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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. errata to pelure, >n A n 32X 1 2 3 t 2 3 4 5 6 f 1^ AMERICA, AND AMERICAN METHODISM. i'-i f /^i \\ I ' \ ma -l- HiimriiiyiliiiiiiluyiSiity' < m '■ifl. o o < M en « O H U V6 en O II w *'y & AM cure A, >'kl') .VMEHK^VN MKTIIODISM. If '•;;)' KEV. r!tV.J)l,KI<'K 1 J.M\AIUil':NT, ;i> JX, or DAl/ITMOliE, A.NP TllK RKV. JOHN ]iA.NiNA.U, i» 1)., Ikistrnttti Uam C^viclnal ^-I'thiu-s b'u tbv I^uthor. i ih !,. (^'■■^■^^; I'E, EMMINS, ^' To ^-, JOHN STUEET. I** r ?hr \ j^ I •*' t^ ^^^■ I 1 AMERICA, AND AMERICAN METHODISM. BY THE REV. FREDERICK J. JOBSON. •WITH PREFATORY LETTERS BT THE REV. THOMAS B. SARGENT, D.D., OF BALTIMORE, AND THE REV. JOHN HANNAH, D.D., RIPMSBmATIVE FROM TQE BRITUH CONFERENCE IN TUB TEARS 1824 AND 1856. f lUnstrattb from Anginal ^hit^es bg t^t ^ut^or. .^ NEW YORK: VIRTUE, EMMINS, & CO., 26, JOHN STREET. 1857. ^ \^(o - "l^^oZ, ^rs^\^ LONDON : JAMKM 8. VlllTCi:, PIll.NTEIl, CITY KOAO. \\ w B. ^^^M TO MY WIFE, MRS. ELIZABETH JOBSOX, ^tst f dtns, (I w ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TO HER PROM AMERICA., AND NOW PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND, ARE HEREBY DEDICATED BT HER DEVOTED HUSBAND. Bastbbook, Bradfokd, Yorkshibe, Juljf 1, 1857. ^ ■■■■ i 244047 u l,'^. \ LETTER FROM THE RKV. TIIOS. B, SARGENT. D.D., OF THE METHODIST KPISCOPAI- CHUnCH, BALTIMORE. Baltimore, Maryland, U. S., May 9, 1857. To the Rev. Frederick J. Jobson, Bradford, Yorkshire, England. Beloved BROTHMi in Christ Jesus, I leam that vou have written a book on "America, and American Methodism, and I am eagerly looking for its arrival here, — not doubting that, like the former productions of your pen and pencil, it will contain vigorous and life-like representations of the subjects to which it relates. In the earnest desire to see and read your book, I am not alone ; the many thousands who recently heard vou and my earlv friend, the llev. Dr. Hannah, in the "Western, Eastern, and Middle States of our Republic, and who, with many thousands more in all parts, even to Oregon and California, have since read the reports of the addresses wliich in succession you delivered concerning us to your brethren in the British Conference at Bristol, anxiously await with me the coming of your book. Having had the honour of accompanying my ever revered friend. Bishop Soule, to the British Conference of 1842, and mingling freely with English Methodists on their own ground, I cherish the deepest interest in whatever relates to the umon of two great sections of Methodism. Pleasant, indeed, arc the remembrances of my inter- course and associations with English Methodist ministers and their people ! How often, since my return to my own country, have 1 recurred in thought to the more intimate fraternal associations I had with you and other younger ministers (as then accounted) of the body m England's great metropolis. And when I found that you were appointed, with Dr. Hannah, to attend the General Confei'cnce of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, I rejoiced with ex- ceeding great joy. Such interchanges of ministers from the two sides of tne Atlantic serve, I .am confident, to bind us more closely together, both as nations and churches; .and the publication of your views on "America, and American Methodism," I have no doubt, will strengthen the bond between us. \ I LETTER FROM THE REV. DR SARGENT. It is, perhaps, too much to expect from a passing visitor that he will fuUy represent us in all respects. Of this, nowever, I am sure you will not, as too many English tourists have done, wilfully misrepresent us ; you will at least try to do justice to '* Brother Jonathan." It has been said that " foreign books concerning us are read with equal avidity, whether they do us justice or injustice — whether they extol us or abuse us ;" and old Christopher North averred (and who should know better than he ?), that " the Yankees loved to be thrashed," and that a book or magazine (Blackwood's, for instance) " sells all the better for having a spice of abuse in it occasionally." It may be so : Brotiier Jonathan may even like to be thrashed with the pen (for abuse in any more serious form he is not so willing to submit to), and if so, he has assuredly had much of what he likes, for un- doubtedly English writers on America have not flattered us. In too many instances they have sought to find reasons for complaint against us ; they have magnified petty deviations* from their own customs, and have so exaggerated national peculiarities as to set them forth as serious breaches, not oidy of good taste, but of sound morals. Dr. Dixon, in his book of broad, deep views, did not so treat us ; he evidently put a candid and fair construction upon us and upon our institutions — except in relation to the vexed question of Slavery and Prison Discipline, which a foreigner travelling among us cannot fully comprehend. And I have no doubt that in your fortlicoming volume you will be equally candid towards us, ana, to use two significant words I first learned in yoiir own country, that it will oe both "taking" and "telling." It is somewhat strange that so little has been written and pub- lished bv the parties who have through succeeding periods sustained, fiersonally, the friendly and fraternal relation of appointed delegates from the American and English Methodist Churches. The Kev. John (afterwaids Bishop) Emory's " Impressions " of 1820, appeared in 1841, in a short chapter of his Memoirs, five years after his sud- den and mysterious removal. The Letters of the venerable Bichard Reece, in 1824, and of the llev. William Lord, in 1836, found a place only in your Methodist Magazine, and were almost wholly unread liere. The late Dr. Cayscrs (subsequently bishop of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, Soutii, whose resemblance to tue " saintly Fletcher " was as remarkable as that of Bishop Soule to the Duke of Welling- ton) published nothing in relation to his sojourn in your blessed land m the year 1828. Dr. Fisk devoted only one chapter of his large volume on Europe to his Viission to the British Conference in iSiiO. Dr. Newton condensed his observations on America into eloquent speeches, with which he delighted audiences throughout the United Kingdom, Bishop Soulc wrote a few letters for tlie Chns- iian Adrocaies of New York and Cincinnati, but was compelled, by the pressure of episcopal duties, to suspend them ; so that Dr. Dixon has hitherto been the chief writer among the messengers of our ':"r '^•- LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. SAUGENT. cbu* 3. You will, I doubt not, secure an honourable place in Rsso .Ion with him; and will, after your own manner, forge and fosl.ioo another link in that golden chain of "Christian unity and oneness " for Wesleyan Methodism " all tlie world over," as our mutual friend, tha Rev. John Scott, happily expressed it in your last Conference. Such publications are at least IFesleyan in their object ; for Mr. Wesley, in the last letter he sent to our continent, and within a month of his death, plainly expressed his view on the desirableness of making known in England what God, by Methodism, has done in America. That letter, which bears the date of " near London, February 1st, 1791," was sent to the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, of Philadelphia, and is carefully preserved among us. Its conclusion is in the following words : — " We want some of you lo give us a connected relation of what the Lord has been doing in America from the time that Richard Boardman accepted the invitation, and left his country to serve you. See that you never give place to one thought of separating from your brethren in Europe. Lose no opportunity of declaring to all men that the Methodists are one people in all the world, and that it is their full determination so to continue — Though mountains rise and oceans roll To sever us in vain. To the care of our common Lord I commit you, and am " Your affectionate friend and brother, "John Wesley." When our venerable founder inserted, without the marks of quo- tation, the above precious couplet from the fifty-second and last of the " Hymns for those that seek and those that have Redemption in the blood of Jesus Christ," published in 1746, — a couplet which has been a watchword of Methodism for more than a centenary of years, — he might have added a double verse, with the same sentiments, from the 237th hymn of the second volume of " Hymns and Sacred Poems, by Charles Wesley, a.d. 1749," and which you have omitted from the 487th hymn,— " Breathes as in us both one soul When most distinct in place — Inter))osing ' oceans ' roll, Nor hinder our ' embrace ; ' Each as on Ids ' mountain ' stands Reaching hearts across tlie flood, Join our liearts if not our iiands, And sing the pardoning Gud." What an accomplishment of this poetic prophecy have you seen in the General Conference of Indianapolis, whore you exchanged fra- ternal salutations and greetings with more than 200 delegates from States which extend From the shores of the two great oceans, }■■■ V \ LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. SARGENT. and over the slopes of the two great mountain chains. These were seen in " embrace " with deputies from England and Ireland, from Germany and from Canada, while the converted Indian stood in the midst of us, to relate with tears wliat God had done for him and for his people ! And so in your own Conference at Bristol, when the mother Church of Methodism gathered her children from all parts of the world so numerously around her, and heard them tell of what God was doing by his servants, not only in her own land, but also in Ireland, France, Canada, Australia, and in the United States of America! These, both here and in your own assembly, were all " likeminded one towards another, according to Christ Jesus ; with one mind and one mouth glorifying God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! " Our late General Conference, after vour departure, gave evidence of its desire to maintain the union wuich so happily exists between British and American Methodism, by appointing Bishop Simpson, one of the " seven stars " of our churclies, and the eloquent and learned Dr. M'Clintock, to convey to their fathers and brethren, both in England and dear old Ireland, our Christian and filial saluta- tions. And let us earnestly hope, and believingly pray, that Wes- leyan Methodism " all the world over " may contmue one ; for there is one body and one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling ; " one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all." In the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, I am, My dear Brother in the Lord, Yours ever afifectionately, THOMAS B. SARGENT. \ t y 3 H^' 1 I "p;/ PREFACE. lENT. I WAS unexpectedly appointed, by the Wesleyan Con- ference assembled at Leeds, in August, 1855, to ac- company the Rev. John Hannah, D.D., to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America, which was to open its sessions at Indiana- polis, in the valley of the Mississippi, on the 1st of May, 1856. On receiving this appointment, I ar- ranged for my wife's willing participation in our voyage. But this agreeable arrangement had to be given up before the time for my departure arrived. On account of the severe affliction of her aged mother, I had to leave Mrs. Jobson in England. So for my own relief, as well as for the sake of my wife, I wrote home, from different points of our long travel, as fre- quently and as fully as circumstances would allow. The following Letters, in substance and in most of their particulars, were thus written home; and, at the time, without the purpose of publication. I pub- lish them now, not only because friends of sound judg- ment and experience advise it, but for reasons which vgm Vlll PREFACE. seem to me to render their publication, in a great degree, a necessity and a duty. From the numerous inquiries made of me since my return, and urgent requests to speak and lecture on America, I should, if I were to answer all the inquiries, and yield to all the requests, be in danger of neglecting my ministerial charge. To end this difficulty, and because an account seems due to the ministers and churches in whose name I went, I respectfully present the account in this form. The false views which are entertained by many in England, through the reading of books containing caricatures rather than true portraits of America, also determine me to publish these Letters. I humbly hope they may tend to correct such views, at least, in the minds of some. Though written in connection with a particular object, — the interchange of Christian and friendly salutations by kindred churches, — still the following sketches, I trust, will prove of some interest to gene- ral readers, as well as to English and American Me- thodists. They present, at least, frank outlines of the people and their manners, of the cities, scenery, and resources of America, as well as of its Methodism. I have striven to place the truth before readers, and if I fail it is not for want of purity of intent. I must, of course, anticipate one objection to these sketches, — that they are the production of a mere visitor to a great country, and not of one long resident "^ PREFACE. k in it, and therefore not likely to have sound impres- sions of it. But I reply that the true characteristics of a people and of a country are often best seen by fresh eyes, and that they often lose force by long familiarity, so as to render failings undistinguishable from weak excellences. The best impressions from an engraved plate are those taken while it is new, and while the lines are fresh and clear. So it is with impressions from the mind, especially when they have been placed on paper amid the scenes and objects described. The poet Gray — no dull observer himself — has said that a word written on the spot is worth a cart-load of recol- lections. The saying encourages me to hope for a cordial acceptance of these sketchea with the general reader, as well as with my Methodist brethren. And I congratulate myself that I have so far succeeded as to satisfy the mind of the Kev. Dr. Hannah, with its delicate appreciations. He having been present with me in the scenes described, has at my requesi read the Letters, that, if necessary, he might correct me in any erroneous view I might have taken. The following is his letter upon what I have written. F. J. J. I i 1 , * ^ ■MMU <*mmimm \ \ DID8BURY, Manchestkb, April 20M, 1857. My dear Mr. Jobson, — I have read your Letters on " America, and American Methodism " with great satis- faction, and beg to express my personal thanks to you for the care and pains which you have taken in the preparation of them. They vividly recall to mind the scenes and events through which we passed in our late happy companionship, and which were of too extra- ordinary a character ever to be forgotten. To the fidelity of your descriptions, as well as to their beauty and force, I give my willing testimony. You v/ill also permit me to mention the peculiar gratification which you have aflforded to me in what you relate of the Methodist Episcopal Church generally, of the ever dear and honoured ministers and friends with whom we enjoyed so pleasing a fellowship, and of the virtues and lives of exemplary saints departed. I follow you with affectionate sympathy in the details which you supply of the enthralled negro race, and of the Indian tribes, now, alas ! so visibly fading away. The composition of your Letters, with their genial tone and spirit, will, I doubt not, commend them to your readers of every class. And I trust that the effect of the whole will prove to be auxiliary to that closer fraternal union between the two large families of Methodism, which it was the object of our mission to promote ; while it will not be unfriendly to a freer interchange of kindly sentiments and feelings between the two chief communities of the Anglo-Saxon race. Believe me to be, my dear Mr. Jobson, Yours ever, most truly, John Hannah. To the Rev. Frederick J, Jobson. '^ CONTENTS. LETTER I. VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. Departure from Liverpool — Passage down the Mersey and into the Irish Sea — Early Anxiety and Discomfort of Voyagers — First Dinner "on Board" — The "Africa" Steamship and its Accommo- dations — Sinipft- • nionthip with Atbury — Pleasing (!anip-nici'tin(; Scene — M'l eii- drec'g l*arcwcli to hit Brethren — Mis last l)ny» and happy Departure — Bishop Oeorjre — Habits of Prayer — Powers as a Preaeher — Kindliness of Spirit — Ancedote of the Young Preaeher and the Bishop — Freeborn (inrrcttson — His hnppy Fiiee and hiippy (-'harnc- ter — Remarkable Conversion — Sets Free his Negroes — Ills Ministry — Suffering for Christ — Pleasant old Age — Rapturous Death — Jesse Ijee — Bishop Roberts — Bishop Iledding — Bishop Emory — John Easter— Dr. Stephen Oliu, &c 17? LETTER XII. THE OENEKAL CONFEnENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. Appearanee of the Assembly — The Bishops — The Delegates fVom the For West — Patriarchal liabourers — Their Jealousy of Declension — Style of their Oratory — Dr. Jacob Young — Dr. Peter C rtwright, or "Uncle Peter" — His Preaching — Strange Anecdote — "Father Fin- ley" — His Tndian Labours — Sipiire " Grey Eyes," the Indian Preacher — Affecting Scene in the Conference — Order and Court* ay of the Conference — Its Reception uf Foreign Reprcsuutatives . . . 202 LETTER XIII. THE GENFnA;. CONEERENrE AT INDIANAPOLIS. Election of ofTicers —Culling the Roll of Delegates — Appointment of Committees — Opi iiing Aildress of the Bishops — Statistics of Ame- rican Methodism — Education and Literature — Coloured People's College — Periodicals — Missions to the Far West — To the Indians — To Settlers from Germany, the North of Europe, &c. — To Liberia, to Sweden, Norway, &c. &c. — Status of Methodism in America — The new Proposition respecting Slave-holding Members — Judgment of the Bishops thereon 220 LETTER XIV. 4 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. Conference Business — Nnturc of Committees and ihi'n Afnde of Proce- dure — Chief Subjects 01 Interest in the Pro. "i'Ii\i>, >.' \ uferencc New Metropolitan Church for New York — I in hiole Jiiuse — Cause of Religious Education — Appeals from Censured and Expelled Minis- ters — Extension of Time for a Minister's Stay in a ('ircuit — Dis- cussion respecting the Office of "Presiding Elder" — Grand Debate respecting Slevery 236 ^ .# -".-*•—•»*.*•-'••»- CONTENTS. X? LETTER XV. iI,\VBRY IN AMKllICA. PMS Modified Chnrnclpr of >i)»vt'i7 lu fowu^ Eiiortiiity (?C its Evil* in (he South, and (III the IMantiUi 'is —Its (;ornt|»tiiiK IuHihiicch 'ii»lh on the KitiiiilicN »< Slaveholili ii* uiiii nu the Sikvi'x S(i|ihiMiif. Iliiik Slnvc* urv " llimpy mnl t'ontciiti'il," exjc ''I'tl, and also tlic a.ssi riM»n that thfir Ooiiditioii in Ah'iIo^oum to that ol' the finfflish ()|)c>raliv — Nationally Disorgauijiintr d ndeiieif* of Slnvory — Uopis for lis Kxtcr- minulion from uxistini; Agencies: »nd C imHdciife that it will lie brought to au End, fouiidud on the Diviuc Character 252 LETTER XVL TUB NORTH AMERICAN INDIAXJI. Tcculinr Look of the RacT — Mongulian Di-sccnt^Noldc Oritrinal Qua- lities — IIoH|)itality and Uravrry — IVgnidcd State of Mnmun — Ita- pidly decreasing nuiiibcr of Red Men — ChriKtiiin LaUmi';r« among ihem — John Stewart, the Negro — Father Fiiiley- ImJiini ('onverts and Prcaehcrs — Remarkuhle Oeeurrenec among ll\- " i'livl Head" Indians — Kanishment of the Red Raec to the Far ^Vest — Melan- choly Prospect of their Extinction 271 LETTER XVII. THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. Our "Farewell" to the Conference, and Departure from Imfinnapolis— Railway to St. Louis — Forests and Prairies— GiL'aii tie Sen <• of Ame- rican Scenery — Rapid Glance at St. Louis — Enilmrknu at on the Mississippi — Confluence with the Missouri — River Scenery Magnifi- cent Night Scene — Importance of the " Valley of the Mi88i->iiipi " — River Steamer and Company — " Snags" and " Sawyers"— ^([uatting Wood-Cutters — The Mi88is8i2)pi by Night — Lauding at Qui uy . . 287 LETTER XVIII. PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, AND THE GREAT --AKES. Departure from Quiucy — The Prairie — Prairie Fires — Richn "ss of Prairie Soil — Destruction of Cattle on American Railways- "Off the Line" — General Tom Thumb — Neighbourhood of Nauxoo — Thoughts on Murnionism — Its Future in the Stales — Chiciiw — Amazing Rapidity of its Growth — Meeting with Friends — Drive round the City — Magical haste with which People get Rich in Chi- cago—Family Party — The Lady's Question — Departure from Chi- cago- Arrival at Detroit — Sabbath spent there — Account of Churrhes •«d Services— Voyage to Ruffalo — The Great Lakes of America — Sketch of Buffalo City — Arrival at Niagara 306 t i XVI CONTENTS. PAGB 327 LETTER XIX. THE PALLS OF NIAGAEA. Source of the Falls from the Gn^at Lakes — The River of Niagara — The Whirlpool— The Kapids— Goat Island— The American Fall- Luna Island— The Middle Fall — The Canada, or, "Horse-shoe" Fall — Uttrogressiou of the Falls according to Geologists — View of the Falls from the Hotel Balcony — View of the River Bank — From " I'rospect Place " — From the IJridge over the Rapids — Landing on Goat Island — "Prospect Tower"— The "Cave of Winds"— The Falls by Moonlight — Legends and Tales of Horror respecting the Falls ~ LETTER XX. CANADA. — WESLEYAN CONFEREXCB AT BKOCKVILLE. Railway from the Falls along the Line of the Niagara River — Lake On- tario — Arrival at Toronto — Metliodist Friends — Sabbath Services at Toronto — Sketch of Toronto — Great Normal Schools — Dr. Ryersou — Illness of Peter Jones, or " Kahkcwaquonaby," the Methodist Indian Chief — Canadian Parliament — Mackenzie, and Scene in the House of Representatives — Loyal Attachment of Canada to England — Lake Ontario, the "Thousand Islands," and the St. Lawrence — Arrival at Brockville — Proceedings of the Conference — Railways in Canada — Resources and Prosperity of the Country — Arrival at Montreal . . 349 LETTER XXI. LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. Departure froni Montreal— Railway-ticket Sharpers — Beauty of Lake Champluin — Town of Burlington — Brief Separation from Dr. Hannah — State of INIassachusets — Its English Features — Glance at its History — Boston — Sketch of the City — Wooden Bridges — State House — Chantrey's Statue of Washington — Faneuil Hall — Ancient "Timber Houses" — Public Buildings and Moimments — Ascendancy of Unitarianisuj — Theodore Parker — Departure from Boston — The Infidel in the Railway Car — Striking Scenery — Albany — Description of the City — Chwches and Sects — 'Phe Shakers — Sabbath in Albany 865 LETTER XXII. HUDSON RIVER, BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. Scenery of the Hudson— The "Crow's Nest"— Tappan's Bay— The "Palisades" — Hills of Hoboken — Refm-n to New York — Visit to Brooklyn — Dr. Hannah's Sermon, and Farewell of Methodist Friends in New York — Re embarkment onboard the J/rtca — Voyage Home- wards — Passengers — Sabbath Services on board — Singing — Laud in Sight — Summary of Thoughts on America 382 Appendix. Report on Slavery 396 -— «. J.