pectants. A little arithmetic, however, proved 
 very cheering. The most eminent alarmist 1 hap 
 pened to converse with, stated the number of per 
 sons directly and indirectly interested in the bcstow- 
 ment of office by the executive, to be 150,000. 
 No exact calculation can be made, since no one can 
 do more than conjecture how many persons at a 
 
THE EXECUTIVE. 55 
 
 time are likely to be in expectation of any one 
 office. ]>ut the above may be taken as the widest 
 exaggeration which an honest alarmist can put 
 forth. This class of interested persons is, after 
 all, but a small section of the population. There 
 is every reason to fear that official corruption is 
 abundant under all governments ; and, for some 
 reasons \vhich will be easily apprehended, remark 
 ably so under the government of the United States; 
 but, when it is considered how small a proportion 
 of the people is, at any time, interested in office, 
 and how many persons in office are to be, in fair 
 ness, supposed honest, the evil of executive patron 
 age diminishes to the imagination so rapidly as to 
 induce a suspicion tMt many who say the most 
 about it are throwing a tub to the whale. The 
 watchfulness on the executive power thus induced 
 is a benefit which will set off against a great amount 
 of alarm. It will assist the people to find the 
 
 true mean between their allowing the President too 
 much power over the servants who are to transact 
 their business, and their assuming too much con 
 trol over the servants who are to transact his. 
 
 Difficult as it is to resist impressions on the 
 
 spot, from all that is said about the power of the 
 
 executive, and the character of the President of 
 
 , the time, the worst alarms are derided by the event. 
 
 f It does not appear as if the President could work 
 
 T any permanent effect upon the mind and destiny of 
 
 V the nation. It is of great consequence to tlip 
 
 morals and prosperity of the season, that the chief 
 
 magistrate should be a man of principle, rather 
 
 than expediency; a frank friend of the people, 
 
 rather than their cunning flatterer; a man of sense 
 
 and temper, rather than an angry bigot ; a man of 
 
 * business, rather than a blunderer. But the term -> 
 ] of an unworthy or incapable President is pretty j % 
 i sure to be the shortest ; and, if permitted to serve 
 
56 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 his eight years, he can do little unless he acts, on 
 
 .^the whole, in accordance with the mind of the 
 
 ^^ people. If he has any power, it is because the 
 
 people are with him : in which case, he cannot be 
 
 very destructive to their interests. If he does not 
 
 proceed in accordance with public sentiment, he 
 
 \has no power. A brief review of the course of 
 the American Presidents seems to show that their 
 influence subsides into something very weak and 
 transitory; always excepting that immeasurable 
 and incalculable influence which is breathed forth 
 through the remotest generations, by the personal 
 , character of conspicuous individuals. 
 \^J Washington s influence is a topic which no one 
 is ever hardy enough to approach, in the way of 
 measurement or specification. VVithin the compass 
 of his name lies more than other words can tell of 
 his power over men^ When the British officers 
 were passing up the Potomac, in the last war, to 
 perpetrate as dastardly a deed of spoliation at the 
 capital as ever it was the cruel fate of soldiers to 
 be ordered to do, they desired to be told when they 
 were passing the burial place of Washington, and 
 stood uncovered on deck as long as they were 
 within sight of Mount Vernon. Any in England 
 who happen to know how deeply disgraced their 
 country was by the actors in this expedition, will 
 feel what the power must have been which, breath 
 ing from that shore, humanised for the hour the 
 cowardly plunderers as they floated by. But it 
 was Washington, the man, not the President, who 
 moved them to uncover their heads. It is Wash 
 ington, the man, not the President, whose name is 
 lovingly spoken, whose picture smiles benignly in 
 ~ every inhabited nook of his own congregation of 
 ^ republics. It is even Washington, the man, not 
 )the President, whose name is sacred abr>ve all 
 Bothers, to men of all political parties. It was 
 
THE EXECUTIVE. 57 
 
 Washington, the man, who united the votes of all 
 parties in his presidentship, since, so far from pre 
 tending to agree with all, he took and left, without 
 fear or favour, what convictions he could or could 
 not adopt from each. The one impression which 
 remains of his presidentship is its accordance with 
 himself. Had it been, in any respect, a lower self, 
 there would have been little left of Washington 
 in the people now. 
 
 JjpAdams came in by the strength of the federal 
 party. Supported by the slave States, and all the 
 federalism of the north, he had the means, if any 
 President ever had, of leaving a strong and perma 
 nent impression on the face of affairs. He^fiUe^ 
 up his_officg witix Jedecaliste. Everything during 
 his term of office favoured the influence of the fede 
 ralists. The nation was almost beside itself with 
 panic at the political convulsions of Europe. Yet, 
 notwithstanding all this, and Mr. Adams s great 
 weight of character, giving influence to his partia 
 lities, the people revealed themselves, in the choice 
 of his successor, staunchly republican. 
 5f Jefferson s influence was greater than that of any 
 other President, except Washington; and the reason 
 is, that/hijg ormvifitirmfl went along with the .na 
 tional mind.} If Jefferson, with the same love of 
 tHeTpeople, the same earnestness of temper, and 
 grace of manners, had been in any considerable 
 degree less democratic, he might have gone credit 
 ably through his term, and have been well spoken 
 of now; but he would not have been the honour 
 able means of two successors of the same princi 
 ples with himself, being brought in; nor would he 
 have lain, as he now does, at the very heart of the 
 people. At the outset, his state-rights principle 
 secured himrthe" "south, and" tils philanthropic, 
 democratic principles, thejnprtlj. He waspopular, 
 almost beyond exampIeT His popularity could 
 
 D 5 
 
58 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 scarcely be increased; but it lias never declined. 
 The common charges against him, of hreli^ion, of 
 oppression in the management of his patronage, of 
 disrespect to his predecessors, are falling into obli 
 vion, while his great acts remain. As to his reli 
 gion, whatever might be his creed, its errors or 
 deficiencies, these are still matters of disagreement 
 among the wise and good; and it is certain that 
 Jefferson viewed all the realities that came within 
 his ken, with that calm earnestness which is the* 
 true religious spirit. As to the removals from office, 
 which are still complained of, it should be remem-- 
 bered that his predecessor had filled as many offices 
 as possible with high federalists, many of whom 
 provoked their own discharge by their activity 
 against the government they professed to serve. 
 There is no evidence that Jefferson went beyond his 
 ^ own principle ; and a principle is no matter of 
 (.reproach, though it may be of controversy. He 
 says, " Mr. Adams s last appointment, when he 
 knew he was naming counsellors and aids for me 
 and not for himself, I shall set aside as far as de 
 pends on me. Officers who have been guilty of 
 gross abuses of office, such as marshals packing 
 juries, 8cc., I shall now remove, as my predecessor 
 ought in justice to have done. The instances will 
 be few, and governed by strict rule, and not party 
 passion. The right of opinion shall suffer no 
 invasion from me." " The remonstrance laments, 
 that a change in the administration must produce 
 a change in the subordinate officers; in other words, 
 that it should be deemed necessary for all officers 
 to think with their principal. But on whom does 
 this imputation bear ? On those who have excluded 
 from office every shade of opinion which was not 
 their s ? or on those who have been so excluded ? 
 I lament sincerely that unessential differences of 
 opinion should ever have been deemed sufficient to 
 
TFIE EXECUTIVE, 59 
 
 interdict half the society from the rights and bless 
 ings of self-government, to proscribe them as un 
 worthy of every trust. It would have been to me a 
 circumstance of great relief, had I found a mode 
 rate participation of office in the hands of the 
 majority. 1 would gladly have left to time and 
 accident to raise them to their just share. But 
 their total exclusion calls for prompter corrections. 
 I shall correct the procedure : but, that done, 
 return with joy to that state of things, when the 
 only questions concerning a candidate shall be, Is 
 he honest ? Is he capable ? Is he faithful to the 
 constitution ?"# 
 
 As to his disrespect to Washington and Adams, 
 it should be remembered what the party heats of 
 the day were ; how Washington s cabinet was di 
 vided between France, war, and general liberty ; and 
 neutrality, peace, and care of the people at home. 
 With such a theme of quarrel, it would have been 
 a wonder if hasty words had not been sometimes 
 spoken on all sides. Jefferson s ultimate opinion 
 of Washington, written in confidence to a friend, 
 in 1814, has happily come to light. At the close, 
 he says, " These are my opinions of General Wash 
 ington, which I would vouch at the judgment-seat 
 of God, having been formed on an acquaintance of 
 thirty years.." One extract is enough: " On the 
 whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect; in 
 nothing bad, in few things indifferent ; and it may 
 truly be said, that never did nature and fortune 
 combine more perfectly to make a man great, and 
 to place him in the same constellation with what 
 ever worthies have merited from man an everlast 
 ing remembrance."-)- The friendship in old age 
 between himself and Mr. Adams, and the moral 
 and intellectual beauty of their close correspon- 
 
 * Jefferson s Correspondence, vol.iii. pp. 467 476. 
 t Jefferson s Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 236. 
 
60 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 dence, are a spectacle in sight of which all prior 
 party misunderstandings should be forgotten. 
 There is one infallible test by which to try old men 
 who have had much to do in the world. If their 
 power and privilege of admiration survive their 
 knowledge of the world, they are true-hearted; 
 and they occasion as much admiration as they 
 enjoy. Jefferson stands this test. 
 
 His great acts are much heard of. The reduc 
 tion of taxes and correction of abuses with which 
 he began his administration; his having actually 
 done something against slavery ; his invariable de 
 cision for advocacy or opposition, in accordance 
 with the true democratic principle, are now spoken 
 of more frequently than things less worthy to be 
 remembered. His influence has been greater than 
 that of any other President since Washington, ex 
 actly in proportion to his nearer approach to the 
 national idea of a chief magistrate. 
 
 No great changfi t" nlf pla^dnrii^thp! adrmnis- 
 tration of his two successors, Madison and M^mroe. 
 They were strong in the strength ofhis principles, 
 and of their own characters. Madison s term of 
 office would have been memorable in history, if he 
 had not immediately followed his friend Jefferson. 
 Their identity of views, put into practice by Madi 
 son, with the simplest honesty and true modesty, 
 caused less observation than the same conduct im 
 mediately succeeding a federal administration would 
 have done. Hence Jiie affpctp t] n" T prap.ti sed by 
 some, of calling Madison a tool of Jefferson. Those 
 who really knew Mr. Madison and his public life, 
 will be amused at the idea of his being anybody s 
 tool. 6 
 
 The reason why John Qumcy Adams s adminis 
 tration is little notorious is somewhat of the same 
 nature. He was a jpure^ President ; a strictly moral 
 man. His good morality was shown in the devo- 
 
THE EXECUTIVE. 61 
 
 tion of his fine powers to the faithful conduct ot 
 evanescent circumstances. His lot was that of all 
 good Presidents in the quiet days of the republic. 
 He would not use his small power for harm ; and 
 ossessed no very great power for political good. 
 
 General Jackson was brought into offir^ by an 
 overpowering majority, and after a series of strong 
 party excitements, flf ever there was a possibility 
 of a President marking his age, for good or for 
 evil, it would have been done during Jackson s ad 
 ministration.) He is a man made to impress a very 
 distinct idea of himself on all minds, He bas great 
 personal cojira^e, much sagacity, though frequently 
 impaired b"y"the strength of his prejudices, violent 
 passions, an indojm table jvill, and that devotion to 
 public affairs*m which noPresident Has ever failed.* 
 He rrall"ffoTie"HereTIs"or~war which flattered the 
 pride of the people ; and in doing them, he had ac 
 quired a knowledge of the people, which has served 
 him instead of much other knowledge in which he 
 is deficient. He has known, however, how to ob 
 tain the use, though not the reputation, of the 
 knowledge which he does not possess. Notwith 
 standing the strength of his passions, and the awk 
 ward positions in which he has placed himself by 
 the indulgence of his private resentments, his saga 
 city has served him well in keeping him a little 
 way a-head of the popular convictions. No physi 
 cian in the world ever understood feeling the pulse, 
 and ordering his practice accordingly, better than 
 President Jackson. Here are all the requisites for 
 success in a tyrannical administration. Even in 
 England, we heard rumours in 1828, and again in 
 18;3 2, about the perils of the United States, under 
 the rule of a despotic soldier. The cry revived 
 with every one "of his~Tiign"-handed deeds; with 
 every exercise ofjthe veto, which he has used 
 oftener than^alTthe other Presidents put together. 
 
62 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 with every appointment made in defiance of the 
 Senate; with the removal of the deposites ; with 
 his messages of menace to the !< rench government. 
 Yet to what amounts the power now, at the close 
 of his administration, of this idol of the people, this 
 man strong in war, and suhtle in council, this sol 
 dier and statesman of indomitable will, of insa 
 tiable ambition, with the resources of a huire ma 
 jority at his disposal? The deeds of his adminis 
 tration remain to be justified in as fay as they are 
 sound, and undone if they are faulty. Meantime, 
 he has been able to obtain only the Safest majority 
 in the Senate, the. great object of, his wrath: he 
 has been unable to keep the slavery question out of 
 Congress, the introduction of which is by for the 
 most remarkable event of his administration. One 
 of the most desponding complaints I heard of his 
 administration was, not that he bad strengthened 
 the general government not that his government 
 had tended to centralisation not that he had 
 settled any matters to his own satisfaction, and left 
 the people to reconcile themselves to his pleasure 
 as they best might, but that every great question 
 is left unsettled ; that it is difficult now to tell any 
 party by its principles ; that the principles of such 
 affairs as the currency, land, slavery? internal im 
 provements, &c. remain to be all argued over again. 
 Doubtless, this will be tiresome to such public 
 men as have entirely and finally made up their 
 minds on these subjects. To such, nothing can 
 well be more wearisome than discussion and ac 
 tion, renewed from year to year. 13ut the very 
 fact that these affairs remain unsettled, that the 
 people remain unsatisfied about, them, proves that 
 the people have more to learn, and that they mean 
 to learn it. Xo true friend of his country would 
 wish that the questions of slavery and currency 
 should remain in any position that they have ever 
 
THE EXECUTIVE. 63 
 
 yet occupied in the United States ; and towards 
 the settlement of the latter of the two, as far as 
 light depends on collision of opinions, it is certain 
 that no man has (lone so much, whether he meant 
 it or not, as President Jackson. The occasional 
 breaking up and mingling of parties is a necessary 
 circumstance, whether it be considered an evil or a 
 good. It may be an evil, in as far as it affords 
 a vantage-ground to unprincipled adventurers ; 
 it is a good, in as far as it leads to mutual un 
 derstanding, and improves the candour of partisans. 
 For the rest, there is no fear but that parties will 
 soon draw asunder, witlk each a set of distinctive 
 principles as its badge. ^Meantime, men will have 
 reason to smile at their fears of the formidable 
 personage, w^io is now descending from the presi 
 dential chair ;\and their enthusiasm will have cooled 
 down to the temperature fixed by what the event 
 will prove to have been his merits. They will 
 discuss him by their firesides with the calmness 
 with which men speak of things that are past; 
 while they keep their hopes and fears to be chafed 
 up at public meetings, while the orator points to 
 some rising star, or to some cloud no bigger than 
 a man s hand. Irish emigrants occasionally fight 
 out the battle of the Boy no in the streets of Phila 
 delphia ; butjiative Americans _bestow Uieirjirjpre- 
 henions_and__thSF wrath upon" things future : and 
 their philosophy upon things past. WhjJ_lhy~do 
 tfiisTit will not b e^Tn tlie power of any^Prgsident to 
 liannThem mlicTTor long. 
 
64 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 NEVER, perhaps, did statesmen begin their task of 
 constitution-making with so much aid from pre 
 ceding circumstances as the great men of the Re 
 volution. A social neighbourhood of colonies, all 
 suffering under colonial grievances^ and all varying 
 in their internal government, afforded a broad hint 
 of the present system, and fine facilities for putting 
 it in practice. There was much less speculation 
 in the case than might appear from a distance ; 
 and this fact so far takes away from the super 
 human character of the wisdom which achieved the 
 completion of the United States constitution, as 
 to bring the mind down from its state of amaze 
 ment into one of very wholesome admiration. 
 The state governments are the conservative 
 "" "trie majority to act 
 
 Thouh the nation 
 
 is but an aggregation of individuals, as regards the 
 general government, their division into States, for 
 the management of their domestic affairs, precludes 
 a vast amount of confusion and discord. Their. 
 mutual vigilance is also a great advantage to their 
 interests, both wiijiij) ear h^Sialtty^ajid-ahro^L No 
 tyrTCn^oT^r^miical party, can remain unwatched 
 and unchecked. There is, in each State, a people 
 ready for information and complaint, when neces 
 sary; a legislature ready for deliberation; and 
 an executive ready to act. Many States, in other 
 ages and regions, have been lost through the 
 necessity of creating their instruments when they 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 65 
 
 should have been acting. State organisation is 
 never managed without dispute ; and it makes the 
 entire difference in the success of resistance to ag 
 gression whether the necessary apparatus has to be 
 created in haste and confusion, or whether every 
 thing is in readiness for executing the will of the 
 majority. 
 
 /* Under no other arrangement, perhaps, could the 
 j advantage be secured of every man being, in his 
 /turn, a servant of the commonwealth. If the ge- 
 Sieral government managed everything, the public 
 service would soon become the privilege of a cer 
 tain class, or a number of classes of men ; as is 
 seen to be the case elsewhere. The relation and 
 gradation of service which are now so remarkable 
 a feature in the United States commonwealth, 
 could never then happen naturally, as they now do. 
 Almost every man serves in his township in New 
 England, and in the corresponding ward or section 
 elsewhere ; and has his capability tried ; and, if 
 worthy, he serves his county, his State, and finally 
 the Union, in Congress. Such is the theory : and 
 if not followed up well in practice, if some of the 
 best, men never get beyond serving their township, 
 and some of the worst now and then get into Con 
 gress, the people are unquestionably better served 
 than if the selection of servants depended on acci 
 dent, or the favour of men in power. Whatever 
 extraneous impediments may interfere with the 
 true working of the theory, every citizen feels, or 
 ought to feel, what a glorious career may lie before 
 him. In his country? every road to success is open 
 to all. There are no artificial disqualifications 
 which may not be surmounted. All humbug, 
 whether of fashion and show, of sanctimoniousness, 
 of licentiousness, or of anything else, is there des 
 tined to speedy failure and retribution. There is 
 no hereditary humbug in the United States. If the 
 
66 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 honest, wise man, feels himself depressed below 
 the knave, he has, if he did but know it, only to 
 wait patiently a little while, and he will have his 
 due. Though truth is equally great everywhere, 
 and equally sure ultimately to prevail, men of 
 other countries have often to wait till they reach 
 the better country than all, before they witness this 
 ultimate prevalence, except with the eye of faith. 
 The young nation over the Atlantic is indulged, 
 for the encouragement, with a speedier retribution 
 for her well or ill doings ; and almost every one o 
 her citizens, if he be truly honourable, may trust 
 to be fitly honoured before he dies. 
 
 Another conservative effect of the state govern 
 ments is the .facilities they afford for the correction 
 of solecisms, the renovation of institutions as they 
 " are outgrown, JWK! the amendment of all unsuitable 
 arrangements.^! f anything wants to be rectified 
 in any State, it can be done on the mere will of the 
 people concerned. There is no imploring of an 
 uninterested government at a distance a govern 
 ment so occupied with its foreign relations as to 
 have little attention to spare for domestic grievances 
 which it does not feel. There is no waiting any 
 body s pleasure ; nobody s leave to ask. The re 
 medy is so close at hand, those who are to give it 
 are so nearly concerned, that it may always, and, 
 for the most part, speedily, be obtained, upon good 
 cause being shown. No external observance is 
 needed, except of the few and express prohibi 
 tions which the general and state governments have 
 Cterchanged. 
 It is amusing to look over the proceedings of 
 the state legislatures for any one year) Maine. 
 amends her libel law, decreeing that pnTol oT 
 truth shall be admitted as justification. ^\.lasycir_ 
 ehusetts decrees a revision and consolidation of her 
 laws, and the annihilation of lotteries. Khode 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 07 
 
 Island improves her quarantine regulations. Con- 
 **- f i "^ " 
 
 necticut passes an art tor the preservation 01 corn 
 fields from crows. Vermont decrees the protection 
 of the dead in their gravesT* New York prohibits 
 the importation of foreign convicts. New Jersey 
 incorporates a dairy company. Penn sy 1 yarn a fmTi- 
 gates the law which authorises imprisonment, for 
 debt. Maryland authorises a geological survey. 
 Georgia enlarges her law of divorce. ALibama, 
 putschudren, in certain circumstances, under the 
 protection of chancery. Mississippi decrees a 
 census. Tennessee interdicts"Hfrarbacucs in the 
 neighbourhood of camp meetings. Qjiku egulates 
 the care of escheated lands. Indiana, prohibits a 
 higher rate of interest than ten per cent. Missouri 
 authorises the conveyance of real estate by married 
 women. Andso^on^ It seems difficult to imagine 
 how many abuses" "can reach an extreme, or be 
 tardy of cure, where the will of the majority is not 
 only speedily made known, but where the division 
 of employment is so skilfully arranged that the 
 majority may be trusted to understand the case on 
 which they are to decide. 
 
 It has always appeared to me that much misap 
 prehension is occasioned by its being supposed 
 that the strength of the general government lies in 
 the number of its functions ; and its weakness in 
 the extent of its area. To me it appears directly 
 the reverse. A government which has the ma 
 nagement of aTT~tIie concerns" of a people, the 
 greaTef and the smaller, prcserveTTfs stability Tjy 
 tiny gencrni~TTTtrj i Ubt in im li loTe important func 
 tions. Tf you" tfcsire to weaken it, you must with 
 draw Trom its guardianship the more general and 
 important of its -affairs. If you desire to shield it 
 from cavil and attack, you must put the more local 
 and partial objects of its administration under 
 other management. If the general government of 
 
68 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 the United States had to manage all legislation 
 and administration within their boundaries, it could 
 hardly hold together one year. If it had only one 
 function, essential to all, and impossible to be 
 otherwise fulfilled, there seems no reason why it 
 should not work prosperously till there are fifty 
 States around it, and longer. The importance of 
 the functions of the general government depends 
 partly upon the universality of the interest in them ; 
 and partly upon the numbers included under them. 
 So far, therefore, from the enlargement of the area 
 of the -United States being perilous to the general 
 government, by making it " cumbrous," as many 
 fear, it seems to me likely to work a directly con 
 trary effect. There are strong reasons why an ex 
 tension of her area would be injurious to her, but 
 I cannot regard this as one. A government which 
 has to keep watch over the defence, foreign po 
 licy, commerce, and currency, of from twenty-live 
 to fifty small republics, is safer in the guardianship 
 of its subjects than if it had to manage these same 
 affairs for one large republic, with the additional 
 superintendence of its debtors, its libellers, and 
 the crows of its corn-fields. 
 
 /* Little or no room for rebellion seems to be left 
 >under the constitution of the United States. In 
 >the progress of human affairs, familiar evils expire 
 with worn-out institutions, and new dangers arise 
 out of the midst of renovated arrangements. As 
 sassinations are the form which resistance to go 
 vernment assumes in pure despotisms. Rebellion 
 is the name it bears under governments somewhat 
 more liberal. Inthe^ilnitej^States, nothing worse 
 than professed Nullification _has~yetl)een heard of 
 unless CololiieTTTurP s secret scnemeS~Were indeed 
 treasonable. A brief account of the South Caro 
 lina Nullification may exhibit the relations, and 
 occasional enmities of the general and states go- 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 69 
 
 vernmcnt in a clearer way than could be done, 
 otherwise than by a narrative of facts. This little 
 history shows, among many other things, that 
 America follows the rest of the world in quoting 
 the constitution as a sanction of the most opposite 
 designs and proceedings : what different sympathies 
 respond to the word " patriotism ;" and of how 
 little avail is the letter of the constitution, when 
 there is variance as to its spirit. 
 
 Georgia laid claim, some years ago, to the Che- 
 rokee territory, on the ground that the United - 
 States had no right to make the laws and treaties 
 by which the Chcrokees were protected ; that such 
 legislation was inconsistent with the reserved 
 rights of the sovereign state of Georgia. Georgia 
 thus acted upon the supposition, that she was to 
 construe the federal compact in her own way, and 
 proceed according to her own construction. Con 
 gress checked her in this assumption, and rejected 
 her pretensions by an almost unanimous vote. 
 Soon after the accession of General Jackson to the 
 presidentship, Georgia, either presuming -upon his 
 favour, or wishing to test his dispositions, began 
 to encroach upon the Cherokee lands. The Che- 
 rokees appealed to the federal government for pro 
 tection, under the laws and treaties framed for that 
 very purpose. The President replied, that Georgia^ 
 was right in annulling those laws jand treaties, and 
 thatrthe executive could not interfere^ The Indian 
 cause was brought before the Supreme Court. There 
 was difficulty about the character in which the 
 plaintiffs were to sue, and as to whether they could 
 sue at all, under that provision of the constitution 
 which authorises foreign nations to demand jus 
 tice from the federal tribunals. The court ex> 
 pressed a slJirng.~Qpiiiio r - however, fernche~Cnl>- 
 rokees were entitled to protection from "the Ex 
 ecutive. 
 
70 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 The Supreme Court and Georgia were thus 
 brought into opposition, while the Executive took 
 the part of Georgia. Compassion for the Che- 
 rokees was now swallowed up in anxiety about the 
 decision of the question of state rights. The 
 Executive had, as yet, only negatively declared 
 himself, however ; and the Supreme Court had not 
 been driven on to deliver a verdict against the 
 Georgian laws, by which the Chcrokees were op 
 pressed. The topic of the right of a State to annul 
 the laws and treaties of the federal government was 
 meantime generally discussed ; and reconsideration 
 >*was forced upon the President. 
 
 South Carolina presently followed the example 
 ) of Georgia. She annulled the acts of Congress, 
 ( which regarded such revenue laws as she con 
 sidered contrary to general principles, and to her 
 own interests. TheJ.n^idmit_ no\y_p.iiceived that 
 . if every State proceeded to nullii^ the acts of Con- 
 giTss7TTpolflts~mv7r consTruction oftlTe Tiederal con- 
 stituTioir, tile general i|overnment could not be 
 secure of ils"existence for a day. While the Exe 
 cutive was IsHITm a position of observation, the 
 Supreme Court pronounced, in another case, ;i 
 verdict against the unconstitutional laws of Georgia. 
 In 1829, the legislature of Virginia asserted the 
 right of each State to construe the federal consti 
 tution for itself: and thus there appeared to be 
 three States already in the course of withdrawing 
 from the Union. 
 
 Congress went on legislating about the tariff, 
 
 <i without regard to this opposition ; and the pro- 
 
 * tests of certain States against their proceedings 
 
 were quietly laid on the table, as impertinences. 
 
 The South Carolina advocates of Nullification 
 
 worked diligently in their own State to ripen the 
 
 people sufficiently to obtain a convention which 
 
 should proclaim their doctrine as the will of the 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 71 
 
 State : in which case, they doubted net that they 
 should secure the countenance and co-operation of 
 n;o.st, or all, of the southern States. A convention 
 i:i favour of free trade met at Philadelphia; ano 
 ther in favour of the tariff met at Xcw York; and 
 the nullifiers saw reason to turn the discussion of 
 the quarrel as much as possible from the principle 
 of Nullification to the principle of free trade. They 
 perceived the strength of the latter ground, whe 
 ther or not they saw the weakness of the former; 
 and by their skilful movement upon it, they even 
 tually caused a greater benefit to the nation, than 
 their discontent did harm to themselves. 
 
 The President was invited to dine at Charleston 
 on the 4th of July, 1801; and in his answer, ho 
 thought fit to announce that he should do bis duty 
 in case of any attempt to annul the laws of the 
 Unicn. Tliis was a virtual re.traetaikauBLlna e,i.v 
 couragement to_Georgi?i^ A committee of the 
 legislature o7 South Carolina reported the letter to 
 he at variance with the duties of the President, and 
 the rights of the States. The heat was rising 
 r?!pid!y. The nullifiers were loud in their threats, 
 mid watchful in observing the effect of those threats 
 abroad. North Carolina repudiated the whole doctrine 
 of Nullification : other neighbouring States showed 
 a reluctance to sanction it. The President s next 
 message recommended a modification of the tariff, 
 which was known to be no favorite of his; but the 
 modification he proposed had no other bearing than 
 upon the amount of the revenue. 
 
 During the session of Congress of 183*2, various 
 alterations were made in the duties, which it was 
 hoped would be to the satisfaction of South Carolina: 
 but the complaint of her representatives was, that 
 the reductions which were ordained were on those 
 articles in which she had no interest; while her 
 burdens were actually increased. These represcn- 
 
72 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 tatives met at Washington, and drew up an address 
 to the people of South Carolina, in which they de 
 clared their wrongs, and inquired whether they 
 were to be tamely submitted to. 
 
 The legislature of South Carolina, after the next 
 election, exhibited a large majority in both houses 
 in favour of Nullification. A convention was called 
 at Columbia, in consequence of whose proceedings 
 an ordinance was prepared, and speedily passed 
 through the legislature, declaring all the acts of 
 Congress imposing duties on imported goods, to be 
 null and void within the state of South Carolina. 
 Jt prohibited the levying of all such duties within 
 the State, and all appeals on the subject to the Su 
 preme Court. A number of minor provisions were 
 made to hinder the levy of import duties. The 
 governor was empowered to call the militia into 
 service against any opposition which might be made 
 by the general government to this bold mode of 
 proceeding. The entire military force of the State, 
 and the services of volunteers, were also placed at 
 his disposal. Arms and ammunition were ordered 
 to be purchased. 
 
 This was too much for the President s anxiety 
 about consistency. He ordered all the disposable 
 military force to assemble at Charleston ; sent a 
 sloop of war to that port, to protect the federal 
 officers in the discharge of their duties ; and issued 
 a vigorous proclamation, stating the constitutional 
 doctrine, about the mutual relations of the general 
 and state governments, and exhorting the citizens 
 of South Carolina not to forfeit their allegiance. 
 Governor Hayne issued a counter proclamation, 
 warning the citizens of the State against being 
 seduced from their state allegiance by the Presi 
 dent. This was at the close of 18-32. 
 
 Everything being thus ready for an explosion, 
 Sojith_CarQlina appeared willing to wait the_result 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 73 
 
 of another session. This was needful enough ; for 
 she was as yef "uncertain whether she was to have 
 the assistance of any of her sister States. Mr. Cal- 
 houn, the vice-president, resigned his office, and 
 became a senator in the room of governor Hayne : 
 and thus the nullification cause was in powerful 
 hands in the senate. Its proceedings were watched 
 with the most intense anxiety by the whole Union. 
 
 In the discontented State, the union party, which 
 was strong, though excluded from the government, 
 was in great sorrow and fear. Civil war seemed 
 inevitable ; and they felt themselves oppressed and 
 insulted by the imposition of the oath of allegiance 
 to the State. The nullifiers justified this requisi 
 tion by saying that many foreigners resident in 
 Charleston, who did not understand the case, be 
 lieved that their duty to the general government 
 required them to support it, while its vessels of 
 war and troops were in port ; however well they 
 might be disposed to the nullification cause. It 
 was merely as a method of enlightenment, it was 
 protested, that this oath was imposed. 
 
 Th<3Jadies, meanwhile, had a State Rights ball .at 
 the.arsejiaX and contributed "f Heir jewels for the 
 support of the "expecleH war. ~^T coulcf not learn 
 thatt" tht;y Iliads lint tlTe last test of woman s 
 earnestness for war ; but I was told by a leading 
 nullifier that the ladies were " chock full of fight." 
 The expedition of war was so nearly universal that 
 I could hear of only one citizen of Charleston who 
 discouraged the removal of his wife and children 
 from the city, in the belief that a peaceful settlement 
 of the quarrel would take place. 
 
 Th^eJS-dsl^ resolutions, 
 
 none of them advocating nuTIiBcation fTeven Geor 
 gia forsaking tEaT ground;) many condemned the. 
 proceedings of South CarolinaV~But some, while 
 
 VOL.-I. E 
 
74 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 doing so, made strong remonstrances against the 
 tariff. Five of the States, in which manufactures 
 had been set up, declared their opposition to any 
 alteration of the tariff. It is amusing now to read 
 the variety of terms in which the South Carolina 
 proceedings were condemned ; though, at the time, 
 the reports of these resolutions must have carried 
 despair to the hearts of the citizens of the solitary 
 discontented State. The effect of these successive 
 shocks is still spoken of in strong and touching 
 language by those who had to sustain them. 
 
 While the South Carolina militia were training, 
 and the munitions of war preparing, the senators 
 and representatives of the State were wearing stern 
 and grave faces at Washington. The session was 
 passing away, and nothing but debate was yet 
 achieved. Their fellow legislators looked on them 
 with grief, as being destined to destruction in the 
 field, or on the scaffold. They were men of high 
 spirit and gallantry ; and it was clear that they had 
 settled the matter with themselves and with each 
 other. They would never submit to mere num 
 bers ; and would oppose force to force, till all of 
 their small resources was spent. No one can 
 estimate their heroism, or desperation, whichever 
 it may be called, who has not seen the city and 
 State which would have been the theatre of the 
 war. The high spirit of South Carolina is of that 
 kind which accompanies fallen, or inferior fortunes. 
 Pride and poverty chafe the spirit. They make 
 men look around for injury, and aggravate the 
 sense of injury when it is real. Jn South Carolina, 
 the black population outnumbers the white. The 
 curse of slavery lies heavy on the land, and its in 
 habitants show the usual unwillingness of sufferers 
 to attribute their maladies to their true cause. 
 Right as the South Carolinians may be as to the 
 principle of free trade, no tariff ever yet occasioned 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 75 
 
 such evils as they groan under. If not a single 
 import duty had ever been imposed, there would 
 still have been the contrasts which they cannot 
 endure to perceive between the thriving States of 
 the north and their own. Now, when they see the 
 flourishing villages of New England, they cry " We 
 pay for all this." When the north appears to re 
 ceive more favour from the general government, in 
 its retrospective recompenses for service in war, 
 the greater proportion of which service was ren 
 dered by the north, the south again cries, "We pay 
 for all this." Clt is true that the south pays dearly ; 
 but it is for her own depression, not for others 
 prosperity. ^When I saw the face of the nullifiers 
 country, I was indeed amazed at their hardihood. 
 The rich soil, watered by full streams, the fertile 
 bottoms, superintended by the planters mansions, 
 with their slave quarter a little removed from the 
 house, the fine growth of trees, and of the few 
 patches of pasturage which are to be seen, show 
 how nourishing this region ought to be. But its 
 aspect is most depressing to the traveller. Roads 
 nearly impassable in many parts, bridges carried 
 away and not restored, lands exhausted, and dwell 
 ings forsaken, are spectacles too common in South 
 Carolina. The young men, whose patrimony has 
 deteriorated, migrate westward with their c force ;* 
 selling their lands, if they can; if not, forsaking 
 them. There are yet many plantations of unsur 
 passed fertility; but there are many exhausted: 
 and it is more profitable to remove to a virgin soil 
 than to employ slave labour in renovating the fer 
 tility of the old. There is an air of rudeness about 
 the villages, and languor about the towns, which 
 promise small resource in times of war and dis 
 tress. And then, the wretched slav population is 
 enough to paralyse the arm of the bravest commu 
 nity, and to ensure defeat to the best cause. I saw 
 
 E 2 
 
76 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 the soldiers and the preparations for war at 
 Charleston, two years after the crisis was past. 
 When I was to be shown the arms and ammunition, 
 it appeared that " the gentleman that had the key 
 was not on the premises." This showed that no 
 immediate invasion was expected ; but it was almost 
 incredible what had been threatened with such re 
 sources. The precautionary life of the community, 
 on account of the presence of so large a body of 
 slaves, may be, in some sort, a training for war ; 
 but it points out the impediments to success. If 
 South Carolina had, what some of h$r leading men 
 seem to desire, a Lacedemonian government, which 
 should make every free man a soldier, she would 
 be farther from safety in peace, and success in war, 
 than any quaker community, exempt from the 
 curse of a debased and wronged servile class. One 
 glance over the city of Charleston is enough to 
 show a stranger how helpless she is against a 
 foreign foe, if unsupported. The soldiers met, at 
 every turn, the swarms of servile blacks, the very 
 luxuries and hospitalities of the citizens, grateful 
 as these luxuries are to the stranger, and honourable 
 as these hospitalities are to his entertainers, be 
 token a state of society which has no strength to 
 spare from the great work of self-renovation, 
 Those who remained at home during the winter of 
 1832 and 1833, might be hopeful about the con 
 flict, from being unaware of the depressed condition 
 of their State, in comparison with others : but the 
 leaders at Washington might well look stern and 
 grave. It is no impeachment of their bravery, if 
 their hearts died within them, day by day. 
 
 The session was within fourteen days of its 
 close, when Mr. Clay brought in a bill which had 
 been carefully prepared as a compromise between 
 the contending parties. It provided that all im 
 port duties exceeding twenty per cent, should be 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 77 
 
 gradually reduced, till, in 1842, they should have 
 declined to that amount ; leaving liberty to aug 
 ment the duties again, in case of war. This bill, 
 with certain amendments, not affecting its principle, 
 was passed, as was the Enforcing Bill, for en 
 forcing the collection imposed by act of Congress. 
 A convention was held in South Carolina : the ob 
 noxious ordinance was repealed; the Enforcing 
 Bill was, indeed, nominally nullified ; but no powers 
 were offered to the legislature for enforcing the 
 nullification ; and the quarrel was, to all intents and 
 purposes, at an end. 
 
 The triumph remained, if triumph there were, 
 with South Carolina. This was owing to the 
 goodness of her principle of free trade; and in no 
 degree, to the reasonableness of her nullifying 
 practices. The passage of the Compromise Bill 
 was a wise and fortunate act. Its influence on the 
 planting and manufacturing interests is a subject 
 to be considered in another connexion. Its imme 
 diate effect in honourably reconciling differences 
 which had appeared irreconcileable, was a blessing, 
 not only to the United States, but to the world. 
 The lustre of democratic principles would have 
 been shrouded to many eyes by a civil war among 
 the citizens of the Union; while now, the post 
 ponement of a danger so imminent, the healing of 
 a breach so wide, has confirmed the confidence of 
 many who feared that the States remained united 
 only for want of a cause of separation. 
 
 Some ill effects remain, especially in the irrita 
 tion of South Carolina. There is still an air of 
 mystery and fellowship about the leading nullifiers, 
 and of disquiet among the Union men of Charles 
 ton. But there is cause enough for restlessness in 
 Charleston, as I have before said ; and much excuse 
 for pique. 
 
 Meanwhile, these events have proved to thou 
 sands of republicans the mischief of compromise 
 
78 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 conveyed in vague phraseology, in so solemn an 
 instrument as a written constitution. 
 
 There could not have been a doubt on this case, 
 if the question of construction had not had place, 
 from the unfortunate clause ordaining that the ge 
 neral government shall have all powers necessary 
 for the fulfilment of certain declared purposes. 
 While this provision, thus worded, remains, the 
 nullification theory will be played off, from time to 
 time. The good consequence will arise from this 
 liability, that a habit will be formed of construing 
 the constitution liberally, with regard to the States, 
 wherever there is a doubt as to the exercise of its 
 powers ; but this collateral good is no justification 
 of the looseness of language by which the peace 
 and integrity of the Union have been made to hang 
 on a point of construction. The people of the United 
 States will probably show their wisdom in hence 
 forth accepting the benefit by shunning the evil. 
 
 In the privacy of their houses, many citizens 
 have lamented to me, with feelings to which no 
 name but grief can be given, that the events of 
 1 832 3 have suggested the w r ords " use " or 
 " value of the Union." To an American, a calcu 
 lation of the value of the Union would formerly 
 have been as offensive, as absurd, as an estimate of 
 the value of religion would be to a right-minded 
 man. To Americans of this order, the Union has 
 long been more than a matter of high utility. It 
 has been idealised into an object of love and vene 
 ration. In answer to this cui bono, many have 
 cried in their hearts, with Lear, " O reason not 
 the need J " I was struck with the contrast in the 
 tone of two statesmen, a chief nuliifier and one of 
 his chief opponents. The one would not disguise 
 from me that the name of the Union had lost much 
 of its charm in the south, since 1830. The other, 
 in a glow, protested that lie never would hear of 
 the Union losing its charm. 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 79 
 
 But the instances of carelessness, of levity about 
 the Union, are very rare ; and this is the reason 
 why more show of attachment to it is not made. 
 The probabilities of the continuance of the Union 
 are so overwhelming, that no man, not in a state of 
 delusion, from some strong prejudice, can seriously 
 entertain the idea of a dissolution within any as 
 signable period. I met with one gentleman in the 
 north, a clergyman, who expects and desires a 
 dissolution of the Union, saying that the north bore 
 all the expense of the war, and has had nothing 
 but obstruction and injury from the south. I saw, 
 also, one gentleman in South Carolina, who sees 
 no use in the Union, but much expense and trou 
 ble. He declares the only effect of it to be the 
 withdrawing of the best men from each State o 
 dawdle away their time at Washington. Another, 
 who desponds about the condition of England, and 
 whose views are often embellished, and sometimes 
 impaired, by his perceptions of analogy, expressed 
 his fears that his own country, an offset from mine, 
 would share the fate of offsets, and perish with the 
 parent. But these are examples of eccentricity. 
 
 There are many among the slave-holders of the 
 south who threaten secession. Such of these as 
 are in earnest are under the mistake into which 
 men fall when they put everything to the hazard of 
 one untenable object. The untenable object once 
 relinquished, the delusion will clear away with the 
 disappearance of its cause, and the Union will be to 
 them, with good reason, dearer than it has ever been. 
 The southern States could not exist, separately, with 
 their present domestic institutions, in the neigh 
 bourhood of any others. They would have thou 
 sands of miles of frontier, over which their slaves 
 would be running away, every day of the year. 
 In case of war, they might, be only too happy if 
 their slaves did run away, instead of rising up 
 
80 STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 against them at home. ( If it was necessary to pur 
 chase, Florida because it was a retreat for runa 
 ways ; if it was necessary, first to treat with Mexico 
 for tne x restitution of runaways, and then to steal 
 Texas, --^the^ most high-handed theft of modern 
 times; if it is necessary to pursue^runaways into 
 the northern States, and to keep magistrates and 
 jails in perpetual requisition for the restitution of 
 southern human property, how would the southern 
 States manage by themselves ? Only by ridding 
 themselves of slavery ; in which case, their alleged 
 necessity of separation is superseded. As for their 
 resources, the shoe-business of New York State 
 is of itself larger and more valuable than the entire 
 commerce of Georgia, the largest and richest 
 of the southern States. 
 
 The mere act of separation could not be accom 
 plished. In case of war against the northern 
 States, it would be necessary to employ half the 
 white population to take care of the black ; and of 
 the remaining half, no one would undertake to say 
 how many are at heart sick and weary of slavery, 
 and would be, therefore, untrustworthy. The mid 
 dle slave States, now nearly ready to discard 
 slavery, would seize so favourable an opportunity as 
 that afforded them by the peril of the Union. The 
 middle free States, from Pennsylvania to the Mis 
 sissippi, having everything to lose by separation, 
 and nothing to gain, would treat the first overt act 
 as rebellion ; proceeding against it, and punishing 
 it as such. The case is so palpable as scarcely to 
 need even so brief a statement as this. The fact 
 which renders such a statement worth making is, 
 that most of those who threaten the dissolution of 
 the Union, do it in order to divert towards this 
 impracticable object the irritation which would 
 otherwise, and which will, ere long, turn against 
 the institution of slavery. The gaze of the world 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 81 
 
 is fixed upon this institution. The world is shout 
 ing the one question about this anomaly which 
 cannot be answered. The dwellers in the south 
 would fain be unconscious of that awful gaze. 
 They would fain not hear the reverberation of that 
 shout. They would fain persuade themselves and 
 others, that they are too busy in asserting their 
 rights and their dignity as citizens of the Union, to 
 heed the world beyond. 
 
 This self and mutual deception will prove a 
 merely temporary evil. The natural laws which 
 regulate communities, and the will of the majority, 
 may be trusted to preserve the good, and to remove 
 the bad elements from which this dissension arises. 
 It requires no gift of prophecy to anticipate the 
 fate of an anomaly among a self-governing people. 
 Slaycrv^vas not always an anomaly ; but it has 
 become one. Its^doom is therefore sealed; and its 
 duration is now merely a jg^siion^pl time. "Any* 
 aiRduly ill Lliy Computation of thTs^TTme" is "reason 
 able ; for it will not only remove a more tre 
 mendous curse than can ever again desolate society, 
 but restore the universality of that generous at 
 tachment to their common institutions which has 
 been, and will again be, to the American people, 
 honour, safety, and the means of perpetual pro- 
 
 E5 
 
82 
 
 CHAPTER III.. 
 
 MORALS OF POLITICS. 
 
 " Tis be whose law is reason ; who depends 
 Upon that law as on the best of friends ; 
 "Whence, in a state where men are tempted still 
 To evil for a guard against worse ill, 
 And what in quality or act is best, 
 Doth seldom on a ri.^ht foundation rest, 
 He fixes good on good alone, and owes 
 To virtue every triumph that he knows." 
 
 Wordsworth* 
 
 UNDER a pure despotism, the morals of politics 
 would make but a very short chapter. Mercy in 
 the ruler ; obedience fn his officers, with, perhaps, 
 an occasional stroke of remonstrance ; and tax- 
 paying in the people, would comprehend the whole. 
 Among a self-governing people, who profess to 
 take human equality for their great common prin 
 ciple, and the golden rule for their political vow, a 
 long chapter of many sections is required. 
 
 The morals of politics are not too familiar any- 
 where. The clergy are apt to leave out its topics 
 from their list of subjects for the pulpit. Writers on 
 morals make that chapter as brief as if they lived 
 under the pure despotism, supposed above. An honest 
 newspaper, here and there, or a newspaper honest 
 for some particular occasion, and therefore unin- 
 fluential in its temporary honesty, are the only 
 speakers on the morals \of politics. The only 
 speakers ; but not the only" exhibitors. Scattered 
 
MORALS OF POLITICS. 83 
 
 here and there, through a vast reach of ages, and 
 expanse of communities, there may be found, to 
 bless his race, an honest statesman. Statesmen, 
 free from the gross vices of peculation, sordid, 
 selfish ambition, cruelty and tergiversation, are not 
 uncommon. But the last degree of honesty has 
 always been, and is still, considered incompatible 
 with statesmanship. To hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness has been naturally, as it were, sup 
 posed a disqualification for affairs ; and a man, 
 living for truth, and in a spirit of love, " pure in 
 the last recesses of the mind," who should propose 
 to seek truth through political action, and exercise 
 love in the use of political influence, and refino 
 his purity by disinfecting the political atmosphere 
 of its corruptions, would hear it reported on every 
 hand that he had a demon. Yet one who is aware 
 of the enthusiasm with which the Germans hail 
 the words of Posa at every representation of Don 
 Carlos ; one who has seen how American officials 
 are supported by the people, on the supposition 
 that they are great men, (however small such men 
 may really be,) one who has watched the accelera 
 tion, within our own time, of the retribution which 
 overtakes untrustworthy public men, whatever may 
 be their talents and their knowledge, in contrast 
 with the comparative stability of less able, but more 
 honest men, can doubt no longer that the time is 
 at hand for the advent of political principle. The 
 hour is come when dwellers in the old world should 
 require integrity of their rulers ; and dwellers in 
 the new world, each in his turn a servant of so 
 ciety, should require it of each other and of them 
 selves. The people of the United States are seek 
 ing after this, feebly and dimly. They have re 
 tained one wise saying of the fathers to whom they 
 owe so much ; that the letter of laws and consti- 
 t.ations is a mere instrument; witl* no vitality,- no 
 
84 OFFICE. 
 
 power to protect and bless ; and that the spirit is 
 all in all. They have been far from acting upon 
 this with such steadiness as to show that they un 
 derstand and believe it. But the saying is in their 
 minds ; and, like every other true thing that lies 
 there, it will in time exhibit itself in the appointed 
 mode the will of the majority. 
 
 SECTION L 
 
 OFFICE. 
 
 I WAS told two things separately, last year, which, 
 if put together, seem to yield an alarming result. 
 I was told that almost every man holds cilice, some 
 \ time during his life ; and that holding cmee is the 
 ) ruin of moral independence. The case is not, 
 \however, nearly so bad as this. There is a kind 
 bf public life which does seem to injure the morals 
 of all who enter it ; but very few are affected by 
 this. Office in a man s own neighbourhood, where 
 his character and opinions are known, and where 
 the honour and emolument are small, is not very- 
 seductive : and these are the offices filled by the. 
 greater number of citizens who serve society. The 
 temptation to propitiate opinion becomes powerful 
 when a citizen desires to enter the legislature, or 
 to be the chief magistrate of the State. The peril 
 increases when he becomes a candidate for Con 
 gress ; and there seems to be no expectation what 
 ever that a candidate for the presidentship, or his 
 partizans, should retain any simplicity of speech, 
 or regard to equity in the distribution of places 
 and promises. All this is dreadfully wrong. It 
 originates in a grand mistake, which cannot be 
 
OFFICE. 85 
 
 rectified but by much suffering. It is obvious that 
 there must be mistake ; for it can never be an 
 arrangement of Providence that men cannot serve 
 each other in their political relations without being 
 corrupted, 
 
 The primary mistake is in supposing that men 
 cannot bear to hear the truth. It has become the 
 established method of seeking office, not only to 
 declare a coincidence of opinion with the supposed 
 majority, on the great topics on which the candi 
 date will have to speak and act while in office, but 
 to deny, or conceal, or assert anything else which 
 it is supposed will please the same majority. The 
 consequence is, that the best men are not in office. 
 The morally inferior who succeed, use- their power 
 for selfish purposes, to a sufficient extent to corrupt 
 their constituents, in their turn. I scarcely knew, 
 at first, how to understand the political conversa 
 tions which I heard in travelling. If a citizen told 
 another that A. had voted in a particular manner, 
 the other invariably began to account for the vote. 
 A. had voted thus to please I)., because B. s influ 
 ence was wanted for the benefit of C., who had 
 promised so and so to A. s brother, or son, or 
 nephew, or leading section of constituents. A 
 reason for a vote, or other public proceeding, must 
 always be found; and any reason seemed to be 
 taken up rather than the obvious one, that a man 
 votes according to the decision of his reason and 
 conscience. I often mentioned this to men in 
 office, or seeking to be so ; and they received it 
 with a smile or a laugh which wrung my heart. 
 Of all heart-withering things, political scepticism 
 in a republic is one of the most painful. I told 
 Mr. Clay my observations in both kinds. " Let 
 them laugh !" cried he, with an honourable 
 warmth: "and do you go on requiring honesty; 
 and you will find it." He is right : but those who 
 
86 OFFICE. 
 
 \ would find the highest integrity had better not 
 ^v begin their observations on office-holders, much 
 \less on office-seekers, as a class. The office-holder 
 finds, too often, that it may be easier to get into 
 office than to have power to discharge its duties 
 when there : and then the temptation to subservi 
 ence, to dishonest silence, is well nigh too strong 
 for mortal man. The office-seeker stands com 
 mitted as desiring something for which he is ready 
 to sacrifice his business or profession, his ease, his 
 leisure, arid the quietness of his reputation. He 
 stands forth as either an adventurer, a man of 
 ambition, or of self-sacrificing patriotism. Being 
 once thus committed, failure is mortifying, and the 
 allurement to compromise, in order to success, is 
 powerful. Once in public life, the politician is 
 committed for ever, whether he immediately per 
 ceives this, or not. Almost every public man of 
 my acquaintance owned to me the difficulty ot 
 retiring, in mind, if not in presence, after the 
 possession of a public trust. This painful hanker 
 ing is part of the price to be paid for the honours 
 of public service : and I am disposed to think that 
 it is almost universal ; that scarcely any man 
 knows quiet and content, from the moment of the 
 success of his first election. The most modest 
 men shrink from thus committing themselves. The 
 most learned men, generally speaking, devote 
 k themselves, in preference, to professions. The 
 \ most conscientious men, generally speaking, shun 
 the snares which fatally beset public life, at present, 
 in the United States. 
 
 \^ A gentleman of the latter class, whose talents 
 ^ and character would procure him extensive and 
 hearty support, if he desired it, told me, that he 
 would never serve in office, because he believes it 
 to be the destruction of moral independence: he 
 pointed out to me three friends of his, men of 
 
OFFICE. 87 
 
 remarkable talent, all in public life. " Look at 
 them," said he. "and see what they might have 
 been ! Yet A. is a slave, B. is a slave, and C. is a 
 worm in the dust." Too true. 
 
 Here is a grievous misfortune to the republic ! 
 My friend ascribes it to the want of protection 
 from his neighbours, to which a man is exposed 
 from the want of caste. This will never do. A 
 crown and sceptre would be about as desirable in 
 a republic as caste. If men would only try the 
 effect of faith in one another, I believe they would 
 take rank, and yield protection> with more precision 
 and efficacy than by any manifestation of the 
 exclusive spirit that was ever witnessed. Of course, 
 this proposal will be called " Quixotic ;" that con 
 venient term which covers things the most serious 
 and the most absurd, the wisest and the wildest. 
 I am strengthened in my suggestion by a recur 
 rence to the first principles of society in the United 
 States, according to which I find that " rulers 
 derive their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed; 1 and that the theory is, that the best 
 men are chosen to serve. Both these pre-suppose 
 mutual faith. Let. the governed once - require 
 honesty as a condition of their consent ; let them 
 once choose the best men, according to their most 
 conscientious conviction, and there will be an end 
 of this insulting and disgusting political scepticism. 
 Adventurers and ambitious men there will still be ; 
 but they will not taint the character of the class. 
 Better men, who will respect their constituents, 
 without fearing or flattering them, will foster the 
 generous mutual faith which is now so grievously 
 wanting; and the spirit of the constitution, now 
 drooping in some of its most important departments, 
 will revive. 
 
 I write more in hope than in immediate expec- 
 1 saw much ground for hope, but very 
 
38 OFFICE. 
 
 much also for grief. Scarcely anything that I 
 observed in the United States caused me so much 
 sorrow as the contemptuous estimate of the people 
 entertained by those who were bowing the knee to 
 be permitted to serve them. Nothing can be more 
 disgusting than the contrast between the draw 
 ing-room gentleman, at ease among friends, and 
 the same person courting the people, on a public 
 occasion. The only comfort was a strong internal 
 persuasion that the people do not like to be courted 
 thus. They have been so long used to it, that 
 they receive it as a matter of course ; but, I believe, 
 if a candidate should offer, who should make no 
 professions but of his opinions, and his honest 
 intentions of carrying them out; if he should 
 respect the people as men, not as voters, and inform 
 them truly of his views of their condition and 
 prospects, they would recognise him at once as 
 their best friend. He might, notwithstanding, 
 lose his election; for the people must have time 
 to recover, or to attain simplicity; but he would 
 serve them better by losing his election thus, than 
 by the longest and most faithful service in public 
 life. 
 
 I have often wondered whether a gentleman at 
 Laporte, in Indiana, who advertised his desire to 
 be sheriff, gained his election. He declared hi his 
 advertisement that he had not been largely solicited, 
 but that it was his own desire that he should be 
 sheriff: he would not promise to do away with 
 mosquitoes, ague, and fever, but only to do his 
 duty. This candidate has his own way of flattering 
 his constituents. 
 
 A gentleman of considerable reputation offered, 
 last year, to deliver a lecture, in a Lyceum, in Mas 
 sachusetts. It was upon the French Revolution; 
 and on various accounts curious. There was no 
 mention of the causes of the Revolution, except 
 
OFFICE. 8 
 
 in a parenthesis of one sentence, where he inti 
 mated that French society was not in harmony 
 with the spirit of the age. He sketched almost 
 every body concerned, except the Queen. The 
 most singular part, perhaps, was his estimate of 
 the military talents of Napoleon. He exalted 
 them much, and declared him a greater general 
 than Wellington, but not so great as Washington. 
 The audience was large and respectable. I knew 
 a great many of the persons present, and found 
 that none of them liked the lecture. 
 
 I attended another Lyceum lecture in Massachu 
 setts. An agent of the Colonisation Society lec 
 tured ; and, when he had done, introduced a cler 
 gyman of colour, who had just returned from 
 Liberia, and could give an account of the colony 
 in its then present state. As soon as this gentle 
 man came forward, a party among the audience 
 rose, and went out, with much ostentation of 
 noise. Mr. Wilson broke off till he could be again 
 heard, and then observed in a low voice, " that 
 would not have been done in Africa;" upon 
 which, there was an uproar of applause, prolonged 
 and renewed. All the evidence on the subject 
 that I could collect, went to prove that the people 
 can bear, and do prefer to hear, the truth. It is a 
 crime to withhold it from them; and a double 
 crime to substitute flattery. 
 
 The tone of the orations was the sole, but great 
 drawback from the enjoyment of the popular 
 festivals I witnessed. I missed the celebration of 
 She 4th of July, both years ; being, the first year, 
 among the Virginia mountains, (where the only 
 signs of festivity which I saw, were some slaves 
 dressing up a marquee, in which their masters 
 were to feast, after having read, from the Declara 
 tion of Independence, that all men are created 
 free and equal, and that rulers derive their just 
 
90 OFFICE. 
 
 powers from the consent of the governed ;) and th 
 second year on the lakes, arriving at Mackinaw 
 too late in the evening of the great day for any 
 celebration that might have taken place. But I 
 was at two remarkable festivals, and heard two 
 very remarkable orations. They were represented 
 to me as fair or favourable specimens of that kind 
 of address ; and, to judge by the general sum of 
 those which I read and heard, they were so. 
 
 The valley of the Connecticut is the most fertile 
 valley in New England : and it is scarcely possible 
 that any should be more beautiful. The river, 
 full, broad, and tranquil as the summer sky, winds 
 through meadows, green with pasture, or golden 
 with corn. Clumps of forest trees afford retreat 
 for the cattle in the summer heats; and the mag 
 nificent New England elm, the most graceful of 
 trees, is dropped singly, here and there, and casts 
 its broad shade upon the meado\v. Hills of various 
 height and declivity bound the now widening, now 
 contracting valley. To these hills, the forest has 
 retired ; the everlasting forest, from which, in 
 America, we cannot fly. I cannot remember that, 
 except in some parts of the prairies, I was ever 
 out of sight of the forest in the United States ; 
 and I am sure I never wished to be so. It was 
 like the " verdurous wall of Paradise/ confining 
 the mighty . southern and western rivers to their 
 channels. We were, as it appeared, imprisoned in 
 it for many days together, as .we traversed the 
 south-eastern States. We threaded it in Michigan ; 
 we skirted it in New York and Pennsylvania ; and 
 throughout New England it bounded every land 
 scape. It looked down upon us from the hill-tops ; 
 it advanced into notice from every gap and notch 
 in the chain. To the native it must appear as 
 indispensable in the picture-gallery of nature as 
 the sky. To the English traveller it is a special 
 
OFFICE. 91 
 
 boon, an added charm, a newly-created grace, like 
 the infant planet that wanders across the telescope 
 of the astronomer. The English traveller finds 
 himself never weary by day of prying into the 
 forest, from beneath its canopy : or, from a distance 
 drinking in its exquisite hues : and his dreams, for 
 months or years, will be of the mossy roots, the 
 black pine, and silvery birch stems, the translucent 
 green shades of the beech, and the slender creeper, 
 climbing like a ladder into the topmost boughs of 
 the dark holly, a hundred feet high. He will 
 dream of the march of the hours through the 
 forest ; the deep blackness of night, broken by the 
 dun forest-fires, and startled by the showers of 
 sparks, sent abroad by the casual breeze from the 
 burning stems. He will hear again the shrill 
 piping of the whip-poor-will, and the multitudinous 
 din from the occasional swamp. He will dream of 
 the deep silence which precedes the dawn ; of the 
 gradual apparition of the haunting trees, coming 
 faintly out of the darkness ; of the first level rays, 
 instantaneously piercing the woods to their very 
 heart, and lighting them up into boundless ruddy 
 colonnades, garlanded with wavy verdure, and 
 carpeted with glittering wild-flowers. Or, he will 
 dream of the clouds of gay butterflies, and gauzy 
 dragon-flies, that hover above the noon-day paths 
 of the forest, or cluster about some graceful shrub, 
 making it appear to bear at once all the flowers of 
 Eden. Or the golden moon will look down through 
 his dream, making for him islands of light in an 
 ocean of darkness. He may not see the stars but 
 by glimpses ; but the winged stars of those re 
 gions, the gleaming fire-flies, radiate from every 
 sleeping bough, and keep his eye in fancy busy in 
 following their glancing, while his spirit sleeps in 
 the deep charms of the summer night. Next to 
 the solemn and various beauty of the sea and 
 
92 OFFICE. 
 
 the sky, comes that of the wilderness. I doubt 
 whether the sublimity of the vastest mountain- 
 range can exceed that of the all-pervading forest, 
 when the imagination becomes able to realise the 
 conception of what it is. 
 
 In the valley of the Connecticut, the forest 
 merely presides over the scene, giving gravity to 
 its charm. On East Mountain, above Deerfield, 
 in Massachusetts, it is mingled with grey rocks, 
 whose hue mingles exquisitely with its verdure. 
 We looked down from thevioe on a long reach of 
 the valley, just before sunset, and made ourselves 
 acquainted with the geography of the catastrophe 
 \vhich was to be commemorated in a day or two. 
 Here and there, in the meadows, were sinkings of 
 the soil, shallow basins of verdant pasturage, 
 where there had probably once been small lakes, 
 but where cattle were now grazing. The unfenced 
 fields, secure within landmarks, and open to the an 
 nual inundation which preserves their fertility, were 
 rich with unharvested Indian corn ; the cobs left 
 lying in their sheaths, because no passer-by is 
 tempted to steal them; every one havii"* enough of 
 his own. The silvery river lay among the mea 
 dows ; and on its bank, far below us, stretched the 
 avenue of noble trees, touched with the hues of 
 autumn, which shaded the village of Deerfield. 
 Saddleback bounded our view opposite, and the 
 Northampton hills and Green Mountains on the 
 left. Smoke arose, here and there, from the hills 
 sides, and the nearer eminences were dotted with 
 white dwellings, of the same order with the home 
 steads which were sprinkled over the valley. The 
 time is past when a man feared to sit down further 
 off than a stone s throw from his neighbours, lest 
 the Indians should come upon him. The villages 
 of Hadley and Deerfield are a standing memorial 
 of those times, when the whites clustered together 
 
OFFICE. 93 
 
 around the village church, and their cattle were 
 brought into the area, every night, under penalty 
 of their being driven off before morning. These 
 villages consist of two rows of houses, forming a 
 long street, planted with trees; and the church 
 stands in the middle. The houses, of wood, were 
 built in those days with the upper story project 
 ing; that the inhabitants, in case of siege, might 
 fire at advantage upon the Indians, forcing the door 
 with tomahawks. 
 
 I saw an old house of this kind at Deerfield, 
 the only one which survived the burning of the 
 village by the French and Indians, in 1 704, when all 
 the inhabitants, to the number of two hundred and 
 eighty, being attacked in their sleep, were killed or 
 carried away captive by the Indians. The wood of 
 the house was old and black, and pierced in many 
 parts with bullet-holes. One had given passage to 
 a bullet which shot a woman in the neck, as she 
 rose up in bed, on hearing the tomahawk strike 
 upon the door. The battered door remains, to 
 chill one s blood with the thought that such were 
 the blows dealt by the Indians upon the skulls of 
 their victims, whether infants or soldiers. 
 
 This was not the event to commemorate which 
 we were assembled at Deerfield. A monument 
 was to be erected on the spot where another body 
 of people had been murdered, by savage foes of 
 the same race. Deerfield was first settled in 1671; 
 a few houses being then built on the present street, 
 and the settlers being on good terms with their 
 neighbours. King Philip s war broke out in 1675, 
 and the settlers were attacked more than once. 
 There was a large quantity of grain stored up at 
 Deerfield ; and it was thought advisable to remove 
 it for safety to Hadley, fifteen miles off. Captain 
 Lothrop. with eighty men, and some teams, march 
 ed from Hadley to remove the grain ; his men be- 
 
OFFICE. 
 
 ing the youth and main hope of the settlements 
 around. On their return from Deerfield, on the 
 30th of September 1675, about four miles and a 
 half on the way to Hadley, the young men dis 
 persed to gather the wild grapes that were hanging 
 ripe in the thickets, and were, under this disad 
 vantage, attacked by a large body of Indians. It 
 was afterwards discovered that the only way^to en 
 counter the Indians is in phalanx. Captain Lo- 
 throp did not know this ; and he posted his men 
 behind trees, where they were, almost to a man, 
 wicked off by the enemy. About ninety-three, in 
 cluding the teamsters, fell. When all was over, 
 helio arrived. The Indians were beaten ; but they 
 appeared before the village, some days after, shak 
 ing the scalps and bloody garments of the slain 
 captain and his troop, before the eyes of the inhabi 
 tants. The place was afterwards abandoned by 
 the settlers, destroyed by the Indians, and not re 
 built for some years. 
 
 This was a piteous incident in the history of the 
 settlement ; but it is not easy to see why it should 
 be made an occasion of commemoration, by monu 
 ment and oratory, in preference to many others 
 which have a stronger moral interest attaching to 
 them. Some celebrations, like that of Forefather s 
 Day, are inexpressibly interesting and valuable, 
 from the glorious recollections by which they are 
 sanctified. But no virtue was here to be ^had 
 in remembrance ; nothing but mere misery. The 
 contemplation of mere misery is painful and hurt 
 ful; and the only salutary influence that I could 
 perceive to arise from this occasion was a far 
 fetched and dubious one, thankfulness that the 
 Indians are not now at hand to molest the white 
 inhabitants. Then occurs the question about the 
 Indians, "where are they?" and the answer 
 leaves one less sympathy than one would wish to 
 
OFFICE. * 5 
 
 have with the present security of the settler. The 
 story of King Philip, who is supposed to have 
 headed, in person, the attack on Lothrop s troop, 
 is one of the most melancholy in the records of 
 humanity ; and sorrow for him must mingle with 
 congratulations to the descendants of his foes, 
 who, in his eyes, were robbers. With these 
 thoughts in my mind, I found it difficult to discover 
 the philosophy of this celebration. A stranger 
 might be pardoned for being so slow. 
 
 One of the then candidates for the highest office 
 in the State, is renowned for his oratory. He is 
 one of the most accomplished scholars and gentle 
 men that the country possesses. It was thought, 
 " by his friends," that his interest wanted strength 
 ening in the western part of the State. The peo 
 ple were pleased w r hen any occasion procured them 
 the eclat of bringing a celebrated orator over to 
 address them. The commemoration of an Indian 
 catastrophe was thought of as an occasion capable 
 of being turned to good electioneering purposes. 
 Mr. Webster was invited to be the orator, it 
 being known that he would refuse. "Not I," 
 said he. " I won t go and rake up old bloody In 
 dian stories." The candidate was next invited, and, 
 of course, took the opportunity of " strengthening 
 his interest in the western part of the State." I 
 was not aware of this till I sometime after heard it, 
 on indisputable authority. I should have enjoyed 
 it much less than I did, if I had known that the 
 whole thing was got up, or its time and manner 
 chosen, for electioneering objects ; that advantage 
 was taken of the best feelings of the people for the 
 political interest of one. 
 
 The afternoon of the 29th we went to Bloody 
 Brook, the fearfully-named place of disaster. We 
 climbed the Sugar-loaf; a high, steep hill, from 
 whose precipitous sides is obtained a view of the 
 
96 OFFICE. 
 
 valley which pleases me more than the celebrated 
 one from Mount Holyoke, a few miles off. Each, 
 however, is perfect in its way; and both so like 
 heaven, when one looks down upon the valley in 
 the light of an autumn afternoon, such a light as 
 never yet burnished an English scene, that no in 
 clination is left to make comparisons. The ox 
 team was in the fields, the fishers on the banks of 
 the grey river, banks and fishers reflected to the 
 life, all as tranquil as if there was to be no stif 
 the next day. 
 
 On descending, we went to the Bloody Brook 
 Inn, and saw the strange and horrible picture of 
 the slaughter of Lothrop s troop ; a picture so bad 
 as to be laughable ; but too horrible to be laughed 
 at. Every man of the eighty exactly alike, and all 
 looking scared at being about to be scalped. We 
 saw, also, the long tables spread for the feast of 
 to-morrow. Lengths of unbleached cotton for 
 table cloths, plates and glasses, were already pro 
 vided. Some young men were bringing in long 
 trails of the wild vine, clustered with purple 
 grapes, to hang about the young maple trees which 
 overshadowed the tables ; others were trying the 
 cannon. We returned home in a state of high 
 expectation. 
 
 The morning of the 30th was bright, but rather 
 cold. It was doubtful how far prudence would 
 warrant our sitting in an orchard for several hours, 
 in such a breeze as was blowing. It was evident, 
 however, that persons at a distance had no scru 
 ples on the subject, so thickly did they throng to 
 the place of meeting. The wagon belonging to 
 the band passed my windows, filled with young la 
 dies from the High School at Greenfield. They 
 looked as gay as if they had been going to a fair. 
 By half-past eight, our party set off, accompanied 
 by a few, and passing a great number of strangers 
 from distant villages. 
 
OFFICE. 97 
 
 After having accomplished our drive of three or 
 four miles, we warmed ourselves in a friendly house, 
 and repaired to the orchard to choose our seats, 
 while the ceremony of laying the first stone of the 
 monument was proceeding at some distance. The 
 platform from which the orator was to address the 
 assemblage was erected under a rather shabby wal 
 nut-tree, which was rendered less picturesque 
 by its lower branches being lopped off, for the sake 
 of convenience. Several men had perched them 
 selves on the tree ; and I was beginning to wonder 
 how they would endure their uncomfortable seat, 
 in the cold wind, for three hours, when I saw them 
 called down, and dismissed to ftnd places among 
 the rest of the assemblage, as they sent down 
 bark and dust upon the heads of those who sat on 
 the platform. Long and deep ranges of benches 
 were provided; and on these, with carriage 
 cushions and warm cloaks, we found ourselves per 
 fectly well accommodated. Nothing could be bet 
 ter. It was a pretty sight. The wind rustled fit 
 fully in the old walnut-tree. The audience gather 
 ed arouncL it were sober, quiet ; some would have 
 said dull, f The girls appeared to me to be all 
 pretty, aftW the fashion of American girls. Every 
 body was well-dressed ; and such a thing as ill- 
 behaviour in any village assemblage in New Eng 
 land, is, I believe, unheard of. YThe soldiers were 
 my great amusement; as they were on the few 
 other occasions when I had the good fortune to see 
 any. Their chief business, on the present occasion, 
 was to keep clear the seats which were reserved 
 for the band, now absent with the procession. 
 These seats were advantageously placed ; and new 
 comers were every moment taking possession of 
 them, and had to be sent, disappointed, into the 
 rear. It was moving to behold the loving entrea- * 
 ties of the soldiers that these seats might be va- 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
98 OFFICE. 
 
 cated. I saw one, who had shrunk away from his 
 uniform, (probably from the use of tobacco, of 
 which his mouth was full,) actually put his arm 
 round the neck of a gentleman, and smile implor 
 ingly in his face. It was irresistible, and the gen 
 tleman moved away. It is a perfect treat to the 
 philanthropist to observe the pacific appearance of 
 the militia throughout the United States. It is 
 well known how they can fight, when the necessity 
 arises : but they assuredly look, at present, as if it 
 was the last thing in their intentions : as I hope 
 it may long be. 
 
 The band next arrived, leading the procession of 
 gentlemen, and were soon called into action by the 
 first hymn. They did their best ; and, if no one of 
 their instruments could reach the second note of 
 the German Hymn, (the second note of three lines 
 out of four,) it was not for want of trying. 
 