* »- '^ ♦-i**"^ AMERICA, AND AMERICAIf METHODISM. LETTER I. VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. "Departure from Liverpool — Passage down the Mersey and into the Irish Sea — Early Anxiety and Discomfort of Voyagers — First Dinner "on Board" — The " Africa" Steamship and its Accommodations — Sketch of Character among Passengers — The Atlantic — Perilous Storm — Awful Night Scene — Claims of Seamen for Remembrance — Sabbath Service — The Gulf Stream — Dangerous Fog — Sudden transition into Smooth Water — New York Bay. Atlantic Ocean. The ^^ Africa" steamship, ^/)n717— 19, 1856. By the good providence of God we are now approach- •ing the American shores. The sea is smoother than it was during the former part of our passage ; and, as I have now more leisure than I shall be likely to find immediately after landing, I write for you, on board, a letter on our voyage across the Atlantic. On separating from you and the many kind friends i who accompanied us to the steamship, on the morning I of April 5th, I felt, for a time, a sense of desolation [such as I never experienced before. I had heart-yearn- [ings towards home and Old England that cannot be [escribed. \ et I remembered, as the anchor was raised, B 1 \ VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. and the paddle-wheels began to move, that some of the emigrants on deck, and some of their friends on shore, must be experiencing deeper pangs of separation ; such as the Prophet of Sorrows may be said to describe, when he says — " Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him ; but weep sore for him that goeth away : for he shall return no more, nor see his native country." I lingered long against the back rail of the vessel, looking upon you and our friends, until all dwindled to mere cpecks ; and at length Liverpool itself faded from my view. Dr. Hannah, with his own considerate and fatherly kindness, took my arm, drew me towards him for a walk on deck, and spoke most encouragingly of the presence of God, both with us and with those we had left on land. This turned my mind to the unfailing Source of strength and consolation; and with prayers to heaven for you, and for my people in Bradford, my heart gradually disburdened itself, so that I could enter into conversation on what was before us in our voyage and mission. Our passage down the Mersey was favourable ; the sun shone brightly upon us ; a sharp, brisk breeze filled our sails ; and, borne onwards both by wind and steam, we speedily cut our way out of the river's mouth, and stood out to sea. For a time the water was comparatively smooth, and most of the passengers were seen walking to and fro upon the deck ; but as we increased our distance from land the water became more and more broken, and the walking of passengers sensibly diminished. And now, at intervals, the ship began to lurch, so as to make this diminished number halt in their movements, and stagger in all directions before they could regain their balance. Earnest questions were proposed by many to the captain VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. 8 some of the Is on shore, ation; such jcribe, when her bemoan way : for he jountry." 1 jssel, looking died to mere ied from my isiderate and I towards him ouragingly of vith those we the unfailing with prayers (Bradford, my I could enter in our voyage Mersey was us ; a sharp, wards both by ay out of the and other officers concerning the prospects of the weather and the voyage ; and as eager were the in- quiries made by the passengers among themselves, as to their being "good sailors." The captain and his men showed the most considerate patience in answering the same questions again and again. Some of the pas- sengers shook their heads in doubt of what would be their fate as to sea-sickness ; but others expressed them- selves more confidently, and told how often they had been to sea without suffering any discomfort whatever. Soon, however, several of these more confident sailors began to lose the colour from their cheeks and lips, and an ashy paleness spread itself over their faces ; while cushioned seats, carpet-stools, caps, and cloaks came into great request. AYith the more bilious of our fellow-passengers, sea-sickness had already com- menced ; and some of them, hastening to their berths below, disappeared altogether from our view. The weather gave signs of change, hazy clouds spread over- head ; Snowdon and the Welsh mountains on our left were still bathed in sunshine, but the great Lancashire sand-bank on our right grew dark and grim, while the sea lost its translucent green, and partook largely of the grey, leaden aspect of the sky. At four o'clock the dinner-bell rang, when as many of us as were able crowded into the large, sumptuous saloon; and we arranged ourselves at the two long tables. Thj provisions were good and most abundant. The company seemed eager for their first meal on board ; and many were the observations we overheard as to what was safest and best to be eaten and drunk at Soon, however, our number at the tables w^as ,pf sea. thinned. As the smoking viands were brought in by 4 VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. the steward and his assistants, and placed before the guests, one after another of them suddenly clutched his hat, and unceremoniously hurried away into the open air. Strong, sturdy-looking men, who had evidently braved many a danger on land, grew deathly pale at the sight of a boiled fish, or a pair of headless fowls ; and even stern, moustachioed soldiers fled at the sight of the boiled leg of a dead sheep. To me, who have happily been entirely free from sea-sickness all the way, it has been somewhat curious to observe how several of those who sat down with us at that first day's meal, and seemed so earnest in claiming their place at table, have ever since most scrupulously shunned the saloon at dinner-hour — fleeing from it before the very first note of the bell was heard. Some who were with us on the deck, and in high spirits when we started, have confined themselves to their berths, from their sudden disappearance on that first day of our voyage until the present, when we are getting into smooth water again. So that, if one had not seen them at the beginning, it would now be natural to suppose that, in the last night, we had made an unknown call on. our way, and had received on board a large increase of company. But no ; from the first sharp turn of our paddle-wheels in the river Mersey, at twelve o'clock at noon on Saturday, the 5th of April, the ponderous engine has never ceased its regular and powerful movement; and crowded as the decks are now, we have not one more person on board than we had at our departure. Happily, I can add, that we have not one less: of the 300 souls or more that left Liverpool with us, all are still living, by the gracious providence of Almighty God. It is to be remarked, that the greater number of VOYAGE OVER THE ATLA^'TIO. sufferers from sea-sickness, in a voyage like this from England, are foreigners. One reason for this is no doubt to be found in the greasy vegetable mixtures they take at their meals, in the place of more substan- tial food. And of all pitiable objects to be seen any- where, most assuredly there is not one more so than a sea-sick foreigner, huddled up in cap and cloak by the ship's funnel, and expressing his bitter inward nausea by significant shrugs and grimaces. Indeed, notwithstanding all the fine things that have been written and sung of the sea, I am satisfied, from what I have seen and learned in this voyage, that it is not a cradle for physical ease and enjoyment. It is well for the interests of merchants and travellers that some men choose to spend their lives chiefly upon it. It must be the native love of enterprize, and, in some degree, delight in daring dangers, which impel seamen to their occupation. It cannot be the love of gain, for they are proverbially reckless of money generally. I suspect, however, that even seamen look to tho land for their highest gratification. Men usually think of heaven under the imagery of what is most joyous to them on earth; but I question whether any sailor ever imagined his heavenly Paradise to be at sea. But whatever the sea mav be to seamen, undoubtedly it is the scene of concentrated incon- veniences to landsmen; and is not to be resorted to by them for recreation and pleasure. Confined within the narrow range of the ship's decks by day, shut up in a closet-dungeon (miscalled a "state-cabin") by night, and where he has to squeeze himself within a straitened coffin-like berth, and to try to sleep in an unventilated atmosphere, while the heavy billows are thumping \ ^ \ \ b VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. under bim, and heavy sleepers are snoring around him, — the sea certainly is not the realisation of rest and free- dom, even for the best accommodated landsman voyager. All that could possibly be done for the relief and accommodation of passengers on board the Africa has really been done for them. Our ship is large and good ; she is well-shaped, tightly-built, and clean throughout. Our day-saloon is more than comfortable — it is really superb in its furniture and fittings. Our captain, whose name is " Shannon," is an able, watchful seaman ; and all the officers and sailors are orderly and obliging in the performance of their respective duties. The passengers, too, have been sociable and well- behaved. There is among them great diversity both of look and language. AYe have on board natives of nearly all parts of Europe, as well as persons from dif ferent parts of America. And yet we have had no disturbance or contention, but have every day assem- bled and sat together in the saloon as if we were in a peace-congress of nations. The only exception to this amicable association has been a renegade Englishman, who, with assumed swagger, tried to pass himself oft' for a native and enthusiastic American ; but this only afforded amusement, and produced no angry feeling. He has boastfully obtruded his opinions on the great superiority of America over all other countries before the company, until they instinctively combined to retort upon him, and to put him down ; but he proved to be a dextrous antagonist, and able to make his way, in one manner or another, out from the most closely encircling difficulties. For instance, a patriotic Canadian, contending for the superiority of the Eng- glish over the Americans, observed, " The English live Is VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. 7 longer." " True," said the other, " but that does not prove superiority; for the real reason for the shorter life of the Americans is, that having seen and done in the world all that can be seen and done in it sooner, they die and leave it sooner, having the sooner fulfilled their mission in it." This seemed to be the very climax of repartee on such a subject, and for a time the wordy strife was ended. There are several passengers of sufficient mark on board to render them memorable with me in after-life. There is a dark, soft, luscious-eyed Spaniard who is going out as consul to the States, and who has com- plained loudly of the fortnight's misery of sea-sickness which he has experienced ; there is a large, woolly- headed gentleman who has talked almost incessantly of what he has seen and learned of the relations of England and America; there is a medical officer re- tired from the service of the East India Company, and who, with his two military-looking sons, is proceeding to his estate in Canada ; there is a mild, placid gentle- man who, with his early-fading wife, is returning from a year's tour on the continent of Europe and in Egypt ; there are Mr. Virtue, the enterprising publisher, and his intelligent and agreeable lady, who are crossing the Atlantic for a three months' tour in the western world; there are Messrs. Bctts and Brassey, the great railway contractors, going out to superintend the completion of the trunk-line in Canada ; there is a tall, upright Quaker who, in company with his two sons, is on his way to attend a convention of Friends about to be held in Philadelphia ; there are dark, sallow-faced Spa- niards, with ample finger-rings and abundance of gold and jewelry, returning to Cuba; — these, and others of 8 VOYAGE OVER TUE ATLANTIC. mark and interest, have walked, conversed, and lounged together by day, and in the evening have grouped themselves together at the tables according to their respective tastes and amusements. But with all their great variety of character and pursuit, I have not heard or seen anything in their conduct censurable on the ground of morality; I have not witnessed any excessive drinking of wino or spirituous liquors; I have not heard a profane word spoken ; and, with the one ludicrous exception named, there has been an evident endeavour to be mutually agreeable. But the SEA — " the many-sounding sea," as Homer long since called it — has been the chief subject of my observation and thought since I began this voyage ; and it has alternately filled me with awe, with wonder, and with delight. At the present it is calm and placid — the undisturbed image of tranquillity and peace ; at other times h has been broken all around into heav- ing, tossing billows — the emblems of disquietude ; and anon I have seen it rise up in its stormy fury, and heave its mountain masses into the air and against the ship — as the dread sign of unappeasable and over- whelming wrath. In one part of our voyage it would be light green in colour, in another slate grey, in ano- ther deep indigo, and in another, when under heavy louring clouds, it would be a raven black. But, under every variety of aspect, and at all times, the sea has in it a living, undecaying freshness that cannot be seen elsewhere. It bears no signs of age or decline : un- like the mountains, rocks, and valleys of earth, it is unworn, while in its ceaseless motion it is a true emblem of life and immortality. VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. 9 Its vast extent of surface, its depth, and '^^ mediate connection with three of the larger section^ of the earth, all combine to render the Atlantic Ocean an incentive to large and stirring thoughts. It stretches from pole to pole, is from 2000 to 5000 miles wide, and covers an area of some 25,000,000 of square miles. It is the great highway of the civilised world ; the ordained course of missionaries and evangelists for the ends of the earth'; and the main outlet for intelligence, freedom, and philanthropy. It is, indeed, a divinely-honoured sea ; and is not to be crossed or contemplated without feelings of reverence. The name given to it by sailors, " the Great Pond," is too familiar, and grates on the sense of a thoughtful voyager. And oh, if this vast trough of waters could be suddenly drained, what a scene would be laid bare to view ! what ribs of solid granite, what foundations of the great deep, what treasures, what ruined spoils of death and destruction would be discovered ! It is esti- mated that on an average every eleventh seaman perishes in the water ; and that on this stormy Atlantic there are at least three wrecks per day. What secrets to be revealed at that great Easter of the universe, when " the sea shall give up her dead !" The huge swelling motion of this deep, wide ocean is also very impressive. The short, chopping waves of the Channel you and I have crossed together, in our visits to the European continent, are mere playthings when compared with the grand, giant- waves of the Atlantic. Free from interruption by obtruding cliffs and headlandd, it rolls its restraiuless masses of water on all sides round us with unimaginable breadth and grauacur. {Sometimes, under a grey, heavy sky, it has ut i \ 10 VOYAOE OVER THE ATLANTIC. a very stern and desolate appearance : it is then a very " wilderness of waters," — a grim, boundless, watery desert. Sea, sea, soa, and nothing but sea, appears everywhere, without any breaking light through the overhanging clouds to relieve it ; and the countless billows buttle violently with each other, and lift up their foamy crests on high, as if in proud, unchecked defiance. But as there is interest in the land-desert when viewed in its immensity, so there is in the bound- less desert of tlie sea. We were several days after we passed the south-west point of Ireland before we saw any object upon the water beyond our own vessel : no land, no ship, no craft of any kind. This engii«.'ling scene of solitary grandeur produced within us strong emotion. We have had, too, what I have long desired to wit- ness, a " storm at sea." It continued through several days and nights, and was fearfully sublime. Some of the passengers and sailors who had crossed the Atlantic several times before, declared they had not previously seen anything like it in the stre?'gth and violence of its fury. The heavens gathered the deepest blackness around us, until the sullen waters could be heard more than seen. The wind, for a time, sighed, and moaned, and howled, and made ghostly terrific noises among the ropes, and blocks, and chains of the ship's tackling, and amidst the innumerable caverns of the broken deep. At length the two elements of wind and water came into raging contact with each other, and then " the ground swell of the Atlantic" was awful ; it seemed to roll over the rugged floor of the great ocean like muffled thunder. Our ship, which in the Mersey seemed so large and stately, was tossed up and down, and to and fro, like a helpless sea-shell. She seemed VOYAOE OVER THE ATLANTIC. 11 suddenly struck in a hundred places at once, as if with heavy buttering- rams ; she literally shivered and trem- bled in every plunk and pin, until it appeared as if she must instantly break to pieces under us, and leave us to sink, as mere rain-drops, into the yawning element. Then, indeed, was the Psalmist's graphic description of mariners in a storm realised by us ; we mounted up to the heavens, went down again into the depths. Our huge vessel, with its immortal freight, " reeled to and fro, and staggered like a drunken man." But though shaken by the contending and enraged elements, our gallant ship breasted every swelling wave ihut met her, mounted bravely its mountain height, plunged down into the deep yawning gulph which followed, and, as if throbbing at the very heart with exultation in her con- scious strength, she heaved up and down her engine- beam, and still bounded forwards in her course. A steamship is indeed a grand triumph of science, and I have been tb inking of ours as a thing possessing human emotion ; but what a real heart of unuppalled courage there must have been in that immortal Genoese who crossed this untracked ocean in that frail bark, and led on his sailors, in spite of their prayers and threats, until his great thought and confidence were realised ! The storm at night was still more terrible than by day ; I remained on deck, and held by a rail, that I might view it fully. The sea at times leaped in heavy surges upon the ship at all sides ; then it run along the decks furiously, and roared with " the voice of many waters" as it passed along. The wind screamed and howled from above and all around us like ten thousand furies. Black masses of midnight darkness shrouded us in their pall, while the ship, as a goaded, infuriated 12 VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. I I r f sea -dragon, rushed mudly onwurds, and with fierce bright lights glcuming ut every aperture, seemed in- wardly full of fire. In such circumstiinces it required no great power of imagination to people the dark world of horrors around us with evil and tormenting spirits. If the " prince of the power of the air" had not then his triumph, the "storm-king of the Atlantic" wua putting forth his strength. My thoughts went to the land where, in some lonely cottage, bcliko the howling of the midnight wind was sliaking the widow's heart aa she lay sleepless on her bed, thinking of her prodigal son at sea, who — " Tliuugh tlic strained iiinst ttlinuld (|uivcr ns a rei-d. And tliu rent canvas Uuttcring struw the gale, Still must he ou." I also pictured, at that midnight hour, the shipwrecked mariner clinging to the floating fragments of his ruined vessel, and thinking, ero he sinks gurgling down into the deep, of his desired homo and dear ones. And perhaps, thought I, some mother's only son — aomo home-bound father or returning husband — is at this awful moment really in these desolate and hopeless circumstances, and is sending forth, amidst the fury of the storm, his dying moan of helplessness. " If so," I prayed, " Lord of the earth and sea, hear thou his solitary cry, and send him help from above." Indeed, my sympathy with seamen has greatly strengthened in this voyage. The bold, self-forgetful conduct of our sailors on board in the time of perilous storm, and their outspoken frankness on all occasions, have fully won me to them and to their class. If I am spared to return to my ministerial duties, I hope to lead my congregations to pray lor them more fro* . I VOYAUE OVER THE ATL^VNTIC. 13 fierce d iu- uired world pirits. b then " wua to the )wUng heart •odigal recked ruined n into And some |ut tliis ppeless ury of 80," I ou his greatly [•getful lerilous lasions, I am |ope to re fro- quently, and to remember in public prayers more cou- Btantly, *• all that do business in great waters." This duty to those who are far off upon the sea is, I fear, too much neglected by those who are upon land. Dr. Hannah and I were greatly interested in the Sabbath service wo have had on board. It was held in the large saloon, and was attended by most of the sailors, who were dressed in their best Sunday blue, and by nearly all the passengers from both ends of the vessel. The captain read tlio Tiiturgy in his rough, husky voice, with artless RimpHcity, and the officers, the men, and the passengers, responded in a devout and earnest manner. The " Prayer at Sea" was very affecting, and seemed to bo felt by many. At the con- clusion of the "prayers" I expounded the 23rd Psulin to the attentive congregation : and I was truly thank- ful to find so mingled a company thus ready to improve the Lord's-day by acts of public worship. This service gave me an introduction to almost all tho passengers, and since then I have had no inconsiderable portion of my time occupied with the imparting of instruction and comfort to the spiritually ignorant, the sorrowful, and afflicted - I have had also many pleasant and profitable hours in conversation and reading with Dr. JIannah. We together occupy one cabin, as you know ; and this is favourable to us in our seasons of religious retirement, as well as in other respects. I find the doctor a most congenial and instructive companion at all times, whether in the large saloon, on the open deck, or shut up within our narrow cabin. In addition to his en- gaging gentleness and goodness, he has a mind which is ever awake to the varying aspects of creation ; and ^ais / 11. VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. r 'i I ,1 his aptness at appropriate quotation, both from poetry and prose, is remarkable. It is impossible to be with him in close intercourse and not to love him. This voyage has been to me, in the variety of its scenes and circumstances, anything but monotonous. The least incident at sea excites interest : a passing sail, a floating log, a stray bird — whether on the wing, or resting buoyantly on the water — will assemble all the passengers on deck and engage them in earnest obser- vation. One day a poor little bird was attracted by the warmth of our engine chimney, and fell down within it ; and this incident was the subject of conver- sation with many, and that for days afterwards. This was pleasing, for tenderness towards such creatures is surely a proof of kindliness of disposition. The noon- day observations by the quadrant, and the admeasure- ment of our rate of travel by the knotted sounding-line let out at the ship's stern, have usually gathered many observers around the officers, and fu ^nished subjects for conversation. Some of the passengers altered their watches each day from starting, at twelve o'clock, putting them backwards. By this time we are a good part of five hours behind you in England ; and when we go to rest at night, it is almost time for you to be getting up in the morning. This circumstance must be borne in mind, if at any period we would realise in thought the probable occupations and circumstances of each other. When within a few hundred miles of the American ' coast, we became suddenly enveloped in a dense fog, which produced upon us, for the time, the effect of partial blindness. "We could not see even the sides of our ship ; and it seemed almost as if old Chaos were VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. 15 returning, and had begun again to brood on the face of the deep. This thick fog is produced by the cold air of the frozen regions in the north rushing down towards the south, and coming into contact with the warm air and vapour from the " Gulf Stream ;" very much after the manner in which the blinding mist is produced in a wash-house or scullery, when the hot vapour and cold air come into contact with each other. The Gulf Stream is, in fact, a river of warm water, 300 miles broad, flowing from the Gulf of Mexico in a swift current, past the banks of Newfoundland (where it produces fogs which last for weeks together), and then across the Atlantic to Europe. It does not mix wv;h the cold water in its passage, but runs side by side with it on either hand, dividing the sea and its inhabitants. The northern whales never pass through it to the south, and the sperm whales never cross it for the Arctic regions. It is this Gulf Stream which brings so much damp and vapour to England, and which gives to it, to the island of Madeira, and to Western Europe, their mild, moist, genial atmospheres. Liverpool, the port from which we sailed, and which is always open, is farther north than the harbour of St. John's, in New- foundland, which is mostly closed with ice in the month of June ; and it is this hot Gulf Stream, from America across the wide Atlantic to our shores, which makes tlie difference. This, too, determines the course of navi- gation over the Atlantic, especially on the voyage from America to England : skilful navigators take advantage of it, and steer their vessels in its swift-running waters ; so that, in returning home, we expect to be, with this advantage, several days less in crossing the Atlantic than we have been in coming over it this way. The li« h / 16 VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. sailors call sailing in the Gulf Stream " running down hill." They also call the stream itself "the weather- breeder," for it has much to do with the kind of weather found upon and near it. At times, most furious gales of wind sweep onward with its current; and when crossed by the cold wind from Labrador, it engenders thick and almost suffocating fog, such as we had in our course for several days. This fog produced a most remarkable change in the looks and spirits of the passengers. From being cheer- ful and buoyant, some became gloomy and morose. There were also strong apprehensions of danger with many, from floating icebergs, from collision with other vessels, and from sand-banks but thinly covered with water. And the recent loss of the Pacific steam- ship, supposed to have struck against an iceberg, was frequently named. On these accounts we had soundings taken and called out for hours together ; and we had by day and night, about every five minutes, the horrid screeching of a sort of cow-horn sound, made by the steam, to warn off ships that might be in our course. After being for some four days and nights enveloped in this cold thick fog, we suddenly emerged into a clearer and warmer atmosphere, beholding again, to our relief and comfort, both the sun and the sea. Ind, last even- ing, after the American pilot came on board from his yacht, and scattered the latest newspapers broadcast among the eager passengers, a most brilliant and Claude- like effect of the setting sun upon the rippled sea was beheld. A ship in full sail passed between us and the descending luminary, and seemed almost transparent in the warm sunshine in which it glided along. The sky became easternly gorgeous in its colours. Gold and i\ VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. 17 in the cheer- norose. >r with 1 other jd with steam- srg, was andings we had horrid by the course, loped in clearer ur relief tst even- ;rom his ►roadcast Claude- sea was and the nsparent g. The old and crimson-barred clouds floated across it ; and when the sun sank beneath the ocean, throwing his last blood-red beams athwart the rising and falling billows, the scene was magnificent. But of all tranquil scenes ever beheld, none could surpass that presented to us this day. The sea was indeed " a sea of glass," and was literally " as clear as crystal." Not a ripple appeared on its glancing surface, and it was most radiant under the flood of bright light which beamed upon it from the sun. The reflections of objects upon it were complete, both in form and colour. We had Long Island on the right, stretchi. q; its narrow strip of sea-beach onwards, farther than the eye could reach, but with its lighthouses in front and fully in view ; on our left was Sandy Hook, a barren piece of land; all around us were vessels of diflerent kinds, with their white sails spread, and all making for one point called " the Narrows," through which ships enter into the harbour of New York ; — these were all reflected clearly, and at full length, in the polished mirror of the sea. We have since entered into the bay, and have on our left Staten Island, sprinkled all over its wooded slopes with villas and summer residences. We have Brooklyn in view on our right ; the city of New Jersey, and the thicket of New York bhipping before us ; while, at different points of our entrance, and on small islands which dot the bay, are the signs of defensive forti- fications. The bay itself opens and expands most mag- nificently. Nothing finer of its kind could possibly be conceived. It is twenty- five miles in sweep, and appears ready to receive within its vast embrace all the fleets of the world. Huge, high-built steamboats, with grass- hopper-like limbs, are plying from point to point ; and -'^ ■ ■ - r \\ !H 18 VOYAGE OVER THE ATLANTIC. some are passing us, towards the Narrows, for Halifax and Boston. The Cunard Pier is now immediately before us, with American friends upon it, already recog- nising us as the Methodist ministers sent from England to visit them ; and they are waving their hats in token of their readiness to welcome us to their native shores. So that, though I cannot write any more at present, you rasiy confidently conclude, when reading this, that we are safely landed on the continent of America. LETTER II. NEW YORK. Fair way of judging of an American City and of American Manners — General Sketch of New York — Broadway — Monster Hotels — American Ladies — Mixed Popidation — Tone of Equality — Unforeign feeling of an Englishman when he lands in America — Evening Party — Newspapers, Arts, Institutions, Churches, &c., in New York — Methodism — Novel Pulpit — Sabbath Services— Rise of Methodism in New York. "We are now in the city of New York, the great empo- rium and metropolis of America, and you will naturally desire to know what are my impressions of it. Viewed in relation to the brief period of its existence, it is un- doubtedly a most astonishing city. It has not, as every one knows, the imposing grandeur and attractive features of the old cities of Europe. It has no mass'v^e time- staiaed castles, palaces, and cathedrals, which fill our minds with the associations of stirring and stately scenes and transactions of past ages. But when one considers that three centuries ago the ground on which it stands was covered with a dense forest, which sheltered wild animals and a few red-skinned savages, and that now, among the great cities of the world, it is second only to London in the extent of its commerce, New York, which at the census of 1850 contained as many as 629,810 inhabitants, must be reckoned as unrivalled in its rapid 20 NEW YORK. II growth and progress. It is in this light only, I conceive, that America and its numerous towns and cities can he fairly viewed, not in comparison with ancient countries and capitals, which have had the advantage of cultivation and growth through many centuries, but in relation only to the period for which the land has been possessed by a civilised community. Of course I am not yet sufficiently acquainted with America, or with the manners of its people, to pronounce a decided judgment upon them ; but, from what I have already seen, I have no hesitation in saying that, for want of this consideration, many of the disparaging remarks and observations have been made by English travellers which have so greatly wounded and irritated the Americans. Many of such travellers have lived in very different scenes. Some of them may have been softly and luxuriously brought up in ancient cities ; while others have been nurtured amid highly-cultivated rustic landscapes. All have seen, more or less, their own fruitful country of hill and dale inclosed, partitioned, and smoothed by plough and harrow. They have seen it crowded, in almost every nook and corner, with the signs of elegant thrift mingled with the weather-beaten memorials of past ages ; they have beheld the baronial mansion frowning with em- battled parapet over surrounding moat, the squire's seat peeping through the long-drawn avenue of elms or beeches, the merchant's country house resting on closely- cropped lawn, and, sometimes, the labourer's cottage half smothered in roses and honeysuckles ; they have been accustomed to receive, from their very childhood, it may be, the most respectful, if not obsequious, attentions in the presence of servants and dependents : and so when they come to this newly-discoverei continent, and aee k NEW YORK. 21 its fragmentary clearings, its snake-fenced plots of land, its unfinished town a and cities, and meet its somewhat rough, unpolished, and unceremonious people, these English travellers pour forth their censures and com- plaints most unsparingly. Such conduct is manifestly unjustifiable, and may well prove vexatious to those who are thus dealt with by foreigners. There is nothing which may not be made to appear deformed or ridicu- lous if it be viewed through a distorting medium or from a morally oblique angle. If caricature, and not true portrait, be the object sought, it is not necessary to cross the wide Atlantic to find it. John Bull and his corn-fields will serve as well for that purpose as Brother Jonathan and his forests and clearings; and for any Englishman to carry with him over the seas the pattern of his own little " angle-land," and try to make it fit upon a continent which is equal in extent to all Europe, and, if he fails, grow scornful and angrj'^, savours somewhat of the pettishness of a spoilt child. Countries and their inhabitants, like other things, ought to be A'iewed in their own relations. I shall endeavour to remember this while travelling here ; and though, in my letters home, I may not unfrequently make com- parisons between what is found on this side of the water and what we are familiar with hi our own beloved country, it will not be with the purpose of dis- paraging America or glorifying England, but simply with the aim of making myself more readily under- stood. Viewed thus apart from prejudice and European asso- ciations. New York is, as I have already said, a most wonderful city. It is situated at the southern point of a tongue-like island, and has as fine a site both for foreign i , i , 1 ! ■1 1 l1 1^ 22 NEW YORK. commorce and internal trade, and for drainage and healthy ventilation, as can possibly be desired. With the large outspreading harbour (which I noticed in my first letter) on the east, and on the west the majestic river Hudson, extending some 170 miles up into the interior of the country, and with the land on which the city is built sloping gradually down from the centre to the water on all sides, a more advantageous position for trade, health, and prospect, could not be found. It is related of the aboriginal Indians, that when first dis- covered by the enterprisiiig Dutch navigator, they showed themselves most unwilling to part with this piece of land at any price ; and this well might be, when its beauty of situation and multiplied facilities are considered. The general plan of the city is regular, but chiefly so in the newest parts northwards. The main streets, running south and north, are called "Avenues," and are some ten or eleven in number. Between these there are narrower streets ; and at right angles with these there are " Cross Streets," which are distinguished as "First Street," "Second Street," "Third Street," and so on to the extent of some hundreds. The squares of building between the avenues and principal cross streets are named "Blocks" by the inhabitants; so that in giving directions for a certain residence they would say, "It is in such a Block, between the Fourth Avenue (say) and Fifteenth Street." This arrangement is very serviceable to a stranger seeking any house in the city. The older streets at the south end of New York still bear the names originally given to them. The public buildings do not seem large, nor are they KEW YORK. 23 attractive to a European visitor. The City Hull, the Custom-housey and the Merchants' Exchange, are among the principal buildings shown to strangers ; but though built of granite ^.i^u. marble, and after good Grecian models, yet, to English oyes, they are not very impres- sive. The most interesting structures are some modern Gothic churches, which are built of brown freestone, and in good style. They are, in form, very much Hire some of the larger parish churches in old Lincolnshire. " Trinity Church," at the lower end of Broadway, is, perhaps, the best example to be named. It is a large church in the decorated style of Gothic architecture, has a lofty spire, ornamented with crockets and finial, and the whole edifice is consistent throughout. From the parapet of the tower of this church the most com- prehensive view of the city and its suburbs may be taken. There are no parks or open squares of any great extent. The largest park is the triangular one surrounding the City Hall. This, however, does not contain more than a few acres of ground, and is nob large enough for a place of general resort or promenade. But pleasure- taking is far from being a characteristic habit with the dwellers in this capital city. Business, "push," "drive-along," are their prevailing habits. '• Go a-head ! " seems really to be the motto of all who throng its numerous streets and thoroughfares — espe- cially of such as crowd its principal highways. The men on the pavement are gexierally sallow-com- plexioned, tall, and thin ; and they rush along with serious countenance and earnest look, as if they were all pursuing objects important as life and death. You might as easily stand still, or step slowly, and expect 24 NEW YORK. in nobody to elbow you into clanger in the middle of Cheapside in London, as pause comfortably on the pavement of a real business street in New York. To look upon the faces of many in such a street, you would think that the most weighty matters imaginable were pressing upon their minds, and that they were rushing forth with the goading apprehension of being too late to gain their wishes. The draymen and omnibus-drivers in the middle of the streets rattle along with their heavy lumbering vehicles, until the din and tumult are, to a stranger, painfully distracting. In several of the long " avenues" and cross streets there are huge railway cars, drawn by horses, and which stop at certain points to take up and let down passengers. These, though very convenient for travelling in from one end of the city to the other, do not lessen the general confusion^ or increase one's sense of security. The most noted thoroughfare is " Broadway." This great avenue is 80 feet wide, and is two miles long, run- ning north and south, and combines, in its character. Re- gent Street, Oxford Street, and the Strand of London. It is not, however, so spacious or stately as the first of these, and is much more irregular in the style of its buildings. It consists chiefly of warehouses and " stores," as shops are called in America ; but these are of such different styles and forms as to lack the appearance of combined strength and beauty. Some of them are good buildings in marble and freestone, and are richly ornamented ; while others, adjoining and between these finer piles, are of red brick, or of gaudily-painted wood, and are covered from top to bottom with glaring signboards and inscrip- tions. This breaks the unity of the view, and disturbs the eye of the spectator. NEW YORK. 25 Tho hotels are the largest and best buildings, even in Broadway ; they are, in fact, monsters of their class. The oldest of these is " the Astor House," which over- looks the southern end of the City-Hall Park. It is built in massive Grecian style, is more than 200 feet long, has five stories in height, and makes up as many as 600 beds. " The St. Nicholas," higher up Broadway, is vaster still ; it is faced with pure white marble. But the most gigantic of all is " the Metropolitan." This hotel is as much as 278 feet long, and is said to make up 1000 beds. There are also some large and superb restaurants and eatinsr-houses. One of these has a saloon, containing, in its area, not less than 7500 square feet. The ladies make Broadway their chief place of pro- menade; and from twelve at noon to two, it usually presents, by their appearance, an animated and brilliant scone, though, from the absence of accompanying gen- tlemen, attendant livery-servants, and richly-adorned equipages, it is not equal in general effect to our own Regent Street. The women here are mostly of lower sta- ture than the women of England, but they are classically formed, have complexions as white and clear as alabaster, and well-proportioned features. They walk naturally, and neither "paddle" like the Frenchwomen, nor "step out" with grenadier stride like an English high- born dame, but glide easily along with a gentle and naiural step, which pleasingly contrasts with the fierce haste and bustle of the men who pass by them. Their dresses are rich and showy. Crimson silk shawls on blue and yellow gown, and gaily-trimmed bonnets, with waving feathers, are very common in Broadway at noon. 96 NEW YOIIK. The men are not so pood-looking. Many of them are well-dressed in superfine black or blue cloth, adorned with large gilded buttons ; and some of the more fashionable wear large full cloaks, richly trimmed with broad velvet and long silk tassels. Hut there is not unfrequently a haggard, careworn look in tho face, and a dark sallow hue, unrelieved by the least tinge of colour, while the gait is restless and impulsive. Great vigour of character is seen in all their looks and move- ments ; but nothing like the rosy-faced portly English gentleman is to be seen in the streets of New York : indeed, the absence of a true English complexion is as notable among the women as the men. Tlie variety to be seen in the streets of this city sur- passes anything I have seen elsewhere. There are wealthy capitalists, merchants, and visitors from diffe- rent countries, and adventurers from every state of the Union. There are cautious, grave-looking New-Eng- landers, luxurious Southerners, enterprising Westerners, sunburnt men from Oregon and California, some of whom appear in their unshaven and roughly-clad con- dition, as if they were but half-civilised, and yet all rush along the crowded streets with the evident feeling that New York is the capital of their respective States — and they are proud of it. The Germans, Swedes, Irish, and coloured people, who perform the greater part of the manual labour and drudgery of the city, reside in back streets ; while the sailors of all nations, as in our Wap- ping, crowd the great thoroughfares near the water. There are dens of crime and haunts of depravity behind the screens of larger houses here, as there are in Liver- pool and London, but there is no public indication of squalid poverty or pauperism. I have not j'^et seen a NEW YOIIK. 27 m arc lomed more 1 with is not se, and npe of Great move- jlnglish York : n is as ity 8ur- ere are n diffe- B of the w-Eng- iterners, some of ad con- all rush ing that es — and 'ish, and of the in back ur Wap- ,e water, y behind n Liver- cation of it seen a •t beggar in any of the streets. It is well known tluit want need not bo felt by any one who is willing to work, and therefore begging is not encouraged. The districts inhabited by the poorest Irish are, as is usual in our own land, filthy and wretched enough, as are also some parts occupied by other foreigners and by sailors ; but there are no cripples exposing their withered limbs to excite compassion, and no sweepers at the crossings holding out their tattered hats for "your honour's" pence, as there are in London. The coach-drivers, as a class, I should say, are superior to our cabmen, and so are their coaches superior to our cabs, being larger, and better lined and trimmed, but you have to pay propor- tionably more for their use. A dollar is little for coach hire here ; and when you pay your fare at the end of a drive, however liberal you may be, there is no tip of the hat, and no ** Thank you, sir I " but, as in the ** stores," when you make your purchases, the most peifect indif- ference appears. In this, as in other things, an Eng- lishman finds he is in a republican land, where all men are declared to be equal. And yet, with all these American peculiarities, the first great wonder to an English visitor who has travelled in other foreign parts is, that what he sees is so sub- stantially Knglish ; it is more so even tlian in Ireland or Scotland. At least, I may say this is my own impression. On landing at Calais, Boulogne, or Os- tend, and when advancing into the interior of France, Rhenish Prussia, Belgium, or HoUinid, which are com- paratively near to our own country, ' he looks, language, dress, and manners of the people are so different and strange, that an English traveller at once sees and feels that he is on foreign ground; but it is not so on 38 NEW YORK. T I • i landing in America. Though more than 3000 miles from home, yet he finds himself surrounded by men and women with English features, similarly dressed, and speaking the language with which he has been familiar from childhood. There are the American character- istics which I have described, and there is a sort of sing-song, nasal c'rawl, in the utterance of some, which is much inferior to the full, hearty tones of the voice of an Englishman ; but the great characteristics of feature, dress, and manners are unmistakeably the same, so that an Englishman says as soon as he enters American society, " "We are all brethren : such as I am, these are : they are but Englishmen living on another side of the Atlantic." "We have seen much of private and social life in this city. I am entertained by the Rev. Dr. Osbon, of Mulberry Street ; and Dr. Hannah by Balph Mead, Esq., of the Second Avenue, not far from me ; and we have both received the most kind and hospitable atten- tion. We have also passed some very pleasant hours in evening parties, to which we have been invited. In one of them we met Dr. Bangs, the historian of Ame- rican Methodism ; Bishop Baker, just returned from his visit to the churches of California ; Dr. Kidder, editor of the Sunday School Advocate ; Mr. Harper, of the large book-publishing firm ; Mr. Hall, a father in American Methodism ; several ministers of the city, and many ladies. The house in which we spent the evening (Mr. Truslow's) is large and handsomely furnished. The rooms were brilliantly lighted up, and the evening was spent cheerfully and religiously. After free and friendly conversation in groups and pairs, we went down in couples to the eating-room to > \ -? i" NEW YORK. 29 partake of our evening meal. The eating-room of an American private house is that in which all the meals are taken ; it is usually in the lower story, and is plainly fitted up, very much after the manner of refreshment- rooms in France. The meal comprised solid food and light confectionaries ; and with it there were " crackers" and bon-bons for the juveniles, as there are with us at Christmas evening parties. Afterwards we sang, read the Scriptures, and prayed together ; and when we separated for our respective abodes, at something like eleven o'clock, I went to mine at Dr. Osbon's with the feeling that a more cheerful, sociable, and happy even- ing I had never spent away from home. Both Dr. Hannah and myself were favourably impressed with the general intelligence and religious excellence of the company. The ladies, as did also the gentlemen, showed themselves to be well read in history, and in general literature ; and all were ready to converse on experi- mental and practical holiness. There was no brag, no inquisitive interrogations, which some visitors to America have complained of. Gentleness, goodness, and deep veneration for England, and for English Methodism, were ardent in all ; and they openly depre- cated, in the very strongest manner, any quarrel of their country with ours. The cheerful conversation, not altogether unmixed with hearty laughter, of this and other evenings, fully relieved me from the sombre impression I had caught of American character in the business streets of New York. In some of the streets everything human looked so rigidly grave, that one almost thought it would be a crime punishable at law for an American to perpetrate a joke or a pun ; but in the social evening party there was full proof of a 80 NEW YORK. ■ I , I I !