 The oration followed. I strove, as I always did, 
 not to allow difference of taste, whether in oratory, 
 or in anything else, to render me insensible to the 
 merit, in its kind, of what was presented to me : 
 but, upon this occasion, all my sympathies were 
 baffled, and I was deeply disgusted. It mattered 
 little what the oration was in itself, if it had only 
 belonged in character to the speaker. If a Green 
 field farmer or mechanic had spoken as he believed 
 orators to speak, and if the failure had been com 
 plete, I might have been sorry or amused, or dis 
 appointed ; but not disgusted. But here was one 
 of the most learned and accomplished gentlemen in 
 the country? a candidate for the highest office in 
 the State, grimacing like a mountebank before the 
 assemblage whose votes he desired to have, and 
 delivering an address, which he supposed level to 
 their taste and capacity. tf He spoke of the " stately 
 -tree," (the poor walnut,) and the " mighty assem 
 blage," (a little flock in the middle of an orchard,) 
 
OFFICE. 99 
 
 and offered them shreds of tawdry sentiment, with 
 out the intermixture of one sound thought, or sim 
 ple and natural feeling, simply and naturally ex 
 pressed. It was equally an under estimate of his 
 hearers, and a degradation of himself. 
 
 The effect was very plain. Many, I know, were 
 not interested, but were unwilling to say so of so 
 renowned an orator. All were dull ; and it was 
 easy to see that none of the proper results of public 
 speaking followed. These very people are highly 
 imaginative. Speak to them of what interests 
 them, and they are moved with a word. Speak to 
 those whose children are at school, of the progress 
 and diffusion of knowledge, and they will hang 
 upon the lips of the speaker. Speak to the unso 
 phisticated among them of the case of the slave, 
 and they are ready to brave Lynch-law on his 
 behalf. Appeal to them on any religious or chari 
 table enterprise, and the good deed is clone, almost 
 as soon as indicated. But they have been taught 
 to consider the oratory of set persons on set occa 
 sions as a matter of business or of pastime. They 
 listen to it, make their remarks upon it, vote, per 
 haps, that it shall be printed, and go home, without 
 having been so much moved as by a dozen casual 
 remarks, overheard upon the road. 
 
 All this would be of little importance, if these ora 
 tions consisted of narrative, or of any mere matter 
 of fact. The grievance lies in the prostitution of 
 moral sentiment, the clap-trap of praise and pa 
 thos, which is thus criminally adventured. This 
 is one great evil. Another, as great, both to ora 
 tors and listeners, is the mis-estimate of the people. 
 No insolence and meanness can surpass those of 
 the man of sense and taste who talks beneath him 
 self to the people, because he thinks it suits them. 
 No good parent ventures to do so to his youngest 
 child ; and a candidate for office who will do it, 
 
 F2 
 
100 OFFICE. 
 
 shows himself ignorant of that which it is most im 
 portant he should know, what fidelity of deference 
 every man owes to every other man. Is such a 
 one aware that he is perpetually saying in his 
 heart, " God ! I thank thee that I am not as other 
 men are ?" 
 
 The other festival, to which I have alluded, was 
 the celebration of Forefathers Day; of the land 
 ing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. I trust 
 that this anniversary will be hailed with honour, as 
 long as Massachusetts overlooks the sea. A more 
 remarkable, a nobler enterprise, was never kept in 
 remembrance by a grateful posterity, than the emi 
 gration of the Pilgrim Fathers ; and their posterity 
 are, at least, so far worthy of them as that they all, 
 down to the young children, seem to have a clear 
 understanding of the nature of the act, and the 
 character of the men. 1 never beheld the popular 
 character in a more cheering light than on this oc 
 casion ; and, if I happened to be acquainted with 
 a misanthrope, I would send him to Plymouth, to 
 keep Forefathers Day. Every fact that I review, 
 every line that I. write, brings back delightful feel 
 ings towards some of the affectionate and hospitable 
 friends through whose kindness I saw and learned 
 whatever I learned of their country ; but to none 
 am I more thankful than to those who took me to 
 Plymouth, and those who welcomed me there. It 
 was an occasion when none could be on any other 
 terms than pure brotherhood with all the rest, It 
 was the great birth-day of the New England 
 people; and none could fail to wish the people 
 
 jy 
 
 My party and I reached Plymouth from Hing- 
 ham the day before the celebration. As we drew 
 near the coast, I anxiously watched the character 
 of the scenery, trying to view it with the eyes of the 
 first emigrants. It must have struck a chill to their 
 
OFFICE. 101 
 
 hearts ; so bare, so barren, so wintry. The firs grew 
 more and more stunted, as we approached the sea ; 
 till, as one of my companions observed, they were 
 ashamed to show themselves any smaller, and so 
 turned into sand. Mrs. Hemans calls it, in her 
 fine lyric, a rock-bound coast ; naturally enough, 
 as she was told that the pilgrims set their feet on a 
 rock, on landing; but that rock was the only one. 
 The coast is low and sandy. The aspect of the 
 bay was, this day, most dreary. We had travelled 
 through snow r , all the way behind; snowy fields, 
 with here and there a solitary crow stalking in the 
 midst ; and now, there was nothing but ice before 
 us. Dirty, grey ice, some sheeted, some thrown 
 up by the action of the sea into heaps, was all 
 that was to be seen, instead of the blue and glit 
 tering sea, A friend assured me, however, that 
 all would be bright and cheering the next morning; 
 informing me, with a smile, that in the belief of the 
 country people, it never did rain or snow, and 
 never would rain or snow, on Forefathers Day. 
 This is actually a superstition firmly held in the 
 neighbourhood. This friend pointed out to me, in 
 the course of the afternoon, how the green grass 
 was appearing through the snow on Burial Hill, on 
 whose slope the descending sun, warm for Decem 
 ber, was shining. We mounted Burial Hill; and 
 when I trod the turf, after some weeks walking 
 over crisp snow r , I began to feel that I might grow 
 superstitious too, if I lived at Plymouth. 
 
 Upwards of half the pilgrim company died the 
 first winter. Fifty-one dropped in succession ; and 
 the graves of most of them are on this hill. Burial 
 Hill was probably chosen to be a memento mori to 
 the pious pilgrims ; its elevation, bristling with 
 grave-stones, being conspicuous from every part of 
 the town. But, lest it should exhibit their tale of 
 disaster to their foes, the Indians, the colonists 
 
102 OFFICE. 
 
 sowed the place of their dead with corn ; making it, 
 for honest purposes, a whited sepulchre. From 
 this eminence, we saw the island in the harbour 
 where the fathers landed for service on the first 
 Sunday after their arrival ; also, the hill on which 
 stood a wigwam, from whence issued an Indian to 
 hold the first parley. A brook flowed between the 
 two hills, on which stood the Indian and the chief 
 of the intruders. Governor Winslow descended to 
 the brook ; bridged it with stepping-stones, in sight 
 of the Indian ; laid down his arms, and advanced. 
 The meeting was friendly ; but there was so little 
 feeling of security, for long after, that when half 
 the colonists had perished, the rest were paraded 
 round and round a hut on Burial Hill, to conceal 
 the smallness of their numbers from the vigilant 
 Indians. 
 
 We went to the Registry Office, and saw the 
 earliest records of the colony, as far back as 1 G23, 
 in the handwriting of the fathers. Among 
 them is a record of the lots of land appointed to 
 those who came over in the Mayflower. (Little 
 did the builders of that ship dream how they were 
 working for immortality !) Sometimes a cow is 
 appointed, with a lot, to six families. Sometimes a 
 black goat. The red cow is ordained to be kept 
 for the poor, to calve. 
 
 The rock on which the pilgrims first landed, 
 has been split, and the top part, in order to its 
 preservation, removed within an iron railing, in 
 front of Pilgrim Hall. The memorable date of the 
 landing, 1620, is painted upon it; and the names 
 of the fathers, in cast-iron, are inserted into the 
 railing which surrounds the rock. 
 
 Within the Hall, a plain, spacious building, 
 erected within ten years, to serve as the scene of 
 the festivities of Forefathers Day, and also as a 
 Museum of Pilgrim curiosities, is a picture 3 by 
 
OFFICE. 103 
 
 Sargent, of the Landing of the Pilgrims. Samo- 
 sat, the Indian chief, is advancing, with English 
 words of greeting, " Welcome, Englishmen P 
 Elder Brevvster, and the other fathers, with their 
 apprehensive wives and wondering children, form 
 an excellent group ; and the Mayflower is seen 
 moored in the distance. The greatest defect in 
 the picture is the introduction of the blasted tree, 
 which needlessly adds to the desolation of the 
 scene, and gives a false idea, as far as it goes. I could 
 not have anticipated the interest which these memo 
 rials would inspire. I felt as if in a dream, the whole 
 time that I was wandering about with the rejoicing 
 people, among the traces of the heroic men and wo 
 men who came over into the perilous wilderness, in 
 search of freedom of worship. 
 
 Forefathers Day rose bright and mild. I looked 
 out towards .the harbour. Every flake of ice was 
 gone, and the deep blue sea rippled and sparkled 
 in the sun. The superstition was fated to endure 
 another year, at least, All Plymouth was in a joy 
 ous bustle, with lines of carriages, and groups 
 of walkers. After breakfast, we proceeded to the 
 church, to await the orator of the day. We were 
 detained on the steps for a few minutes, till the 
 doors should be opened ; and I was glad of it, for 
 the sun was warm, and the coup d ceil was charm 
 ing. There was one long descent from the church 
 down to the glittering sea ; and on the slope were 
 troops of gay ladies, and lines of children ; with 
 here and there a company of little boys, playing 
 soldiers to the music of the band, which came 
 faintly from afar. Of real soldiers, I saw two 
 during the day. There might be more ; but none 
 were needed. The strangest association of all was 
 of a Pilgrim Ode sung to the tune of " God save 
 the King !" an air which I should have supposed 
 no more likely to be chosen for such an occasion 
 
104 OFFICE. 
 
 than as an epilogue to the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence. It did very well, however. It set us 
 all singing so as to drown the harmony of the vio 
 lins and horns which acted as instigation. 
 
 The oration was by an ex-senator of the United 
 States. It consisted wholly of an elaboration of 
 the transcendent virtues of the people of New 
 England. His manner was more quiet than that 
 of any other orator I heard ; and I really believe 
 that there was less of art than of weakness and bad 
 taste in his choice of his mode of address. Nothing 
 could be imagined worse, more discordant with 
 the fitting temper of the occasion, more dan 
 gerous to the ignorant, if such there were, more 
 disgusting to the wise, (as I know, on the tes 
 timony of such,) more unworthy of one to whom 
 the ear of the people was open. He told his 
 hearers of the superiority of their physical, intel 
 lectual, and moral constitution to that of their 
 brethren of the middle and southern States, to that 
 of Europeans, and all other dwellers in the earth ; 
 a superiority which forbade their being ever under 
 stood and appreciated by any but themselves. He 
 spoke especially of the intensity of the New 
 England character, as being a hidden mystery from 
 all but natives. He contrasted the worst circum- 
 stances of European society, (now in course of cor 
 rection,) with the best of New England arrange 
 ments, and drew the obvious inferences. He ex 
 cused the bigotry of the Pilgrim Fathers, their 
 cruel persecution of the Quakers, and other such 
 deeds, on the ground that they had come over to 
 have the colony to themselves, and did not want 
 interlopers. He extenuated the recent mobbing 
 practices in New England, on the ground of their 
 rarity and small consequences, and declared it im 
 possible that the sons of the pilgrims should trust 
 to violence for the maintenance of opinion. This 
 
OFFICE. 105 
 
 last sentiment, the only sound one that I perceived 
 in the oration, was loudly cheered. The whole of 
 the rest, I rejoice to say, fell dead. 
 
 The orator was unworthy of his hearers. He 
 had hecn a senator of the United States, and had, 
 I was told, discharged his duty there ; but he was 
 little fit for public life, if he did not know that it is 
 treason to republicanism to give out lower morals 
 in public than are held in private ; to smile or sigh 
 over the vanity of the people by the fireside, and 
 pamper it from the rostrum; to use the power of 
 oratory to injure the people, instead of to save. In 
 this case, the exaggeration was so excessive as to 
 be, I trust, harmless. No man of common sense 
 could be made to believe that any community of 
 mortal men has ever been what the orator described 
 the inhabitants of New England to have attained. 
 I was deeply touched by the first remark I heard 
 upon this oration. A lady, who had been pre 
 vented from attending, asked me }> on my return 
 home, how I liked the address. Before I could 
 open my lips to reply, her daughter spoke. " I 
 am heart-sick of this boasting. When I think of 
 our forefathers, I want to cry, God be merciful 
 to us sinners ! " If the oration awakened in others, 
 as I believe it did, by force of contrast, feelings as 
 healthful, as faithful to the occasion as this, it was 
 not lost, and our pity must rest upon the orator. 
 
 I am aware, I had but too much occasion to 
 observe, how this practice of flattering the people 
 from the rostrum is accounted for, and, as a matter 
 of fact, smiled at by citizens of the United States. 
 I know that it is considered as a mode, inseparable 
 from the philosophy of politics there. I dissent 
 from this view altogether. I see that the remedy 
 lies, not wholly where remedies for the oppression 
 of severe natural laws lie, in a new combination 
 of outward circumstances, but in the individual 
 
 F 5 
 
106 OFFICE. 
 
 human will. The people may have honest orators 
 if they choose to demand to hear the truth. The 
 people will gladly hear the truth, if the appointed 
 orator will lay aside selfish fears and desires, and 
 use his high privilege of speaking from the bottom 
 of his soul. If, in simplicity, he delivers to the 
 people his true and best self, he is certain to gain 
 the convictions of many, and the sympathies of all ; 
 and his soul will be clear of the guilt of deepening 
 the pit under the feet of the people, while trying 
 to persuade them that they are treading on firm 
 ground. What is to be said of guides who dig pit 
 falls ? 
 
 The day closed delightfully. Almost everybody 
 went to pay respect to an aged lady, then eighty- 
 eight, a regular descendant of one of the pilgrims. 
 She was confined to the sofa, but retained much 
 beauty, and abundant cheerfulness. She was de 
 lighted to receive us, and to sympathise in those 
 pleasures of the day which she could not share. 
 I had the honour of sitting in the chair which her 
 ancestor brought over from England, and of feeling 
 the staple by which it was fastened in the May 
 flower. 
 
 The dinner being over, the gentlemen returned 
 to their several abodes, to escort the ladies to the 
 ball in Pilgrim Hall. I went, with a party of seven 
 others, in a stage coach ; every carriage, native and 
 exotic, being in requisition to fill the ball-room, 
 from which no one was excluded. It was the only 
 in-door festival, except the President s levee, where 
 I witnessed an absolutely general admission ; and 
 its aspect and conduct were, in the* highest degree, 
 creditable to the intelligence and manners of the 
 community. There were families from the islands 
 in the bay, and other country residences, whence the 
 inhabitants seldom emerge, except for this festival. 
 The dress of some of the young ladies was pecu- 
 
OFFICE. 107 
 
 liar, and their glee was very visible ; but I saw 
 absolutely no vulgarity. Tbere was much beauty, 
 and much elegance among the young ladies, and 
 the manners of their parents were unexceptionable. 
 There was evidence in the dancing, of the " inten 
 sity" of which we had heard so much in the morn 
 ing. The lads and lasses looked as if they meant 
 never to tire; but this enjoyment of the exercise 
 pleased me much more than the affectation of 
 dancing,, which is now fashionable in the large cities. 
 Cl never expect to see a more joyous and unexcep- 
 1 tiouable piece of festivity than the Pilgrim ball 
 ] of 1835. 
 
 The next day, the harbour was all frozen over ; 
 and the memory of the blue, rippling sea of Plymouth, 
 is therefore, with me, sacred to Forefathers Day. 
 
 I was frequently reminded by friends of what is 
 undoubtedly very true, the great perils of office in 
 the United States, as an excuse for the want of 
 honesty in officials. It is perfectly true that it is 
 ruin to a professional man without fortune, to enter 
 public life for a time, and then be driven back into 
 private life. I knew a senator of the United 
 States who had served for nearly his twice six 
 years, and who then had to begin life again, as 
 regarded his profession. I knew a representative 
 of the United States, a wealthy man, with a large 
 family, who is doubting still, as he has been for a 
 few years past, whether he shall give up commerce 
 or public life, or go on trying to hold them both. 
 He is rich enough to devote himself to public life ; 
 but at the very next election after he has relin 
 quished his commercial affairs, he may be thrown 
 out of politics. I see what temptations arise in 
 such cases, to strain a few points, in order to re 
 main in the public eye ; and I am willing to allow 
 for the strength of the temptation. 
 
 But the part for honest men to take is to expose 
 
108 OFFICE. 
 
 the peril, to the end that the majority may find a 
 remedy; and not to sanction it by yielding to it. 
 Let the attention of the people be drawn towards 
 the salaries of office, that they may discover whe 
 ther they are too low ; which is best, that adven 
 turers of bad character should now and then get 
 into office, because they have not reputation enough 
 to obtain a living by other means, or that honest and 
 intelligent men should be kept out, because the 
 prizes of office are engrossed by more highly edu 
 cated men ; and whether the rewards of office are 
 kept low by the democratic party, for the sake of 
 putting in what their opponents call * adventurers, 
 or by the aristocratic, with the hope of offices being 
 engrossed by the men of private fortune. Let the 
 true state of the case, according to each official s 
 view of it, be presented to the people, rather than 
 any countenance be given to the present dreadful 
 practice of wheedling and flattery ; and the perils 
 of office will be, by some means, lessened. 
 
 The popular scandal against the people of the 
 
 \ United States, that they boast intolerably of their 
 
 ^national institutions and character, appears to me 
 
 [untrue : but I see how it has arisen. Foreigners, 
 
 especially the English, are partly to blame for this. 
 
 ^They enter the United States with an idea that a 
 
 republic is a vulgar thing : and some take no pains 
 
 to conceal their thought. To an American, nothing 
 
 is more venerable than a republic. The native 
 
 ; and the stranger set out on a misunderstanding. 
 
 \-The English attacks, the American defends, and, 
 \ perhaps, boasts. But the vain-glorious flattery of 
 their public orators is the more abundant source of 
 this reproach ; and it rests with the people to re 
 deem themselves from it. For my own part, I 
 remember no single instance of patriotic boasting, 
 from man, woman, or child, except from_ilis_^ros- 
 trum ; but from thence there was poured enough 
 
NEWSPAPERS. 109 
 
 to spoil the auditory for life, if they had been sim 
 ply enough to believe what, th<e^ were tqld.^ But 
 they were not. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 / Side by side with the sinners of the rostrum, 
 j stand the sinners of the newspaper press, The 
 case is clear, and needs little remark or illustration. 
 The profligacy of newspapers, wherever they exist, 
 is a universal complaint; and, of all newspaper 
 presse^, I never heard any one deny that the Ame 
 rican is the worst. X Of course, this depravity being 
 so general througlrout the country, it must be oc 
 casioned by some overpowering force of circum 
 stances. The causes are various ; and it is a testi 
 mony to the strength and purity of the democratic 
 sentiment in the country, that the republic has not 
 been overthrown by its newspapers. 
 
 While the population is so scattered as it now is, 
 throughout the greater part of the Union, nothing 
 is easier than to make the people know only one 
 side of a question ; few things are easier than to 
 keep from them altogether the knowledge of any 
 particular affair ; and, worse than all, on them may 
 easily be practised the discovery that lies may work 
 their intended effect, before the truth can overtake 
 them, 
 
 It is hard to tell which is worst ; the wide diffu 
 sion of things that are not true, or the suppression 
 of things that are true. It is no secret that some 
 able personage at Washington writes letters on 
 the politics and politicians of the general govern- 
 
110 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 ment, and sends them to the remotest corners of 
 the Union, to appear in their newspapers ; after 
 which, they are collected in the administration 
 newspaper at Washington, as testimonies of public 
 opinion in the respective districts where they 
 appear. It is no secret that the newspapers of the 
 south keep out of their columns all information 
 which might enlighten their readers, near and afar, 
 as to the real state of society at home. I can 
 testify to the remarkable events which occur in the 
 southern States, unnoticed by any press, and trans 
 piring only through accident. Two men were 
 burned alive, without trial, by the gentlemen of 
 Mobile, just before my arrival there ; and no news 
 paper even alluded to the circumstance, till, many 
 months after, a brief and obscure paragraph, in a 
 northern journal, treated it as a matter of hearsay. 
 It is no secret that the systematic abuse with 
 which the newspapers of one side assail every can 
 didate coming forward on the other, is the cause of 
 many honourable men, who have a regard to their 
 reputation, being deterred from entering public 
 life ; and of the people being thus deprived of some 
 better servants than any they have. Though a 
 faithful public servant should be able to endure 
 all the consequences of faithful service, yet there 
 are many cases where men, undecided as to their 
 choice of public and private life, are fixed in fa 
 vour of the latter by this one circumstance. It is 
 the one obstacle too much. A public man in New 
 England gave me the history of an editor of a 
 newspaper, who began his professional course by 
 making an avowed distinction between telling lies 
 in conversation and in a newspaper, where every 
 body looks for them. Of course, he has sunk 
 deeper and deeper in falsehood; but retribution 
 has not yet overtaken him. My informant told me, 
 that this editor has made some thousands of dollars 
 
NEWSPAPERS. Ill 
 
 by his abuse of one man ; and jocosely proposed, 
 that persons who are systematically railed at by 
 any newspaper, should lay claim to a proportion of 
 the profits arising out of the use of their names 
 and characters. 
 
 The worst of it is, that the few exceptions to this y 
 epravity, the few newspapers conducted by men - 
 of truth and superior intelligence, are not yet en 
 couraged in proportion to their merits. It is easy 
 to see how a youth, going into the wilds, to set up 
 a newspaper for the neighbouring villages, should 
 meet with support, however vicious or crude his 
 production may be ; but it is discouraging to per 
 ceive how little preference is given, in the Atlantic 
 cities, to the best journals over the worst. Still, 
 there is a preference ; and it appears to be on the 
 increase ; and that increase, again, is in proportion 
 to the intrepidity of the paper in discussing affairs 
 as they arise. 
 
 There will be no great improvement in the lite- " 
 rary character of the American newspapers till the 
 literature of the country has improved. Their 
 moral ohnractor rip.ppnHa upon the moral taste of_ 
 tjie people^ This looks like a very severe censure. 
 If it beso,ihe same censure applies elsewhere, and 
 English morals must be held accountable for the 
 slanders and captiousness displayed in the leading 
 articles of British journals, and for the disgustingly 
 jocose tone of their police reports, where crimes are 
 treated as entertainments, and misery as a jest. 
 Whatever may be the exterior causes of the Ame 
 ricans having been hitherto ill-served in their 
 newspapers, it is now certain that there are none 
 which may not be overpowered by a sound moral 
 taste. In their country, the demand lies with the 
 many. Whenever the many demand truth and jus 
 tice in their journals, and reject falsehood and 
 calumny, they will be served according to their 
 desire. 
 
1 12 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 This desire is beginning to awaken. Some 
 months before I left the United States, a man of 
 colour was burned alive, without trial, at St. Louis, 
 in Missouri ; a large assemblage of the " respect 
 able" inhabitants of the city being present. No 
 one supposed that anybody out of the State of 
 Missouri was any further implicated with this deed, 
 than as men have an interest in every outrage done 
 to man. The interest which residents in other 
 States had in this deed, was like that which an 
 Englishman has in a man being racked in the 
 Spanish Inquisition; or a Frenchman, in a Turk 
 being bastinadoed at Constantinople. He is not 
 answerable for it, or implicated in it, as a fellow- 
 citizen ; and he speaks his humane reprobation as a 
 fellow-man. Certain American citizens, out of 
 Missouri, contrived, however, to implicate them 
 selves in the responsibility for this awful outrage, 
 which, one would have thought, any man would 
 have been thankful to avoid, The majority of 
 newspaper editors made themselves parties to the 
 act, by refusing, from fear, to reprobate it. The 
 state of the case was this, as described to me by 
 some inhabitants of St. Louis. The gentlemen of 
 the press in that city dared not reprobate the out 
 rage, for fear of the consequences from the mur 
 derers. They merely announced the deed, as a 
 thing to be regretted, and recommended that the 
 veil of oblivion should be drawn over the affair. 
 Their hope was widely different from their recom 
 mendation. They hoped that the newspapers 
 throughout the Union would raise such a chorus of 
 execration as would annihilate the power of the 
 executioners. But the newspapers of the Union 
 were afraid to comment upon the affair, because 
 they saw that the St Louis editors were afraid. 
 The really respectable inhabitants of that disgraced 
 city were thrown almost into despair by this das- 
 
NEWSPAPERS. 113 
 
 tardly silence, and believed all security of life and 
 property in their State to be at an end. A few 
 journals were honest enough to thunder the truth 
 in the ears of the people ; and the people awoke to 
 perceive how their editors had involved themselves 
 in this crime, by a virtual acquiescence, like the 
 unfaithful mastiff, if such a creature there be, which 
 slinks away from its master s door, to allow a pas 
 sage to a menacing thief. The influence of the 
 will of the awakening people is already seen in the 
 improved vigour in the tone of the newspapers 
 against outrage. On occasion of the more recent 
 riots at Cincinnati, the editorial silence has been 
 broken by many voices. 
 
 There is a spirited newspaper at Louisville 
 which has done its duty well, on occasions when it 
 required some courage to do it ; informing the Cin 
 cinnati people of the meanness of their conduct in 
 repressing the expression of opinion, lest it should 
 injure the commerce bet\veen Ohio and Kentucky ; 
 and also, justifying Judge Shaw of Massachusetts, 
 against the outcries of the South, for a judgment 
 he lately gave in favour of the release of a slave, 
 voluntarily carried into a free State. Two New 
 York papers, the New York American and the 
 Evening Post, have gained themselves honour by 
 intrepidity of the same kind, and by the comparative 
 moderation and friendliness of their spirit. I hope 
 that there may be many more, and that their num- 
 
 Iber may be perpetually on the increase. 
 The very best newspaper that I saw in the 
 United States was a single number of the Cleve 
 land Whig, which I picked up at an hotel in the 
 interior of Ohio. I had seen spirited extracts from 
 it in various newspapers. The whole of this parti 
 cular number was valuable for the excellence of its 
 spirit, and for its good sense. It had very impor 
 tant, and some very painful subject matter, in- 
 
114 NEWSPAPERS, 
 
 stances of overbearing the law, to treat of. It 
 was so done as nearly to beguile me, hungry 
 traveller as I was, of my dinner, and of all thought 
 of my journey. 
 
 One other remarkable paper lies before me : re 
 markable for its professing to be conducted on 
 principles of exact justice, and for its accordance 
 with its principles to a degree which has hardly 
 been dreamed of in a publication of its kind. There 
 is something heroic in the enterprise, which inspires 
 a strong hope of its success. If the ability be but 
 sufficient to sustain it, of which there seems no 
 reason to doubt, there can be no question of its 
 acceptableness. The just and gentle construction 
 of human actions, and the cheerful and trustful 
 mood in surveying natural events, are more conge 
 nial with the general mind, than captiousness and 
 distrust towards men, and despondency under the 
 government of God. Such men as the editor of 
 the Boston Reformer are sure to command the 
 sympathies of men, however they may appear to 
 run counter to the supposed tastes of newspaper 
 readers. The following notice to correspondents 
 is a novelty in its place, more striking than any 
 announcements in the news columns. 
 
 " To correspondents. Our paper is no vehicle 
 of vulgar abuse, or spiteful attacks on persons or 
 institutions. Our design is to avoid everything 
 e which appeals to or pleases any bad propensity in 
 our nature. Doubtless there are a thousand petty 
 annoyances somewhat grievous to be borne; but 
 ,ve cannot go about to redress them. The best 
 way is to forgive and forget them. We cannot 
 waste our strength on little matters. We know no 
 way to do good to man, to make society really 
 better, but to suppress our anger, keep our temper, 
 show an elevated mind and a good heart. We 
 must look for the good, not for the bad in men, 
 
APATHY IN CITIZANSHIP. 115 
 
 and always put the best construction we can on all 
 their doings." Boston Reformer. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 APATHY IN CITIZENSHIP. 
 
 In England the idea of an American citizen is - 
 of one who is always talking politics, canvassing, 
 bustling about to make proselytes abroad, buried 
 in newspapers at home, and hurrying to vote on 
 k election days. 
 
 There is another side to the object. A learned ~- 
 professor of a western college told me abundance 
 of English news, but declared himself ignorant of 
 everything that had passed in the home portion of 
 the political world. He never took any interest in 
 polities. What would be the use of his disturbing 
 himself? How far does one man s vote go? He 
 does more good by showing himself above such 
 aifairs. 
 
 It was communicated to me that there are more 
 modes of political action than one : and that, 
 though this professor does not vote, he, jjss~his 
 utmost influence with the students of his college^ 
 rr). favour of jiis""owh political opinions ;[ qrd with 
 entire success^ Ifjhisjbfi .true,, thft gPTUJejnjjiJalls 
 short oj: Jhi^jduty mone respect, and exceeds it in 
 another. 
 
 *~A clergyman in the n or th was jinxi o u s to assure 
 me Triat uletUuus ai^ nTefeIy~personal matters, and 
 do liot~affe(irthB~"happinL i s^of the~pejiple. It mat 
 ters notT to him, for mslance," who is in office, and 
 what party in politics is uppermost : life goes on 
 the same to him, This gentleman had probably 
 never heard of the old lady who said that she did 
 
116 APATHY IN CITIZENSHIP. 
 
 not care what revolutions happened, as long as she 
 had her roast chicken, and her little game at cards. 
 But that old lady did not live in a republic, or 
 perhaps even she might have perceived that there 
 would have been no security for roast chickens and 
 cards, if all were to neglect political action but 
 those who want political power and profit. In a 
 democracy, every man is supposed to be his own 
 security for life and property : and, if a man de- 
 . volves his political charge upon others, he must lay* 
 his accounts for not being so well taken care of as 
 he might be. So much for the selfish aspect of the 
 case ; the view which might have been presented, 
 with illustrations, to the old lady, if she had hap-^ 
 pened to live in a republic. 
 
 The clergyman ought to see further. He ought 
 to see, in virtue of his office, how public morals 
 must suffer under the neglect of public duty by re 
 spectable men. If such men were to perform the 
 duties of citizens as conscientiously as they do 
 those of husbands, fathers, and pastors, and leave it 
 to the knaves to neglect the duties of citizenship, 
 the republic might go on as well as a republic with 
 knaves in it can go on. But if the case is re 
 versed, if the knaves are eager to use their poli 
 tical rights for selfish purposes, and the conscien 
 tious in other respects are remiss in the duties of 
 citizenship, the pastors may almost as well leave 
 off preaching. All good pastoral influence will be 
 borne down by the spread of corruption. The 
 clergy may preach themselves hoarse to little pur 
 pose, if they live, and encourage others to live, in 
 the avowed neglect of the first duty of any one re 
 lation ; and the exercise of the suffrage is the first 
 , duty of republican citizenship. 
 
 A naval officer, a man of an otherwise sound 
 \y head and heart, told me, very coolly, that he had 
 nev^r .voted more than twice in his life. His de~ 
 
APATHY IN CITIZENSHIP. 117 
 
 fence, in answer to my remonstrance, was, that he 
 had served his country in other ways. In as far 
 as this might benSel[nT"fb~c^olTVT7} r that he could not 
 vote at New York when in India, the excuse must 
 be admitted as valid : but, if it was meant to apply 
 to elections going on before his eyes, it was much 
 the same as if he had said, " there is no occasion 
 for me to be a good father, because I have been 
 a good son." 
 
 A member of Congress gave me instances of 
 what would have been,, the modifications of certain 
 . public affairs, but for the apathy of the minority 
 about the use of their suffrage. If citizens regu 
 late their exertions by the probabilities of imme 
 diate success, instead of by their faith in their own 
 convictions, it is indeed no wonder if the minority 
 leave everything to their adversaries ; but this is 
 not the way for men to show themselves worthy of 
 the possession of political rights. This is not the 
 way that society has advanced. This is not the 
 way that security for life and property has been 
 obtained for those idle citizens who are now leav 
 ing that security to the mercy of those whom they 
 believe to be the enemies of society. 
 ( A public man told me that it would be a great 
 /point gained, if every citizen could be induced to 
 \vote, at least once a year. So far is it from being 
 true that all Americans are the bustling politicians 
 the English have been apt to suppose. If such 
 political bustle should be absurd, the actual apathy 
 is something worse. If it were only borne in mind 
 that rulers derive their just powers from the con 
 sent of the governed, surely all conscientious men 
 would see the guilt of any man acquiescing in the 
 rule of governors whom he disapproves, by not 
 having recorded his dissent. Or, if he should be 
 in the majority, the case is no better. He has 
 omitted to bear his testimony to what he es- 
 
118 APATHY IX CITIZENSHIP. 
 
 teems the true principles of government. IIs 
 has not appointed, his rulers ; and, in as far as he 
 accepts their protection, he takes without having 
 given, he reaps without having sown ; he de 
 prives his just rulers of a portion of the authority 
 which is their due of a portion of the consent of 
 the governed. 
 
 There is another cause for the reluctance to vote 
 which is complained of by the hest friends of the 
 people ; but it is almost too humbling and painful 
 to be discussed. Slome are ,afraid to voj:e ! 
 
 This happens not in the country, nor among the 
 strength of the population in the towns : but 
 among the feeble aristocracy. There is not, in the 
 United States, as with tts, a system of intimidation 
 exercised by the rich over the poor. In the coun 
 try, there are no landlords and tenants at will. In 
 the towns, the tradesmen do not stand in need of 
 the patronage of the rich. Though they vote by 
 ballot, and any man who chooses it may vote se 
 cretly, (and many do upon occasion,) there is 
 / rarely any need of such protection. But there is 
 \ no reason why the gentry, who may be afraid of 
 5 hurting one another s feelings, should not use their 
 (power of secret voting, rather than neglect the 
 duty of giving their suffrage. If the educated and 
 principled men of the community, as they are es 
 teemed, fall back into idleness and silence, when 
 the time comes for a struggle for principles, and 
 there is a danger of disappointing expectations, 
 and hurting feelings, their country has little to 
 thank them for. They are the men from whom 
 the open discharge of duty is looked for ; they are 
 the men who should show that political obligation 
 is above private regards. If they have not the 
 virtue to do this, and take the consequences, let 
 them avail themselves of the secrecy of the ballot- 
 box, which in England is desired for the protec- 
 
APATHY IN CITIZENSHIP. 119 
 
 tion of those whom bad arrangements have made 
 dependent for bread on the rich and powerful. At 
 all events, let them vote, or be ashamed to accept 
 the privileges of citizenship without having dis 
 charged the duties. 
 
 The fear of opinion sometimes takes the form of 
 an almost insane dread of responsibility. There 
 are occasions wfien plTblic~~meTi7"Trrrable to judge 
 for themselves of particular classes of circum 
 stances, are obliged to ask advice of their friends 
 and supporters. Happy he who obtains a full and 
 true answer from any one ! The chances against 
 this are in proportion to the importance of the 
 case, I knew of one such instance, the result of 
 which more than one is, I trust, now grieving over 
 in his inmost heart. An eminent statesman was 
 hesitating whether to offer himself as a candidate 
 for a very high office. He requested the opinion 
 and" advice of a number of gentlemen in public 
 life, his supporters. All were of the same 
 opinion ; that he should not stand. No one of them 
 chose to take the responsibility of telling him so. 
 Some of them wrote ambiguous answers, hoping 
 that he would infer that they thought ill of his 
 chance. Others rather encouraged the enterprise. 
 The illustrative details which might be given, 
 showing the general uniformity, with particular di 
 versity, of the conduct of the advisers, would be 
 amusing if they were not too sad. Suffice it that 
 no one, as far as I could learn, could get over his 
 fear of responsibility so as to be faithful. They 
 allowed their idol to make a fool of himself. If 
 he should henceforth be sunk in political scepti 
 cism, perhaps these gentlemen may find that in 
 shunning one kind of responsibility, they have in 
 curred another, far heavier. 
 
 It is felt, and understood, in the United States, 
 that their near future in politics is indiscernible. 
 
120 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 Odd, unexpected circumstances, determining the 
 present, are perpetually turning up. Almost every 
 man has his convictions as to what the state of 
 affairs will be, in the gross, a century hence. Scarce 
 ly any man will venture a conjecture as to what 
 will have happened next spring. This is the very 
 condition, if the people could but see it, for the 
 exercise of faith in principles. With a dark, and 
 shifting near future, and a bright and fixed ulti 
 mate destiny, what is the true, the only wisdom ? 
 Not to pry into the fogs and thickets round about, or 
 to stand still for fear of what may next occur in the 
 path ; but to look from Eden gate behind to heaven 
 gate before, and press on to the certain future. In 
 his political as in his moral life, man should, in the 
 depth of his ignorance and the fallibility of his 
 judgment, throw himself, in a full sense of secu- 
 rity upon principles ; and then he is safe from be 
 ing depressed by opposition, or scared by uncer 
 tainty, or depraved by responsibility. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 f It is notorious, that there is a remarkable failure 
 \^in this department of political morals among cer 
 tain parties in the United States. The mobbing 
 events of the last few years are celebrated ; the 
 abolition riots in New York and Boston; the 
 burning ^oF^the 1 Charleston Convent ; the bank 
 
 riots, at IJaitimoreT^trie bupung-jai-lhe-Bap-ls at 
 Charleston ; the hangings bvLynch-lay at Vickes- 
 burgh ; the burning alive^cjfaman of colour at St. 
 Louis ; the bUbBUqueTiT^roceedings there towards 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 121 
 
 the students of Marion College ; and the aboli 
 tion riots at Cincinnati. Here is a fearful list ! 
 
 The first question that arises is, who has done 
 these things ? Whose hands have lighted green 
 fagots round a living man ? and strung up a do 
 zen or twenty citizens on the same gallows? and 
 fired and razed houses; and sent a company 6f 
 trembling nuns flying for their lives at midnight ? 
 Here is evidence enough of ignorance, of des 
 perate, brutal ignorance. Whose ignorance ? 
 
 In Europe, the instantaneous and natural per 
 suasion of men who hear the tidings is, that the 
 lowest classes in America have risen against the 
 higher. In Europe, desperate, brutal ignorance is 
 the deepest curse in the cursed life of the pauper 
 and the serf. In Europe, mobbing is usually the 
 outbreak of exasperated misery against laws which 
 oppress, and an aristocracy which insults huma 
 nity. Europeans, therefore, naturally assume that 
 the gentry of the United States are the sinned 
 against, and the poor the sinners, in their social 
 disturbances. They draw conclusions against po 
 pular government, and suppose it proved that uni 
 versal suffrage dissolves society into chaos. They 
 picture to themselves a rabble of ragged, desperate 
 workmen, with torches in their hands ; while the 
 gentry look on in dismay, or tremble within their 
 houses. 
 
 It is not so. I was informed, twenty times over, 
 by gentlemen,^ that ..tho ftqpton mob of last-^vear 
 was <>< ^HoT]ycomposed of gentlemen. The only 
 -working man "ill 1l way the tl ucKxinan who saved 
 the victim. They were the gentlemen of St. 
 Louis who burned the black man, and banished 
 the students of Marion College. They were the 
 gentlemen of Cincinnati who denounced the aboli 
 tionists, and raised the persecution against them. 
 They were the magistrates and gentry of Vickes- 
 
 VJL. I. G 
 
122 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 burgh who hanged way-farers, gamblers, and slaves 
 in a long row. They were the gentlemen of 
 Charleston who broke open the Post Office, and 
 violated its sacred function, to the insult and injury 
 
 fthe whole country. 
 The case is plain. There are no paupers to rise 
 against oppressive laws in a country, where the 
 laws are made by all, and where pauperism is 
 thereby excluded. There is no degraded class, 
 subject to insults from the -highest, which can be 
 resented only by outrage. The assumption is a 
 false one, that ignoranca and poverty, knowledge 
 and wealth, go together./ Mobbing for European 
 causes, and in European modes, is absolutely pre 
 cluded where political rights are universal, and 
 political power equally diffused through all classes. 
 The very few European causes which are in 
 analogy with United States mobbing, are those 
 riots for opinion, which bear only a subordinate 
 relation to politics ; such as the Birmingham riots, 
 and the attempt of the Liverpool merchants to push 
 
 - Clarkson into the dock. The cases are very similar. 
 
 \ The mobs of America are composed of high 
 
 /churchmen, (of whatever denomination,) merchants 
 / and planters, and lawyers. 
 
 S.. One complete narrative of a riot, for the fidelity 
 of which I can vouch, will expose the truth of the 
 case better than a list of deeds of horror which 
 happened beyond my sight. It is least revolting, 
 too, to treat of a case whose terror lies in its. exist 
 ence, more than in its consequences. The actors 
 in the riot, which it was my fortune to understand, 
 were scarcely less guilty than if they had bathed 
 their hands in blood ; but it is easier to examine, 
 undisturbed by passion, the case of those whose 
 hands are, to the outward eye, clean. 
 
 A very few years ago $ certain citizens in New 
 England began to discover that the planters of the 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 123 
 
 south were making white slaves in the north, nearly 
 as successfully as they were propagating black 
 slavery in the territories of the south and west. 
 Charleston and Boston were affectionate friends in 
 old times, and are so still, notwithstanding the hard 
 words that passed between them in nullification 
 days: that is, the merchants and professional 
 men of Boston are fond of Charleston, on account 
 of their commercial relations. This attachment 
 has been carried to such an extreme as to be almost 
 fatal to the liberties of some of the best citizens of 
 the northern city. They found their brothers 
 dismissed from their pastoral charges, their sons 
 expelled from colleges, their friends excluded from 
 professorships, and themselves debarred from lite 
 rary and social privileges, if they happened to 
 entertain and express opinions unfavourable to the 
 peculiar domestic institution by which Charleston 
 declares it to be her intention to abide. Such is 
 the plea of those citizens of Boston who have 
 formed associations for the purpose of opposing, 
 by moral influence, an institution which they feel 
 to be inconsistent with the first principles of morals 
 and politics. For a considerable time before my 
 visit to that part of the country, they had encoun 
 tered petty persecutions of almost every conceiva 
 ble kind. There is no law in Massachusetts by 
 which the free expression of opinion on moral sub 
 jects is punishable. I heard many regret the ab 
 sence of sach law. Everything was done that 
 could be done to make up for its absence. Books 
 on any subject, written by persons who avow by 
 association their bad opinion of slavery, are not 
 purchased : clergymen are no longer invited to 
 preach : the proprietors of public rooms will not 
 let them to members of such associations ; and the 
 churches are shut against them. Their notices of 
 public meetings are torn in the pulpits, while all 
 
 G 2 
 
124 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 notices of other public meetings are read. The 
 newspapers pour contempt and wrath upon them 
 in one continued stream. Bad practices are im 
 puted to them, and their denial is drowned in cla 
 mour. As a single instance of this last ; T was 
 told so universally in the south and west that the 
 abolitionists of Boston and New York were in the 
 habit of sending incendiary tracts among the slaves, 
 that it never occurred to me to doubt the fact ; 
 though I was struck with surprise at never being 
 able to find any one who had seen any one who 
 had actually seen one of these tracts. Nor did it 
 occur to me that as slave? cannot read, verbal mes 
 sages would be more to the purpose of all parties, 
 as being more effectual and more prudent. Mr. 
 Madison made the charge, so did Mr. Clay, so did 
 Mr. Calhoun, so did every slave-holder and mer 
 chant with whom I conversed. I chose afterwards 
 to hear the other side of the whole question ; and 
 I found, to my amazement, that this charge was 
 wholly groundless. No Abolition Society of New 
 York or Massachusetts has ever sent any anti- 
 slavery paper south of Washington, except the 
 circulars, addressed to public officers in the States, 
 which were burnt at Charleston. The abolitionists 
 of Boston have been denying this charge ever 
 since it was first made, and offering evidence of its 
 groundlessness; yet the calumny is persisted in, 
 and, no doubt, honestly believed, to this hour, 
 throughout the south, whither the voice of the con 
 demned, stifled by their fellow-citizens, cannot 
 reach. 
 
 Only mortal things, however, can be really suffo 
 cated ; and there has never yet been an instance 
 & a murder of opinion. There seemed, in 1835, 
 SO much danger of the abolitionists making them 
 selves heard, that an emphatic contradiction was 
 crot up, it was hoped in good time. 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 125 
 
 The abolitionists had been, they believe illegally, 
 denied by the city authority the use of Faneuil 
 Hall ; (called, in memory of revolutionary days, the 
 " Cradle of Liberty.") Certain merchants and 
 lawyers of Boston held a meeting there, in August, 
 1835, for the purpose of reprobating the meetings 
 of the abolitionists, and denouncing their mea 
 sures, while approving of their principles. The 
 less that is said of this meeting, the deepest of 
 all the disgraces of Boston, the better. It bears 
 its character in its face. Its avowed object was to 
 put down the expression of opinion by opprobrium, 
 in the absence cf gag laws. Of the fifteen hun 
 dred who signed the requisition for this meeting, 
 there are many, especially among the younger and 
 more thoughtless, who have long repented of the 
 deed. Some signed in anger ; some in fear ; many 
 in mistake ; and of each of these there are some 
 who would fain, if it were possible, efface their sig 
 natures with their blood. 
 
 It is an invariable fact, and recognized as such, 
 that meetings held to supply the deficiency of gag 
 laws are the prelude to the violence which supplies 
 the deficiency of executioners under such laws. 
 Every meeting held to denounce opinion is followed 
 by a mob. This was so well understood in the 
 present case that the abolitionists were warned that 
 if they met again publicly, they would be answer 
 able for the disorders that might ensue. The aboli 
 tionists pleaded that this was like making the rich 
 man answerable for the crime of the thief who 
 robbed him, on the ground that if the honest man 
 had not been rich, the thief would not have been 
 tempted to rob him. The abolitionists also per 
 ceived how liberty of opinion and of speech de 
 pended on their conduct in this crisis ; and they 
 resolved to yield to no threats of illegal violence ; 
 but to hold their legal meeting, pursuant to adver- 
 
126 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 tisement, for the despatch of their usual business. 
 One remarkable feature of the case was that this 
 heavy responsibility rested upon women. It was a 
 ladies meeting that was in question. Upon con 
 sultation, the ladies agreed that they should never 
 have sought the perilous duty of defending liberty 
 of opinion and speech at the last crisis; but, as 
 such a service seemed manifestly appointed to 
 them, the women were ready. 
 
 On the 21st of October, they met, pursuant to 
 advertisement, at the office of their association, No. 
 46, Washington Street. Twenty-five reached their 
 room, by going three-quarters of an hour before the 
 appointed time. Five more made their way up 
 with difficulty through the crowd. A hundred more 
 were turned back by the mob. 
 
 They knew that a hand-bill had been circulated 
 on the Exchange, and posted on the City Hall, and 
 throughout the city, the day before, which declared 
 that Thompson, the abolitionist, was to address 
 them ; and invited the citizens, under promise of 
 pecuniary reward, to " snake Thompson out, and 
 bring him to the tar-kettle before dark." The 
 ladies had been warned that they would be killed, 
 " as sure as fate," if they showed themselves on 
 their own premises that day. They therefore in 
 formed the mayor that they expected to be attacked. 
 The reply of the city marshal was, " You give us a 
 great deal of trouble." 
 
 The committee-room was surrounded, and gazed 
 into by a howling, shrieking mob of gentlemen, 
 while the twenty-five ladies sat perfectly still, await 
 ing the striking of the clock. When it struck, they 
 opened their meeting. They were questioned as to 
 whether Thompson was there in disguise ; to which 
 they made no reply. 
 
 They began, as usual, with prayer; the mob 
 shouting " Hurra ! here comes Judge Lynch 1" 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 127 
 
 Before they had done, the partition gave way, and 
 the gentlemen hurled missiles at the lady who was 
 presiding. The secretary having risen, and begun to 
 read her report, rendered inaudible by the uproar, 
 the mayor entered, and insisted upon their going 
 home, to save their lives. The purpose of their meet 
 ing was answered : they had asserted their principle ; 
 and they now passed out, two and two, amidst the 
 execration of some thousands of gentlemen; per 
 sons who had silver shrines to protect. The ladies, 
 to the number of fifty, walked to the house of one 
 of their members, and were presently struck to 
 the heart by the news that Garrison was in the 
 hands of the mob. Garrison is the chief apostle of 
 abolition in the United States. He had escorted 
 his wife to the meeting ; and, after offering to ad 
 dress the ladies, and being refused, out of regard to 
 his safety, had left the room, and, as they supposed, 
 the premises. He was, however, in the house when 
 the ladies left it. He was hunted for by the mob ; 
 dragged from behind some planks where he had 
 taken refuge, and conveyed into the street. Here 
 his hat was trampled under-foot, and brick-bats 
 were aimed at his bare head ; a rope was tied 
 round him, and thus he was dragged through the 
 streets. His young wife saw all this. Her excla 
 mation was, "J think my husband will be true to 
 his principles. I am sure my husband will not deny 
 his principles." Her confidence was just. Garrison 
 never denies his principles. 
 
 He was saved by a stout truckman, who, with 
 his bludgeon, made his way into the crowd, as if to 
 attack the victim. He protected the bare head, 
 and pushed on towards a station house, whence the 
 mayor s officers issued, and pulled in Garrison, who 
 was afterwards put into a coach. The mob tried 
 to upset the coach, and throw down the horses ; 
 but the driver laid about him with his whip, and 
 
128 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW, 
 
 the constables with their staves, and Garrison was 
 safely lodged in jail : for protection ; for he had 
 committed no offence. 
 
 Before the mayor ascended the stairs to dismiss 
 the ladies, he had done a very remarkable deed ; 
 he had given permission to two gentlemen to pull 
 down and destroy the anti-slavery sign, bearing the 
 inscription, " A nti- Slavery Office, 1 which had hung 
 for two years, as signs do hang before public offices 
 in Boston. The plea of the mayor is, that he hoped 
 the rage of the mob would thus be appeased : that 
 is, he gave them leave to break the laws in one 
 way, lest they should in another. The citizens 
 followed up this deed of the mayor with one no less 
 remarkable. They elected these two rioters mem 
 bers of the State legislature, by a large majority, 
 within ten days. 
 
 I passed through the mob some time after it had 
 begun to assemble. I asked my ferlow-passengers 
 in the stage what it meant. They supposed it was 
 a busy foreign-post day, and that this occasioned 
 an assemblage of gentlemen about the post-office. 
 They pointed out to me that there were none but 
 gentlemen. We were passing through from Salem, 
 fifteen miles north of Boston, to Providence, Rhode 
 Island; and were therefore uninformed of the 
 events and expectations of the day. On the mor 
 row, a visiter who arrived at Providence from Bos 
 ton told us the story ; and I had thenceforth an 
 excellent opportunity of hearing all the remarks 
 that could be made by persons of all ways of think 
 ing and feeling, on this affair. 
 
 It excited much less attention than it deserved ; 
 less than would be believed possible by those at a 
 distance who think more seriously of persecution 
 for opinion, and less tenderly of slavery than a great 
 many of the citizens of Boston. To many in the 
 city of Boston the story I have told would be news* 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 129 
 
 and to yet more in the country, who know that 
 some trouble was caused by abolition meetings in 
 the city, but who are not aware that their own will, 
 embodied in the laws, was overborne to gratify the 
 mercenary interests of a few, and the political fears 
 of a few more. 
 
 The first person with whom I conversed about 
 this riot was the president of a university. We 
 were perfectly agreed as to the causes and charac 
 ter of the outrage. This gentleman went over to 
 Boston for a day or two ; and when he returned, I 
 saw him again. He said he was happy to tell me 
 that we had been needlessly making ourselves un 
 easy about the affair : that there had been no mob, 
 the persons assembled having been all gentlemen. 
 
 An eminent lawyer at Boston was one of the 
 next to speak upon it. " O, there was no mob," 
 said he. " I was there myself, and saw they were 
 all gentlemen. They were all in line broad-cloth." 
 
 " Not the less a mob for that," said I. 
 
 " Why, they protected Garrison. He received 
 no harm. They protected Garrison." 
 
 " From whom, or what?" 
 
 " O, they would not really hurt him. They 
 only wanted to show that they would not have 
 such a person live among them." 
 
 " Why should not he live among them? Is he 
 guilty under any law ?" 
 
 " He is an insufferable person to them." 
 
 " So may you be to-morrow. If you can catch 
 Garrison breaking the laws, punish him under the 
 laws. If you cannot, he has as much right to live 
 where he pleases as you." 
 
 Two law pupils of this gentleman presently en 
 tered. One approved of, all that had been done, 
 and praised the spirit of the gentlemen of Boston. 
 I asked whether they had not broken the law. 
 Yes. I asked him if he knew what the law was. 
 
 G 5 
 
130 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 Yes ; but it could not be always kept. If a man 
 was caught in a house setting it on fire, the owner 
 might shoot him ; and Garrison was such an in 
 cendiary. I asked him for proof. He had nothing 
 out hearsay to give. The case, as I told him, 
 came to this. A. says Garrison is an incendiary. 
 B. says he is not. A. proceeds on his own opinion 
 to break the law. lest Garrison should do so. 
 
 The other pupil told me of the sorrow of heart 
 with which he saw the law, the life of the republic? 
 set at naught by those who should best understand 
 its nature and value. He saw that the time was 
 come for the true men of the republic to oppose a 
 oold front to the insolence of the rich and the 
 powerful, who were bearing down the liberties of 
 the people for a matter of opinion. The young 
 men, he saw, must brace themselves up against 
 the tyranny of the monied mob, and defend the 
 law; or the liberties of the country were gone. I 
 afterwards found many such among the young men 
 of the wealthier classes. If they keep their con 
 victions, they and their city are safe. 
 
 No prosecutions followed. I asked a lawyer, an 
 abolitionist, why. He said there would be diffi 
 culty in getting a verdict ; and, if it was obtained, 
 the punishment would be merely a fine, which would 
 be paid on the spot, and the triumph would remain 
 with the aggressors. This seemed to me no good 
 reason. 
 
 I asked an eminent judge the same question ; 
 and whether there was not a public prosecutor who 
 might prosecute for breach of the peace, if the 
 abolitionists would not, for the assault on Garrison, 
 He said it might be done ; but he had given his 
 advice against it. Why r\The feeling was so strong 
 against the abolitionists, the rioters were so re 
 spectable in the city, it was better to let the whole 
 affair pass over without notice.N 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 131 
 
 Of others, some knew nothing of it, because it 
 was ahout such a low set of people ; some could 
 not take any interest in what they were tired of 
 hearing about ; some had not heard anything of 
 the matter ; some thought the abolitionists were 
 served quite right ; some were sure the gentlemen 
 of Boston would not do anything improper ; and 
 some owned that there was such bad taste and med 
 dlesomeness in the abolitionists, that people of 
 taste kept out of the way of hearing anything about 
 them. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the body of the people 
 are sound. Many of the young lawyers are re 
 solved to keep on the watch, to maintain the right? 
 of the abolitionists in the legislature, arid in the 
 streets of the city. Many hundreds of the work 
 ing men agreed to leave their work on the first ru 
 mour of riot, get sworn in as special constables, 
 and keep the peace against the gentry ; acting vi 
 gorously against the mob ringleaders, if such 
 should be the magistrates of Boston themselves. 
 I visited many of the villages in Massachusetts; and 
 there everything seemed right. The country peo 
 ple are abolitionists, by nature and education, and 
 they see the iniquity of mob-law. A sagacious 
 gentleman told me that it did him good to hear, in 
 New York, of this mob, because it proved the rest 
 of Massachusetts to be in a sound state. It is 
 always Boston versus Massachusetts ; and when 
 the city, or the aristocracy there, who think them 
 selves the city, are very vehemently wrong, it is a 
 plain proof that the country people are eminently 
 right. This may, for the humour of the thing, be 
 strongly put ; but there is much truth in it. 
 
 The philosophy of the case is very easy to un 
 derstand; and supremely important to be under 
 stood. 
 
 The law, in a republic, is the embodiment , of 
 
132 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 t.fae will pf foe people. As long as the republic is 
 in a natural and healthy state, containing no ano 
 maly, and exhibiting no gross vices, the function of 
 the law works easily, and is understood and reve 
 renced. Its punishments bear only upon indivi 
 duals, who have the opposition of society to con 
 tend with for violating its will, and who are help 
 less against the righteous visitations of the law. 
 
 If there be any anomaly among the institutions 
 of a republic, the function of the law is certain to 
 be disturbed, sooner or later : and that disturbance 
 is usually the symptom by the exhibition of which 
 the anomaly is first detected, and then cured. It 
 was so with free-masonry. It will be so with slavery ; 
 and with every institution inconsistent with the 
 fundamental principles of democracy. The pro 
 cess is easily traceable. The worldly interests 
 of the minority, of perhaps a single class, are 
 bound up with the anomaly : of the minority, be 
 cause, if the majority had been interested in any 
 anti-republican- institution, the republic would not 
 have existed. The minority may go on for a 
 length of time in apparent harmony with the ex 
 pressed will of the many, the law. But the time 
 comes when their anomaly clashes with the law. 
 For instance, the merchants of the north trade in 
 products which are, as they believe, created out of 
 a denial that all men are born free and equal, and 
 that the just powers of rulers are derived from the 
 consent of the governed ; while the contrary prin 
 ciples are the root which produces the law. Which 
 is to be given up, when both cannot be held ? If 
 the pecuniary interest of merchants is incompati 
 ble with freedom of speech in fellow-citizens, which 
 is to suffer? The will of the majority, the law 
 maker, is to decide. But it takes some time to 
 awaken the will of the majority ; and till it awakes, 
 the interest of the faction is active, and overbears 
 
ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 133 
 
 the law. The retribution is certain ; the result is 
 safe. But the evils meanwhile are so tremendous, 
 that no exertion should be spared to open the eyes 
 of the majority to the insults offered to its will. 
 There is no fear that the majority will ultimately 
 succumb to the minority, the harmonious law to 
 the discordant anomaly : but it is a fearful thing, 
 meantime, that the brave should be oppressed by 
 the mercenary, and oppressed in proportion to 
 their bravery ; that the masters of black slaves in 
 the south should be allowed to make white slaves 
 in the north ; that power and wealth should be used 
 to blind the people to the nature and dignity of the 
 law, and to seduce them into a preference of brute 
 force. These evils are so tremendous as to make 
 it the duty of every citizen to bring every law 
 breaker, high or low, to punishment ; to strike out 
 of the election list every man who tampers with the 
 will of the majority ; to teach every child what the 
 law is, and why it must be maintained ; to keep 
 his eye on the rostrum, the bench, the bar, the 
 pulpit, the press, the lyceum, the school, that no 
 fallacy, no compromise with an anomaly, no sur 
 render of principle be allowed to pass unexposed 
 and unstigmatized. 
 
 One compound fallacy is allowed daily to pass 
 unexposed and unstigmatized. " You make no 
 allowance," said a friend who was strangely be 
 wildered by it, " you make no allowance for the 
 great number of excellent people who view the 
 anomaly and the law as you do, but who keep quiet, 
 because they sincerely believe that by speaking and 
 acting they should endanger the Union." This 
 explains the conduct of a crowd of " excellent peo 
 ple," neither merchants, nor the friends of slave 
 holders, nor approving slavery, or mobbing, or 
 persecution for opinion ; but who revile or satirize 
 the abolitionists, and, for the rest, hold their tongues. 
 
134 ALLEGIANCE TO LAW. 
 
 But is it possible that such do not see that if sla 
 very be wrong, and if it be indeed bound up with 
 the Union, the Union must fall ? Is it possible that 
 they do not see that if the question be really 
 this, that if the laws of God and the arrangements 
 of man are incompatible, man s arrangements must 
 give way? I regard it as a false and mischievous 
 assumption that slavery is bound up with the 
 Union : but if I believed the dictum, I should not 
 be for " putting off the evil day." Every day which 
 passes over the un redressed wrongs of any class 
 which a republic holds in her bosom ; every day 
 which brings persecution on those who act out 
 the principles which all profess; every day which 
 adds a sanction to brute force, and impairs the sa- 
 credness of law ; every day which prolongs im 
 punity to the oppressor and discouragement to the 
 oppressed, is a more evil day than that which 
 should usher in the work of renovation. 
 /""* But the dictum is not true. This bitter satire 
 / upon the constitution, and upon all who have com- 
 i placently lived under it, is not true. The Union is 
 \ not incompatible with freedom of speech. The 
 / Union does not forbid men to act according to their 
 I convictions. The Union has never depended for 
 i its existence on hypocrisy, insult, and injury; and 
 v^iknever will. 
 
 ^Let citizens but take heed individually to re 
 spect the law, and see that others do, that no 
 neighbour transgresses it, that no statesman de 
 spises it unrebuked. that no child grows up igno 
 rant or careless of it ;Jand the Union is as secure as 
 the ground they tread upon. If this be not done, 
 everything is in peril, for the season ; not only the 
 Union, but property, home, life and integrity. 
 
SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 135 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 
 
 IT is the practice at Washington to pay the Members 
 I/of Congress, not only a per diem allowance, but their 
 travelling expenses ; at so much per twenty miles, 
 Two Members of Congress from Missouri made 
 charges widely different in amount. Complaints 
 were made that the Members were not confined to a 
 mail route, and that the country had to pay for any 
 digressions the honourable gentlemen might be in 
 the humour to make. Upon this, a Member ob 
 served that, so far irom wishing to confine the con 
 gressional travellers to a mail route, he would, if 
 possible, prescribe the condition that they should 
 travel, both in coming and going, through every 
 State of the Union. Any money thus expended, 
 would be, he considered, a cheap price to pay for 
 the conquest of prejudices and dispersion of un 
 friendly feelings, which would be the consequence of 
 the rambles he proposed. 
 
 The Members of Congress from the north like 
 
 \ to revert to the day when there were only two uni- 
 
 j versities, Harvard and Yale, to which all the youth 
 
 / of the Union repaired for education. The southern 
 
 members love to boast of the increase of colleges, 
 
 so that every State will soon be educating its own 
 
 youth. The northern men miss the sweet sounds of 
 
 acknowledgment which used to meet their ears, as 
 
 /often as past days were referred to the grateful men- 
 
 v tion of the New England retreats where the years 
 
 of preparation for active life were spent. The 
 
 southern men are mortified at the supposition that 
 
 everything intellectual must come out of New Eng- 
 
136 SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 
 
 land. ^When they boast that Virginia has produced 
 almost all their Presidents, they are met by the 
 boast that New England has furnished almost all 
 the school-masters, professors, and clergy of the 
 country. l/^Vhile the north is still fostering a rever 
 ence for the Union, the south loses no opportunity 
 of enlarging lovingly on the virtue of passionate 
 attachment to one s native state. 
 
 There is much nature -and much reason in all 
 this. It is true that there is advantage in the 
 youth of the whole country being brought together 
 within college walls, at the age when warm friend 
 ships are formed. They can hardly quarrel very 
 desperately in Congress, after having striven, and 
 loved, and learned together, in their bright 
 early days. The cadets at West Point spoke 
 warmly to me of this. They told me that when a 
 youth is coining from afar, the youths who have 
 arrived from an opposite point of the compass pre 
 pare to look cold upon him and quiz him, and re 
 ceive him frigidly enough ; but the second Sunday 
 seldom comes round before they wonder at him and 
 themselves, and acknowledge that he might almost 
 have been born in their own State. On the other 
 hand, it is true that it would be an absurdity and a 
 hardship to the dwellers in the south and west to 
 have no means of educating their youth at home ; 
 but to be obliged to send them a thousand miles in 
 pursuit of necessary learning. It is also true that 
 medical colleges should abound ; that peculiar dis 
 eases, incident to climate and locality, may be 
 studied on the spot. In this, as in many other 
 cases, some good must be sacrificed for the attain 
 ment of a greater good. 
 
 The question is, need sectional prejudices in 
 crease under the new arrangements ? Are there no 
 means of counteracting this great evil, except the 
 ancient methods? Is West Point the last spot where- 
 
SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 137 
 
 on common interests may rally, and whence state 
 jealousies may be excluded ? 
 
 I should be sorry if the answer were unfavour 
 able; for this Sectional Prejudice, carried beyond 
 the point of due political vigilance, is folly, childish 
 folly. Events prove it to be so. Deadly political 
 enemies meet at Washington, and snarl and declaim 
 at one another with mighty fierceness. They find 
 themselves, some sunny day, lying on the grass 
 under the shade of a tree, at the country-house of 
 an acquaintance; they rise up cordial friends. They 
 have actually discussed the question of questions, 
 the American System and Nullification ; and yet 
 they rise up cordial friends. Again ; a Boston gen 
 tleman and his lady travel for health through the 
 south and west. They hear abuse of their State 
 and city in abundance by the roadside ; but their 
 hearts are touched by the hospitality and friendli 
 ness they meet under every roof. Again; the 
 planter carries his family to a Rhode Island bath 
 ing place, for the hot season : and there he finds 
 sortie to whom he can open his heart about his do 
 mestic troubles, caused by slavery ; he gains their 
 sympathy, and carries away their esteem. The 
 sectional hatred, if not an abstraction, is founded 
 mainly on abstractions, and gives way at once when 
 the parties are confronted. Does it not deserve 
 tabe called childish folly? 
 
 (Yet " hatred" isaiot too strong a term for this 
 sectional prejudice.] Many a time in America have 
 I been conscious oMhat pang and shudder which are 
 felt only in the presence of hatred. I question 
 whether the enmity between the British and the 
 Americans, at the most exasperating crisis of the 
 war, could ever have been more intense than some 
 that I have seen flashing in the eyes, and heard 
 from the lips, of Americans against fellow-citizens 
 in distant sections of their country. I have scarcely 
 
138 SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 
 
 / 
 
 known whether to laugh or to mourn wnen I have 
 been tola that the New England people are all 
 pedlars or canting priests ; that the people of the 
 south are all heathens ; and those of the west all 
 barbarians. Nay, I was even told in New York 
 that the Rhode Island people were all heathens, 
 and the New Jersey folks no better. Some Balti 
 more ladies told me that the Philadelphia ladies 
 say that no Baltimore lady knows how to put on a 
 bonnet: but that the Philadelphians have some 
 thing worse the matter with them than that ; for 
 that they do not know how to be hospitable to 
 strangers. Without stopping to settle which is the 
 gravest of these heavy charges, I am anxious to 
 bear my testimony against the correctness of either. 
 I saw some pretty bonnets, most becomingly worn, 
 at Baltimore ; and I can speak confidently to the 
 hospitality of Philadelphia. 
 
 Trifling as some instances appear of the mani 
 festation of this puerile spirit, if sometimes, it al 
 ways, issues in results which are no trifle ; always, 
 because the spirit of jealousy is a deadly curse to 
 him who is possessed by it, whether it be founded 
 on fact, or no. It cannot co-exist with a generous 
 patriotism, one essential requisite of which is an 
 enlarged faith in fellow-citizens. All republicans 
 are patriotic, more or less frequently and loftily. 
 If every American will look into himself at the mo 
 ment he is glowing with patriotism, he will find his 
 sectional prejudices melted away and gone, for the 
 season. The Americans feel this in their travels 
 abroad, when their country is attacked. They yearn 
 towards the remotest dwellers in their country as if 
 they were the nearest and dearest. Would they 
 could always feel thus at home, and in the absence 
 of provocation ! 
 
 The most mortifying instance that I witnessed of 
 this sectional prejudice was at Cincinnati. It was 
 
SECTIONAI PREJUDICE. 139 
 
 the most mortifying, on two accounts ; because it 
 did not give way before intercourse ; and because its 
 conseauences are likely to be very serious to the city, 
 and, if it spreads, to the whole west. One may laugh 
 at the untravelled citizen of the south who declares 
 that he knows the New Englanders very well. " How 
 should you know the New Englanders ?" " O, they 
 drive about in our parts sometimes :" " they" 
 meaning the Yankee pedlars with wooden clocks for 
 sale. One may laugh at the simple youth on board a 
 steam-boat on Lake Erie, who warned me not to 
 believe anything the Huron people might tell me 
 against the Sandusky people, because he could tell 
 me beforehand that it was all false, and that the San- 
 dusky people are far better than the Huron people. 
 One may laugh at the contemptuous amazement of^ 
 the Boston lady at my declaration that I liked Cin- 
 cinnati; that wild western place, where she believed 
 people did not sit down to dinner like Christians, 
 All mistakes of this kind, it is clear, might be rec 
 tified by a little travelling. But it is a serious 
 matter to see the travelled gentlemen, the profes 
 sional men of such a place as Cincinnati, setting up 
 their sectional prejudices in one another s way. 
 
 Cincinnati is a glorious place. Few things can 
 be conceived finer than the situation of this magni 
 ficent city, and the beauty by which she is sur 
 rounded. She is enthroned upon a high platform, 
 one of the rich bottoms occurring on the Ohio, 
 which expand the traveller s notions of what ferti 
 lity is. Behind her are hills, opening and closing, 
 receding and advancing ; here glowing with the 
 richest green pasturage, and there crested and rib 
 bed by beeches which seem transplanted from some 
 giant land. Wherever we went among these hills, 
 we found them rounding away from us in some new 
 form of beauty ; in steep grassy slopes, with a run 
 ning stream at the bottom ; in shadowy precipices, 
 
140 SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 
 
 bristling with trees ; in quiet recesses, pierced by 
 sunset lights, shining in among the beechen stems, 
 which spring, unencumbered by undergrowth, from 
 the rich elastic turf. These hill-sides reminded me 
 of the Castle of Indolence, of the quiet paths of 
 Eden, of the shades that Una trod, of Windsor 
 Forest, of all that my memory carried about un 
 dulating wood-lands : but nothing would do ; no 
 description that I am acquainted with is rich enough 
 to answer to what I saw on the Ohio, its slopes, 
 and clumps, and groves. At the foot of these hills 
 runs the river, broad and full, busy with the com 
 merce of the wide West. A dozen steam-boats lie 
 abreast at the wharf, and many more are constantly 
 passing ; some stealing along, unheard so far off, 
 under the opposite bank; others puffing and plough 
 ing along the middle of the stream. Fine, level 
 turnpike-roads branch off from the city among the 
 hills, which open so as to allow a free circulation of 
 air over the entire platform. Cincinnati is the most 
 healthy large city in the United States. The streets 
 are wide ; and the terraces afford fijie situations for 
 houses. The furnishing of the dwellings is as 
 magnificent as the owners may choose to make it ; 
 for commerce with the whole world is carried on 
 from their port. Their vineyards, their conserva 
 tories, their fruit and flower gardens delight the eye 
 in the gorgeous month of June. They have a na 
 tive artist of great genius who has adorned the 
 walls of their houses with, perhaps, the best pic 
 tures I saw in the country. I saw their streets 
 filled with their thousands of free-school children. 
 " These,"" said a lady to me, " are our populace."" 
 I thought it a populace worthy of such a city. 
 There is no need to speak of its long ranges of 
 furnaces, of its shipping, of its incredible commerce 
 in pork, of its wealth and prospects. Suffice it 
 that one of its most respected inhabitants tells that 
 
SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 141 
 
 when he landed in Ohio, less than fifty years ago, 
 it contained fewer than a hundred whites; and buf 
 falo lodged in a cane brake where the city now 
 stands ; while the State at present contains upwards 
 of a million of inhabitants, the city between thirty 
 and forty thousand ; and Cincinnati has four daily, 
 and five or six weekly, newspapers, besides a variety 
 of other periodicals. 
 
 The most remarkable circumstance, and the most 
 favourable, with regard to the peopling of Cincin 
 nati is, that its population contains contributions of 
 almost every element that goes to constitute so 
 ciety ; and each in its utmost vigour. There are 
 here few of the arbitrary associations which exist 
 among the members of other societies. Young 
 men come with their wives, in all directions, from 
 afar ; with no parents, cousins, sects, or parties 
 about them. Here is an assemblage from almost 
 every nation under heaven, a contribution from 
 the resources of almost every country ; and all un 
 burdened, and ready for natural association and 
 vigorous action. Like takes to like, and friend 
 ships are formed from congeniality, and not from 
 accident or worldly design. Yet is there a temper 
 ing of prejudices, a mutual enlightenment, from 
 previous differences of education and habits, dif 
 ference even of country and language. Great force 
 is thus given to any principle carried out into 
 action by the common convictions of differing per 
 sons ; and life is deep and rapid in its course. Such 
 is the theory of society in Cincinnati ; and such is, 
 in some degree, its practice. But here it is that 
 sectional prejudice interferes, to setup arbitrary asso 
 ciations where, of all places, they should be shunned. 
 