■ healthy, buoyant, and joyous spirit in the American people. The newspapers of America, while far more nume- rous than with us, seem much inferior to ours. They contain very little "news" comparatively, and of that there is still less to be relied upon as correct or true. The attacks made by the newspaper-writers on public and private character are most dishonourable ; and it is plain that too many of them unscrupulously pander to the loW; vulgar appetites of poor fallen human nature for gossip and for scandal. This profligacy of the press is deeply deplored by the better classes among the Americans. Partisanship, too, is here very apparent. It is truly amusing to converse with the Americans on public men and public questions. To hear some of them speak of their public men, one would almost be ready to conclude that every prominent character in the United States belonged either to the band of spotless patriots or the lowest class of scoundrels. Many of the people seem incapable of forming any moderate judgment of their public men ; and every political question, however tem- porary be the excitement it raises, is generally spoken of as constituting a " great crisis" in the history, if not in the very existence of the States. The works of art here are creditable to a country which is in its youth, but, as might be expected, they are very inferior to what we have in England. The general talent for sculpture must not be estimated by Hiram Power's "Greek Slave" and "Pierced Indian," which we saw in the Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851. America produced Benjamin West, and may yet produce even a greater painter ; but, in the raw and juvenile ./ I NEW YORK. 31 productions of her existing school, there is no promise of him. The native pictures here partake more of the character of the French school than of the English, and are very deficient in sobriety and repose. The German artists have some good pictures exhibiting here, chiefly of alpine and cataract scenery in Norway, and being similar in their subjects to those which they annually exhibit in London. The New York "Crystal Palace" is now in a very dilapidated and forlorn condition, and is seen at once to be what it really is — a most shabby imitation, and a miserable failure. There are many charitable and benevolent institutions in New York, and they are very generously supported. There are also some excellent literary and educational establishments, and these are as well sustained. The t rgest public building in the city is the "Bible Society ii-ouse and Depository." It occupies a whole "block" by itself, and, while six stories high throughout, has a frontage of some 700 feet. Dr. Hannah and I went over this important establishment, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Holdich, one of its secretaries. Its issues amount to three- fourths of a million copies of the Bible yearly ; and, as all the printing, stitching, binding, &c., is done on the premises, it employs a great number of persons. I remarked there, as elsewhere, the general inferiority of the paper upon which their printing is executed by the Americans, and also the want of breadth and fulness in the type. We had each presented to us a large octavo copy of the Book of Psalms, in the very best style of the society's printing ; but while superior in itself, yet, when placed beside an English copy of the same size, and challenged to say which was the American, I had no difficulty in doing so. 32 FEW YORK. Li' ) Our own " Methodist Book Concern," as it is some- what loosely named, is also a very extensive establish- ment. It is situated in Mulberry Street, and has per- formed on its premises all things relating to the books, periodicals, and newspapers, except the manufacture of paper, so that, with its numerous issues, it also employs many persons. Dr. Kidder kindly conducted us over the establishment ; and we were gratified to find here, as in the Bible Society House, how many clean and neatly-dressed young females were engaged in sorting, stitching, and ornamental binding. But by this time you will begin to be impatient for some account of religion, and particularly of Methodism, as observed by us in New i ork. I have not had much time to acquaint myself with other churches in the city than those of our own people, nor air" I likely to have the opportunity of doing so before I leave it ; but, from the number and size of the ecclesiastical structures which I have seen, I should conclude that the churches here are numerous and flourishing. All the buildings devoted to public worship of every Christian denomination are called " churches," and of these there are some 300 in the city and its suburbs, belonging principally to the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterian 3, the Bap- tists, and the Methodist Episcopalian Church. The Jews have here some thirteen synagogues ; the Roman Catholics have a large misshapen cathedral and several other buildings in different parts, and there are struc- tures of various dimensions and forms belonging to almost all the different nations and to the principal sects in Europe. The Sabbath is much better observed in New York than in London or Liverpool. The streets are far more NEW YORK. 83 quiet, the pleasure-seekers fewer, and t'ue purchases, if made, are more concealed from public observation. Among all classes there seems to be more reverent attention paid both to religion and its ministers. Methodism has not proportionably, it is said, the position and influence in New York that it has in some other cities of the United States, but it nevertheless stands forth prominently, and numbers 7000 church- members, irrespective of the many thousands who are general attendants at its public services. Dr. Hannah and I were alternately in two of its principal churches on Sunday last, and were much gratified with what we found. The churches in which we preached were good substantial structures of the Grecian style of architecture, and, like all the American churches I have seen, are fitted up so as to secure as much comfort to the congregation as practicable. The aisles are carefully matted, the pews carpeted and cushioned ; and distributed throughout the churches are leaf-fans for the use of the congregations in hot weather. Happily for us, the weather has not been very hot since we came to New York ; the sight of a large congregation fanning itself for relief would not be the most helpful accompaniment to ministers officiating, and unaccustomed to such a waving scene. These fans, however, are really necessary for the relief of the people when the heat its in. You will know that the extremes of heat and cold here are greater than in Old England. The American pulpit is, in my view, far preferable to the English. It is simply a reading-desk at the front of a low platform, of the width of the communion rails, and at the back of them. It is not boxed-up and im- prisoning to the preacher as our cupboard-like pulpits \ a m 34 ^\ NEW YORK. are, but is open at the back and sides, while behind it, against the wall, is a seat long enough to hold several ministers. The accompanying pen-and-ink sketch will best explain it. ffli HEM /J it i ii ' IS 1. Scat. 6. Centre Table. 2. Platform, 6. Steps. 3. Desk. 1. Step. 4. Lamp. There are several advantages to a minister in a pulpit of this kind. He is more free than he can be when closely boarded up on all sides ; he also feels himself to be in more intimate association with his people ; while his ministerial brethren who may be present are seated behind, and out of his sight. With the usages of *^ M '* i 9m*&mm NEW YORK. 85 America, there is sometimes a drawback felt in the other ministers on the platform stepping forward, looking over and taking hold of the officiating minister's hymn- book. This prevents the feeling of separation for the work of the Preacher which an English minister is accustomed to have. But this is a mere circumstance ^hat need not be admitted, and so must not be received as a reason for objecting to the adoption and use of the American pulpit. On the Sabbath morning Dr. Hannah conducted the public service and preached in Mulberry St reet Ciiurch, and I preached for the Missionary Society in th« Seventh Street Church. I was not very well prepared for my work, for, through the change from rocking in my berth upon the ever-moving sea to the stillness of the solid earth, I could not s^" for a moment in the night pre- ceding. And, like Dr. Hannah, I was not a little annoyed with the hymn-book. It is iiot only different from our own in the general arrangement of 'ts subjects, which, perhaps, may be an improvement, bi regardless of Mr. "Wesley's warning against doing so (as found ia the trulj'' characteristic and sensible preface affixed to the collection of hymns he published for the use of his people), our friends here have altered some of the hymns, both in the words and verses. They have made what, no doubt, they consider to be " improvements ;" but they have thereby supplied additional proof of the truth of Mr. Wesley's printed declaration, that others are not able to mend his hymns either in sense or verse. At the second hymn the congregation sat to sing, or rather to hear the choir sing, — this increased my annoyance ; but afterwards, in seating forth Christ as " the Root of Jesse," who should " stand as an ensign for 36 NEW YORK. tlio people," and give to them that trust in Ilim "a glorious rest," I overcame these petty annoyances, and forgot for a time my loss of sleep on the night preceding. The afternoon was spent chiefly in conversation with some old Methodist friends, who, several years ago, emigrated from Lincoln, and who had travelled many miles to see us, and to talk with us about the " old city." Their inquiries, both as to persons and events, were numerous, as you will suppose; and though greatly benefited temporally by coming to America, yet they showed strong afi'ection for their native land. After a somewhat protracted interval between the morning and evening services, I went, at half-past seven o'clock, to conduct the service and preach in Mulberry Street Church, while Dr. Hannah went to attend a public missionary meeting in the Seventh Street Church, presided over by Dr. Bangs, and where they made the doctor and myself life-members of the American Methodist Missionary Society. These Sab- bath evening missionary meetings we should not hazard in England, lest they should not fully accord with the sacred character of the day ; but our American brethren liold them on that day, and seem to be satisfied with them. I found less annoyance in the evening than I ;did in the morning, and had more enlargement and jjower to proclaim the Word of Life. After the service aiiany ministers and friends crowded round me to bid me welcome to America. Dr. Hannah's ministrations here have been characterised by great spiritual unction ; and it is surprising to find how many there are who remember his visit to this country thirty-two years ago : then, as now^ his ministry was highly estimated. The Methodist ministirs in this city have stations 'A NEW YORK. 87 >i rather than circuits, for their public labours are spe- cially directed to their separate churches. They have good "parsonages," as their residences are named, and, apparently, larger incomes than their brethren in Eng- land ; but, when all things are taken into account, it is a question whether they are really better provided for than English Methodist ministers. Many of them are said to have taken good advantage of the rising cir- cumstance of their country, and to have multiplied for use in advanced life any money they may have had, so that they are less dependent upon an "annuitant" or " auxiliary fund " for support in old age than our minis- ters are at home. I apprehend that this will be less and less the case as the land becomes occupied, and money yields smaller returns. "With this foresight, renewed efforts are now being made in the churches of New York to provide suitable maintenance for " super- numeraries," or superannuated and worn-out ministers. The " presiding elders," who are very much like our "chairmen of districts," hold the "quarterly confer- ences," or, as we should say, " quarterly metfings," for the several circuits, and take a principal part in the administration of discipline, so that the resident minis- ters are thereby relieved of their less agreeable duties. Here there is a desire expressed by some to transfer such semi-episcopal duties to the individual pastors of the churches ; but I cannot see reason in any of the statements I have heard to believe that either the people or the preachers would be benefited by the change. I have heard also some compla'^^ts whispered by the more devout and spiritual on the neglect of attendance at class-meetings by too many of the members ; and, 38 NEW YOUK. from what I can learn, the renewal of the quarterly tickets, as tokens of church-membership, is not deemed so important a ministerial duty as it is with us in Eng- land ; but, with these partial relaxations among some, the prevailing cli iracteristic of the Methodists in New York is undoubtedly that of earnest, zealous godliness. They have evident delight in conversing on Christian holiness, and on the means for its attainment. Books on this subject are eagerly sought, and extensively read by them. They are also careful to sanctify private and social intercourse by the reading of God's Word and by prayer. All this is the more gratifying when it is remembered that it was in this city of New York that the first Methodist society in America was formed ninety years ago. The origin of the society was as follows : — A few Irish Methodist emigrants not having here the means and ordinances of religion to which they had been ac- customed at home, fell into the fashions, and began to join in the "pastimes," of the unregenerate world, when, one evening, as they were together playing at cards, a good woman of the company, who had not joined in their evil practice, was roused by what she saw to administer reproof to the others ; she snatched up the cards from the table, threw them into the fire, and, with all the power of sincere and earnest rebuke, cried to Philip Embury, a fallen local preacher, " You must preach to us, or we shall all go to hell together, and then our blood will be required at your hands ! " This led to the first Methodist meeting and the preaching of the first Methodist sermon in America : the reproved and now repentant Philip preached to five persons in his own hired house. m NEW YORK. 89 Such meetings were continued, and were soon after- wards attended by Captain Webb, a Methodist, from Bristol, who, being in the country on the king's (George the Second's) service, joined himself to them that "feared the Lord, and spake often one to another." Others soon associated themselves with this little band, and, with the zealous captain at their head, spread Methodism into the surrounding parts, and as far as Philadelphia. A large room to meet in was now required in New York, and a rigging loft was obtained. Next a chapel was built in John Street, and application was made to Mr. Wesley for a ministerial appointment. In 1768 he stood up in the conference of his preachers in Leeds, and inquired, "Who will go to help their brethren in America?" when two good men, named Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, volunteered heir services. A collection — the first " missionary col- lection" in Methodism — was made in the conference, and the two preachers were sent over. Afterwards Francis Asbury, Richard Wright, and Thomas Rankin were sent. And then, for the organisation of the Church, which had become considerable in its extent, Mr. Wesley ordained Dr. Coke, and sent him forth to be the general superintendent, or first bishop, of the Me- thodist Episcopal Church in America. Since then it has enlarged and spread through the States, until now it is foremost in numbers and influence of all the churches in the country. And thus, from "a grain of mustard seed," watted over the Atlantic by accident, as it would seem to some, has arisen the goodly tree which already spreads its spiritual branches over all the land. LETTER III. PHILADELPHIA. ^linplctl ArnioynnccH anil PlcnsiircB of Knilwny Trnvclliiip in America — Koute through New Jersey — Arrival lit I'hihulelphiii — Scene ninoiig tlic Negro Conchmcii — Provoking hulilTerence of Auierieiui ll()tel-kee|ier9 — Hotel Life in Ainericn — Exposure of the Young to Injurious Indueiiccs — Order and Kcpose of the Quaker C!ity — Appearnncc of the Streets and Public Buildings — Methodism in Philadelphia — The Hall of Indepeiidenee — Franklin'* Tomb. Dr. Hannah and I left New York on "Wednesday at noon. We had been strongly urged to remain a day or two longer in that city, that wo might be present at the celebration, amonj^- his relatives and friends, by Dr. Bangs, of the "jubilee," or fiftieth anniversary, of his marriage ; but we felt that our special mission to the General Conference, appointed to assemble at Indiana- polis on the 1st of May, was our great object, and that we must not halt unnecesr rily on our way to it, how- ever great might be the prospect of personal gratifica- tion in meeting friends on so interesting an occasion as that which I have just named. We have also been most earnestly importuned to delay our journey to the West, in order that we might attend public meetings to be held at Washington on behalf of the Sunday School Union; but the remembrance of the more immediate and [i PIIILADELriirA. 41 personal duties of our mission determined us to forego this grutification as wo had foregone the other. Wo took our places at the water-side of Now York for a through-journey from thence by railway to this city, some eighty-seven miles, for which we paid three dollars each, or twelve shillings and sixpence sterling. Before we left the station at New York we had brass checks, '• '^h correspondent numbers, given to us, for the different portions of our lugtrage, and thus secured their delivery by the ticket-porter at the end of our journey. This system of luggage-checks is simple and satisfactory ; it saves the traveller from all care and anxiety concerning his luggage after he has delivered it iw the pjrter, h« v/- ever numerous may be the changes of conveyance'' tur him on the road. We crossed the water, about a mile in width, from New York to New Jersey cty, which is on the west bank of the Hudson River, and where the terminus of the railway is, in a steam ferry-boat. Crowded on the deck with us were carriages, carts, cattle, and passengers of all descriptions. On arriving at the other side of the water, some two or three hun- dred yards from the terminus, there was a furious rush by both coach-drivers and persons on foot to gain early entrance to the railway-station. We did not know tlio meaning of this at the time, bu^ found, when the dis- covery was too late to serve us, ;hat it was to obtain the best or most desirable places in the carriages. We seated ourselves separately ly some rough and rude companions, for we were too much behind our fellow- passengers in time of taking our seats to bo able to secure places close to each other. And now, for a while, we experienced some little in- convenience from the practice of the American doctrine 42 PHILADELPHIA. of universal equality, though we were saved any extra expense for a first or second-class carriage. Our seat- companions, who were farmers* men, unshaven, and with daubed trousers turned up almost to their knees, leaned and lolled upon us, and doubled their legs back over the stiles of the seats before us, until they assumed the form and appearance of huge clasp-knives. More- over, they chewed tobacco, and jetted out their saliva at our feet and over us, until we felt ourselves to be in no enviable situation. This incident taught us a lesson, ever afterwards to be remembered, for securing early entrance into an American railway carriage, so as to be able to select our company, and obtain adjoining seats for ourselves. I have named our travelling vehicle on the rail as a " carriage," but that is not the name given to it here. What we call "railway carriages" in England are here called " cars." These cars are large and ponderous, and appear on the outside something like huge omnibuses, with panels and let-down windows at the sides ; within they will accommodate from fifty to eighty passengers. The seats, each intended for two persons, are trans- versely placed, and an aisle divides them down the middle of the carriage, so that, in their general form and arrangements within, each car may be likened to a small church on wheels, with its side-seats and middle aisle. There is usually a charcoal stove in the centre of the car, and at one end a ladies' retiring closet, in which there is frequently a sofa and a rocking-chair. In one corner there is a large can of water, with a chained mug, for common use by the passengers. \ At every stopping place the "conductor" walks down the middle aisle to examine and take the tickets of PHILADELPHIA 43 f extra p seat- 1, and knees, ;s back 38umed More- iliva at e in no lesson, g early IS to be ig seats ail as a it here, ire here )U8, and nibuses, within lengers. trans- wn the |al form ed to a middle lentre of |n which In one Ichained cs down jkets of persons entering or departing. There are no first, second, or third-class carriages, as with us. The cars are for all white persons promiscuously, except that there is a select car for ladies, which is in better order than the general cars. For coloured persons there is the negro car — coloured persons not being usually allowed to sit, eat, or ride with the whites. The negro car is a rough, heavy vehicle, very much like our lug- gage vans. A lady entering an American railway car is entitled, by usage, to any seat she may prefer that is not occu- pied by one of her own sex ; and if she enters the car with her husband or friend, she has only to intimate to any gentleman on a seat that she wishes to have it for herself or her companion, and it is immediately surren- dered to her. The seats are so framed that they swing over upon their arms, and thus afford the convenience of friends sitting face to face for conversation if they prefer doing so. Advantage is not unfrequently taken of this convenience for another purpose — that is, for securing leg or foot-resters on the red velvet-covered cushions of the seats, the Americans being notable for nursing their legs on tables and seats. The real relief to either Eng- lishman or Am rican in a transatlantic railway car is that he can stand upright with his hat on, or walk to and fro for exercise along the middle aisle. The com- parative retirement of our own country's railway- carriage will, however, be preferred by an English tra- veller, — though, if he journeys in one of the first-class, he must pay somewhat more per mile for his fare than we pay here for travelling in the general cars. The American railway engine is as much larger in pi-oportion to ours as their cars are to our carriages. It" ■A X 44 PHILADELPHIA. is a huge black monster, with an elevated, covered, and glazed box in the middle for the engineer, and with a uall begrimed chimney in the front, which throws up, like a great overgrown rocket-tube, showers of large and dangerous sparks from the wood fire which rages under the boiler. It is said that when extra speed is required at a railway race, and when the payments by a great number of passengers are suificient to warrant it, no small quantity of resin is thrown into the fire to make it burn more fiercely, and to produce force from the highly-condensed steam. The truth of this I cannot affirm by personal observation ; but this I know already, that at times, though not able to reckon so much accom- plished in several hours' travel as on English railways, yet American steam-engines, and their heavy cars appended to them, rush on at a headlong rate, crossing streets and roads where there are no gates, no police- men, and no signals whatever, except an unshapely white signboard (hoisted up over the line at the head of two upright poles), on which is written in black letters, " When the bell rings look out for the locomotive /" This bell swings on a swivel in front of the engine, and is rung at crossings and at arrivals by the engineer. Our route to Philadelphia, through the State of New Jersey, was over a somewhat flat, sandy, and unpic- turesque tract of country, relieved at intervals by pleasant and enlarging towns of trade and manufacture, and by the signs of advancing cultivation in the land. Newark, the first town of importance we came to, is evidently a flourishing place, and has in it several buildings which stand up with imposing effect above the houses and ** stores" in general. Most of the houses we saw by the sides of the line are of wood; but good substantial PHILADELPHIA. 45 ;d, and with a ws up, ge and i imder squired a great 3 it, no ;o make om the cannot already, accom- ailways, vy cars crossing ) police- ishapely head of letters. This and id iT. lof New unpic- Dleasant and by Newark, lently a [s which Ises and by the )stautial '» dwellings in brick and stone may be seen here and there, with ploughed and cultivated fields around them. In other parts the log-cabins, the black, burnt tree-trunks, and zigzag " snake- fence," told of their occupation by new settlers. As we proceeded the number of negro- huts increased, and half-clad coloured men and women, with their naked black children, were seen on the lands and by the road. We saw, also, many large mules in use by the farmers and by the land-carriers, these ani- mals being preferred for their hardy nature, and for their feeding on coarse food. The ** forked Delaware " 'also appeared at some points, spreading out its beautiful waters far into the landscape ; while upon its bosom might be seen vast floating rafts of newly cut timber — such as you will remember to have seen upoii. the Rhine. And here we thought and spoke of holy David Erainerd, the sickly and consumptive, yet energetic and devoted missionary of Christ to the Indians of these parts; for it was in the neighbourhood of the Delaware that he was most successful in his labours. Here the man of naturally melancholy temper- ament, who, nevertheless, experienced such true religious joy, travelled through fc rests and swamps, swam across the deep and rapid rivei*. slept upon the bare ground, sheltered himself in a log-hut built by his own hands, preached to the ludians in their wigwams, or gathered them around hira in the open air, and told them of the Redeemer's suflerings and death, until he saw them lean upon their spears, and weep like children at the recital. We arrived at Camden Feiry, which is opposite this city of Philadelphia, by dusk, having come the eighty- seven miles in about five hours, when we crossed the river in a steamer. Ou arriving at the pier a ludicrous »'■"«,. 46 PHILADELPHIA. scene presented itself, very far outdoing the earnest but laughable display of "touting" zeal which meets the traveller at the terminus of some continental rail- way in Europe — that of Calais, for instance. Here were black coach-drivers with whips in their hands, and with mouths that seemed open from ear to ear, crowding th*. landing-place, and shouting out to the passengers tlie names of hotels and boarding-houses with an appearance of furious clamorousness for cus- tomers. Soon they began to denounce one another, and also the hotels? and houses for which they were respec- tively employed. Their negro terms, applied jokingly to one another, afforded us no small amusement. " You be false, bad coachee ! " one black man would cry out ; " and your massa's house only fit for niggers ! " " You turned ober de gentleman and lady toder iiight, and don't know de way to de 'otel — hear dat, darky ! " the other w^ould retort at the top of his voice. Then there would be seen a crowd of black faces, laughing and gibbering, and then a rush forward to the passenger going ashore, with a shout together of " Come wid me, massa ! come wid me ! " We gave our luggage- checks to a porter, and, under his direction, got into a roomy high-wheeled carriage, which was soon stuffed full with passengers, and drove to this, the "Girard House," in Chesnut Street. Our luggage soon followed us, and was delivered safely, the expense of its landing and cartage being included in the half-dollar each, charged for our places in the coach. But however eager and clamorous for us on landing might be the coloured coachmen, there seemed to be no great haste to receive and accommodate us at the hotel. The master of the hotel and his clerks were behind a PHILADELPHIA. 47 irnest meets L rail- Here lands, ;o ear, to the houses )r cus- 3r, and respec- ngly to I would rgers ! " J toder 3ar dat, , voice, k faces, d to the " Come aggage- into a stuffed Girard bllowed landing T each, I landing to be no le hotel. }ehind a counter in a bar-like room on the left to receive the names of new comers, apportion them their rooms, and settle their accounts. When we asked of these autho- rities if we could have rooms and accommodation, they viewed us with indifference, and one slowly answered, " I guess you may." Then we waited for some time in the passage, thinking of the contrast between our strange reception here and the bustling officiousness we should have met in Old England. At length tlie pro- prietor's son, as he appeared to be, told us that a double- bedded room, with such a number, could be occupied by us, and that the key held out to us belonged to it, cour- teously adding he would order refreshment to be pro- vided for us without delay. We took the key, went up to our chamber, which was clean and airy, and, after the necessary ablutions, went down into the dining-room for a sort of tea-dinner. We found a spacious apart- ment, with a number of black waiters in snow-white dresses ready to serve us. With ice-water, tea, roll and butter, and hot steak, we made, after the day's fast, a good evening meal, and then went out to view, bj'^ lamplight, what could be seen of the s'xcets of Phila- delphia. The streets in general were orderly, but liquor-ce'dars and drinking-rooms were visible at many a turn, and voices proceeded from some of them which did not speak of sobriety. We passed the fronts of one or two theatres, or houses of amusement, into which was thronging low company of both sexes. About halt- past ten we retired to our room, slept well, and by seven o'clock the next morning came down at the sound ol the bell to breakfai»t. Here we were fairly introduced for the first time to American hotel life. On one side of the large dining \: : I Jl t 48 PHILADELPHIA. room, and on Ijoth aides of the table, sat young and middle-aged mou, with their wives and children, taking their morning meal ; while on the other side of the room, on both eides of the long table, mon of all ages, without any women, sat at breakfast. Beliind eitch of the four rows was a troop of black waiters in cottcM dresses. We sat down among the me i, and gave our directions for what we wished to hiwe bro ".ght to us, — ice- water, coffee, I>read, fish; and nicat, — and fared as well as we could desire. !No person, except the drrk waiters,, spoke one word to uf». or concerning us, thcit*>h many looked hardly at us, and watcl.od very ch ly our iiujvements ; nobody spoke a word> indeed, on any sub- ject u( tLo tables, so far as we could hear, except byway of ordoT'rt about the meal. All ate with earnestness and iii silnnee, and, so soon as their eating was finished, rose up with energy, individually, and stalked forth from the room. If it had not been for the crying of an infant, who would not take its food, we should have been as silent in that large dining-room as if we had been eating with some severe fraternity of monks. That an infant should cry rather than receive its food, in such un- suitable circumstances, seemed not surprising ; and I was ready to ask, as I saw little children fed among adults at the silent public table, whether that kind of feeding in early life did not contribute to the dyspepsia and biliousness under which so many of the Americans seem to suffer in after-years. This hotel life became with us quite a subject for inquiry and study, being a life so different from that of the hearths and homes of England. With many young peisons here, when there are thoughts of mar- riage, and that is usually very early, the question is not :^'K r and aking f the ages, [vih of LOttCM i.'c our us, red as 9 drrk jhciicfbi -ly our ly sub- by way ess and ed, rose :om the infant, been as eating infant ch un- and I among Ikind of ^spepsia lericans Iject for lorn that many lof mar- Ln is not PEILADELPHIA. 49 whether they can provide and keep a house for them- selves, but whether they can live in a fashionable hotel or boarding-house ; and, when married, they go to such a place to reside, and have thus nothing like what Kng- lishmen regard as a home. At an hotel they live for some years it may be. In the daytime they are almost wholly in public, for nearly all American meals at hotels are taken publicly. After breakfast in the morning the husband goes to business, and the wife usually walks out to promenade in the most fashionable streets, or to make purchases for dress at the " stores." At dinner all in the hotel are at the public table ; and after dinner the husband goes back to business, while the youthful wife goes into the ladies' drawing-room- like parlour, to rest on the sofa, or to play on the public piano. After tea the wife again goes into the ladies' parlour (mostly in full dress) to spend the evening among her own sex ; while the husband lounges, talks, smokes, and expecto- rates with the gentlemen in their parlour, or in the street. What a strange education in domestic and married life is this ! In the private houses where Dr. Hannah and I have been the good housewife was apparent, and the spirit and manners were in all respects what is most to bo desired in Christian ladies ; but I am disposed to con- clude that their education and training had not taken place in public hotels. The effect upon young children who are, from their very entry into life, always accus- tomed to public companies must be more injurious even than upon young wives and husbands. Constantly inured to glaring publicit}'^, children are sure to become either shy, dispirited, and uneasy, or obtrusively for- ward. The latter is said to be the prevailing character £ 50 PIlILADELrillA. ;i. of American boj^s and girls — indeed, there hardly seem to be any children in America ; however young, all give their opinions with the air of men and women, and with the evident expectation of being heard. In some instances the parents find themselves, while in com- pany, superseded in authoritative opinion by sons and daughters of the age of seventeen. But these imperfec- tions of Young America must not blind a visitor to its many excellences : and the wonder is that, considering its age and circumstances, America is so far advanced in the order and refinement of society as it is. This city of Philadelphia, the metropolis of the State of Pennsylvania, is one of the most orderly, clean, and comfortable cities that can possibly be conceived. It bears throughout the impress of its Quaker origin ; and though, like the Quakers' dress, it is too regular and uniform to be grand or imposing, yet there is a peaceful, quiet serenity pervading it, which is fully in accordance with the benign spirit of its founder, William Penn, and of some of his first adherents within it. The site of the city is well chosen. It stands on an elevated piece of ground, some two miles in width, between the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, and had in it six years ago nearly 409,000 inhabitants. Next to the city of New York, it is the largest city of the United States ; and it is pleasing to reflect that the State of which it is the capital, with all its inward resources of iron, coal, salt, and marble, and its outward beauty and magnificence of fields, fruit-trees, and forests, was not obtained by extortion and robbery from the abori- ginal Indian proprietors, but was fairly purchased in its length and breadth by amicable agreement and treaty, as represented so graphically in West's well-known I, PHILADELPIirA. 51 seem r, all , and some com- s and »erfec- to its iering Lced in B State m, and 3d. It n; and Lar and eaceful, jrdunce Penn, le site evated een the it six to the United State 3 sources beauty sts, was abori- d in its treaty, -known e 3' picture. This just and considerate conduct of "William Penn, we are assured, was not forgotten by the Indian^, and afterwards was a shield of protection to the Quakers when wars raged most furiously among the red men against Euroi)eans ; so that from that day to this it has not been known that a Quaker has ever been injuixl or slain by an Indian — such prevailing might is there in kindness, such is the true policy of acting justly ! The plan of Philadelphia is that of an oblong square, with streets crossing each other at right angles with the greatest order and regularity, so that tho city shows itself to have been laid out by the line and the rule. The drawback to this is of course the wearisome same- ness which pervades the whole ; for when you have seen one part of the town you have seen the whole, so far as its arrangements are concerned, and a European eye craves for some crooked streets, intermingled with some towering objects, to relieve the view, and to give it picturesque effect. There are about GOO streets of a width varying from 40 to 80 feet, but the two principal streets, crossing each other in the centre of the city, are more than 100 feet wide. Nearly all the houses are of neat red brick : some of the brickwork in them is the most regular and the cleanest I have ever seen. The streets are all well paved and well purified ; and those running: one wav are named after trees — as "Chestnut Street," "Walnut Street;" while those run- ning the other way are numbered "First Street," " Second Street," and so on. There is a good market-place in the middle of the city, and around it are wharves and basins ; but ir maritime trading Philadelphia has not advanced as was expected, and as, with its outlet by the Delaware to the 52 PIlILADELrillA. Atlantic, it is doubtless yet destined to do. The niann- fuctures of this city ure not yet very important ; they are chiefly carpets, floor-cloths, glass, porcelain, and articles ibr homo use. Pittsburn-, which lies sonio "200 miles hence, in the heart of tlie iron and coal district, and in communication with all the States, is the great place of manufacture. I fear that our special duties will not allow us to visit that liirmingham of America. Along the sides of nearly all the streets of Phila- delphia arc rows of largo and beautiful trees, which, when in full verdure, give coolness and most delicious shade to the passenger as he treads his way under their spreading branches on the side-pavement, which is of diagonally-laid bricks, a material which I never saw employed in England for our side-pavements, to the best of my memory, except at Brighton and in the Stafford- shire Pott V ries. Independent of their ornamen t al beauty, the trees here are a necessity, for, I was told by an English resident on whom I culled, thai in the height of summer it is so hot in Philadelphia that many people cannot bear to move for several hours in the day, and even water in the bath has to be renewed, so that it may be cool during the time of use. There are some good public buildings, principally of granite and Pernsylvanian white marble. The Mer- chants* Exchange, and several of the banks, are fine edifices, designed and copied with real taste from Grecian models by ]\Ir. Strickland. The " Girard College," in the suburbs of the city, reputedly a fine building of tho Corinthian order, I have not seen, so I cannot state anything concerning it. This " Girard House," in which we arc staying (and which is a well-conducted hotel), is a large hauusome building of sandstone, and rillLADKLPIlIA. 03 displays a good dc>;ieo of urcliitccturul composition and beauty. Many of the best executed red-brick li )use8, which abound in the city, have white marble steps ascending to their marble or stone porticoes, while the doors are cleanly painted, mostly white, and the silvered knockers and handles, as well ;is tlio brass balustrades, are all in a high state of polish. There are several good squares within tlie town, which , with their smooth gravel walks, grass lawns, and shady trees, form agreeable walking resorts. The "stores" here are in better taste and keeping than in New York ; they are less glaring, and more like the shop.-, at the west end of London. There are some small low-class houses here and there, but tliese are fewer in proportion, I think, than in any other town I am acquainted with ; in a word, for clean- liness, neatness, and repose, I should deem Philadelphia the pearl of cities. By reputation, the ladies of Philadelphia are compara- tively reserved in company, and are somewhat exclu- sive and "classish" in their circles. They certainly exhibit a really refined taste in their dress; and the quiet, peaceful faces of the Quaker ladies, and their neat and pleasing apparel, also add to the interest and repose of the city, and contribute to render it so tranquillising and inviting. And yet this tranquil-looking place can be roused to agitation and violence ; for on the coming of some northern men into it some yearn ago for Aboli- tion meetings, and on the somewhat iud;*; -eet exhibi- -tion in the streets of an Abolition pr«>C( vsion, in which white and coloured persons walked arm-in-arm, a mob assembled, burnt down the building which had been raised for Abolition meetings, and such was the state of public feeling, that the leaders in this open and dis- »«> *>«. M rim-ADRMMriA. » . jfruccful violence were not brouj»ht to justice iU ^'umslicd for their liiwless conduct. To the honour of t)ie (junkers, let it bo remembered, they were (ho perscouted in this aftruy ; from the bep^inning they have been fore- most in the work of slave emancipation ; and, in justice to some portions of the press and of the inhabitants of I'hiladelpliia, it ought not to be forgotten that they de- nounced this anti-abolition and anti-coloured outbreak in the very strongest t(Tms. There are numerous chu vhca, belonging to different denominations, here ; and some of them arc good examples of Greek and Gothic architecture. The Methodists are foremost among the religious bodies both in the city and in the State ; they number in the city alone as many as 10,000 church-members. We were besought to preach in Philadelphia, but have not been able to do so for want of time ; yet we could have desired to do so, for to an English IMethodist this is a city of great interest, on account of its early association with venerable names in ^Methodist history. Captain Webb, the military Me- tliodist from Bristol, whom I have already named, was among its first visitors, and his Christian labours were rewarded with gracious success ; so that when, in 1709, Messrs. lioardman and Pilmoor, from the British con- ference, arrived here, they found not less than one hun- dred persons gathered into membership with the Metho- dist Society, principally by the good captain's efforts. The following letter, sent by Mr. Pilmoor to Mr. Wes- ley, shows this : — Philadelphia, October 31*/, 1769. " Revekend Sir, — By the blessing of God, we are snfely arrived here, after a tedious jinssage of nine weeks. We were not a little sur])ri8ed to find Captain Webb in tow;:, and a society of one hundixd members, who desire to r*-'^^'^ rilTLADRLPTITA. 65 1769. cd here, hir ill closi- (ronnortiou with you. 