 The adventurers who barbarize society in new 
 places, have gone westward ; and, of the full popu 
 lation that remains, above one-fifth are Germans. 
 Their function seems to be, everywhere in the 
 
14*2 SECTIONAL PREJUDICE* 
 
 United States, to develope the material resources 
 of the infant places in which they settle; and the 
 intellectual ones at a more advanced stage. They 
 are the farmers and market-gardeners here. There 
 are many English, especially among the artizans. I 
 saw two handsome white houses, on the side of a 
 hill above the river, with rich ground lots, and ex 
 tensive garden walls. These are the property of 
 two English artizans, brothers, who emigrated a 
 very few years ago. An Englishman, servant to a 
 physician in Cincinnati in 1818, turned pork- 
 butcher; was worth 10,000 dollars when I was there, 
 and is rapidly growing rich. There are many New 
 Englanders among the clergy, lawyers, and mer 
 chants; and this is the portion of society that will not 
 freely mix with the westerners. It is no wonder if the 
 earliest settlers of the place, westerners, are proud of 
 it, and are careful to cherish its primitive emblems 
 and customs. The New Englanders should not take 
 this as an affront to themselves.V^It is also natural 
 enough that the New Englanders should think and 
 speak alike, and be fond of acting together ; and 
 the westerners should not complain of their being 
 clannish.tr I was at a delightful party at the house 
 of one of the oldest inhabitants, where a sprig of 
 the distinctive buck-eye was hung up in the hall, 
 and a buck-eye bowl of lemonade stood on the table. 
 This was peevishly commented upon by some of 
 eastern derivation : but I thought it would have 
 been wiser to adopt the emblem than to find fault 
 with it. Cincinnati has not gone to the eastern 
 people : the eastern people have gone to her. If 
 they have adopted her for their city, they may as 
 well adopt her emblems too, and make themselves 
 westerners at heart, as well as in presence. These 
 discontents may appear trifling ; but they are not 
 so while they impede the furtherance of great ob 
 jects. I was told on the spot that they would be 
 
SECTIONAL PREJUDICE. 143 
 
 very transient ; but I fear it is not so. And yet 
 they would be very transient if the spirited and 
 choice inhabitants of that magnificent city could see 
 their position as it is viewed by people at a dis 
 tance. When I was one day expressing my admi 
 ration, and saying that it was a place for people of 
 ambition, worldly or philanthropic, to live in, one 
 of its noblest citizens said, " Yes, we have a new 
 creation going on here ; won t you come and dabble 
 in the mud ?" If they will but remember that it is 
 a new creation that is going on, and not a fortuit 
 ous concourse of atoms ; that the human will is, or 
 may be, the presiding intelligence ; that centuries 
 hence, their posterity will either bless their me 
 mories with homage like that which is paid to the 
 Pilgrim Fathers, or suffer the retribution which fol 
 lows the indulgence of human passions, all petty 
 jealousies will surely subside, in the prospect which 
 lies before every good man. In a place like Cincin 
 nati, whore every man may gratify his virtuous will, 
 and do, with his own hands, the deeds of a genera 
 tion, feelings should be as grand as the occasion. 
 If the merchants of Genoa were princes, the citizens 
 of Cincinnati, as of every first city of a new region, 
 are princes and prophets at once. They can fore 
 see the future, if they please ; and shape it, if they 
 will : and petty personal regards are unworthy of 
 such a destiny. It is melancholy to see how the 
 crusading chiefs quarrelled for precedence on the 
 soil of the Holy Land : it would be more so to see 
 the leaders of this new enterprise desecrating their 
 higher mission by a like contention. 
 
144 CITIZENSHIP OF 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 CITIZENSHIP OF PEOPLE OF COLOUR: 
 
 Before I entered New England, while I was as 
 cending the Mississippi, I was told by a Boston 
 / gentleman that the people of colour in the New 
 England States were perfectly well-treated; that 
 the children were educated in schools provided for 
 them ; and that their fathers freely exercised the 
 franchise. This gentleman certainly believed he 
 was telling me the truth. That he, a busy citizen 
 of Boston, should know no better, is now as strik 
 ing an exemplification of the state of the case to 
 me as a correct representation of the facts would 
 have been, v There are two causes for his mistake. 
 He was not aware that the schools for the coloured 
 r children in New England are, unless they escape 
 \ by their insignificance, shut up, or pulled down, or 
 \ the school-house wheeled away upon rollers over 
 ) the frontier of a pious State, which will not endure 
 < that its coloured citizens should be educated. He 
 ) was not aware of a gentleman of colour, and his 
 j family, being locked out of their own hired pew in 
 i a church, because their white brethren will not 
 worship by their side. But I will not proceed with 
 an enumeration of injuries, too familiar to Ameri 
 cans to excite any feeling but that of weariness ; 
 and too disgusting to all others to be endured. 
 The other cause of this gentleman"^ mistake was, 
 that he did not, from long custom, feel some things 
 to be injuries, which he would call anything but 
 good treatment, if he had to bear them himself. 
 Would he think it good treatment to be forbidden 
 to eat with fellow -citizens ; to be assigned to a par 
 ticular gallery in his church ; to be excluded from 
 
PEOPLE OF COLOUR. 145 
 
 college, from municipal office, from professions, 
 from scientific and literary associations? If he 
 felt himself excluded from every department of 
 society, but its humiliations and its drudgery, would 
 he declare himself to be " perfectly well-treated in 
 Boston?" Not a word more of statement is 
 needed. 
 
 I A Connecticut judge lately declared on the bench 
 / that he believed people of colour were not consi- 
 1 dered citizens in the laws. He was proved to be 
 >~ wrong. He was actually ignorant of the wording 
 of the acts by which people of colour are termed 
 ritizcns. Of course, no judge could have forgotten 
 this who had seen them treated as citizens : nor 
 could one of the most eminent statesmen and 
 lawyers in the country have told me that it is still 
 a doubt, in the minds of some high authorities, 
 .vhether people of colour are citizens. He is as 
 mistaken as the judge. There has been no such 
 doubt since the Connecticut judge was corrected 
 and enlightened. The error of the statesman arose 
 from the same cause ; he had never seen the co 
 loured people treated as citizens, " In fact," said 
 he, " these people hold an anomalous situation. 
 They are protected as citizens when the public 
 service requires their security; but not otherwise 
 treated as such*" Any comment would weaken 
 this intrepid statement. 
 
 The common argument, ahout the inferiority of 
 the coloured race, bears no relation whatever to 
 this question, They are citizens. They stand, as 
 such, in the law, and in tha acknowledgment of 
 every one who knows the lawfThey are citizens, yet 
 their houses and schools are pulled down, and they 
 can obtain no remedy at law. They are thrust out 
 of offices, and excluded from the most honourable 
 employments, and stripped of all the best benefits 
 of society by fellow-citizens who, once a year, so- 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
146 CITIZENSHIP OF 
 
 lemnly lay their hands on their hearts, and declare 
 that all men are born free and equal, and that 
 rulers derive their just powers from the consent ot 
 the governed, j 
 
 This system of injury is not wearing out. La- 
 fayette,^on his last visit to the United States, ex 
 pressed his astonishment at the increase of the 
 prejudice against colour. He remembered, he 
 said, how the black soldiers used to mess with 
 the whites in the revolutionary war.) The leaders 
 of that war are gone where principles are all, 
 where prejudices are nothing. If their ghosts 
 could arise, in majestic array, before the American 
 nation, on their great anniversary, and hold up 
 before them the mirror of their constitution, in 
 the light of its first principles, where would the 
 people hide themselves from the blasting radiance ? 
 They would call upon their holy soil to swallow 
 them up, as unworthy to tread upon it. But not 
 all. It should ever be remembered that America 
 is the country of the best friends the coloured race 
 has ever had. The more truth there is in the as 
 sertions of the oppressors of the blacks, the more 
 heroism there is in their friends. The greater the 
 excuse for the pharisees of the community, the 
 more divine is the equity of the redeemers of the 
 coloured race. If it be granted that the coloured 
 race are naturally inferior, naturally depraved, 
 disgusting, cursed, it must be granted that it is a 
 heavenly charity which descends among them to 
 give such solace as it can to their incomprehensible 
 existence. As longas the excuses of the one party 
 go to enhance the merit of the other, the society is 
 not to be despaired of, even with this poisonous 
 anomaly at its heart. 
 
 Happily, however, the coloured race is not 
 cursed by God, as it is by some factions of his 
 children. The less clear-sighted of them are par- 
 
PEOPLE OF COLOUR. 147 
 
 donable for so believing. Circumstances, for 
 which no living man is answerable, have generated 
 an erroneous conviction in the feeble mind of man, 
 which sees not beyond the actual and immediate. 
 No remedy could ever have been applied, unless 
 stronger minds than ordinary had been brought 
 into the case. But it so happens, wherever there 
 is an anomaly, giant minds rise up to overthrow it: 
 minds gigantic, not in understanding, but in faith. 
 Wherever they arise, they are the salt of their 
 earth, and its corruption is retrieved. So it is now 
 in America, While the mass of common men and 
 women are despising, and disliking, and fearing, 
 and keeping down the coloured race, blinking the 
 fact that they are citizens, the few of Nature s aris 
 tocracy are putting forth a strong hand to lift up 
 this degraded race out of oppression, and their 
 country from the reproach of it. If they were but 
 one or two, trembling and toiling in solitary energy, 
 the world afar would be confident of their success. 
 But they number hundreds and thousands ; and if 
 ever they feel a passing doubt of their progress, it 
 is only because they are pressed upon by the 
 meaner multitude. Over the sea, no one doubts of 
 their victory. It is as certain as that the risen sun 
 will reach the meridian. Already are there over 
 flowing colleges, where no distinction of colour is 
 allowed ; overflowing, because no distinction of 
 colour is allowed. Already have people of colour 
 crossed the thresholds of many whites, as guests, 
 not as drudges or beggars. Already are they ad 
 mitted to worship, and to exercise charity, among 
 the whites. 
 
 The world has heard and seen enough of the 
 reproach incurred by America, on account of her 
 coloured population. It is now time to look for 
 the fairer side The crescent streak is brightening 
 towards the full, to wane no more. Already is the 
 
 H 2 
 
148 POLITICAL NON-EXISTENCE 
 
 world beyond the sea beginning to think of Ame 
 rica, less as the country of the double-faced pre 
 tender to the name of Liberty, than as the home 
 of the single-hearted, clear-eyed Presence which, 
 under the name of Abolitionism, is majestically 
 passing through the land which is soon to be her 
 throne. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 POLITICAL NON-EXISTENCE OF WOMEN. 
 
 One of the fundamental principles announced in 
 the Declaration of Independence is, that govern 
 ments derive their just powers from the consent of 
 the governed. How can the political condition of 
 women be reconciled with this ? 
 If Governments in the United States have power 
 to tax women who hold property ; to divorce them 
 from their husbands ; to fine, imprison, and exe 
 cute them for certain offences. Whence do these 
 governments derive their powers? They are not 
 I / " just," as they are not derived from the consent of 
 ^ the women thus governed. 
 
 Governments in the United States have power 
 
 to enslave certain women; and also to punish 
 
 , other women for inhuman treatment of such slaves. 
 
 \/ Neither of these powers are "just;" not being 
 
 derived from the consent of the governed. 
 
 Governments decree to women in some States 
 half their husbands property ; in others one-third. 
 In some, a woman, on her marriage, is made to 
 yield all her property to her husband ; in others, 
 to retain a portion, or the whole, in her own hands. 
 Whence do governments derive the unjust power 
 
OF WOMEN. 149 
 
 of thus disposing of property without the consent 
 of the governed i 
 
 The democratic principle condemns all this as 
 wrong ; and requires the equal political represen 
 tation of all rational beings. Children, idiots, and 
 criminals, during the season of sequestration, are 
 the only fair exceptions. 
 
 The case is so plain that I might close it here ; 
 but it is interesting to inquire how so obvious a 
 decision has been so evaded as to leave to women 
 no political rights whatever. The question has 
 been asked, from time to time, in more countries 
 than one, how obedience to the laws can be re 
 quired of women, when no woman has, either ac 
 tually or virtually, given any assent to any law. 
 No plausible answer has, as far as I can discover, 
 been offered ; for the good reason, that no plausible 
 answer can be devised. The most principled de 
 mocratic writers on government have on this sub 
 ject sunk into fallacies, as disgraceful as any advo 
 cate of despotism has adduced. In fact, they have 
 thus sunk from being, for the moment, advocates of 
 despotism. Jefferson in America, and James Mill 
 at liome, subside, for the occasion, to the level of 
 the author of the Emperor of Russia s Catechism 
 for the young Poles. 
 
 Jefferson says,* " Were our State a pure de 
 mocracy, in which all the inhabitants should meet 
 together to transact all their business, there would 
 yet be excluded from their deliberations, 
 
 " 1. Infants, until arrived at years of discretion ; 
 
 " 2. Women, who, to prevent depravation of 
 morals, and ambiguity of issue, could not mix pro 
 miscuously in the public meetings of men ; 
 
 " 3. Slaves, from whom the unfortunate state of 
 things with us takes away the rights of will and of 
 property." 
 
 * Correspondence vol. ir. p. 295. 
 
150 POLITICAL NON-EXISTENCE 
 
 If the slave disqualification, here assigned, were 
 shifted up under the head of Women, their case 
 would be nearer the truth than as it now stands. 
 Woman s lack of will and of property, is more like 
 the true cause of her exclusion from the repre 
 sentation, than that which is actually set down 
 against her. As if there could be no means of 
 conducting public affairs but by promiscuous meet 
 ings ! As if there would be more danger in pro 
 miscuous meetings for political business than in 
 such meetings for worship, for oratory, for music, 
 for dramatic entertainments, for any of the thou 
 sand transactions of civilized life ! The plea is 
 not worth another word. 
 
 Mill says, with regard to representation, in his 
 Essay on Government, " One thing is pretty clear ; 
 that all those individuals, whose interests are in 
 volved in those of other individuals, may be struck 
 off without inconvenience. ... In this light, 
 women may be regarded, the interest of almost all 
 of whom is involved, either in that of their fathers 
 or in that of their husbands." 
 
 The true democratic principle is, that no per 
 son s interests can be, or can be ascertained to be, 
 identical with those of any other person. This 
 allows the exclusion of none but incapables. 
 
 The word " almost," in Mr. Mill s second sen 
 tence, rescues women from the exclusion he pro 
 poses. As long as there are women who have 
 neither husbands nor fathers, his proposition re 
 mains an absurdity. 
 
 The interests of women who have fathers and 
 husbands can never be identical with theirs, while 
 there is a necessity for laws to protect women 
 against their husbands and fathers. This state 
 ment is not worth another word. 
 
 Some who desire that there should be an equa- 
 lr"J of property between men and women, oppose 
 
OF WOMEN. 151 
 
 representation, on the ground that political duties 
 would be incompatible with the other duties which 
 women have to discharge. The reply to this is, 
 that women are the best judges here. God has 
 given time and power for the discharge of all duties ; 
 and, if he had not, it would be for women to decide 
 which they would take, and which they would 
 leave. But their guardians follow the ancient 
 fashion of deciding what is best for their wards. 
 The Emperor of Russia discovers when a coat of 
 arms and title do not agree with a subject prince. 
 The King of France early perceives that the air 
 of Paris does not agree with a free-thinking fo 
 reigner. The English Tories feel the hardship 
 that it would be to impose the franchise on every 
 artizan, busy as he is in getting his bread. The 
 Georgian planter perceives the hardship that free 
 dom would be to his slaves. And the best friends 
 of half the human race peremptorily decide for 
 them as to their rights, their duties, their feelings, 
 their powers. In all these cases, the persons thus 
 eared for feel that the abstract decision rests with 
 themselves ; that, though they may be compelled 
 to submit, they need not acquiesce. 
 
 It is pleaded that half of the human race does 
 acquiesce in the decision of the other half, as to 
 their rights and duties. And some instances, not 
 only of submission, but of acquiescence, there are. 
 Forty years ago, the women of New Jersey went 
 to the poll, and voted, at state elections. The general 
 term, " inhabitants," stood unqualified ; as it will 
 igain, when the true democratic principle comes 
 to be fully understood. A motion was made to 
 correct the inadvertence; and it was done, as a 
 matter of course ; without any appeal, as far as I 
 could learn, from the persons about to be injured. 
 Such acquiescence proves nothing but the degra 
 dation of the injured party. It inspires the 
 
152 POLITICAL NON-EXISTENCE 
 
 emotions of pity as the supplication of the freed 
 slave who kneels to his master to restore him to 
 slavery, that he may have his animal wants sup 
 plied, without being troubled with human rights 
 and duties. Acquiescence like this is an argument 
 which cuts the wrong way for those who use it. 
 
 But this acquiescence is only partial ; and, to 
 give any semblance of strength to the plea, the 
 acquiescence must be complete. I, for one, do 
 not acquiesce. I declare that whatever obedience 
 I yield to the laws of the society in which I live is 
 a matter between, not the community and myself, 
 but my judgment and my will. Any punishment 
 inflicted on me for the breach of the laws, I should 
 regard as so much gratuitous injury : for to those 
 laws I have never, actually or virtually, assented. 
 I know that there are women in England who agree 
 with me in this I know that there are women in 
 America who agree with me in this. The plea of 
 acquiescence is invalidated by us. 
 
 It is pleaded that, by enjoying the protection of 
 some laws, women give their assent to all. This 
 needs but a brief answer. Any protection thus 
 conferred is, under woman s circumstances, a boon 
 bestowed at the pleasure of those in whose power 
 she is. A boon of any sort is no compensation 
 for the privation of something else ; nor can the 
 enjoyment of it bind to the performance of any 
 thing to which it bears no relation. Because I, 
 by favour, may procure the imprisonment of the 
 thief who robs my house, am J, unrepresented, 
 therefore bound not to smuggle French ribbons ? 
 The obligation not to smuggle has a widely dif 
 ferent derivation. 
 
 I cannot enter upon the commonest order of 
 pleas of all; those which relate to the virtual 
 influence of woman ; her swaying the judgment and 
 will of man through the heart ; and so forth. One 
 
OF WOMEN. 153 
 
 might as well try to dissect the morning mist. I 
 knew a gentleman in America who told me how 
 much rather he had be a woman than the man 
 he is ; a professional man, a father, a citizen. He 
 would give up all this for a woman s influence. I 
 thought he was mated too soon. He should have 
 married a lady, also of rny acquaintance, who would 
 not at all object to being a slave, if ever the blacks 
 should have the upper hand ; " it is so right that 
 the one race should be subservient to the other !" 
 Or rather, I thought it a pity that the one could 
 not be a woman, and the other a slave ; so that 
 an injured individual of each class might be exalted 
 into their places, to fulfil and enjoy the duties and 
 privileges which they despise, and, in despising, 
 disgrace. 
 
 The truth is, that while there is much said 
 about " the sphere of woman," two widely different 
 notions are entertained of what is meant by the 
 phrase. The narrow, and, to the ruling party, the 
 more convenient notion is that sphere appointed 
 by men, and bounded by their ideas of propriety ; 
 <{ a notion from which any and every woman may 
 I fairly dissent. The broad and true conception is 
 j of the sphere appointed by God, and bounded 
 i by the powers which he has bestowed. This com- 
 \mands the assent of man and woman ; and only 
 \he question of powers remains to be proved. 
 
 That woman has power to represent her own 
 interests, no one can deny till she has been tried. 
 The modes need not be discussed here : they 
 must vary with circumstances. The fearful and 
 absurd images which are perpetually called up to 
 perplex the question, images of women on wool 
 sacks in England, and under canopies in America, 
 have nothing to do with the matter. The prin 
 ciple being once established, the methods will 
 follow, easily, naturally, and under a remarkable 
 
 H5 
 
154 POLITICAL NON-EXISTENCE OF WOMEN. 
 
 transmutation of the ludicrous into the sublime. 
 The kings of Europe would have laughed mightily, 
 two centuries ago, at the idea of a commoner, 
 without robes, crown, or sceptre, stepping into the 
 throne of a strong nation. Yet who dared to laugh 
 when Washington s super-royal voice greeted the 
 New World from the presidential chair, and the 
 
 > old world stood still to catch the echo ? 
 
 \ The principle of the equal rights of both halves 
 
 } of the human race is all we have to do with here. 
 
 { It is the true democratic principle which can never 
 seriously controverted, and only for a short time 
 evaded. Governments can derive their just powers 
 only from the consent of the governed. 
 
155 
 
 PART IT. 
 
 ECONOMY. 
 
 * That them s^vest them they gather. Thou openest thine 
 hand ; they are filled with good." 
 
 104th Psalm. 
 
 THE traveller from the Old World to the New is 
 apt to lose himself in reflection when he should be 
 observing. Speculations come in crowds in the 
 wilderness. He finds himself philosophizing with 
 every step he takes, as luxuriously as by his 
 study fireside, or in his rare solitary walk at 
 home. 
 
 In England, everything comes complete and 
 finished under notice. Iach man may be aware 
 of some one process of formation, which it is his 
 business to conduct; but all else is presented to 
 him in its entireness. The statesman knows what 
 it is to compose an act of parliament ; to proceed 
 from the first perception of the want of it, through 
 the gathering together of facts and opinions, the 
 selection from these, the elaborating, adjusting, 
 moulding, specifying, excluding, consolidating, till 
 it becomes an entire something, which he throws 
 down for parliament to find fault with. When it 
 is passed, the rest of society looks upon it as a 
 
156 ECONOMY. 
 
 whole, as a child does upon a table or a doll, 
 without being aware of any process of formation. 
 The shoemaker, thus, takes his loaf of bread, and 
 the clock that ticks behind his door, as if they 
 came down from the clouds as they are, in return 
 for so much of his wages ; and he analyzes nothing 
 but shoes. The baker and watchmaker receive 
 their shoes in the same way, and analyze nothing 
 but bread and clocks. Too many gentlemen and 
 ladies analyze nothing; at all. If better taught, 
 and introduced at an early age into the world of 
 analysis, nothing, in the whole course of educa 
 tion, is probably so striking to their minds. They 
 begin a fresh existence from the day when they 
 first obtain a glimpse into this new region of dis 
 covery. 
 
 Such an era is the traveller s entrance upon the 
 wilder regions of America. His old experience is 
 all reversed. He sees nothing of art in its entire- 
 ness; but little of nature In her instrumentality. 
 Nature is there the empress, not the handmaid. 
 Art is her inexperienced page, and no longer the 
 Prospero to whom she is the Ariel. 
 
 It is an absorbing thing to watch the process of 
 world-making; both the formation of the natural 
 and the conventional world. I witnessed both in 
 America ; and when I look back upon it now, it 
 seems as if I had been in another planet. I saw 
 something of the process of creating the natural 
 globe in the depths of the largest explored cave in 
 the world. In its depths, in this noiseless work 
 shop, was Nature employed with her blind and dumb 
 agents, fashioning mysteries which the earthquake 
 of a thousand years hence may bring to light, to 
 give man a new sense of the shortness of his life. 
 I saw something of the process of world-making 
 behind the fall of Niagara, in the thunder cavern, 
 where the rocks that have stood for ever tremble 
 
ECONOMY. 157 
 
 to their fall amidst the roar of the unexhausted 
 floods. I stood where soon human foot shall stand 
 no more. Foot-hold after foot-hold is destined to 
 be thrown down, till, after more ages than the 
 world has yet known, the last rocky barrier shall 
 be overpowered, and an ocean shall overspread 
 countries which are but just entering upon civi 
 lized existence. Niagara itself is but one of the 
 shifting scenes of life, like all of the outward that 
 we hold most permanent. Niagara itself, like the 
 systems of the sky, is one of the hands of Nature s 
 clock, moving, though too slowly to be perceived 
 by the unheeding, still moving, to mark the lapse 
 of time. Niagara itself is destined to be as the 
 traditionary monsters of the ancient earth a giant 
 existence, to be spoken of to wondering ears in 
 studious hours, and believed in from the sole evi 
 dence of its surviving grandeur and beauty. 
 While I stood in the wet whirlwind, with the crys 
 tal roof above me, the thundering floor beneath, 
 and the foaming whirlpool and rushing flood before 
 me, I saw those quiet, studious hours of the future 
 world when this cataract shall have become a tra 
 dition, and the spot on which I stood shall be the 
 centre of a wide sea, a new region of life. This 
 was seeing world-making. So it was on the Mis 
 sissippi, when a sort of scum on the waters beto 
 kened the birth-place of new land. All things 
 help in this creation. The cliffs of the upper 
 Missouri detach their soil, and send it thousands 
 of miles down the stream. The river brings it, 
 and deposits it, in continual increase, till a barrier 
 is raised against the rushing waters themselves. 
 The air brings seeds, and drops them w r here they 
 sprout, and strike downwards, so that their roots 
 bind the soft soil, and enable it to bear the weight 
 of new accretions. The infant, forest, floating, as 
 it appeared, on the surface of the turbid and ra~ 
 
158 ECONOMY 
 
 pid waters, may reveal no beauty to the painter ; 
 but to the eye of one who loves to watch the pro 
 cess of world-making, it is full of delight. These 
 islands are seen in every stage of growth. The 
 cotton- wood trees, from being like cresses in a pool, 
 rise breast-high ; then they are like the thickets, 
 to whose shade the alligator may retreat; then, 
 like groves that bid the sun good-night, while he 
 is still lighting up the forest ; then like the forest 
 itself, with the wood- cutter s house within its 
 screen, flowers springing about its stems, and the 
 wild-vine climbing to meet the night breezes on 
 its lofty canopy. This was seeing world-making. 
 Here was strong instigation to the exercise of analysis. 
 One of the most frequent thoughts of a specu 
 lator in these wildernesses, is the rarity of the 
 chance which brings him here to speculate. The 
 primitive glories of nature have, almost always 
 since the world began, been dispensed to savages ; 
 to men who, dearly as they love the wilderness, 
 have no power of bringing into contrast with it the 
 mind of man, as enriched and stimulated by culti 
 vated society. Busy colonists, pressed by bodily 
 wants, are the next class brought over the thresh 
 old of this temple : and they come for other pur 
 poses than to meditate. The next are those who 
 would make haste to be rich ; selfish adventurers, 
 who drive out the red man, and drive in the black 
 man, and, amidst the forests and the floods, think 
 only of cotton and of gold. Not to such alone 
 should the primitive glories of nature be dis 
 pensed ; glories which can never be restored. The 
 philosopher should come, before they are effaced, 
 and find combinations and proportions of life and 
 truth which are not to be found elsewhere. The 
 painter should come, and find combinations and 
 proportions of visible beauty which are not to be 
 found elsewhere. The architect should come, and 
 
ECONOMY. 159 
 
 find suggestions and irradiations of bis art which 
 are not to be found elsewhere. The poet should 
 come, and witness a supremacy of nature such as 
 he imagines in the old days when the world s 
 sires came forth at the tidings of the rainbow in the 
 cloud. The chance which opens to the medita 
 tive the almost untouched regions of nature, is a 
 rare one ; and they should not be left to the vanish 
 ing savage, the busy and the sordid, 
 
 I watched also the progress of conventional life. 
 I saw it in every stage of advancement, from the 
 clearing in the woods, where the settler, carrying 
 merely his axe, makes his very tools, his house, his 
 fireplace, his bed, his table ; carves out his fields, 
 catches from among wild or strayed animals his 
 farm stock, and creates his own food, warmth, and 
 winter light, from primitive life like this, to that 
 of the highest finish, which excludes all thought of 
 analysis. 
 
 The position or prospects of men in a new coun 
 try may best be made intelligible by accounts of 
 what the traveller saw and heard while among 
 them. Pictures serve the purpose better than re 
 ports. I will, therefore, give pictures of some of 
 the many varieties of dwellers that I saw, amidst 
 their different localities, circumstances, and modes 
 of living. No one of them is aware how vivid an 
 idea he impresses on the mind of humanity; nor 
 how distinct a place he fills in her records. No 
 one of them, probably, is aware how much happier 
 he is than Alexander, in having before him more 
 worlds to conquer. 
 
 My narratives, or pictures, must be but a few 
 selected from among a multitude. My chapter 
 would extend to a greater length than any old no- 
 * vel, if I were to give all I possess. 
 \ The United States are not only vast in extent : 
 1 they are incbtimably ricTTin material wealth. There 
 
160 ECONOMY. 
 
 are fisheries and granite quarries along the nor 
 thern coasts ; and shipping from the whole com 
 mercial world within their ports. There are tan 
 neries within reach of their oak w r oods, and manu 
 factures in the north from the cotton growth of the 
 south. There is unlimited w r ealth of corn, sugar 
 cane and beet, hemp, flax, tobacco, and rice. There 
 are regions of pasture land. There are varieties 
 of grape for wine, and mulberries for silk. There 
 is salt. There are mineral springs. There is mar 
 ble, gold, lead, iron, and coal. There is a chain of 
 mountains, dividing the great fertile western valley 
 from the busy eastern region which lies between 
 the mountains and the Atlantic. These mountains 
 yield the springs by which the great rivers are to 
 be fed for ever, to fertilize the great valley, and 
 be the vehicle of its commerce with the world. 
 Out of the reach of these rivers, in the vast breadth 
 of the north, lie the great lakes, to be likewise the 
 servants of commerce, and to afford in their fishe 
 ries the means of life and luxury to thousands. 
 These inland seas temper the climate, summer and 
 winter, and insure health to the heart of the vast 
 continent. Never w r as a country more gifted by 
 nature. 
 
 f It is blessed also in the variety of its inhabitants. 
 However it may gratify the pride of a nation to be 
 descended from one stock, it is ultimately better 
 that it should have been compounded from many na 
 tions. The blending of qualities, physical and in 
 tellectual, the absorption of national prejudices, 
 the increase of mental resources, will be found in 
 the end highly conducive to the elevation of the na 
 tional character. America will find herself largely 
 blessed in this way, however much she may now 
 complain of the immigration of strangers. She 
 complains of some for their poverty ; but such T 
 bring a will to work, and a capacity for labour. She v 
 
ECONOMY 161 
 
 complains of others for their coming from countries 
 governed by a despotism ; but it is the love of free 
 dom which they cannot enjoy at home, that brings 
 such. She complains of others that they keep up 
 their national language, manners, and modes of 
 thinking, while they use her privileges of citizen 
 ship. This may appear ungracious ; but it pro 
 ceeds from that love of country and home institu 
 tions which will make staunsh American patriots 
 of their children s children. It is all well. The 
 New England States may pride themselves on 
 their population being homogeneous, while that 
 of other States is mongrel. It is well that sta 
 bility should thus have been temporarily provided 
 for in one part of the Union, which should, for the 
 season, be the acknowledged superior over the 
 rest : but, this purpose of the arrangement having 
 been fulfilled, New England may perhaps hereafter 
 admit, what some others see already, that, if she 
 inherits many of the virtues of the Pilgrims, she 
 requires fortifying in others ; and that a large rein 
 forcement from other races would help her to 
 throw off the burden of their inherited faults. 
 / There can scarcely be a finer set of elements 
 the composition of a nation than the United 
 States now contain. It will take centuries to fuse 
 them ; and by that time, pride of ancestry, vanity 
 of physical derivation, -will be at an end. The 
 ancestry of moral qualities will be the only pedi 
 gree preserved ; and of these every civilized nation 
 under heaven /possesses an ample, and probably an 
 equal, share./ Let the United States then cherish 
 their indiistriWs Germans and Dutch ; their hardy 
 Irish; their intelligent Scotch; their kindly Afri 
 cans, as well as the intellectual Yankee, the insou 
 ciant Southerner, and the complacent Westerner. 
 All are good in their way ; and augment the mo- 
 
16*2 ECONOMY. 
 
 ral value of their country, as diversities of soil, cli 
 mate, and productions, do its material wealth. 
 
 Among the most interesting personages in the 
 United States, are the .Solitaries; solitary fami 
 lies, not individuals. Europeans, who think it 
 much to lodge in a country cottage for six weeks in 
 the summer, can form little idea of the life of a 
 solitary family in the wilds. I did not see the most 
 sequestered, as I never happened to lose my way 
 in the forests or on the prairies : but I witnessed 
 some modes of life which realized all I had con 
 ceived of the romantic, or of the dismal. 
 
 One rainy October day, I saw a settler at work 
 in the forest^ on which he appeared to have just 
 entered. His clearing looked, in comparison with 
 the forest behind him, of about the size of a pin 
 cushion. He was standing, up to the knees in 
 water, among the stubborn stumps, and charred 
 stems of dead trees. He was notching logs with 
 his axe, beside his small log -hut and stye. There 
 was swamp behind, and swamp on each side ; a 
 pool of mud around each dead tree, which had 
 been wont to drink the moisture. There was a 
 semblance of a tumble-down fence: no orchard 
 yet ; no grave-yard ; no poultry ; none of the graces 
 of fixed habitation had grown up. On looking 
 back to catch a last view of the scene, I saw two 
 little boys, about three and four years old, leading a 
 horse home from the forest ; one driving the ani 
 mal behind with an armful of bush, and the other 
 reaching up on tiptoe to keep his hold of the 
 halter; and both looking as if they would be 
 drowned in the swamp. If the mother was watch 
 ing from the hut, she must have thought this 
 strange dismal play for her little ones. The hard 
 working father must be toiling for his children ; 
 for the success of his after life can hardly atone to 
 
ECONOMY. ] 63 
 
 him for such a destitution of comfort as I saw him 
 in the midst of. Many such scenes are passed 
 on every road in the western parts of the States. 
 They hecome cheering when the plough is seen, or 
 a few sheep are straggling on the hill side, seeming 
 lost in space. 
 
 One day, at Niagara, I had spent hours at the 
 Falls, till, longing for the stillness of the forest, I 
 wandered deep into its wild paths, meeting no 
 thing hut the belled heifer, grazing, and the slim, 
 clean swine which live on the mast and roots they 
 can find for themselves. I saw some motion in a 
 thicket, a little way from the path, and went to see 
 what it was. I found a little boy and girl, work 
 ing away, by turns, with an axe, at the branches of 
 a huge hickory, which had been lately felled. 
 " Father " had felled the hickory the day before, 
 and had sent the children to make faggots from the 
 branches. They were heated and out of breath. 
 I had heard of the toughness of hickory, and 
 longed to know what the labour of wood-cutting 
 really was. Here was an irresistible opportunity for 
 an experiment. I made the children sit down on 
 the fallen tree, and find out the use of my ear- 
 trumpet, while I helped to make their faggot. 
 When 1 had hewn through one stout branch, I was 
 quite sufficiently warmed, and glad to sit down to 
 hear the children s story. Their father had been a 
 weaver and a preacher in England. He had brought 
 out his wife and six children. During the week, 
 he worked at his land, finding some employment or 
 another for all of his children who could walk 
 alone ; and going some distance on Sundays to 
 preach. This last particular told volumes. The 
 weaver has not lost heart over his hard field-la 
 bour. His spirit must be strong and lively, to 
 enable him to spend his. seventh day thus, after 
 plying the axe for six. The children did not seem 
 
164 ECONOMY. 
 
 to know whether they liked Manchester or the 
 forest best ; but they looked stout and rosy. 
 
 They, however, were within reach of church and 
 habitation; buried, as they appeared, in the depths 
 of the woods. I saw, in New Hampshire, a family 
 who had always lived absolutely alone, except when 
 an occasional traveller came to their door, during 
 the summer months. The old man had run away 
 with his wife, forty-six years before, and brought 
 her to the Red Mountain, near the top of which 
 she had lived ever since. It was well that she nicir- 
 ried for love, for she saw no one but her husband 
 and children, for many a long year after she jumped 
 out of her window, in her father s house, to run 
 away. 
 
 Our party, consisting of four, was in the humour 
 to be struck with the romance of the domestic his 
 tory of the old man of the mountain, as the guide is 
 called. We had crossed Lake Winnepisseogee, the 
 day before, and watched from our piazza, at Cen 
 tre Harbour, the softening of the evening light over 
 the broad sheet of water, and the purple islands 
 that rested upon it. After dark, fires blazed forth 
 from the promontories, and glimmered in the 
 islands ; every flaming bush and burning stem being 
 distinctly reflected in the grey mirror of the waters. 
 These fires were signs of civilization approaching 
 the wild districts on which we were entering. Land 
 on the lake shores has become very valuable; and 
 it is being fast cleared. 
 
 We were to have set off very early on our moun 
 tain expedition, next day; but the morning was 
 misty, and we did not leave Centre Harbour till 
 near eight ; nearly an hour and a half after break 
 fast. We were in a wagon, drawn by the horses on 
 which the two ladies were to ascend the mountain 
 from the guide s house. The sky was grey, but 
 promising; for its curtains were rising at the other 
 
ECONOMY. 165 
 
 end of the lake, and disclosing ridge after ridge of 
 pines on the mountain side. The road became very 
 rough as we began to ascend ; and it was a wonder 
 to me how the wagon could be lifted up, as it was, 
 from shelf to shelf of limestone. One shelf sloped 
 a little too much, even for our wagon. Its line of 
 direction was no longer within the base, as children 
 are taught at school that it should be. All the 
 party, except myself, rolled out. The driver, 
 sprawling on his back on a terribly sharp eminence 
 of limestone, tugged manfully at the reins, and 
 shouted, " Whoi-ee" as cheerfully as if he had been 
 sitting on a cushion, in his proper place. He was 
 not a man to desert his duty in an extremity. He 
 was but little hurt, and nobody else at all. 
 
 The wagon was left here, and we ascended a 
 mile, a steep path, among woods and rocks, to the 
 guide s little farm ; plunging into a cloud, just be 
 fore we reached the house. It was baking day ; 
 and we found the old dame, with a deaf and dumb 
 daughter, one of three deaf, busy among new 
 bread, pies, and apples. Strings of apples hung 
 against the walls ; and there was every symptom of 
 plenty and contentment within and without doors. 
 The old dame might have been twin sister to Juliet s 
 nurse. She was delighted to have an opportunity 
 of using her tongue, and was profuse in her invita 
 tions to us to stay, to come again, to be sociable. 
 The exercise she takes in speaking must be one 
 cause of her buxom health. Out of a pantomime, 
 I never saw anything so energetic as her action ; 
 the deafness of her children being no doubt the 
 cause of this. She seemed heartily proud of them ; 
 the more, evidently, on account of their singularity. 
 She told us that the daughter now at home had 
 never left it. " Her father could not spare her to 
 school ; but I could have spared her." What a life 
 of little incidents magnified must their s be ! Aw 
 
166 ECONOMY. 
 
 one of my companions observed, the bursting of a 
 sboe, or the breaking of a plate, must furnish talk 
 for a week. The welcome discovery was made that 
 \ve had a mutual acquaintance. A beloved friend 
 of mine had ascended the mountain some weeks 
 before, and had followed her usual practice of carry 
 ing away all the hearts she found there. The old 
 dame spoke lovingly of her as " that Liza ;" and 
 she talked about her till she had seen my foot into 
 the stirrup, and given me her blessing up the 
 mountain. 
 
 The path was steep, and the summit bare. 
 There was an opening for a single moment on our 
 arrival ; the mist parted and closed again, having 
 shown us what^a view there was beneath us of green 
 mountains, ant! blue ponds, and wooded levels. We 
 were entertained for some time with such glimpses ; 
 more beautiful perhaps than an unrestricted vision. 
 Such revelations take away one s breath. When 
 all was misty again, we amused ourselves with 
 gathering blue-berries, which grew profusely under 
 foot. The old man, too, was ready with any infor 
 mation we desired about himself; and with abund 
 ance of anecdotes of summer travellers, to whom he 
 had acted as guide. 
 
 He was a soldier of the revolution ; and at its 
 close, retired hither, with his bride, among bears 
 and deer. There are no deer left ; and he killed 
 nineteen bears with his own hand : the last, thirty- 
 five years before. One of them was nearly the 
 death of him. A shot which he intended to be 
 mortal was not so. The wounded bear chased him ; 
 and there was nothing to be done but to run round 
 and round a tree, loading his gun, while the bear 
 was at his heels, blowing foam and blood upon him. 
 He fired over his shoulder, and dispatched his pur 
 suer. He told us, when the curtain of mist finally 
 drew up, the opinions of learned men whom he had 
 
ECONOMY. 167 
 
 conducted hither, about this mountain having once 
 been an island in the midst of a vast lake. He 
 pointed out how it is, even now, nearly surrounded 
 by waters ; Long Pond, Lake Winnepisseogee, and 
 Squam Lake. The two last are so crowded with 
 islands that the expression of the water is broken 
 up. The islands lie in dark slips upon the gleamy 
 surface, dividing it into too many pond-like portions. 
 But the mountain horizon was altogether beautiful. 
 Some had sharp peaks, some notched ; the sides of 
 some were bare, with traces of tremendous slides : 
 others, green as the spring, with wandering sun 
 gleams and cloud shadows. I found myself much 
 mistaken in my fancy that I did not care for bird s- 
 eye views. 
 
 The dame was looking out for us when we de 
 scended, anxious to detain us for more talk, and to 
 make us bearers of a present to " that Liza." She 
 hung some strings of her drying apples over the arm 
 of a gentleman of the party, with the utmost faith that 
 he would take care of them all the way to Boston. 
 He kindly received them ; and I can testify that he 
 did his best to make them reach their destination. 
 It was kindness well bestowed ; for no doubt it was 
 a winter luxury of the good dame s to fancy our 
 mutual friend enjoying her Red Mountain apple 
 sauce. The sending a present to Boston must be 
 a rare event to dwellers in such a solitude. 
 
 Not many miles from this place, stands a de 
 serted dwelling whose inhabitants lived in a deeper 
 solitude, and perished all in one night, far from hu 
 man aid. No house stands within many miles of it, 
 even now. I had heard the story before I saw the 
 place; but I had no idea of the difference between 
 listening to a sad tale, and seeing the spot of which 
 it is told. In a deep narrow valley among the 
 White Mountains, lived a family of the name of 
 Willey. Their dwelling was a comfortable log- 
 
1 68 ECONOMY. 
 
 house, on a green platform, at the foot of one of the 
 steepest mountains. There were but few travellers 
 among these mountains in their day ; but those few 
 were kindly welcomed : and the cheerful host and 
 hostess, and their comely children, were always well 
 spoken of. On "a stormy August night, 1826, a 
 tremendous slide came crashing down the mountain 
 side, at the rear of the house. If the family had 
 remained in their chambers, they would have been 
 safe : a rock at the edge of the green platform, be 
 hind the dwelling, parted the slide, so that the grassy 
 plot remained untouched, a bright island in the 
 midst of the desolation. The family, to the num 
 ber of nine, were overwhelmed, and all perished. 
 The bodies of seven were found. The bones of the 
 other two are doubtless buried under the slide, 
 where rank verdure and young trees are growing 
 up, as if trying to efface the horrors of the wreck. 
 The scene must have been dreadful to those who 
 first arrived at the spot, after the event. The house, 
 safe on its grass plot ; its door standing wide ; the 
 beds and clothes of the family showing that they 
 had sprung up from sleep, and so fled from the only 
 place where they would have been safe ; no one 
 there; a deadly silence brooding over the quiet 
 spot, and chaotic desolation around; it is no 
 wonder that the house remains deserted, and the 
 valley untenanted. 
 
 Some miles further on, the traveller may witness 
 what comfortable cheer may be afforded by dwel 
 lers in the wilderness. All travellers in the White 
 Mountains know Ethan A. Crawford s hospitality. 
 He cannot be said to live in solitude, inasmuch 
 as there is another house in the valley : but every 
 body is aware how little sociability there is between 
 two dwellers in a lonely place. One may enjoy life 
 there ; and several may get on well; but two never: 
 and Ethan Crawford s is a virtual solitude, except 
 
ECONOMY. 
 
 for three months in the year. The fate of the Wil- 
 leys was uppermost in our minds when we arrived ; 
 and we were little prepared for such entertainment 
 as we found. After a supper of fme lake trout, a 
 son of our host played to us on a nameless instru 
 ment, made by the joiners who put the house to 
 gether, and highly creditable to their ingenuity. It 
 was something like the harmonica in form, and the 
 bagpipes in tone ; but, well-played as it was by the 
 boy, it was highly agreeable. Then Mr. Crawford 
 danced an American jig, to the fiddling of a rela 
 tion of his. The dancing was somewhat solemn ; 
 but its good faith made up for any want of mirth. 
 He had other resources for the amusement of his 
 guests : a gun wherewith he was wont to startle the 
 mountain echoes, till, one day, it burst : (leaving 
 nothing for us to do but to look at the fragments :) 
 also, a horn, which, blown on a calm day, brings a 
 chorus of sweet responses from the far hill sides, 
 Retirement in such a valley, and with such re 
 sources as Ethan Crawford s, is attractive enough 
 to the passing traveller ; and, to judge by the coun 
 tenance of the host, anything but dispiriting te 
 those who have made trial of it. 
 
 No solitude can be more romantic than that at 
 the mouth of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky ; so 
 called, not because any mammoth-bones have been 
 *bund there, but because it is the largest explored 
 t^ave in the world. I was told, not only by the 
 guides, but by a gentleman who is learned in caves, 
 that it can be travelled through, in different direc 
 tions, to the extent of sixty miles. We could not 
 think of achieving the entire underground journey; 
 but we resolved to see all we could ; and, for thai 
 purpose, preferred devoting the half of two days to 
 *he object, to one entire day, the weariness of which 
 would probably curtail our rambles. After a most 
 Interesting and exciting journey of nearly two nights 
 
 vor i. i 
 
170 ECONOMY. 
 
 and a day from Nashville, Tennessee, our party, con 
 sisting of four, arrived at Bell s hotel, twelve miles 
 from the cave, at half -past seven, on a bright May 
 morning. We slept till one o clock, and then set off 
 in a stage and four for the cave. My expectations 
 had been so excited, that every object on the road 
 seemed to paint itself on my very spirit ; and I now 
 feel as if I saw the bright hemp fields, the oak 
 copses, the gorgeous wild flowers, and clear streams, 
 running over their limestone beds, that adorned our 
 short journey. 
 
 The house at the cave stands on the greenest 
 sward that earth and dews can produce ; and it 
 grows up to the very walls of the dwelling. The 
 well, with its sweep, a long pole, with a rope and 
 bucket at one end, laid across the top of a high post, 
 this primitive well, on the same plot of turf, and 
 the carriage in which two travellers young men 
 had just arrived, were the only occupiers of the 
 grass, besides the house. We lost no time in pro 
 ceeding to the cave. The other party of travellers 
 and the guides carried lamps, and grease to trim 
 them with; an ample supply of both ; for the guides 
 know something of the horrors of being left in dark 
 ness in the mazes of a cave. We went down a steep 
 path into a glen, from which the golden sunlight 
 seemed reflected, as from water ; so bright was the 
 May verdure. The guides carried our cloaks; 
 which seemed to us very ridiculous ; for we were 
 panting with the heat. But, when we had wound 
 down to the yawning, shadowy cave, with its dia 
 mond drips and clustering creepers about the 
 entrance, a blast of wintry wind gushed from it, and 
 chilled our very hearts. I found it possible to stand 
 on one foot, and be in the midst of melting heat ; 
 and leaning forward on the other, to feel half frozen. 
 The humming birds must be astonished, when they 
 flit across the entrance, to meet winter in the middle 
 
ECONOMY. 171 
 
 of the glen, and emerge into summer again on the 
 other side. 
 
 The entrance of the cave serves as an ice-house 
 to the family of the guide. They keep their meat 
 there, and go to refresh themselves when relaxed 
 by the heat. The temperature is delightful, after 
 the first two or three minutes ; and we were glad to 
 leave our cloaks by the way side. The ladies tied 
 handkerchiefs over their heads, and tucked up their 
 gowns for the scramble over the loose limestone ; 
 looking thereby very picturesque, and not totally 
 unlike the witches in Macbeth. The gleom, the 
 echo of the footsteps, the hollow sound of voices, 
 the startling effect of lights seen unexpectedly in a 
 recess, in a crevice, or high overhead, these im 
 pressions may be recalled in those who have wan 
 dered in cave?, but can never be communicated to 
 those who have not. It is in vain to describe a 
 cave. Call it a chaos of darkness and rocks, with 
 wandering and inexplicable sounds and motions, and 
 all is done. Everything appears alive : the slowly 
 growing stalactites, the water ever dropping into 
 the plashing pool, the whispering airs, all seem 
 conscious. The coolness, vastness, suggestions of 
 architecture, and dim disclosures, occasion different 
 feelings from any that arc known under the lights 
 of the sky. The air in the neighbourhood of the 
 waterfall was delicious to breathe ; and the pool 
 was so clear that I could not, for some time, see the 
 water, in a pretty full light. That Rembrandt 
 light on the drip of water, on the piled rocks, and 
 on our figures, light swallowed up before it could 
 reach the unseen canopy under which we stood, can 
 never be forgotten. Milton s lake of fire might 
 have brought the roof into view : nothing less. 
 
 The young guides, brothers, were fine dashing 
 youths, as Kentucky youths are. They told us 
 some horrible tales, and one very marvellous story 
 
172 ECONOMY. 
 
 about darkness and bewilderment in the labyrinth 
 of the cave. They told us (before they knew that 
 any of us were English) that " all the lords and 
 lights of England had been to see the cave, except 
 the king." While they were about it, they might 
 as well have included his majesty. Perhaps they 
 have, by this time ; good stories being of very rapid 
 growth. They reported that ladies hold on in the 
 cave better than gentlemen. One of the party sup 
 posed this was because they were lighter ; but the 
 guide believed it was owing to their having more 
 curiosity. 
 
 I was amused at their assurances about the num 
 ber of miles that we had walked ; and thought it as 
 good a story as any they had told us : but, to my 
 utter amazement, I found, on emerging from the 
 cave, that the stars were shining resplendently down 
 into the glen, while the summer lightning was qui 
 vering incessantly over the " verdurous wall" which 
 sprang up to a lofty height on either hand. There 
 seemed to be none of the coolness of night abroad. 
 A breathless faintness came over us on quitting the 
 freshness of the cave, and taught us the necessary 
 caution of resting awhile at the entrance. 
 
 Supper was ready when we returned; and then the 
 best room was assigned to the three ladies, while the 
 gentlemen were to have the loft. We saw the stars 
 through chinks in our walls; but it was warm May, 
 and we feared no cold. Shallow tin-pans, milk- 
 pans, I believe, were furnished to satisfy our re 
 quest for ewer and basin. The windows had blinds 
 of paper-hanging ; a common sort of window-blind 
 at hotels, and in country places. Before it was light, 
 I was wakened by a strong cold breeze blowing upon 
 me ; and at dawn, I found that the entire lower 
 half of the window was absent. A deer had leaped 
 through it, a few weeks before; and there had been 
 no opportunity of mending it. But everything was 
 
ECONOMY. 173 
 
 elean ; everybody was obliging ; the hostess was 
 motherly ; and the conclusion that we came to in 
 the morning was that we had all slept well, and 
 were ready for a second ramble in the cave. 
 
 We saw, this day, the Grotto and the Deserted 
 Chamber. Few visitors attempt the grotto, the 
 entrance to it being in one part only a foot and a 
 half high. We were obliged, not only to go On 
 hands and knees, but to crawl lying flat. Jt is a 
 sensation worth knowing, to feel oneself impri 
 soned in the very heart of a mountain, miles from 
 the sun-light, and with no mode of escape but the 
 imperceptible hole which a child might block up in 
 five minutes. Never was there a more magnificent 
 prison or sepulchre. Whether the singularity of 
 our modu- of access magnified to our eyes the beau 
 ties we had thereby come into the midst of, or 
 whethel Nature does work most con aniare in re 
 tired places, this grotto seemed to us all by far the 
 most beautiful part of the cave. The dry .sandy 
 floor was pleasant to the tread, after the loose lime 
 stone ; the pillars were majestic ; the freaks of na 
 ture most wild and elegant. The air was so fresh 
 and cool lhat, if only a Rosier ucian lamp could be 
 hung in this magnificent chamber, it would be the 
 place of all others in which to spend the sultry sum 
 mer s day, entering when the beauties of the sun 
 rise had given place to glare, and issuing forth at 
 the rising of the evening star. 
 
 On our way to the Deserted Chamber, we cut off 
 ; -alt a mile by a descent through a crevice, and a 
 re-ascent by another. We were presently startled 
 by the apparition of two yellow stars, at what ap 
 peared an immeasurable distance. In this cave, I 
 was reminded, after a total forgetfulness of many 
 years, of the night-mare visitations of my childhood ; 
 especially of the sense of infinite distance, which 
 used to terrify me indescribably. Here, too, the 
 
174 ECONOMY. 
 
 senses and the reason were baulked. Thos 
 yellow stars might have been worlds, many millions 
 of miles off in space, or, what they were, two 
 shabby lamps, fifty yards off. A new visitor had 
 arrived ; and the old man of the solitary house had 
 brought him down, in hopes of meeting our larger 
 party. One of the gentlemen presently slipped on 
 the loose stones, and fell into a hole, with his back 
 against a sharp rock ; and he seemed at first unable 
 to rise. This was the only misadventure we had ; 
 and it did not prove a serious one. He was some 
 what shaken and bruised, and rendered unwilling 
 to go with the rest to the Bottomless Pit: but there 
 was no eventual injury. He and I staid in the 
 Deserted Chamber, while our companions disap 
 peared, one by one, through a crevice, on their way 
 to the pit The dead silence, and the glimmer of 
 our single lamp, were very striking ; and we were 
 more disposed to look round upon the low-roofed 
 apartment, piled with stones as far as the eye could 
 reach, than to talk. I tried to swallow a piece of 
 bread or cake, very like a shoe-sole, and speculated 
 upon these piles of stones ; by whose hand they 
 were reared, and how long ago. There is much cane 
 doubtless, once used for fuel scattered about 
 the deeper recesses of the cave ; and these stones 
 were evidently heaped up by human hands ; and 
 those not Indian. It is supposed that this cave 
 was made use of by that mysterious race which ex 
 isted before the Indians, and .of which so many curi 
 ous traces remain in the middle States of the West; 
 a race more civilized, to judge by the works of their 
 hands, than the Indians have ever been; but of 
 which no tradition remains. 
 
 Our party returned safe, and refreshed by a 
 draught of water, better worth having than my 
 luncheon of bread. When we left the cave, our 
 guides insisted upon it that we had walked, this 
 
ECONOMY. - 175 
 
 morning, ten of eleven miles. I pronounced it four. 
 Others of the party said seven ; and the point re 
 mains unsettled. We all agreed that it was twice 
 as much as we could have accomplished in the heat 
 ahove ground ; and perhaps the most remarkable 
 walk we had ever taken in our lives. Our hostess 
 was with us the whole time ; and it was amusing 
 to sec in her the effect of custom. She trod the 
 mazes of this cave just as people do the walks of 
 their own garden. 
 
 The gush of sun-light pouring in at the mouth of 
 the cave, green and soft, as we emerged from the 
 darkness, was exquisitely beautiful. So was the 
 foliage of the trees, after the rigid forms which had 
 been printing themselves upon our eye-sight for so 
 many hours. As we sat at the entrance, to accus 
 tom ourselves to the warm outward air, I saw, 
 growing high in the steep woods, the richest of 
 kahnias, in full bloom. One of the gentlemen ran 
 to bring me some ; and when it came, it was truly 
 a feast to the eye. How apt are we to look upon 
 all things as made for us ! How many seasons has 
 this kalmia bloomed ? 
 
 We were truly sorry to bid farewell to our mo 
 therly hostess, and her " smart" sons. Theirs is a 
 singular mode of life ; and it left nearly as vivid an 
 impression on our minds as their mighty neighbour, 
 the cave. If any of us should ever happen to be 
 banished, and to have a home to seek, I fancy we 
 should look out for a plot of green sward, among 
 flowering kalmias, near the mouth of an enormous 
 cave, with humming birds flitting about it by day, 
 and fire-flies and summer lightning by night. 
 
 In strong contrast in my mind with such a scene 
 as this, stands a gay encampment in the wilderness, 
 at which I soon after arrived. The watering places 
 
 the Virginia mountains are as new and" ""* 
 
176 ECONOMY. 
 
 striking a spectacle as the United States can afford; 
 The journeyings of those who visit them are a per- 
 petual succession of contrasts. I may as well give 
 the whole journey from Cincinnati to the eastern 
 base of the Alleghanies. 
 
 We left Cincinnati at noon on the 25th of June : 
 as sultry a summer s day as ever occurs on the 
 Ohio, The glare was reflected from the water 
 with a blinding and scorching heat ; and feather 
 fans were whisking all day in the ladies cabin of 
 pur steam-boat Hot as it was, I could not remain 
 in the shady cabin. The shores of the Ohio are so 
 beautiful, that I could not bear to lose a single 
 glimpse between the hills. It is holiday-travelling 
 to have such a succession of pictures as I saw there 
 made to pass noiselessly before one s eyes. There 
 were the children running among the gigantic trees 
 on the bank, to see the boat pass ; the girl with 
 her milk-pail, half way up the hill; the horseman 
 on the ridge, or the wagoner with his ox-team 
 pausing on the slope. Then there was the flitting 
 blue jay under the cool shadow of the banks ; the 
 butterflies crossing the river in zig-zag flight ; the 
 terrapins (small turtle) floundering in the water, 
 with their pert little heads above the surface ; and 
 the glancing fire-flies every night. 
 
 On the afternoon of this day, we were met by the 
 storm which swept over the whole country, and 
 which will be remembered as having caused the 
 death of the son of Chief-Justice Marshall, at Balti 
 more, on his way to his dying father. I watched, 
 from the deck, the approach of the storm. First, 
 the sky, above the white clouds, was of a dark grey, 
 which might have been mistaken for the deep blue 
 of twilight. Then a mass of black clouds came 
 hurrying up below the white. Then a flash escaped 
 from out of the upper grey, darting perpendicularly 
 into the forest ; and then another, exploding like 
 
ECONOMY. 177 
 
 the four rays of a star. I saw the squall coming in 
 a dark line, straight across the river. Our boat 
 was hurried under the bank to aw; 1 it it . The burst 
 was furious ; a roaring gust, and a flood of rain, 
 which poured in under our cabin door, close shut 
 as it was. All was nearly as dark as night for a 
 while, and all silent but the elements. Then the 
 day seemed to dawn again ; but loud peals of thun 
 der lasted long, and the lightning was all abroad in 
 the air. Faint flashes now wandered by ; and now 
 a brilliant white zig-zag quivered across the sky. 
 One splendid violet-coloured shaft shot straight 
 down into the forest; and I saw a tall tree first blaze 
 and then smoulder at the touch. A noble horse 
 floated by, dead and swollen. When we drew out 
 into the middle of the river, it was as if spring had 
 come in at the heels of the dog-days ; all was so cool 
 and calm. 
 
 S* The company on board were of the lowest class 
 \we ever happened to meet with in our travels. They 
 twere obliging enough ; as everybody is throughout 
 Hhe country, as far as my experience goes; but 
 otherwise they were no fair specimens of American 
 manners. One woman excited my curiosity from, 
 the beginning; but I entertained a much more 
 agreeable feeling towards her when we parted, after 
 several days travelling in company. Her first deed 
 was to ask where we were going ; and her next, to 
 take my book out of my lap, and examine it. Much 
 of the rest of her time was occupied in dressing her 
 hair, which was, notwithstanding, almost as rough 
 as a negro s. She wore in her head a silver comb, 
 another set with brilliants, and a third, an enor 
 mous tortoisesheil, so stuck in, on one side, as to 
 remind the observer, irresistibly, of a unicorn. She 
 pulled down her hair in company, and put it up 
 again, many times in a day, whenever, as it seemed 
 to me, she could not think of anything else to be 
 
 i 5 
 
178 ECONOMY. 
 
 doing. Her young companion, meantime, sat rub 
 bing her teeth with dragon-root. The other cabin 
 company seemed much of the same class. I was 
 dressing in my state room between four and five 
 the next morning, when an old lady, who was pre 
 sently going ashore, burst in, and snatched the one 
 tumbler glass from my hand. She was probably as 
 much amazed at my having carried it out of sight 
 as I was at her mode of recovering it. 
 
 I loved the early morning on the great rivers, and 
 therefore rose at dawn. I loved the first grey 
 gleams that came from between the hills, and the 
 bright figures of people in white, (the men all in 
 linen jackets in hot weather,) on the banks. I 
 loved to watch the river craft; the fussy steamer 
 making rapid way ; the fairy canoe shooting silently 
 across ; the flat-boat, with its wreath of blue srnoke, 
 stealing down in the shadow of the banks, her navi 
 gators helping her along in the current by catching 1 
 at the branches as they passed ; and the perilous 
 looking raft, with half-a-dozen people on it, under 
 their canopy of green boughs, their shapeless floor 
 bending and walloping in the middle of the stream. 
 I loved the trees, looking as if they stood self- 
 poised, their roots were washed so bare. I love;! 
 the dwellings that stood behind their screen, those 
 on the eastern bank seeming fast asleep; those on 
 the western shore gay with the flickering shadows 
 cast on them by the breezy sunrise through the 
 trees. 
 
 On passing Catletsburgh we bade adieu to glorious 
 Kentucky. At that point, our eyes rested on three 
 sovereign. States at one glance, Ohio, Kentucky, and 
 Virginia. We landed at Guyandot, and proceeded 
 by stage the next morning to Charleston, on the Ka- 
 nawha river. The road,, all the way to the Springs, 
 is marvellously good for so wild a part of the country. 
 The bridges over the streams are, some of then:, 
 
ECONOMY. 1 79 
 
 prettily finished; and the accommodations by the 
 road side are above the average. The scenery is 
 beautiful the whole way. We were leaving the 
 great Western Valley ; and the road offered a suc 
 cession of ascents and levels. There were many 
 rivulets and small waterfalls ; the brier-rose was in 
 full bloom along the ground ; the road ran half wav 
 up the wooded hills, so that there were basins of 
 foliage underneath, the whole apparently woven 
 into so compact a mass by the wild vine, that it 
 seemed as if one might walk across the valley on 
 the tree tops. The next day s dawn broke over 
 the salt works and coal pits, or rather caverns cf 
 coal, on the hill sides. The corn was less tall and 
 rich, the trees were less lofty, and it was apparent 
 that we were mounting to a higher region. It oc 
 curred to me, in a careless kind of way, that we 
 \vere now not very far from the Hawk s Nest. 
 Some ladies in the Guyandot Hotel had said to me, 
 " Be sure you see the Hawk s Nest." " What is 
 that ?" " A place that travellers can see if they 
 choose ; the driver always stops a few minutes to 
 let them see the Hawk s Nest." I had never 
 heard of it before, and I never heard of it again. 
 The world is fairly awakened to Niagara; but it is 
 still drowsy about two scenes which moved me 
 the one more than Niagara, the other nearly as 
 much; the platform at Pine Orchard House, on 
 the top of the Catshills, and the Hawk s Nest. 
 
 The last of the Kanawha River, as we bade adieu 
 to it on the 28th of June, was smooth and sweet, 
 with its islets of rocks, and the pretty bridge by 
 which we crossed the Gauley, and entered upon the 
 ascent above New River. The Gauley and the 
 New River join to make the Kanawha. The as 
 cent of the mountains above New River is trying 
 to weak nerves. The horses have to stop, here and 
 there, to rest ; and it appears that if they were to 
 
180 ECONOMY. 
 
 back three steps, it would be death. The road ? 
 however, is really broad, though it appears a mere 
 ledge when the eye catches the depth below, where 
 the brown river is rushing and brawling in its 
 rocky bed. A passenger dropped his cap in the 
 steepest part, and the driver made no difficulty 
 about stopping to let him recover it. What a 
 depth it was ! like the dreamy visions of one s 
 childhood of what winged messengers may first 
 learn of man s dwelling-place, when they light on 
 a mountain-top; like Satan s glimpses from the 
 Mount of Soliloquy ; like any unusual or forbidden 
 peep from above into the retirements of nature, or 
 the arrangements of man. On our left rose the 
 blasted rocks which had been compelled to yield 
 us a passage ; but their aspect was already softened 
 by the trails of crimson and green creepers which 
 were spreading over their front. The unmeasured 
 pent-house of wild vine was still below us on the 
 right, with rich rhododendron blossoms bursting 
 through, and rock-plants shooting up from every 
 ledge and crevice at the edge of the precipice. 
 After a long while,* (I have nothing to say of time 
 or distance, for I thought of neither,) a turn in the 
 road shut out the whole from our sight. I leaned 
 out of the stage, further and further, to catch, as I 
 supposed, a last glimpse of the tremendous valley ; 
 and when I drew in again, it was with a feeling of 
 deep grief that such a scene wa::> to be beheld by 
 me no more. I saw a house, a comfortable home 
 stead, in this wild place, with its pasture and corn 
 fields about it ; and I longed to get out, and ask the 
 people to let me live with them. 
 
 In a few minutes the stage stopped. "If any of 
 
 the passengers wish to go to the Hawk s Nest " 
 
 shouted the driver. He gave us ten minutes, and 
 pointed with his whip to a beaten path in the 
 wood to the rifflit. It seems to me now that 
 
ECONOMY. 1ST 
 
 I was unaccountably cool and careless about it. I 
 was absorbed by what I had seen, or I might have 
 known, from the direction we were taking, that we 
 were coming out above" the river again. We had not 
 many yards to go. We issued suddenly from the 
 covert of the wood, upon a small platform of rock ; 
 a Devil s Pulpit it would be called, if its present name 
 were not so much better; a platform of rock, spring 
 ing from the mountain side, without any visible sup 
 port, and looking sheer down upon an angle of the 
 roaring river, between eleven and twelve hundred 
 feet below. Nothing whatever intervenes. Spread 
 out beneath, shooting up around, are blue mountain 
 peaks, extending in boundless expanse. No one, 
 I believe, could look down over the edge of this airy 
 shelf, but for the stunted pines which are fast rooted 
 in it. With each arm clasping a pine-stem, I looked 
 over, and saw more, I cannot but think, than the 
 world has in reserve to show me. 
 
 It is said that this place was discovered by Chief 
 Justice Marshall, when, as a young man, he was 
 surveying among the mountains. But how many 
 Indians knew it before? How did it strike the 
 mysterious race who gave place to the Indians? 
 Perhaps one of these may have stood there to see 
 the summer storm careering below ; to feel that his 
 foothold was too lofty to be shaken by the thunder 
 peals that burst beneath ; to trace the quiverings 
 of the lightnings afar, while the heaven was clear 
 above his own head. Perhaps this was the stand 
 chosen by the last Indian, from which to cast his 
 lingering glance upon the glorious regions from 
 which the white intruders were driving his race. 
 If so, here he must have pined and died, or hence 
 he must have cast himself down. I cannot conceive 
 that from this spot any man could turn away, to go 
 into exile. But it cannot be that Marshall was 
 more than the earliest of Saxon race who discovered 
 
182 ECONOMY. 
 
 this place. Nature s thrones are not left to be 
 first mounted by men who can be made Chief Jus 
 tices. We know not what races of wild monarchs 
 may have had them first. 
 
 We travelled the rest of the day through an Al 
 pine region, still full of beauty. The road is so 
 new that the stopping places seemed to have no 
 names. The accommodations were wonderfully 
 good. At eleven we reached a place where we 
 were allowed, not only to sup, but to lie down for 
 two hours ; a similar mercy to that afforded us the 
 night before. Those who are impatient of fatigue 
 should not attempt this method of reaching the 
 Virginia Springs, though they are much to be 
 pitied if they adopt any other. Our first re-en 
 trance upon the world was at Lewisburg, at noon, 
 on the 29th. It appears to be a neat village. The 
 militia were parading: very respectable men, I 
 do not doubt, but not much like soldiers. In a 
 quarter of an hour we were off for the White Sul 
 phur Springs, nine miles (of dusty road) from Lew 
 isburg, and arrived there at half-past two, just as 
 the company were dispersing about the walks, after 
 dinner. 
 
 Nothing could be more striking than the con 
 trast between our stage-coach society and that 
 which was thronging the green area into which we 
 were driven. We were heated, wearied, shabby, 
 and all of one dust colour, from head to foot, and, I 
 doubt not, looking very sheepish under the general 
 stare. Every body else was gay and spruce, and at 
 full leisure to criticise us. Gentlemen in the pi 
 azza in glossy coats and polished pumps ; ladies in 
 pink, blue, and white, standing on green grass, 
 shading their delicate faces and gay head-dresses 
 under parasols ; never was there a more astonish 
 ing contrast than all this presented with what wo 
 had been seeing of late. *The friends who wer.a 
 
KCOXOJIY. 183 
 
 expecting us, however, were not ashamed of us, 
 and came bounding over the green to welcome U3, 
 and carry us within reach of refreshment. 
 
 It was doubtful whether " a cabin" could be 
 spared to us. We were fortunate in being so fa 
 voured as to be put in possession of one in the 
 course of the afternoon. Several carriages full of 
 visitors arrived within a few days, each with its load 
 of trunks, its tin pail dangling behind (wherewith 
 to water the horses in the wilderness) and its 
 crowd of expecting and anxious faces at the win 
 dows, and were turned back to seek a resting-place 
 elsewhere. That we were accommodated at all, I 
 believe to this day to be owing to some secret self- 
 denying ordinance on the part of our friends. 
 
 On one side of the green, are the large rooms,- 
 in which the company at the Springs dine, play 
 cards, and dance. Also, the bar-room, and stage, 
 post,* and superintendent s offices. The cabins are 
 disposed round the other sides, and dropped down, 
 in convenient situations behind. These cabins 
 consist of one, two, or more rooms, each containing 
 a bed, a table, a looking-glass, and two or three 
 chairs. All company is received in a room with a 
 bed in it : there is no help for it. The better 
 cabins have a. piazza in front ; and all have a back 
 door opening upon the hill side; so that the attend 
 ants, and their domestic business, are kept out of 
 sight. 
 
 The sulphur fountain is in the middle of the 
 southern end of the green ; and near it is the sul 
 phur bathing-house. The fountain rises in the 
 midst of a small temple, which is surmounted by a 
 statue of Hygeia, presented to the establishment by 
 a grateful visitor from New Orleans. 
 
 The water, pure and transparent, and far more 
 agreeable to the eye than to the taste, forms a pool 
 in its octagon-shaped cistern; and hither the 
 
184 ECONOMY. 
 
 visitors lounge, three times a day, to drink their 
 two or three half-pint tumblers of nauseousness. 
 
 I heard many complaints, from new-comers, of 
 the drowsiness caused by drinking the water. Some 
 lay down to sleep more than once in the day ; and 
 others apologised for their dulness in society; by 
 this is only a temporary effect, if one may judge t 
 the activity visible on the green from morning th, 
 night. One of the greatest amusements was to 
 listen to the variety of theories afloat about the 
 properties and modes of application of the waters. 
 
 These springs had been visited only about fifteen 
 years. No philosophising on cases appears to have 
 been instituted: no recording, classifying, inferring, 
 and stating. The patients come from distances of 
 a thousand miles in every direction, with a great 
 variety of complaints ; they grow better or do .not ; 
 they go away, and nobody is the wiser for their 
 experience. It would be difficult to trace them, 
 and to make a record of anything more than their 
 experience while on the spot. The application of 
 these waters will probably continue for a long timo 
 to be purely empirical. All that is really known 
 to the patients themselves is, that they are first 
 sleepy, then ravenous ; that they must then leave 
 the White Sulphur Spring, and go to the Warm 
 Springs, to be bathed ; then to the Sweet Springs, 
 to be braced ; and then home, to send all their 
 ailing friends into Virginia next year. 
 