'Thii is the Lord's doing, and it if mar- Vflli)u» ill our eyes.' " 1 hiive |iiTnched several times, and tlie jjeoplc Hock to liear in multitudes. SiiiidHy rvciiinu' I went out upon the eoiniiKui. I had the Ntiige u|i|)oiiited lor the iiorNe-ra('(! lor my pulpit, and, 1 thiiiii, between tour niid live tlioii- sand hearers, who iieurd wilii attention «till as nijfiit. HIessed he (Jod lor iiehl-prenehiiig. AVheii I heijun to talk of preaehin^ at five o'clock in lliu morning, the |)ei)ple thought it would not answer in America; however, I resolved to try, and 1 had a very good congregation. " There seeiiiM to bu a great und eU'eetual door opening in this country, and I hupo many souls will be gathered in. The people in general like to hear the w(ird, and seem to hove ideas of salvation by grace." Good Francis Asbury also laboured in this city ; and when ho, with Richard Wright, arrived hero from England on tlio 7th of October, 1771, they found that, through the blessing of God upon the services of Messrs. Doardman and Pilmoor, who had laboured here tilter- nately, some months at a time, there were !2r)0 members of the Methodist Society in Philadelphia. On landing in this pliice, Mr. Asbury and his colleague immediately repaired to the church, and heard a sermon from Mr. I'ilmoor, whom they found conducting the service. And of his own feelings and reception on his entrance upon the great field of his successful labours for Christ, Mr. Asbury relates : — "liie people looked on us with pleasure, hardly knowing how to show their love sufficiently, bidding us welcome with fervent affection, and receiving us as angels of God. Oh ! that we may walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called ! When I came near the American shore my very heart melted within me — to think from whence I came, where I was going, and what I was going about. But I felt my mind open to the people, and my tongue loosed to speak. I feel that God is here, and find plenty of all I need." "»Ai->*eri«'Mi.-.^»« :.e;.,, . 56 PHILADELPHIA. I If F ■ It was here, too, that Thomas Rankin and George Shadford, Methodist preachers from England, landed 0^ ihe 3rd of June, 1773 ; and here was the first con- ference for Methodism in America held on the 4th of July of that year, by ten preachers, who reported 11 00 members belonging to the several societies : — so that to us, as Methodist visitors, it may easily be understood that Philadelphia is a place of great interest. Next to the Methodists are the Presbyterians and the •Cf Baptists, for numbers. The Quai, jrs are now divided ii)to two sections, under the popular names of the *' Orthodox," who are of the old school of AVilliara Penn, and the "Hicksites," who are Unitarians in doc- trine. The German reformers and the Roman Catholics have also considerable numbers of adherents here. The churches are, in their interior accommodations, fitted up with great convenience and comfort for the ^ ^ worshippers ; and several of them have large week- ' night lecture and service-rooms underneath, admirably arranged and furnished. There are, likewise, in the city and suburbs many good and flourishing educational, literary, and benevolent institutions that fully accord with the character and spirit of the inhabitants. But the most famous of all the public buildings of Philadelphia is its old State-house, now called the " Hall of Independence." It stands in the front of Independ- ence Square, adjoining Chestnut Street, and is a largo old-fashioned brick structure, more than a century and a quarter old, with an extensive facade towards the street, and a small open tower or cupola on the top. It was here that the first American Congress was held, and the original ** Declaration of Independence *' signed by the leaders of the revolution. On this account the PUILADELPIIIA. 67 I largo building is of course held in veneration hj all Americans. The room in which the Congress sat is sacredly preserved in the state in which it was when the Declaration re- cei^^ed its signature, and was proclaimed from the front steps of the building. Within it are several relics — such as chairs, table, a wooden statue of Washington, many old portraits of the leaders and founders of American colonisation and freedom; and the old bell which was used and rung at the time of the great pro- clamation, and which bears this significant quotation from Scripture on its rim, " Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the people thereof." Though not feeling all the deep and natural interest in this place which the Americans must feel, yet we felt that a spot so intimately associated with the memories of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hancock, Adams, and others of those remarkable men, was classic ground. The calmly penetrative face of Franklin, especially, cannot but frequently come up before the mind while one treads that hall, for it was chiefly in Philadelphia that he lived and laboured. But it is with him as with so many who have written their own epitaphs — the one he wrote for himself, Lnder the allusion to an old worm- eaten book, that should appear again in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by the Author, is not to be found on his burial monument ; there is simply a plain slab laid flat on the ground, inscribed — the It and I by It the Benjamin ) -r^ I Franklin, AND > ' Deborah ) 1790. IbMMMl^ilH^K^^ lf:tter IV. WASHINGTON. Railway Journey over Slave Territory — Arrival at Washington — Uufillcd- up Plan of the City — Population and Vice — Manners of the " Represen- tatives " — fiaiety of Dress — Dandy Negroes — The Negro Bazaar — The Capitol — Houses of Congress — Scene in the House of Representatives — Contrast to the British House of Commons — Political Parties in the United States — President's Ho :"c — Congress Chaplains — Terrific Thun- derstorm — Plainness of the American Chief Magistrate. We are now in the legislative capital of the United States, having come to Washington from Philadelphia, a distance of 137 miles, in something more than six and a half hours. We left the Quaker City at noon, and, being detained at the hotel-door waiting for nine pas- sengers to be jammed into a coach only large enough for six, we were late at the railwaj'^-station ; and were not only pressed for time to have our luggage duly checked, and to obtain our tickets, but were also driven to take such seats as we could find in a rough and crowded railway car. We could not obtain two adjoining seats, and had again to take our places beside rude, unshaven travellers, who annoyed us by their lounging, and copious distillations of tobacco juice. AVith the Delaware on our left, we passed over some flat, unvaried country, until we reached Wilmington, a town of considerable importance on the line, to judge by "V^'ASIIINGTON. 69 [Tnfillcd- epresen- lar— The tatives — 1 in the ic Thun- TJnited elphia, six and n, and, le paa- nough d were e duly driven h and two beside their juice, r some gton, a dge by in what we saw from a distance of its streets, warehouses, and public buildings. Soon after this, we crossed the boundary of Pennsylvania, and entered the Slave State of Maryland. Our reflections on this circumstance, at the time, created within both of us most painful feelings, which we afterwards expressed t each other ; and, whether our imaginations darkened the objects we viewed, or it was really so, we both thought that the transition from the Free States to the slave-holding territory might be seen in the inferior huts and dejected appearance of the negroes by the way-side, as well as in the loose and slovenly cultivation of the land around. We crossed several streams, creeks, and rivers, flowing out of Chesapeake Bay, which was now on our left ; and we went shaking and rattling along in our heavy cars over great lengths of timber-bridges, resting on piles, unrailed ofi" from the water, and swinging and trembling fearfully as we passed over them. In about four and a half hours we crossed the Patapsco river, and rushed over iron bridges that stretched over docks and basins, and down the middle of one of the most populous streets of the city of Baltimore, to the railway-station, the big bell by the engine-chimney ringing : A the way to warn persons in the street that the train was near. W^e there changed our carriage, got seated together, and made our mutual observations upor what we had seen and felt on the road. The number of coloured persons had greatly increased upon our view since we entered Maryland ; and, as we saw them in the fields, in the streets, at the railway terminus, and some of them, half-clothed, in miserable low dwellings in the lower part of the city which we were passing, I could not but think, prayerfully, of the ■, 3 1^ '■mtniiiii '60 WASHINGTON. picture, familiar to our childhood, ol" the negro in chains, with hands uplifted to heaven, and exclaiming, " Pity poor Africa ! Am I not a man and a brother ? " — for here I was beginning to realise the existence of the wrongs the picture had so long foreshadowed. We hurried forward past the junctions for the Pittsburg and the Annapolis railway-lines ; and, as we advanced towards the Columbia district, and drew near to Wash- ington, we found the land more hilly and better cul- tivated ; numerous villas and country residences scattered over it ; and these adorned with surrounding gardens and lawns, spreading cedars and fruit-trees. On arriving at the terminus, which is near to the Capitol, we drove about haif-a-mile to the " National Hotel," where there are, as we expected, a large number of members and visitors of the House of Congress. Washington is impressive at several points of viesv, but it is far from looking like a metropolitan city, and from fulfilling the hopes and expectations its founder is said to have formed concerning it. Planned and designed by General Washington himself, whose name it bears, and whose perpetual monument it is intended to be, it has not progressed in population and trade as was origi- nally looked for. Perhaps there is an advantage in this ; for, if Washington had enlarged as rapidly as some of the other cities of the States, it might have been difficult to keep the crowded inhabitants in order during times of excitement regarding great questions. As it is, any excitement there may be on political matters in Wash- ington is, for the most part, within the Hall of Congress. The city is finely situated, being on elevated ground near to the broad, meandering Potomac River, which communicates, through the Chesapeake, with the sea, at * fw«»»'^*'ff »• i>**'f " WASHINGTON. 61 Ollgl- this; some eighty miles distance. The scenery around is pleasing, being composed of hills with verdant slopes, and of land richly clothed with trees, and divided by water. From the Capitol, as a centre, the streets and avenues of the city radiate, after the manner of the spokes of a wheel. Unfortunately, when the plan of the city had been laid out on an extensive scale of some fourteen miles in circumference, and the Capitol was commenced, in 1793, instead of disposing of the plots of land nearest to the central object in the first instance, purchasers were allowed to select building ground where they pleased. So that, now, thei 3 are large open spaces seen between the structures, and that in all directions, justifying the popular saying that " Washington is a city of magnificent distances." Some of the streets a.e nothing more than enclosed roads that run out to the water, or to the woods ; and th(} whole aspect of the place is that of half village and half town. The principal street is called '* Pennsylvania Avenue," and extends in a direct line from the Capitol about a mile and a half to the " White House," as the President's official residence is called. This street, on ono side at least, is pretty well built upon, and displays some good shops, or " stores." It is very wide, is shaded at the sides by rows of trees, like the streets of Philadelphia (reminding one also of Versailles), and is the chief part for both trade and recreation. The population of Washington amounts to about 54,000, one fourth of which is composed of visitors, including the members of Congress and their families. The varieties of the population are num*. -us and striking. The permanently resident white population are said to have come from all parts of the Union — . H ■•I ''''*^m>aiAt»m,.'. 62 WASHINGTON. members of Congress and their families necessarily do so; and the number of coloured persons, mulatto and black, bond and free, nearly equals the number of the whites. Fashion and dissipation seem to be the general objects of life here ; morning-calls and evening-parties form the earnest business of existence ; and the sepa- ration of many representatives and male visitors from their families is said to be very injurious to the morals of the people. The large proportion of showily dressed female mulattoes and Creoles seen in the streets would indicate this at once to an observant stranger ; and the mixture of rough unpolished men of the West, with the more refined and mercurial men of the South, and the whites of different States with dark meiiials, many of whom are slaves, gives to the population of AVashing- ton, in an English point of view, a painful aspect. The boarders at this hotel are the most motley and unsatisfactory company we have hitherto joined. They are principally representatives and their visitors. To some of these their eight dollars per day from the people electing tliem must be important, to judge fj-om their appearance and manners. They are thorough slovens in dress, rude and obtrusive in behaviour, crowd the hall and passages, aud smoke and spit, and pass to and fro and in and out with a reckless, self-important, and " I do as I like " air. Mingled with them — or, rather, in the gentlemen's parlour, or reading-room — there are several more gentle and refined spirits, but they are not suflicient in number to give effectual relief to the unpleasant picture. The first profane oath we have heard since we left England was uttered here by au elderly man wlio sat opposite to us at breakfast ; and who, when reproved for it by Dr. Hannah, said, putting !1 WASHINGTON. 63 ittmg his hand io h's pocket, " Pray, sir, what am I indebted to you for your counsel?" Our public meals here, though dearly paid for, are far fiom agreeable. There is plenty of good and substantial food on the table, but it is taken in such a hurry, and with such a selfish kind of scramble, — every one clutching what he can for him- self, without any respect to his neighbours' wants, and that with the most dogged silence, — that our English idea of a " comfortable " meal receives a sore shock. Each man here seems to bolt, rather than eat his food ; and to see one after another start up and hurry away out of tho room, yon would suppose every one had some vastly important affairs to transact. But when you quit the table yourself, and go out into the entrance hall, you find it thronged with loungers und smokers, just come from the tabic : so that habit and self-indulgence, not necessity, evidently induce the conduct so strange and disagreeable to an Englishman. I should say that, on the average, Americans at public tables eat more than we Englishmen, and that of substantial food ; but I think I may state that a quarter oi an hour is almost the full extent of the time an American devotes to his hotel dinner. In private society, where we have been, there is none of this semi-barbarous " hurry-skurry," but everything is agreeable. It is only of hotel life in this place that I now write ; and hero, at all meals, and wherever you may be served, by waiters or porters, there is the painful suspicion haunting you that they who wait upon or serve you in this legislative capital are slaves. This thought darkens, and perhaps distorts all one's views ; and so heavily has it oppressed me at all meals that I could not eat with comfort, and often have I had difficulty in restraining an impulse to rise up from 't ;! I i J i***T»Bf|»4igi*M:„ :s 64 WASHING TON. my seat at table, and tell the poor slave, as I supposed him to be, waiting behind me, to sit down and take my place, and eat tlio meal while I waited upon him, to show that I believed him to be " a man and a brother." In the streets of Washington, and especially during morning promenade, there is a great display of gay dress to be seen ; and it is not confined to the whites : some of the coloured people, who have the means, dress extra- vagantly fine : silk-gowns, white gauze and feathered bonnets, white or flesh-coloured stockings, and satin shoes, with variously-coloured parasols to guard the face from the sun, may be seen on the dark, and, in some instances, easy and graceful forms, and in the hands, of coloured females promenading in the forenoon along Pennsylvania Avenue. The black male dandy is also to be seen; and, of all sights, Le is the most ridiculous. Sambo is plainly an imitative creature, but, like most other imitators, he strays into caricature : thus, Sambo plays the fine gentleman in the streets of Washington by wearing a coat of superfine broadcloth, cut in the newest fashion, and richly adorned with gilded buttons, and a profusion of white starched shirt-collar and wrist- bands, and of frilled shirt-front ; he holds a silver or gold- tipped cane within white kid gloves ; he perches his hat sideway on a head tossed up with consequence ; and struts like a magpie. This is a sight that alternately provokes one to laughter and moves one to pity. It is not, however, a very frequent sight, for there are not many coloured men in Washington able to dress thus. Many of them are meanly clad, and show by the palms of their hands and the soles of their naked feet, whitened by toil and walking, that their life is one of hard and severe labour. I followed some of these injured and ^^ WASHINGTON. 65 >> vrist- er or relies iiice ; ately It is 3 not thus, alms ened and and degraded sons and daughters of Africa to their haunts and huts behind the larger streets and avenues, that I might see how they were housed, and found that some of them were in a very desolate and pitiable condition ; and on the second evening of our stay here, I pushed my way into a negroes' bazaar, which was held in a cross street at a large room, on behalf, I believe, of an African Baptist church. And of all crowded and heated places, this was the most disagreeably so of any I had seen. There were dark females within their stal^=;, gaily clad, and with coquettiiih smiling looks selling their highly- coloured and gaudily-embroidered articles. There were black and bronzed perspiring young men and women, arm in arm, parading the room in their best attire, joking, laughing, and jabbering away through their even rows of white teeth, in the most amusing style ; and yet, with this, there was a child-like, easy sim- plicity that rendered the novel assemblage pleasing and interesting. There were no white faces to break or diversify the scene, and my pres(?nce evidently caused surprise to the coloured company. The Capitot., as the house of legislation is loftily named, is the principal object of attraction in Washing- ton, and it is undoubtedly a fine and magnificent edifice. Standing on a considerable elevation, it overlooks the city, and may be seen from all parts as its crowning ornament. It is faced with white marble, and, associated with the green mound on which it stands, and with the terraces, walks, and shrubbery around it, is at once pleasing and imposing. It is by far the best building I have seen in America. It has a grand, serene, and noble effect, and is fully worthy of the purpose to which it is devoted— the debating and framing of the laws by which F singing alone in the ecstatic audience of angels. The minister in charge, with myself, tried to dismiss the congregation, but they would not separate, or, if some went out, others came in and began also to sing and shout the praises of Qod, so that the place remained filled to a late hour. After a time, I pushed my way towards the door ; but the blacks crowded around me, and I made but little progress. Numbers of dark, perspiring hands were thrust forth towards me, accom- panied with the words, " Bless you, English massa ! '* and " Bless de Great Massa above ! " others said, *' He send de Word home to de heart ! " At length I gained the door, and, at something after ten o'clock, reached Dr. Roberts', where, after family worship, I retired, with Dr. Hannah, to bed, glad of the opportunity to speak, with one so congenial in thought and feeling, upon the Sabbath and its services. I did not sleep at all through the night, but passed the wake- ful hours upon my bed, with joyful feelings and reflec- tions, exultantly exclaiming, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken- hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and re- covering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." I can now fully appreciate the opinion expressed, I believe, by Miss Bremer with regard to African churches, viz., that it is not unlikely God will ultimately raise up from them. His long-oppressed and down-trodden chil- dren, model churches for the world; for, certainly, if religion be love, and if simplicity, devoutness, patience, meekness, humility, and fervency be the distinguishing ■•fW-*^ »» .;! ' , _ . '' J j'!fj * ' t> frv': V ,'''.jT^ '■ .» MM I' » child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den : they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord:" and then shall Africa, freed from her chains, sit rejoicing in her love to Christ, " under her own vine and fig-tree," no roan-stealer " daring to make her afraid." " Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God!" \ I LETTER VI. THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTALNS.— CINCINNATL Riiilwny from Bidtiinorc to Cumberland — Coiiii)aiiy of Methodist Ministers— The River Potomac — Town of Cumberhuid — Hotel Customs, and Iced Water — Strikini^ View from the Hill above Cumberland — llailwoy over the AUejihanies — Character of the Scenery — Town of Wheeling — Policy which dictated the Formation of the Great Railway to the West — Namea of American Towns — Free State of Ohio — The Located Minister — Horror* of Slavery— The Ohio River — Kentucky left behind — Arrivid at Ciu- cinuati. I MUST now describe to you our journey from Baltimore over the great Alleghany Mourlnins, by tho bright Ohio River, Cincinnati, — the " Queen City of the West," — and over rich prairie and I'orest lands, on to this " City of Kailroads," as it is called, Indianapolis. We left Baltimore by an early morning train, that we might have as much of the daylight as possible whrl.'> travelling on the Ohio Railway. In the cars we had Vf'ith us for companions several Methodist delegates, who, like ourselves, were on the way to this p'uvf? lor the General Conference. Thcj were intelligert, wd' informed ministers, strong haters of slavciy, ana thoroughly unreserved in speaking their sentiments on what they had seen and learned of that abominable system. Ti ome of them were of English birth and edu- «-?.-.r.^>-;.- - Ministers — 18, nnd Iced Railway over liii^ — Policy est — Names IT — Horrors vvi at Ciu- altimore ght Ohio rest,"— is " City lin, that possible cars we Blegates, 'Tiu'.f? for 'j> dna lents on minable nd edu- TIIB ALLEGHANY M0UNTAIN8.-CINCINNATI. 93 cation, nnd wore thus wholly free from American pro- judioob concerning African colour and cwif<^ Wo had, therefore, considerable advantatre in our nompAnionships during a long and toilsome joumoy, ami nad not only relief and interest arising from them, but also instrur*- tion and profit. The first day wus very cIoh^ nnd oppressive, and we both saw and felt some reason for certain Uglit-ooloured — and, to our English eyes, rather unr're. .' fii'si f.wo days were spent in passing along the marginal of th^ Slave States of Maryland and Virginia ; and in our course wt saw slaves working in the fields, and serving within and outside of refreshment-rooms, and of private houses. To our thinking, most of them wore a dejected and sorrowful look ; and here, again, in the loose and rude manner in which some of the land was cultivated, we believed we saw signs of what has often been asserted in print, and of what was stoutly maintained by several of our companions, that slave- labour is not really profitable to its owners. !Many of the slaves appeared as if they were destitute of sufficient motive for exertion, since they seemed both to work and to wait lazily. The scenery improved upon us as we advanced into the country. At first it was rather flat and tame, but after a time it began to resemble, in its hills and dales, some parts of Derbyshire and of the English lake dis- trict. At many different points we saw and crossed the Potomac River, which separates the States of Maryland and Virginia, and which is more than 500 miles long, from its mouth of seven and a half miles wide at Chesa- peake Bay. This nohlo river bends greatly and fre- 94 THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS— CINCINNATI. quently in its course, and varies much in the aspect under which it is seen by the traveller through the valley along which it flows. Here it will be seen rolling tumultuously over a wide and broken bed, and there lingering in deep gorges and dark pools; now brawling amidst fragments of rocks and huge boulders, and then it will present a comparatively calm sheet of water, pleasingly dotted with small islands clothed with trees and shrubs. The Potomac is said to have in it abundance of fish, particularly of the white shad, the herring, and the sturgeon. The last-named fish is often found of immense size, weighing as much as 100 lbs., and is seen taking enormous leaps at falls and cascades. The white shad is a flat fish of good substance and flavour, and is not much unlike the sole, so well known and esteemed in England. The shad is a favourite dish at an American table. The Potomac is also frequented at certain seasons by troops of wild swans and flocks of wild geese, which afibrd pastime to sportsmen, and favourite, if not dainty, food for epicures. As we approached Harper's Ferry, eighty-two miles distant from Baltimore, the scenery grew very bold and romantic ; indeed, when viewed from a more elevated point than we attained, the scenery in that neighbour- hood is, reputedly, beautiful and grand. On reaching Cumberland, 178 miles from Baltimore, and at the foot of the Alleghany range, we learned that we could remain there for the night, and re-commence our journey the next morning ; so we resolved to stay, and engaged beds at the hotel nearest the r ,ilway station. We were again annoyed by the apparent indifierence of the hotel- keeper, and his long delay in making known to us what sleeping-room we could have. If such neglect were to CI. he aspect 'ough the [ be seen bed, and aols; now 3 boulders, m sheet of Dthed with have in it shad, the ish is often IS 100 lbs., d cascades, istance and ;vell known ^rourite dish » frequented and flocks rtsmen, and jr-two miles »ry bold and )re elevated neighbour- )n reaching at the foot we could our journey md engaged "We were ,f the hotel- n to us what •lect were to THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS.- CINCINNATL 95 be shown by an innkeeper to his visitors in England, one may venture to say that he would have to close his establishment before many days had gone over his head. When, after long and weary waiting, we attained the knowledge that we could be accommodated, we hastened to refresh ourselves with ablutions of cold water, and, before our evening meal, went out to view the town, and to get a glance at the scenery around it. The town of Cumberland consists chiefly of a main street, running north and south, and having in it the principal " stores ; " and from it two or three cross streets branch off. The number of inhabitants may be about 7000. On an elevated ground, south of the river, there is a court-house, a good Gothic stone church, with tower and spire, and several villa-like residences of the wealthier inhabitants. The trading part of the town, the bulk of the population, the bank, and several churches, lie north of the suspension-bridge, between the river and the railway. We remarked here the great number of rooms and houses which had written upon the doors, or their sideposts, " attomey- at-law," and supposed that, as Cumberland is the seat of justice for " Alleghany County," that circumstance might be regarded as the explanation why the number of lawyers here exceeded what is usually found in such a town, even in America, where the legal profession seems to give the readiest passport to political life or office. At our evening meal we found, as we had commonly found it to be in American hotels, that almost all provi- sions and attentions were given to the ladies. We had, as before, much difficultv in obtaining places at the table, being left behind by boarders and travellers, who \ 96 THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAIN^.— CINCINNATI rushed into the refreshment-room at the first sound of the bell ; and when, through the kindness of our minis- terial friends, we had obtained seats, we could not very easily obtain tea and food. One luxury we had here, as elsewhere, and which Englishmen who have not been in a hotter climate than their own will hardly know how to value, and that is iced water. This has been our constant beverage since we landed in America ; and it is likely to be so -^s long as we remain in the States, for we not only do not need anything else, but we do not wish for or desire anything else ; and if we did, the customs of American society would forbid it to us, for a minister of religion in this country might almost as soon swear a profane oath as call for wine or spirituous liquor. We do not yet, and, I suppose, we shall not, relish fully the one drinking-can in the railway car for all passengers ; but iced water, where we can obtain it to ourselves, is drunk by us with unspeakable relish. We have more than once expressed our fears to each other that, having enjoyed this luxury here, we shall miss it in our own country when we return. Ice, even when ob- tained in England, is not so solid, clear, and refreshing as it is in this coimtry. It seems here to give healthful tone to the stomach and firmness to the nerves. After tea, while the ladies repaired to their general drawing-room, and the gentlemen sat near the front windows of their room, some extending their feet over the window-sills, and others with their legs resting on chair-backs, where they chewed, smoked, and spat. Dr. Hannah and I, with some of our ministerial companions, climbed the hill north of the railway, to view the moun- tain-scenery, with the Potomac, as we looked towards the south. The sun was going down behind the hills, THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS— CINCINNATI. 97 •und of • minis- ot very here, as been in LOW how een our ; and it iates, for e do not did, the us, for a ;t as soon ipirituous jhall not, ly car for btain it to ish. We lach. other 11 miss it when ob- refreshing , healthful s. ir general the front 7 feet over resting on spat. Dr. )nipanions, the moun- ;d towards . the hills, so that the scene had not such mingling of lights and shadows as it would have had if the sun had been higher in the heavens ; yet there were before us largely-ex- tended mountain ranges, with stern outlines and deeply awful shado wings, and the setting sun threw his beams of glowing crimson, at openings, across the landscape, and made portions of the river blaze with golden glory. I sketched a memorandum of the outline of the hills and river, but it can give no idea of the sombre gran- deur and mysterious loveliness of the reality. It was an impression for life — a panorama to be remembered and thought of through succeeding years. After this I went alone to view the houses and sheds of the poorer and coloured inhabitants of the town. I found them neither so low nor so mean as the dwellings of the humbler classes in the larger towns which we had visited. There was also a good Methodist church ; and, on the whole, I was cheered by what I saw of the state and order of the town. "We went early to bed, that we might be refreshed by sleep before rising at four in the morning ; but the heavy tramp of travellers and boarders going to their beds up to a late hour prevented us from falling asleep ; and just beford midnight, when we were closing our eyes with the stillness that followed, an over-eager black man came thundering at our bedroom door, to call us up, in mistake, for the midnight train. This roused us so thoroughly, that our rest was irrecover- ably broken — a circumstance which was much against us after our excitemsnt in Baltimore, and ill-fitted us for the loss of sleep we had afterwards to sustain. At four we rose from our beds, ate a hasty meal, and re- sumed our journey upon the rail. After passing through some scenery which again re- H ' \ \ I w 98 THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS.— CINCINNATI. minded us of our own Skiddaw and Windermere district, we began fairly to ascend the AUeghanies, and had in some parts to be drawn up zigzag roads, and steep inclines, as well as through long, dark tunnels, by power- ful engines. These ranges of mountains do not, like the Alps of Europe, stand forth in clear, snowy, crisp forms, seeming to inhabit and pierce the heavens with their sharp peaks and ridges : they are of more round and swelling shapes, and are covered, for the most part, with unshorn forests. The height of the highest point of the AUeghanies is not much more than half the height of " Sovran Mont Blanc :" but the length of this American range dwarfs the Alps ; it is nearly 1000 miles, and extends from the State of Georgia through the States of South and North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, and terminates in New Hampshire. Numerous rivers have their source in it, and pass off to the Atlantic on the east, and to the Mis- sissippi on the west. From one of these, the "Alle- ghany River," the main group of mountains derives its name. The breadth of the range is sixty or seventy miles. There were some patches of snow remaining on parto where we crossed, but nothing like the vast cold piles we saw on the European Alps. The face of nature, in other respects, was wild and grand. Forest trees, in different stages of growth, maturity, and decay, were to be seen on all sides ; now and then some woodcutter's rough and solitary cabin, most primitive in its shape, peeped out from amidst the masses of " primeval trees ; " and we could catch the echo of the stroke of an axe, or the crash of a falling tree. One would like to realise the effect of these mountains as seen from a plain or valley not far from the foot of them ; passing over them THE ALLEaUANY MOUNTAINS— CINCINNATI. 99 district, had in id steep y power- , like tlie jp forms, ith their )und and LOst part, lest point half the rth of this irly 1000 a through Virginia, 58 in New iirce in it, fo the Mis- ■he "Alle- derives its or seventy nuining on B vast cold e of nature, est trees, in lay, were to kToodcutter'a 1 its shape, 3val trees;" f an axe, or e to realise a plain or g over them in the manner we did, I can only say that their general aspect was one of wild and solitary grandeur. "With our Methodist associations, it was impossible to journey over these mountains without recalling the labours of Asbury, M'Kendree, and other zealous pioneers for Christ, who crossed them to preach His Gospel to the emigrants and settlers in the West, and without com- paring our mode of journeying with theirs ; for theirs was indeed solitary travel, and it needed a high heart to tread these pathless forests, whose only tenants were, at that time, wild beasts and savage men. By about four o'clock we reached'' Wheeling, more than 300 miles from Baltimore, and had our first view of the full and broad Ohio River. Wheeling is evidently a thriving and increasing town, and, from its situation, its manufactures, and the great plenty of coal to be found in its neighbourhood, it bids fair to become a very important town in the States. Here terminates the Ohio Railway, and the ways of transit hence branch off to Pittsburg on the north-east, to Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis on the north-west, and to Cincinnati and St. Louis for the great and far West. This town displays some good public and private buildings ; it is surrouuded by high, bold hills, and it has a broad quay, and a handsome suspension-bridge across the Ohio ; but, like our English manufacturing towns, it is but a sooty, grimy place. The last epithet I might also justifiably employ to describe the " National Hotel," at which we 8taj''ed for the night. We obtained, as usual, a double- bedded room for ourselves, but it was dirty. The noise around us was also annoying, and, for the third night after our Sabbath excitement at Baltimore, we could obtain little or no sleep. H \ \ lOO THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS-CINCINNATI. As may be supposed, this railway over the Alleghany Mountains is a vast and costly undertaking ; but it is seen to be most important, nationally, to the United States : so the cost has not been spared. From the West, by the Mississippi and the Lakes, there are outlets to the Atlantic, both on the south and the east, and this without any passage through the States, except by water; and as it is discerned that the valley of the Mississippi is destined to become the grand granary, not only for the States, but for other parts of the world, American statesmen perceived that, without free and easy communication between this vast corn-field and the manufacturing and commercial towns of the east, the States bordering on the Atlantic would be irreparable losers. To prevent this apprehended diversion of the western corn-traffic into the harbours of New Orleans and Quebec, and to preserve for the Atlantic States full sympathy from those on the Pacific, this gigantic railway over the AUeghanies has been constructed. The wisdom of this policy is unquestionable. "With the railway and canal from east to west, tha States are bound together by commutual trade interests and facility of intercourse, and thus, in spite of the distance of their Pacific from their Atlantic boundary, feel themselves to be still the Great Federation. The returns of the railway cannot, of course, be immediately remunerative; but every American and every foreigner must feel that the out- lay for its construction has been wisely and nobly spent, and that this Titanic iron tram-way deserves to be ranked, as it is, among the great national works of America. ^ We left Wheeling at four o'clock on Wednesday morning, and went on board a steam -packet, which took THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS— CINCINNATI. 101 US about five miles down the Ohio. Here we were set on shore, to start for Cincinnati by the railway through Columbus and London. By the way, the names of English and European cities of distinction are very numerous in the American States ; and not only so, but they multiply the names, having several towns named "Athens," and several "Cambridge," for instance. It might have looked more truly national if the Ame- ricans had given original names to their towns ; but one must attribute the present practice, I think, at heart, to interest in the celebrities of the Old World. As for any thought about postal confusion, it has not seemed to enter the heads of these namers of towns in America. Columbus, the c&.pital of Ohio, is another great rail- way centre, from which lines branch off in many direc- tions. The scenery of the State of Ohio, as we beheld it, in travelling through it from east to west, is princi- pally that of forests and clearings. The trees by the sides of the road were of all sizes and conditions : some were very tall, and interlaced each other with their spreading branches, while they were richly festooned by creepers and springers ; others were decayed and falling, or burnt black as charcoal both in their huge trunks and arms; and some had recently been felled by the woodsman, and lay like tall giants shorn of their strength and pride. Some parts of the land looked swampy and uninviting ; but there were many tracts in high cultivation, and richly clothed with verdure. The dwellings by the way-side were really houses in form, and not mere log-cabins, though they were chiefly formed of boards. Altogether, the State of Ohio has a promising and improving aspect, unlike the worn-out 102 THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS —CINCIXNATL < ! face which is often presented by the landscape in the Slaves States of Maryland and Virginia. I was delighted to see in our car two handsome bronze-coloured persons sitting near to us, chatting and laughing together in the midst of white travellers, and evidently feeling at home among them. This was what I had not hitherto seen in any part of the States ; and the remembrance of this incident will stamp on my mind the cheerful and pleasant image of "free and young Ohio.'* "VVe rode with our ministerial compa- nions as. far as Xenia; there they went off directly west for Indianapolis, and we went south-west for the city of Cincinnati. In the succeeding part of our journey we were recognised by a located minister, who was exceedingly kind and attentive to us, but who spoke somewhat apologetically for slavery in America. This roused British feeling within us ; and on hearing soft things said of the " happiness" and " content- ment** of the slaves, we significantly inquired if there were no runaway slaves from Kentucky in Oliio. Our question drew forth the following shuddering state- ment : — During the previous hard winter many slaves had escaped from the Slave States, over the ice o*" the river Ohio, into the Free State. (You will be reminded of "Eliza** in Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin.") In Cincinnati and other towns many good humane persons were ready to receive, shelter, and hide these poor fugit'ves from their vengeful pursuers. Among the rest, a negro woman, with her husband and two children, thus escaped to the Free State of Ohio. She was pur- sued, and her hiding-place discovered and surrounded. Those who had sheltered her were unable to save her, THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS —CIMCINN ATI. 103 Lmerica. and there seemed to be nothing left for her but to sur- render. So dreadful was the prospect of returning to her bondage, combined with the knowledge of what severe punishment would be inflicted on her, that she set herself to destroy her whole family rather than go back with them to slavery. She killed one child, and was about to kill the other, before destroying herself, when her fierce pursuers broke into the place, and secured her. Her after-fate I must leave to your ima- gination. The relation of this case, as you may suppose, entirely dissipated all that had been said of the " happi- ness and contentment of slaves in Amierica." Again we came in sight of the Ohio River ; it was flowing smoothly and placidly on by our side, and full of water — though it is not always so, being subject to great elevations and depressions, and rising as much as 60 feet higher in March than in September. "We had strongly desired to descend this river, from Wheeling to Cincinnati, that we might see it in its breadth of 2400 feet, — the numerous lovely islets with which it is studded, and its banks adorned with resplendent flowers and foliage of rich and magnificent growth. Our resolution to be at Indianapolis by the beginning of the Conference, prevented this. We have, however, seen sufficient of it to understand the appropriateness of the name, " La Belle Riviere," given to it by the French, — who, it will be remembered, greatly coveted the possession of the fine country beyond its border, and longed to add that land to their Canadian terri- tory, but were driven back by the Virginian colonists, headed by Washington, wlio was at that time a mere youth. Looking across this noble stream, we could see on its i;c.""---->'' 104 THE ALLEGUANY MOUNTAINS.— CINCINNATI. ii f * south side, the State of Kentucky, the landscape of which appeared broken, diversified, and lovely, espe- cially as it was reflected on the surface of " the river of beautiful waters" which flowed between us and that State. Kentucky has a great reputation for fertility, so that it is said of it, in American style, — " If you plant a uail in the soil at night, It will come up a spike by morning light I" From what we have seen of the Kentuckians travel- ling on this side of the water, I should pronounce them interesting and good companions. They are light- hearted, ardent, and dashing ; and are exceedingly loquacious, and very fond of a joke, — ^a sort of genteel Irish in America. We woul i willingly have seen more of them, and have visited their celebrated " Mammoth Cave" (with its subterraneous churches, avenues, domes, cataracts, rivers — with their "fishes without eyes," pits, stalactites, and depths of GOO fifsi, and length of eighteen miles, with an unknown, and as yet unexplored, extent beyond), but we could not do so without a serious interruption of our duties. So we left Kentucky without any personal visitation, remem- bering that with all its fertility, beauty, and natural wonders, it is a State under the ban of slavery ; but with this relieving circumstance, that many of its proprietors desire and seek its deliverance from that accursed evil. In the afternoon of Thursday we reached Cincinnati, and by the good offioes of our located brother, who accompanied us, we were soon comfortably provided for at the " Gibson Hotel," and were able to go out and look at the city. Assuredly it is not without fitness J*- THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS— CINCINNATI. 105 that Cincinnati is entitled "The Queen City of the West." It is handsome and stately, and is enthroned on a high, wide platform, in two slopes, on the north side of the broad river. Villas and mansions, embo- somed in trees and shrubberies, Hank it and surround it, while the grape is extensively and successfully culti- vated in its vicinity. Less than eighty years ago this city did not contain more than 100 white persons — now it has a population of 210,000, and is the fourth city in rank (if not the third) within the United States. It stood then at the very limit of western civilization ; and there yet remain in the neighbourhood bufiUlo " trails," or hard trodden paths, three or four yards wide, and extending miles away, along which, almost in the me- mory of living man, scores and hundreds of those ani- mals used to crowd down through the forest to drink at the Ohio. Now it is become the grand emporium of weatern trade and commerce ; is well drained, and well supplied with water ; is paved down to low- water mark at the wharf, and has floating piers to rise and sink with the variable waters of the river; is decked with imposing public buildings, handsome " stores,'* and numerous churches ; and its enterprising inhabitants, by the system of railroads and steamboats, are in constant and active communication with all parts of the Union, and, through them, with all parts of the world. The manufactures of Cincinnati are numerous, em- ploying between 200 and 300 steam-engines ; but, as you will know, it is chiefly celebrated for the slaughter and sale of hogs. As many as 400,000 of these animals have been known to be cut up here during a season of twelve weeks. We imagined that the scent of ,.";^n.s: j,mm^r:a'"^X'Ki::^Z ( t 106 THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS -CINCINNATL butchered pigs, which had been cau^^ht up into the rarified air from the numerous slaughter-houses during the day, came down upon us in the evening, and did not make the streets, as we walked through them, over fragrant. But very likely the imagination had a good deal to do with our impression. Cincinnati has everywhere the signs of great thrift and enterprise ; and, in spite of its immense butchery of pigs, it is evidently a place of advancing taste and literary culture, as well as a town of rapidly rising commerce. Some of its public buildings are of excel- lent forms and proportions. Its bookshops are among the finest "stores" in its wide, handsome streets; and our own Methodist Book-concern has a large building, and issues very numerous publications in the year. The libraries and reading-rooms of the city are on an exten- sive scale, and many of the young citizens, by their college studies, are preparing themselves for honourable and useful positions in life. We visited the library and the reading-room of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, Oi»po8ite our hotel, and found them equal, if not superior to anything of the kind in England. Beligion, too, is here venerated and liberally supported. There are nearly 100 churches of various denominations. The Methodists have a considerable share of them ; and, what to us was a fact of interest, the Germans have here Methodist ministers of their own nation, issue Methodist publications in their own language, and have erected several of the Methodist churches. The Roman Catholics are numerous, and have their " cathedral," as well as their other churches. After the Methodists rank the Baptists, the Protestant Episcopalians, the Pre8b3rterians, and the Lutherans. THE ALLBOHANV MOUNTAINS.