 Upwards of two hundred visitors were accommo 
 dated when I was in the White Sulphur Valley : 
 and cabins were being built in all directions. The 
 valley, a deep basin among the mountains; presents 
 such beauties to the eye, as perhaps few watering- 
 places in the world can boast. There has been no 
 time yet to lay them open, for the benefit of the in 
 valids; but there are plans for the formation of 
 walks and drives through the woods, and along the 
 
ECONOMY. 185 
 
 mountain sides. At present, all is wild, beyond 
 the precincts of the establishment; and, for the 
 pleasure of the healthy, for those who can mount, 
 and ramble, and scramble, it seems a pity that it 
 should not remain so. The mocking-bird makes 
 the woods ring with its delicious song ; and no hand 
 has bridged the rapid streams. If you want to 
 cross them, you must throw in your own stepping- 
 stones. If you desire to be alone, you have only 
 to proceed from the gate of the establishment to 
 the first turn in the road, force your way into the 
 thicket, and look abroad from your retreat upon as 
 sweet and untouched a scene of mountain and val 
 ley as the eye of the red man loves to rest upon. 
 The gentlemen who are not invalids go out shoot 
 ing in the wilderness. A friend of mine returned 
 from such an expedition, the day after my arrival. 
 He brought home a deer ; had been overtaken by a 
 storm in the mountains, and had, with his compa 
 nions, made a house and a fire. Such amusements 
 would diversify the occupations of Bath and Chel 
 tenham very agreeably. 
 
 The morning after our arrival, we were too weary 
 to be roused by the notice bell, which rings an hour 
 before every meal; and we were ready only just in 
 time for the last bell. Breakfast is carried to the 
 cabins, if required; but every person who is able pre 
 fers breakfasting in company. On rainy mornings, 
 it is a curious sight to see the company scudding 
 across the green to the public-room, under umbrel 
 las, and in cloaks and india-rubber shoes. Very 
 unlike the slow pace, under a parasol, in a July 
 sun. 
 
 There was less meat on the table at breakfast 
 and tea than I was accustomed to see. The bread 
 and tea were good. For the other eatables there 
 is little to be said. It is a table spread in the wil 
 derness ; and a provision of tender meat and juicy 
 
ISO ECONOMY. 
 
 vegetables for two or three hundred people is not 
 to be had for the wishing. The dietary is sure to 
 be improved, from year to year ; the most that is 
 to be expected at present is, that there should be 
 enough for everybody. The sum paid for board 
 per week is eight dollars ; and other charges may 
 make the expenses mount up to twelve. Pitchers 
 of water and of milk may be seen, at every meal, 
 all down the tables ; little or no wine. 
 
 The establishment is under the management 
 of the proprietor, who has been offered 500,000 
 dollars for it, that it may be conducted by a 
 company of share-holders, who would introduce 
 the necessary improvements. When I was there, 
 the proprietor was still holding off from this bar 
 gain, the company not being willing to continue to 
 him the superintendence of the concern, I hope 
 that arrangements, satisfactory to all parlies, may 
 have been made by this time. The average gross 
 receipts of a season were reported to bo 50,000 
 dollars. It was added that these might easily be 
 doubled, if all were done that might be. 
 
 Rheumatism and liver complaints seemed the 
 most common grievances. Two little girls, per 
 haps four and five years old, sat opposite to me, 
 who were sufferers from rheumatism. But the visi 
 tors who came for pleasure seemed to outnumber 
 considerably those who came for health. 
 
 After breakfast, we sauntered about the green, and 
 visited various new acquaintances in their piazzas. 
 Then we went home for our bonnets, and rambled 
 through the woods, till we were sent back by the 
 rain, and took shelter beside the fountain. The 
 effect was strange of seeing there a family of emi 
 grants, parents Tmd nine children, who were walk 
 ing from North Carolina into Illinois. There must 
 have been tvans among these children, so many of 
 them looked just alike. The contrast between this 
 
ECONOMY. J87 
 
 group of way-worn travellers, stopping out of curi 
 osity to taste the waters, and the gay company 
 among whom they very properly held up their in 
 dependent heads, was striking to a stranger. 
 
 We dined at two ; and afterwards found that a 
 fire would be comfortable, though it was the last 
 day of June. As many friends as our room would 
 hold came home with us, and sat on the bed, table, 
 and the few chairs we could muster, while one 
 made the wood fire, and another bought .ice 
 creams, which a country lad brought to the door. 
 These ice-creams seemed to be thin custard, with 
 a sprinkling of snow in it ; but the boy declared 
 that they were ice-creams when he left home. 
 When we had finished our dessert, washed and re 
 turned the glasses, and joked and talked till the 
 new-comers of our party grew ashamed of their 
 drowsiness, we crossed the green to diversify the 
 afternoon amusements of certain of our friends. 
 Some \vcre romping with their dogs; some reading 
 books brought by themselves ; (for there is no li 
 brary yet:) some playing at chess or backgammon; 
 all deploring the yam. 
 
 After tea, we stormed the great scales, and our 
 whole party were individually weighed. It must be 
 an interesting occupation to the valetudinarians of 
 the place to watch their own and each others * 
 weight, from day to day, or from week to week. 
 For my part, I found my weight just what it always 
 has been, the few times in my life that I have re 
 membered to ascertain it. Such unenviable per 
 sons can never make a pursuit of the scales, as 
 others can whose gravity is more discriminating. 
 From the scales, we adjourned to the ball-room, 
 where I met friends and acquaintances from Mobile 
 and New Orleans ; saw new-comers from the Caro- 
 linas and Georgia; was introduced to personages of 
 note from Boston ; recognized some whom I had 
 
188 ECONOMY. 
 
 known at Philadelphia ; and sat between two gen 
 tlemen who had fought a duel. There was music, 
 dancing, and refreshments; laughing and flirting 
 here ; grave conversation there ; all the common 
 characteristics of a ball, with the added circum 
 stances that almost every State in the Union was 
 here represented ; and that we were gathered to 
 gether in the heart of the mountains. 
 
 One more visit remained to be paid this day. 
 We had promised to look in upon some friends who 
 were not at the ball, in order to try the charms and 
 virtues of egg-nogg, which had been lauded to us 
 by an eminent statesman, who has had opportunity, 
 during his diplomatic missions, to learn what there 
 is best in this world. The egg-nogg having been 
 duly enjoyed, we at length . went home, to write 
 letters as long as we could hold up our heads, after 
 so extremely busy a day : a day which may be 
 considered a fair specimen of life at the White Sul 
 phur Springs. 
 
 One of the personages whom I referred to as low 
 company, at the beginning of my story, declared 
 himself in the stage-coach to be a gambler, about 
 to visit the Springs for professional purposes* He 
 said to another man, who looked fit company for 
 him, that he played higher at faro than any man in 
 the country but one. These two men slept while 
 we were mounting to the Hawk s Nest. People 
 who pursue their profession by night, as such peo 
 ple do, must sleep in the day, happen what may. 
 They were rather self-important during the jour 
 ney; it was a comfort to see how poor a figure they 
 cut at the Springs. They seemed to sink into the 
 deepest insignificance that could be desired. Such 
 persons are the pests of society in the south and 
 west ; and they are apt to boast that their profes 
 sion is highly profitable in the eastern cities. I fear 
 this is no empty vaunt. 
 
ECONOMY. 189 
 
 We left the White Sulphur Springs, a party of 
 six, in " an extra exclusive return stage," and with 
 two saddle horses. Nothing could be more promis* 
 ing. The stage was perfectly new, having been 
 used only to bring General C and his lady from 
 Philadelphia to the Springs. We had a shrewd and 
 agreeable Yankee driver, for the whole way. The 
 weather was as fine as July weather ought to be ; 
 and as cool as is its wont near the tops of mountains: 
 the very weather for the saddle, or for having the 
 stage open on all sides ; or for walking. The alter 
 nations were frequently tried. Roses and mountain 
 laurels adorned our road ; the breezy woods cast 
 their shadows over us ; and we remembered what 
 waters were springing beneath us; that we were 
 passing over the sources of the mighty rivers of the 
 West, which we had lately navigated with deep awe 
 and delight. The few dwellings we passed were 
 almost all houses of entertainment; but nothing 
 could be more quiet than their air, nestling as they 
 did in the most enviable situations, and resem 
 bling more the lodges in the avenues of the parks 
 of English gentry than the hotels of the high road. 
 
 We reached the Sweet Springs, twelve miles, I 
 believe, from the White Sulphur, at half-past two. 
 We were as hungry as mountain travellers should 
 be, and dinner was over. However, we were soon 
 set down to hot stewed venison, beet, hominy, ham, 
 and fruit pies ; and, thus reinforced, we issued forth 
 to examine the place. The spring at the bath 
 house looked so tempting, that I resolved to bathe 
 at sun-down, which, in this valley, would be at five 
 o clock. The establishment here is inferior to 
 the one we had left. The green was not paled in ; 
 the cabins were more shabby; the dining-room 
 smaller. We had it almost to ourselves. The sea 
 son had not begun, few having been yet sufficiently 
 sulphured and bathed elsewhere to come here to be 
 
190 ECONOMY. 
 
 braced. The water is a little warm; it has a sligot 
 briskness; and bubbles up prettily in its well under 
 the piazza. The luxury is to have nothing to do 
 with its disa^eeable taste, but to bathe in it, as it 
 gushes, tepid, from its spout. It would be worth 
 while, if there were nothing but trouble in crossing 
 the mountains to get to it. The Sweet Springs lie 
 in one of the highest valleys of the Alleghanies, and 
 one of the fairest. Five times that afternoon did I 
 climb the steep breezy slope behind our cabin, 
 bringing first one of our party, then another, 
 to look abroad ; and then returning to enjoy the 
 sun-set alone. The crowds of blue peaks, the 
 bright clearings, the clumps of forest trees, lilac 
 in the sunset, with the shepherds lying in their 
 shadow, and the sheep grazing on the sunny slopes, 
 the cluster of cabins below, with their thin smokes 
 rising straight into the golden air, the whole 
 looked as if the near heavens had opened to let 
 down a gush of their inner light upon this high 
 region. Never shall I forget those tufty purple 
 hills. Cold twilight came on ; and we sat round a 
 blazing wood fire, telling ghost and murder stories 
 till we could have declared it was a Christmas 
 night. 
 
 At supper, I observed a hale, brisk, intellectual- 
 looking gentleman who satisfied himself with a 
 basin of liquid; as he did at breakfast the next morn 
 ing ; and as he may be seen to do at every meal he 
 takes. He told us his story. Twenty years before, 
 he nearly closed his oesophagus by taking too 
 powerful an emetic. For twenty years, he has had 
 no illness ; he rises at dawn all the year round, and 
 has never been known to be low-spirited for two 
 minutes. We all began to think of living upon 
 liquids ; but I have not heard of any of the party 
 having proceeded beyond the suggestion. 
 
 We rose at five, the next morning, having thirty 
 
ECONOMY. 191 
 
 mountain miles to go during the day, \vith the 
 same horses. It must not be supposed that this 
 mountain travelling is scrambling among craggy 
 peaks, piercing through dark denies, and so forth. 
 The roads wind so gently among the slopes, that 
 a sleeping or blind traveller would not discover that 
 the carriage was not, for the greater part of the 
 time, proceeding on level ground. Woody slopes 
 at hand, and a crowd of blue summits afar, are the 
 most characteristic features of the scenery. A 
 white speck of a house, on its tiny green clearing, 
 comes into sight, high up among the hills, from a 
 turn in the road, and the traveller says to himself, 
 " What a perch to live on !" In two hours, he stops 
 at that very house to dine, not being aware how he 
 has got up to it, and looking round with wonder 
 on the snug comforts of the homestead. 
 
 Our thirty miles of this day were delicious. 
 Having breakfasted, we bade adieu, at half-past six, 
 to the Sweet Springs, steaming in the bitter cold 
 morning air, and followed a gentleman of our party 
 who had proceeded on foot to the top of the 
 first ridg<3. There we found him, sitting under a 
 tree, having succeeded in warming himself by the 
 walk. Up the second ridge, the whole party 
 walked, I having started off, ahead of the rest. It 
 was warm, and I stopped, here and there, to rest 
 and gather wild flowers. The rhododendrons and 
 kalmias grew in profusion; and there were plenty 
 of roses, the fine orange columbine of the hills, 
 vetches, and a few splendid scarlet lilies. The 
 peeps down into abysses of foliage were glorious ; 
 and, yet more, the cloudlike expanse of mountain 
 tops, growing bluer and fainter till they faded quite 
 away. A steep road on an opposite mountain was 
 the only sign of humanity being near. On the sum 
 mit, however, there was a small farm. In it lived 
 sin elderly woman, who had never been further from 
 
192 ECONOMY. 
 
 the spot than eight miles. If she was born to 
 travel no further than eight miles, no better dwell 
 ing place could have been assigned her ; for hence 
 she sees more at a glance, any sunset, than some, 
 with all means of locomotion, have ever beheld. 
 
 It was a strange feeling, the beginning to de 
 scend. It was strange to cross, soon after, the 
 path of the tornado. I had seen something of its 
 ravages before, on the banks of the Cumberland 
 river : the stoutest forest-trees wrenched and twist 
 ed, like red-hot iron in the vice of the blacksmith; 
 and snapped off, all at the same height ; so that 
 the forest looked like a gigantic scorched stubble- 
 field. Here, a similar desolation was seen in im 
 mediate contrast with the rich fertility of the little 
 valley beneath. The hurricane had seared a path 
 for itself up the mountain side, passing over the 
 lowly roofs in the depths, We arrived to dinner 
 at a house on Barber Creek, where we entreated to 
 be fed without delay, on anything whatsoever that , 
 was eatable ; as time was precious, this day. Yet 
 were we kept waiting two hours and a half. I found 
 much to do by the creek side watching the minnows 
 making their way up against the current ; watching 
 two girls who had set up their washing establish 
 ment in pretty style under a tree beside the water; 
 their wood fire, black cauldron, and stand of tubs ; 
 while the bushes stood round about to be used 
 as drying horses. I also actually saw a hog volun 
 tarily walk three times through the clear water; 
 and the delay of the dinner afforded time for specu 
 lation whether the race was not improving. When 
 the dinner was on the table, no one of us could tell 
 what it consisted of. The dish from which I ate 
 was, according to some, mutton; to others, pork: 
 my own idea is that it was dog. Whatever it was, 
 it was at last done with, and paid for, and I was in 
 my saddle, listening to the creek as it rattled under 
 
ECONOMY. 193 
 
 the grey rocks. Having crossed one mountain top 
 on foot, in the morning, I was about to pass another 
 on my horse this afternoon. There is no describing 
 what it is to be pacing upwards, on the extreme edge 
 of the steep road, with one s feet hanging over the 
 green abyss ; the shadowy mountains retreating, 
 advancing, interlacing, opening, to disclose a low 
 far-off bit of meadow, with a diminutive dwelling, 
 quiet as a lonely star. What blessed work road- 
 making must be in such places ! It was with no 
 little pleasure that, after fourteen miles from Barber 
 Creek, I saw a fine house on an eminence; and 
 then the town of Fincastle, spread out below us, on 
 some rising grounds. 
 
 The scenes of the day left me little disposed for 
 sociability in the evening. We were kept waiting 
 long for supper, by the arrival of a party of New 
 Yorkers ; to avoid an introduction to whom, some of 
 us pretended to read, and some to be asleep, while 
 others did our duty, talk. The night closed in 
 worthily. From the balcony of my chamber, I saw- 
 how modestly the young moon eyed with me the 
 region which will be spread before her for ever, but 
 which I was looking back upon for the last time. 
 
 Here I must break off; and, instead of adding 
 another description of the Natural Bridge to the 
 hundred which exist, bring into contrast with life 
 at the Virginia Springs, life in a New England 
 farm-house. 
 
 Nothing can be quieter or more refreshing, after 
 a winter s visiting at Boston or New York, than 
 such an abode in a country village as I made trial 
 of last May. The weeks slipped away only too 
 fast. Dr. and Mrs. F., their little boy, six years 
 old, and myself, were fortunate enough to prevail 
 with a farmer s widow at Stockbridge, Massa- 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
1 94 ECONOMY. 
 
 chusetts, to take us into her house. The house was 
 conspicuous from almost every part of the sweet 
 valley into which it looked; the valley of the Hou- 
 satonic. It was at the top of a steep hill ; a sort of 
 air palace. From our parlour windows we could 
 see all that went on in the village ; and I often found 
 it difficult to take off my attention from this kind 
 of spying. It was tempting to trace the horseman s 
 progress along the road, which wound among the 
 meadows, and over the bridge. It was tempting to 
 watch the neighbours going in and out, and the 
 children playing in the courts, or under the tall elms; 
 all the people looking as small and busy as ants upon 
 a hillock. On week-days there was the ox-team in 
 the field ; and on Sundays the gathering at the 
 church-door. The larger of the two churches stood 
 in the middle of a green, with stalls behind it for 
 the horses and vehicles which brought the church 
 goers from a distance. It was a pretty sight to 
 see them converging from every point in the valley, 
 so that the scene was all alive ; and then disappear 
 for the space of an hour and a half, as if an earth 
 quake had swallowed up all life ; and then pour out 
 from the church door, and, after grouping on the 
 green for a few minutes, betake themselves home 
 wards. Monument Mountain reared itself oppo 
 site to us, with its thick woods, and here and there 
 a grey crag protruding. Other mountains closed 
 in the valley, one of which treated us for some 
 nights with the spectacle of a spreading fire in its 
 woods. From the bases of these hills, up to our 
 very door-step, there was one bright carpet of 
 green. Everything, houses, trees, churches, were 
 planted down into this green, so that there was no 
 interruption but the one road, and the blue mazy 
 Housatonic. The softness of the scene, early in a 
 May morning, or when the sun was withdrawing, 
 
ECONOMY. 1 95 
 
 could not be surpassed by anything seen under a 
 Greek or Italian sky. Sometimes I could scarcely 
 believe it real: it looked air-painted, cloud-moulded. 
 
 It was as a favour that the widow Jones* took 
 us in. She does not let lodgings. She opened 
 her house to us, and made us a part of her family. 
 Two of her daughters were at home, and a married 
 son lived at hand. We had a parlour, with three 
 windows, commanding different views of the val 
 ley: two good- sized chambers, conveniently fur 
 nished, and a large closet between ; our board 
 with the family, and every convenience that could 
 be provided : and all for two dollars per week each, 
 and half price for the child. She was advised to 
 ask more, but she refused, as she did not wish to 
 be " grasping." It was a merry afternoon when 
 we followed the wagon up the hill to our new 
 abode, and unpacked, and settled ourselves for our 
 long-expected month of May. Never was un 
 packing a pleasanter task. 
 
 The blossomy cherry-tree beside my chamber 
 window was the first object I saw in the morning 
 when I threw up the sash ; and beneath it was a 
 broad fallow, over which the blue jay flitted. By 
 this window there was an easy chair and a light . 
 table, a most luxurious arrangement for reading. 
 We breakfasted at half-past seven on excellent 
 bread, potatoes, hung beef, eggs, and strong tea. 
 We admitted no visitors during the forenoon, as 
 our theory was that we were very busy people. 
 Writing and reading did occupy much of our time, 
 but it was surprising how much was left for the 
 exercise of our tongues. Then there were visits 
 to be made to the post-office, and the crockery 
 store, and the cobbler ; and Charley found occasion 
 to burst in, a dozen times a-day, with a bunch of 
 
 * I know not why I should suppress a name that I honour. 
 
 K2 
 
196 ECONOMY. 
 
 violets, or news of the horse or cow, or of the ride 
 he had had, or of the oxen in the field. 
 
 We all dined together at two. One of the 
 daughters absented herself at breakfast, that she 
 might arrange our rooms; but both were present 
 at dinner, dressed, and ready for their afternoon s 
 occupation of working and reading. One was fond 
 of flowers, and had learned a great deal about 
 them. She was skilful in drying them, and could 
 direct us to the places in the woods and meadows 
 where they grew. Some members of the family, 
 more literary than the rest, were gone westward; 
 but there was a taste for books among them all. I 
 often saw a volume on the table of the widow s 
 parlour, with her spectacles in it. She told me, 
 one day, of her satisfaction in her children, that 
 they were given to good pursuits, and all received 
 church members. All young people in these vil 
 lages are more or less instructed. Schooling is 
 considered a necessary of life. I happened to be 
 looking over an old almanack one day, when I 
 found, among the directions relating to the prepa 
 rations for winter on a farm, the following : " Secure 
 your cellars from frost. Fasten loose clap-boards 
 ,and shingles. Secure a good school-master/ 1 It 
 seemed doubtful, at the first glance, whether some 
 new farming utensil had not been thus whimsically 
 named ; as the brass plate which hooks upon the 
 fender, or upper bar of the grate, is called " the 
 footman ;" but the context clearly showed that a 
 man with learning in his head was the article re 
 quired to be provided before the winter. The only 
 respect, as far as I know, in which we made our 
 kind hostess uneasy, was in our neglect of Char 
 ley s book-studies. Charley s little head was full 
 of knowledge of other kinds ; but the widow s chil 
 dren had all known more of the produce of the 
 press at his age than he ; and she had a few anxious 
 thoughts about him. 
 
ECONOMY. 197 
 
 In the afternoon we rambled abroad, if the wea 
 ther was fine ; if rainy, we lighted our wood fire, 
 and pursued our employments of the morning, not 
 uncheered by a parting gleam from the west ; a bar 
 of bright yellow sky above the hill tops, or a gush 
 of golden light burnishing the dewy valley at the 
 last. Our walks were along the hill road to the 
 lake, on the way to Lenox, or through the farm 
 yard and wood to a tumbling brook in a small ra 
 vine. We tried all manner of experiments with 
 moss, stones, and twigs, among its sunny and sha 
 dowy reaches, and tiny falls. We hunted up marsh 
 flowers, wood anemones, and violets, and unfolded 
 the delicate ferns, still closely buttoned up, and 
 waiting for the full power of the summer sun. It 
 was some trouble to me, in America, that 1 could 
 not get opportunity to walk so much as I think ne 
 cessary to health. It is not the custom there : 
 partly owing to the climate, the extreme heat of 
 summer, and cold of winter ; and partly to the ab 
 sence of convenient and pretty walks in and about 
 the cities ; a want which, I trust, will be supplied in 
 time. In Stockbridge much pedestrian exercise 
 may be and is accomplished; and I took the op 
 portunity of indulging in it, much to the surprise 
 of some persons, who were not aware how English 
 ladies can walk. One very warm afternoon, we 
 were going on a visit to Lenox, five miles off. 
 My friends went in a wagon ; I preferred walking. 
 The widow s son watched me along the road, and 
 then remarked, " You will see no more of her till 
 you get to Lenox. I would not walk off at that 
 rate, if they gave me Lenox when I got there." 
 
 In the evenings, we made a descent upon the vil- 
 Tage, or the village came up to us. In the latter 
 case, our hostess was always ready with a simple 
 and graceful welcome, and her best endeavours to 
 provide seats for our many friends. If we staid 
 
198 ECONOMY. 
 
 below till after nine, the family had gone to rest 
 on our return. We had only to lift the latch, light 
 our candles, and make our way to the milk-pans, if 
 we were thirsty. For twenty-five years, the widow 
 has lived on the top of her hill, with only a latch 
 to her door. She sleeps undefended, for she has 
 no enemies ; and in her village there are no 
 thieves. 
 
 One night, when we were visiting some friends in 
 the valley, it was brought home to us what it is to 
 live in a place where there are no hackney coaches, 
 or other travelling shelter. When we should have 
 been going home, it was a tremendous spring-storm; 
 wind, thunder and lightning, and rain in floods. 
 We waited long ; but it seemed to have no inten 
 tion of abating. When at length we did set out, 
 we were a remarkable looking troop ; a gentle 
 manly young lawyer in a pea jacket; the other 
 gentlemen in the roughest coats that could be 
 found ; the ladies leaving bonnets and caps behind, 
 with handkerchiefs over their heads, India-rubbers 
 on their feet, their dresses tucked up, and cloaks 
 swathed round them. Our party were speeded up 
 the hill by the fear that Charley would be wakened 
 and alarmed by the storm ; but it was a breathless 
 sort of novelty to be working our way through one 
 continued pond to the foot of the hill, and then up 
 the slippery ascent, unbonneted, with the strang 
 ling gust in our faces, and no possibility of our 
 finding our way in the pitchy darkness but by the 
 flashes of blue lightning. Well clad as we were, 
 we felt, I believe, something like being paupers, 
 or gentry of the highway, or some such houseless 
 personages exposed to the pelting of the pitiless 
 storm. Charley was found to be sound asleep, and 
 we ourselves no worse off than being steeped over 
 the ankles. 
 
 The time came too soon when I must leave the 
 
ECONOMY. 199 
 
 beloved village, when I must see no longer the 
 morning baking and the evening milking; and 
 the soap cauldron boiling in the open air behind 
 the house, with Charley mounted on a log, peeping 
 into it ; and the reading and working, and tying up 
 of flowers in the afternoon. The time was come 
 when the motherly and sisterly kiss were ready for 
 me, and my country life in New England was at an 
 end. It is well for us that our best pleasures have 
 an immortality like our own ; that the unseen life 
 is a glorification of the seen. But for this, no one 
 with a human heart would travel abroad, and at 
 tach himself to scenes and persons which he cannot 
 but love, but which he must leave. 
 
 It was not always that the villagers of New 
 England could place themselves on hill tops, and 
 leave their doors unfastened. There is a striking 
 contrast between their present security and the 
 fears of their forefathers, in the days when the 
 nursling went to church, because it was unsafe at 
 home, in the absence of its father. Father, mo 
 ther, and children, all went on one horse to meet 
 the total population within the walls of the church ; 
 the one parent armed, the other prying about for 
 traces of the fearful red man. Those were the 
 days when the English regicides had fled to the 
 colonies, and were there secreTecf. Those were the 
 days when anything that was to be made known to 
 all was announced in church, because everybody 
 was sure to be there ; and a fast-day was ordained 
 if anything very remarkable was to be done, or con 
 veyed. Sometimes formal announcements were 
 made ; sometimes intimations were so interwoven 
 with the texture of the discourse, as that unfriendly 
 ears, if such should he present, should not appre 
 hend the meaning. When any emissary of Charles 
 the Second was prowling in search of a concealed 
 regicide, the pastor preached from some such text 
 
200 ECONOMY. 
 
 as, " Hide the outcasts. Bewray not him that wan- 
 dereth ;"* and the flock understood that they were 
 to be on their guard against spies. Charles the Se 
 cond could never get hold of one of his enemies who 
 had taken refuge in these colonies. 
 
 On looking abroad over the valley of the Connec 
 ticut, from the top of Mount Holyoke, I saw the vil 
 lage of Hadley, seated in the meadows, and extending 
 across a promontory, formed by the winding of the 
 river. This promontory afforded a secure grazing 
 ground for the cattle by day, which were driven by 
 night into the area of the village, where the church 
 stood. Goffe, the regicide, was concealed for many 
 years in the parsonage at Hadley ; all the people 
 in the village, except two or three, being, in this 
 instance, unaware of an outcast being among them. 
 One Sunday, the Indians attacked the village while 
 the people were all in church. The women and 
 children were left in the church, while their hus 
 bands, fathers, and brothers "went out to do battle 
 -with the cruel foe. It went hard with the whites; 
 the Indians were fast bearing them down, when an 
 unknown figure appeared in their ranks, with flow 
 ing robes, streaming white hair, and a glittering 
 sword. The cry was raised that the angel Gabriel 
 had been sent in answer to the prayers of the 
 women in the church. Every spirit was cheered, 
 every arm was nerved, and the Indians were beaten 
 off, with great slaughter. Upon this, Gabriel 
 vanished ; but tradition long preserved the memory 
 of his miraculous appearance. The very few who 
 recognized in him Goffe, with his undressed hair, 
 and in his morning gown, kept the secret faithfully. 
 How blessed a change has come over rural life in 
 Massachusetts since those days ! Never may its 
 peace and security be invaded by those social 
 abuses which are more hateful than foreign spies ; 
 
 * Isaiah xvi. 3, 
 
ECONOMY. 201 
 
 more cruel and treacherous than the injured and 
 exasperated red man of the wilderness ! 
 
 The contrast is also striking between the coun 
 try Mfc ef ^o^.JCii^M" IrKr that of .the.KfisL- I - 
 staid for_ some weeks in the house of a wealthy 
 laiK : mvn^ Our days were passed 
 
 in jgrcat luxury ; and some of file hottest of tftem 
 very icily. The~house was in the midst of grounds, 
 gay with veTdure and flowers, in the opening month 
 of June ; and our favourite seats were the steps of 
 the hall, and chairs under the trees. From thence 
 we could watch the play of the children on the 
 grass-plat, and some of the drolleries of the little 
 negroes. The red bird and the blue bird flew close 
 by ; and the black and white woodpecker with 
 crimson head, tapped at all the tree-trunks, as if 
 \ve were no interruption. We relished the table 
 fare, after that with which we had been obliged to 
 content ourselves on board the steam-boats. The - 
 tender meat, fresh vegetables, good claret and 
 champagne, with the daily pile;; of strawberries and 
 towers of ice-cream, were welcome luxuries. There 
 were thirty-three horses in the stables, and we 
 roved about the neighbouring country accordingly. 
 There was more literature at hand than time to- 
 profit by it. Books could be had at home; but 
 not the woods of Kentucky; clero", sunny woods, 
 with maple and sycamore springing up to a height 
 which makes man feel dwarfish. The glades, v ith 
 their turf so clean, every fallen leaf having been 
 absorbed, reminded me of Ivanhoe. I almost 
 looked for Gurth in my rambles. All this was, not 
 many years ago, one vast canebrake, with a multi 
 tude of buffalo and deer: the pea-vine spreading 
 everywhere, and the fertility far greater than even 
 now. 
 
 One morning I took a lesson in rifle-shooting; 
 
 K5 
 
202 ECONOMY. 
 
 the gentlemen having brought out their weapons 
 for a few hours 1 sport among the squirrels. A 
 rifle does not bounce like a musket, and affords, 
 therefore, an easy beginning. I took aim at twenty- 
 five paces, and hitting within an inch, thought it 
 best to leave off with credit, A child of eighteen 
 months stood in the middle of the gravel- walk, very 
 composedly, while the rines were popping off ; and 
 his elder brothers were busy examining the shots. 
 Children seem born to their future pursuits, in 
 new countries. Negro children seem all born 
 riders and drivers. It was an amusement to see 
 little children that in England could not hold them 
 selves on a large horse, playing pranks with a 
 whole equipage that they were leading to water. 
 
 In the afternoon of this day we took a long drive 
 in search of buffalo ; the only herd of those hideous 
 animals now to be seeu in Kentucky. None of 
 the family liked to be left behind, so we filled the 
 barouche and the phaeton, and Master H., eight 
 years old, in his garden costume, mounted the 
 mare, whose foal could not be induced to remain 
 at home, and frolicked beside us all the way. We 
 rattled on through lanes, over open ground above a 
 pond, beneath locust groves, and beechen shades, 
 seeing herds of mules, and the finest of cattle 
 within the verge of the woods. The mules are 
 raised for exportation to the fields of Louisiana. 
 Then we reached the hill-side where eight buffalo 
 were grazing, four of the pure and four of a 
 mixed breed. The creatures stood looking at us 
 as if they had been turned into stone at the sight 
 of us. Their sidelong gaze, as they stood motion 
 less beside a stump, or beneath a tree, was horrid. 
 I never saw an eye and attitude of which I should 
 be so much afraid. As they appeared to have no 
 intention of moving a hair of their tails or huge 
 necks while we halted, a little slave, named Oliver, 
 
ECONOMY. 203 
 
 was sent up the hill to put them in motion ; there 
 being no danger whatever in the operation. Oliver 
 disappeared, and no result of his exertions was 
 visible. When the buffalo and we had mutually 
 stared for another five minutes, Oliver s master 
 called to him to know what he was about. He 
 replied that the buffalo looked too hard at him. At 
 last, however, he went near enough to put thorn in 
 motion; and then they moved all at once, each 
 seeming more clumsy than the others in its head 
 long run. I am glad to have seen buffalo, but 
 there is nothing to be said for their beauty or 
 grace. 
 
 In the evening we repaired to the cool grass-plat, 
 to amuse ourselves with the pretty sport of trying 
 which should find out the first star. It was then 
 ascertained that two gentlemen present were well 
 qualified to entertain us with stories of horrible 
 western murders, more fearful than any other 
 murders. So we sat till late at night, amidst sum 
 mer lightning and the glancing of fire -flies, listen 
 ing to the most harrowing and chilling set of tales 
 of human misdeeds and their retributions, that it 
 ever was my fortune to listen to. The Christmas 
 firesides of England yield no impressions of horror 
 like the plain facts of a life in the wilderness, told 
 under the trees, in a sultry night, while the pale 
 lightning is exploding on the horizon. 
 
 We had tidings of a camp-meeting to be held at - 
 some distance, the next day. I had never seen a 
 camp-meeting ; but the notice was too short, and 
 the distance too great, and I missed the chance. 
 
 One of the slaves of a neighbouring gentleman 
 came and asked his master what he would give him 
 for two bee-holes. " You are a pretty fellow," 
 said his master, " to ask me to pay for my own 
 trees." The negro urged that his master would 
 never have found out the bee-holes for himself; 
 
204 ECONOMY. 
 
 which was very true. He was referred to his mis 
 tress ; and it was finally arranged that three of us 
 English strangers should see the felling of a bee- 
 tree ; a spectacle we had all heard of, but not seen. 
 A larg-e party dined at this gentleman s house ; and, 
 presently after dinner, all set out in carriages, or on 
 horseback, for the spot in the woods where the 
 bee-tree stood. It was a shabby black walnut, 
 which seemed scarcely fit company for the noble 
 array of trees around it. It was of so respectable 
 a circumference near the ground, however, and the 
 negroes were making such slow progress into its 
 interior, that it was plain we should have time for 
 a drive in the woods before the catastrophe ; so my 
 host mounted the box of our barouche, and we 
 wound hither and thither under the trees, over the 
 rich grass ; and, seldom having to stoop to avoid the 
 branches, catching bright glimpses of a hundred 
 glades. It was a full hour before the tree fell. We 
 arrived just when it was chopped into the middle, 
 and some minutes before the event. It is a pretty 
 sight to see the top branches of the falling glory 
 quiver, its canopy shake, and its huge bulk come 
 crashing down, while everybody runs away at the 
 shout which tells that it is coming, This tree fell 
 on the wrong side, and destroyed several yards of 
 fence, snapping the stakes, and setting them flying 
 in all directions. 
 
 Straw and sulphur were burned in the hollow of 
 the trunk. A few little startled bees flew out, and 
 wreaked their vengeance on our host and myself ; 
 but most of them perished very quietly. I was 
 asked whether 1 should like to look into the cleft ; 
 and when I was stepping over the bristling branches 
 for the purpose, a bough was put into my hand, 
 with directions to wave it before me. I returned, 
 stung, but having seen what I wanted ; and then I 
 was told that if I had not waved a bough, I should 
 
ECONOMY. 205 
 
 have escaped the bees. Mine was the common fate 
 of persons who follow unasked advice. Our host 
 capered among the trees, with a bee or two under 
 his cravat and hair. It was impossible to help 
 laughing. A stout gentleman of the party did the 
 same, under the mere idea of bees being upon him ; 
 and, while tossing his head and arms about, he ran 
 up, with a great shock, against his own horse ; on 
 which sat a little negro, grinning from ear to ear. 
 The result of the whole was, half a tumbler glass 
 full of blackened honey, and the high gratification 
 of the spectators, native and foreign, unharmed and 
 stung. 
 
 Such is a fair specimen of our life in the West 
 Contrasts rise up before my mind s eye, as the 
 scenes of my journeying present themselves ; con 
 trasts in the face of the country, as striking as in 
 the modes of living, 
 
 When I was at Salem, in Massachusetts, the 
 friends whose hospitality I was enjoying proposed 
 an excursion to Cape Ann, (the northern point of 
 Massachusetts bay,) and round the peninsula which 
 constitutes the township of Gloucester. This ex 
 cursion impressed me strongly, from the peculiar 
 character of the scenery : but I know not whether 
 it is an impression which can be conveyed by de 
 scription. Whether it be or not, I would recom 
 mend all strangers to go and visit this peninsula ; 
 and, if convenient, in fine autumn weather, when 
 the atmosphere lev.ds its best aid to the character 
 istic charms of the landscape. 
 
 It was the 19th of October, a foggy morning, 
 when we mounted the carry-all, a carriage which 
 holds four, and drove merrily out of Salern, upon 
 a carpet of fallen leaves. I love streets that have 
 trees in them ; Summer Street in Boston ; State 
 Street in Albany ; and Chesnut Street in Salem, 
 
206 ECONOMY. 
 
 We passed through Beverley, where, as in most of 
 the small New England towns, the population has 
 a character of its own. At Marblehead, on the bay, 
 near Salem, the people are noisy, restless, high- 
 spirited, and democratic. At Beverley, in the near 
 neighbourhood, they are quiet, economical, sober, 
 and whig. Such, at least, is the theory ; and one 
 fact in this connexion is, that the largest sums in the 
 Boston savings banks are from Beverley. We 
 passed over a long bridge, a respectable toll-bridge. 
 The Americans are not fond of tolls of above a cer 
 tain age, for fear of monopoly. There is a small 
 bridge, called Spite Bridge, because it spites the 
 Beverley toll, which is much used in preference. 
 Seven miles further is Manchester; how unlike 
 the English Manchester ! A mere with pond-lilies ! 
 woods with the glorious magnolia nourishing in the 
 midst ! This is the only place in New England 
 where the magnolia grows. In summer, parties 
 are formed to visit the woods ; and children make 
 much money as guides and gatherers. Cabinet- 
 
 . making is the great business of the place. We saw 
 logs of mahogany lying outside the houses ; and 
 much furniture in pieces standing up against the 
 walls, ready to be packed for New Orleans. The 
 
 -furniture of the southern cities is almost entirely 
 derived from this neighbourhood. One manufac 
 turer, who makes the furniture here, and sells it 
 from his warehouse at New Orleans, has an income 
 of 150,000 dollars. The inhabitants of Manchester 
 are very prosperous. The houses were all good, 
 except, here and there, the abode of a drunkard, 
 known by its unpainted walls, loose shingles, broken 
 shutters, and decayed door-step, in striking con 
 trast with the neat white or yellow painted houses 
 of the neighbours, with their bright windows, and 
 spruce Venetian blinds. 
 
 Seven miles further, stands Gloucester; the road 
 
ECONOMY. 207 
 
 to it winding among wooded rocks; sometimes 
 close down to the shore ; and sometimes overhang 
 ing the rippling waters of Massachusetts Bay. The 
 gay autumn copses harmonized well with the grey 
 granite, out of which they seemed to grow ; and 
 with the pearly sea, shining out from beneath the 
 dissolving mist. 
 
 We crossed a little canal which opens into the 
 bay, near Gloucester ; and hastened on to the most 
 interesting ground we had to traverse, stopping 
 only a few minutes at Gloucester, to consult a map 
 which indicated almost every rock and house in the 
 peninsula. 
 
 The population of the peninsula is homogeneous. 
 There is probably no individual beyond Gloucester 
 whose parentage may not be referred to a particu 
 lar set of people, at a particular date in English his 
 tory. It has great wealth of granite and iish.^ It 
 is composed of granite ; and almost its only visitors 
 are fish. 
 
 It is a singular region. If a little orchard plot- 
 is seen, here and thereT it seems rescued by some 
 chance from being grown over with granite. It 
 was pleasant to see such a hollow, with its apple 
 tree, the ladder reared against it, the basket beneath, 
 and the children picking up the fallen fruit. The 
 houses look as if they were squeezed in among the 
 rocks. The granite rises straight behind a house, 
 encroaches on each side, and overhangs the roof, 
 leaving space only for a sprinkling of grass about 
 the door, for a red shrub or two to wave from a 
 crevice, and a drip of water to flow down among gay 
 weeds, lloom fur these dwellings is obtained by 
 blasting the rocks. Formerly, people were fright 
 ened at fragments falling through the roof after a 
 blasting : but now, it has become too common an 
 occurrence to alarm any body. One precaution is 
 enforced : no one is allowed to keep more than 
 
208 ECONOMY. 
 
 twenty-eight pounds of powder in one town or vil 
 lage ; and the powder-houses may be seen, insu 
 lated on rocks, and looking something like watch- 
 boxes, at some distance from every settlement. The 
 school-houses are also remarkable buildings. The 
 school-house may always be known at a glance : a 
 single square room, generally painted white or pale 
 green, and reared on a grassy eminence, with a 
 number of small heads to be seen through the win 
 dows, or little people gathered about the door. 
 | There are twenty-one school-houses in this township 
 ( of Gloucester, the population of which is nine 
 ! thousand. 
 
 We dined at Sandy Bay, in a neat little hotel, 
 
 whose windows bloomed with chrysanthemums, 
 
 nasturtium, and geraniums ; and where we feasted 
 
 on chowder, an excellent dish when well cooked. 
 
 It consists of fish, (in this instance haddock,) 
 
 stewed in milk, with potatoes. The parlour table 
 
 was graced with a fair collection of books ; as was 
 
 almost every parlour I saw r , throughout the country. 
 
 Sandy Bay is a thriving place. It has a pretty, 
 
 and very conspicuous church, and a breakwater, 
 
 built by the people, at an expense of 40,000 
 
 dollars, but now too small for their purposes. 
 
 /The Atlantic rolls in upon their coast fiercely in 
 
 (winter: and the utility of a harbour hereabouts 
 
 ) for all vessels, is a sufficient ground for an appii- 
 
 ( cation to Congress for an appropriation of lu(>,000 
 
 I dollars, to make a larger breakwater. If the ap- 
 
 / plication has succeeded, Sandy Bay will soon be 
 
 I an important place. While dinner was preparing, 
 
 we went down to the little harbour, and saw the 
 
 I dancing fishing-vessels, the ranges and piles of 
 
 mackarel barrels, and an immense display of the 
 
 fish drying. The mackarel fishery begins in June, 
 
 and continues almost through the year. There are 
 
 three orders of mackarel, to which the unfortunate 
 
ECONOMY. 209 
 
 indiriduals which are detained in their summer ex 
 cursion are assigned, according to their plumpness ; 
 one dollar per barrel being the superiority of price 
 of one over another. 
 
 After dinner, we proceeded on our travels, first 
 visiting Cape Ann, the extreme north end of Mas 
 sachusetts Bay. We had the bay before us, and 
 the great Atlantic on our left. We ought to have 
 seen Boston; but the fog had not quite cleared 
 away in the distance. Thatcher s Island was near, 
 with its two lighthouses, and a bright, green sea 
 playing about it. Then we turned and drove 
 northward along the shore, with busy and most 
 picturesque quarries to our left. There were tall 
 poles in the quarries, with stretched ropes, the 
 pulleys by which the blocks of stone were raised : 
 there were ox-teams and sleds : there were groups 
 of workmen in the recesses of the rocks, and beside 
 the teams, and about the little bays and creeks, 
 where graceful sloops were riding under the lee of 
 tiny breakwaters, where the embarkation of the 
 stone for foreign parts goes on. Blocks of granite 
 lay by the road-side, marked, either in reference to 
 its quality, if for sale ; or to its proportion among 
 the materials which are being prepared to order for 
 some great building in New York, or Mobile, or 
 New Orleans. Some may wonder how granite 
 should be exposed for sale in such a district ; and 
 who would be likely to buy it. I saw, this after 
 noon, gate-posts, corner-posts, and foundations of 
 common houses, of undressed granite; and, also, 
 an entire house, the abode of the blacksmith. 
 The friend who sat beside me told me that he hoped 
 to see many more such mechanics" dwellings before 
 he dies. Stone becomes cheaper, and wood dearer, 
 continually ; and there is no question which is the 
 more desirable material for those who can afford it. 
 With regard to beauty merely, I know of no build- 
 
210 ECONOMY. 
 
 ing material to equal granite ; dressed in the city ; 
 undressed in the country. We went into a quarry, 
 and saw an untold wealth of fissured stone. The 
 workmen contrive to pursue their business even in 
 the winter. When the snow is on the ground, and 
 the process of drilling is stopped, they remove or 
 dinary pieces out of the way, and make all clear 
 for their spring labours. They " turn out" 250,000 
 dollars -worth a-year ; and the demand is perpetu 
 ally on the increase. 
 
 Along the north side of the peninsula the road 
 was very pretty. The grey, distant coast of New 
 Hampshire bounded the sea view. Groups of 
 children were playing on the sands of a deep cove ; 
 and the farmers were collecting or spreading their 
 manure of sea-weed and fish-heads. Squam river, 
 which forms the peninsula, flowed out into the sea, 
 and the village of Annisquam spread along its 
 bank. We crossed the bridge, close by the only 
 tide mill I ever saw. It works for six hours, and 
 stops for six, while the flow of the tide fills the 
 pond above. The gates are then shut, and a water- 
 power is obtained till the tide again flows. 
 
 We saw what we could of Gloucester, on our 
 return to that little town, before sunset. There 
 are some very good houses, newly-built ; and the 
 place h^snEhe~air^of prosperity that gladdens the 
 eye wherever it turns, m JNew Jiingland^ We ran 
 dovTrr- to "tHe^sEore! ItTs overFooked by a wind 
 mill, from whose grassy platform we beheld the 
 scene in the singular light which here succeeds an 
 autumn sunset. The sky and sea were, without 
 exaggeration, of a deep scarlet : Ten Pound Island 
 sat black upon the waters, with its yellow beacon 
 just lighted. Fishing vessels lay still, every rope 
 being reflected in the red mirror ; and a boat, in 
 which a boy was sculling across the harbour, was 
 the only moving object. 
 
ECONOMY. 211 
 
 After tea, a clergyman and his wife called ; and 
 then a long succession of the hospitable inhabitants 
 of Gloucester came to bid us welcome : from which 
 it appeared that small articles of intelligence cir 
 culate as rapidly here as in other country-places. 
 In another respect, Gloucester resembled all the 
 villages and small towns I passed through : in the 
 pretty attention of presenting flowers. In some of 
 the larger cities, bouquets of rich and rare flowers 
 were sent to me, however severe might have been 
 the frost, or however dreary the season. In the 
 smallest villages, I had offerings, quite as welcome, 
 in bunches of flowers from the woods and meadows. 
 Many of these last were new to me, and as gladly 
 received as the luscious hyacinths which greeted 
 me every morning at Charleston. At Lenox, in 
 Massachusetts, where I spent one night, my table 
 was covered with meadow-flowers, and with fine 
 specimens of Jack-in-the-pulpit, and the moccassin- 
 flower, or lady s slipper : and at Gloucester, when 
 1 returned from my early visit to the beach, where 
 I had been to see the fishermen go out, I found a 
 gorgeous bouquet of autumn flowers ; dahlias more 
 various and rich than could have been supposed to 
 grow in such a region. 
 
 On our return to Salem, we diverged a little 
 from our road, near Manchester, to see a farm,* 
 whose situation would make an envious person 
 miserable. The house lies under the shelter of a 
 wooded hill, and enjoys a glorious view of Massa 
 chusetts Bay. The property lies between two 
 bays, and has a fine fishing-station off the point 
 The fields look fertile, and a wide range of pas 
 turage skirts the bay. A woman and children 
 were busy in the orchard, with a cart and barrels, 
 taking in a fine crop of apples ; and we could only 
 hope that they were sensible of their privilege in 
 living in such a place. These are the regions^ 
 
212 ECONOMY. 
 
 teeming with the virtues of the Pilgrims, and as 
 yet uninfected by the mercenary and political 
 cowardice of the cities, where the most gladdening 
 aspects of human life are to be seen. 
 
 The newly-settled districts of the southern 
 States are as unlike as possible to all this. They 
 are extreme opposite cases. If human life presents 
 its fairest aspects in the retired townships of New 
 England, some of its very worst, perhaps, are seen 
 in the raw settlements of Alabama and Mississippi. 
 
 When we drew near to Columbus, Georgia, we 
 were struck with amazement at the stories that 
 were told, and the anecdotes that were dropped, 
 in the stage, about recent attempts on human life 
 in the neighbourhood ; and at the number of inci 
 dents of the same kind which were the news of the 
 day along the road. Our driver from Macon had 
 been shot at, in attempting to carry off a young 
 lady. A gentleman, boarding in the hotel at 
 Columbus, was shot in the back, in the street, and 
 laid by for months. No inquiry was made, or no 
 thing came of it. The then present governor of the 
 State of Mississippi had recently stood over two 
 combatants, pistol in hand, to see fair play. This 
 was stated as a remarkable fact. The landlord of the 
 Chouse where we stopped to breakfast on the day we 
 were to reach Columbus, April 9th, 1835, was, be 
 sides keeping a house of entertainment, a captain 
 of militia, and a member of the legislature of Geor 
 gia. He was talking over with his guests a late 
 case of homicide in a feud between the Myers and 
 Macklimore families. He declared that he would 
 have laws like those of the Medes and Persians 
 against homicide; and, in the same breath, said 
 that if he were a Myers, he would shoot Mr. 
 Macklimore and all his sons. 
 
 We arrived at Columbus before sunset, and de- 
 
ECONOMY. 213 
 
 termincd to stay a day to see how the place had 
 got on since Captain Hall saw it cut out of the 
 woods, ten years before. During the evening, I 
 could do nothing but watch the Indian s^ from my 
 
 window. The r>lace swarmed wit. i them; a few 
 Choctaws, and the rest Ureeks. A sad havoc 
 has*aRT>n place among them since ; and this neigh 
 bourhood has been made the scene of a short but 
 fierce war. But all looked fair and friendly when 
 we were there. Groups of Indians were crouching 
 about the entries of the stores, or looking in at the 
 windows. The squaws went by, walking one be 
 hind another, with their hair, growing low on the 
 forehead, loose, or tied at the back of the head, 
 forming a fine contrast with the young lady who 
 had presided at our breakfast-table at five that 
 morning, with her long hair braided and adorned 
 with brilliant combs, while her fingers shone in 
 pearl and gold rings. These squaws carried large 
 Indian baskets on their backs, and shuffled along, 
 bare-footed, while their lords paced before them, 
 well mounted ; or, if walking, gay with blue and red 
 clothing and embroidered leggings, with tufts of 
 hair at the knees, while pouches and white fringes 
 dangled about them. They looked like grave 
 merry-andrews ; or, more still, like solemn fana 
 tical harvest men going out for largess. By eight 
 o clock they had all disappeared; but the streets 
 were full of them again the next morning. 
 
 Our hostess was civil, and made no difficulty 
 about giving us a late breakfast by ourselves, in 
 consideration of our fatigues. Before one o clock 
 we dined, in company with seventy-five persons, at 
 one long table. The provisions were good, but 
 ill-cooked ; and the knives so blunt that it was a 
 mystery to me how the rest of the company ob 
 tained so quick a succession of mouthfuls as they 
 vlid. 
 
214 ECOKOMT. 
 
 The Chattahoochee, on whose banks Columbus 
 stands, is unlike any river I saw in the United 
 States, unless it be some parts of the Susquehan- 
 na. Its rapids, overhung by beech and pine woods, 
 keep up perpetual melody, grateful alike to the 
 ear of the white%nd the red man. It is broad and 
 full, whirling over and around the rocks with-wrflch 
 it is studded, and under the frail wooden foot-bridge 
 which spans a portion of its width, between the 
 shore and a pile of rocks in the middle of the chan 
 nel. On this foot-bridge I stood, and saw a fish 
 caught in a net laid among the eddies. A dark 
 fisherman stood on each little promontory ; and a 
 group was assembled about some canoes in a creek 
 on the opposite Alabama shore, where the steep 
 ness of the hills seemed scarcely to allow a foothold 
 between the rushing water and the ascent. The 
 river is spanned by a long covered bridge, which 
 we crossed the same night on our way into Ala 
 bama. 
 
 There are three principal streets in Columbus, 
 with many smaller, branching out into the forest. 
 Some pretty bits of greensward are left, here and 
 there, with a church, or a detached house upon 
 each village-like. There are some good houses, 
 five hotels, and a population of above 2,000, as 
 nearly as I could make out among the different ac 
 counts of the accession of inhabitants since the 
 census. The stores looked creditably stocked; 
 and a great many gentlemanly men were to be 
 seen in the streets. It bears the appearance of 
 being a thriving, spacious, handsome village, well 
 worth stopping to see. 
 
 We left it, at seven in the evening, by the long 
 bridge, at the other end of which we stopped for 
 the driver to hold a parley, about a parcel, with a 
 woman, who spoke almost altogether in oaths. A 
 gentleman in the stage remarked, that we must 
 
E^NOMY. 215 
 
 have got quite to the end of the world. The roads 
 were as bad as roads could be; and we rolled 
 from side to side so incessantly, as to obviate all 
 chance of sleeping. The passengers were very 
 patient during the hours of darkness ; but, after 
 daylight, they seemed to think thef had been long 
 enough employed in shifting their weight to keep 
 the coach on its four wheels. " I say, driver," 
 cried one, " you won t upset us, now daylight is 
 come ?" " Driver," shouted another, " keep this 
 side up." " Gentlemen," replied the driver, " I 
 shall mind nothing you say till the ladies begin to 
 complain." A reply equally politic and gallant. 
 
 At half-past five, we stopped to breakfast at a 
 log dwelling, composed of two rooms, with an open 
 passage between. We asked for water and towel. 
 There was neither basin nor towel ; but a shallow 
 tin dish of water was served up in the open passage 
 where all our fellow-travellers were standing. We 
 asked leave to carry our dish into the right-hand 
 room. The family were not all dressed. Into the 
 left-hand room. A lady lodged there ! 
 
 We travelled till sunset through the Creek Ter 
 ritory, the roads continuing to be extremely bad. 
 The woods were superb in their spring beauty. The 
 thickets were in full leaf; and the ground was gay 
 w r ith violets, may-apple, buck-eye, blue lupin, iris, 
 and crow-poison. The last is like the white lily, grow 
 ing close to the ground. Its root, boiled, mixed with 
 corn, and thrown out into the fields, poisons crows. 
 If eaten by cattle, it injures but does not destroy 
 them. The sour-wood is a beautiful shrub. To-day it 
 looked like a splendid white fuchsia, with tassels of 
 black butterflies hanging from the extremities of the 
 twigs. But the grandest flower of all, perhaps the 
 most exquisite I ever beheld, is the honeysuckle of the 
 southern woods. It bears little resemblance to the 
 ragged flower which has the same name elsewhere. 
 
216 
 
 It is a globe of blossoms, larger than my band, growing 
 firmly at the end of an upright stalk, with the richest 
 and most harmonious colouring, the most delicate 
 long anthers, and the flowers exquisitely grouped 
 among the leaves. It is the queen of flowers. I 
 generally contrived, in my journeys through the 
 southern States, to have a bunch of honeysuckles 
 in the stage before my eyes ; and they seemed to 
 be visible wherever I turned, springing from the 
 roots of the forest trees, or dangling from their top 
 most boughs, or mixing in with the various greens 
 of the thickets. 
 
 We saw to-day, the common sight of companies 
 of slaves travelling westwards ; and the very un- 
 corBmTrrf mm of a, pufly returning into South Caro 
 lina? When we overtook such a company proceed- 
 ing westwards, and asked where they were going, 
 the anTwer commonly given by the s!avjewas, " Into 
 Yeffibama," Sometimes these poor creatures were 
 encamped, 1 under the care of the slaxe^trjadar? on 
 the banks of a clear stream, to spend a day in wash 
 ing their clothes. Sometimes they were loitering 
 along the road ; the old folks and infants mounted 
 on the top of a wagon-load of luggage ; the able- 
 bodied, on foot, perhaps silent, perhaps laughing ; 
 the prettier of the girls, perhaps with a flower in 
 the hair, and a lover s arm around her shoulder. 
 There were wide differences in the air and gait of 
 these people. It is usual to call the most depressed 
 of them brutish in appearance. In some sense they 
 are so ; but I never saw in any brute an expression 
 of countenance so low, so lost, as in themost degraded 
 class of negroes. There is some life and intelligence 
 in the countenance of every animal ; even in that of 
 " the silly sheep," nothing so dead as the vacant, 
 unheeding look of the depressed slave is to be seen. 
 To-day, there was a spectacle by the roadside which 
 showed that this has nothing to do with negro 
 
ECONOMY. 217 
 
 
 
 nature ; though no such proof is needed hy those 
 who have seen negroes in favourable circumstances, 
 and know how pleasant an aspect those grotesque 
 features may wear. To-day we passed, in the 
 Creek Territory, an establishment of Indians who 
 held slaves. Negroes are anxious to be sold to ! 
 Indians, who give them moderate work, and accom 
 modations as good as their own. Those seen to 
 day among the Indians, were sleek, intelligent, 
 and cheerful-looking, like the most favoured house- 
 slaves, or free servants of colour, where the preju 
 dice is least strong. 
 
 /* We were on the look-out for Indians, all the way 
 
 I through this Creek Territory. Some on horse- 
 
 } back gave us a grave glance as we passed. Some 
 
 I individuals were to be seen in the shadow of the 
 
 forest, leaning against a tree or a fence. One lay 
 
 asleep by the roadside, overcome with " whiskey 
 
 too much," as they style intoxication. They are so 
 
 intent on having their full bargain of whiskey, that 
 
 they turn their bottle upside down, when it has 
 
 been filled to the cork, to have the hollow at the 
 
 bottom filled. The piazza at the post-office was 
 
 full of solemn Indians. Miserable-looking squaws 
 
 were about the dwellings, with their naked children, 
 
 who were gobbling up their supper of hominy from. 
 
 a wooden bowl. 
 
 We left the Creek Territory just as the full moon 
 rose, and hoped to reach Montgomery by two hours 
 before midnight. We presently began to ascend a 
 long hill ; and the gentlemen passengers got out, ac 
 cording to custom, to walk up the rising ground. In 
 two minutes, the driver stopped, and came to tell us 
 ladies that he was sorry to trouble us to get out ; 
 but that an emigrant s wagon had blocked up the 
 ford of a creek which we had to cross ; and he 
 feared we might be wetted if we remained in the 
 stage while he took it through a deeper part A 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
218 ECONOMY. 
 
 gentleman was waiting, he said, to hand us over the 
 log which was to be our bridge. This gentleman, I 
 believe, was the emigrant himself. 1 made for what 
 seemed to me the end of the log ; but was deceived 
 by the treacherous moonlight, which made wood, 
 ground, and water, look all one colour. I plunged 
 up to the waist into the creek ; and, when I was 
 out again, could hardly keep upon the log for laugh 
 ing. There was time, before we overtook the rest 
 of the party, to provide against my taking cold ; 
 and there remained only the ridiculous image of my 
 deliberate walk into the water. 
 
 It must not be supposed a common circumstance 
 that an emigrant s wagon was left in a creek. The 
 " camping out " is usually done in a sheltered, dry 
 spot in the woods, not far from some little stream, 
 where the kettle may be filled, and where the dusty 
 children may be washed. Sleepy as I might be, in our 
 night journeys, I was ever awake to this picture, and 
 never tired of contemplating it. A dun haze would 
 first appear through the darkness ; and then gleams 
 of light across the road. Then the whole scene 
 opened. If earlier than ten at night, the fire would 
 be blazing, the pot boiling, the shadowy horses be 
 hind, at rest, the groups fixed in their attitudes to 
 gaze at us, whether they were stretching their sail 
 cloth on poles to windward, or drawing up the carts 
 in line, or gathering sticks, or cooking. While 
 watching us, they little thought what a picture they 
 themselves made. If after midnight, the huge fire 
 was flickering and smouldering ; figures were seen 
 crouching under the sailcloth, or a head or two was 
 lifted up in the wagon. A solitary figure was seen 
 in relief against the fire ; the watch, standing to 
 keep himself awake ; or, if greeted by our driver, 
 thrusting a pine slip into the fire, and approaching 
 with his blazing torch to ask or to give information. 
 In the morning, the places where such encamp- 
 
ECONOMY. 
 
 xn ents have been cannot be mistaken. There is a 
 clear, trodden space, strewed with chips and refuse 
 food, with the bare poles which had supported the 
 sailcloth, standing in the midst, and a scorched spot 
 \v.here the fire had been kindled. Others, besides 
 emigrants, camp out in the woods. Farmers, on 
 their way to a distant market, find it cheaper to 
 bring food, and trust otherwise to the hospitality 
 of dame Nature, than to put up at hotels. Be 
 tween the one and the other, we were amply treated 
 with the untiring spectacle. 
 
 We had bespoken accommodations for the night 
 at the hotel at Montgomery, by a friend who had 
 preceded us. On our arrival at past eleven o clock, - 
 we found we were expected; but no one would 
 have guessed it In my chamber, there w r as neither 
 water, nor sheets, nor anything that afforded a 
 prospect of my getting to rest, wet as my clothes 
 were. We were hungry, and tired, and cold ; and 
 there was no one to help us but a slave, who set 
 about her work as slaves do. We ate some biscuits 
 that we had with us, and gave orders, and made 
 requests with so much success as to have the room 
 in tolerable order by an hour after midnight. When 
 I awoke in the morning, the first thing I saw was, 
 that two mice were running after one another round 
 my trunk, and that the floor of the room seemed 
 to contain the dust of a twelvemonth. The breakfast - 
 was to atone for all. The hostess and another* 
 lady, three children, and an array of slaves, placed 
 themselves so as to see us eat our breakfast ; but 
 it seemed to me that the contents of the table were 
 more wonderful to look at than ourselves. Besides - 
 the tea and coffee, there were corn bread, buns, 
 buck-wheat cakes, broiled chicken, bacon, eggs, 
 rice, hominy, fish, fresh and pickled, and beef-steak. 
 The hostess strove to make us feel at home, and 
 recommended her plentiful meal by her hearty 
 
 L 2 
 
220 ECONOMY. 
 
 welcome to it. She was anxious to explain that 
 her house was soon to be in better order. Her hus- 
 "band was going to Mobile to buy furniture ; and, 
 just now, all was in confusion, from her head slave 
 having swallowed a fish bone, and being unable to 
 look after the affairs of the house. When our 
 friends came to carry us to their plantation, she 
 sent in refreshments, and made herself one of the 
 party, in all heartiness. 
 
 It was Sunday, and we went to the Methodist 
 church, hoping to hear the regular pastor, who is a 
 highly-esteemed preacher. But a stranger was in 
 the pulpit, who gave us an extraordinary piece of 
 doctrine, propounded with all possible vehemence. 
 His text was the passage about the tower of Siloam ; 
 and his doctrine was that great sinners would somehow 
 die a violent death. Perhaps this might be thought 
 a useful proposition in a town where life is held so 
 cheap as in Montgomery; but we could not exactly 
 understand how it was derived from the text. The 
 place was intensely light and hot, there being no 
 blinds to the windows, on each side of the pulpit : 
 and the quietness of the children was not to be 
 .boasted of. 
 
 On the way to our friends plantation, we passed 
 a party of negroes, enjoying their Sunday drive. 
 They never appear better than on such occasions, 
 as they all ride and drive well, and are very gallant 
 to their ladies. We passed a small prairie, the 
 first we had seen ; and very serene and pretty it 
 looked, after the forest. It was green and undu 
 lating, with a fringe of trees. 
 
 Our friends, now residing seven miles from 
 Montgomery, were from South Carolina; and the 
 lady, at least, does not relish living in Alabama. 
 It was delightful to me to be a guest in such an 
 abode as theirs. They were about to build a good 
 house : meantime, they were in one which I liked 
 
ECONOMY. 221 
 
 exceedingly : a log-house, with the usual open pas 
 sage in the middle. Roses and honeysuckles, to 
 which humming-birds resort, grew before the door. 
 Abundance of hooks, and handsome furniture and 
 plate, were within the house, while daylight was to 
 be seen through its walls. In my well furnished 
 chamber, I could see the stars through the chinks 
 between the logs. During the summer, I should 
 be sorry to change this primitive kind of abode for 
 a better. 
 
 It is not difficult to procure the necessaries and 
 comforts of life. Most articles of food are provided 
 on the plantation. Wine and groceries are ob 
 tained from Mobile or New Orleans ; and clothing 
 and furniture from the north. Tea is twenty shil 
 lings English per Ib. ; brown sugar, threepence-half 
 penny ; white sugar, sixpence-halfpenny. A gentle 
 man s family, where there are children to be educated, 
 cannot live for less than from seven hundred pounds 
 to one thousand pounds per annum. The sons take 
 land and buy slaves very early ; and the daughters 
 marry almost in childhood; so that education is 
 less thought of, and sooner ended, than in almost 
 any part of the world. The pioneers of civilisation, 
 as the settlers in these new districts may be re 
 garded, care for other things more than for educa 
 tion; or they would not come. They are, from 
 whatever motive, money-getters ; and few but 
 money-getting qualifications are to be looked for 
 in thetrrr~~TT"was "partly" amus1n^~arld^paftly sab 1 , 
 to > rjrJserve* the young people of these regions ; 
 some, fit for a better mode of life, discontented; 
 some youths pedantic, some maidens romantic, to 
 a degree which makes the stranger almost doubt 
 the reality of the scenes and personages before his 
 eyes. The few better educated who come to get 
 money, see the absurdity, and feel the wearisome- 
 ness of this kind of literary cultivation ; but the 
 
222 ECONOMY. 
 
 being in such society is the tax they must pay for 
 making haste to be rich. 
 
 I heard in Montgomery of a wealthy old planter 
 in the neighbourhood, who has amassed millions of 
 dollars, while his children can scarcely write their 
 names. Becoming aware of their deficiencies, as 
 the place began to be peopled from the eastward, 
 he sent a son of sixteen to school, and a younger 
 one to college ; but they proved " such gawks," that 
 they were unable to learn, or even to remain in the 
 society of others w r ho were learning ; and .their old 
 father has bought land in Missouri, whither he 
 "was about to take his children, to remove them 
 from the contempt of their neighbours. They are 
 doomed to the lowest office of social beings ; to be 
 the mechanical, unintelligent pioneers of* man in 
 the wilderness. Surely such a warning as this 
 should strike awe into the whole region, lest they 
 should also perish to all the best purposes of life, 
 by getting to consider money, not as a means, but 
 an end. 
 
 I suppose there must be such pioneers ; but the 
 result is a society which it is a punishment to its 
 best members to live in. There is pedantry in 
 those who read ; prejudice in those who do not ; 
 coxcombry among the young gentlemen ; bad man 
 ners among the young ladies; and an absence of 
 all reference to the higher, the real objects of life. 
 When to all this is added that tremendous curse, 
 the possession of irresponsible power, (over slaves,) 
 it is easy to see how character must become, iri 
 such regions, what it was described to me on the 
 spot, " composed of the chivalric elements, badly 
 combined :" and the wise will feel that, though a 
 man may save his soul anywhere, it is better to live 
 on bread and water where existence is most ideal 
 ized, than to grow suddenly rich in the gorgeous 
 regions where mind is corrupted or starved amidst 
 
ECONOMY. 223 
 
 the luxuriance of nature. The hard-working settler 
 of the north-west, who hews his way into indepen 
 dence with his own hands, is, or may be, exempt 
 from the curse of this mental corruption or starva 
 tion ; but it falls inevitably and heavily upon those 
 who fatten upon the bounty of Nature, in the so 
 ciety of money-getters like themselves, and through 
 the "labours of degraded fellow-men, whom they 
 hold in their injurious power. 
 
 We saw several plantations while we were in this 
 neighbourhood. Nothing can be richer than the 
 soil of one to which we went, to take a lesson in 
 cotton-growing. It will never want more than to 
 have the cotton seed returned to it. We saw the 
 plough, which is very shallow. Two throw up a 
 ridge, which is wTought by hand into little mounds. 
 After these are drilled, the seed is put in by hand. 
 This plantation consists of nine hundred and fifty 
 acres, and is flourishing in every way. The air is 
 healthy, as the situation is high prairie land. The 
 water is generally good; but, after rain, so im 
 pregnated with lime, as to be disagreeable to the 
 smell and taste. Another grievance is, a weed 
 which grows on the prairie, which the cows like in 
 summer, but which makes the milk so disagreeable, 
 that cream, half-an-inch thick, is thrown to the 
 pigs. They only can estimate this evil who know 
 what the refreshment of milk is in hot climates. 
 Another grievance is, that no trees can be allowed 
 to grow near the house, for fear of the mosquitoes. 
 Everything else is done for coolness ; there are wide 
 piazzas on both sides of the house ; the rooms are 
 lofty, and amply provided with green blinds ; but 
 all this does not compensate to the eye for the want 
 of the shade of trees. The bareness of the villages 
 of the south is verv_striking to trie eye ot a strange?* 
 as h(T approjacKei theln^ They lie scorching and 
 glaring on the rising grounds, or on the plain, hazy 
 
224 ECONOMY. 
 
 with the heat, while the forest, with its myriads of 
 trees, its depth of shade, is on the horizon. But 
 the plague of mosquitoes is a sufficient warrant for 
 any sacrifice of the pleasures of the eye ; for they 
 allow but little enjoyment of anything in their pre 
 sence. 
 
 . On this, and many other estates that we saw, 
 I the ladies make it their business to cut out all the 
 /clothes for the negroes. Many a fair pair of hands 
 have I seen dyed with blue, and bearing the marks 
 of the large scissars. The slave women cannot be 
 taught, it is said, to cut out even their scanty and 
 unshapely garments economically. Nothing can 
 be more hideous than their working costume. There 
 would be nothing to lose on the score of beauty, 
 and probably much gained, if they could be per 
 mitted to clothe themselves. But it is universally 
 said that they cannot learn. A few ladies keep a 
 woman for this purpose, very naturally disliking 
 the coarse employment. 
 
 We visited the rtpgrn quarter; p. jpart of the 
 estate which filled me whh_dis^ust,_wherever I 
 went" !FJ8^metInng_between a haunt of Jnonkeys 
 an71^HwOTn^-place__of humalPEi^ngS* The na 
 tural good taste, so remarkable in free negroes, is 
 here extinguished. / Their small, dingy, untidy 
 houses, their cribs, the children crouching round the 
 fire, the animal deportment of the grown-up, the 
 brutish chagrins and enjoyments of the old, were all 
 loathsome/Vrhere was some relief in seeing the 
 children playing in the sun, and sometimes fowls 
 clucking and strutting round the houses ; but 
 otherwise, a walk through a lunatic asylum is far 
 less painful than a visit to the slave quarter of an 
 estate. The children are left, during working 
 hours, in the charge of a woman.; and they are 
 bright, and brisk, and merry enough, for the season, 
 however slow and stupid they may be destined to 
 become. 
 
ECONOMY. 225 
 
 My next visit was to a school the Franklin In 
 stitute, in Montgomery, established by a gentle 
 man who has bestowed unwearied pains on its 
 organization, and to whose care it does great credit. 
 On our approach, we saw five horses walking about 
 the enclosure, and five saddles hung over the fence: 
 a true sign that some of the pupils came from a 
 distance. The school was hung with prints ; there 
 was a collection of shells ; many books and maps ; 
 and some philosophical apparatus. The boys, and 
 a few girls, were steadily employed over their books 
 and mapping ; and nothing could exceed the order 
 and neatness of the place. If the event corre 
 sponds with the appearance, the proprietor must be 
 one of the most useful citizens the place has yet 
 been honoured with. 
 
 I spent some days at a plantation a few miles 
 from Montgomery, and heard there of an old lady 
 who treats her slaves in a way very unusual, but 
 quite safe, as far as appears. She gives them 
 knowledge, which is against the law ; but the law 
 leaves her in peace and quiet. She also commits 
 to them the entire management of the estate, re 
 quiring only that they should make her comfort 
 able, and letting them take the rest. There is an 
 obligation by law to keep an overseer ; to obviate 
 insurrection. How she manages about this, I 
 omitted to inquire : but all goes on well ; the cul 
 tivation of the estate is creditable, and all parties 
 are contented. This is only a temporary ease and 
 contentment. The old lady must die ; and her 
 slaves will either He sold to a new owner, whose 
 temper will be an accident ; or, if freed, must 
 leave the State : but the story is satisfactory in as 
 far as it gives evidence of the trust-worthiness of 
 the negroes. 
 
 Our drives about the plantation and neigh 
 bouring country w r ere delicious. The inundations 
 
 L 5 
 
226 ECONOMY. 
 
 from the rivers are remarkable ; a perfect Eden 
 appears when they subside. At the landing place 
 of this plantation,. I saw a board nailed near the 
 top of a lofty tree, and asked what it could be for. 
 It was the high- water mark. The river, the Ala 
 bama, was now upwards of twenty feet higher than 
 usual ; and logs, corn-stalks, and green boughs 
 were being carried down its rapid current, as often 
 as we went to the shore. There were evidences of 
 its having laid even houses under water ; but, on its 
 subsiding, it would be found to have left a deposit 
 of two inches and a half of fine new soil on the 
 fields on either side of its channel. I never stood 
 on the banks of the southern rivers without being 
 reminded of Daniell s Views in India and Ceylon; 
 the water level, shadowy and still, and the thickets 
 actually springing out of it, with dark-green re 
 cesses, with the relief of a slender white stem, or 
 dangling creeper here and there. Some creepers 
 rise like a ladder, straight from the water to a 
 bough one hundred and twenty feet high. As for the 
 softness of the evening light on the water, it is in 
 describable. It is as if the atmosphere were purified 
 from all mortal breathings, it is so bright, and yet 
 not dazzling ; there is such a profusion of verdure. 
 There, were black women ploughing in the field, 
 with their ugly, scanty, dingy dresses, their wal 
 loping gait, and vacant countenance. There were 
 scarlet and blue birds flitting over the dark fallows. 
 There was persimon sprouting in the woods, and 
 the young corn-plants in the field, with a handful 
 of cotton-seed laid round each sprout. There was 
 a view from a bluff which fully equalled all my ex 
 pectations of what the scenery of the southern 
 States would be ; yet, tropical as it was in many 
 respects, it reminded me strongly of the view from 
 Richmond Hill. We were standing on the verge 
 of a precipice, of a height which I dare not specify. 
 
ECONOMY. J27 
 
 A deep fissure to our right was spanned by a log 
 which it made one shudder to think of crossing. 
 Behind us lay a cotton-field of 7,000 acres within 
 one fence. All this, and the young aloes, and wild 
 vines, were little enough like Richmond; and so 
 was the faint blue line of hills on the horizon ; but 
 it was the intervening plain, through which the 
 river ran, and on which an infinite variety of noble 
 trees grew, as it appeared, to an interminable dis 
 tance. Here their tops seemed woven into com 
 pactness ; there they were so sprinkled as to dis 
 play the majesty and grace of their forms. I 
 looked upon this as a glorification of the Richmond 
 view. 
 
 It was now the middle of April. In the kitchen 
 garden the peas were ripening, and the strawber 
 ries turning red, though the spring of 1835 was 
 very backward. We had salads, young asparagus, 
 and radishes. 
 
 The following may be considered a pretty fair 
 account of the provision for a planter s table, at 
 this season ; and, except with regard to vegetables, 
 I believe it does not vary much throughout the 
 year. Breakfast at seven ; hot wheat bread, gene 
 rally sour; corn bread, biscuits, waffles, hominy, 
 dozens of eggs, broiled ham, beef-steak or broiled 
 fowl, tea and coffee. Lunch at eleven ; cake and 
 wine, or liqueur. Dinner at two ; now and then 
 soup (not good,) always roast turkey and ham; a 
 boiled fowl here, a tongue there ; a small piece of 
 nondescript meat, which generally turns out to be 
 pork disguised ; hominy, rice, hot corn -bread, sweet 
 potatoes ; potatoes mashed with spice, very hot ; 
 salad and radishes, and an extraordinary variety of 
 pickles. Of these, you are asked to eat everything 
 with everything else. If you have turkey and ham on 
 your plate, you are requested to add tongue, pork, 
 hominy, and pickles. Then succeed pies of apple, 
 
228 ECONOMY. 
 
 squash, and pumpkin ; custard, and a variety of 
 preserves as extraordinary as the preceding pickles : 
 pine-apple, peach, limes, ginger, guava jelly, co 
 coa-nut, and every sort of plums. These are 
 almost all from the West-Indies. Dispersed about 
 the table are shell almonds, raisins, hickory, and 
 other nuts ; and, to crown the whole, large blocks 
 of ice-cream. Champagne is abundant, and cider 
 frequent. Ale and porter may now and then be 
 seen ; but claret is the most common drink. Dur 
 ing dinner a slave stands at a corner of the table, 
 keeping off the flies by waving a large bunch of 
 peacock s feathers fastened into a handle, an 
 ampler fan than those of our grandmothers. 
 
 Supper takes place at six, or seven. Sometimes 
 the family sits round the table; but more com 
 monly the tray is handed round, with plates which 
 must be held in the lap. Then follow tea and cof 
 fee, waffles, biscuits, sliced ham or hung-beef, and 
 sweet cake. Last of all, is the offer of cake and 
 wine at nine or ten. 
 
 The profits of cotton-growing, when I was in 
 Alabama, were thirty-five per cent. One planter 
 whorrt knew had bought fifteen thousand dollars 
 worth of land within two years, which he could 
 then have sold for sixty-five thousand dollars. He 
 expected to make, that season, fifty or sixty 
 thousand dollars of his growing crop. l^Js__cerj%, 
 tainly the place to become rich in ; but the state 
 dTjOCJety Ts fearful: 0rre*"of my hosfs7~a^mari of 
 ^real good-1 laluTU, ^is he shows in the treatment of 
 his slaves, and in his family relations, had been 
 stabbed in the back in the reading-room of the 
 town, two years before, and no prosecution was 
 instituted. Another of my hosts carried loaded 
 pistols for a fortnight, just before I arrived, 
 knowing that he was lain in wait for by persons 
 against whose illegal practices he had given in- 
 
ECONOMY. 229 
 
 formation to a magistrate, whose carriage was 
 therefore broken in pieces, and thrown into the 
 river. A lawyer with whom we were in company 
 one afternoon, was sent for to take the deposition 
 of a dying man who had been sitting with his fa 
 mily in the shade, when he received three balls in 
 the back from three men who took aim at him 
 from behind trees. The tales of jail -breaking and 
 rescue were numberless ; and a lady of Montgo 
 mery told me that she had lived there four years, 
 during which time no day, she believed, had passed 
 without some one s life having been attempted, 
 either by duelling or assassination. It will be un 
 derstood that I describe this region as presenting 
 an extreme case of the material advantages and 
 moral evils of a new settlement, under the institu 
 tion of slavery. The most prominent relief is 
 the hospitality, that virtue of young society. It 
 is so remarkable, and to the stranger so grateful, 
 that there is danger of its blinding him to the real 
 state of affairs. In the drawing-room, the piazza, 
 the barouche, all is so gay and friendly, there is 
 such a prevailing hilarity and kindness, that it 
 seems positively ungrateful and unjust to pro 
 nounce, even in one s own heart, that all this way 
 of life is full of wrong and peril. Yet it is impos 
 sible to sit down to reflect, with every order of 
 human beings filling an equal space before one s 
 mental eye, without being struck to the soul with 
 the conviction that the state of society, and no less 
 of individual families, is false and hollow, whether 
 their members are aware of it or not ; that they 
 forget that they must be just before they can be 
 generous. The severity of this truth is much soft 
 ened to sympathetic persons on the spot ; but it 
 returns with awful force when they look back upon 
 it from afar. 
 
 In the slave quarter of a plantation hereabouts 
 
230 ECONOMY. 
 
 I saw a poor wretch who had run away three times, 
 and been re-captured. The last time he was found 
 in the woods, with both legs frost-bitten above the 
 knees, so as to render amputation necessary. I 
 passed by when he was sitting on the door-step of 
 his hut, and longed to see him breathe his last. But 
 he is a young man, likely to drag out his helpless 
 and hopeless existence for many a dreary year. I 
 dread to tell the rest ; but such things must be 
 told sometimes, to show to what a pass of fiendish 
 cruelty the human spirit may be brought by merely 
 witnessing the exercise of irresponsible power over 
 the defenceless. I give the very words of the 
 speaker, premising that she is not American by 
 birth or education, nor yet English. 
 
 The master and mistress of this poor slave, with 
 their children, had always treated him and his fel 
 low-slaves very kindly. He made no complaint of 
 them. It was not from their cruelty that he at 
 tempted to escape. His running away was there 
 fore a mystery to the person to whom I have al 
 luded. She recapitulated all the clothes that had 
 been given to him ; and all the indulgences, and 
 forgivenesses for his ingratitude in running away 
 from such a master, with which he had been blessed. 
 She told me that she had advised his master and 
 mistress to refuse him clothes, when he had torn 
 his old ones with trying to make his way through 
 the woods ; but his master had been too kind, arid 
 had again covered his nakedness. She turned 
 round upon me, and asked what could make the 
 ungrateful wretch run away a third time from such 
 a master ? 
 
 " He wanted to be free." 
 
 " Free ! from such a master !" 
 
 " From any master." 
 
 " The villain ! I went to him when he had had 
 his legs cut off, and I said to him, it serves you 
 right " 
 
ECONOMY. 231 
 
 " What ! when you knew he could not run away 
 any more ?" 
 
 " Yes, that I did ; I said to him, you wretch ! 
 but for your master s sake I am glad it has hap 
 pened to you. You deserve it, that you do. If 1 
 were your master I would let you die ; I d give 
 you no help nor nursing. It serves you right ; it 
 is just what you deserve. It s fit that it should 
 happen to you .... !" 
 
 " You did not you dared not so insult the mi 
 serable creature !" I cried. 
 
 " Oh, who knows," replied she, " but that the 
 Lord may bless a word of grace in season !" 
 
 Some readers may conceive this to be a freak of 
 idiotcy. It was not so. This person is shrewd and 
 sensible in matters where rights and duties are not 
 in question. Of these she is, as it appears, pro 
 foundly ignorant ; in a state of superinduced dark 
 ness ; but her character is that of a clever, and, 
 with some, a profoundly religious woman. Hap 
 pily, she has no slaves of her own: at least, no 
 black ones. 
 
 I saw this day, driving a wagon, a man who is a 
 schoolmaster, lawyer, almanack-maker, speculator 
 in old iron, and dealer in eggs, in addition to a few- 
 other occupations. His must be a very active 
 existence. 
 
 This little history of a portion of my southern 
 journey may give an idea of what life is in the 
 wilder districts of the south. I will offer but one 
 more sketch, and that w r ill exemplify life in the wilder 
 districts_ofj:kejaLQth. The picture of my travels 
 in and Ground Michigan will convey the real state^of 
 things there; at" present: 
 
 "Otir travelling party~ctmsisted of Mr. and Mrs. 
 L., the before-mentioned Charley, his father and 
 mother, and myself!. We were prepared to see 
 everything to advantage; for there was strong 
 
232 ECONOMY. 
 
 friendship among us all ; and a very unusual agree 
 ment of opinion on subjects which education, tem 
 perament, or the circumstances of the time, made 
 most interesting to us. The great ornament of the 
 party our prince of Denmark was Charley; a boy 
 of uncommon beauty and promise, and fully worthy 
 of the character given him by one of our drivers, 
 with whom the boy had ingratiated himself by 
 his chatter on the box ; " An eternal smart boy, 
 and the greatest hand at talk I ever came across." 
 We landed at Detroit, from Lake Erie, at seven 
 o clock in the morning of the 13th of June, 1836. 
 We reached the American just in time for break 
 fast. At that long table, I had the pleasure of 
 seeing the healthiest set of faces thai- I had beheld 
 since I left England. The breakfast was excel 
 lent, and we were served with much consideration ; 
 but the place was so full, and the accommodations 
 of Detroit are so insufficient for the influx of people 
 who are betaking themselves thither, that strangers 
 must patiently put up with much delay and incon 
 venience till new houses of entertainment are 
 opened. We had to wait till near one o clock be 
 fore any of us could have a room in which to dress ; 
 but I had many letters to write, and could wait ; 
 and before I had done, Charley came with his 
 shining face and clean collar, to show me that ac 
 commodation had been provided. In the afternoon, 
 we saw what we could of the place, and walked by 
 the side of the full and tranquil river St. Clair. 
 The streets of the town are wide and airy ; but the 
 houses, churches, and .stores, are poor for the 
 capital city of a Territory or State. This is a 
 defect which is presently cured, in the stirring 
 northern regions of the United States. Wooden 
 planks, laid on the grass, form the pavement, in all 
 the outskirts of the place. The deficiency is of 
 stone, not of labour. Thousands of settlers are 
 
ECONOMY. 233 
 
 pouring in every year ; and of these, many are 
 Irish, Germans, or Dutch, working their way into 
 the back country, and glad to be employed for a 
 while at Detroit, to earn money to carry them 
 further. Paving-stones will be imported here, I 
 suppose, as I saw them at New Orleans, to the 
 great improvement of the health and comfort of 
 the place. The block-wood pavement, of which 
 trial has been made in a part of Broadway, New 
 York, is thought likely to answer better at De 
 troit than any other kind, and is going to be 
 tried. 
 
 The country round Detroit is as flat as can be 
 imagined ; and, indeed, it is said that the highest 
 mountain in the State boasts only sixty feet of ele 
 vation. A lady of Detroit once declared, that if she 
 were to build a house in Michigan, she would build 
 a hill first. The Canada side of the river looks 
 dull enough from the city; but I cannot speak 
 from a near view of it, having been disappointed 
 in my attempts to getfover to it. On one occa 
 sion, we were too late for the ferry-boat ; and we 
 never had time again for the excursion. 
 
 A cool wind from the northern lakes blows over 
 the whole face of the country, in the midst of the 
 hottest days of summer ; and in the depth of 
 winter, the snow never lies deep, nor long. These 
 circumstances may partly account for the healthi 
 ness of the row of faces at the table of the Ame 
 rican. 
 
 The society of Detroit is very choice ; and, as it 
 has continuecT~so since the old colonial days, 
 through the territorial days, there is every reason 
 to think that it will become, under its new digni 
 ties, a more and more desirable place of residence. 
 Some of its inferior society is still very youllTiuTr 
 a gentleman, for instance, saying in the reading- 
 room, in the hearing of one of our party, that, 
 
234 ECONOMY. 
 
 though it did not sound well at a distance, Lynch 
 ing* was the only way to treat Abolitionists: but 
 the most enlightened society is, I believe, equal to 
 any which is to be found in the United States. 
 Here we began to see some of the half-breeds, of 
 Avhcm w r e afterwards met so many at the north. 
 They are the children of white men who have married 
 squaws ; and may be known at a glance, not only 
 by the dark complexion, but by the high cheek 
 bones, straight black hair, and an indescribable 
 mischievous expression about the eyes. I never 
 saw such imps and Flibbertigibbets as the half-breed 
 boys that we used to see rowing or diving in the 
 w r aters, or playing pranks on the shores of Mi 
 chigan. 
 
 We had two great pleasures this day ; a drive 
 along the quiet Lake St. Clair, and a charming even 
 ing party at General Mason s. After a pilgrimage 
 through the State of New York, a few exciting 
 days at Niagara, and a disagreeable voyage along 
 Lake Erie, we were prepared to enjoy to the utmost 
 the novelty of a good evenitig party ; and we were 
 as merry as children at a ball. It was wholly un 
 expected to find ourselves in accomplished society 
 on the far side of Lake Erie ; and there was some 
 thing stimulating in the contrast between the high 
 civilisation of the evening, and the primitive scenes 
 that we were to plunge into the next day. Though 
 
 * It is possible that this term may not yet be familiar to some 
 of my English readers. It means summary punishment. The 
 modes now in use among those who take the law into their own 
 hands in the United States, are tarring and feathering, scourging 
 with a cow-hide, banishing, and hanging. The term owes its 
 derivation to a farmer of the name of Lynch, living on the Mis 
 sissippi, who, in the absence of court and lawyers, constituted 
 himself a judge, and ordered summary punishment to be inflicted 
 on an offender. He little foresaw the national disgrace which 
 would arise from the extension of the practice to which he gave 
 his name. 
 
ECONOMY. 235 
 
 we bad to pack up and write, and be off very early 
 in the morning, we were unable to persuade our 
 selves to go home till late; and then we talked over 
 Detroit as if we were wholly at leisure. 
 
 The scenery of Lake St. Clair was new to me. 
 I had seen nothing in the United States like its 
 level green banks, with trees slanting over the 
 water, festooned with the wild vine ; the groups of 
 cattle beneath them; the distant steam-boat, ^ arcely 
 seeming to disturb the grey surface of the still 
 waters. This was the first of many scenes in Mi 
 chigan which made me think of Holland ; though 
 the day of canals has not yet arrived. 
 
 15th. An obliging girl at the American provided 
 us with coffee and biscuits at half-past five, by 
 which time our " exclusive extra" was at the door. 
 Charley had lost his cap. It was impossible that 
 he should go bare-headed through the State ; and 
 it was lucky for us that a store was already open 
 where he was furnished in a trice with a willow-hat. 
 The brimming river was bright in the morning 
 sun ; and our road was, for a mile or two, thronged 
 with Indians. Some of the inhabitants of Detroit, 
 who knew the most about their dark neighbours, 
 told me that they found it impossible to be roman 
 tic about these poor creatures. We, however, could 
 not help feeling the excitement of the spectacle, 
 when we saw them standing in their singularly 
 majestic attitudes by the road-side, or on a rising 
 ground : one, with a bunch of feathers tied at the 
 back of the head ; another, with his arms folded in 
 his blanket ; and a third, with her infant lashed to 
 a board, and thus carried on her shoulders. Their 
 appearance was dreadfully squalid. 
 
 As soon as we had entered the woods, the roads 
 became as bad as, I suppose, roads ever are. Some 
 thing snapped, and the driver cried out that we 
 were " broke to bits." The team-bolt had given 
 
230 ECONOMY. 
 
 way. Our gentlemen, and those of the mail-stage, 
 which happened to be at hand, helped to mend the 
 coach ; and we ladies walked on, gathering abun 
 dance of flowers, and picking our way along the 
 swampy corduroy road. In less than an hour, 
 the stage took us up, and no more accidents hap 
 pened before breakfast. We were abundantly 
 amused while our meal was preparing at Danvers- 
 ville. ^One of the passengers of the mail-stage 
 took up a violin, and offered to play to us. Books 
 with pictures were lying about. The lady of the 
 house sat by the window, fixing her candle-wicks 
 into the moulds. In the piazza, sat a party of 
 emigrants, who interested us much. The wife had 
 her eight children with her ; the youngest, puny 
 twins. She said she had brought them in a wagon 
 four hundred miles ; and if they could only live 
 through the one hundred that remained before 
 they reached her husband"^ lot of land, she hoped 
 they might thrive ; but she had been robbed, the 
 day before, of her bundle of baby things. Some 
 one had stolen it from the wagon. After a good 
 meal, we saw the stage-passengers stowed into a 
 lumber wagon ; and we presently followed in our 
 more comfortable vehicle. 
 
 Before long, something else snapped. The 
 splinter-bar was broken. The driver was morti 
 fied; but it was no fault of his. Juggernaut s car 
 would have been " broke to bits" on such a road. 
 We went into a settler s house, where we were 
 welcomed to rest and refresh ourselves. Three 
 years before, the owner bought his eighty acres of 
 land for a dollar an acre. He could now sell it for 
 twenty dollars an acre. He shot, last year, a 
 hundred deer, and sold them for three dollars 
 a-piece. He and his family need have no fears of 
 poverty. We dined well, nine miles before reach 
 ing Ypsilanti. The log-houses, always comforta- 
 
ECONOMY. 237 
 
 ble when well made, being easily kept clean, cool 
 in summer, and warm in winter, have here an air 
 of beauty about them. The hue always harmonizes 
 well with the soil and vegetation. Those in Mi 
 chigan have the bark left on, and the corners 
 sawn off close ; and are thus both picturesque and 
 neat. 
 
 At Ypsilanti, I picked up an Ann Arbor news 
 paper. It was badly printed ; but its contents were 
 pretty good ; and it could happen nowhere out of 
 America, that so raw a settlement as that at Ann 
 Arbor, where there is difficulty in procuring decent 
 accommodations, should have a newspaper. 
 
 It was past seven before we left the inn at Ypsi 
 lanti, to go thirteen miles further. We departed on 
 foot. There was a bridge building at Ypsilanti; 
 but, till it was ready, all vehicles had to go a mile 
 down the water-side to the ferry, while the pas 
 sengers generally preferred crossing the foot-bridge, 
 and walking on through the wood. We found in 
 our path, lupins, wild geraniums, blue-eye grass, 
 blue iris, wild sunflower, and many others. The 
 mild summer night was delicious, after the fatigues 
 of the day. I saw the youngest of golden moons, 
 and two bright stars set, before we reached Wal 
 lace s Tavern, where we were to sleep. Of course, 
 we were told that there was no room for us ; but, 
 by a little coaxing and management, and one of 
 the party consenting to sleep on the parlour-floor, 
 everything was made easy. 
 
 Itjth. We were off by half-past six; and, not 
 having rested quite enough, and having the prospect 
 of fourteen miles before breakfast, we, with one 
 accord, finished our sleep in the stage. We reached 
 Tecumseh by half-past nine, and perceived that its 
 characteristic was chair-making. Every other house 
 seemed to tye a chair manufactory. One bore the 
 inscription, " Cousin George s Store:" the meaning 
 
238 ECONOMY. 
 
 of which I do not pretend to furnish. Perhaps the 
 idea is, that purchasers may feel free and easy, as 
 if dealing with cousin George. Everybody has a 
 cousin George. Elsewhere, we saw a little hotel 
 inscribed, " Our House f a prettier sign than 
 " Traveller s Rest," or any other such tempting in 
 vitation that I am acquainted with. At Tccumseb, 
 I saw the first strawberries of the season. All 
 that I tasted in Michigan, of prairie growth, 
 were superior to those of the west, grown in 
 gardens. 
 
 Charley was delighted to-day by the sight of 
 several spotted fawns, tamed by children. If a 
 fawn be carried a hundred yards from its bush, it 
 will follow the finder, and remain with him, if 
 kindly treated. They are prettiest when very 
 young, as they afterwards lose their spots. 
 
 We fairly entered the "rolling country" to-day: 
 and nothing could be brighter and moce flourishing 
 than it looked. The young corn w r as corning up 
 well in the settlers fields. The copses, called 
 " oak-openings," looked fresh after the passing 
 thunder-showers; and so did the rising grounds, 
 strewed with wild flowers and strawberries. " The 
 little hills rejoiced -on every side." The ponds, 
 gleaming between the hills and copses, gave a park- 
 like air to the scenery. The settlers leave trees 
 in their clearings ; and from these came the song 
 of the wood-thrush ; and from the dells the cry of 
 the quail. There seemed to be a gay wood-pecker 
 to every tree. 
 
 Our only accident to-day was driving over a poor 
 hog : we can only hope it died soon. Wherever 
 we stopped, we found that the crowds of emigrants 
 had eaten up all the eggs; and we happened to 
 think eggs the best article of diet of all on a jour 
 ney. It occurred to me that we might get some 
 by the way, and carry them on to our resting- 
 
ECONOMY. 239 
 
 place. All agreed that we might probably pro 
 cure them : but how to carry them safely over such 
 roads was the question. This day we resolved to 
 try. We made a solemn stir for eggs in a small 
 settlement ; and procured a dozen. We each car 
 ried one in each hand, except Charley, who was 
 too young to be trusted. His two were wrapped 
 up each in a bag. During eight miles of jolting, 
 not one was hurt ; and we delivered them to 
 our host at Jonesville with much satisfaction. We 
 wished that some of our entertainers had been as 
 rich as a Frenchman at Baltimore, who, talking of 
 his poultry-yard, informed a friend that he had 
 " fifty head of hen." 
 
 At Jonesville, the ladies and Charley were fa 
 voured with a large and comfortable chamber. The 
 gentlemen had to sleep with the multitude below ; 
 ranged like walking-sticks, or umbrellas,on a shop- 
 counter. 
 
 17th. The road was more deplorable than ever 
 to-day. The worst of it was, that whenever it was 
 dangerous for the carriage, so that we were obliged 
 to get out, it was, in proportion, difficult to be 
 passed on foot It was amusing to see us in such 
 passes as we had to go through to-day. I gene 
 rally acted as pioneer, the gentlemen having their 
 ladies to assist ; and it was pleasant to stand on 
 some dry perch, and watch my companions through 
 the holes and pools that I had passed. Such hop 
 ping and jumping; such slipping and sliding; such 
 looks of despair from the middle of a pond ; such 
 shifting of logs, and carrying of planks, and hand 
 ing along the fallen trunks of trees ! The driver, 
 meantime, was looking back provokingly from his 
 box, having dragged the carriage through; and 
 far behind stood Charley, high and dry, singing or 
 eating his bit of bread, till his father could come 
 back for him. Three times this day was such a 
 
240 ECONOMY. 
 
 scene enacted; and, the third time, there was a 
 
 party of emigrant ladies to be assisted, too. When 
 
 it was all over, and I saw one with her entire feet 
 
 cased in mud, I concluded we must all be very 
 
 wet, and looked at my own shoes : and lo ! even 
 
 the soles were as dry as when they were made ! 
 
 How little the worst troubles of travelling amount 
 
 to, in proportion to the apprehension of them ! 
 
 What a world of anxiety do travellers suffer lest 
 
 they should get wet, or be without food ! How 
 
 many really faint with hunger, or fall into an ague 
 
 \ with damp and cold? I was never in danger of 
 
 ( either the one or the other, in any of the twenty- 
 
 1 three States which I visited. 
 
 At one part of our journey to-day, where the 
 road was absolutely impassable, we went above a 
 mile through the wood, where there was no track, 
 but where the trees are blazed, to serve as guide- 
 posts, summer and winter. It was very wild. Our 
 carriage twisted and wound about to avoid blows 
 against the noble beech-stems. The waters of the 
 swamp plashed under our wheels, and the boughs 
 crunched overhead. An overturn would have been 
 a disaster in such a place. We travelled only forty- 
 two miles this long day; but the weariness of the 
 way was much beguiled by singing, by a mock ora 
 tion, story-telling, and other such amusementsf The 
 wit and humour of Americans, abundant under 
 ordinary circumstances, are never, I believe, known 
 to fail in emergencies, serious or trifling. Their 
 humour helps themselves and their visitors through 
 any Sloughs of Despond, as charitably as their in 
 finite abundance of logs through the swamps of 
 their bad roadsj 
 
 We did not reach Sturgis s Prairie till night. 
 We had heard so poor an account of the stage- 
 house, that we proceeded to another, whose owner 
 has the reputation of treating his guests magnifi- 
 
ECONOMY. 241 
 
 eently, or not at all. He treated us on juste milieu 
 principles. He did what he could for us ; and that 
 could not be called magnificent. The house was 
 crowded with emigrants. When, after three hours 
 waiting, we had supper, two full-grown persons 
 were asleep on some blankets in the corner of the 
 room, and as many as fifteen or sixteen children on 
 chairs and on the floor. Our hearts ached for one 
 mother. Her little girl, two years old, had either 
 sprained or broken her arm, and the mother did 
 not know what to do with it. The child shrieked 
 when the arm was touched, and wailed mournfully 
 at other times. We found in the morning, how 
 ever, that she had had some sleep. I have often 
 wondered since how she bore the motion of the 
 wagon on the worst parts of the road. It was 
 oppressively hot. I had a little closet, whose door 
 would not shut, and which was too small to give 
 me room to take off the soft feather-bed. The 
 window would not keep open without being propped 
 by the tin water-jug; and though this was done, I 
 could not sleep for the heat. This reminds me of 
 the considerate kindness of an hotel-keeper in an 
 earlier stage of our journey. When he found that 
 I wished to have my window open, there being no 
 fastening, he told me he would bring his own 
 tooth-brush for a prop, which he accordingly did. 
 18th. Our drive of twelve miles to breakfast 
 was very refreshing. The roads were the best we 
 had travelled since we left New York State. We 
 passed through a wilderness of flowers; trailing 
 roses, enormous white convolvulus, scarlet lilies, 
 and ground-ivy, with many others, being added to 
 those we had before seen. Milton must have tra 
 velled in Michigan before He wrote the garden 
 parts of "Paradise Lost." Sturgis s and White 
 Pigeon Prairies are highly cultivated, and look 
 just like any other rich and perfectly level land. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
242 ECONOMY. 
 
 We breakfasted at White Pigeon Prairie, and saw 
 the rising ground where the Indian chief lies 
 buried, whose name has been given to the place. 
 
 The charms of the settlement, to us, were a kind 
 landlady, an admirable breakfast, at which eggs 
 abounded, and a blooming garden. Thirty-seven 
 miles further brought us to Niles, where \ve arrived 
 by five in the afternoon. The roads were so much 
 improved that we had not to walk at all; which 
 was well, as there was much pelting rain during 
 the day. 
 
 Niles is a thriving town on the river St. Joseph, 
 on the borders of the Potowatomie territory, 
 Three years ago, it consisted of three houses. We 
 could not learn the present number of inhabitants ; 
 probably because the number is never the same 
 two days together. A Potowatomie village stands 
 within a mile ; and we saw two Indians on horse 
 back, fording the rapid river very majestically, 
 and ascending the wooded hills on the other side. 
 Many Indian women were about the streets ; one 
 with a nose-ring ; some with plates of silver on the 
 bosom, and other barbaric ornaments. Such a 
 tremendous storm of thunder and lightning came 
 on, with a deluge of rain, that we were prevented 
 seeing anything of the place, except from our win 
 dows. I had sent my boots to a cobbler, over the 
 way. He had to put on India rubbers, which 
 reached above the knee, to bring his work home : 
 the street was so flooded. We little imagined for 
 the hour the real extent and violence of this storm, 
 and the effect it would have on our journeying. 
 
 The prairie strawberries, at breakfast this morn 
 ing, were so large, sweet, and ripe, that we w r ere 
 inclined for more in the course of the day. Many 
 of the children of the settlers \vere dispersed near 
 the road-side, with their baskets, gathering straw 
 berries ; they would not sell any : they did not 
 
ECONOMY. 243 
 
 know what mother would say if they went home 
 without any berries for father. But they could 
 get enough for father, too, they were told, if they 
 would sell us what they had already gathered. 
 No; they did not want to sell. Our driver ob 
 served, that money was "no object to them." I 
 began to think that we had, at last, got to the end 
 of the world ; or rather, perhaps, to the beginning 
 of another and a better. 
 
 19th. No plan could be more cleverly and con 
 fidently laid than ours was fbr this day s journey. 
 We were to travel through the lands of the Poto- 
 watomiesj and reach the sliores of the glorious 
 Lake Michigan, at Michigan City, in time for an 
 early supper. We were to proceed on the morrow 
 round the southern extremity of the lake, so as, if 
 possible, to reach Chicago in one day. It was 
 wisely and prettily planned : and the plan was so 
 far followed, as that we actually did leave Niles 
 some time before six in the morning. Within three 
 minutes, it began to rain again, and continued, 
 with but few and short intervals, all day. 
 
 We crossed the St. Joseph by a rope ferry, the 
 ingenious management of which, when stage-coaches 
 had to be carried over, was a perpetual study to 
 me. The effect of crossing a rapid river by a rope- 
 ferry, by torch-light, in a dark night, is very strik 
 ing; and not the less so for one s becoming fami 
 liarized with it, as the traveller does in the United 
 States. As we drove up the steep bank, we found 
 ourselves in the Indian territory. All was very 
 wild; and the more so for the rain. There were 
 many lodges in the glades, with the red light of 
 fires hanging around them. The few log huts 
 looked drenched ; the tree-stems black in the wet ; 
 and the very wild flowers were dripping. The soil 
 was sandy ; so that the ugliest features of a rainy 
 day, the mud and puddles, were obviated. The 
 
 M 2 
 
244 ECONOMY. 
 
 sand sucked up the rain, so that we jumped out of 
 the carriage as often as a wild-flower of peculiar 
 beauty tempted us. The bride-like, white convol 
 vulus, nearly as large as my hand, grew in trails 
 all over the ground. 
 
 The poor, helpless, squalid Potowatomies are 
 sadly troubled by squatters. It seems hard enough 
 that they should be restricted within a narrow ter 
 ritory, so surrounded by whites that the game is 
 sure soon to disappear, and leave them stripped of 
 their only resource. It is too hard that they should 
 also be encroached- upon by men who sit down, 
 without leave or title, upon lands which are not in 
 tended for sale. I e:;joyed hearing of an occasional 
 alarm among the squatters, caused by some threat 
 ening demonstrations by the Indians. I should 
 like to see every squatter frightened away from 
 Indian lands, however advantageous their squatting 
 may be upon lands which are unclaimed, or whose 
 owners can defend their own property. I was glad 
 to hear to-day that a deputation of Potowatomies 
 had been sent to visit a distant warlike tribe, in 
 consequence of tlio importunities of squatters, who 
 wanted to buy the land they had been living upon. 
 The deputation returned, painted, and under other 
 hostile signals, and declared that the Potowatomies 
 did not intend to part with their lands. We 
 stopped for seme milk, this morning, at the " loca 
 tion" of a squatter, whose wife was milking as we 
 passed. The gigantic personage, her husband, 
 told us how anxious he was to pay for the land 
 which repaid his tillage so well ; but that his In 
 dian neighbours would not sell. I hope that, by 
 this time, he has had to remove, and leave them 
 the benefit of his house and fences. Such an esta 
 blishment in the wild woods is the destruction of 
 the game, and of those who live upon it. 
 
 At breakfast, we saw a fine specimen of a set- 
 
ECONOMY. 245 
 
 tier s family. We had observed the prosperity and 
 cheerfulness of the settlers, ail aloni> u, 3 road; but 
 this family exceeded the besi;. I j^rver saw such 
 an affectionate set of people, liiey, like many 
 others, wore from one of the southern States : and 
 I was not surprised to find all emigrants from North 
 and South Carolina well satisfied with the change 
 they had made. The old lady seemed to enjoy her 
 pipe, and there was much mirth going on between 
 the beautiful daughter and all the other men 
 and maid c .s. They gave us an excellent breakfast in 
 one of the two lower rooms ; the table being placed 
 across tin*, foot of the two beds. No pains were spared 
 by them to save us from the wet in the stage : but the 
 rain was too pelting and penetrating for any defence 
 to avail long. It streamed in at all corners, 
 and we rave the matter up for the clay. We were 
 now entering Indiana; and one of our intentions 
 had bee i to cee the celebrated Door Prairie; so 
 called from exquisite views into it boin;." opened 
 through Intervals in the growth of wood with which 
 it is belt "d. I did obtain something like r.n idea of 
 it through the reeking rain, and thought that it was 
 the first MT.irie that I had seen that answered to 
 my idea ef one. But I dare say \ve formed no con 
 ception of what it must be in sunshine, and with 
 the cloud shadows, which adorn a prairie as they 
 do still v, liter. 
 
 We reached Laporte, on the edge of the Door 
 Prairie, at three o clock, and were tola that the 
 weather did not promise an easy access to Michi 
 gan Cit v . We changed horses, however, and set 
 forward again on a very bad road, along the shore 
 of a little lake, which must be pretty in fine wea 
 ther. Then we entered a wood, and jolted and 
 rocked from side to side, till, at last, the carriage 
 leaned three parts over, and stuck. We all jumped 
 out into the rain, and the gentlemen literally put 
 
f>46 ECONOMY. 
 
 their shoulders to the wheel, and lifted it out of its 
 hole. The same little incident was repeated in. half 
 an hour. At five or six miles from Laporte, and 
 seven from Michigan City, our driver stopped, and 
 held a long parley with somebody by the road side, 
 The news was that a bridge in the middle of a 
 marsh had been carried away by a tremendous 
 freshet ; and with how much log-road on either side, 
 could not be ascertained till the waters should sub 
 side. The mails, however, would have to be car 
 ried over, by some means, the next day ; and we 
 must wait where we were till we could profit by 
 the post-office experiment. The next question was, 
 where were we to be harboured ? There was no 
 house of entertainment near. We shrank from 
 going back to Laporte over the perilous road which 
 was growing worse every minute. A family lived 
 at hand, who hospitably offered to receive us ; and 
 we were only too ready to accept their kindness, 
 The good man stopped our acknowledgments by 
 saying, in the most cheerful manner, " You know 
 you would not have staid with me, if you could 
 have helped it ; and I would not have had you, if I 
 could have helped it : so no more words about it ; 
 but let us make ourselves comfortable." 
 
 We perceived by a glance at the beard and cos 
 tume of our host, that there was something remark 
 able about him. He was of the Tunker sect 
 of Baptists, (from Ttmken, to dip,) a very pecu 
 liar sect of religionists. He explained, without any 
 reserve, his faith, and the reasons on which it was 
 founded. 
 
 It was all interesting, as showing how the true 
 and the fanciful, the principle and the emblem, the 
 eternal truth and the supposed type, may become 
 all Brrixed together, so as to be received alike as 
 articles of faith. This man might almost compare 
 with Origen in his mystical divinations of scripture. 
 
ECONOMY. 247 
 
 The most profitable and delightful ^part of his com 
 munication related to the operation upon his life and 
 fortunes of his peace principles. He had gone through 
 life on the non-resistance principle ; and it was ani 
 mating to learn how well it had served him; as every 
 high exercise of faith does serve every one who has; 
 strength and simplicity of heart to commit himself to 
 it, It was animating to learn, not only his own consis 
 tency, but the force of his moral power over others; 
 how the careless had been won to thought-fulness of 
 his interests, and the criminal to respect of his rights, 
 He seemed to have unconsciously secured the pro 
 mise and the fruit of the life that now is, more effec 
 tually than many who think less of that which is 
 to come. It was done, he said, by always suppos 
 ing that the good was in men. His wife won our 
 hearts by the beauty of her countenance, set off by 
 the neat plain dress of her sect. She was ill ; but 
 they made us thoroughly comfortable, without ap 
 parently discomposing themselves. Sixteen out of 
 seventeen children were living ; of whom two sons 
 and five daughters were absent, and six sons and 
 three daughters at home : the youngest was three 
 years old. 
 
 Their estate consists of eight hundred acres, a 
 large portion of which is not yet broken up. The 
 owner says he walks over the ground once a year, 
 to see the huckleberries grow. He gave the upset 
 price for the land ; a dollar and a-quarter an acre. 
 He is now offered forty dollars an acre, and says 
 the land is worth fifty, its situation being very ad 
 vantageous ; but he does not wish to sell. He has 
 thus become worth 40,000 dollars in the three years 
 which have elapsed since he came out of Ohio. His 
 sons, as they grow up, settle at a distance ; and ho 
 does not want money, and has no inducement to 
 sell. I have no idea, however, that the huckle 
 berries will be long permitted to grow in peace and 
 
248 ECONOMY. 
 
 quiet, in so busy a district as this is destined to 
 become. The good man will be constrained by 
 the march and pressure of circumstances, either to 
 sell or cultivate. 
 
 The house, log-built, consisted of three rooms ; 
 two under one roof; and another apparently added 
 afterwards. There were also out-houses. In one 
 of these three rooms, the cooking and eating went 
 on ; another was given up to us ladies, with a few 
 of the little children ; and in the other, the rest of 
 the family, the gentlemen of our party, and another 
 weather-bound traveller, slept. Huge fires of logs 
 blazed in the chimneys ; two or three of the little 
 ones were offered us as hand-maidens; and the 
 entire abode was as clean as could be conceived. 
 Here was comfort ! 
 
 As we warmed and dried ourselves in the chim 
 ney corners, and looked upon the clear windows, 
 the bright tin water-pails, and the sheets and towels 
 as white as snow, we had only one anxiety. It was 
 necessary for Mr. and Mrs. JL. to be at home, a 
 thousand miles off, by a particular day. We had 
 already met with some delays ; and there was no 
 eeeing the end of the present adventure. There 
 was some doubt whether we should not have done 
 better to cross the southern end of Lake Michigan, 
 from Niles to Chicago, by a little steam-boat, the 
 Delaware, which was to leave Niles a few hours 
 after our stage. It had been thought of at Niles ; 
 but there was some uncertainty about the departure 
 of the boat ; and we all anxiously desired to skirt the 
 extremity of this great inland sea, and to see the 
 new settlements on its shores. Had we done right 
 in incurring this risk of detention? Right or wrong, 
 here we were ; and here we must wait upon events. 
 
 Our sleep, amidst the luxury of cleanliness and 
 hospitality, was most refreshing. The next morn 
 ing it was still raining, but less vehemently. After 
 
ECONOMY. 249 
 
 breakfast, we ladies employed ourselves in sweep 
 ing and dusting our room, and making the beds ; 
 as we had given our kind hostess too much trouble 
 already. Then there was a Michigan City newspaper 
 to be read ; and I sat down to write letters. Before 
 long, a w r agon and four drove up to the door, the 
 driver of which cried out that if there was any get 
 ting to Michigan City, he was our man. We equip 
 ped ourselves in our warmest and thickest clothing, 
 put on our india rubber shoes, packed ourselves 
 and our luggage in the wagon, put up our umbrel 
 las, and wondered what was to be our fate. When 
 it had come to saying farewell, our hostess put her 
 hands on my shoulders, kissed me on each cheek, 
 and said she had hoped for the pleasure of our com 
 pany for another day. For my own part, I would 
 willingly take her at her word, if my destiny should 
 ever carry me near the great lakes again. 
 
 We jolted on for two miles and a half through 
 the woods, admiring the scarlet lilies, and the pink 
 and white moccasin flower, which was brilliant. 
 Then we arrived at the place of the vanished bridge. 
 Our first prospect was of being paddled over, one 
 by one, in the smallest of boats. But, when the 
 capabilities of the place were examined, it was de 
 cided that we should wait in a house on the hill, 
 while the neighbours, the passengers of the mail- 
 stage, and the drivers, built a bridge, We waited 
 patiently for nearly three hours, watching the busy 
 men going in and out, gathering tidings of the 
 freshet, and its effects, and being pleased to see 
 how affectionate the woman of the house was to her 
 husband, while she was cross to everybody else. 
 It must have been vexatious to her to have her floor 
 made wet and dirty, and all her household opera 
 tions disturbed by a dozen strangers whom she had 
 never invited. She let us have some dough nuts, 
 and gave us a gracious glance or two at parting. 
 
 M 5, 
 
250 ECONOMY. 
 
 We learned that a gentleman who followed us 
 from Niles, the preceding day, found the water nine 
 feet deep, and was near drowning his horses, in a 
 place which we had crossed without difficulty. This 
 very morning, a bridge which we had proved and 
 passed, gave way with the stage, and the horses had 
 to be dug and rolled out of the mud, when they 
 were on the point of suffocation. Such a freshet 
 had never been known to the present inhabitants. 
 
 Our driver was an original; and so were some of 
 the other muddy gentlemen who came in to dry 
 themselves, after their bridge making. One asked 
 if such an one was not a " smart fellow." " He ! 
 he can t see through a ladder." Our driver informed 
 us, u when they send a man to jail here, they put 
 him abroad into the woods. Only, they set a man 
 after him, that they may knew where he is." A 
 pretty expensive method of imprisonment, though 
 there be no bills for jail building. This man con 
 versed with his horses in much the same style as with 
 us, averring that they understood him as well. On 
 one occasion, he boxed the ears of one of the leaders, 
 for not standing still when bidden, declaring, " If 
 you go on doing so, I ll give you something you 
 can t buy at the grocer s shop." 1 was not before 
 aware that there was anything that was not to bs 
 bought at a back-country grocer s shop. 
 
 At half-past two, the bridge was announced com 
 plete, and we re-entered our wagon, to lead the 
 cavalcade across it. Slowly, anxiously, with a man 
 at the head of each leader, we entered the water, 
 and saw it rise to the nave of the wheels. Instead 
 of jolting, as Ubual, we mounted and descended each 
 log individually. The mail-wagon followed, with 
 two or three horsemen. There was also a singu 
 larly benevolent personage, who jumped from the 
 other wagon, and waded through all the doubtful 
 places, to prove them. He leaped and splashed 
 
ECONOMY. 251 
 
 through the water, which was sometimes up to his 
 waist, as if it was the most agreeable sport in the 
 world. In one of these gullies, the fore part of our 
 wagon sank and stuck, so as to throw us forward, 
 and make it doubtful in what mode we should 
 emerge from, the water. Then the rim of one of 
 the wheels was found to be loose ; and the whole 
 cavalcade stopped till it was mended. I never could 
 understand how wagons were made in the back- 
 country ; they seemed to be elastic, from the shocks 
 and twisting they would bear without giving way. 
 To form an accurate idea of what they have to bear, 
 a traveller should sit on a seat without springs, 
 placed between the hind wheels, and thus proceed 
 on a corduroy road. The effect is less fatiguing 
 and more amusing, of riding in a wagon whose seats 
 are on springs, while the vehicle itself is not. In 
 that case, the feet are dancing an involuntary jig, 
 all the way ; while the rest of the body is in a state 
 of entire repose. 
 
 The drive was so exciting and pleasant, the rain 
 having ceased, that I was taken by surprise by our 
 arrival at Mighi^u^Ciij^ The driver announced 
 our approach TJya series of nourishes on one note 
 of his common horn, which made the most ludi 
 crous music I ever listened to. How many minutes 
 he went on, I dare not say ; but we were so con 
 vulsed with laughter that we could not alight with 
 becoming gravity, amidst the groups in the piazza 
 of the hotel. The rnan must be first cousin to 
 Paganmi. 
 
 /- Such a city as this was surely never before seen. 
 
 \ It is three years since it was begun ; and it is said 
 
 ( to have one thousand five hundred inhabitants. It 
 
 / is cut out of the forest, and curiously interspersed 
 
 / with little swamps, which we no doubt saw in their 
 
 worst condition after the heavy rains. New, good 
 
 bouses, some only half finished, stood in the midst 
 
252 ECONOMY. 
 
 of the thick wood. A large area was half cleared. 
 The finished stores were scattered about ; and the 
 streets were littered with stumps. The situation 
 is beautiful. The undulations of the ground, within 
 and about it, and its being closed in by lake or 
 forest on every side, render it unique. if An appro 
 priation has been made by Government for a har 
 bour ; and two piers are to be built out beyond the 
 sand, as far as the clay soil of the lake. Mr. L 
 and I were anxious to see the mighty fresh water 
 sea. We made inquiry in the piazza; and a sandy 
 hill, close by, covered with the pea vine, was pointed 
 out to us. We ran up it, and there beheld what we 
 had come so far to see. There it was, deep, green, 
 and swelling on the horizon, and whitening into a 
 broad and heavy surf as it rolled in towards the 
 shore. Hence, too, we could make out the geogra 
 phy of the city. The whole scene stands insulated 
 in my memory, as absolutely singular ; and, at this 
 distance of time, scarcely credible. I was so well 
 aware on the spot that it would be so, that I made 
 careful and copious notes of what I saw : but me 
 moranda have nothing to .do with such^emotions as 
 were caused by the sight of that encrmous body of 
 tumultuous waters, rolling in apparently upon the 
 helpless forest, everywhere else so majestic. 
 
 The day was damp and chilly, as we were told 
 every day is here. There is scarcely ever a day of 
 summer in which fire is not acceptable. The win 
 dows were dim; the metals rusted, and the new 
 wood about the house red with damp. We could 
 not have a fire. The storm had thrown down a 
 chimney ; and the house was too full of workmen, 
 providing accommodation for future guests, to al 
 low of the comfort of those present being much 
 attended to. We were permitted to sit round a flue 
 in a chamber, where a remarkably pretty and grace 
 ful girl was sewing. She has a widowed mother to 
 
ECONOMY. 253 
 
 support, and she " gets considerable" by sewing 
 here, where the women lead a hustling life, which 
 leaves no time for the needle. We had to wait long 
 for something to eat ; that is, till supper time ; for 
 the people are too busy to serve up anything be 
 tween meals. Two little girls brought a music 
 book, and sang to us ; and then we sang to them ; 
 and then Dr. F. brought me two harebells. one 
 of the rarest flowers in the country. I found some 
 at Trenton Falls ; and in one or two other rocky 
 and sandy places ; but so seldom as to make a soli 
 tary one a great treasure. 
 
 Our supper of young pork, good bread, potatoes, 
 preserves, and tea, was served at two tables, xvhere 
 the gentlemen were in proportion to the ladies as 
 ten to one. In such places, there is a large pro 
 portion of young men who are to go back for wives 
 when they have gathered a few other comforts 
 about them. The appearance of health was as 
 striking as at Detroit, and everywhere on this side 
 of Lake Erie. 
 
 Immediately after supper we went for a walk, 
 which, in peculiarity, comes next to that in the 
 Mammoth Cave ; if, indeed, it be second to it. The 
 scene was like what I had always fancied the Nor 
 way coast, but for the wild flowers, which grew 
 among the pines on the slope, almost into the tide. 
 I longed to spend an entire day on this flowery and 
 shadowy margin of the inland sea. I plucked 
 handfuls of pea-vine and other trailing flowers, which 
 seemed to run over all the ground. We found on 
 the sands an army, like Pharaoh s drowned host, of 
 disabled butterflies, beetles, and flies of the richest 
 colours and lustre, driven over the lake by the storm. 
 Charley found a small turtle alive. An elegant 
 little schooner, " the Sea Serpent of Chicago," was 
 stranded, and formed a beautiful object as she lay 
 dark between the sand and the surf. The sun was 
 
254 ECONOMY. 
 
 going down. We watched the sunset, not remens- 
 bering that the refraction above the fresh waters 
 would probably cause some remarkable appearance. 
 We looked at one another in amazement at what we 
 saw. First, there were three gay, inverted rain 
 bows between the water and the sun, then hidden 
 behind a little streak of cloud. Then the sun 
 emerged from behind this only cloud, urn-shaped ; 
 a glistering golden urn. Then it changed, rather 
 suddenly, to an enormous golden acorn. Then to 
 a precise resemblance, except being prodigiously 
 magnified, of Saturn with his ring. This was the 
 most beautiful apparition of all. Then it was 
 quickly narrowed and elongated till it was like the 
 shaft of a golden pillar ; and thus it went down 
 square. Long after its disappearance, a lustrous, 
 deep crim&on dome, seemingly solid, rested steadily 
 on the heaving waters. An inexperienced naviga 
 tor might be pardoned for making all sail towards 
 it; it looked so real. What do the Indians think 
 of such phenomena ? Probably as the child does of 
 the compass, the upas tree, and all the marvels of 
 Madame GenhV story of Alphonso and Dalinda; 
 that such things are no more wonderful than all 
 other things. The age of wonder from natural ap 
 pearances has not arrived in children and savages. 
 It is one of the privileges of advancing years. A 
 grave Indian, who could look with apathy upon the 
 cataract uid all the tremendous shows of the wilder 
 ness, found himself in a glass-house at Pittsburg. 
 He saw a glassblower put a handle upon a pitcher. 
 The savage was transported out of his previous si 
 lence and reserve. He seized and grasped the hand 
 of the workman, crying out that it was now plain 
 that he had had intercourse with the Great Spirit. 
 I remember in my childhood, being more struck 
 with seeing a square box made in three minutes out 
 of a piece of writing-paper, than with all thai \ 
 
ECONOMY. 255 
 
 read about the loadstone and the lunar influence 
 upon the tides. In those days I should have looked 
 upon this Indiana sunset with the same kind of 
 feeling as upon a cloud which might look " very 
 like a whale." 
 
 We walked briskly home, beside the skiey sea, 
 with the half-grown moon above us, riding high. 
 Then came the struggling for room to lie down, 
 for sheets and fresh water. The principal range 
 of chambers could have been of no manner of 
 use to us, in their present state. There were, I 
 think, thirty, in one range along a passage. A 
 small bed stood in the middle of each, made up for 
 use ; but the walls were as yet only scantily lathed, 
 without any plaster ; so that everything was visible 
 along the whole row. They must have been de 
 signed for persons who cannot see through a ladder. 
 
 When I arose at daybreak, I found myself stiff with 
 cold. No wonder : the window, close to my head, 
 had lost a pane. I think the business of a peram 
 bulating glazier might be a very profitable one, in 
 most parts of the United States. When we seated 
 ourselves in our wagon, we found that the leathern 
 cushions were soaked with wet ; like so many 
 sponges. They were taken in to a hot fire, and 
 soon .brought out, each sending up a cloud of 
 steam. Blankets were furnished to lay over them ; 
 and we set off. We were cruelly jolted through 
 the bright dewy woods, for four miles, and then 
 arrived on the borders of a swamp where the bridge 
 had been carried away. A man waded in; de 
 clared the depth to be more than six feet ; how 
 much more he could not telL There was nothing 
 to be done but to go back. Back again we jolted, 
 and arrived at the piazza of the hotel just as the 
 breakfast-bell was ringing. All the " force" that 
 could be collected on a hasty summons, that is, 
 almost every able-bodied man in the city and neigh- 
 
256 ECONOMY. 
 
 bourhood, was sent out with axes to build us a 
 bridge. We breakfasted, gathered and dried 
 flowers, and wandered about till ten o clock, when 
 we were summoned to try our fortune again in the 
 wagon. We found a very pretty scene at the 
 swamp. Part of the " force" was engaged on our 
 side of the swamp, and part on the other. As we 
 sat under the trees, making garlands and wreaths 
 of flowers and oakleaves for Charley, we could see 
 one lofty tree-top after another, in the opposite 
 forest, tremble and fall ; and the workmen cluster 
 about it, like bees, lop off its branches, and, -in a 
 trice, roll it, an ugly log, into the water, and pin 
 it down upon the sleepers. Charley w r as as busy 
 as anybody, making islands in the water at the 
 edge of the marsh. The moccasin flower grew 
 here in great profusion and splendour. We sat 
 thus upwards of two hours; and tLo work done in 
 that time appeared almost incredible. But the 
 Americans in the back country seem to like the 
 repairing of accidents a social employment 
 better than their regular labour; and even the 
 drivers appeared to prefer adventurous travelling 
 to easy journeys. A gentleman in a light gig made 
 the first trial of the new bridge : our wagon fol 
 lowed, plunging and rocking, and we scrambled in 
 safety up the opposite bank. 
 
 There were other bad places in the road, but 
 none which occasioned further delay. The next 
 singular scene was an expanse of sand, before 
 reaching the lake-shore, sand, so extensive, hot, 
 and dazzling, as to realise very fairly one s con 
 ceptions of the middle of the Great Desert ; except 
 for the trailing roses which skirted it. I walked 
 on, a-head of the whole party, till I had lost sight 
 of them behind some low sand-hills. Other such 
 hills hid the lake from me ; and, indeed, I did not 
 know how near it was. I had ploughed my 
 
ECONOMY. 257 
 
 through the ankle-deep sand till I was much heated, 
 and turned in hope of meeting a breath of wind. 
 At the moment, the cavalcade came slowly into 
 view from behind the hills ; the labouring horses, 
 the listless walkers, and smoothly rolling vehicles, 
 all painted absolutely black against the dazzling 
 sand. It was as good as being in Arabia. For 
 cavalcade, one might read caravan. Then the 
 horses were watered at a single house on the 
 beach ; and we proceeded on the best part of our 
 day s journey ; a ride of seven miles on the hard 
 sand of the beach, actually in the lapsing waves. 
 We saw another vessel ashore, with her cargo 
 piled upon the beach. The sight of the clear waters 
 suggested thoughts of bathing. Charley dearly 
 loves bathing. lie follows the very natural prac 
 tice of expressing himself in abstract proposition? 
 when his emotions are the strongest. lie heard 
 the speculations on the facilities for bathing which 
 might offer at our resting-place; and be. ought his 
 mother to let him bathe. He was told that it was 
 doubtful whether we should reach our destination 
 before sunset, and whether any body would be able 
 to try the water. Might he ask his father ? Yes : 
 but he would find his father no more cert? in than 
 the rest of us. " Mother," cried the be y, in an 
 agony of earnestness, " does not a father know 
 when his child ought to bathe ?" There was no 
 bathing. The sun had set, and it was too cold. 
 
 The single house at which we were to stop for 
 the night, while the mail- wagon, with its passengers, 
 proceeded, promised well, at first sight. It was a 
 log-house on a sand-bank, perfectly clean below 
 stairs, and prettily dressed with green boughs. We 
 had a good supper, (except that there was an ab 
 sence of milk,) and we concluded ourselves for 
 tunate in cur resting-place. Never was there a 
 greater mistake. Wo walked out, after supper. 
 
258 ECONOMY* 
 
 and when we returned, found that we could not 
 have any portion of the lower rooms. There was 
 a loft, which I will not describe, into which, having 
 ascended a ladder, we were to be all stowed. I 
 would fain have slept on the soft sand, out of 
 doors, beneath the wagon ; but rain came on. 
 There was no place for us to put our heads into 
 but the loft. Enough. I will only say that this 
 house was, as far as I remember, the only place in 
 the United States where I met with bad treatment. 
 Everywhere else, people gave me the best they 
 had, whether it was bad or good. 
 
 On our road to Chicago, the next day, a road 
 winding in and out among the sand-hills, we were 
 called to alight, and run up a bank to see a wreck. 
 It was the wreck of the Delaware ; the steamer in 
 which it had been a question whether we should not 
 proceed from Niles to Chicago. She had a singular 
 twist in her middle, where she was nearly broken 
 in two. Her passengers stood up to the neck in 
 water, for twenty-four hours before they were taken 
 off; a worse inconvenience than any that we had 
 suffered by coining the other way. The first thing 
 the passengers from the Delaware did, when they 
 had dried and warmed themselves on shore, was to 
 sign a letter to the captain, which appeared in all 
 the neighbouring newspapers, thanking him for the 
 great comfort they had enjoyed on board his vessel. 
 It is to be presumed that they meant previously to 
 their having to stand up to their necks in water. 
 f In the wood which borders the prairie on which 
 iChicago stands, we saw an encampment of United 
 [States troops. Since the rising of the Creeks in 
 Georgia, some months before, there had been ap 
 prehensions of an Indian war along the whole 
 frontier. It was believed that a correspondence 
 had taken place among all the tribes, from the 
 Cumanches, who were engaged to fight for the 
 
ECONOMY. 259 
 
 Mexicans in Texas, up to the northern tribes 
 among whom we were going. It was believed that 
 the war-belt was circulating among the Winneba- 
 goes, the warlike tribe who inhabit the western 
 shores of Lake Michigan ; and the government had 
 sent troops to Chicago, to keep them in awe. It 
 was of some consequence to us to ascertain the real 
 state of the case ; and we were glad to find that 
 alarm was subsiding so fast, that the troops were 
 soon allowed to go where they were more wanted. 
 As soon as they had recovered from the storm 
 which seemed to have incommoded everybody, they 
 broke up their encampment, and departed. 
 
 Chicago looks raw and bare,__standing on the 
 iake-slK>re. ~TKe houses 
 
 ^ 
 
 insignificant^ "ancTTuii ~iip in various 
 directions", without any principle at all. A friend 
 of mine wfio resides there"Tia3 toTcTme that we 
 
 should find the inns intolerable, at the period of the 
 great land sales, which bring a concourse of specu 
 lators to the place. It w r as even so. The very 
 sight of them was intolerable ; and there was not 
 room for our party among them all. I do not know 
 what we should have done, (unless to betake our 
 selves to the vessels in the harbour,) if our coming 
 had not been foreknown, and most kindly provided 
 for. We were divided between three families, who - 
 had the art of removing all our scruples about in 
 truding on perfect strangers. None of us will lose 
 the lively and pleasant associations with the place, 
 which were caused by the hospitalities of its in 
 habitants. 
 
 I never saw a busier place than Chicago was at 
 thetime- otoTvr arrival. "TRe^stfeets were crowded 
 withjantt speculators, Hurrying from one* sale to 
 anoth"er. A negro, dressed up in scarlet, bearing 
 a scarlet fla g, and riding a white horse with hous 
 ings of scarlet, announced the times of sale. At 
 
260 ECONOMY. 
 
 every street-corner where he stopped, the crowd 
 flocked round him ; and it seemed as if some pre 
 valent mania infected the whole people. The rage 
 for speculation might fairly be so regarded. As 
 the gentlemen of our party walked the streets, 
 store-keepers hailed them from their doors, with 
 offers of farms, and all manner of land-lots, ad 
 vising them to speculate before the price of land 
 rose higher. A young lawyer, of my acquaintance 
 there, had realised five hundred dollars per day, the 
 five preceding days, by merely making out titles 
 to land. Another friend had realised, ir *wo years, 
 ten times as much money as he had b . ore fixed 
 upon as a competence for life. Of co irse ? this 
 rapid money-making is a merely temporary eviL 
 A Burs ting of" thirbnbbfaT" must come s^on^ The 
 absurcFIty "of "thTsp.e^latibri Is " so striking, that the 
 wonder is tnat the Teversnould have attained such 
 a height as I witnessed. The immediate occasion 
 of the bustle which prevailed, the week y;e were at 
 Chicago,, was the sale of lots, to the value of two 
 
 infected with mania, would endeavour to form some 
 reasonable conjecture as to the ultimate value of 
 the lots, by calculating the cost of the canal, the 
 risks from accident, from the possible competition 
 from other places, &c., and, finally, the possible 
 profits, under the most favourable circumstances, 
 within so many years purchase. Such a calcula 
 tion would serve as some sort of guide as to the 
 amount of purchase-money to be risked. Whereas, 
 wild land on the banks of a canal, not yet even 
 marked out, was selling at Chicago for more than 
 rich land, well improved, in the finest part of the 
 valley of the Mohawk, on the banks of a canal which 
 is already the medium of an almost inestimable 
 
ECONOMY. 261 
 
 amount of traffic. If sharpers and gamblore were 
 to be the sufferers by the impendmg"crasTraf CEi- 
 cago^iu u TtTwould feel" m uch coircerHeeh~btitrth3y, 
 unfortunately, are the people who encourage the 
 delusion, iri" order to pfofiT by it. Manv a hi"[h- 
 
 ^ 7 ~ " --"- " **^*~ "" *"~ "^ " / - -d 
 
 spirited, out inexperienced, young man ; many a 
 simpTe~settler, will be ruined for the advantage o*f 
 knaves. ^ 
 
 Others, besides lasers and speculators by trade, 
 make a fortune in such extraordinary times. A 
 poor man at Chicago had a pre-emption right to 
 some land, for which he paid in the morning one 
 hundred and fifty dollars. In the afternoon, he 
 sold it to a friend of mine for five thousand dollars. 
 A poor Frenchman, married to a squaw, had a suit 
 pending, when I was there, which he was likely to 
 t c:ain, for the right of purchasing some land by the 
 lake for one hundred dollars, which would imme 
 diately become worth one million dollars. 
 
 There was much gaiety going on at Chicasff 
 as wenas busmes^ On the evening of our arrival 
 a Clancy talF took place. As I was too much fa- 
 tiguetTto go, tbo ladies sent me a bouquet of prairie 
 flowers. There is some allowable pride in the 
 place about its society. It is a remarkable thing 
 to meet such an assemblage of educated, refined, 
 and wealthy persons as may be found there, living 
 in small, inconvenient houses on the edge of a wild 
 prairie. There is a mixture, of course. I heard 
 of a family of half-breeds setting up a carriage, 
 and wearing fine jewellery. When the present in 
 toxication of prosperity passes away, some of the 
 inhabitants will go back to the eastward; there 
 will be an accession of settlers from the mechanic 
 classes ; good houses will have been built for the 
 richer families, and the singularity of the place 
 will subside. It will be like all the other new and 
 thriving lake and river ports of America. Mean- 
 
ECONOMY. 
 
 time, I am glad to have seen it in its strange early 
 days. 
 
 We dined one day with a gentleman who had 
 been Indian agent among the Winnebagoes for 
 gome years. He and his lady seem to have *had 
 the art of making themselves as absolutely Indian 
 in their sympathies and manners as the welfare of 
 the savages among whom they lived required. 
 They were the only persons I met with who, 
 really knowing the Indians, had any regard for 
 them. The testimony was universal to the good 
 faith, and other virtues of savage life of the unso 
 phisticated Indians ; but they were spoken of in a 
 tone of dislike, as well as pity, by all but this fa 
 mily ; and they certainly had studied their Indian 
 Neighbours very thoroughly. The ladies of Indian 
 agents ought to be women of nerve. Our hostess 
 had slept for weeks with a loaded pistol on each 
 side her pillow, and a dagger under it, when ex- 
 
 Secting an attack from a hostile tribe. The foe 
 id not, however, come nearer .than within a few 
 miles. Her husband s sister was in the massacre 
 ivhen the fort was abandoned^ in 1J. Her fa 
 ther and her husband were in the battle, and her 
 mother and young brothers and sisters sat in a 
 hoat on the lake near. Out of seventy whites, only 
 seventeen escaped, among whom were her family. 
 She was wounded in the ankle, as she sat on her 
 horse. A painted Indian, in warlike costume, 
 came leaping up to her, and seized her horse, as 
 she supposed, to murder her. She fought him 
 vigorously, and he bore it without doing her any 
 injury. He spoke, but she could not understand 
 him. Another frightful savage came up, and the 
 two led her horse to the lake, and into it, in spite 
 of her resistance, till the water reached their chins. 
 She concluded that they meant to drown her ; but 
 they contented themselves with holding her on her 
 
ECONOMY. 2G3 
 
 horse till the massacre was over, when they led her 
 out in safety. They were friendly Indians, sent by 
 her husband to guard her. She could not but ad 
 mire their patience when she found how she had 
 been treating her protectors. 
 
 We had the fearful pleasure of seeing various 
 savage dances performed by the Indian agent nnd 
 his brother, with the accompaniments of complete 
 costume, barbaric music, and whooping. The 
 most intelligible to us was the Discovery Dance, a 
 highly descriptive pantomime. We saw the Indian 
 go out armed for war. We saw him reconnoitre, 
 make signs to his comrades, sleep, warm himself, 
 load his rifle, sharpen his scalping-knife, steal 
 through the grass within rifle-shot of his foes, fire, 
 scalp one of them, and dance, whooping and tri 
 umphing. There was a dreadful truth about the 
 whole, and it made our blood run cold. It realised 
 hatred and horror as effectually as Taglioni does 
 love and grace. 
 
 We were unexpectedly detained over the Sun 
 day at Chicago ; and Dr. F. was requested to 
 preach. Though only two hours notice was given, 
 a respectable congregation was assembled in the 
 large room of the Lake House ; a new hotel then 
 building. Our seats were a few chairs and benches, 
 and planks laid on trestles. The preacher stood 
 behind a rough pine-table, on which a large Bible 
 was placed. I was never present at a more inte 
 resting service ; and I know that there were others 
 who felt with me. 
 
 From Chicago, we made an excursion into the 
 prairies. Our young lawyer-friend threw behind 
 him the five hundred dollars per day which he 
 was making, and went with us. I thought him 
 wise ; for there is that to be had in the wiMerness 
 which money cannot buy. We drove out of the 
 town at ten o clock in the morning, too late by two 
 
264 ECONOMY. 
 
 hours ; but it was impossible to overcome the in 
 troductions to strangers, and the bustle of our pre 
 parations, any sooner. Our party consisted of 
 seven, besides the driver. Our vehicle was a 
 wagon with four horses. 
 
 We had first to cross the prairie, nine miles 
 wide, on the lake edge of which Chicago stands. 
 This prairie is not usually wet so early in the 
 year; but at this time the water stood almost up 
 to the nave of the wheels : and we crossed it at a 
 walking pace. I saw here, for the first time in the 
 United States, the American primrose. It grew in 
 profusion over the whole prairie, as far as I could 
 see ; not so large and fine as in English green 
 houses, but graceful and pretty. I now found 
 the truth of what I had read about the difficulty 
 of distinguishing distances on a prairie. The 
 feeling ic quite bewildering. A man walking near 
 looks like a Goliath a mile off. I mistook a co 
 vered wagon without horses, at a distance of fifty 
 yards, for a white house near the horizon : and so 
 on. We were not sorry to reach the belt of trees, 
 which bounded the swamp we had passed. At a 
 house here, where we stopped to water the horses, 
 and eat dough nuts, we saw a crowd of emigrants ; 
 which showed that we had not yet reached the 
 bounds of civilisation. A little further on we came 
 to the river Aux Plaines, spelled on a sign board 
 " Oplain." The ferry here is a monopoly, and 
 the public suffers accordingly. There is only one 
 small flat boat for the service of the concourse of 
 people now pouring into the prairies. Though we 
 happened to arrive nearly first of the crowd of to 
 day, we were detained on the bank above an hour ; 
 and then^ our horses went over at two crossings, 
 and the wagon and ourselves at the third. It was 
 a pretty scene, if we had not been in a hurry ; the 
 country wagons and teams in the wood by the side 
 
ECONOMY. 265 
 
 of the quiet clear river ; and the oxen swimming 
 over, yoked, with only their patient faces visible 
 above the surface. After crossing, we proceeded 
 briskly till we reached a single house, where, or 
 nowhere, we were to dine. The kind hostess be 
 stirred herself to provide us a good dinner of tea, 
 bread, ham, potatoes, and strawberries, of which a 
 whole pailful, ripe and sweet, had been gathered by 
 the children in the grass round the house, within 
 one hour. While dinner was preparing, we amused 
 ourselves with looking over an excellent small 
 collection of books, belonging to Miss Cynthia, the 
 ^laughter of the hostess. 
 
 r I never saw insulation, (not desolation,) to com- 
 C pare with the situation of a settler on a wide 
 f prairie. A single house in the middle of Salis- 
 Ijbury Plain would be desolate. A single house on 
 a prairie has clumps of trees near it, rich nela"s 
 about "i l; aiui ilowers, strawberries, and running 
 water^ at hand. But when I saw a settler s child 
 tripping out of home-bounds, I had a feeling that 
 it would never get back again. It looked like put 
 ting out into Lake Michigan in a canoe. The soil 
 round the dwellings is very rich. It makes no dust, 
 it is so entirely vegetable. It requires merely to be 
 once turned over to produce largely ; and, at pre 
 sent, it appears to be inexhaustible. As we pro 
 ceeded, the scenery became more and more like 
 what all travellers compare it to, a boundless 
 English park. The grass was wilder, the occa 
 sional footpath not so trim, and the single trees 
 less majestic; but no park ever displayed any 
 thing equal to the grouping of the trees within 
 the windings of the blue, brimming river Aux 
 Plaines. 
 
 We had met with so many delays that we felt 
 doubts about reaching the place where we had in 
 tended to spend the night At sunset, we found 
 
 VOL. J. N 
 
J6 ECONOMY. 
 
 ourselves still nine miles from Joliet ; * but we 
 were told that the road was good, except a small 
 " slew " or two ; and there was half a moon shining 
 behind a thin veil of clouds; so we pushed on. 
 We seemed latterly to be travelling on a terrace 
 overlooking a wide champaign, where a dark, 
 waving line might indicate the winding of the 
 river, between its clumpy banks. Our driver de 
 scended, and went forward, two or three times, to 
 make sure of our road ; and at length, we rattled 
 down a steep descent, and found ourselves among 
 houses. This was not our resting-place, however. 
 The Joliet hotel lay on the other side of the river. r 
 We were directed to a foot-bridge by which we 1 
 were to pass ; and a ford below for the wagon. 
 We strained our eyes in vain for the foot-bridge ; < 
 and our gentlemen peeped and pryed about for 
 some time. All was still but the rippling river, 
 and everybody asleep in the houses that were scat 
 tered about. We ladies were presently summoned 
 to put on our water-proof shoes, and alight A 
 man showed himself who had risen from his bed to 
 help us in our need. The foot-bridge consisted, for 
 some way, of two planks, with a hand-rail on one 
 side : but, when we were about a third of the way 
 over, one half of the planks, and the hand-rail, had 
 disappeared. We actually had to cross the rush 
 ing, .deep river on a line of single planks, by dim 
 moonlight, at past eleven o clock at night. The 
 great anxiety was about Charley ; but between his 
 father and the guide, he managed very well. This 
 guide would accept nothing but thanks. He " did 
 not calculate to take any pay." Then we waited 
 some time for the wagon to come up from the 
 
 preserve the original name, which is that of the first French 
 missionary who visited these parts. The place is now commonly 
 called Juliet ; and a settlement near lias actually been named 
 Romeo : so that 1 fear there is little hope of a restoration of the 
 honourable primitive name. 
 
ECONOMY. 267 
 
 ford. I suspected it had passed the spot where we 
 stood, and had proceeded to the village, where we 
 saw a twinkling light, now disappearing, and now 
 re-appearing. It was so, and the driver came 
 back to look for us, and tell us that the light we 
 saw was a signal from the hotel-keeper, whom we 
 found, standing on his door-step, and sheltering 
 his candle with his hand. We sat down and drank 
 milk in the bar, while he went to consult with his 
 wife what was to be done with us, as every bed in 
 the house was occupied. We, meanwhile, agreed 
 that the time was now come for us to enjoy an ad 
 venture which we had often anticipated; sleeping 
 in a barn. We had all declared ourselves anxious 
 to sleep in a barn, if we could meet with one that 
 was air-tight, and well-supplied with hay. Such a 
 barn was actually on these premises. We were 
 prevented, however, from all practising the freak 
 by the prompt hospitality of our hostess. Before 
 we knew what she was about, she had risen and 
 dressed herself, put clean sheets on her own bed, 
 and made up two others on the floor of the same 
 room ; so that the ladies and Charley were luxuri 
 ously accommodated. Two sleepy personages 
 crawled down stairs to offer their beds to our gen 
 tlemen. Mr. L. and our Chicago friend, however, 
 persisted in sleeping in the barn. Next morning, 
 we all gave a very gratifying report of our lodgings. 
 When we made our acknowledgments to our 
 hostess, she said she thought that people who 
 could go to bed quietly every night ought to be 
 ready to give up to tired travellers. Whenever she 
 travels, I hope she will be treated as she treated 
 us. She let us have breakfast as early as half-past 
 five, the next morning, and gave Charley a bun at 
 parting, lest he should be too hungry befote we 
 could dine. 
 
 The great object of our expedition, Mount 
 
 N 2 
 
268 ECONOMY 
 
 Joliet, was two miles distant from this place. We 
 had to visit it, and perform the journey back to 
 Chicago, forty miles, before night. The mount is 
 only sixty feet high ; yet it commands a view which 
 I shall not attempt to describe, either in its vast- 
 ness, or its soft beauty. The very spirit of tran 
 quillity resides in this paradisy scene. The next 
 painter who would worthily illustrate Milton s 
 Morning Hymn, should come and paint what he 
 sees from Mount Joliet, on a dewy summer s 
 morning, when a few light clouds are gently sailing 
 in the sky, and their shadows traversing the prairie. 
 I thought I had never seen green levels till now ; 
 and only among mountains had I before known the 
 beauty of wandering showers. Mount Joliet has 
 the appearance of being an artificial mound, its 
 sides are so uniformly steep, and its form so regu 
 lar. Its declivity was bristling with flowers; among 
 which were conspicuous the scarlet lily, the white 
 convolvulus, and a tall, red flower of the scabia 
 form. We disturbed a night-hawk, sitting on her 
 eggs, on the ground. She wheeled round and 
 round over our heads, and, I hope, returned to her 
 eggs before they were cold. 
 
 Not far from the mount was a log-house, where 
 the rest of the party went in to dry their feet, after 
 having stood long in the wet grass. I remained 
 outside, watching the light showers, shifting in the 
 partial sunlight from clump to level, and from 
 reach to reach of the brimming and winding river. 
 The nine miles of prairie, which we had traversed 
 in dim moonlight last night, were now exquisitely 
 beautiful, as the sun shone fitfully upon them. 
 
 We saw a prairie wolf, very like a yellow dog, 
 trotting across our path, this afternoon. Our 
 hostess of the preceding day, expecting us, had an 
 excellent dinner ready for us. We were detained 
 a shorter time at the ferry, and reached the belt 
 
ECONOMY. 269 
 
 of trees at the edge of Nine-mile Prairie, before 
 sunset. Here, in common prudence, we ought to 
 have stopped till the next day, even if no other 
 accommodation could be afforded us than a roof 
 over our heads. We deserved an ague for crossing 
 the swamp after dark, in an open wagon, at a foot 
 pace. Nobody was aware of this in time, and we 
 set forward ; the feet of our wearied horses plash 
 ing in water at every step of the nine miles. There 
 was no road ; and we had to trust to the instinct 
 of driver and horses to keep us in the right direc 
 tion I rather think the driver attempted to amuse 
 himself by exciting our fears, lie hinted more 
 than once at the difficulty of finding the way; at 
 the improbability that we should reach Chicago 
 before midnight; and at the danger of our wan 
 dering about the marsh all night, and finding our 
 selves at the opposite edge of the prairie in the 
 morning. Charley was bruised and tired. All the 
 rest were hungry and cold. It was very dreary. 
 The driver bade us look to our right hand. A 
 black bear was trotting alongside of us, at a little 
 distance. After keeping up his trot for some time, 
 he turned off from our track. The sight of him 
 made up for all, even if ague should follow, 
 which I verily believed it would. But we escaped 
 all illness. It is remarkable that I never saw ague 
 but once. The single case that I met with was in 
 autumn, at the Falls of Niagara. 
 
 I had promised Dr. F. a long story about English 
 politics, when a convenient opportunity should 
 occur. I thought the present an admirable one ; 
 for nobody seemed to have anything to say, and it 
 was highly desirable that something should be said. 
 I made my story long enough to beguile four miles ; 
 by which time, some were too tired, and others too 
 much disheartened, for more conversation. Some 
 thing white was soon after visible. Our driver 
 
270 ECONOMY. 
 
 gave out that it was a house, half a mile from Chi 
 cago. But no : it was an emigrant encampment, 
 on a morsel of raised, dry ground ; and again we 
 were uncertain whether we were in the right road. 
 Presently, however, the Chicago heacon was visible, 
 shining a welcome to us through the dim, misty 
 air. The horses seemed to see it, for they quick 
 ened their pace ; and before half-past ten, we were 
 on the bridge. 
 
 The family, at my temporary home, were gone 
 up to their chambers ; but the wood-fire was soon 
 replenished, tea made, and the conversation grow 
 ing lively. My companions were received as rea 
 dily at their several resting-places. When we next 
 met, we found ourselves all disposed to place warm 
 hospitality very high on the list of virtues. 
 
 While we were at Detroit, we were most strongly 
 urged to return thither by the Lakes, instead 
 of by either of the Michigan roads. From 
 place to place, in my previous travelling, 1 had 
 been told of the charms of the Lakes, and espe 
 cially of the Island of Mackinaw. Every officer s 
 lady who has been in garrison there, is eloquent 
 upon the delights of Mackinaw. As our whole 
 party, however, could not spare time to make so 
 wide a circuit, we had not intended to indulge our 
 selves with a further variation in our travels than 
 to take the upper road back to Detroit; having 
 left it by the lower. On Sunday, June 27th, news 
 arrived at Chicago that this upper road had been 
 rendered impassable by the rains. A sailing vessel, 
 the only one on the Lakes, and now on her first 
 trip, was to leave Chicago for Detroit and Buffalo, 
 the next day. The case was clear: the party 
 must divide. Those who were obliged to hasten 
 home must return by the road we came : the rest 
 must proceed by water. On Charley s account, 
 
ECONOMY. 271 
 
 the change of plan was desirahle; as the heats 
 were beginning to be so oppressive as to render 
 travelling in open wagons unsafe for a child. It 
 was painful to break up our party at the extreme 
 point of our journey ; but it was clearly right. So 
 Mr. and Mrs. L. took their chance by land; and 
 the rest of us went on board the Milwaukee, at 
 two o clock on the afternoon of the 2Sth. 
 
 Mrs. F. and I were the only ladies on board ; 
 and there was no stewardess. The steward was 
 obliging, and the ladies cabin was clean and capa 
 cious ; and we took possession of it with a feeling 
 of comfort. Our pleasant impressions, however, 
 were not of long duration. The vessel was crowded 
 with persons who had come to the land sales at 
 Chicago, and were taking their passage back to 
 Milwaukee; a settlement on the western shore of 
 the lake, about eighty miles from Chicago. Till 
 we should reach Milwaukee, we could have the 
 ladies cabin only during a part of the day. I say 
 a part of the day, because some of the gentry did 
 not leave our cabin till near nine in the morning ; 
 and others chose to come down, and go to bed, as 
 early as seven in the evening, without troubling 
 themselves to give us five minutes notice, or to 
 wait till we could put up our needles, or wipe 
 our pens. This ship was the only place in America 
 where I saw a prevalence of bad manners. It was ; 
 the place of all others to select for the study of 
 such ; and no reasonable person would look for 
 anything better among land-speculators, and set 
 tlers in regions so new as to be almost without 
 women. None of us had ever before seen, in 
 America, a disregard of women. The swearing was 
 incessant; and the spitting such as to amaze my 
 American companions as much as myself. 
 
 Supper was announced presently after we had 
 sailed ; and when we came to the table, it was full, 
 
272 ECONOMY. 
 
 and no one offered to stir, to make room for us. 
 The captain, who was very careful of our comfort, 
 arranged that we should be better served hence 
 forth; and no difficulty afterwards occurred. At 
 dinner, the next day, we had a specimen of how 
 such personages as we had on board are managed 
 on an emergency. The captain gave notice, from 
 the head of the table, that he did not choose our 
 party to be intruded on in the cabin ; and that any 
 one who did not behave with civility at table should 
 be turned out. He spoke with decision and good- 
 humour: and the effect was remarkable. Every 
 thing on the table was handed to us; and no more 
 of the gentry came down into our cabin to smoke, 
 or throw themselves on the cushions to sleep, while 
 we sat at work. 
 
 Our fare was what might be expected on Lake 
 Michigan. Salt beef and pork, and sea-biscuit; 
 tea without milk, bread, and potatoes. Charley 
 throve upon potatoes and bread : and we all had 
 the best results of food, health and strength. 
 
 A little schooner which left Chicago at the same 
 time with ourselves, and reached Milwaukee first, 
 was a pretty object. On the 29th, we were only 
 twenty-five miles from the settlement; but the 
 wind was so unfavourable that it was doubtful 
 whether we should reach it that day. Some of the 
 passengers amused themselves by gaming, down in 
 the hold ; others by parodying a methodist sermon, 
 and singing a mock hymn. We did not get rid of 
 them till noon on the 30th, when we had the plea 
 sure of seeing our ship disgorge twenty-five into 
 one boat, and two into another. The atmosphere 
 was so transparent as to make the whole scene ap 
 pear as if viewed through an opera-glass ; the still, 
 green waters, the dark boats with their busy oars, 
 the moving passengers, and the struggles of one to 
 recover his hat, which had fallen overboard. We 
 
ECONOMY. 273 
 
 were yet five miles from Milwaukee ; but we could 
 see the bright, wooded coast, with a few white dots 
 of houses. 
 
 While Dr. F. went on shore, to see what was to 
 be seen, we had the cabin cleaned out, and took, 
 once more, complete possession of it, for both day 
 and night. As soon as this was done, seven young 
 women came down the companion-way, seated 
 themselves round the cabin, and began to question 
 us. They were the total female population of Mil 
 waukee ; which settlement now contains four hun 
 dred souls. We were glad to see these ladies ; for 
 it was natural enough that the seven women should 
 wish to behold two more, when such a chance 
 offered. A gentleman of the place, who came on 
 board this afternoon, told me that a printing-press 
 had arrived a few hours before ; and that a news 
 paper would speedily appear. He was kind enough 
 to forward the first number to me a few weeks 
 afterwards ; and I was amused to see how pathetic 
 an appeal to the ladies of more thickly-settled dis 
 tricts it contained ; imploring them to cast a favour 
 able eye on Milwaukee, and its hundreds of 
 bachelors. Milwaukee had been settled since the 
 preceding November. It had good stores, (to 
 judge by the nature and quality of goods sent 
 ashore from our ship;) it had a printing-press and 
 newspaper, before the settlers had had time to get 
 wives. I heard these new settlements sometimes 
 called " patriarchal ;" but what would the patri 
 archs have said to such an order of affairs ? 
 
 Dr. F. returned from the town, with apple-pies, 
 cheese, and ale, wherewith to vary our ship-diet. 
 With him arrived such a number of towns-people, 
 that the steward wanted to turn us out of our 
 cabin once more ; but we were sturdy, appealed to 
 the captain, and were confirmed in possession. 
 From this time began the delights of oar voyage. 
 
274 ECONOMY. 
 
 The moon, with her long train of glory, was mag 
 nificent to-night; the vast body of waters on which 
 she shone being as calm as if the winds were dead. 
 
 The navigation of these lakes is, at present, a 
 mystery. They have not yet been properly sur 
 veyed. Our captain had gone to and fro on Lake 
 Huron, hut had never before been on Lake Michi 
 gan ; and this was rather an anxious voyage to him. 
 We had got aground on the sand-bar before Mil 
 waukee harbour ; and on the 1st of July, all hands 
 were busy in unshipping the cargo, to lighten the 
 vessel, instead of carrying her up to the town. An 
 elegant little schooner was riding at anchor near us ; 
 and we were well amused in admiring her, and in 
 watching the bustle on deck, till some New- 
 England youths, and our Milwaukee acquaintance, 
 brought us, from the shore, two newspapers, some 
 pebbles, flowers, and a pitcher of fine strawberries. 
 
 As soon as we were off the bar, the vessel hove 
 round, and we cast anchor in deeper water. Charley 
 was called to see the sailors work the windlass, 
 and to have a ride thereon. The sailors were very 
 kind to the boy. They dressed up their dog for 
 him in sheep-skins and a man s hat; a sight to 
 make older people than Charley laugh. They 
 took him down into the forecastle to show him 
 prints that were pasted up there. They asked him 
 to drink rum and water with them : to which 
 Charley answered that he should be happy 
 to drink water with them, but had rather riot 
 have any rum. While we were watching the 
 red sunset over the leaden waters, betokening a 
 change of weather, the steamer "New York" came 
 ploughing the bay, three weeks after her time ; 
 such is the uncertainty in the navigation of these 
 stormy lakes. She got aground on the sand-bank, 
 as we had done ; and boats were going from her to 
 the shore and back, as long as we could see. 
 
ECONOMY. 275 
 
 The next day there was rain and some wind. 
 The captain and steward went off to make final 
 purchases : but the fresh meat which had been be 
 spoken for us had been bought up by somebody 
 else ; and no milk was to be had ; only two cows 
 being visible in all the place. Ale was the only 
 luxury we could obtain. When the captain re 
 turned, he brought with him a stout gentleman, 
 one of the proprietors of the vessel, who must have 
 a berth in our cabin as far as Mackinaw; those 
 elsewhere being too small for him. Under the cir 
 cumstances, we had no right to complain ; so we 
 helped the steward to partition off a portion of the 
 cabin with a counterpane, fastened with four forks. 
 This gentleman, Mr. D., was engaged in the fur 
 trade at Mackinaw, and had a farm there, to which 
 he kindly invited us. 
 
 On Sunday, the 3rd, there was much speculation 
 as to whether we should be at Mackinaw in time 
 to witness the celebration of the great day. All 
 desired it ; but I was afraid of missing the Manitou 
 Isles in the dark. There was much fog; the wind 
 was nearly fair ; the question was whether it would 
 last. Towards evening, the fog thickened, and the 
 wind freshened. The mate would not believe we 
 were in the middle of the lake, as every one else 
 supposed. He said the fog was too warm not to 
 come from near land. Charley caught something 
 of the spirit of uncertainty, and came to me in high, 
 joyous excitement, to drag me to the side of the 
 ship, that I might see how fast we cut through the 
 waves, and how steadily we leaned over the water, 
 till Charley almost thought he could touch it. He 
 burst out about the " kind of a feeling" that it was 
 " not to see a bit of land," and not to know where 
 we were ; and to think " if we should upset !" and 
 that we never did upset : it was " a good and a bad 
 feeling at once ;" and he should never be able to 
 
276 ECONOMY. 
 
 tell people at home what it was like. The boy had 
 no fear : he was roused, as the brave man loves to 
 be. Just as the dim light of the sunset was fading 
 from the fog, it opened, and disclosed to us, just at 
 hand, the high, sandy shore of Michigan. It was well 
 that this happened before dark. The captain has 
 tened up to the mast-head, and reported that we were 
 off Cape Sable, forty miles from the Manitou Isles. 
 Three bats and several butterflies were seen to 
 day, clinging to the mainsail, blown over from 
 the shore. The sailors set their dog at a bat, of 
 which it was evidently afraid. A flock of pretty 
 pigeons flew round and over the ship; of which six 
 were shot. Four fell into the water; and the 
 other two were reserved for the maters breakfast; 
 he being an invalid. 
 
 We were up before five, on the morning of the 
 4th of July, to see the Manitou Isles, which were 
 then just coming in sight. They are the Sacred 
 Isles of the Indians, to whom they belong. Mani 
 tou is the name of their Great Spirit, and of every 
 thing sacred. It is said that they believe these 
 islands to be the resort of the spirits of the de 
 parted. They are two : sandy and precipitous at 
 the south end ; and clothed with wood, from the 
 crest of the cliffs to the north extremity, which 
 slopes down gradually to the water. It was a cool, 
 sunny morning, and these dark islands lay still, 
 and apparently deserted, on the bright green 
 waters. Far behind, to the south, were two glitter 
 ing white sails, on the horizon. They remained in 
 sight all day, and lessened the feeling of loneliness 
 which the navigators of these vast lakes cannot but 
 have, while careering among the solemn islands 
 and shores. On our right lay the Michigan shore, 
 high and sandy, with the dark eminence, called the 
 Sleeping Bear, conspicuous on the ridge. No land 
 speculators have set foot here yet. A few Indian 
 
ECONOMY. 277 
 
 dwellings, with evergreen woods and sandy cliffs, 
 are all. Just here, Mr. D. pointed out to us a 
 schooner of his which was wrecked, in a snow 
 storm, the preceding November. She looked 
 pretty and forlorn, lying on her side in that deso 
 late place, seeming a mere plaything thrown in 
 among the cliffs. " Ah !" said her owner, with a 
 sigh, " she was a lovely creature, and as stiff as a 
 church." Two lives were lost. Two young Ger 
 mans, stout lads, could not comprehend the orders 
 given them to put on all their clothing, and keep 
 themselves warm. They only half-dressed them 
 selves: "the cold took them," and they died. 
 The rest tried to make fire by friction of wood; 
 but got only smoke. Some one found trrces of a 
 dog in the snow. These were followed for three 
 miles, and ended at an Indian lodge, where the 
 sailors were warmed, and kindly treated. 
 
 During the bright morning of this day we passed 
 the Fox and Beaver Islands. The captain was in 
 fine spirits, though there was no longer any pros 
 pect of reaching Mackinaw in time for the festivi 
 ties of the day. This island is chiefly known as a 
 principal station of the great north-western fur 
 trade. Others know it as the seat of an Indian 
 mission. Others, again, as a frontier garrison, It 
 is known to me as the wildest and tenderest little 
 piece of beauty that I have yet seen on God s 
 earth. It is a small island, nine miles in circum 
 ference, being in the strait between the Lakes Mi 
 chigan and Huron, and between the coasts of Mi 
 chigan and Wisconsin. 
 
 Towards evening the Wisconsin coast came into 
 view, the strait suddenly narrowed, and we were 
 about to Lid farewell to the great Lake whose total 
 length wo had traversed, after sweeping round its 
 southern extremity. The ugly light-ship, which 
 looked hea\y enough, came into view about six 
 
278 ECONOMY. 
 
 o clock ; the first token of our approach to Mack 
 inaw. The office of the light-ship is to tow ves 
 sels in the dark through the strait. We were too 
 early for this ; but perhaps it performed that office 
 for the two schooners whose white specks of sails 
 had been on our southern horizon all day. Next 
 we saw a white speck before us ; it was the bar 
 racks of Mackinaw, stretching along the side of its 
 green hills, and clearly visible before the town 
 came into view. 
 
 The island looked enchanting as we approached, 
 as I think it always must, though we had the ad- 
 vahtage of seeing it first steeped in the most golden 
 sunshine that ever hallowed lake or shore. The 
 colours were up on all the little vessels in the har 
 bour. The national flag streamed from the garri 
 son. The soldiers thronged the walls of the bar 
 racks ; halt-breed boys were paddling about in their 
 little canoes, in the transparent waters; the half- 
 French, half-Indian population of the place were all 
 abroad in their best. An Indian lodge was on the 
 shore, and a picturesque dark group stood beside 
 it. The cows were coining down the steep green 
 slopes to the milking. Nothing could be more 
 bright and joyous. 
 
 The houses of the old French village are shabby- 
 looking, dusky, and roofed with bark. There are 
 some neat yellow houses, with red shutters, which 
 have a foreign air, with their porches and nights 
 of steps. The better houses stand on the first of 
 the three terraces which are distinctly marked. 
 Behind them are swelling green knolls; before 
 them gardens sloping down to the narrow slip of 
 white beach, so that the grass seems to grow al 
 most into the clear rippling waves. The gardens 
 were rich with mountain ash, roses, stocks, currant 
 bushes, springing corn, and a great variety of 
 kitchen vegetables. There were two small piers 
 
ECONOMY. 279 
 
 with little barks alongside, and piles of wood for 
 the steam-boats. Some way to the right stood the 
 quadrangle of missionary buildings, and the white 
 mission church. Still further to the right was a 
 shrubby precipice down to the lake; and beyond, 
 the blue waters. While we were gazing at all this, 
 a pretty schooner sailed into the harbour after us, 
 in fine style, sweeping round our bows so suddenly 
 as nearly to swamp a little fleet of canoes, each 
 with its pair of half-breed boys. 
 
 We had been alarmed by a declaration from the 
 captain that he should stay only three hours at the 
 island. lie seemed to have no intention of taking 
 us ashore this evening. The dreadful idea oc 
 curred to us that we might be carried away from 
 this paradise, without having set foot in it. We 
 looked at each other in dismay. Mr. D. stood our 
 friend. He had some furs on board which were to 
 be landed. He said this should not be done till 
 the morning; and he would take care that his 
 people did it with the utmost possible slowness. 
 He thought he could gain us an additional hour in 
 this way. Meantime, thunder-clouds were coming 
 up rapidly from the west, and the sun was near its 
 setting. After much consultation, and an assurance 
 having been obtained from the captain that we 
 might command the boat at any hour in the morn 
 ing, we decided that Dr. F. and Charley should go 
 ashore, and deliver our letters, and accept any ar 
 rangements that might be offered .for our seeing 
 the best of the scenery in the morning. 
 
 Scarcely any one was left in the ship but Mrs. 
 F. and myself. We sat on deck, and gazed as if 
 this were to be the last use we were ever to have 
 of our eyes. There was growling thunder now, 
 and the church bell, and Charley s clear voice from 
 afar: the waters were so still. The Indians lighted 
 a fire before their lodge ; and we saw their shining 
 
280 ECONOMY. 
 
 red forms as they bent over the blaze. We 
 watched Dr. F. and Charley mounting to the gar 
 rison ; we saw them descend again with the com 
 manding officer, and go to the house of the Indian 
 agent. Then we traced them along the shore, and 
 into the Indian lodge; then to the church; then 
 the parting with the commandant on the shore, and 
 lastly, the passage of the dark boat to our ship s 
 side. They brought news that the commandant 
 and his family would be on the watch for us before 
 five in the morning, and be our guides to as much 
 of the island as the captain would allow us time to 
 see. 
 
 Some pretty purchases of Indian manufactures 
 were brought on board this evening; light matting 
 of various colours, and small baskets of birch-bark, 
 embroidered with porcupine-quills, and filled with 
 maple sugar. 
 
 The next morning all was bright. At five 
 o clock we descended the ship s side, and from the 
 boat could see the commandant and his dog hast 
 ening down from the garrison to the landing-place. 
 We returned with him up the hill, through the bar 
 rack-yard ; and were joined by three members of 
 his family on the velvet green slope behind the 
 garrison. No words can give an idea of the charms 
 of this morning walk. We wound about in a vast 
 shrubbery, with ripe strawberries under foot, wild 
 flowers all around, and scattered knolls and open 
 ing vistas tempting cariosity in every direction. 
 " Now run up," said the commandant, as we ar 
 rived at the foot of one of these knolls. I did so, 
 and was almost struck backwards by what I saw. 
 Below me was the Natural Bridge of Mackinaw, of 
 which I had heard frequent mention. It is a lime 
 stone arch, about one hundred and fifty feet high 
 in the centre, with a span of fifty feet; one pillar 
 resting on a rocky projection in the lake, the other 
 
ECONOMY. 281 
 
 on the hill. We viewed it from above, so that the 
 horizon line of the lake fell behind the bridge, and 
 the blue expanse of waters filled the entire arch. 
 Birch and ash grew around the bases of the pillars, 
 and shrubbery tufted the sides, and dangled from 
 the bridge. The soft rich hues in which the whole 
 was dressed seemed borrowed from the autumn 
 sky. 
 
 But even this scene was nothing to one we 
 saw from the fort, on the crown of the island ; old 
 Fort Holmes, called Fort George when in the pos 
 session of the British. I can compare it to nothing 
 but to what Noah might have seen, the first bright 
 morning after the deluge. Such a cluster of little pa 
 radises rising out of such a congregation of waters, 
 I can hardly fancy to have been seen elsewhere. 
 The capacity of the human eye seems here sud 
 denly enlarged, as if it could see to the verge of 
 the watery creation. Blue, level waters appear to 
 expand for thousands of miles in every direction ; 
 wholly unlike any aspect of the sea. Cloud sha 
 dows, and specks of white vessels, at rare intervals, 
 alone diversify it. Bowery islands rise out of it; 
 bowery promontories stretch down into it; while at 
 one s feet lies the melting beauty which one almost 
 fears will vanish in its softness before one s eyes; 
 the beauty of the shadowy dells and sunny mounds, 
 with browsing cattle, and springing fruit and flowers. 
 Thus, and no otherwise, would I fain think did the 
 world emerge irom the flood. I was never before 
 so unwilling to have objects named. The essential 
 unity of the scene seemed to be marred by any dis 
 tinction of its parts. But this feeling, to me new, 
 did not alter the state of the case ; that it was Lake 
 Huron that we saw stretching to the eastward; 
 Lake Michigan opening to the west; the island of 
 Bois Blanc, green to the brink in front; and Round 
 Island and otiiers interspersed. I stood now at 
 
282 ECONOMY. 
 
 the confluence of those great northern lakes, the 
 very names of which awed my childhood ; calling 
 up, as they did, images of the fearful red man of 
 the deep pine-forest, and the music of the moaning 
 winds, imprisoned beneath the ice of winter. How 
 different from the scene, as actually beheld, dressed 
 in verdure, flowers, and the sunshine of a summer s 
 morning ! 
 
 It was breakfast-time when we descended to the 
 barracks; and we despatched a messenger to the 
 captain to know whether we might breakfast with 
 the commandant. We sat in the piazza, and over 
 looked the village, the harbour, the straits, and the 
 white beach, where there were now four Indian lodges. 
 The island is so healthy that, according to the 
 commandant, people who want to die must go 
 somewhere else. I saw only three tombstones in 
 the cemetery. The commandant has lost but one 
 man since he has been stationed at Mackinaw; 
 and that was by drowning, I asked about the cli 
 mate; the answer was, " We have nine months 
 winter, and three months cold weather." 
 
 It would have been a pity to have missed the 
 breakfast at the garrison, which afforded a strong 
 contrast with any we had seen for a week. W T e 
 concealed, as well as we could, our glee at the 
 appearance of the rich cream, the new bread and 
 butter, fresh lake trout, and pile of snowwhite 
 eggs. 
 
 There is reason to think that the mission is the 
 least satisfactory part of the establishment on this 
 island. A great latitude of imagination or repre 
 sentation is usually admitted on the subject of mis 
 sions to the heathen. The reporters of this one 
 appear to be peculiarly imaginative. I fear that 
 the common process has here been gone through 
 of attempting to take from the savage the venerable 
 and the true which he possessed, and to force upon 
 
ECONOMY. 283 
 
 him something else which is to him neither vener- 
 
 o 
 
 able nor true. 
 
 The Indians have been proved, by the success of 
 the French among them, to be capable of civilisa 
 tion. Near Little Traverse, in the north-west part 
 of Michigan, within easy reach of Mackinaw, there 
 is an Indian village, full of orderly and industrious 
 inhabitants, employed chiefly in agriculture. The 
 English and Americans have never succeeded with 
 the 1 aborigines so well as the French ; and it may 
 be doubted whether the clergy have been a much 
 greater blessing to them than the traders. 
 
 It was with great regret that we parted with the 
 commandant and his large young family, and step 
 ped into the boat to return to the ship. The cap 
 tain looked a little grave upon the delay which all 
 his passengers had helped to achieve. We sailed 
 about nine. We were in great delight at having 
 seen Mackinaw, at having the possession of its sin 
 gular imagery for life: but this delight was at pre 
 sent dashed with the sorrow of leaving it. I could 
 not have believed how deeply it is possible to re 
 gret a place, after so brief an acquaintance with it. 
 We watched the island as we rapidly receded, 
 trying to catch the aspect of it which had given it 
 its name the Great Turtle. Its flag first va 
 nished : then its green terraces and slopes, its white 
 barracks, and dark promontories faded, till the 
 whole disappeared behind a headland and light 
 house of the Michigan shore. 
 
 Lake Huron was squally, as usual. Little re 
 markable happened while we traversed it. We en 
 joyed the lake trout. We occasionally saw the 
 faint outline of the Manitouline Islands and Ca 
 nada. We saw a sunset which looked very like 
 the general conflagration having begun : the whole 
 western sky and water being as if of red flame and 
 molten lead. This was succeeded by paler fires. 
 
284 ECONOMY. 
 
 A yellow planet sank into the heaving waters to 
 the south ; and the northern lights opened like a 
 silver wheat-sheaf, and spread themselves half over 
 the sky. It is luxury to sail on Lake Huron, and 
 watch the northern lights. 
 
 On the 7th we were only twenty miles from 
 the river St. Clair : but the wind was " right 
 ahead," and we did not reach the mouth of the 
 river till the evening of the 8th. The approach 
 and entrance kept us all in a state of high excite 
 ment, from the captain down to Charley. On the 
 afternoon of the 8th, Fort Gratiot and the narrow 
 mouth of the St. Clair, became visible. Our scope 
 for tacking grew narrower, every turn. The cap 
 tain did not come to dinner; he kept the lead going 
 incessantly. Two vessels were trying with us for 
 the moutli of the river. The American schooner 
 got in first, from being the smallest. The British 
 vessel and ours contested the point stoutly for a 
 long while, sweeping round and crossing each other, 
 much as if they were dancing a minuet. A squall 
 came, and broke one of our chains, and our rival 
 beat us. In the midst of the struggle, we could 
 not but observe that the sky was black as night to 
 windward ; and that the captain cast momentary 
 glances thither, as if calculating how soon he must 
 make all tight for the storm. The British vessel 
 was seen to have come to an anchor. Our sails 
 were all taken in, our anchor dropped, and a grim 
 silence prevailed. The waters were flat as ice 
 about the ship. The next moment, the sky-organ 
 began to blow in our rigging. Fort Gratiot was 
 blotted out ; then the woods ; then the other ship ; 
 then came the orderly march of the rain over the 
 myrtle-green waters ; then the storm seized us. 
 We could scarcely see each others faces, except 
 for the lightning ; the ship groaned, and dragged 
 her anchor, so that a second was dropped. 
 
ECONOMY. 285 
 
 In twenty minutes, the sun gilded the fort, the 
 woods, and the green, prairie-like, Canada shore. 
 On the verge of this prairie, under the shelter of the 
 forest, an immense herd of wild horses were seen 
 scampering, and whisking their long tails. A cloud 
 of pigeons, in countless thousands, was shadowing 
 alternately the forests, the lake, and the prairie ; 
 and an extensive encampment of wild Indians was 
 revealed on the Michigan shore. It was a dark 
 curtain lifted up on a scene of wild and singular 
 beauty. 
 
 Then we went to the anxious work of tacking 
 again. We seemed to be running aground on 
 either shore, as we approached each. Our motions 
 were watched by several gazers. On the Canada 
 side, there were men on the sands, and in a canoe, 
 with a sail which looked twice as big as the bark. 
 The keepers of the Gratiot light-house looked out 
 from the lantern. A party of squaws, in the In 
 dian encampment, seated on the sands, stopped 
 their work of cleaning fish, to see how we got 
 through the rapids. A majestic personage, his 
 arms folded in his blanket, stood on an eminence 
 in the midst of the camp ; and behind him, on the 
 brow of the hill, were groups of unclothed boys 
 and men, looking so demon-like, as even in that 
 scene to remind me of the great staircase in the 
 ballet of Faust. Our ship twisted round and round 
 in the eddies, as helplessly as a log, and stuck, at 
 last, with her stern within a stone s throw of the 
 Indians. Nothing more could be done that night. 
 We dropped anchor, and hoped the sailors would 
 have good repose after two days of tacking to 
 achieve a progress of twenty miles. Two or three 
 of them went ashore, to try to get milk. While 
 they were gone, a party of settlers stood on the 
 high bank, to gaze at us ; and we were sorry to see 
 them, even down to the little children, whisking 
 
286 ECONOMY. 
 
 boughs without ceasing. This was a threat of 
 mosquitoes "which was not to be mistaken. When 
 the sailors returned, they said we were sure to 
 have a good watch kept, for the mosquitoes would 
 let no one sleep. We tried to shut up our cabin 
 from them ; but they were already there ; and I, 
 for one, was answerable for many murders before 
 I closed my eyes. In the twilight, I observed 
 something stirring on the high bank ; and on look 
 ing closely, saw a party of Indians, stepping along, 
 in single file, under the shadow of the wood. Their 
 simplest acts are characteristic ; and, in their wild 
 state, I never saw them without thinking of ghosts 
 or demons. 
 
 In the morning, I found we were floating down 
 the current, stern foremost, frequently swinging 
 round in the eddies, so as to touch the one shore 
 or the other. There seemed to be no intermission 
 of settlers houses ; all at regular distances along 
 the bank. The reason of this appearance is a good 
 old French arrangement, by which the land is di 
 vided into long, narrow strips, that each lot may 
 have a water frontage. We were evidently re 
 turning to a well-settled country. The more com 
 fortable houses on the Canada side were surrounded 
 by spacious and thriving fields : the poorer by 
 dreary enclosures of swamp. We saw a good garden, 
 with a white paling. Cows were being milked. 
 Cow r -bells, and the merry voices of singing chil 
 dren, were heard from under the clumps ; and piles 
 of wood for the steam-boats, and large stocks of 
 shingles for roofing were laid up on either hand. 
 The Gratiot steamer puffed away under the Mi 
 chigan bank. Canoes shot across in a streak of 
 light ; and a schooner came down the clear river, 
 as if on the wing between the sky and the water. 
 J watched two horsemen on the shore, for many 
 miles, tracing the bay pony and the white horse 
 
ECONOMY. 287 
 
 through the woody screen, and over the brooks, 
 and along the rickety bridges. I could see that 
 they were constantly chatting, -and that they stopped 
 to exchange salutations with every one they met or 
 overtook. These, to be sure, were few enough. I 
 was quite sorry when the twilight drew on, and 
 hid them from me. I saw a little boy on a log, 
 with a paddle, pushing himself off from a bank of 
 wild roses, and making his way in the sunshine, up 
 the river. It looked very pretty, and very unsafe ; 
 but I dare say he knew best. The captain and 
 mate were both ill to-day. The boat was sent 
 ashore for what could be had. The men made 
 haste, and rowed bravely ; but we were carried 
 down four miles before we could " heave to," for 
 them to overtake us. They brought brandy for 
 the captain; and for us, butter just out of the 
 churn. The mosquitoes again drove us from the 
 deck, soon after dark. 
 
 The next morning, the 10th, the deck was in 
 great confusion. The captain was worse : the 
 mate was too ill to command ; and the second mate 
 seemed to be more efficient in swearing, and getting 
 the men to swear, than at anything else. After 
 breakfast, there was a search made after a pilferer, 
 who had abstracted certain small articles from our 
 cabin ; among which was Charley s maple-sugar 
 basket, which had been seen in the wheel-house, 
 with a tea-spoon in it. This seemed to point out 
 one of the juniors in the forecastle as the offender; 
 the steward, however, offered to clear himself by 
 taking an oath, " on a bible as big as the ship," 
 that he knew nothing of the matter. As we did 
 not happen to have such a bible on board, we could 
 not avail ourselves of his offer, A comb and tooth 
 brush, which had been missing, were found, restored 
 to their proper places : but Charley s pretty basket 
 was seen no more. 
 
288 ECONOMY. 
 
 It was a comfortless day. We seemed within 
 easy reach of Detroit ; but the little wind we had 
 was dead ahead ; the sun was hot ; the mosquitoes 
 abounded ; the captain was downcast, and the pas 
 sengers cross. There was some amusement, how 
 ever. Dr. F. went ashore, and brought us milk, of 
 which we each had a draught before it turned sour. 
 He saw on shore a sight which is but too common. 
 An hotel-keeper let an Indian get drunk ; and then 
 made a quarrel between him and another, for selfish 
 purposes. The whites seem to have neither honour 
 nor mercy towards the red men. 
 
 A canoe full of Indians, two men and four chil 
 dren, came alongside, this afternoon, to offer to 
 traffic. They had no clothing but a coarse shirt 
 each. The smallest child had enormous ear- 
 ornaments of blue and white beads. They were 
 closely packed in their canoe, which rocked 
 with every motion. They sold two large baskets 
 for a quarter dollar and two loaves of bread. 
 Their faces were intelligent, and far from so 
 lemn. The children look merry, as children 
 should. I saw others fishing afar off, till long after 
 dark. A dusky figure stood, in a splendid attitude, 
 at the bow of a canoe, and now paddled with one 
 end of his long lance, now struck at a fish with the 
 other. He speared his prey directly through the 
 middle ; and succeeded but seldom. At dark, a 
 pine torch was held over the water; and by its 
 blaze, I could still see something of his opera 
 tions. 
 
 The groaning of our ship s timbers told us, before 
 we rose, that we were in rapid motion. The wind 
 was fair ; and we were likely to reach Detroit, forty 
 miles, to dinner. Lake St. Clair, with its placid 
 waters and low shores, presents nothing to look at. 
 The captain was very ill, and unable to leave his 
 berth. No one on board knew the channel of the 
 
ECONOMY. 
 
 Detroit river but himself; and, from the time we 
 entered it, the lead was kept going. When we 
 were within four miles of Detroit, hungry, hot, 
 tired of the disordered ship, and thinking of friends, 
 breezes, and a good dinner at the city, we went 
 aground, grinding, grinding, till the ship trem 
 bled in every timber. The water was so shallow 
 that one might have touched the gravel on either 
 side with a walking-stick. There was no hope of 
 our being got off speedily. The cook applied him 
 self to chopping wood, in order to lighting a fire, 
 in order to baking some bread, in order to give us 
 something to eat ; for not a scrap of meat, or an 
 ounce of biscuit, was left on board. 
 
 It occurred to me that our party might reach the 
 city, either by paying high for one of the ship s 
 boats, or by getting the mate to hail one of the 
 schooners that were in the river. The boats could 
 not be spared. The mate hoisted a signal for a 
 schooner ; and one came alongside, very fully laden 
 with shingles. Fifteen of us, passengers, with our 
 luggage, were piled on the top of the cargo, and 
 sailed gently up to the city. The captain was too 
 ill, and the mate too full of vexation, to bid us fare 
 well; and thus we left our poor ship. We were 
 glad, however, to pass her in the river, the next 
 day, and to find that she had been got off the shoal 
 before night. 
 
 As we drew near, Charley, in all good faith, 
 hung out his little handkerchief to show the people 
 of Detroit that we were come back. They did not 
 seem to know us, however. " What !" cried some 
 men on a raft, to the master of our schooner, 
 " have you been robbing a steam-boat?" " No," 
 replied the master, gravely ; " it is a boat that has 
 gone to the bottom in the lakes." We expected 
 that some stupendous alarm would arise out of this. 
 When we reached New York, a fortnight after, we 
 
 VOL. i. o 
 
290 ECONOMY. 
 
 found that our friends there had been made uneasy 
 by the news that a steam-boat had sunk on the 
 Lakes, and that eight hundred passengers were 
 drowned. Catastrophes grow as fast as other things 
 in America. 
 
 Though our friends did not happen to see Char 
 ley s pocket-handkerchief from the river, they were 
 soon about us, congratulating us on having made 
 the circuit of the Lakes. Jt was indeed matter of 
 congratulation. 
 
 I have now ffiven sketches of some of the most 
 remaTSbleparts ortHe country, ho^JT^ttTatar pretty 
 
 distinct idea might thus be afforded of their primary 
 resources, and of the modes oi lite of jb^ Inha 
 bitants. I have said nothing of the towns, in this 
 connexion; town-life in America having notEfng 
 very peculiar about it, viewed in the way of general 
 survey. The several" departments of industry will 
 now be particularly considered. 
 
291 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 " Plus un peuple nombreux se rapproche, moins le gouverne- 
 ment peut usurper sur le Souverain. L avantage d un gouverne- 
 ment tyrannique est done en ceci, d agir a grandes distances. A 
 1 aide des points d appui qu il se donue, sa force augmente au loin, 
 coinme celle des leviers. Celle du peuple, au contraire, n agit 
 que concentree : elle s evapore et se perd en s e"tendant, comme 
 1 efFet de la poudre Sparse a, terre, et qui ne prend feu que grain 
 a grain. Les pays les moins peup!6s sont ainsi les plus propres 
 a la tyrannie. Les betes f 6roces ne regnent que dans les 
 deserts." 
 
 Rousseau. 
 
 THE pride and delight of Americans is in their 
 quantity of land. I do not remember meeting with 
 one to whom it had occurred that they had too 
 much. Among the many complaints of the minority, 
 this was never one. I saw a gentleman strike his 
 fist on the table in an agony at the country being so 
 " confoundedly prosperous :" I heard lamentations 
 over the spirit of speculation; the migration of 
 young men to the back country; the fluctuating 
 state of society from the incessant movement west 
 wards ; the immigration of labourers from Europe ; 
 and the ignorance of the sparse population. All 
 these grievances I heard perpetually complained of; 
 but in the same breath I was told in triumph of the 
 
 o 2 
 
292 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 rapid sales of land ; of the glorious additions which 
 had been made % the acquisition of Louisiana and 
 Florida, and of the probable gain of Texas. Land 
 was spoken of as the unfailing resource against 
 over manufacture ; the great wealth of the nation ; 
 the grand security of every man in it. 
 
 On this head, the two political parties seem to be 
 more agreed than on any other. The federalists 
 are the great patrons of commerce ; but they are 
 as proud oPthe national lands as the broadest^ of 
 the ^ernocmTs. Tfre democrats, however, maybe 
 regarHed as"thepaTrbns of agriculture, out^ _oQpe 
 slave States. There sterns to be a natural relation 
 KeTween the independence of property and occupa 
 tion enjoyed by the agriculturist, and his watchful 
 ness over State Rights and the political importance 
 of individuals. The simplicity of country life, too, 
 appears more congenial with the workings of de 
 mocratic institutions, than the complex arrange 
 ments of commerce and manufactures. 
 
 The possession of land is the aim of all action, 
 generally speaking, and the cure for all social eyls, 
 among men in the United States. ^ If a man is dis- 
 ap*pbinted in politics or love, heroes and buys land 
 If he disgraces himself, he betakes himself to a lot in 
 the west. If the demand for any article of manu 
 facture slackens, the operatives drop into the un 
 settled lands. If a citizen s neighbours rise above 
 him in the towns, he betakes himself where he can 
 be monarch of all he surveys. An artisan works, 
 that he may die on land of his own. He is frugal, 
 that he may enable his son to be a landowner. 
 Farmers 1 daughters go into factories that they may 
 clear off the mortgage from their fathers farms ; 
 that they may be independent landowners again. 
 > All this is natural enough in a country colonised 
 )from an old one, where land is so restricted in 
 ) quantity as to be apparently the same thing as 
 I 
 
AGRICULTURE. 293 
 
 wealth. It is natural enough in a young republic, 
 where independence is of the highest political value. 
 It is natural enough in a country where political 
 economy has never been taught by its only effec 
 tual propounder social adversity. And, finally, 
 it falls out well for the old world, in prospect of 
 the time when the new world must be its granary. 
 
 The democratic party are fond of^saying that the 
 United^ States are intended to be an agricultural 
 country. It seems to me that they are intended to 
 be everything. The Niagara basin, the Mississippi 
 valley, and the South, will be able to furnish the 
 trading world with agricultural products for ever, 
 for aught we can see. But it is clear that there 
 are other parts of the country which must have 
 recourse to manufactures and commerce. 
 
 The first settlers in New England got land, and 
 thought themselves rich. ^ Their descendants have 
 gone on to do the same ; and they now find them 
 selves poor. With the exception of some South 
 erners, ruined by slavery, who cannot live within 
 their incomes,^! met with no class in the United 
 States so anxious about the means of living as the 
 farmers of New England. } In the seventeenth cen 
 tury, curious purchases of land were made, and 
 the fathers were wealthy. In those days, a certain 
 farmer Dexter bought the promontory of Nahant, 
 which stretches out into Massachusetts Bay, of 
 Black Willey, an Indian chief, for a suit of clothes ; 
 the part of the promontory called Great Nahant 
 measuring a mile and a half in circuit. Others, 
 who held land in similar or larger quantities, di 
 vided it equally among their children, whose por 
 tions had n9t been subdivided below the point of 
 comfort, when the great west on the one hand, and 
 the commerce of the seas on the other, opeffed new 
 resources. From this time, the consolidation of 
 estates has gone on, nearly as fast as the previous 
 
294 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 division. The members of a family dispose of their 
 portions of land to one, and go to seek better 
 fortunes elsewhere than the rocky soil of New 
 England can afford. Still, while the population 
 of Massachusetts is scarcely above half that of 
 London, its number of landowners is greater than 
 that of all England. 
 
 The Massachusetts farmers were the first to de- 
 C cline ; but now the comparative adversity of agri- 
 J culture has extended even into Vermont. A few 
 \ years ago, lenders of money into Vermont received 
 thirty per cent, interest from farmers : now they 
 are glad to get six per cent. ; and this does not arise 
 from the farmers having saved capital of their own. 
 They have but little property besides their land. 
 Their daughters, and even their sons, resort to do 
 mestic service in Boston for a living. Boston used 
 to be supplied from Vermont with fowls, butter, and 
 eggs : but the supply has nearly ceased. This is 
 partly owing to an increased attention to the growth 
 of wool for the manufacturers ; but partly also to 
 the decrease of capital and enterprise among the 
 farmers. 
 
 In Massachusetts the* farmers have so little pro 
 perty besides their land, that they are obliged to 
 mortgage when they want to settle a son or daughter, 
 or make up for a deficient crop. The great Insur 
 ance Company at Boston is the formidable creditor 
 to many. This Company will not wait a day for 
 the interest. If it is not ready, loss or ruin ensues. 
 /"* Many circumstances are now unfavourable to the 
 ^ old-fashioned Massachusetts farmer. Domestic 
 ^.manufactures, which used to employ the daughters, 
 \are no lohger worth while, in the presence of the 
 tejflrirej. The youn^ IlltJli, Wfro should beThe 
 daughters husbands, go off to the we$t. The idea 
 of domestic service is not liked. There is an ex 
 pensive family at home, without sufficient employ- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 295 
 
 ment ; and they may be considered poor. These 
 are evils which may be shaken off any day. I speak 
 of them, not as demanding much compassion, but 
 ^is indicating a change in the state of affairs ; and 
 ^especially that New England is designed to be a 
 ^manufacturing and commercial region. It is already 
 Vcommon to see agriculture joined with other employ 
 ments. The farmers of the coast are, naturally, 
 fishermen also. They bring home fish, manure their 
 land with the offal ; sow their seed, and go out again 
 to fish while it is growing. Shoemaking is now 
 joined with farming. In the long winter evenings, 
 all the farmers families around Lynn are busy shoe- 
 making ; and in the spring, they turn out into the 
 fields again. The largest proportion of factory 
 girls too is furnished by country families. > 
 
 The traveller may see, by merely passing through 
 the country, without asking information, how far 
 New England ought to be an agricultural country, 
 if the object of its society be to secure the comfort 
 of its members, rather than the continuance of old 
 customs. The valleys, like that of the Connecticut 
 river, whose soil is kept rich by annual inun 
 dations, and whose fields have no fences, gladden" 
 the eye of the observer. So it is with particular 
 spots elsewhere, where, it may be remarked, the 
 fences are of the ordinary, slovenly kind, and too 
 much care does not seem to have been bestowed 
 on the arrangements and economy of the estate. 
 Elsewhere, may be seen stony fields, plots of the 
 greenest pasture, with grey rocks standing up in 
 the midst, and barberry bushes sprinkled all about: 
 trim orchards, and fences on which a great deal of 
 spare time must have been bestowed. Instead of 
 the ugly, hasty snake-fence, there is a neatly built 
 wall, composed of the stones which had strewed the 
 fields : sometimes the neatest fence of all ; a wall of 
 stones and sods, regularly laid, with a single rail 
 
296 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 along the top : sometimes a singular fence, which 
 would be perfect, but for the expense of labour re 
 quired; roots of trees, washed from the soil, and 
 turned side upwards, presenting a complete che- 
 vaux-de-frise, needing no mending, and lasting the| 
 " foV ever" of this world. About these farm-houses, 
 a profusion of mignonette may be seen ; and in * 
 the season, the rich major convolvulus, or scarlet 
 runners, climbing up to the higher windows. The 
 dove-cotes are well looked to. There has evidently 
 been time and thought for everything. This is all 
 very pretty to look at, even bewitching to those 
 who do not see beneath the surface, nor know that 
 hearts may be aching within doors about perilous 
 mortgages, and the fate of single daughters ; but, it 
 being known that such worldly anxieties do exist, 
 it is not difficult to perceive that these are the places 
 in which they abide. 
 
 There is, of course, a knowledge of the difficulty 
 on the spot ; but not always a clear view of coming 
 events, which include a remedy. The commonest 
 way of venting any painful sensibility on the sub 
 ject, is declamation against luxury ; or rather, 
 against the desire for it in those who are supposed 
 unable to afford it. This will do no good. If the 
 Pilgrim Fathers themselves had had luxury before 
 their eyes, they would have desired to have it ; and 
 they would have been right. Luxury is, in itself 
 a great good. Luxury is delicious fare, of any 
 and every kind : and He who bestowed it meant all 
 men to have it. (The evil of luxury is in its restric 
 tion ; in its being made a cause of separation be 
 tween men, and a means of encroachment by some 
 on the rights of others. Frugality is a virtue onl^ 
 when it is reauirecfW iust.ice 1 and charity. Luxury 
 is^ vicious only when it is obtained jpy injustice, arid 
 rjirriftfl on pto intemperance, k It is a bad thing 
 that a Massachusetts farmer lmQuld mortgage his 
 
AGRICULTURE, 297 
 
 farm, in order that his wife and daughters may dress 
 like the ladies of Boston ; but the evil is not in the 
 dress ; it is rather in his clinging to a mode of life 
 which does not enable him to pay his debts. The 
 women desire dress, not only because it is becom 
 ing, but because they revolt from sinking, even out 
 wardly, into a lower station of life than they once 
 held : and this is more than harmless ; it is honour 
 able. What they have to do is to make up their 
 minds to be consistent. They must either go j 
 down with their farm, for love of it, and the ways 
 which belong to it : or they must make a better 
 living in some other manner. They cannot have 
 the old farm and its ways, and luxury too. Nobody 
 has a right to decide for them which they ought to 
 choose ; and declaiming against luxury will there 
 fore do no good. It is, however, pretty clear which 
 they will choose, while luxury and manufactures 
 are growing before their eyes; and, in that case, 
 declaiming against luxury can do little but harm : 
 it will only destroy sympathy between the declaimers 
 and those who may find the cap fit. 
 
 One benevolent lady strongly desires and advises 
 that manufactures should be put down ; and the 
 increased population all sent away somewhere, that 
 New England may be as primitive and sparsely 
 peopled as in days when it was, as she supposes, 
 more virtuous than now. Whenever she can make 
 out what virtue is, so as to prove that New Eng 
 land was ever more virtuous than now, her plans 
 may find hearers; but not till then. I mention 
 these things merely to show how confirmed is the 
 tendency of New England to manufactures, in pre 
 ference to agriculture. 
 
 % There is one certa^i test of the permanent fitness 
 of any district of country for agricultural purposes ; 
 the settlement of any large number of Germans in 
 it. The Germans give any price for good land, and 
 
 o 5 
 
298 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 use it all. They are much smiled at by the viva 
 cious and enterprising Americans for their plod 
 ding, their attachment to their own methods, and 
 the odd direction taken by their pride.* The part 
 of Pennsylvania where they abound is called the 
 Boeotia of America. There is a story current 
 against them that they were seen to parade with a 
 banner, on which was inscribed " No schools," when 
 the State legislature was about establishing a school 
 system. On the other hand, it is certain that they 
 have good German newspapers prepared among 
 themselves : that their politics do them high honour, 
 considering the very short political education they 
 have had : and that they know more of political 
 economy than their native neighbours. They show 
 by their votes that they understand the tariff and 
 bank questions ; and they are staunch supporters 
 of democratic principles. 
 
 Nothing can be more thriving than the settle 
 ments of Germans, when they have once been 
 brought into order. Their fields are well fenced ; 
 their implements of the most substantial make; 
 and their barns a real curiosity. While the family 
 of the farmer is living in a poor log-house, or a 
 shabby, unpainted frame-house, the barn has all 
 the pains of its o\vner lavished upon it. I saw 
 several, freshly painted with red, with eleven glass 
 windows, with Venetian blinds, at each end, and 
 
 * I might add their matter-of-fact credulity, strongly resembling 
 romance. Asa specimen of the quizzing common with regard 
 to the Germans, 1 give an anecdote. At the time when the strug 
 gle between Adams and Jackson was very close, a supporter of 
 Adams complained to Mr. W. that it was provoking that somebody 
 bad persuaded the Germans in Pennsylvania that Mr. Adams hai 
 married a daughter of George III. ; a report which would cost 
 him all their votes. Mr. W. said, " Why do not you contradict it 1" 
 " O," replied his friend, " you know nothing of those people. 
 They will believe everything, and unhelieve nothing. No: in 
 stead of contradicting the report, we must allow that Adams mar 
 ried a daughter of George 111. ; but add that Jackson married two." 
 
AGRICULTURE. 299 
 
 twelve in front. They keep up the profitable 
 customs of their country. i? The German women are 
 the only women seen in the fields and gardens in 
 America, except a very few Dutch, and the slaves 
 in the south. \ The stores of pumpkins, apples, and 
 onions in the stoup (piazza) are edifying to behold. 
 Under them sits the old dame of the house, spin 
 ning at her large wheel ; and her grand-children, 
 all in grey homespun, look as busy as herself. 
 
 The German settlers always contrive to have a 
 market, either by placing themselves near one, or 
 bestirring themselves to make one. They have no 
 idea of sitting down in a wilderness, and growing 
 wild in it. A great many of them are market-gar 
 deners near the towns^f 
 
 It is scarcely possible to foresee, with distinct 
 ness, the destination of the southern States, east of 
 the Alleghanies, when the curse of slavery shall be 
 removed. Up to that^period, continual deteriora- 
 ion is unavoidable. Efforts are being made to 
 compensate Jor the decline of agriculture by piisJi- 
 ing the interests of commerce. _This is well; for 
 the "opening of every new raiPro*ad, of every new 
 pier, is another blow given to slavery. The_agri- 
 culture of Virginia continues to decline; and her 
 revenue is chietiy derived from the rearing of slaves 
 as stock for the southern market. In the north and 
 west parts of this State, where there is more farming 
 than planting, it has long been found that slavery is 
 
 * I heard some interesting facts about the Germans in Pennsyl 
 vania from I\lr. Gallatin, who lived among t^m for some time. 
 A fact regarding this gentleman shows wlr.V the obscurity of 
 country life in the United States may be. His estate was origi 
 nally in Virginia. By a new division, it was thru-vn into the back 
 of Pennsylvania. He ceased to be heard of, for soi.i years, in the 
 interval of his engaging in public atfairs. During t ,is time, an 
 advertisement appeared in a newspaper, asking for tidings of 
 " one Albert Gallatin; and adding that if he were btill living, 
 he might, on making a certain application, hear of something to 
 his advantage. 
 
300 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 ruinous; and when I passed through, in the sum 
 mer of 1835, I saw scarcely any but whites, for some 
 hundreds of miles along the road, except where a 
 slave trader was carrying down to the south tne 
 remains that he had bought up. Unless some new 
 r resource is introduced, Virginia will be almost im- 
 Vpoverished when the traffic in slaves comes to an 
 jend ; which, I have a strong persuasion, will be the 
 (case before very long. The Virginians themselves 
 are, it seems, aware of their case. I saw a factory at 
 Richmond, worked by black labour, which was 
 found, to the surprise of those who tried the expe 
 riment, to be of very good quality. J 
 
 The shores of the south, low and shoaly, are 
 unfavourable to foreign commerce. The want of a 
 sufficiency of good harbours will probably impel the 
 inhabitants of the southern States to renew their 
 agricultural pursuits, and merely confine themselves 
 to internal commerce. The depression of agricul- " 
 ture is only temporary, I believe. It began from 
 slavery, and is aggravated by the opening of the* 
 rich virgin soils of the south-west. But the time 
 will come when improved methods of tillage, with 
 the advantage of free labour, will renew the pros 
 perity of Virginia, and North and South Carolina. 
 No mismanagement short of employing slaves 
 will account for the deterioration of the agricultural 
 wealth of these States. When the traveller ob 
 serves the quality of some of the land now under 
 cultivation, he wonders how other estates could 
 have been rendered so unprofitable as they are. 
 The rich Congaree bottoms, in South Carolina, look 
 inexhaustible; but some estates, once as fine, now 
 lie barren and deserted. I went over a plantation, 
 near Columbia, South Carolina, where there were 
 four thousand acres within one fence, each acre 
 worth fifteen hundred dollars. This land has been 
 cropped yearly with cotton since 1794, and is now 
 
AGRICULTURE. 301 
 
 becoming less productive ; but it is still very fine. 
 The cotton seed is occasionally returned to the soil ; 
 and this is the only means of renovation used. Four 
 hundred negroes work this estate. We saw the 
 field trenched, ready for sowing. The sowing is 
 done by hand, thick, and afterwards thinned. I saw 
 the cotton elsewhere, growing like twigs. I saw 
 also some in pod. There are three or four pick 
 ings of pods in a season ; af which the first gather 
 ing is the best. Each estate has its cotton press. 
 In the gin, the seed is separated from the cotton ; 
 and the latter is pressed and packed for sale. 
 
 Therg seems nothing to prevent the continuance 
 or renovation of the growth of this product, under 
 more favourable circumstances. Whether the rice 
 swamps will have to be given up, or whether they 
 may be tilled by free black labour, remains to be 
 seen. The Chinese grow rice ; and so do the Ita 
 lians, without the advantage of free black labour. 
 If, in the worst case, the rice swamps should have 
 to be relinquished, the loss would be more than com 
 pensated by the improvement which would take 
 place in the farming districts; land too high for 
 planting. The western, mountainous parts of these 
 States would thus become the most valuable. 
 
 It was amusing to hear the praises of corn (In 
 dian corn) in the mio^t of the richest cotton, rice, 
 and tobacco districtsjf The Indian looks with silent 
 wonder upon the seuler, who becomes visibly a 
 capitalist in nine months, on the same spot where 
 the red man has remained equally poor, all his life. 
 In February, both are alike bare of all but land, 
 and a few utensils. By the end of the next No 
 vember, the white settler has his harvest of corn ; 
 more valuable to him than gold and silver. It will 
 procure him many things which they could not. A 
 man who has corn, may have everything. He can 
 sow his land with it ; and, for the rest, everything 
 
302 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 eats corn, from slave to chick. Yet, in the midst 
 of so much praise of corn, I found that it cost a 
 dollar a bushel; that every one was complaining 
 of the expenses of living ; that, so far from mutton 
 being despised, as we have been told, it was much 
 desired, but not to be had ; and that milk was a 
 great rarity. Two of us, in travelling, asked for a 
 draught of milk. We had each a very small tum 
 bler-full, and were charged a quarter-dollar. The 
 cultivation of land is as exclusively for exportable 
 products, as in the West Indies, in the worst days 
 of their slavery ; when food, and even bricks for 
 building, were imported from England. The total 
 absence of wise rural economy, under the present 
 system, opens great hope of future improvement. 
 The forsaken plantations are not so exhausted of 
 their resources as it is supposed, from their pro 
 ducing little cotton, that they must be. The de 
 serted fields may yet be seen, some day, again 
 fruitful in cotton, with corn-fields, pasturage, and 
 stock, (not human,) flourishing in appropriate 
 spots. 
 
 Adversity is the best teacher of economy here, as 
 elsewhere. In the first flush of prosperity, when a 
 proprietor sits down on a rich virgin soil, and the 
 price of cotton is rising, lie bays bacon and corn 
 for his negroes, and other provisions for his family, 
 and devotes every rod of his land to cotton-growing. 
 I knew of one in Alabama,* who, like his neigh 
 bours, paid for his land and the maintenance of 
 his slaves with the first crop, and had a large sum 
 over, wherewith to buy more slaves and more land. 
 He paid eight thousand dollars for his land, and 
 all the expenses of the establishment, and had, at 
 the end of the season, eleven thousand dollars in 
 the bank. It was thought, by a wise friend of this 
 gentleman s, that it was a great injury, instead of 
 benefit to his fortune, that his labourers were not 
 
AGRICULTURE. 803 
 
 free. To use this wise man s expression, " it takes 
 two white men to make a black man work ;" and 
 he was confident that it was not necessary, on any 
 pretence whatever, to have a single slave in Alabama, 
 Where all the other elements of prosperity exist, 
 as they do in that rich new State, any quality and 
 amount of labour might be obtained, and the per 
 manent prosperity of the country might be secured. 
 If matters go on as they are, Alabama will in time 
 follow the course of the south-eastern States, and 
 find her production of cotton declining; and she 
 will have to learn a wiser husbandry by vicissitude, 
 But matters will not go on as they are to that 
 point. -^Cotton-growing is advancing rapidly in 
 other parts of the world where there is the advan 
 tage of cheap, free labour ; and the southern States 
 of America will find themselves unable to withstand 
 the competition of rivals whom they now despise, 
 but bv the use of free labour, and of the improved 
 management which will accompany it. ""I^There is 
 already a great importation of mules for field work 
 from the bigher western States. Who knows but 
 that in time there may be cattle-shows, (like those 
 of the more prosperous rural districts of the north,) 
 where there are now slave markets; or at least 
 agricultural societies, whereby the inhabitants may 
 be put in the w^ay of obtaining tender " sheep s 
 meat, 3 while cotton may be grown more plentifully 
 than even at present ? 
 
 I saw at Charleston the first great overt act of 
 improvement that I am aware of in South Carolina. 
 One step has been taken upwards; and when I saw 
 it, I could only wish that the slaves in the neigh 
 bourhood could see, as clearly as a stranger could, 
 the good it portended to them. It is nothing more 
 than that an enterprising gentleman has set up a 
 rice-mill, and that he avails himself to the utmost 
 of its capabilities ; but this is made much of in that 
 
304 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 land of small improvement; as it ought to be. 
 The chaff is used to enrich the soil : and the pro 
 prietor has made lot after lot of bad land very pro 
 fitable for sale with it, and is thus growing rapidly 
 rich. The sweet flour, which lies between the 
 husk and the grain, is used for fattening cattle. 
 The broken rice is sold cheap ; and the rest finds a 
 good market. There are nine persons employed in 
 the mill, some white and some black; and many 
 more are busy in preparing the lots of land, and in 
 building on them. Clusters of houses have risen 
 up around the mill. 
 
 Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, present the 
 extreme case of the fertility of the soil, the prosperity 
 of proprietors, and the woes of slaves. I found 
 the Virginians spoke with sorrow and contempt of 
 the treatment of slaves in North and South Caro 
 lina : South Carolina and Georgia, of the treatment 
 of slaves in the richer States to the west : and, in 
 these last, I found the case too bad to admit of ag 
 gravation. It was in these last that the most 
 heart-rending disclosures were made to me by the 
 ladies, heads of families, of the state of society, and 
 of their own intolerable sufferings in it. As I went 
 further north again, I found an improvement. 
 There was less wealth in the hands of individuals, 
 a better economy, more intelligent slaves, and more 
 discussion how to get rid of slavery. Tennessee 
 is, in some sort, naturally divided on the question. 
 The eastern part of the State is hilly, and fit for 
 farming ; for which slave labour does not answer. 
 The western part is used for cotton-planting ; and 
 the planters will not yet hear of free labour. . The 
 magnificent State of J^iitucky-has-jio other draw- 
 back to its prosperity than slavery ^.and its ir!Ha-~* 
 bitants are so far convinced of this that they will, 
 no doubt, soon free themselves from it. They can 
 not look across the river, and witness the pros- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 305 
 
 perity of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, without being 
 aware that, with their own unequalled natural ad 
 vantages, they could not be so backward as they 
 are, from any other cause. 
 
 Kentucky is equally adapted for agriculture and 
 .commerce. ^ She may have ports on the rivers, 
 along her whole northern and western boundary; 
 and she has already roads superior to almost any 
 in the United States. Shg is, rich, in stone, and 
 many other minerals.-^ in minpral w^fe^ ana in a__ 
 soil of unsurpassed fertility,^* The State is more 
 thickly settled than is evident to the passing tra 
 veller ; and the effect will appear when more mar 
 kets, or roads to existing markets, are opened. In 
 one small county which I visited, my host and his 
 brother had farms of fifteen hundred acres each; 
 and there were two hundred and fifty, other farms 
 in the county. Sometimes these farms are divided 
 among the children. More commonly, all the 
 sons but one go elsewhere to settle. In this case, 
 the homestead is usually left to the youngest son, 
 who is supposed likely to be the most attached to 
 the surviving parent. 
 
 The estates of tne two brothers, mentioned 
 above, comprising three thousand acres, were 
 bought of the Indians for a rifle. We passed 
 a morning in surveying the one which is a grazing 
 farm. There is a good red-brick house for the 
 family: and the slave-quarter is large. Nothing 
 can be more beautiful than the aspect of the estate, 
 from the richness of its vegetation, and the droves 
 of fine cattle that were to be seen everywhere. I 
 never saw finer cattle. The owner had just refused 
 sixty dollars apiece for fourteen of them. Fifteen 
 acres of the forest are left for shade; and there, 
 and under single oaks in the cleared pasture, were 
 herds of horses and mules, and three donkeys ; the 
 only ones I saw in the United States. 
 
306 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 We passed an unshaded meadow, where the grass 
 had caught fire every day at eleven o clock, the 
 preceding summer. This demonstrates the neces 
 sity of shade. 
 
 We passed " a spontaneous rye-field." I asked 
 what " spontaneous" meant here; and found that a 
 fine crop of rye had been cut the year before ; and 
 that the nearly equally fine one now before us 
 had grown up from the dropped seed. 
 
 We enjoyed the thought of the abundance of 
 milk here, after the- dearth we had suffered in the 
 South. Forty cows are milked for the use of the 
 family and the negroes, and are under the care of 
 seven women. ^The proprietor declared to me that 1 
 he believed his slaves would drive him mad. 
 Planters, who grow but one product, suffer much 
 less from th incapacity and perverse will of their 
 negroes : the care of stock is quite another matter ; 
 and for any responsible service, slaves are totally 
 unfit. \ 
 
 Instead of living being cheaper on country 
 estates, from the necessaries of life being raised on 
 them, it appears to be much more expensive. 
 This is partly owing to the prevailing pride of hav 
 ing negroes to show. One family, of four persons, 
 of my acquaintance, in South Carolina, whose style 
 of living might be called homely, cannot manage 
 to live for less than three thousand dollars a year. 
 They have a carnage and eleven negroes. It is 
 cheaper in Kentucky. In the towns, a family may 
 live m good style for two thousand five hundred 
 dollars a year ; and for no great deal more in the 
 country. A family entered upon a good house, 
 near a town, with one hundred and twenty acres of 
 land, a few years ago, at a rent of three hundred 
 dollars. They bought house and land, and brought 
 their slaves, and now live, exclusive of rent and 
 hire of servants, for two thousand dollars a year, in 
 
AGRICULTURE. 307 
 
 greater numbers and much higher style than the 
 South Carolina family. 
 
 The prospects of agrin i ^- Tirfl ^ n *h ft Statpg north 
 f 
 
 west ofthft Qfrin arfhrillifliTi. The stranger who 
 looks upon the fertile prairies of Illinois and In 
 diana, and the rich alluvions of Ohio, feels the 
 iniquity of the English corn laws as strongly as in 
 the alleys of Sheffield and Manchester. The in 
 human perverseness of taxing food is there evident 
 in all its enormity. The world ought never to hear 
 of a want of food, no one of the inhabitants of its 
 civilised portions ought ever to be without the 
 means of obtaining his fill, while the mighty west 
 ern valley smiles in its fertility. If the aristocracy 
 of England, for whom those laws were made, and 
 by whom they are sustained, could be transported 
 to travel, in open wagons, the boundless prairies, 
 and the shores of the great rivers which would 
 bring down the produce, they would groan to see 
 from what their petty, selfish interests had shut out 
 the thousands of half-starved labourers at home. 
 If they could not be convinced of the very plain 
 truth, of how their own fortunes would be benefited 
 by allowing the supply and demand of food to take 
 their natural course, they would, for the moment, 
 wish their rent-rolls at the ^ bottom of the sea, 
 rather than that they should stand between the 
 crowd of labourers and the supply of food which 
 God has offered them. ("The landlords of England N 
 do not go and see the great western valley ; but, 
 happily, some of the labourers of England do. 
 Far off as that valley is, those labourers will make 
 themselves heard from thence, by those who have 
 driven them there; and will teach the brethren 
 whom they have left behind where the blame of 
 their hunger lies. Every British settler who 
 ploughs a furrow in the prairie, helps to plough up 
 the Jmindatiojia of the British Corn Laws. 
 
308 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 There is a prospect, not very uncertain or re 
 mote, of these prairie lands bringing relief to a yev 
 more suffering class than either English labourers or 
 landlords; the sugar-growing slaves of the south. 
 Rumours of the progress of sugar-making from beet 
 in France have, for some time past, been interesting 
 many persons in the United States ; especially capi 
 talists inclined to speculate, and the vigilant friends 
 of the slave. Information has been obtained, and 
 some trials made. Individuals have sown ten 
 acres and upwards each, and manufactured sugar 
 with a small apparatus. The result has been en 
 couraging ; and a large manufactory was to be 
 opened in Philadelphia on the 1st of November 
 last. Two large joint-stock companies have been 
 founded, one in New Jersey and the other in Illi 
 nois. Their proceedings have been quickened by 
 the frosts of several successive seasons, which have 
 so cut off the canes in the south, as that it cannot 
 supply one quarter of the domestic consumption : 
 whereas it had previously supplied half. Some of 
 the southern newspapers have recommended the 
 substitution of beet for canes. However soon this 
 may be done, (the northern sugar planters, with 
 their free labour, will surely overpower the south 
 in the competition. \ This is on the supposition 
 that beet will answer as well as canes ; a supposi- 
 tioh which will have" been granted whenever the 
 south begins to grow beet in preference to canes. 
 * A heavy blow would be inflicted on slavery by 
 the success of the beet companies. The condition 
 of the cane- growing slaves cannot be made worse 
 than it is. I believe that even in the West Indies 
 it has never been so dreadful as at present in some 
 parts of Louisiana. A planter stated to a sugar- 
 refiner in New York, that it was found the best 
 economy to work off the stock of negroes once in 
 seven years. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 309 
 
 The interest excited by this subject of beet- 
 growing is very strong throughout the United 
 States. Some result must ensue which will be an 
 instigation to further action. The most important 
 would be the inducing in the south either the use 
 of free labour in sugar-growing, or the surrender 
 of an object so fatal to decent humanity. 
 
 The prettiest amateur farm I saw was that of 
 the late Dr. Hosack, at Hyde Park, on the Hud 
 son. Dr. Hosack had spared no pains to improve 
 his stock, and .his methods of farming, as well as 
 the beauty of his pleasure-grounds. His merits in 
 the former departments the agricultural societies 
 in England are much better qualified to appreciate 
 than I ; and they seem to have valued his exertions ; 
 to judge by the medals and other honourable testi 
 monials from them which he showed to me. As 
 for his pleasure-grounds, little was left for the hand 
 of art to do. The natural terrace above the 
 river, green, sweeping, and undulating, is surpass 
 ingly beautiful. Dr. Hosack s good taste led him 
 to leave it alone, and to spend his pains on the 
 gardens and conservatory behind. Of all the 
 beautiful country-seats on the Hudson, none can, 
 I think, equal Hyde Park ; though many bear a 
 more imposing appearance from the river. 
 
 Though I twice traversed the western part of the 
 State of New York, I did not see the celebrated 
 farm of Mr. Wadsworth ; the finest, by all accounts, 
 in the United States. The next best thing to see 
 ing it was hearing Mr. Wadsworth talk about it, 
 especially of its hospitable capabilities. This only 
 increased my regret at being unable to visit it. 
 
 The most remarkable order of land-owners that 
 I saw in the United States was that of the Shakers 
 and the Rappites ; both holding all their property 
 in common, and both enforcing celibacy. The in 
 terest which would be felt by the whole of society 
 
310 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 in watching the results of a community of property 
 is utterly destroyed by the presence of the other 
 distinction ; or rather of the ignorance and super 
 stition of which it is the sign. 
 
 The moral and economical principles of these 
 societies ought to be most carefully distinguished 
 by the observer. This being done, I believe it 
 will be found that whatever they have peculiarly 
 good among them is owing to the soundness of 
 their economical principles ; whatever they have 
 that excites compassion, is owing to .the badness of 
 their moral arrangements. 
 
 I visited two Shaker communities in Massachu 
 setts. The first was at Hancock, consisting of 
 three hundred persons, in the neighbourhood of an 
 other at Lebanon, consisting of seven hundred per 
 sons. There are fifteen Shaker establishments or 
 " families" in the United States, and their total 
 number is between five and six thousand. ( There 
 fis no question of their entire success, as far as 
 wealth is concerned. A very moderate amount of 
 labour has secured to them in perfection all the 
 comforts of life that they know how to enjoy, and 
 as much wealth besides as would command the 
 intellectual luxuries of which they do not dream. 
 The earth does not show more flourishing fields, 
 gardens, and orchards, than theirs. The houses are 
 spacious, and in all respects unexceptionable. The 
 finish of every external thing testifies to their 
 wealth, both of material and leisure. } The floor of 
 their place of worship, (the scene of their pecu 
 liar exercises,) the roofs of their houses, their stair- 
 carpets, the feet of their chairs, the springs of their 
 gates, and their spitting-boxes, for even these 
 neat people have spitting-boxes show a nicety 
 which is rare in America. Their table fare is 
 of the very best quality. We had depended on 
 a luncheon among them, and were rather alarmed 
 
AGRICULTURE. 311 
 
 at the refusal we met, when we pleaded our long 
 ride and the many hours that we should have to 
 wait for refreshment, if they would not furnish us 
 with some. They urged, reasonably enough, 
 that a steady rule was necessary, subject as the 
 community was to visits from the company at Le 
 banon Springs. They did not want to make 
 money by furnishing refreshments, and did not de 
 sire the trouble. For once, however, they kindly 
 gave way; and we were provided with delicious 
 bread, molasses, butter, cheese and wine; all home 
 made, of course. If happiness lay in bread and 
 butter, and such things, these people have attained 
 the summum bonum. Their store shows what 
 they can produce for sale. A great variety of 
 simples, of which they sell large quantities to Lon 
 don ; linen-drapery, knitted wares, sieves, baskets, 
 boxes, and confectionary ; palm and feather fans, 
 pin-cushions, and other such trifles ; all these may 
 be had in some variety, and of the best quality. If 
 such external provision, with a great amount of 
 accumulated wealth besides, is the result of co 
 operation and community of property among an 
 ignorant, conceited, inert society like this, what 
 might not the same principles of association achieve 
 among a more intelligent set of people, stimulated 
 by education, and exhilarated by the enjoyment of 
 all the blessings which Providence has placed 
 within the reach of man ? 
 
 The wealth of the Shakers is not to be attri 
 buted to their celibacy. They are receiving a 
 perpetual accession to their numbers from among 
 the " world s people," and these accessions are 
 usually of the most unprofitable kind. Widows 
 with large families of young children, are perpetu 
 ally joining the community, with the view of ob 
 taining a plentiful subsistence with very moderate 
 labour. The increase of their numbers does not 
 
312 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 lead to the purchase of more land. They supply 
 their enlarged wants by the high cultivation of the 
 land they have long possessed ; and the superfluity 
 of capital is so great that it is difficult to conceive 
 what will be done with it by a people so nearly 
 dead to intellectual enjoyments. f\i there had been 
 no celibacy among them, they would probably have 
 been far more wealthy than they are ; the expenses 
 of living in community being so much less, and the 
 produce of co-operative labour being so much 
 greater than in a state of division into families. 
 The truth of these last positions can be denied by 
 none who have witnessed the working of a co-ope 
 rative system. The problem is to find the prin 
 ciple by which all shall be induced to labour their 
 share. Any such principle being found, the wealth 
 of the community follows of course. 
 
 Whether any principle to this effect can be 
 brought to bear upon any large class of society in 
 the old world, is at present the most important dis 
 pute, perhaps, that is agitating society. It will 
 never now rest till it has been made matter of ex 
 periment. If a very low principle has served the 
 purpose, for a time at least, in the new world, there 
 seems much ground for expectation that a far 
 higher one may be found to work as well in the 
 more complicated case of English society. There 
 is, at least, every encouragement to try. While 
 there are large classes of people here whose condi 
 tion can hardly be made worse ; while the present 
 system (if such it may be called) imposes care on 
 the rich, excessive anxiety on the middle classes, 
 and desperation on the poor: while the powerful 
 are thus, as it were, fated to oppress ; the strivers 
 after power to circumvent and counteract ; and the 
 powerless to injure, it seems only reasonable that 
 some section, at least, of this warring population 
 should make trial of the peaceful principles which 
 
AGRICULTURE. 313 
 
 are working successfully elsewhere. The co-ope 
 rative methods of the Shakers and Rappites might 
 be tried without any adoption of their spiritual 
 pride and cruel superstition. These are so far 
 from telling against the system, that they prompt 
 the observer to remark how much has been done 
 in spite of such obstacles.j 
 
 There must be something sound in the princi 
 ples on which these people differ from the rest of 
 the world, or they would not work at all ; but the 
 little that is vital is dreadfully encumbered with 
 that which is dead. Like all religious persuasions 
 from which one differs, that of the Shakers appears 
 more reasonable in conversation, and in their daily 
 actions, than on paper and at a distance. In actual 
 life, the absurd and peculiar recedes before the 
 true and universal ; but, I own, I have never wit 
 nessed more visible absurdity than in the way of 
 life of the Shakers. The sound part of their prin 
 ciple is the same as that which has sustained all 
 devotees ; and with it is joined a spirit of fellowship 
 which makes them more in the right than the an 
 chorites and friars of old. This is all. Their spi 
 ritual pride, their insane vanity, their intellectual 
 torpor, their mental grossness, are melancholy to 
 witness. Reading is discouraged among them. 
 Their thoughts are full of the one subject of celi 
 bacy: with what effect, may be easily imagined. 
 Their religious exercises are disgustingly full of it. 
 It cannot be otherwise : for they have no other in 
 teresting subject of thought beyond their daily rou 
 tine of business ; no objects in life, no wants, no 
 hopes, no novelty of experience whatever. Their 
 life is all dull work and no play. 
 
 The women, in their frightful costume, close 
 opaque caps, and drab gowns of the last degree of 
 tightness and scantiness, are nothing short of dis 
 gusting. They are averse to the open air and ex- 
 
 VOL. i. P 
 
314 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 ercise ; they are pallid and spiritless. They look 
 far more forlorn and unnatural than the men. 
 Their soulless stare at us, before their worship be 
 gan, was almost as afflicting as that of the lowest 
 order of slaves ; and, when they danced, they were 
 like so many galvanised corpses. I had been rather 
 afraid of not being able to keep my countenance 
 during this part of their worship; but there was 
 no temptation to laugh. It was too shocking for 
 ridicule. Three men stood up, shouting a mono 
 tonous tune, and dangling their crossed hands, with 
 a pawing motion, to keep time, while the rest 
 danced, except some old women and young chil 
 dren, who sat out. The men stamped, and the 
 women jerked, with their arms hanging by their 
 sides; they described perpetually the figure of a 
 square ; the men and boys on one side, the women 
 and girls on the other. There were prayers be 
 sides, and singing, and a sermon. This last was 
 of a better quality than usual, I understood. It 
 was (of all improbable subjects) on religious liberty, 
 and contained nothing outrageously uncommon, ex 
 cept the proposition that the American revolution 
 had drawn the last of the teeth of the red dragon. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the children who 
 are carried in by their widowed, or indolent, or 
 poor, or superstitious parents, are always acquies 
 cent in their destination. I saw many a bright 
 face within the prim cap-border, which bore a pro 
 phecy of a return to the world ; and two of the 
 boys stamped so vigorously in the dance, that it was 
 impossible to imagine their feelings to be very de 
 votional. The story of one often serves as an index 
 to the hearts of many. I knew of a girl who was 
 carried into a Shaker community by her widowed 
 mother, and subjected early to its discipline. It 
 was hateful to her. One Sunday, when she was, I 
 believe, about sixteen, she feigned illness, to avoid 
 
AGRICULTURE. 315 
 
 going to worship. When she believed every one 
 else gone, she jumped out of a low window, and upon 
 the back of a pony which happened to be in the field. 
 She rode round and round the enclosure, without 
 saddle or bridle, and then re-entered the house. 
 She had been observed, and was duly reprimanded. 
 She left the community in utter weariness and 
 disgust. A friend of mine, in a neighbouring vil- 
 Jage, took the girl into her service. She never 
 settled well in service, being too proud for the oc 
 cupation ; and she actually went back to the same 
 community, and is there still, for no better reason 
 than the saving of her pride. Her old teachers 
 had, it thus appeared, obtained an influence over 
 her, notwithstanding the tyranny of their discipline ; 
 and it had not been of a wholesome moral nature. 
 But no more words are necessary to show how 
 pride, and all other selfishness, must flourish in a 
 community which religiously banishes all the ten- 
 derest charities of life. 
 
 The followers of Mr. Rapp are settled at Eco 
 nomy, on the Ohip, eighteen miles below Pitts 
 burgh. Their number was five hundred when I 
 %vas there; and they owned three thousand acres 
 of land. Much of their attention seems to be given 
 to- manufactures. They rear silkworms, and were 
 the earliest silk-weavers in the United States. At 
 my first visit they w r ere weaving only a flimsy kind 
 of silk handkerchief; last summer I brought away 
 a piece of substantial, handsome black satin. They 
 have sheep-walks, and a large woollen manufac 
 tory. Their factory was burnt down in 1834; the 
 fire occasioning a loss of sixty thousand dollars ; a 
 mere trifle to this wealthy community. Their 
 vineyards, corn-fields, orchards, and gardens glad 
 den the eye. There is an abundance so much be 
 yond their need that it is surprising that they 
 work ; except for want of something else to do. The 
 
316 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Dutch love of flowers was visible in the plants that 
 were to be seen in the windows, and the rich car 
 nations and other sweets that bloomed in the gar 
 den and green-house. The whole place has a 
 superior air to that of either of the Shaker " families " 
 that I saw. The women were better dressed ; more 
 lively, less pallid ; but, I fear, not much wiser. Mr. 
 Rapp exercises an unbounded influence over his 
 people. They are prevented learning any language 
 but German, and are not allowed to converse with 
 strangers. The superintendent keeps a close watch 
 over them in this respect. Probationers must serve 
 a year before they can be admitted : and the ma 
 nagers own that they dread the entrance of young 
 people, who might be " unsettled ;" that is, not suf 
 ficiently subservient. 
 
 I was curious to learn how five hundred persons 
 could be kept in the necessary subjection by one. 
 Mr. Rapp s means are such that his task is not very 
 difficult. He keeps his people ignorant; and he 
 makes them vain. He preaches to them their 
 own superiority over the rest of the world so in 
 cessantly that they fully believe it ; and are per 
 suaded that their salvation is in his hands. At firsi; 
 I felt, with regard both to them and the Shakers, a 
 strong respect for the self-conquest which could 
 enable them to endure the singularity, the one 
 community, of its non-intercourse with strangers; 
 the other, of its dancing exhibitions; but I soon 
 found that my respect was misplaced. One and all, 
 they glory in the singularity. They feel no awk 
 wardness in it, from first to last. This vanity is the 
 handle by which they are worked. 
 
 Mr. Rapp is now very old. His son is dead. It 
 remains to be seen what will become of his com 
 munity, with its immense accumulation of wealth, 
 when it has lost its dictator. It does not appear 
 that they can go on in their present state without a 
 
AGRICULTURE. 317 
 
 dictator. They smile superciliously upon Mr. 
 Owen s plan, as admitting " a wrong principle," 
 marriage. The best hope for them is that they will 
 change their minds on this point, admitting the 
 educational improvements which will arise out of 
 the change, and remaining in community with re 
 gard to property. This is the process now in ac 
 tion among the seceders from their body, settled 
 on the opposite bank of the river, a short distance 
 below Economy. 
 
 These seceders were beguiled by Count Leon, a 
 stranger, who told the people a great deal that was 
 true about Mr. Rapp, and a great deal that was 
 false about himself. It is a great pity that Count 
 Leon was a swindler ; for he certainly opened the 
 eyes of the Economy people to many truths, and 
 might have done all that was wanted, if he had him 
 self been honest. He drew away seventy of the 
 people, and instigated them to demand of Mr. Rapp 
 their share of the accumulated property. It was 
 refused : and a suit was instituted against Mr. Rapp, 
 in whose name the whole is invested. The lawyers 
 compromised the affair, and Mr. Rapp disbursed 
 1-20,000 dollars. Count Leon obtained, and ab 
 sconded with almost the whole, and died in Texas ; 
 the burial-place of many more such men. With the 
 remnant of their funds, the seventy seceders pur 
 chased land, and settled themselves opposite to 
 Beaver, on the Ohio. They live in community, but 
 abjuring celibacy; and have been joined by some 
 thorough-bred Americans. It will be seen how 
 they prosper. 
 
 f Though the members of these remarkable com- , 
 munities are far from being the only agriculturists 
 in whom the functions of proprietor and labourer 
 are joined, the junction is in them so peculiar as to 
 make them a separate class, holding a place between 
 the landowners of whom I have before spoken, and 
 the labourers of whom I shall have to treat. 
 
318 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 THE political economists of England have long 
 wondered why the Americans have not done what 
 older nations would be glad to do, if the opportunity 
 had not gone by; reserved government lands, 
 which, as it is the tendency of rent io rise, might 
 obviate any future increase of taxation. There are 
 
 more good reasons than one why this cannot be 
 domTnTAmerica. 
 
 The eKperares uf the general government are so 
 small that the present difficulty is to reduce the 
 taxation so as to leave no more than a safe surplus 
 revenue in the treasury ; and there is no prospect 
 of any increase of taxation ; as the taxpayers are 
 likely to grow much faster than the expenses of the 
 
 Government. 
 The people of the United States choose to be 
 roprietors of land, not tenants. No one can yet 
 >resee the time when the relation of landlord and 
 tenant (except in regard to house property) will 
 be extensively established in America. More than 
 a billion of acres remain to be disposed of first. 
 
 6 The weightiest reason of all is that, in the United 
 >tates, the people of to-day are the government of 
 >day ; the people of fifty years hence will be the 
 overnment of fifty years hence ; and it would not 
 suit the people of to-day to sequestrate their pro 
 perty for the benefit of their successors, any better 
 than it would suit the people of fifty years hence to 
 be legislated for by those of to-day. A democratic 
 government must always be left free to be operated 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 319 
 
 upon by the will of the majority of the time being. 
 All that the government of the day can do is to 
 ascertain what now appears to be the best principle 
 by which to regulate the disposal of land, and then 
 to let the demand and supply take their natural 
 course. 
 
 The methods according to which the disposal of 
 land is carried on are as good as the methods of 
 government almost invariably are in America. The 
 deficiency is in the knowledge of the relation which 
 land bears to other capital and to labour.* A few 
 clear-headed men have foreseen the evil of so great 
 a dispersion of the people as has taken place, and 
 have consistently advocated a higher price being set 
 upon land than that at which it is at present sold. 
 Such men are now convinced that evils which seem 
 to bear no more relation to the price of land than 
 the fall of an apple to the motions of the planets, 
 are attributable to the reduction in the price of go 
 vernment lots: that much political blundering, and 
 religious animosity ; much of the illegal violence, 
 and much of the popular apathy on the slave ques 
 tion, which have disgraced the country, are owing to 
 the public lands being sold at a minimum price of 
 a dollar and a-quarter per acre. Many excellent 
 leaders of the democratic party think the people at 
 large less fit to govern themselves wisely than they 
 were five-and-twenty years ago. This seems to me 
 improbable; but I believe there is no doubt that 
 the dispersion has hitherto been too great ; and 
 that the intellectual and moral, and, of course, 
 the political condition of the people has thereby 
 suffered. 
 
 The price of the public lands was formerly two 
 dollars per acre, with credit. It was found to be a 
 
 * I need hardly mention that I read " England and America" 
 before I set out on my travels. It will appear that I am under 
 obligations to that valuable work for much guidance. 
 
320 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 bad plan for the constituents of a government to be 
 its debtors ; and there was a reduction of the price 
 to a dollar and a quarter, without credit. In forty 
 years, above forty millions of acres have been sold. 
 The government cannot arbitrarily raise the price. 
 If any check is given to the process of dispersion, it 
 must arise from the people perceiving the true state 
 of their own case, and acting accordingly. 
 
 Some circumstances seem at present to favour the 
 process of enlightenment ; others are adverse to it. 
 Those which are favourable are, the high prospe 
 rity of manufactures and commerce, the essential 
 requisite of which is the concentration of labourers : 
 the increasing immigration of labourers from Eu 
 rope, and the happy experience which they force 
 upon the back settler of the advantage of an increased 
 proportion of labour to land ; and the approaching 
 crisis of the slavery question ; when every one will 
 see the necessity of measures which will keep the 
 slaves where they are. Of the extraordinary, and 
 I must think, often wilful error of taking for granted 
 that all the slaves must be removed, in order to 
 the abolition of slavery, I shall have to speak else 
 where. 
 
 The circumstances unfavourable to an under 
 standing of the true state of the case about the dis 
 posal of land are, the deep-rooted persuasion that 
 land itself is the most valuable wealth, in all places, 
 and under all circumstances : and the complication 
 of interests connected with the late acquisition of 
 "Lnnjafapa HTUJ Florida, and thepresent usurpation 
 of Texas. 
 
 thn Frrnphj not on 
 
 account of the fertile new land which it compre 
 hended, but be^U^e" it was eHSential to the very 
 oT the United States that the mouth of 
 
 the Mississippi should no,t be in the possession of 
 another people. The Americans obtained the 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND, 321 
 
 mouth of the Mississippi; and with it, unfortunately, 
 large tracts of the richest virgin soil, on which 
 slavery started into new life, and on which " the 
 perspiration of the eastern States" (as I have heard 
 the settlers of the west called) rested, and grew 
 barbarous while they grew rich. A fact has lately 
 transpired in the northern States which wa,s already 
 well known in the south, that the purchase of 
 Florida was effected for the sake of the slave- 
 liolders. It is now known that the President was 
 overwhelmed with letters from slave-owners, com 
 plaining that Florida was the refuge of their runa 
 ways ; and demanding that this retreat should be 
 put within their power. Florida was purchased. 
 Many and great evils have already arisen out of its 
 acquisition. To cover these, and blind the people 
 to the particular and iniquitous interests engaged 
 in the affair, the sordid faction benefited raises a 
 perpetual boast in the ears of the people about 
 their gain of new territory, and the glory and profit 
 of having added so many square miles to their al 
 ready vast possessions. 
 
 In the eyes of those of the people who do 
 not yet see the whole case/the only evil which 
 has arisen out of the* posse^ion of Florida, is 
 the Seminole warfareA They breathe an in 
 tense hatred against tke Seminole Indians; and 
 many fine young men have gone down into Florida, 
 and lost their lives in battle, without being aware 
 that they were fighting for oppressors against the 
 oppressed. Probably few of the United States 
 troops who fell in the late Seminole war knew how 
 the strife arose. According to the laws of the 
 slave States, the children of the slaves follow the 
 fortunes of the mother. It will be seen, at a glance, 
 what consequences follow from this ; how it ope 
 rates as a premium upon licentiousness among 
 white men ; how it prevents any but mock 
 
322 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 riages among slaves ; and also what effect it must 
 have upon any Indians with whom slave women 
 have taken refuge. The late Seminole war arose 
 out of this law. The escaped slaves had intermar 
 ried with the Indians" The masters claimed the 
 cfiildreJL The Seminole fathers would not deliver 
 them up^ Force was used to tear the children from 
 Their parents arms, and the Indians began their 
 desperate, but very natural work of extermination. 
 They have carried on the war with eminent success, 
 St. Augustine, the capital, being now the only place 
 in Florida where the whites can set their foot. Of 
 course, the poor Indians will ultimately succumb, 
 however long they may maintain the struggle : but. 
 before that, the American people may possibly 
 have learned enough of the facts of the case to 
 silence those who boast of the acquisition of Flo 
 rida, as an increase of the national glory. 
 
 It would be a happy thing for them if they should 
 know all soon enough to direct their national repro 
 bation upon the Texan adventurers, and wash their 
 hands of the iniquity of that business. This would 
 soon be done, if they could look upon the whole 
 affair from a distance, and see how the fair fame of 
 their country is compromised by the avarice and 
 craft of a faction. The probity of their people, their 
 magnanimity in money masters, have always been 
 conspicuous, from the time of the cession of their 
 lands by the States to the General Government, 
 till now : and, now they seem in danger of forfeit 
 ing their high character through the art of the few, 
 and the ignorance of the many. The few are ob 
 taining their end by flattering the passion of the 
 many for new territory, as well as by engaging their 
 best feelings on behalf of those who are supposed to 
 be fighting for their rights against oppressors. 
 There is yet hope. The knowledge of the real 
 state of the case is spreading ; and, if only time can 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 323 
 
 be gained, the Americans will yet be saved from 
 the eternal disgrace of adding Texas to their ho 
 nourable Union. 
 
 The brief account which I shall give of what is 
 prematurely called the acquisition of Texas, is 
 grounded partly on historical facts, open to the 
 knowledge of all ; and partly on what I had the op 
 portunity of learning at New Orleans, from some 
 leaders and agents in the Texan cause, who did 
 what they could to enlist my judgment and sympa 
 thies on behalf of their party. J went in entire 
 ignorance of the whole matter. My first knowledge 
 of it was derived from the persons above-mentioned, 
 whose objects were to obtain the good-will of such 
 English as they could win over ; to have their affairs 
 well spoken of in London ; and to get the tide of 
 respectable English emigration turned in their direc 
 tion. With me they did not succeed : with some 
 others they did. Several English are already buried 
 in Texas; and there are others whose repentance 
 that they ever were beguiled into aiding such a 
 cause will be far worse than death. The more I 
 heard of the case from the lips of its advocates, the 
 worse I thought of it : and my reprobation of the 
 whole scheme has grown with every fact which has 
 come out since. 
 
 Texas, late a province of Mexico, and then one 
 of its confederated States, lies adjacent to Louisiana, 
 The old Spanish government seem to have had 
 some foresight as to what might happen, to judge 
 by the jealousy with which they guarded this part 
 of their country from intrusion by the Americans. 
 The Spanish Captain-general of the internal pro 
 vinces, Don Nemisio Salcedo, used to say that he 
 would, if he could, stop the birds from flying over 
 the boundary between Texas and the United States. 
 Prior to 18 20, however, a few adventurers, chiefly 
 Indian traders, had dropped over the boundary line 
 
324 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 and remained unmolested in the eastern corner of 
 Texas. In 1820, Moses Austin, of Missouri, was 
 privileged by the Spanish authorities to introduce 
 three hundred orderly, industrious families, profes 
 sing the Catholic religion, as settlers into Texas. 
 Moses Austin died ; and his son Stephen prosecuted 
 the scheme Before possession of the land was ob 
 tained, the Mexican Revolution occurred; but the 
 new government confirmed the privilege granted 
 by the old one, with some modifications. The chief 
 of the settlers and his followers were liberally en 
 riched with lands, gratis ; on the conditions of their 
 occupying them ; of their professing the Catholic 
 religion ; and of their being obedient to the laws of 
 the country. 
 
 Other persons were tempted by Austin s success 
 to apply for grants. Many obtained them, and dis 
 posed of their grants to joint stock companies; so 
 that Texas became the scene of much land-specu 
 lation. The companies began to be busy about 
 66 stock 1 and " scrip," which they proffered as pre 
 paratory titles to land ; and a crowd of ignorant and 
 credulous persons, and of gamblers, thus became 
 greedy after lands which no more belonged to any 
 Americans than Ireland. 
 
 Leave was given to the actual settlers by the 
 Mexican Government to introduce, for ten* years, 
 duty free, all articles, not contraband, that were 
 necessary for their use and comfort. Under this 
 permission, much smuggling went on : and many 
 adventurers settled in Texas for the very purpose 
 of supplying the neighbouring Indian tribes with 
 contraband articles. Arms and ammunition were 
 plentifully furnished to the savages ; and slaves to 
 the settlers ; though slavery had been abolished in 
 the country, by whose laws the settlers had engaged 
 to live. 
 
 The next step was, an offer on the part of the 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 325 
 
 Ignited States Government to purchase Texas, in 
 order to incorporate it with the Union. The offer 
 waST instantly and indignantlyTeioctcd by the Mexi 
 can I. it may seem surprising that even with tfle 
 passion for territory that t.hp pphplg nf tVip United 
 Statpp havp, t.hpy shrmld $*****-&* .piyr/^go Texas, 
 while_above a billion of acres of land at home were 
 atj^ unoccupied. Slavery is found to belHe solu- 
 tion_of this, "as of almost every uijie^^ardilT--atid 
 unpleasant mystery there. \ Slavery aliawera oirlyl 
 on a virgin soil, and under certain conditions of the " 
 supply qf labour. It ia destined to die out of the 
 States which it has impoverished, and which come 
 most closely into contrast with those which are 
 flourishing under free labour. It is evidently des- \ 
 tined soon to be relinquished by Missouri, Ken 
 tucky, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware ; and not 
 very long afterwards, by the Carolinas, and per 
 haps Tennessee. The proprietors of slaves have a 
 double purpose in acquiring new territory : to obV 
 tain a fresh field for the labour of the slaves thej| 
 possess; and, (what is at least as important,) to! 
 keep up the equality of the representation of thel 
 slave and free States in Congress^ We have before" 
 seen that there is a provision against the introduc 
 tion of slavery into the lands north-west of the Ohio. 
 When to the representation of the new States of 
 this region, shall be joined that of the old States 
 which relinquish slavery, the remaining slave States 
 will be in a hopeless minority in Congress, unless 
 a representation from new slave regions can be pro 
 vided. ATexas is to be obtained first ; and, if de 
 sirable, TO be divided into several States ; and after 
 wards, the aggressions on the Mexican territory 
 will doubtless be repeated, as often as a new area 
 for slave labour is wanted ; and an accession of re 
 presentation, for the support of slavery, is needed 
 in Congress.} Thus it happens that a host of land- 
 
326 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 speculators, adventurers and slave-owners have, for 
 a long series of years, been interested in the acqui 
 sition of Texas. 
 
 " On the refusal of the Mexican Government to 
 sell Texas, the newspapers of the slave- holding por 
 tion of the United States began to indicate methods 
 of obtaining the territory, and to advocate the use 
 of any means for so desirable an object. The a^ent 
 of the United States at the Mexican capital is Tbe- 
 lieved to have been instigated by his government to 
 intrigue for the purpose which could not be obtained 
 by negotiation. The settlers in Texas made it 
 known along the Mississippi that they might soon 
 be strong enough to establish slavery openly, in 
 defiance of Mexico. This brought in an accession 
 of slave-holding settlers, who evaded the Mexican 
 laws, by calling their slaves " apprentices for ninety- 
 nine years." The Mexicans took alarm ; decreed 
 in the State Legislature of Texas that no appren 
 ticeship should, on any pretence, be for a longer 
 >term than ten years; forbade further immigration 
 from the United States ; and sent a small body of 
 troops to enforce the prohibition. This was in 1829 
 and 1830. 
 
 In 1832, the Mexican troops were unfortunately 
 wanted near the capital, and called in from the 
 frontiers and colonies. The settlers shut up the 
 custom-houses in their part of the country, and 
 defied the laws as much as they pleased. Then a 
 great number of restless, bad spirits began to pour 
 into Texas from the whole of the United States ; 
 pien who had to fly from their creditors, or from the 
 pursuit of justice. There was probably never seen 
 a more ferocious company of ruffians than Texas 
 contains at this moment. These men, who had no 
 thing to lose, now set to work to wrench the ter 
 ritory from the hands of the Mexicans. They 
 actually proceeded, in 1833, to organize a State 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 327 
 
 Government ; opposed earnestly but feebly by the 
 honest, original settlers, who were satisfied with the 
 contract under which they had settled, and had 
 everything to lose by the breach of it. A Conven 
 tion was called, to prepare a State Constitution, 
 which Stephen Austin had the audacity to carry to 
 the Mexican capital, to pray for its ratification by 
 theJVTexican Congress. After some time, he was 
 committed to prison on a charge of treasonable con 
 spiracy. He was still in prison when I was at New 
 Orleans, in May, 1835; and no one of the persons 
 who conversed with me on Texan affairs alluded to 
 the fact. They spoke of him as if living and acting 
 among the settlers. He wrote to the colonists from 
 his prison, advising strict obedience to the Mexi 
 can laws ; and, finally, gave his promise to the 
 government to promote order in the colonies ; and 
 was dismissed, by the clemency of the administra 
 tion, without further punishment than an imprison 
 ment of nearly two years. 
 
 The wilder adventurers among the settlers had 
 chafed at his advice, but found it necessary to be 
 quiet for a time. The Mexican government put 
 too much trust in them on this account, and re 
 stored, during Austin s imprisonment, the freedom 
 of immigration, on the old conditions. The liberty 
 was again shamelessly abused. Slaves were im 
 ported from Africa, via Cuba, and illegal land spe 
 culations were carried on with more vigour than 
 ever. Troops were again sent from the capital to 
 re-open the custom-houses, and enforce their re 
 gulations. But it was now too late. 
 
 It had long been a settled agreement between 
 the Texan adventurers and many slave-holders of 
 the south, that if slavery could no otherwise be 
 perpetuated in Texas, it should be done by the 
 seizure of that province ; all possible aid being 
 given by the residents in the United States, who 
 
328 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 were a party to the agreement This was avowed 
 by the adventurers in Texas ; and the avowal has 
 , been justified by the subscriptions of money, arms, 
 and stores, which have been sent through New 
 Orleans ; the companies of volunteers that have 
 given their strength to the bad cause; and the 
 efforts of members of Congress from the south to 
 hurry on the recognition of the independence of 
 Texas by the United States Government. It was 
 with shame and grief that I heard, while I was in 
 New York, last spring, of the public meeting there, 
 which had been got up by men who should have 
 put the influence of their names to a better use, 
 a public meeting in behalf of the Texan adven 
 turers, where high-sounding common-places had 
 been played off about patriotism, fighting for the 
 dearest rights of man, and so forth. The purpose 
 was, I believe, answered for the time. The price 
 of stock rose; and subscriptions were obtained, 
 Tphe Texan cause was then in the lowest state of 
 /-depression. It soon revived, in consequence of an 
 / / unfortunate defeat of the Mexicans, and the cap- 
 v ture of the President of their republic, Santa Anna. 
 This, again, was made to serve as the occasion of 
 a public dinner at New York, when some eminent 
 members of Congress were passing through, to the 
 Springs, in the summer. The time will come when 
 those gentlemen will look back upon their speeches 
 at that dinner as among the deeds which, dying, 
 they would most wish to blot. By this time, how 
 ever, the true character of the struggle was be 
 ginning to be extensively recognised : and, day by 
 day, the people of the United States have been 
 since awakening to the knowledge of how they 
 have been cheated in having their best sympathies 
 called forth in behalf of the worst of causes. The 
 great fear is, lest this should prove to be too late ; 
 lest, the United States having furnished the means 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 329 
 
 by which the usurpation of Texas has been achieved, 
 the people of the Union should be persuaded that 
 they must follow their common, and otherwise fair 
 rule, of acknowledging the independence of all 
 States that are de facto independent, without 
 having anything to do with the question de jure. 
 
 What has been the national conduct of the United 
 States on this great question ? The government 
 has been very nearly impartial. It must be allowed 
 that factions and individuals were already doing so 
 much that, if the government wished all possible 
 success to the Texans, it could hardly do better 
 than be quiet while they were receiving the aid of 
 its constituents. While the theft of Texas has been 
 achieved, (if it be achieved,) by United States 
 
 n, money and arms, the general government has 
 been officially regarding it as ostensibly and actually 
 a foreign affair. However much may be true of 
 the general belief in the interest of its members in 
 the success of the Texan aggression, the govern 
 ment has preserved a cool and guarded tone 
 throughout ; and the only act that I know of for 
 which it can be blamed is for not removing General 
 Gaines from his command on the frontier, on his 
 manifestation of partisanship on the Texan side. 
 General Gaines was ordered to protect the settlers 
 on the south-western frontier, who might be in 
 clanger from the Mexicans, and from the fierce 
 Indians who were engaged on the Mexican side of 
 the quarrel. General Gaines wrote to head quar 
 ters of his intentions of crossing, to attack the 
 Mexicans, not only the inner bounds of the United 
 States territory, but the disputed boundary, claimed 
 by the United States, and disallowed by Mexico. 
 Immediate orders were despatched to him to do no 
 such thing ; to confine himself, except in a strong 
 emergency, to the inner boundary ; and on no ac 
 count whatever to cross the disputed line. This 
 
330 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 was not enough. An officer who had shown him 
 self so indisposed to the neutrality professed by 
 his government, should have been sent where he 
 could indulge his partialities with less hazard to the 
 national honour. 
 
 Some senators from the south pressed, last ses 
 sion, with indecent haste, for the recognition of 
 the independence of Texas. The speech of Ex- 
 President Adams remains as an eternal rebuke to 
 such.* This speech was the most remarkable in 
 dividual act of the session ; and no session has 
 been distinguished by one more honourable. There 
 was no attempt at a reply to it, in or out of either 
 House. Mr. Adams left no resource to the advo 
 cates of the Texan cause but abuse of himself: 
 the philosophy of which he, no doubt, understood 
 as well as other people. Various public men, in 
 various public assemblies, have declared their de 
 sire for the success of the Texans ; and have joined 
 with this the avowal that the value of slaves will 
 rise fifty per cent., as soon as the independence of 
 Texas is acknowledged. 
 
 The war is not yet over. The vicissitudes have 
 been so great, each party has appeared at times 
 in so hopeless a condition, that the friends of Ame 
 rican honour, and the foes of slavery, do not yet 
 despair of the ultimate expulsion of the aggressors, 
 and the restoration of Texas to Mexico. If these 
 hopes must be surrendered, if slavery is to be re 
 established on a constitutional basis, in a vast ter 
 ritory where it had been actually abolished, if a 
 new impulse is thus to be given to the traffic in 
 native Africans,! if the fair fame of the Anglo- 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
 t The Texans pretend to deny that the slave-trade will receive, 
 or is receiving, an impulse from them. The case is this. In the 
 Texan constitution, the importation of slaves, except from the 
 United States, is declared piracy. A most wealthy slave-owner of 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 331 
 
 Americans is to be thus early, and thus deeply 
 stained, good men must rouse themselves the more 
 to enlighten the ignorance through which the mis 
 fortune has happened. They must labour to ex 
 hibit the truth, keeping unshaken their faith in the 
 theory of their constitution that " the majority will 
 be in the right." 
 
 It is much to be feared that, even if Texas were 
 acknowledged to-morrow to be a l^Iexican State, 
 an injury would be found to have been done to the 
 American people, which it will take a long time 
 and much experience to repair. No pains have 
 been spared to confirm the delusion, that the pos 
 session of more and more land is the only thing to 
 be desired, alike by the selfish and the patriotic ; 
 by those who would hastily build up their own for 
 tunes, and by those who desire the aggrandisement 
 of their country. No one mourned with me more 
 earnes^y over this popular delusion than a member 
 of Congress, who has since been one of the most 
 vehement advocates of the Texan cause, and has 
 thereby done his best to foster the delusion"? He 
 told me that the metaphysics of society in the south 
 
 Louisiana told me, in 1835, that the annual importation of native 
 Africans (by smuggling) was from thirteen thousand to fifteen, 
 thousand. This has much increased since. As long as there is a 
 market for slaves, there will be the slave-trade, though there were 
 a preventive cruiser to every mile of the ocean. 
 
 An official gentleman, from the British West Indies, informed 
 me that much mischief has ensued from the withdrawing of two 
 or three small British schooners, which used to cruise about the 
 islands, and were broken up on the plea of economv ; it being 
 supposed that vessels so small could do no good which would 
 compensate for their expense. This is a mistake. If a slave ship 
 surrenders on summons, the ship and car^o are forfeited, and that 
 is all. If a gun is fired, in defence, the captain and crew become 
 thereby liable to be nanged as pirates. Of course, those who man 
 a slave ship are ready to surrender to a cock-boat, with two men 
 in it, rather than become liable to hanging for property in which 
 they can have, at most, but a very small interest. Thus a schooner 
 renders as good aid, and is as much an object of dread, in this kind 
 of service, as a larger vessel. 
 
332 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 afford a curious study to the observer ; and that 
 
 they are humbling to a resident. He told me that, 
 
 so far from the honour and happiness of any region 
 
 being supposed to lie in the pursuit of the higher 
 
 objects of life, any man would be pronounced 
 
 f " imbecile" who, having enough for his moderate 
 
 \ wants, should prefer the enjoyment of his patri- 
 
 Vnony, his family relations, and intercourse with 
 ;he society in \vhich he was brought up, to wand.r- 
 \ing away in pursuit of more land. He complained 
 that he was heart-sick when he heard of American 
 books : that there was no character of permanence 
 in. anything ; all was fluctuation, except the pas 
 sion for land, which, under the name of enterprise, 
 or patriotism; or something else that was creditable, 
 wauld last till his countrymen had pushed their 
 out-posts to the Pacific. He insisted that the only 
 consolation arose from what was to be hoped when 
 pioneering must, perforce, come to a stqp. He 
 told me of one. and another of his intelligent and 
 pleasant young neighbours, who were quitting their 
 home? and civilised life, and carrying their brides 
 " as bondwomen" into the wilderness, because fine 
 A land was cheap there. If all this be true of the 
 ^ young gentry of the south, as I believe it is, what 
 hope is there that the delusion will not long remain 
 among those who have no other guides than Ex 
 perience ; that slowest of all teachers ? 
 f The people of the United States have, however, 
 { kept their eyes open to one great danger, arising from 
 V this love of land. They have always had in view the 
 ) disadvantage of rich men purchasing tracts larger 
 \ than they could cultivate. They saw that it was 
 I contrary to the public interest that individuals 
 I should be allowed to interpose a desert between 
 Bother settlers whose welfare depends much on their 
 having means of free communication, and a peopled 
 neighbourhood ; and that it is inconsistent with re- 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 333 
 
 publican modes that overgrown fortunes should 
 arise by means of an early grasping of large quan 
 tities of a cheap kind of property, which must in 
 evitably become of the highest value in course of 
 time, j The reduction in the price of land would 
 probably have been greater, but for the temptation 
 -which the cheapening would hold out to capitalists. 
 Another reason assigned for not still further lower 
 ing ttie price is, the danger of depreciating a kind 
 of property held by the largest proportion of the 
 people. This is obviously unsound; since the 
 property held by this large proportion of the people 
 is improved land, whose relation in value to other 
 kinds of property is determined by quite other 
 circumstances than the amount of the original pur 
 chase-money. The number of people who sell 
 again unimproved land is so small as not to be 
 worthy to enter into the account. 
 
 t Large grants of land have been made to schools 
 and Colleges. iJp wards ot eight minions of acres 
 h"ave, 1 believe^ b,een thus disposed of. There 
 seems no objection to this, at the time tt was done ; 
 as there can be no doubt that grants will be culti 
 vated that have such an interest hanging on their 
 cultivation. These granfc^ere made while there 
 was a national debt. N^Bf there is a surplus re 
 venue ; and appropriatioSTof this kind had better 
 be made henceforth from the money which has 
 arisen from the sale of land than in a way which 
 would force more land into the marl^t f It is to 
 be hoped, too, that no more recompenses for public 
 service will be offered in land, like the large grants 
 which were made to soldiers after the revolutionary 
 war. Thespldiers have disposed of their lands 
 nrmnh unde_thegove,rnment price, murder to 007 
 tain a, sale I and the hurtful dispersion of settlersy 
 and the sale of tracts too large to be well-cultivated, 
 have been thereby assisted. } 
 
334 DISPOSAL OF LAND. 
 
 x-> 
 
 ( The great question incessantly repeated through- 
 
 \ out the United States is, what is to be done with 
 
 J the immense amount of land remaining unsold; 
 
 | and with the perpetually increasing revenue arising 
 
 / from the sale, as it proceeds ? Various proposi- 
 
 \. tions are afloat, none of which appear to me so 
 
 wise as some which remain to be offered. One. 
 
 proposition is to divide the lands again amongTne 
 
 States, apportioning the amount according to the 
 
 representation in Congress, or to the population as 
 
 given by the last census. Besides the difficulty of 
 
 making the apportionment fairly, this plan would 
 
 afford fatal inducements to a greater dispersion of 
 
 people than has yet taken place. It is also argued 
 
 that no constitutional power exists by which the 
 
 cession of 1787 can be reversed. 
 
 Another proposition is, to let the sale ofjands 
 gp on as it does now, and divide the proceeds among 
 the several States, for purposes of Education, Co- 
 loTiisaliuil uf the" coloured race, and Internal 1m- 
 tinder sucii a plan; there wo lilcTTSe 
 
 endless disputes about the amounts to be paid over 
 to the different States. The general government 
 would have a new and dangerous function assigned 
 to it. Besides, as mucj^of the surplus revenue is 
 derived from duties, i^ftems a shorter and more 
 natural method to leav^Bff levying money that is. 
 not wanted, than to levy it, use it, and make a dis 
 tribution of other funds among the States. This 
 subject will^however, come under consideration 
 hereafter. 
 
 Others propose that nothing should be done^ 
 tfeat the lands should go on being sold aceording~to 
 the present demand, and the proceeds to accumu 
 late^ -till some amdeiil happensT. a war, or other 
 ex^en~siv^"a"d^venl;ure",~to help to dissipate them. 
 Tiler fcrst part of the proposition will probably 
 stand good ; for it seems a difficult thing to raise 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 335 
 
 the price of land again : an impossible thing, till 
 the people shall show that they understand the 
 case by demanding an increase of price : but the 
 second part of the proposition cannot be acceded 
 to. It is inconsistent with the first principles of 
 democracy that large sums of money should accu 
 mulate in the hands of the general government. 
 The accumulation must be disposed of, and the 
 sources of revenue restrained. 
 
 There are modes of advantageously disposing of 
 the surplus revenue which are obvious to those 
 whose economical experience is precisely the re 
 verse of that of the people of the United States. 
 They are not likely to be at present assented to, 
 perhaps even to be tolerated by the inhabitants of 
 the new world. Such as they are, they will be 
 presented in the next section. 
 
 The lowest price given of late for land, that I 
 heard of, was a quarter-dollar per acre ; (for these 
 are not times when three thousand acres are to be 
 had for a rifle; and a whole promontory for a suit 
 of clothes.) (Some good land may be still had, at 
 a distance from roads and markets, from those who 
 want to turn their surplus land into money, for a 
 quarter-dollar per acreA Some that I saw in New- 
 Hampshire under thesre circumstances has ad 
 vanced in five years to a dollar and a half per acre : 
 and some of about equal quality, about fifteen 
 miles nearer to a market, sold at the same time for 
 ten dollars per acre. I saw some low land, on the 
 banks of the river, near Pittsburg, which would 
 not sell at any price a few years ago, when salt 
 was brought over the mountains on pack-horses, 
 and sold at a dollar a quart. Now salt is obtained 
 in any quantity by digging near this land ; and the 
 meadow is parted into lots of ten acres each, which 
 sell at the rate of one thousand dollars per acre. 
 This is, no doubt, in prospect of the salt-worka 
 
336 DISPOSAL OF LAND 
 
 wnicn are destined to flourish here. The highest 
 price I heard of being given (unless in a similar 
 case in New York) was for street lots in Mobile; 
 one hundred and ten dollars per foot frontage. 
 
 For agricultural purposes, the price of land 
 varies, according to its fertility, and, much more, 
 to its vicinity to a market, in a manner which can 
 not easily be specified. I think the highest price I 
 heard of was fifteen hundred dollars per acre. 
 This was in the south. In the north and west, I 
 heard of prices varying from thirty to one hundred 
 dollars, even in somewhat retired situations. One 
 thing seems to be granted on all hands : that a set 
 tler cannot fail of success, if he takes good land, in 
 a healthy situation, at the government price. If 
 he bestows moderate pains on his lot, he may con 
 fidently reckon on its being worth at least double 
 at the end of the year : much more, if there are 
 growing probabilities of a market. 
 
 The methods according to which the sales of the 
 public lands in the United States are conducted 
 are excellent. The lots are so divided as to pre 
 clude all doubt and litigation about boundaries. 
 There is a general land-office at Washington, and 
 a subordinate one in each district, where all busi 
 ness can be transacted with readiness and exacti 
 tude. Periodical sales are made of lands which it 
 is desirable to bring into the market. These are 
 disposed of to the highest bidder. The advance of 
 the population into the wilderness is thus made 
 more regular than it would be if there were not a 
 rendezvous in each district, where it could be as 
 certained how the settlement of the neighbouring 
 country was going on ; titles are made more secure ; 
 and less impunity is allowed to fraud. 
 , / The pre-emption laws, originally designed for 
 Vthe benefit of poor settlers, have been the greatest 
 provocatives to fraud. It seemed hard that a squat- 
 
DISPOSAL OF LAND. 337 
 
 ter, who had settled himself on unoccupied land, and 
 done it nothing but good, should be turned off with 
 out remuneration, or compelled to purchase his 
 own improvements; and in 1830, a bill was there 
 fore passed, granting a pre-emption right to squatr- 
 ters who had taken such possession of unsold lands. 
 It provided that when two individuals had culti 
 vated a quarter section of land, (one hundred and 
 sixty acres,) each should have a pre-emption right 
 with regard to half the cultivated portion : and 
 each also to a pre-emption of eighty acres any 
 where else in the same land district. Of course, 
 abundance of persons took advantage of this law to 
 get the best land very cheap. Two men, by 
 merely cutting down, or blazing a few trees, or 
 "camping out" for a night or two, on a good 
 quarter-section, have secured it at the minimum 
 price. A Report to Congress states that there is 
 reason to believe that " large companies have been 
 founded, who procure affidavits of improvements to 
 be made, get the warrants issued upon them, and 
 whenever a good tract of land is ready for sale, 
 cover it over with their floats , (warrants of the re 
 quired habitation,) and thus put down competition. 
 The frauds upon the public, within the past year, 
 (1835,) from this single source, have arisen to 
 many millions of dollars." Such errors in matters 
 of detail are sure to be corrected soon after being 
 discovered. The means will speedily be found of 
 showing a due regard to the claims of squatters, 
 without precipitating the settlement of land by un 
 fairly reducing its price in the market. Whatever 
 methods may tend to lessen rather than to increase 
 the facilities for occupying new land, must, on the 
 whole, be an advantage, while the disproportion 
 between land and labour is so great as it now is in 
 the western regions of the United States. 
 
 VOL, I. Q 
 
338 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 English farmers settling in the United States 
 
 y used to be a joke to their native neighbours. The 
 
 \ Englishman began with laughing, or being shocked, 
 
 / at the slovenly methods of cultivation employed by 
 
 \ the American settlers : he was next seen to look 
 
 I grave on his own account ; and ended by following 
 
 the American plan. 
 
 The American ploughs round the stumps of the 
 trees he has felled, and is not very careful to mea 
 sure the area he ploughs, and the seed he sows. 
 The Englishman clears half the quantity of land, 
 clears it very thoroughly ; ploughs deep, sows 
 thick, raises twice the quantity of grain on half 
 the area of land, and points proudly to his crop. 
 But the American has, meantime, fenced, cleared, 
 and sown more land, improved his house and stock, 
 ar;d kept his money in his pocket. The English 
 man has paid for the labour bestowed on his beau 
 tiful fields more than his fine crop repays him. 
 When he has done thus for a few seasons, till his 
 money is gone, he learns that he has got to a place 
 where it answers to spend land to save labour ; the 
 /reverse of his experience in England ; and he soon 
 becomes as slovenly a farmer as the American, and 
 V begins immediately to grow rich. 
 
 It would puzzle a philosophic > to compute how 
 long some prejudices will subsist in defiance of, 
 not only evidence, but personal experience. These 
 same Americans, who laugh (reasonably enough) 
 at the prejudiced English farmer, seem themselves 
 incapable of being convinced on a point quite as 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 339 
 
 plain as that between him and themselves. The 
 very ground of their triumph over him is their 
 knowledgajrf the much smaller value of land, and 
 greater valrfe >of labour, in America than in Eng 
 land : and ye$ there is no one subject on which so 
 many complaints are to be heard from every class 
 of American society as the immigration of foreign 
 ers. The incapacity of men to recognise blessings 
 in disguise has been the theme of moralists in all 
 ages : but it might be expected that the Americans, 
 in this case, would be an exception. It is wonder 
 ful, to a stranger, to see how they fret and toil, 
 and scheme and invent, to supply the deficiency of 
 help, and all the time quarrel with the one means 
 by which labour is brought to their door. The 
 immigration of foreigners was the one complaint 
 by which I was met in every corner of the free 
 States ; and I really believe I did not converse 
 with a dozen persons who saw the ultimate good 
 through the present apparent evil. 
 
 It is not much to be wondered at that gentle 
 men and ladies, living in Boston and New York, 
 and seeing, for the first time in their lives, half- 
 naked and squalid persons in the street, should 
 ask where *hey come from, and fear lest they 
 should infect others with their squalor, and wish 
 they would keep away. It is not much to be won 
 dered at that the managers of charitable institu 
 tions in the maritime cities should be weary of the 
 claims advanced by indigent foreigners : but it is 
 surprising that these gentlemen and ladies should 
 not learn by experience that all this ends well, and 
 that matters are taking their natural course. It 
 would certainly be better that the emigrants should 
 be well clothed, educated, respectable people ; (ex 
 cept that, in that case, they would probably never 
 arrive;) but the blame of their bad condition rests 
 elsewhere, while their arrival is, generally speaking, 
 
 Q 2 
 
340 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 ( almost a pure benefit. Some are intemperate and 
 v ) profligate ; and such are, no doubt, a great injury 
 1 to the cities where they harbour ; butJtie greater 
 LJI umber show themselves decent andfijBrd working 
 enough, when put into employment.%fi?very Ame- 
 "Trican acknowledges that few or no canals or rail 
 roads would be in existence now, in the United 
 States, but for the Irish labour by which they have 
 been completed : and the best cultivation that is to 
 be seen in the land is owing to the Dutch and Ger 
 mans it contains. What would housekeepers do 
 for domestic service without foreigners? If the 
 American ports had been barred against immigra 
 tion, and the sixty thousand foreigners per annum, 
 with all their progeny, had been excluded, where 
 would now have been the public works of the Uni- 
 1 j&d States, the agriculture, the shipping ? 
 r The most emphatic complainers of the immigra 
 tion of foreigners are those who imagine that the 
 morals of society suffer thereby.^ My own convic 
 tion is that the morals of society are, on the whole, 
 thereby much improved. It is candidly allowed, 
 on all hands, that the passion of the Irish for the 
 education of their children is a great set-off against 
 the bad qualities some of them exhibit in their own 
 persons ; and that the second and third generations 
 of Irish are among tl^e most valuable citizens of the 
 republic. The immigrant Germans are more sober 
 and respectable than the Irish ; but there is more 
 difficulty in improving them and their children. 
 The Scotch are in high esteem. My own opinion 
 is that most of the evils charged upon the immi 
 grants are chargeable upon the mismanagement of 
 them in the ports. The atrocious corruption of 
 the New York elections, where an Irishman, just 
 landed, and employed upon the drains, perjures 
 himself, and votes nine times over, is chargeable, 
 not upon immigration, nor yet upon universal suf- 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 341 
 
 frage, but upon faults in the machinery of registra 
 tion. * Again, if the great pauper-palace, over the 
 SchuylkflL near Philadelphia, be half full of fo 
 reigners ;"if it be true that an Irish woman was 
 seen to walk round it, and heard to**bbserve that 
 she should immediately write ovej* for all her 
 relations ; the evil is chargeable upon there being 
 a pauper-palace, with the best of food and clothing, 
 and no compulsion to work, in a country where 
 there is far more work and wages than there are 
 hands to labour and earn. There is in New York 
 a benevolent gentleman who exercises a most use 
 ful and effectual charity. He keeps a kind of re 
 gistry office for the demand and supply of emigrant 
 labour; takes charge of the funds of such emi 
 grants as are fortunate enough to have any ; and 
 befriends them in every way. He declares that he 
 has an average of six situations on his list ready 
 for every sober, able-bodied man and woman that 
 lands at New York. 
 
 The bad moral consequences of a dispersion of 
 agricultural labour, and the good moral effects of an 
 adequate combination, are so serious as to render it 
 the duty of good citizens to inform themselves fully 
 of the bearings of this question before they attempt 
 to influence other minds upon it. Those who have 
 seen what are the morals and manners of families 
 who live alone in the wilds, with no human opinion 
 around them, no neighbours with whom to ex 
 change good offices, no stimulus to mental activity, 
 no social amusements, no church, no life, nothing 
 but the pursuit of the outward means of living, any 
 one who has witnessed this will be ready to agree 
 what a blessing it would be to such a family to 
 shake down a shower of even poor Irish labourers 
 around them. To such a family no tidings ought 
 to be more welcome than of the arrival of ship-load 
 after ship-load of immigrants at the ports, some 
 
342 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 few of whom may wander hitherwards, and by 
 entering into a combination of labour to obtain 
 means of lwin<*, open a way to the Attainment 
 of the endsl Sixty thousand immigrants a-year ! 
 What are tn^se spread over so many thousand 
 square miles ?J If the country could be looked 
 down upon from a balloon, some large clusters of 
 these would be seen detained in the cities, because 
 they could not be spared into the country ; other 
 clusters would be seen about the canals and rail 
 roads ; and a very slight sprinkling in the back 
 country, where their stations would be marked by 
 j;he prosperity growing up around them. 
 
 The expedients used in the country settlements 
 to secure a combination of labour when it is abso 
 lutely necessary, show how eminently deficient it 
 is. Every one has heard of the " frolic" or " bee," 
 by means of which the clearing of lots, the 
 raising of houses, the harvesting of crops is 
 achieved. Roads are made, and kept by contribu 
 tions of labour and teams, by settlers. For the 
 rest, what can be done by family labour alone is so 
 done, with great waste of time, material, and toil. 
 The wonderful effects of a " frolic," in every way, 
 should serve, in contrast with the toil and difficulty 
 usually expended in producing small results, to 
 incline the hearts of settlers towards immigrants, 
 and to plan how an increase of them may be ob 
 tained. 
 
 Minds are, I hope, beginning to turn in this 
 direction. In New England, where there is the 
 most combination of labour, and the poorest land, it 
 is amusing to see the beginning of discoveries on this 
 head. I find, in the United States Almanack for 
 .1835, an article on agricultural improvements, (pre 
 supposing a supply of labour as the primary requi 
 site, ) which bears all the marks of freshness and ori 
 ginality, of having been a discovery of the writer s. 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 343 
 
 ." If such improvements as are possible, or even 
 easy," (where there is labour at hand,) " were 
 made in the husbandry of this country, many and 
 great advantages would be found to arise. As 
 twice the number of people might be supported on 
 the same quantity of land, all our farming towns 
 would become twice as populous as they are likely 
 to be in the present state of husbandry. There 
 would be, in general, but half the distance to travel 
 to visit one s friends and acquaintances. Friends 
 might oftener see and converse with each other. 
 Half the labour would be saved in carrying the 
 corn to mill, and the produce to market; half the 
 journeying saved in attending our courts ; and half 
 the expense in supporting government, and in 
 making and repairing roads ; half the distance 
 saved in going to the smith, weaver, clothier, &c. ; 
 half the distance saved in going to public worship, 
 and most other meetings ; for where steeples are 
 four miles apart, they would be only two or three. 
 Much time, expense and labour would, on these 
 accounts, be saved ; and civilisation, with all the 
 social virtues, would, perhaps, be proportionally 
 promoted and increased. ^] 
 
 Before this can be done, there must be hands to 
 do it. Steeples must remain four or fourteen miles 
 apart, till there are beings enough in the interven 
 ing space to draw them together. I saw, on the 
 Mississippi, a woman in a canoe, paddling up against 
 the stream ; probably, as I was told, to visit a 
 neighbour twenty or thirty miles off. The only 
 comfort was that the current would bring her back 
 four times as quickly as she went up. What a 
 blessing would a party of emigrant neighbours be 
 to a woman who would row herself twenty miles 
 against the stream of the Mississippi for companion 
 ship ! 
 
 Instead of complaining of the sixty thousarid 
 
344 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 emigrants per annum, and lowering the price of 
 land, so as to induce dispersion, it would be wise, if 
 it were possible, in the people of the United States 
 to bring in sixty thousand more labourers per an 
 num, and raise the price of land. This last can 
 not, perhaps, be done : but why should not the 
 other ? With a surplus revenue that they do not 
 know what to do with, and a scarcity of the labour 
 which they do not know how to do without, why 
 not use the surplus funds accruing from the lands 
 in carrying labour to the soil ? 
 
 It is true, Europeans have the same passion for 
 land as the Americans ; and such immigrants would 
 leave their employers, and buy for themselves, as 
 soon as they had earned the requisite funds : but 
 these, again, would supply the means of bringing 
 over more labour ; and the intermediate services of 
 the labourers would be so much gained. If the 
 arrangements were so made as to bring over sober, 
 respectable labourers, without their being in any 
 way bound to servitude, (as a host of poor Ger 
 mans once were made white slaves of,) if, the land 
 and labour being once brought together, and repay 
 ment from the benefited parties being secured, (if 
 desired,) things were then left to take their natural 
 course, a greater blessing could hardly befal the 
 United States than such an importation of la- 
 
 mrers. 
 
 I was told, in every eastern city, that it was a 
 common practice with parish officers in England 
 to ship off their paupers to the United States. I 
 some pains to investigate the grounds of this 
 charge, and am convinced that it is a mistake ; that 
 the accusation has arisen out of some insulated case. 
 I was happy to be able to show my American 
 friends how the supposed surplus population of the 
 English agricultural counties has shrunk, and in 
 most cases disappeared, under the operation of the 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 345 
 
 new Poor Law, so that, even if the charge had ever 
 been true, it could not long remain so. By the 
 time that we shall be enabled to say the same of the 
 parishes of Ireland, the Americans will, doubtless, 
 have discovered that they would be glad of all the 
 labourers we had ever been able to spare ; if only 
 we could send them in the form of respectable men 
 and women, instead of squalid paupers, looking as 
 if they were going from shore to shore, to rouse 
 the world to an outcry against the sins and sorrows 
 of our economy. 
 
 r It will scarcely be credited by those who are not 
 already informed on the subject, that a proposition 
 has been made to send out of the country an equal 
 number of persons to the amount brought into it ; 
 ship loads of labourers going to and fro, like 
 buckets in a well : that this proposition has been 
 introduced into Congress, and has been made the 
 basis of appropriations in some State legislatures : 
 that itinerant lecturers are employed to advocate 
 the scheme : that it is preached from the pulpit, 
 and subscribed for in the churches, and that in its 
 behalf nre enlisted merrbers of the administration, 
 a great number of the leading politicians, clergy, 
 merchants, and planters, and a large proportion of 
 the other citizens of the United States. It matters 
 little how many or how great are the men engaged 
 in behalf of a bad scheme, which is so unnatural 
 that it cannot but fail : it matters little, as far as 
 the scheme itself is concerned ; but it is of incalcu 
 lable consequence as creating an obstruction. For 
 itself, the miserable abortion the Colonisation 
 scheme might be passed over; for its active re 
 sults will be nothing ; but it is necessary to refer to 
 it in its passive character of an obstruction. It is 
 necessary to refer thus to it, not only as a matter 
 of fact, but because, absurd and impracticable as 
 
 Q5 
 
346 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 the scheme clearly is, when viewed in relation to 
 the whole state of affairs in America, it is not so 
 easy on the spot to discern its true character. So 
 many perplexing considieratons are mixed up with 
 it by its advocates ; so many of those advocates are 
 men of earnest philanthropy, and well versed in the 
 details of the scheme, while blind to its general 
 bearing, that it is difficult to have general princi 
 ples always in readiness to meet opposing facts ; to 
 help adopting the partial views of well-meaning 
 and thoroughly persuaded persons ; and to know 
 where to doubt, and what to disbelieve. I went to 
 America extremely doubtful about the character of 
 this institution. I heard at Baltimore and Wash 
 ington all that could be said in its favour, by per 
 sons conversant with slavery, which I had not then 
 seen. Mr. Madison, the President of the Coloni 
 sation Society, gave me his favourable views of it. 
 Mr. Clay, the Vice-President, gave me his. So did 
 almost every clergyman and other member of so 
 ciety whom I met for some months. Much time, 
 observation, and reflection were necessary to form a 
 judgment for myself, after so much prepossession, 
 even in so clear a case as I new see this to be. 
 Others on the spot must have the same allowance 
 as was necessary for me : and, if any pecuniary in 
 terest be involved in the question, much more. But, 
 I am firmly persuaded that any clear-headed man, 
 shutting himself up in his closet for a day s study 
 of the question, or taking a voyage, so as to be able 
 to look back upon the entire country he has left, 
 being careful to take in the whole- of its economical 
 aspect, (to say nothing, at present, of the moral,) 
 j^in come to no other conclusion than that the 
 /scheme of transporting the coloured population of 
 / the United States to the coast of Africa is abso- 
 \ lutely absurd ; and, if it were not so, would be ab- 
 \ solutely pernicious. But, in matters of economy, 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 347 
 
 the pernicious and the absurd are usually iden 
 tical. 
 
 No one is to be blamed for the origin of slavery. 
 Because it is now, under conviction, wicked, it does 
 not follow that it was instituted in wickedness. 
 Those who began it, knew not what they did. It 
 has been elsewhere* ably shown how slavery has 
 always, and, to all appearance, unavoidably existed, 
 in some form or other, wherever large new tracts of 
 land have been taken possession of by a few agricul 
 tural settlers. Let it be granted that negro slavery 
 was begun inadvertently in the West India islands, 
 and continued, by an economical necessity, in the 
 colonies of North America. J 
 
 What is now the state of the case ? Slavery, of a ^ 
 very mild kind, has been abolished in the northern ) 
 parts of the Union, where agricultural labour can / 
 be carried on by whites, and where such employ- { 
 ments bear a very reduced proportion to manufac 
 turing and commercial occupations. Its introduc 
 tion into the north-western portions of the country 
 has been prohibited by those who had had expe 
 rience of its evils. Slavery, generally of a very 
 aggravated character, now subsists in thirteen 
 States out of twenty-six, and those thirteen are 
 the States which grow the tobacco, rice, cotton 
 and sugar; it being generally alleged that rice 
 and sugar cannot be raised by white labour, 
 while some maintain that they may. I found 
 few who doubted that tobacco and cotton may be 
 grown by white labour, with the assistance from 
 brute labour and machinery which would follow 
 upon the disuse of human capital. The amount 
 of the slave population is now above two millions 
 and a half. It increases rapidly in the States which J 
 have been impoverished by slavery; and is killed 
 off, but not with equal rapidity, on the virgin soils 
 
 * England and America. 
 
348 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 to which alone it is, in any degree, appropriate. 
 It has become unquestionably inappropriate in 
 Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and Kentucky. To 
 these I should be disposed to add Missouri, and 
 North Carolina, and part of Tennessee and South 
 Carolina. The States which have more slave la 
 bour than their deteriorated lands require, sell it to 
 those which have a deficiency of labour to their 
 rich lands. Virginia, now in a very depressed con 
 dition, derives her chief revenue from the rear 
 ing of slaves, as stock, to be sent to Alabama, Mis 
 sissippi, and Louisiana. The march of circum 
 stance has become too obvious to escape the atten 
 tion of the most short-sighted. No one can fail to 
 perceive that slavery, like an army of locusts, is com 
 pelled to shift its place, by the desolation it has 
 made. Its progress is southwards ; and now, having 
 reached the sea there, south-westwards. If there 
 were but an impassable barrier there, its doom 
 would be certain, and not very remote. This doom 
 was apparently sealed a while ago, by the abolition 
 of slavery in Mexico, and the fair chance there 
 seemed of Missouri and Arkansas being subjected 
 to a restriction of the same purport with that im 
 posed on the new States, north-west of the Ohio. 
 This doom has been, for the present, cancelled by 
 the admission of slavery into Missouri and Arkan 
 sas, and by the seizure of Texas by American citi 
 zens. The open question, however, only regards 
 its final limits. Its speedy abolition in many of the 
 States may be, and is, regarded as certain. 
 /* The institution of slavery was a political anoma- 
 / ly at the time of the Revolution. It has now be- 
 \come an economical one also. Nothing can pre 
 vent the generality of persons from seeing this, 
 however blind a few, a very few persons on the spot 
 may be to the truth.* 
 
 * It may surprise some that I speak of those who are blind to 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 349 
 
 f 
 
 I It has thus obviously become the interest of all 
 to whom slavery still is, or is believed to be, a gain ; 
 of those who hold the richest lands ; of those who 
 rear slaves for such lands ; of all who dread change ; 
 of all who would go quietly through life, and leave 
 it to a future generation to cope with their difficul 
 ty, it has become the interest of all such to turn 
 their own attention and that of others from the 
 fact that the time has come when the slaves ought 
 to be made free labourers. They cannot put down 
 the fact into utter silence. Some sort of compro 
 mise must be made with it. A tub must be thrown 
 to the whale. A tub has been found which will 
 almost hold the whale. 
 
 It is proposed by the Colonisation Society that 
 free persons of colour shall be sent to establish and 
 conduct a civilised community on the shores of 
 Africa. . The variety of prospects held out by this 
 proposition to persons of different views is remarka 
 ble. To the imaginative, there is the picture of 
 the restoration of the coloured race to their paternal 
 soil: to the religious, the prospect of evangelising 
 Africa. Those who would serve God and Mam 
 mon are delighted at being able to work their slaves 
 during their own lives, and then leave them to the 
 Colonisation Society with a bequest of money, 
 (when money must needs be left behind,) to carry 
 them over to Africa. Those who would be doing, 
 in a small way, immediately, let certain of their 
 slaves work for wages which are to carry them 
 
 slavery being an anomaly in economy as few. Among the many 
 hundreds of persons in the slave States, with whom I conversed 
 on the subject of slavery, 1 met with only one, a lady, who de 
 fended the institution altogether: and with perhaps four or five 
 who defended it as necessary to a purpose which must be fulfilled, 
 and could not be fulfilled otherwise. All the rest who vindicated 
 its present existence did so on the ground of the impossibility of 
 doing it away. A very large number avowed that it was indefen 
 sible in every point of view. 
 
350 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 over to Africa. Those who have slaves too clever 
 or discontented to be safe neighbours, can ship 
 them off to Africa. Those who are afraid of the 
 rising intelligence of their free coloured neigh 
 bours, or suffer strongly under the prejudice of 
 colour, can exercise such social tyranny as shall 
 drive such troublesome persons to Africa. The 
 clergy, public lecturers, members of legislatures, 
 religious societies, and charitable individuals, both 
 in the north and south, are believed to be, and be 
 lieve themselves to be, labouring on behalf of slaves, 
 when they preach, lecture, obtain appropriations, 
 and subscribe,, on behalf of the Colonisation So 
 ciety. Minds and hearts are laid to rest, opiated 
 into a false sleep.. 
 
 Here are all manner of people associated for 
 one object, which has the primary advantage of 
 being ostensibly benevolent. It has had Mr. Ma 
 dison for its chief officer : Mr. Clay for its second. 
 It has had the aid, for twenty years, of almost all 
 the presses and pulpits of the United States, and 
 of most of their politicians, members of govern 
 ment, and leading professional men and merchants, 
 and almost all the planters of twelve states, and 
 all the missionary interest. Besides the subscrip 
 tions arising from so many sources, there have been 
 large appropriations made by various legislatures. 
 What is the result ? Nothing. Ex nihilo nihiljit. 
 Out of a chaos of elements no orderly creation can 
 arise but by the operation of a sound principle : 
 and sound principle here, there is none. 
 
 In twenty years, the Colonisation Society has 
 removed to Africa between two and three thou 
 sand persons ; * while the annual increase of the 
 slave population is, by the lowest computation, 
 
 * With the condition of the African colony, we have here 
 nothing to do. We are now considering the Colonisation Society 
 in its professed relation to American slavery. 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 35 1 
 
 sixty thousand ; and the number of free blacks is 
 upwards of three hundred and sixty-two thousand. 
 
 The chief officers of the Colonisation Society 
 look forward to being able, ia a few years, to carry 
 off the present annual increase, and a few more; 
 by which time the annual increase will amount to 
 many times more than the Society will have car 
 ried out from the beginning. 
 
 The leading Colonisation advocates in the south 
 object to abolition,, invariably on the ground that 
 they should be left without labourers : whereas it 
 is the Colonisation scheme which would carry away 
 the labourers, and the abolition scheme which 
 would leave them where they are. To say no 
 thing of the wilfulness of this often-confuted ob 
 jection, it proves that those who urge it are not 
 in earnest in advocating Colonisation as ultimate 
 emancipation. 
 
 As far as I could learn, no leading member of 
 the Colonisation Society has freed any of his slaves. 
 Its president had sold twelve, the week before I 
 first saw him. Its vice-president is obsede by his 
 slaves ; but retains them all And so it is, through 
 the whole hierarchy. 
 
 The avowal of a southern gentleman^ " We have 
 our slaves, and we mean to keep them," is echoed 
 on political occasions by the same gentlemen of the 
 Colonisation Society, who, on politic or religious 
 occasions, treat of colonisation as ultimate eman 
 cipation. 
 
 While labourers are flocking into other parts of 
 the country, at the rate of sixty thousand per an 
 num, and are found to be far too few for the wants 
 of society, the Colonisation scheme proposes to 
 carry out more than this number ; and fails of all 
 its ostensible objects till it does so. A glance at 
 the causes of slavery, and at the present economy 
 of the United States, shows such a scheme to be 
 a bald fiction. 
 
352 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 It alienates the attention and will of the people, 
 (for the purposes of the few,) from the principle of 
 the abolition of slavery, which would achieve any 
 honest objects of the Colonisation Society, and 
 many more. Leaving, for the present, the moral 
 consideration of the case, abolition would not only 
 leave the land as full of labourers as it is now, but 
 incalculably augment the supply of labour by sub 
 stituting willing and active service, and improved 
 methods of husbandry, for the forced, inferior la 
 bour, and wasteful arrangements which are always 
 admitted to be co-existent with slavery. 
 
 The greater number of eminent Abolitionists, 
 eminent for talents, zeal and high principle, are 
 converted Colonisationists. 
 
 This is surely enough. 
 
 It appears to me that the Colonisation Society 
 could never have gained any ground at all, but for 
 the common supposition that the blacks must go 
 somewhere. It was a long while before I could 
 make anything of this. The argument always ran 
 thus. 
 
 " Unless they remain as they are, Africa is 
 the only place for them. It will not do to give 
 them a territory ; we have seen enough of that with 
 the Indians. We are heart-sick of territories : the 
 blacks would all perish. Then, the climate of Ca 
 nada would not suit them : they would perish there. 
 The Haytians will not take them in : they have a 
 horror of freed slaves. There is no rest for the 
 soles of their feet, anywhere but in Africa !" 
 
 " Why should they not stay where they are?" 
 
 " Impossible. The laws of the States forbid freed 
 negroes to remain." 
 
 " At present, on account of the slaves who re 
 main. In case of abolition, such laws would be 
 repealed, of course : and then, why should not the 
 blacks remain where they are ?" 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 353 
 
 " They could never live among the whites in a 
 state of freedom." 
 . " Why ? You are begging the question/* 
 
 " They would die of vice and misery." 
 
 " Why more than the German labourers ? 
 
 " They do in the free States. They are dying 
 out there constantly." 
 
 "What makes them more vicious than other 
 people ?" 
 
 " The coloured people always are." 
 
 " You mean because their colour is the badge of 
 slavery ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then, when it is no longer so, the degradation, 
 for aught you know, will cease." 
 
 This is the circle, described by those who pity the 
 slaves. There is another, appropriate to those who 
 pity the masters. 
 
 " What is to become of the planters, without any 
 labourers ? They must shut up and go away ; for 
 they cannot stay in their houses, without any la 
 bourers on the plantations." 
 
 " Are the slaves to be all buried ? Or are they 
 to evaporate ? or what ?" 
 
 " O, you know, they would all go away. No 
 thing would make them stay when they were once 
 free." 
 
 " They would change masters, no doubt. But 
 as many would remain in the area as before. Why 
 not?" 
 
 " The masters could not possibly employ them. 
 They could never manage them, except as slaves." 
 
 " So you think that the masters could not have 
 the labourers, because they would go away : and 
 the labourers must go away, because the masters 
 would not have them." 
 
 To prevent any escape by a nibble in this circle, 
 the other is brought up round it, to prove that there 
 
354 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 is no other place than Africa for the blacks to go 
 to: and thus, the alternative of slavery or coloni 
 sation is supposed to be established. 
 
 All action, and all conversation, on behalf of this 
 institution, bears the same character, of arguing in 
 a circle. A magic ring seems drawn round those 
 who live amidst slavery ; and it gives a circular 
 character to all they think and say and do upon the 
 subject. There are but few who sit within it who 
 distinctly see anything beyond it. If there were but 
 any one moral giant within, who would heave a blow 
 at it with all the force of a mighty principle, it 
 would be shattered to atoms in a moment ; and the 
 white and black slaves it encloses would be free at 
 once. This will be done when more light is poured 
 in under the darkness which broods over it : and 
 the time cannot now be far off. 
 
 Whenever I am particularly strongly convinced 
 of anything, in opposition to the opinion of any or 
 many others, I entertain a suspicion that there is 
 more evidence on the other side than I see. I felt 
 so, even on this subject of slavery, which has been 
 clear to English eyes for so long. I went into the 
 slave States with this suspicion in my mind ; and I 
 preserved it there as long as possible. I believe 
 that I have heard every argument that can possibly 
 be adduced in vindication or palliation of slavery, 
 under any circumstances now existing ; and I de 
 clare that, of all displays of intellectual perversion 
 and weakness that I have witnessed, I have met 
 with none so humbling and so melancholy as the 
 advocacy of this institution. I declare that I know 
 the whole of its theory ; a declaration that I dare 
 not make with regard to, I think, any other subject 
 whatever : the result is that I believe there is no 
 thing rational to be said in vindication or pal 
 liation of the protraction of slavery in the United 
 States. Having made this avowal, it will not be 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 355 
 
 expected that I should fill my pages with a wide 
 superficies of argument which will no more bear a 
 touch than pond-ice, on the last day of thaw. As I 
 disposed in my mind the opposite arguments of 
 slave-holders, I found that they ate one another up, 
 like the two cats that Sheridan told of; but with 
 out leaving so much as an inch of tail. 
 
 One mistake, perhaps, deserves notice. Rest 
 less slave-holders, whose uneasiness has urged them 
 to struggle in their toils, and find themselves unable 
 to get out but by the loss of everything, (but honour 
 and conscience,) pointed out to me the laws of their 
 States, whereby the manumission of slaves is ren 
 dered difficult or impossible to the master, remain 
 ing on the spot, and prospectively fatal to the freed 
 slave ; pointed out to me these laws as rendering 
 abolition impossible. To say nothing of the feeble 
 ness of the barriers which human regulations pre 
 sent to the changes urged on by the great natural 
 laws of society, it is a sufficient answer that 
 these State laws present no obstacle to general, 
 though they do to particular, emancipation. They 
 will be cancelled or neglected by the same will 
 which created them, when the occasion expires with 
 which they sprang up, or which they were designed 
 to perpetuate. The institution of slavery was not 
 formed in accordance with them : they arose out ol 
 the institution. They are an offset; and, to use 
 the words of one of their advocates, spoken in an 
 other connexion, " they will share the fate of offsets, 
 and perish with the parent." 
 
 It is obvious that all laws which encourage the 
 departure of the blacks must be repealed, when 
 their slavery is abolished. The one thing necessary, 
 in the economical view of the case, is that efficient 
 measures should be taken to prevent an unwise dis 
 persion of these labourers : measures, I mean, 
 which should in no way interfere with their per- 
 
356 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 sonal liberty, but which should secure to them 
 generally greater advantages on the spot than they 
 could obtain by roaming. It has been distinctly 
 shown that slavery originated from the difficulty of 
 concentrating labour in the neighbourhood of capi 
 talists. Where the people are few in proportion to 
 the land, they are apt to disperse themselves over it; 
 so that personal coercion has been supposed neces 
 sary, in the first instance, to secure any efficient 
 cultivation of the land at all. Though the danger 
 and the supposed necessity are past, in all but the 
 rawest of the slave States, the ancient fact should 
 be so borne in mind as that what legislation there 
 is should tend to cause a concentration, rather than 
 a dispersion of the labourers. Any such tendency 
 will be much aided by the strong local attachments 
 for which negroes are remarkable. It is not only 
 that slaves dread all change, from the intellectual 
 and moral dejection to which they are reduced; fear 
 ing even the removal from one plantation to another, 
 under the same master, from the constant vague 
 apprehension of something dreadful. It is not only 
 this, (which, however, it would take them some 
 time to outgrow,) but that all their race show akindof 
 feline attachment to places to which they are accus 
 tomed, which will be of excellent service to kind 
 masters when the day of emancipation comes. For 
 the rest, efficient arrangements can and will doubt 
 less be made to prevent their wandering further 
 than from one master to another. The abolition of 
 slavery must be complete and immediate : that is 
 to say, as a man either is or is not the property of 
 another, as there can be no degrees of ownership of 
 a human being, there must be an immediate and 
 complete surrender of all claim to negro men, wo 
 men, and children as property : but there may and 
 will doubtless be arrangements made to protect, 
 guide, and teach these degraded beings, till they 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 357 
 
 have learned what liberty is, and how to use it. 
 Liberty to change their masters must, under cer 
 tain reasonable limitations, be allowed ; the educa 
 tion of their children must be enforced. The 
 amount of wages will be determined by natural 
 laws, and cannot be foreseen, further than that they 
 must necessarily be very ample for a long time to 
 come. It will probably be found desirable to fix 
 the price of the government lands, with a view to 
 the coloured people, at that amount which will best 
 obviate squatting, and secure the respectable set 
 tlement of some who may find their way to the 
 west. 
 
 C Suggestions of this kind excite laughter among 
 the masters of slaves, who are in the habit of think 
 ing that they know best what negroes are, and what 
 they are capable of. I have reasons for estimating 
 their knowledge differently, and for believing that 
 none know so little of the true character and capa- ; 
 bilities of negroes as their owners. They might 
 know more, but for the pernicious and unnatural 
 secrecy about some of the most important facts 
 connected with slave -holding, which is induced 
 partly by pride, partly by fear, partly by pecuniary/ 
 interest. If they would do themselves and their 
 slaves the justice of inquiring with precision what 
 is the state of Hayti ; what has taken place in the 
 West Indies; what the emancipation really was 
 there ; what its effects actually are, they would ob 
 tain a clearer view of their own prospects. So they 
 would, if they would communicate freely about cer 
 tain facts nearer home : not only conversing as 
 individuals, but removing the restrictions upon the 
 press by which they lose far more than they gain, 
 both in security and fortune, to say nothing of 
 intelligence. Of the many families in which I en 
 joyed intercourse, there was, I believe, none where 
 I was not told of some one slave of unusual value, 
 
358 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 for talent or goodness, either in the present or a 
 former generation. A collection of these alone, as 
 they stand in my journal, would form no mean tes 
 timony to the intellectual and moral capabilities of 
 negroes : and if to these were added the tales which 
 I could tell, if I also were not bound under the laws 
 of mystery of which I have been complaining, many 
 hearts would beat with the desire to restore to their 
 human rights those whose fellow-sufferers have 
 given ample proof of their worthiness to enjoy 
 them. The consideration which binds me to silence 
 upon a rich collection of facts, full of moral beauty 
 and promise, is regard to the safety of many whose 
 heroic obedience to the laws of God has brought 
 them into jeopardy under the laws of slave 
 holders, and the allies of slave-holders. Nor would 
 I, by any careless revelations, throw the slightest 
 obstacle in the way of the escape of any one of the 
 slaves who may be about to shirk their masters, by 
 methods with which I happen to be acquainted. 
 
 It can, however, do nothing but good to proclaim 
 the truth that slaves do run away in much greater 
 numbers than is supposed by any but those who 
 lose them, and those who help them. By which I 
 mean^many others besides the abolitionists par 
 excellence. Perhaps I might confine the knowledge 
 to these last ; for I believe no means exist by which 
 the yearly amount of loss of this kind may be veri 
 fied and published in the south. Everybody who 
 has been in America is familiar with the little news 
 paper picture of a black man, hieing with his stick 
 and bundle, which is prefixed to the advertisements 
 of runaways. Every traveller has probably been 
 struck with the number of these which meets his 
 eye ; but unless he has more private means of in 
 formation, he will remain unaware of the streams of 
 fugitives continually passing out of the States. There 
 is much reserve about this in the south, from pride; 
 
RURAL LABOUR* 359 
 
 and among those elsewhere who could tell, from far 
 other considerations. The time will come when the 
 whole story, in its wonder and beauty, may be told 
 by some who, like myself, have seen more of the 
 matter, from all sides, than it is easy for a native to 
 do. Suffice it, that the loss by runaways, and the 
 generally useless attempts to recover them, is a 
 heavy item in the accounts of the cotton and 
 sugar-growers of the south ; and one which is sure 
 to become heavier till there shall .be no more bond 
 age to escape from. It is obvious that the slaves 
 who run away are among the best : an escape being 
 usually the achievement of a project early formed ; 
 concealed, pertinaciously adhered to, and endeared 
 by much toil and sacrifice undergone for its sake, 
 for a long course of years. A weak mind is inca 
 pable of such a series of acts, with a unity of pur 
 pose. They are the choicest slaves who run away. 
 Of the cases known to me, the greater number of 
 the men, and some of the women, have acted 
 throughout upon an idea; (called by their owners 
 " a fancy," a very different thing;) while some 
 few of the men have started off upon some sud 
 den infliction of cruelty; and many women on 
 account of intolerable outrage, of the grossest kind. 
 Several masters told me of leave given to their 
 slaves to go away, and of the slaves refusing to avail 
 themselves of it. If this was meant to tell in favour 
 of slavery, it failed of its effect. The argument was 
 too shallow to impose upon a child. Of course, 
 they were the least valuable slaves to whom this 
 permission was given : and their declining to depart 
 proved nothing so much as the utter degradation of 
 human beings who could prefer receiving food and 
 shelter from tl.o hand of an owner to the possession 
 of themselves. 
 
 Amidst the mass of materials which accumulated 
 on my hands during the process of learning from all 
 
360 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 parties their views on this question, I hardly know 
 where to turn, and what to select, that will most 
 briefly and strongly show that the times have out 
 grown slavery. This is the point at which every fact 
 and argument issue, whatever may be the intention 
 of those who adduce it. * The most striking, per 
 haps, is the treatment of the Abolitionists : a sub 
 ject to be adverted to hereafter. The insane fury 
 which vents itself upon the few who act upon the 
 principles which the many profess, is a sign of the 
 times not to be mistaken. It is always the pre 
 cursor of beneficial change. Society in America 
 seems to be already passing out of this stage into 
 one even more advanced. The cause of abolition 
 is spreading so rapidly through the heart of the na 
 tion ; the sound part of the body politic is embrac 
 ing it so actively, that no disinterested observer can 
 fail to be persuaded that even the question of time 
 is brought within narrow limits. The elections will, 
 ere long, show the will of the people that slavery be 
 abolished in the District of Columbia. Then such 
 truckling politicians, mercenary traders, cowardly 
 clergy, and profligate newspaper corps, as are now 
 too blind to see the coming change, will have to 
 choose their part ; whether to shrink out of sight, or 
 to boast patriotically of the righteous revolution 
 which they have striven to retard, even by the ap 
 plication of the torture to both the bodies and the 
 minds of their more clear-eyed fellow- citizens. , 
 
 After giving one or two testimonies to the neces 
 sity of a speedy change of system, I will confine 
 myself to relating a few signs of the times which I 
 encountered in my travels through the south. 
 
 In 1782, Virginia repealed the law against manu 
 mission ; and in nine years, there were ten thou 
 sand slaves freed in that State. Alarmed for the 
 institution, her legislature re-enacted the law. What 
 has been the consequence ? Let us take the testi- 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 361 
 
 mony of the two leading newspapers of the capital 
 of Virginia, given at a time when the Virginian le 
 gislature was debating the subject of slavery; and 
 when there was, for once, an exposure of the truth 
 from those best qualified to reveal it. In 1832, 
 the following remarks appeared in the " Richmond 
 Enquirer." 
 
 " It is probable, from what we hear, that the 
 committee on the coloured population will report 
 some plan for getting rid of the free people of co 
 lour. But is this all that can be done ? Are we 
 for ever to suffer the greatest evil which can 
 scourge our land not only to remain, but to in 
 crease in its dimensions ? < We may shut our eyes 
 and avert our faces, if we please, (writes an elo 
 quent South Carolinian, on his return from the 
 north a few weeks ago,) but there it is, the dark 
 and growing evil, at our doors : and meet the ques 
 tion we must at no distant day. God only knows 
 what it is the part of wise men to do on that mo 
 mentous and appalling subject. Of this I am very 
 sure, that the difference nothing short of frightful 
 between all that exists on one side of the Poto 
 mac, and all on the other, is owing to that cause 
 alone. The disease is deep seated; it is at the 
 heart s core; it is consuming, and has all along 
 been consuming, our vitals ; and I could laugh, if 
 I could laugh on such a subject, at the ignorance 
 and folly of the politician who ascribes that to an 
 act of the government, which is the inevitable ef 
 fect of the eternal laws of nature. What is to be 
 done ? O my God, I don t know ; but something 
 must be done/ 
 
 " Yes, something must be done; and it is the part 
 of no honest man to deny it ; of no free press to 
 affect to conceal it. When this dark population is 
 growing upon us ; when every new census is but 
 gathering its appalling numbers upon us; when 
 VOL. i. u 
 
362 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 within a period equal to that in which this federal 
 constitution has been in existence, those numbers 
 will increase to more than two millions within Vir 
 ginia ; when our sister States are closing their 
 doors upon our blacks for sale ; and when our 
 whites are moving westwardly in greater numbers 
 than we like to hear of; when this, the fairest land 
 on all this continent, for soil and climate and situ 
 ation combined, might become a sort of garden 
 spot if it were worked by the hands of white men 
 alone, can we, ought we to sit quietly down, fold 
 our arms, and say to each other, well, well, this 
 thing will not come to the worst in our day ? We 
 will leave it to our children and our grand- children 
 and great-grand-children to take care of themselves, 
 and to brave the storm. Is this to act like wise 
 men? Heaven knows we are no fanatics. We de 
 test the madness which actuated the Amis des 
 Noirs. But something ought to be done. Means, 
 sure but gradual, systematic but discreet, ought to 
 be adopted for reducing the mass of evil which is 
 pressing upon the south, and will still more press 
 upon her the longer it is put off. We ought not to 
 shut our eyes, nor avert our faces. And though we 
 speak almost without a hope that the committee or 
 the legislature will do anything, at the present ses 
 sion, to meet this question, yet we say now, in the 
 utmost sincerity of our hearts, that our wisest men 
 cannot give too much of their attention to this sub 
 ject, nor can they give it too soon." 
 
 The other paper, the " Richmond Whig," had 
 the same time, the following : 
 
 " We affirm that the great mass of Virginia her 
 self triumphs that the slavery question has been 
 agitated, and reckons it glorious that the spirit of 
 her sons did not shrink from grappling with the 
 monster. We affirm that, in the heaviest slave dis 
 tricts of the State, thousands have hailed the dis- 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 363 
 
 cussion with delight, and contemplate the distant, 
 but ardently desired result, as the supreme good 
 which Providence could vouchsafe to their country." 
 
 This is doubtless true. One of the signs of the 
 times which struck me was the clandestine encou 
 ragement received by the abolitionists of the north 
 from certain timid slave-holders of the south, who 
 send money for the support of abolition publica 
 tions, and an earnest blessing. They write, " For 
 God s sake go on ! We cannot take your publica 
 tions ; we dare not countenance you ; but we wish 
 you God speed ! You are our only hope." There 
 is nothing to be said for the moral courage of those 
 who feel and write thus, and dare not express their 
 opinions in the elections. Much excuse may be 
 made for them by those who know the horrors 
 which await the expression of anti-slavery senti 
 ments in many parts of the south. But, on the 
 other hand, the abolitionists are not to be blamed 
 for considering all slave-holders under the same 
 point of view, as long as no improved state of opi 
 nion is manifested in the representation ; the na 
 tural mirror of the minds of the represented. 
 
 Chief Justice Marshall, a Virginian, a slave 
 holder, and a member of the Colonisation Society, 
 (though regarding this society as being merely a 
 palliative, and slavery incurable but by convulsion,) 
 observed to a friend of mine, in the winter of 1834, 
 that he was surprised at the British for supposing 
 that they could abolish slavery in their colonies by 
 act of parliament. His friend believed it would be 
 done. The Chief Justice could not think that 
 such economical institutions could be done away 
 by legislative enactment. His friend pleaded the 
 fact that the members of the British House of 
 Commons were pledged, in great numbers, to their 
 constituents on the question. tWhen it was done, 
 the Chief Justice remarked on his having been 
 
 R 2 
 
364 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 mistaken ; and that he rejoiced in it. He now saw 
 hope for his beloved Virginia, which he had seen 
 sinking lower and lower among the States. The 
 cause, he said, was that work is disreputable in a 
 country where a degraded class is held to enforced 
 labour.* He had seen all the young, the flower 
 of the State, who were not rich enough to remain 
 at home in idleness, betaking themselves to other 
 regions, where they might work without disgrace. 
 Now there was hope; for he considered that in 
 this act of the British, the decree had gone forth 
 against American slavery, and its doom was sealed. 
 There was but one sign of the times which was 
 amusing to me ; and that was the tumult of opi^ 
 nions and prophecies offered to me on the subject 
 of the duration of slavery, and the mode in which 
 it would be at last got rid of; for I never heard oi 
 any one but Governor M Duffie who supposed that 
 it can last for ever. He declared last year, in his 
 message to the legislature of South Carolina, that 
 he considers slavery as the corner-stone of their 
 republican liberties : and that, if he were dying, 
 his latest prayer should be that his children s chil 
 dren should live nowhere but amidst the institu 
 tions of slavery. This message might have been 
 taken as a freak of eccentricity merely, if it had 
 stood alone. But a committee of the legislature, 
 with Governor Hamilton in the chair, thought pro 
 per to endorse every sentiment in it. This con 
 verts it into an indication of the perversion of 
 mind commonly prevalent in a class when its dis 
 tinctive pecuniary interest is in imminent peril. I 
 was told, a few months prior to the appearance of 
 
 * Governor M Duffie s message to the legislature of South Ca 
 rolina contains the proposition that freedom can be preserved 
 only in societies where either work is disreputable, or there is an. 
 hereditary aristocracy, or a military despotism. He prefers the 
 first, as being the most republican. 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 365 
 
 this singular production, that though Governor 
 M Duffie was a great ornament to the State of 
 South Carolina, his opinions on the subject of sla 
 very were ultra, and that he was left pretty nearly 
 alone in them. Within a year, those who told me 
 so went, in public, all lengths with Governor 
 M Duffie. 
 
 I believe I might very safely and honourably 
 give the names of those who prophesied to me in 
 the way I have mentioned ; for they rather court 
 publicity for their opinions, as it is natural and 
 right that they should, as long as they are sure of 
 them. But it may suffice to mention that they are 
 all eminent men, whose attention has been strongly 
 fixed, for a length of years, upon the institution in 
 question. 
 
 A. believes that slavery is a necessary and de 
 sirable stage in civilisation : not on the score of 
 the difficulty of cultivating new lands without it, 
 but on the ground of the cultivation of the negro 
 mind and manners. He believes the Haytians to 
 have deteriorated since they became free. He be 
 lieves the white population destined to absorb the 
 black, though holding that the two races will not 
 unite after the third mixture. His expectation 
 is that the black and mulatto races will have disap 
 peared in a hundred and fifty years. He has no 
 doubt that cotton and tobacco may be well and 
 easily grown by whites. 
 
 B. is confident that the condition of slaves is 
 materially improved, yet believes that they will die 
 out, and that there will be no earlier catastrophe. 
 He looks to colonisation, however, as a means of 
 lessening the number. This same gentleman told 
 me of a recent visit he had paid to a connexion of 
 his own, who had a large " force," consisting chiefly 
 of young men and women : not one child had been 
 born on the estate for three years. This looks very 
 
366 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 like dying out ; but does it go to confirm the mate 
 rially improved condition of the slaves ? 
 
 C. allows slavery to be a great evil ; and, if it 
 were now non-existent, would not ordain it, if he 
 could. But he thinks the slaves far happier than 
 they would have been at home in Africa, and con 
 siders that the system works perfectly. He pro 
 nounces the slaves " the most contented, happy, 
 industrious peasantry in the world." He believes 
 this virtue and content would disappear if they were 
 taught anything whatever ; and that if they were 
 free, they would be, naturally and inevitably, the 
 most vicious and wretched population ever seen. 
 His expectation is that they will increase to such 
 a degree as to make free labour, " which always 
 supersedes slave labour," necessary in its stead; 
 that the coloured .race will wander off to new re 
 gions, and be ultimately " absorbed" by the white. 
 He contemplates no other than this natural change, 
 which he thinks cannot take place in less than a 
 century and a half. A year later, this gentleman 
 told a friend of mine that slavery cannot last above 
 twenty years. They must be stringent reasons 
 which have induced so great a change of opinion in 
 twelve months. 
 
 D. thinks slavery an enormous evil, but doubts 
 \vhethersomething as bad would notarise in its stead. 
 He is a colonisationist, and desires that the general 
 government should purchase the slaves, by annual 
 appropriations, and ship them off to Africa, so as 
 to clear the country of the coloured people in forty 
 or fifty years. If this is not done, a servile war, 
 the most horrible that the world has seen, is in 
 evitable. 7et he believes that the institution, 
 though infinitely bad for the masters, is better for 
 the slaves than those of any country in Europe for 
 its working classes. He is convinced that the 
 tillage of all the crops could be better carried on 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 367 
 
 by whites, with the assistance of cattle and imple 
 ments, than by negroes. 
 
 E. writes, (October 1835,) " Certain it is that if 
 men of property and intelligence in the north have 
 that legitimate influence which that class has here, 
 nothing will come of this abolition excitement. All 
 we have to say to them is, Hands off! Our 
 political rights* are clear, and shall not be invaded. 
 We know too much about slavery to be slaves our 
 selves. But I repeat, nothing will come of the 
 present, or rather recent excitement, for already 
 it is in a great degree passed. And the time is 
 coming when a struggle between pauperism and 
 property, or, if you choose, between labour and 
 capital in the north, stimulated by the spirit of 
 Jacksonism, will occupy the people of that quarter 
 to the exclusion of our affairs. If any external in 
 fluence is ever to affect the institution of slavery 
 in the south, it will not be the vulgar and ignorant 
 fanaticism of the northern States, intent upon a 
 cheap charity which is to be done at our expense; 
 
 * The dispute between the abolitionists and their adversaries is 
 always made to turn on the point of distinction between freedom 
 of discussion and political interference. With the views now en 
 tertained by the south, she can never be satisfied on this head. 
 She requires nothing short of a dead silence upon the subject of 
 human rights. This demand is made by her state governors of 
 the state governors of the north. It will, of course, never be 
 granted. The course of the abolitionists seems to themselves 
 clear enough ; and they act accordingly. They labour politically 
 only with regard to the District of Columbia, over which Congress 
 holds exclusive jurisdiction. Their other endeavour is to pro 
 mote the discussion of the moral question throughout the free 
 States. They use no direct means to this end in the slave States ; 
 in the first place, because they have no power to do so ; and in 
 the next, because the requisite movement there is sure to follow 
 upon that in the north. It is wholly untrue that they insinuate 
 their publications into the south. Their only political transgres 
 sion (and who will call it a moral one?) is, helping fugitive 
 slaves. The line between free discussion and political interfe* 
 rence has never yet been drawn to the satisfaction of both par 
 ties, and never will be. 
 
368 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 s 
 
 but that influence will be found in English litera 
 ture, and the gradual operation of public opinion. 
 Slavery, so to speak, may be evaporated ; it can 
 not be drawn off. If it were, the whole land would 
 be poisoned and desolated." 
 
 The best reply to this letter will be found in 
 the memorable speech of Mr. Preston, one of the 
 South Carolina senators, delivered in Congress, 
 last spring. It may be mentioned, by the way, 
 jthat the writer of the above is mistaken in sup 
 posing that there is at present, or impending, any 
 unhappy struggle in the north between pauperism 
 and property, or labour and capital. It is all pro 
 perty there, and no pauperism, (except the very 
 little that is superinduced ; ) and labour and capital 
 were, perhaps, never before seen to jog on so lov 
 ingly together.. The "cheap charity" he speaks 
 *of is the cheap charity of the first Christians, with 
 the addition of an equal ability and will to pay 
 down money for the abolition of the slaves, for 
 whose sake the abolitionists have already shown 
 themselves able to bear, some, hanging ; some, 
 scourging, and tarring and feathering ; some, pri 
 vation of the means of living ; and all, the being 
 incessantly and deeply wounded in their social re 
 lations and tenderest affections. Martyrdom is 
 ever accounted a " cheap devotion," or " cheap 
 charity, " to God or man, by those who exact it of 
 either religious or philanthropic principle. 
 
 Mr. Preston s speech describes the spread of 
 abolition opinions as being rapid and inevitable. 
 He proves the rapidity by citing the number of 
 recently-formed abolition societies in the north; 
 and the inevitableness, by exhibiting the course 
 which such convictions had run in England and 
 France. He represents the case as desperate. 
 He advises, not yielding, but the absolute exclu 
 sion of opinion on the subject, exclusion from 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 369 
 
 Congress, and exclusion from the slave States. 
 This is well. The matter may be considered to 
 be given up, unless this is merely the opinion of an 
 individual. The proposal is about as hopeful as 
 it would be to draw a cordon round the Capitol to 
 keep out the four winds ; or to build a wall up to 
 the pole-star to exclude the sunshine. 
 
 One more sample of opinions. A gentleman 
 who edits a highly-esteemed southern newspaper, 
 expresses himself thus. " There is a wild fana 
 ticism at work to effect the overthrow of the sys 
 tem, although in its fall would go down the for 
 tunes of the south, and to a great extent those of 
 the north and east ; in a word, the whole fabric of,. 
 our Union, in one awful ruin. What then ought * 
 to be done ? > What measures ought to be taken to I 
 secure the safety of our property and our lives ? 
 We answer, let us be vigilant and watchful to the 
 last degree over all the movements of our enemies 
 both at home and abroad. Let us declare through 
 the public journals of our country, that the ques 
 tion of slavery is not, and shall not be open to dis 
 cussion; that the system is deep-rooted amongst 
 us, and mus*. remain for ever ; that the very mo 
 ment any private individual attempts to lecture 
 us upon its evils and immorality, and the necessity 
 of putting measures into operation to secure us 
 from them, in the same moment his tongue shall 
 be cut out and cast upon the dung-hill. We are 
 freemen, sprung from a noble stock of freemen, 
 able to boast as noble a line of ancestry as ever 
 graced this earth ; we have burning in our bosoms 
 the spirit of freemen live in an age of enlightened 
 freedom, and in a country blessed with its privi 
 leges under a government that has pledged itself 
 to protect us in the enjoyment of our peculiar 
 domestic institutions in peace, and undisturbed. 
 We hope for a long continuance of these high pri- 
 
 t 5 
 
370 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 vileges, and have now to love, cherish, and defend, 
 property, liberty, wives and children, the right to 
 manage our own matters in our own way, and, what 
 is equally dear with all the rest, the inestimable 
 right of dying upon our own soil, around our own 
 firesides, in struggling to put down all those who 
 may attempt to infringe, attack, or violate any of 
 these sacred and inestimable privileges." 
 
 If these opinions of well-prepared persons, dis 
 persed through the slave States, and entrusted 
 with the public advocacy of their interests, do not 
 betoken that slavery is tottering to its fall, there 
 x* are no such things as signs of the times. 
 / ^ The prohibition of books containing anything 
 x^ against slavery, has proceeded to a great length. I 
 Last year, Mrs. Barbauld s works were sent bacIT 
 into the north by the southern booksellers, because 
 the " Evenings at Home" contain a " Dialogue be 
 tween Master and Slave." Miss Sedgwick s last 
 novel, " The Linwoods," was treated in the same 
 way, on account of a single sentence about slavery. 
 The " Tales of the Woods and Fields," and other 
 English books, have shared the same fate. I had 
 a leiter from a southern lady, containing some 
 regrets upon the necessity of such an exclusion of 
 literature, but urging that it was a matter of prin 
 ciple to guard from attacks " an institution ordained 
 by the favour of God for the happiness of man :" 
 and assuring me that the literary resources of 
 South Carolina were rapidly improving. So they 
 had need ; for almost all the books already in ex 
 istence will have to be prohibited, if nothing con 
 demnatory of slavery is to be circulated. This 
 attempt to nullify literature was followed up by a 
 threat to refuse permission to the mails to pass 
 through South Carolina: an arrangement which 
 would afflict its inhabitants more than it could in 
 jure any one else. 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 871 
 
 The object of all this is to keep the children in J 
 the dark ^bout how the institution is regarded * 
 abroad. This was evident to me at every step : 
 and I received an express caution not to commu 
 nicate my disapprobation of slavery to the children 
 of one family, who could not, their parents declare, 
 even feel the force of my objections. One of them 
 was " employed, the whole afternoon, in dressing 
 out little Nancy for an evening party ; and she 
 sees the slaves much freer than herself." Of 
 course, the blindness of this policy will be its 
 speedy destruction. It is found that the effect of 
 public opinion on the subject upon young men who 
 visit the northern States, is tremendous, when they 
 become aware of it : as every student in the col 
 leges of the north can bear witness. I know of 
 one, an heir of slaves, who declared, on reading 
 Dr. Ohanning s " Slavery," that if it could be 
 proved that negroes are more than a link between 
 man and brute, the rest follows of course, and he 
 must liberate all his. Happily, he is in the way 
 of evidence that negroes are actually and altogether 
 human. 
 
 The students of Lane Seminary, near Cincin 
 nati, of which Dr. Beecher is the president, became 
 interested in the subject, three or four years ago, 
 and formed themselves into an Abolition Society, 
 debating the question, and taking in newspapers. 
 This was prohibited by the tutors, but persevered 
 in by the young men, who conceived that this was 
 a matter with which the professors had no right to 
 meddle. Banishment was decreed; and all sub 
 mitted to expulsion but fourteen. Of course, each 
 of the dispersed young men became the nucleus of 
 an Abolition Society, and gained influence by per 
 secution. It was necessary for them to provide 
 means to finish their education. One of them, 
 Amos Dresser, itinerated, (as is usual in the 
 
372 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 * 
 
 sparsely-peopled west,) travelling in a gig, and 
 selling Scott s Bible, to raise money for his educa 
 tional purposes. He reached Nashville, in Ten 
 nessee ; and there fell under suspicion of abolition 
 treason ; his baggage being searched, and a whole 
 abolition newspaper, and a part of another being 
 found among the packing-stuff of his stock of bibles. 
 There was also an unsubstantiated rumour of his 
 having been seen conversing with slaves. He was 
 brought to trial by the Committee of Vigilance; 
 seven elders of the presbyterian church at Nash 
 ville being among his judges. After much debate 
 as to whether he should be hanged, or flogged with 
 more or fewer lashes, he was condemned to receive 
 twenty lashes, with a cow-hide, in the market 
 place of Nashville. He was immediately conducted 
 there, made to kneel down on the flint pavement, 
 and punished according to his sentence ; the mayor 
 of Nashville presiding, and the public executioner 
 being the agent. He was warned to leave the city 
 within twenty-four hours: but was told, by some 
 charitable person who had the bravery to take him 
 in, wash his stripes, and furnish hrn with a dis 
 guise, that it would not be safe to remain so long. 
 He stole away immediately, in his dreadful con 
 dition, on foot; and when his story was authen 
 ticated, had heard nothing of his horse, gig, and 
 bibles, which he values at three hundred dollars. 
 Let no one, on this, tremble for republican free 
 dom. Outrages upon it, like the above, are but 
 extremely transient signs of the times. They no 
 more betoken the permanent condition of the re 
 public, than the shivering of one hour of ague ex 
 hibits the usual state of the human body. 
 
 The other young men found educational and 
 other assistance immediately; and a set of noble 
 institutions has grown out of their persecution. 
 There were professors ready to help them ; and a 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 373 
 
 gentleman gave them a farm in Ohio, on which to 
 begin a manual labour college, called the Oberlin 
 Institute. It is on a most liberal plan young 
 women who wish to become qualified for " Christian 
 teaching" being admitted; and there being no 
 prejudice of colour. They have a sprinkling both 
 of Indians and of negroes. They do all the farm 
 and house work, and as much study besides as is 
 good for them. Some of the young women are 
 already fair Hebrew and Greek scholars. In a 
 little while, the estate was so crowded, and the 
 new applications were so overpowering, that they 
 were glad to accept the gift of another farm. When 
 I left the country, within three years from their 
 commencement, they had either four or five flou 
 rishing institutions in Ohio and Michigan, while 
 the Lane Seminary drags on feebly with its array 
 of tutors, and dearth of pupils. A fact so full of 
 vitality as this will overbear a hundred less cheer 
 ing signs of the times. A very safe repose may be 
 found in the will of the majority, wherever it acts 
 amidst light and freedom. 
 
 Just before I reached Mobile, two men were 
 burned alive there, in a slow fire, in the open air, 
 in the presence of the gentlemen of the city gene-, 
 rally. No word was breathed of the transaction in 
 the newspapers : and this is the special reason why 
 I cite it as a sign of the times ; of the suppression 
 of fact and repression of opinion which, from the 
 impossibility of their being long maintained, are 
 found immediately to precede the changes they are 
 meant to obviate. Some months afterwards, an 
 obscure intimation of something of the kind having 
 happened appeared in a northern newspaper; but 
 a dead silence was at the tfme preserved upon what 
 was, in fact, the deed of a multitude. The way 
 that I came to know it was this. A lady of Mobile 
 was opening her noble and true heart to me on the 
 
374 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 horrors and vices of the system under which she and 
 her family were suffering in mind, body, and estate. 
 In speaking of her duties as head of a family, she had 
 occasion to mention the trouble caused by the licen 
 tiousness of the whites, among the negro women. It 
 was dreadful to hear the facts which had occurred 
 in her own household ; and the bare imagination 
 of what is inflicted on the negro husbands and 
 fathers was almost too much to be borne. I asked 
 the question, "Does it never enter the heads of 
 negro husbands and fathers to retaliate ?" " Yes, 
 it does." " What follows ?" " They are murdered, 
 burned alive." And then followed the story of 
 what had lately happened. A little girl, and her 
 still younger brother, one day failed to return from 
 school, and never were seen again. It was not till 
 after all search had been relinquished, that the 
 severed head of the little girl was found in a brook, 
 on the borders of a plantation. Circumstances 
 were discovered that left no doubt that the murders 
 were committed to conceal violence which had been 
 offered to the girl. Soon after, two young ladies 
 of the city rode in that direction, and got off their 
 horses to amuse themselves. They were seized 
 upon by two slaves of the neighbouring plantation ; 
 but effected their escape in safety, though with 
 great difficulty. Their agitation prevented their 
 concealing the fact; and the conclusion was imme 
 diately drawn that these men were the murderers 
 of the children. The gentlemen of Mobile turned 
 out; seized the men; heaped up faggots on the 
 margin of the brook, and slowly burned them to 
 death. No prudish excuses for the suppression of 
 this story will serve any purpose with those who 
 have been on the spot, any more than the outcry 
 about " amalgamation," raised against the abo 
 litionists by those who live in the deepest sinks 
 of a licentiousness of which the foes of slavery do 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 375 
 
 not dream. No deprecatory plea regarding pro 
 priety or decency will pass for anything but hypo 
 crisy with those who know what the laws against 
 the press are in the south-west, and what are the 
 morals of slavery in its palmy state. I charge the 
 silence of Mobile about this murder on its fears ; 
 as confidently as I charge the brutality of the vic 
 tims upon its crimes. 
 
 Notwithstanding the many symptoms of an un 
 manly and anti-republican fear which met my ob 
 servation in these regions, it was long before I 
 could comprehend the extent of it; especially as I 
 heard daily that the true enthusiastic love of free 
 dom could exist in a republic, only in the presence 
 of a servile class, I am persuaded that the 
 southerners verily believe this ; that they actually 
 imagine their northern brethren living in an ex 
 ceedingly humdrum way, for fear of losing their 
 equality. It is true that there is far too much 
 subservience to orrtnion in the northern States : 
 particularly in New England. There is there a 
 self-imposed bondage which must be outgrown. 
 But this is no mere like the fear which prevails in 
 the south than the apprehensiveness of a court- 
 physician is like the terrors of Tiberius Caesar. 
 
 I was at the French theatre at New Orleans. The 
 party with whom I went determined to stay for the 
 after-piece. The first scene of the after-piece was 
 dumb-show ; so much noise was made by one single 
 whistle in the pit. The curtain was dropped, and 
 the piece re-commenced. The whistling continued ; 
 and, at one movement, the whole audience rose and 
 went home. I was certain that there was something 
 more in this than was apparent to the observation 
 of a stranger. I resolved to find it out, and suc 
 ceeded. The band was wanted from the orchestra, 
 to serenade a United States senator who was then 
 in the city; and one or two young men were re- 
 
376 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 solved to break up our amusement for the purpose 
 of releasing the band. But why were they allowed 
 to do this ? Why was the whole audience to sub 
 mit to the pleasure of one whistler ? Why, in New 
 Orleans it is thought best to run no risk of any 
 disturbance. People there always hie home di 
 rectly when things do not go off quite quietly. 
 
 It is the same, wherever the blacks outnumber 
 the whites, or their bondage is particularly severe. 
 At Charleston, when a fire breaks out, the gentle 
 men all go home on the ringing of the alarm-bell ; 
 the ladies rise and dress themselves and their chil 
 dren. It may be the signal of insurrection : and 
 the fire burns on, for any help the citizens give, till 
 a battalion of soldiers marches down to put it out. 
 
 When we were going to church, at Augusta, 
 Georgia, one Sunday afternoon, there was smoke 
 in the street, and a cry of fire. When we came 
 out of church, we were told that it had been very 
 trifling, and easily extinguished. The next day, I 
 heard the whole. A negro girl of sixteen, the 
 property of a lady from New England, had set her 
 mistress s house on fire in two places, by very in- 
 artificially lighting heaps of combustible stuff piled 
 against the partitions. There were no witnesses, 
 and all that was known came from her own lips. 
 She was desperately ignorant; laws having been 
 fully enforced to prevent the negroes of Georgia 
 being instructed in any way whatever. The girl s 
 account was, that she was " tired of living there," 
 and had therefore intended to burn the house in the 
 morning, but was prevented by her mistress having 
 locked her up for some offence : so she did it in 
 the afternoon. She was totally ignorant of the 
 gravity of the deed, and was in a state of great 
 horror when told that she was to be hanged for it. 
 I asked whether it was possible that, after her 
 being prevented by law from being taught, she was 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 377 
 
 to be hanged for her ignorance, and merely on her 
 own confession ? The clergyman with whom I was 
 conversing sighed, and said it was a hard case ; but 
 what else could be done, considering that Augusta 
 was built of wood ? He told me that there was 
 great excitement among the negroes in Augusta ; 
 and that many had been saying that " a mean white 
 person" (a white labourer) would not have been 
 hanged ; and that the girl could not help it, as it 
 must have been severity which drove her to it. In 
 both these sayings, the slaves were partly wrong. 
 A white would have been hanged; but a white 
 would have known that she wa s committing crime. 
 It did not appear that the girl s mistress was harsh. 
 But what does not the observation convey ? I have 
 never learned, nor ever shall, whether the hanging 
 took place or not. The newspapers do not insert 
 such things. 
 
 This burning would be a fearful art for the 
 blacks to learn. There were four tremendous fires 
 in Charleston, during the summer of 1835; and 
 divers residents reported to the north that these 
 were supposed to be the work of slaves. 
 
 Wherever I went, in the south, in whatever town 
 or other settlement I made any stay, some startling 
 circumstance connected with slavery occurred, 
 which I was assured was unprecedented. No 
 such thing had ever occurred before, or was likely 
 to happen again. The repetition of this assurance 
 became, at last, quite ludicrous. 
 
 The fear of which I have spoken as prevalent, 
 does not extend to the discussion of the question 
 of slavery with strangers. My opinions of slavery 
 were known, through the press, before I went 
 abroad : the hospitality which was freely extended 
 to me was offered under a full knowledge of my 
 detestation of the system. This was a great ad 
 vantage, in as much as it divested me entirely of the 
 
378 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 character of a spy, and promoted the freest discussion, 
 wherever I went. There was a warm sympathy 
 between myself and very many, whose sufferings 
 under the system caused me continual and deep 
 sorrow, though no surprise. Neither was I sur 
 prised at their differing from me as widely as they 
 do about the necessity of immediate action, either 
 by resistance or flight, while often agreeing, nearly 
 to the full, in my estimate of the evils of the pre 
 sent state of things. They have been brought up 
 in the system. To them, the moral deformity of 
 the whole is much obscured by its nearness ; 
 while the small advantages, and slight prettinesses 
 which it is very easy to attach to it, are promi 
 nent, and always in view. These circumstances 
 prevented my being surprised at the candour with 
 which they not only discussed the question, but 
 showed me all that was to be seen of the econo 
 mical management of plantations; the worst as 
 well as the best. Whatever I learned of the sys 
 tem, by express showing, it must be remembered, 
 was from the hands of the slave-holders themselves. 
 Whatever I learned, that lies deepest down in my 
 heart, of the moral evils, the unspeakable vices 
 and woes of slavery, was from the lips of those who 
 are suffering under them on the spot. 
 
 It was there that I heard of the massacre in 
 Southampton county, which has been little spoken 
 of abroad. It happened a few years ago; before 
 the abolition movement began ; for it is remarkable 
 that no insurrections have taken place since the 
 friends of the slave have been busy afar off. This 
 is one of the most eloquent signs of the times, 
 that, whereas rebellions broke out as often as once 
 a month before, there have been none since. Of 
 this hereafter. In the Southampton massacre, up 
 wards of seventy whites, chiefly women and chil 
 dren, were butchered by slaves who fancied them- 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 379 
 
 selves called, like the Jews of old, to " slay and 
 spare not." 
 
 While they were in full career, a Virginian gen 
 tleman, who had a friend from the north staying 
 with him, observed upon its being a mistaken opi 
 nion that planters were afraid of their slaves ; and 
 offered the example of his own household as a re 
 futation. He summoned his confidential negro, 
 the head of the house establishment of slaves, and 
 bade him shut the door. 
 
 " You hear," said he, " that the negroes have 
 risen in Southampton." 
 
 Yes, massa." 
 
 " You hear that they have killed several fami-< 
 lies, and that they are coming this way." 
 
 " Yes, massa." 
 
 " You know that, if they come here, I shall 
 have to depend upon you all to protect my fa 
 mily." 
 
 The slave was silent. 
 
 " If I give you arms, you will protect me and 
 my family, will you not ?" 
 
 No, massa," 
 
 " Do you mean, that if the Southampton negroes 
 come this way, you will join them ?" 
 
 " Yes, massa." 
 
 When he went out of the room, his master wept 
 without restraint. He owned that all his hope, all 
 his confidence was gone. Yet, who ever deserved 
 confidence more than the man who spoke that last 
 " No" and "Yes?" The more confidence in the 
 man, the less in the system. This is the philo 
 sophy of the story. 
 
 I have mentioned the fact that no insurrections 
 have for a long time taken place. In some parts 
 of the slave regions, the effect has been to relax 
 the laws relating to slaves ; and such relaxation i 
 was always pointed out to me as an indication 
 
380 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 that slavery would go out of itself, if it were let 
 alone. In other parts, new and very severe laws 
 were being passed against the slaves ; and this was 
 pointed out to me as a sign that the condition of 
 the negro was aggravated by the interference of 
 his friends ; and that his best chance lay in slavery 
 being let alone. Thus the opposite facts were made 
 to yield the same conclusion. A friend of mine, 
 a slave-holder, observed to me, that both the re 
 laxation and the aggravation of restrictions upon 
 slaves were an indication of the tendency of public 
 opinion : the first being done in sympathy with it, 
 the other in fear of it. 
 
 f There was an outcry, very vehement, and very 
 { general among the friends of slavery, in both north 
 1 and south, against the cruelty of abolitionists in 
 f becoming the occasion of the laws against slaves 
 / being made more severe. In my opinion, this 
 N^affords no argument against abolition, even if the 
 condition of the slaves of to-day were aggravated 
 by the stir of opinion. The negroes of the next 
 generation are not to be doomed to slavery for fear 
 of somewhat more being inflicted on their parents : 
 and, severe as the laws already are, the conse 
 quence of straining them tighter still would be 
 that they would burst. But the fact is, that so far 
 from the condition of the slave being made worse 
 by the efforts of his distant friends, it has been 
 substantially improved. I could speak confidently 
 of this as a necessary consequence of the value set 
 upon opinion by the masters ; but I know it also 
 
 (from what I myself saw; and from the lips of 
 many slave-holders. The slaves of South Caro 
 lina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, have less 
 liberty of communication with each other; they 
 are deprived of the few means of instruction that 
 they had ; they are shut in earlier in the evening, 
 and precluded from supping and dancing for half 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 381 
 
 the night, as they used to do ; but they are sub- jft 
 stantially better treated ; they are less worked by I 
 hard masters ; less flogged ; better fed and clothed. 3 
 The eyes of the world are now upon the American 
 slave and his master : the kind master goes on as 
 he did before : the hard master dares not be so 
 unkind as formerly. He hates his slave more than 
 ever, for slavery is more troublesome than ever; 
 but he is kept in order, by the opinion of the 
 world abroad and the neighbours around ; and he 
 dares not vent his hatred on his human property, 
 as he once could. A slave-holder declared in 
 Congress, that the slaves of the south knew that 
 Dr. Channing had written a book on their behalf. 
 No doubt. The tidings of the far-off movement 
 in their favour come to them on every wind that 
 blows, calming their desperation, breathing hope 
 into their souls ; making the best of their masters 
 thoughtful and sad, and the worst, desperate and 
 cruel, though kept within bounds by fear. 
 
 The word hatred is not too strong for the feel 
 ing of a large proportion of slave-holders towards 
 particular slaves ; or, as they would call them, (the 
 word 6 slave never being heard in the south,) their 
 force, their hands, their e negroes, their 
 { people. I was frequently told of the endearing 
 relation subsisting between master and slaves ; 
 but, at the best, it appeared to me the same en 
 dearing relation which subsists between a man 
 and his horse, between a lady and her dog. As 
 long as the slave remains ignorant, docile, and con 
 tented, he is taken good care of, humoured, and 
 spoken of with a contemptuous, compassionate kind 
 ness. But, from the moment he exhibits the attri 
 butes of a rational being, from the moment his 
 intellect seems likely to come into the most dis 
 tant competition with that of whites, the most 
 deadly hatred springs up ; not in the black, but 
 
382 RURAL LABOUR* 
 
 I? in his oppressors. It is a very old truth that we 
 hate those whom we have injured. Never was it 
 more clear than in this case. I had, from time to 
 time in my life, witnessed something of human ma 
 lice ; I had seen some of the worst aspects of do 
 mestic service in England ; of village scandal ; of 
 political rivalship; and other circumstances pro 
 vocative of the worst passions ; but pure, unmi 
 tigated hatred, the expression of which in eye and 
 voice makes one s blood run cold, I never wit 
 nessed till I became acquainted with the blacks of 
 America, their friends and oppressors : the blacks 
 and their friends the objects; their oppressors the 
 far more unhappy subjects. It so happens that the 
 most remarkable instances of this that I met with 
 were clergymen and ladies. The cold livid hatred 
 which deformed, like a mask, the faces of a few, 
 while deliberately slandering, now the coloured 
 race, and now the abolitionists, could never be 
 forgotten by me, as a fearful revelation, if the whole 
 country were to be absolutely christianized to 
 morrow. nMr. Madison told me, that if he could 
 work a miracle, he knew what it should be. He 
 would make all the blacks white ; and then he 
 could do away with slavery in twenty-four hours. 
 So true it is that all the torturing associations of 
 injury have become so connected with colour, that 
 an institution which hurts everybody and benefits 
 none, which all rational people who understand it 
 dislike, despise, and suffer under, can with difficulty 
 be abolished, because of the hatred which is borne 
 to an irremovable badge. 
 
 This hatred is a sign of the times ; and so are 
 the alleged causes of it; both are from their na 
 ture so manifestly temporary. The principal cause 
 alleged is the impossibility of giving people of 
 colour any idea of duty, from their want of natural 
 affection. I was told in the same breath of their 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 383 
 
 attachment to their masters, and devotion to them 
 in sickness ; and of their utter want of all affection 
 to their parents and children, husbands and wives. 
 For " people of colour," read " slaves," and the 
 account is often correct. It is true that slaves will 
 often leave their infants to perish, rather than take 
 any trouble about them ; that they will utterly 
 neglect a sick parent or husband ; while they will 
 nurse a white mistress with much ostentation. The 
 reason is obvious. Such beings are degraded so 
 far below humanity that they will take trouble, for 
 the sake of praise or more solid reward, after they 
 have become dead to all but grossly selfish induce 
 ments. Circumstances will fully account for a 
 great number of cases of this sort: but to set 
 against these, there are perhaps yet more instances 
 of domestic devotion, not to be surpassed in the 
 annals of humanity. Of these I know more than 
 I can here set down ; partly from their number, 
 and partly from the fear of exposing to injury the 
 individuals alluded to. 
 
 A friend of mine was well acquainted at Wash 
 ington with a woman who had been a slave ; and 
 who, after gaining her liberty, worked incessantly 
 for many years, denying herself all but absolute 
 necessaries, in order to redeem her husband and 
 children. She was a sick-nurse, when my friend 
 knew her ; and, by her merits, obtained good pay. 
 She had first bought herself ; having earned, by 
 extra toil, three or four hundred dollars. She 
 then earned the same sum, and redeemed her 
 husband ; and had bought three, out of her five, 
 children when my friend last saw her. She made 
 no boast of her industry and self-denial. Her 
 story was extracted from her by questions ; and she 
 obviously felt that she was doing what was merely 
 unavoidable. It is impossible to help instituting a 
 comparison between this woman and the gentlemen 
 
384 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 who, by their own licentiousness, increase the num 
 ber of slave children whom they sell in the market. 
 My friend formerly carried an annual present from 
 a distant part of the country to this poor woman : 
 but it is not known what has become of her, and 
 whether she died before she had completed her ob 
 ject, of freeing all her family. 
 
 There is a woman now living with a lady in 
 Boston, requiring high wages, which her superior 
 services, as well as her story, enable her to 
 command. This woman was a slave, and was 
 married to a slave, by whom she had two chil 
 dren. The husband and wife were much attached. 
 One day, her husband was suddenly sold away to 
 a distance ; and her master, whose object was to 
 increase his stock as fast as possible, immediately 
 required her to take another husband. She stoutly 
 refused. Her master thought her so far worthy 
 of being humoured, that he gave her his son, 
 forced him upon her, as her present feelings show. 
 She had two more children, of much lighter com 
 plexion than the former. When the son left the 
 estate, her master tried again to force a negro hus 
 band upon her. In desperation, she fled, carrying one 
 of her first children with her. She is now working to 
 redeem the other, a girl ; and she has not given up 
 all hope of recovering her husband. She was asked 
 whether she thought of doing anything for her two 
 mulatto children. She replied that, to be sure, 
 they were her children ; but that she did not think 
 she ever could tell her husband that she had had 
 those two children. If this be not chastity, what 
 is ? Where are all the fairest natural affections, if 
 not in these women ? 
 
 At a very disorderly hotel in South Carolina, we 
 were waited upon by a beautiful mulatto woman 
 and her child, a pretty girl of about eight. The 
 woman entreated that we would buy her child. 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 385 
 
 On her being questioned, it appeared that it was 
 " a bad place" in which she was : that she had got 
 her two older children sold away, to a better place ; 
 and now, her only wish was for this child to be 
 saved. On being asked whether she really desired 
 to be parted from her only remaining child, so as 
 never to see her again, she replied that " it would 
 be hard to part," but for the child s sake she did 
 wish that we would buy her. 
 
 A kind-hearted gentleman in the south, finding 
 that the laws of his State precluded his teaching 
 his legacy of slaves according to the usual methods 
 of education, bethought himself, at length, of the 
 moral training of task-work. It succeeded ad 
 mirably. His negroes soon began to work as slaves 
 are never, under any other arrangement, seen to 
 work. Their day s task was finished by eleven 
 o clock. Next, they began to care for one another : 
 the strong began to help the weak: first, hus 
 bands helped their wives ; then parents helped their 
 children ; and, at length, the young began to help 
 the old. Here was seen the awakening of natural 
 affections which had lain in a dark sleep. 
 
 QMhe^JejzLJQflethods of education which have 
 been~tried, none have succeeded so well as"~tbia. 
 
 task=woi k. As its general 
 
 the effect of enabling slavery to subsist longer than 
 
 it otherwise could, perhaps it is well that it can 
 
 Hbe employed only to a very small extent. Much 
 of the wuik on the plAUtatiuus tAimul he divided __ 
 gflttr tasks. Where it can, u is wise jiTthe masters 
 
 "to "avail themselves of this means of enlisting the 
 wfflhSffiie slave in behalf of his worTL 
 
 No other moide ^^acliiTiw^eTVe s" "this purpose 
 in any degree. The shutting up of the schools, 
 when I was in the south, struck me as a sign of 
 the times, a favourable sign, in as far as it showed 
 the crisis to be near; and it gave me little regret 
 VOL. i. s 
 
386 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 on account of the slave children. Reading and 
 writing even (which are never allowed) would be 
 of no use to beings without minds, as slaves are 
 prior to experience of life ; and religious teaching is 
 worse than useless to beings who, having no rights, 
 can have no duties. Their whole notion of reli 
 gion is of power and show, as regards God ; of sub 
 jection to a new sort of reward and punishment, 
 as regards themselves ; and invisible reward and 
 punishment have no effect on them. A negro, con 
 ducting worship, was heard to pra.y thus ; and broad 
 as the expressions are, they are better than an ab 
 ject, unintelligent adoption of the devotional language 
 of whites. " Come down, O Lord, come down, 
 on your great white horse, a kickin and snortinV 
 An ordinary negro s highest idea of majesty is 
 of riding a prancing white horse. As for their 
 own concern in religion, I know of a " force" 
 where a preacher had just made a strong impres 
 sion. The slaves had given up dancing, and sang 
 nothing but psalms : they exhibited the most ludi 
 crous spiritual pride, and discharged their business 
 more lazily than ever, taunting their mistress with, 
 " You no holy. We be holy. You no" in state o 
 salvation." Such was the effect upon the majo 
 rity. Here is the effect upon a stronger head. 
 
 " Harry," said his master, " you do as badly as 
 ever. You steal and tell lies. Don t you know 
 you will be punished in hell ? " 
 
 " Ah, massa, I been thinking bout that I been 
 thinking when Harry s head is in the ground, 
 there ll be no more Harry, no more Harry." 
 
 " But the clergyman, and other people who 
 know better than you, tell you that if you steal 
 you will go to hell, and be punished there." 
 
 " Been thinking bout that too. Gentlemen be 
 wise, and so they tell us bout being punished, 
 that we may not steal their things here: and then 
 we go and find out afterwards how it is." 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 387 
 
 Such is the effect of religion upon those who 
 have no rights, and therefore no duties. Great 
 efforts are being now made by the clergy of four 
 denominations* to obtain converts in the south. 
 The fact, pointed out to me by Mr. Madison, that 
 the " chivalrous" south is growing strict, while the 
 puritanic north is growing genial, is a very remark 
 able sign of the times, as it regards slavery. All 
 sanctions of the institution being now wanted, re 
 ligious sanctions are invoked among others. The 
 scene has been acted before, often enough to make 
 the catastrophe clearly discernible. There are no 
 true religious sanctions of slavery. There will be 
 no lack of Harrys to detect the forgeries put forth 
 as such : and, under the most corrupt present 
 ments of religion, there lives something of its ge 
 nuine spirit, enough to expand, sooner or later, 
 and explode the institution with which it can never 
 combine. Though I found that the divines of the 
 four denominations were teaching a compromising 
 Christianity, to propitiate the masters, and gross 
 superstitions to beguile the slaves, vying with 
 each other in the latter respect, that they might 
 outstrip one another in the number of their con 
 verts, I rejoiced in their work. Anything is bet 
 ter for the slaves than apathetic subjection; and, 
 under all this falsification, enough Christian truth 
 has already come in to blow slavery to atoms. 
 
 The testimony of slave-holders was most ex 
 plicit as to no m6ral improvement having taken 
 place, in consequence of the introduction of reli 
 gion. There was less singing and dancing ; but as 
 much lying, drinking, and stealing as ever : less do 
 cility, and a vanity even transcending the common 
 vanity of slaves, to whom the opinion of others is 
 all which they have to gain or lose. The houses 
 are as dirty as ever, (and I never saw a clean room 
 
 * Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists and Baptists. 
 
 s 2 
 
388 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 or bed but once, within the Boundaries of the slave 
 States ;) the family are still contented with their 
 " clean linen, as long as it does not smell badly." 
 A new set of images has been presented to the 
 slaves; but there still remains but one idea, by 
 and for which any of them live.; the idea of freedom. 
 Not for this, however, is the present zeal for 
 religion a less remarkable sign of the times. 
 
 Another is, a proposition lately made in Charles 
 ton to remove the slave-market further from pub 
 lic observation. This acknowledgment, in such a 
 place, that there is something distasteful, or other 
 wise uncomfortable, in the sale of human beings, 
 js portentous. I was in that Charleston slave- 
 market ; and saw the sale of a woman with her 
 children. A person present Voluntarily assured 
 me that there was nothing whatever painful in the 
 sight. It appears, however, that the rest of Charles 
 ton thinks differently. 
 
 /^ I was witness to the occasional discussion of 
 
 f the question whether Congress has power to pro- 
 
 V hibit the internal slave trade ; and found that some 
 
 ^ very eminent men had no doubt whatever of such 
 
 N power being possessed by Congress, through the 
 
 1 clause which authorises it to " regulate com- 
 
 / merce among the several States." Among those 
 
 / who held this opinion were Mr. Madison and Mr. 
 
 [Webster. 
 
 f^ The rapid increase of the suffrage in the north, 
 compared with the south, affords an indication of 
 some speedy change of circumstances. Three 
 fifths of the slave population is represented; but 
 this basis of representation is so narrow in contrast 
 with that of the populous States where every man 
 has the suffrage, that the south must decrease and 
 the north increase, in a way which cannot long be 
 borne by the former. The south has no remedy 
 but in abolishing the institution by which her pros- 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 389 
 
 perity is injured, and her population comparatively 
 confined. She sees how it is in the two conti 
 guous States of Missouri and Illinois: that new 
 settlers examine Illinois, pass on into Missouri, 
 where land is much cheaper, and return to Illinois 
 to settle, because there is no slavery there : so that 
 the population is advancing incalculably faster in 
 Illinois than in Missouri. Missouri will soon and 
 easily find her remedy, in abolishing slavery ; when 
 the whites will rush in, as they now do into the 
 neighbouring States. In the south, the case is 
 more difficult. It will be long before white labour be 
 comes so reputable there as elsewhere ; and the pre 
 sent white residents cannot endure the idea of the 
 suffrage being freely given, within any assignable 
 time, to those who are now their slaves, or to their 
 dusky descendants. Yet this is what must be 
 done, sooner or later, with more or fewer precau 
 tions, if the south means to hold an important rank 
 in Congress. It is in contemplation of this diffi 
 culty that the loudest threats are heard of seces 
 sion from the Union ; a movement which, as I 
 have before said, would be immediately prevented, 
 or signally punished. The abolition of slavery is 
 the only resource. 
 
 Upon the most remarkable of all the signs of 
 the times relating to slavery, it is not neces-v 
 sary to say much. Those which I have men 
 tioned are surely enough to^how, as plainly as 
 if a ghoet had come from the grave to tell us, that 
 the time is at hand for the destruction of this mon 
 strous anomaly. What the issue of the coming 
 change will be is, to my mind, decided by a con 
 sideration on which almost every man is vociferat 
 ing his opinion, the character of the abolitionists. 
 
 It is obvious enough why this point is discussed so 
 widely and so constantly, that I think I may say I 
 heard more upon it, while I was in America, than 
 
390 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 upon all other American matters together. It is 
 clearly convenient to throw so weighty a question 
 as that of abolition back upon the aggregate cha 
 racters of those who propose it; convenient to 
 slave-holders, convenient to those in the north 
 whose sympathies are with slave-holders, or who 
 dread change, or who want an excuse to them 
 selves for not acting upon the principles which all 
 profess. The character of the abolitionists of the 
 United States has been the object of attack for 
 some years, of daily and hourly attack ; and, as 
 far as I know, there has been no defence; for 
 the plain reason that this is a question on which 
 there can be no middle party. All who are not 
 with the abolitionists are against them ; for silence 
 and inaction are public acquiescence in things as 
 they are. The case is, then, that everybody is 
 against them but their own body, whose testimony 
 would, of course, go for nothing, if it were offer 
 ed; which it never is. I know many of them well; 
 as every stranger in the country ought to take pains 
 to do. I first heard everything that could be 
 said against them : and afterwards became well ac- 
 ^quainted with a great number of them. 
 ( I think the abolitionists of the United States 
 3 the most reasonable set of people that I ever 
 1 knew to be united together for one object 
 Among them may be enjoyed the high and rare 
 luxury of having a reason renderedfor e^pry-a^f 
 performed, and every opinion maintainej. \ The 
 treatment they have met with compels them to 
 be more thoroughly informed, and more com 
 pletely assured on every point on which they 
 commit themselves, than is commonly considered 
 necessary on the right side of a question, where 
 there is the strength of a mighty principle to 
 repose upon. The commonest charge against them 
 is that they are fanatical. I think them, gene- 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 391 
 
 rally speaking, the most clear-headed, right-mind 
 ed class I ever had intercourse with. Their ac 
 curacy about dates, numbers, and all such mat 
 ters of fact, is as remarkable as their clear per 
 ception of the principles on which they proceed. 
 They are, however, remarkably deficient in poli 
 cy, in party address. They are artless to a fault; 
 and probably, no party, religious, political, or be 
 nevolent, in their country, ever was formed and 
 conducted with so little dexterity, shrewdness, and 
 concert. Noble and imperishable as their object 
 is, it would probably, from this cause, have slipped 
 through their fingers for the present, if it had 
 not been for some other qualities common among 
 them. It is needless to say much of their heroism ; 
 of the strength of soul with which they await 
 and endure the inflictions with which they are vi 
 sited, day by day. Their position indicates all 
 this. Animating, as it is to witness, it is less 
 touching than the qualities to which they owe the 
 success which would otherwise have been forfeited 
 through their want of address and party organisa 
 tion. A spirit of meekness, of mutual forbear 
 ance, of mutual reverence, runs through the 
 whole body ; and by this are selfish considerations 
 put aside, differences composed, and distrusts ob 
 viated, to a degree which I never hoped to witness 
 among a society as various as the sects, parties and 
 opinions which are the elements of the whole com 
 munity. With the gaiety of heart belonging to 
 those who have cast aside every weight; with the 
 strength of soul proper to those who walk by faith ; 
 with the child-like unconsciousness of the inno 
 cent ; living from hour to hour in the light of that 
 greatest of all purposes, to achieve a distant ob 
 ject by the fulfilment of the nearest duty, and 
 therefore rooting out from among themselves all 
 aristocratic tendencies and usages, rarely speaking 
 
392 RURAL LABOUR. 
 
 of their own sufferings and sacrifices, but in ho 
 nour preferring one another, how can they fail to 
 win over the heart of society, that great heart, 
 sympathising with all that is lofty and true?* 
 
 As was said to me, " the Searcher of hearts is 
 passing through the land, and every one must 
 come forth to the ordeal." This Searcher of 
 hearts comes now in the form of the mighty prin 
 ciple of human freedom. If a glance is cast over 
 the assemblage called to the ordeal, how mean and 
 trivial are the vociferations in defence of property, 
 the threats of revenge for light, the boast of phy 
 sical force, the appeal to the compromises which 
 constitute the defects of human law ! How low and 
 how sad appear the mercenary interests, the social 
 fears, the clerical blindness or cowardice, the mor 
 bid fastidiousness of those who, professing the 
 same principles with the abolitionists, are bent 
 upon keeping those principles for ever an abstrac 
 tion ! How inspiring is it to see that the community 
 is, notwithstanding all this, sound at the core, and 
 that the soundness is spreading so fast that the health 
 of the whole community may be ultimately looked 
 for ! When a glance shows us all this, and that the 
 abolitionists are no more elated by their present 
 success than they were depressed by their almost 
 hopeless degradation, we may fairly consider the 
 
 * It may, at the first glance, appear improbable that such a cha 
 racter as this should belong to any collection of individuals. But 
 let it be remembered what the object is ; an object which selects 
 for its first supporters the choicest spirits of society. These 
 choice spirits, again, are disciplined by what tbey have to undergo 
 for their object, till they come out such as I have described them. 
 Their s is not a common charitable institution, whose committees 
 meet, and do creditable business, and depart homewards in peace. 
 They are the confessors of the martyr-age of America. As a mat 
 ter of course, their character will be less distinctive as their num 
 bers increase. Many are coming in, and more will come in, who 
 had not strength, or light, or warmth enough to join them in the 
 days of their insignificance. 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 393 
 
 
 
 character of the abolitionists a decisive sign of the 
 times, a peculiarly distinct prophecy that the co 
 loured race will soon pass from under the yoke. 
 The Searcher of hearts brings prophecies in his 
 hand, which those who will may read.* 
 
 I cannot give much space to the theories which 
 are current as to what the issue will be if the abo 
 lition of slavery should not take place. To me it 
 seems pretty clear, when the great amount of the 
 mulatto population is considered. Within an al 
 most calculable time, the population would be 
 wholly mulatto ; and the southern States would be 
 in a condition so far inferior to the northern, that 
 they would probably separate, and live under a 
 different form of government. A military despo 
 tism might probably be established when the mix 
 ture of colours had become inconvenient, without 
 being universal : slavery would afterwards die out, 
 through the general degradation of society; and 
 then the community would begin again to rise, 
 from a very low point. But it will be seen that I 
 do not anticipate that there will be room or time 
 for this set of circumstances to take place. I say 
 this in the knowledge of the fact that a very per 
 ceptible tinge of negro blood is visible in some of 
 the first families of Louisiana ; a fact learned from 
 residents of high quality on the spot. 
 
 * While I write, confirmation comes in the shape of Governor 
 M Duffle s message to the legislature of South Carolina, in which 
 he speaks of the vast and accelerated spread of abolition princi 
 ples ; of the probability that slavery in the District of Columbia 
 will be soon abolished ; and of the pressing occasion that thence 
 arises for South Carolina to resolve what she shall do, rather than 
 part with her domestic institutions. He recommends her to de 
 clare her intention of peaceably withdrawing from the Union, in 
 such a case. Time will show whether the majority of her citi 
 zens will prefer sacrificing their connexion with the Union, or 
 their slavery ; whether the separation will be allowed by the other 
 States to take place ; or, if it be, whether South Carolina will not 
 speedily desire a readmission. 
 
 s 5 
 
394 KURAL LABOUR. 
 
 ^ How stands the case, finally ?|r-A large propor 
 tion of the labour of the United ^States is held on 
 principles wholly irreconcilable with the principles 
 of the constitution : whatever may be true about 
 its origin, it is now inefficient, wasteful, destruc 
 tive, to a degree which must soon cause a change 
 of plan : some who see the necessity of such a 
 change, are in favour of reversing the original po 
 licy ; slavery having once been begun in order to 
 till the land, they are now for usurping a new ter 
 ritory in order to employ their slaves : others are 
 for banishing the labour which is the one thing 
 most needful to their country, in every way^/J^hile 
 all this confusion and mismanagement exist, here 
 is the labour, actually on the land, ready to be 
 employed to better purpose ; and in the treasury 
 are the funds by which the transmutation of slave 
 into free labour might be effected, at once in the 
 District of Columbia; and by subsequent arrange 
 ments in the slave States. Many matters of detail 
 would have to be settled : the distribution would be 
 difficult ; but it is not impossible. Virginia, whose 
 revenue is derived from the rearing of slaves for the 
 south, whose property is the beings themselves, 
 and not their labour, must, in justice, receive a 
 larger compensation than such States as Alabama 
 and Louisiana, where the labour is the wealth, and 
 which would be therefore immediately enriched by 
 the improvement in the quality of the labour which 
 would follow upon emancipation. Such arrange 
 ments may be difficult to make ; but " when there s 
 a will there s a way ;" and when it is generally per 
 ceived that the abolition of slavery must take 
 place, the great principle will not long be allowed 
 to lie in fetters of detail. The Americans have 
 done more difficult things than this ; though as 
 suredly none greater. The restoration of two mil 
 lions and a half of people to their human rights 
 
RURAL LABOUR. 395 
 
 will be as great a deed as the history of the world 
 will probably ever have to exhibit. In none of its 
 pages are there names more lustrous than those of 
 the clear-eyed and fiery-hearted few who began 
 and are achieving the virtuous revolution. 
 
 END OF VOL, I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 ZBOTSON AMD PALMER, PRINTSRS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND. 
 

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