— CINCINNATI. 107 Altogether, we recoivwd a very favourable irapresaion of Cincinnati ; and we resolved, as the night closed upon us and wo retired to rest, that, if circumstances would permit, we would return to it from the Con- ference, and get bettor acquainted with this " Queen City of the West." II I: ! I 1 i LETTER VII. INDIANAPOLIS. State of Indiana : its Rapid Growth — The City of Indianapolis — His Excel- lency the Governor and his House — Methodism in the State and in the City — Public Kcligious Services — American Preaching — A Bishop's Ser- mon — The Sabbath School — A Love-feast — American Fires — Political Life — A Stump Orator — The Ballot-box — An Inner Circle in American Society — Southern Visitors — Glimpses of Slave -life — Au Irishman's Bull — Ministerial Intercourse — Sad News from England. Less than half a century ago this extensive and flourish- ing State of Indiana, which contains about 22,000,000 of acres, was an uncultivated wilderness of forest, swamp, and prairie land, and was inhabited by wild beasts, poisonous reptiles, and savage men. Now it is largely under cultivation, is divided into numerous counties, has numerous towns, its capital city, its own legisla- tive assembly, its state governor, judges, and various officers, and a population of more than one million and a quarter. The State is favourably situated : it extends from the river Ohio, on its southern boundary, to Lake Michigan on the north ; and has the Wabash River on its western limit for more than 120 miles, while the White River runs up eastward into its centre. Indiana is, for the most part, an agricultural State, possessing a deep vegetable soil, which the " returns" of its Agricultural Society show to be very productive. There INDIANAPOLIS. 109 lis Excel- nd in the hop's Ser- -Political American nan's Bull are beds of coal and iron in it, which are near to the surface ; it is intersected by numerous railways, and is in the way of the great thoroughfare from the south to the north-western part of the country. Indianapolis, the capital (at which we arrived by railway, a journey over forest-lands and "clearings" of about 100 miles from Cincinnati), stands in the middle of the State, and is built on a level and extensive plain of richly- wooded land ; it is the meeting-point for many railways, and on that account has been named "the City of Railroads." The ground on which it stands, with many miles of land around it, was covered by a dense forest, and was sold for 35,696 dollars (about £7120) ; now it is worth seventy times as much, is divided on every side into squares, streets, and gardens, as far as the eye can reach, and is adorned with many public buildings. The city is very regular in its plan, being laid out in streets that diverge from a common centre, and radiate in all directions to the extent, in some instances, of two miles. In this respect it is not unlike the city of Washington, and looks well when it is viewed from an elevated position, though here, as there, some of the streets have little more to mark their existence than the wooden fences at their sides, or the occasional dottings of a house or cottage. The prin- cipal street is named " Washington Street ;" this is the chief thoroughfare both for passage and for business. It contains some good buildings and " stores" of brick and stone, wherein may be purchased, not only tho necessaries of life, but also its luxuries and delicacies, brought from London and Paris. This street, like the rest in Indianapolis, is yet unpaved, and, at times, is deeply cut in its light soil by heavy traffic. In some f [ no INDIANAPOLIS. parts, where the ground has not been trodden down hard, especially towards the extremities of the town, planks are laid for the wheels of vehicles to run upon. Several of the streets are planted at their sides with trees, which, in their perspective length of avenue, and now in their light-green spring leaves, look very beau- tiful; while, at intervals, there are quiet village-like openings, revealing pleasant cottages, villas, and clean, summer-like residences, surrounded with their gardens or orchards. The public buildings here are respectable, but not so imposing as those of the larger cities we have visited. The State House stands in the middle of a spacious square, which is planted with trees ; the build- ing is a copy from the Parthenon at Athens, but being only of brick and stucco, it lacks dignity. Its length is 180 feet, its width 80 feet, and its height, to the top of the central dome, 45 feet. The asylums for the blind, for the deaf and dumb, and for the insane, all three of which are in the suburbs, are also large and fair-looking edifices. From the central turret of the Blind Asylum an extensive view may be had of the city, with its radiating streets, its green avenues, and its encircling woods. The pop dation of Indianapolis amounts nearly to 20,000, and is chiefly white ; some free coloured people live in the outskirts, but they are not many. The governor's house — where we are entertained during our stay for the Conference — is a villa-like build- ing of wood, containing about ten rooms; it is sur- rounded by a garden, and stands near a street which leads to the front of the State House. The governor's house is such a one, both in size and fittings, as a retired English gentleman, living at the rate of £400 or £500 a year, would be able to keep up. In America, INDIANAPOLIS. lU of course, money will purchase more than with, us, and I should suppose that the governor may be able to support an establishment such as this for £300 at the most. The salary of his office, though the very highest in the State, is only about £200 a year ; and he has told me that he expends half as much more from his own private resources. The house, with its furniture, is provided by the State, and is set apart for the governor during the period of his office. The present governor — his Excellency Joseph A. Wright, Esq. — is a tall, well-made, intelligent, frank, and hospitable man. He has received us wilh the greatest cordiality, and is ever anxious to supply to us the best of whatever his house contains. He is evidently a man of good information and of ready utterance, and, like the Americans generally, is always eager to com- municate on subjects of interest. He is very regular and systematic in his mode of life, rises and breakfasts early, dines at half-past twelve at noon, sups at six, and retires to bed at ten. His house, and table too, are free to all who choose to call upon him or upon us, and altogether we are most comfortably situated. Our host is ready to take us anywhere, or to explain to us any- thing, and perceiving our interest in American matters, he converses with us upon them in the fre :st and most unreserved manner. He is one of those men who devote their lives to public care ; he has held various offices, has been a member of Congress, and says that when his term of office expires in Indiana, as it will this year, he shall seek some other public employ, either in this or some other State. Not having ample means of his own to fall back upon, his personal character and abilities are his best recommendations. He is a truly 112 INDIANOPOLIS. ! ■ religious man and a very devoted Methodist, supporting the cause of Christ to the extent of his ability ; and teaching personally in the Sabbath-school connected with the church at which he worships. Methodism prospers in Indiana. There are 100,000 full members of the Methodist Episcopal Church within the State, to say nothing of the great numbers who attend on the Methodist ministry as hearers of the word, without being enrolled in membership. In Indianapolis itself there is much public respect shown for religion ; there are here, belonging to different denominations, as many as twenty-five churches, and seven of these, including an African church, belong to the Methodists. The Sabbath-schools are twenty- seven in number, and in attendance upon them nearly all the children of the city are to be found, — there being not more than 250 children of eligible age who do not actually attend some Sabbath-school. Among the dif- ferent sects of professing Christians here, those of them who hold orthodox sentiments keep up friendly and fraternal communication with each other. Several of the Methodist delegates: to this Conference are lodged at the houses of Presbyterians and Protestant Episcopa- lians ; and, on the Sabbath, several churches of other denominations are supplied by Methodist preachers during the Conference. Dr. Hannah and I have been highly gratified with the public services we have attended in the Methodist churches of the city. The doctor has been very happy in his ministrations. His sermons have been charac- terise'' by his usual eloquence, and by blessed effects upon his audiences. The attendance at the services we conducted was large ; the ministers not personally em- INDIANAPOLIS. 113 ployed were present ; and the people, not merely from the city of Indianapolis, but from surrounding states and cities, crowded to hear the English preachers. Not unfrequently the congregations assemble some time be- fore the service is to commence, and sing harmonious pieces together, as they sit, just as a family might sing together in their home. This thoy did until we ascended the pulpit for the regular service. The devo- tion of the ministers and people was very fervent ; and at the end of the sermon we had to wait until the exclamations of " Praise the Lord ! '*- had somewhat subsided before we could proceed to give out the hymn. The American preaching which we have heard is not so methodical and compact as the English. It is drawn less from the text, and deals more with extraneous re- mark — or what would be deemed such in England. But if the value of the instrument is to be measured by the effects produced, then American Methodist preaching must be pronounced most fit and excellent; for, of a truth, it has been most wonderfully owned of God. We heard an excellent sermon from the venerable Bishop "Waugh. He preached on the Sabbath morning in the German Methodist church ; and a more truly apostolic discourse could hardly be delivered. It was on the direction given by Paul and Silas to the penitent jailer — " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It was simple, evangelical, and full of divine unction and power. The German Methodists very evidently profited by it ; and at the end of it they sang with fervour their German song of " Praise to God." Several additional services have been held during the time of Conference. There has been a tract meetinsr. where several American brethren, with Dr. Hannah, I * - 114 INDIANAPOLIS. spoke very ably. There was a meeting for Methodism in Ireland. The Rev. J. Robinson Scott explained the object of the meeting, Bishops Simpson and Janes, with other ministers, spoke earnestly in support of it ; and a liberal collection was made. It was reported that, to aid Methodism in Ireland, some £10,000 had already been contributed by the Methodists in America, and that it was confidently expected the sum of =£20,000 would ultimately be supplied by them. On the Sabbath afternoon, I went with the governor to the school in which he regularly teaches, and de- livered an address to the children. On arriving at the school, I was highly gratified by a novel spectacle which might be imitated with profit in some parts of our own country. Not only the children in the school, but many adults, grouped in companies, were reading the word of God together, verse by verse in rotation, and then edifying one another by making such remarks as were presented to their minds. A more profitable method of employing the hours of a Sabbath afternoon, for many persons in mature years, could scarcely be pointed out. A love-feast has also been held during the Conference, and I think it will never be forgotten by them that were present. Not only Methodists from different parts of Indiana, and from surrounding States attended it, but also ministers from the plains and woods of the far west. One of these, with sun-burnt countenance and whitened hair, said, ** I have slept on the banks of many western rivers ; I have been attacked in the night, and when alone, by wolves; I have travelled, slept, laboured, and prayed, between terrible tribes of Indians at war with each other ; I have been in perils by wild .! ( INDIANAPOLIS. 115 beasts, by land and by water, and this for forty years : and yet my heart has not only trusted, but rejoiced in the Lord, and I am now enjoying perfect love!" Others told how the lion and the wolf in sin had entered the log-cabin to devour the little flock, but were smitten down by the word of Christ, and became lambs for the charge of the spiritual shepherd. And emigrants and settlers of different nations told with tears how they left their father-lands to find in a strange country the way of life and salvation. It was, indeed, a scene of heart-subduing influences, and of moral beauty and grandeur, such as Christianity alone can exhibit. I have been strongly urged to preach in the open air, and to hold a sort of camp-meeting service. This I should have been glad to do, but I was afraid of the effect of the heated atmosphere. Without any exercise, I am daily in such a state of perspiration as to require at times several changes in clothes during the day. The air is close and humid, and sometimes has the same stifling effect upon us as is felt in England just before a thunder- storm. Several of the ministers have suffered from a sort of miasma, which, in the valley of the Mississippi is common, as are also " chills" and "fevers," the effects of the great profusion of decaying vegetable matter. And if I had yielded to my desire of hearing some ji the backwoodsmen preach in the open air, the time spoken of for the camp-meeting would not have served ; since, on that day, as also on the night preceding, the rain fell in torrents, ploughed up the unpaved roads, and so filled them with water that we might have floated along them in a canoe. While I thus refer to the air and the water, I must not forget to name another element that has called forth our 116 INDIANAPOLIS. n excited attention daily. I mean the element of fire, which here commits terrible destruction of property, and occasions frequent alarm. In New York, and other large cities of the States, we heard the fire-bell ringing often, both by day and by night. But in Indianapolis, there seems to be hardlj'- any cessation of fires. The peal of the fire-bell is heard, I had almost said, con- tinuousl3\ "We can scarcely attend a public service, either on the Sabbath or week-day, but during it we hear the fire-bell's loud and hurried clang, and the rattle of the fire-engines through the streets to the place of conflagration. The great number of wooden erections in the city is, I suppose, an explanation of this fact. And, to judge from what we have seen, when a wooden building takes fire, there is no chance of saving it from totpi destruction. All that can be done by the working of the engines is to prevent the flames spreading to the adjacent buildings. As in England, where there is a fire, great crowds rush to it. But, in America, the crowds press up close to the engines and the firemen, there being no ropes stretched across the road to secure a free working space from intrusion. "We have had some insight into American political and public life while here, and facilities for observing party associations and party struggles, such as we could hardly have had, if our entertainer had been a person merely in private life. The governor is a professed Democrat (that is, a moderate reformer) ; so are most of his friends with whom we have conversed on politics in his house ; and nearly all of them have made no secret of their being extreme partisans. They have no for- bearance towards others who are forward to proclaim political convictions; and though moderate and tern- \ \ INDIANAPOLIS. 117 perate men in other matters, in politics they are most resolute and determined. Public men, periodicals, and newspapers maintaining sentin' ...Is in common with theirs, are outrageously be-praised, as it seems to us ; and their censures appear equally unsparing and over- done. This seems, almost invariably, to be the practice of men who are in earnest on politics in America, as 1 have before stated. Unflinching adherence to party is principle with them, and to forsake a party is regarded as an act of the greatest dishonour. I have been introduced by the governor to several officers of the State of Indiana. One day he said if I would accompany him to the post-office, he would in- troduce me to Judge "Wick. I went expecting to see some personage who by his appearance would inspire veneration ; but I found him to be quite a homely, common-place looking man, sorting the letters in a disorderly, warehouse-like room, and as workman-like in his dress as a day-labourer ! He may, however, for all that, be a good judge, if he still presides in courts of justice. That he does so, I am not sure ; for it is the custom here to continue to a man his title after he ceases to fill the office : hence, from the custom of change which pervades America, we have so many persons throughout the States bearing titles of office. The governor also took me with him to hear a "stump orator" of celebrity He is a candidate for the governorship of the state, and is of the same poli- tical creed as the present governor, our host. A " stump orator" is one who addresses the people in the open air on public questions, the name having been derived from the early settlers' times, when a speaker, in order to make himself heard by all who could gather •^•^Ix-mM^t^- *V- -i."1 '1 I 118 INDIANAPOLIS. in the " clearing," had to stand upon the stump of a forest-tree, and address his audience. "VVe first went to the City Court House to hear the candidate ; but while that was announced to be the place of meeting, it was not expected that the building would hold his audience. So, after " Yankee Doodle," and other well-known tunes had been played on the fife, accompanied by the drum, up and down the streets to gather the multitude, we were led into Washington Street, where the speech was really to be delivered. The orator, supported by his friends, took his stand on the steps of an hotel, and addressed the people, who crowded the road and the pavement, before and beside him. He spoke on three questions : the right of States to govern themselves internally, the unreasonableness of the Maine Liquor Law, and the exclusive proposal of the * Know-nothings,* that none but native Americans should take any part in the government of the country. On each of these questions he spoke well and popularly, managing his audience with great tact. He was a tall, well-made man, and had a powerful voice. We stood on the opposite side of the street, I should say 120 feet from him, and I do not think we lost one word of his speech. Nor did I perceive that in his address, which lasted well on to two hours, he tripped in any one sen- tence, or faltered with a single word. He was certainly a master in the art of addressing an out-door crowd. He seemed to base all he said upon the Constitution, as agreed to by the American States ; and freely and readily quoted Washington, Jefferson, and Adams, in confirmation of what he advanced. He spoke reverently of morality, religion, and its ministers ; but he evi- dently pandered to the Irish, as Papists, to gain their .. ijififcii.jv?-ijja">^'».'.^.<-. ^*«*»"**»-*-mt*.» T*-**r«»4y**'>^<>*«4.Mw*~^«'r-*'**f**r'^<*' INDIANAPOLIS. 119 votes; as he did also to the prejudices of the whites again f the residence of coloured settlers in this "free state." There were frequent bursts of laughter, and many shouts of approval of what he uttered. The whole exhibition served to bring to memory the former election times of Old England, when an out-door crowd was addressed from hustings or balcony, by a talented and poj) alar candidate ; and I was really glad to have had so favourable an opportunity of hearing an American " stump orator." The governor also showed us how the vote by ballot was given in the elections. The titles of the offices to be filled up are printed on strips of yellow paper (the government colour), and the voter writes upon them the names of the persons he wishes to be elected. He folds up his paper, duly signed, and drops it into the ballot-box ; a,\d, at the end of the day, the votes are recorded, counted, and the numbers for each candidate declared. This record of every man's vote seems to me to take away the secrecy of voting. However, it seems to satisfy the Americans ; though, I am told, it is generally no secret how a man has voted. If, on pre- senting himself to deposit his paper in the ballot-box, there be any doubt of the voter's identity, or any suspi- cion that his paper contains a fictitious name, he is required to hold up his hand and swear to his name as given upon YJs voting paper. In times of fierce oppo- sition and contest, it is said to be no uncommon fact within populous districts for Irishmen, prepared by whiskey for the vile service, to give, at the bidding of a party, several votes each — the men swearing to as many different names as may be required. But we have had the advantage of other views of j^- 120 INDIANAPOLIS. t I American llfo and society, while in Indianapolis, than those which I have described. There is always an inner circle that must be reached and studied, if the real character of a people is to bo understood. And the man who takes his estimate of American life and manners merely from what he sees of stump orators and political parties, will have very incomplete and imperfect data on which to rest his judgment. Within doors, in the houses of friends and brethren, and in free and intimate conversation and communion with them, we have seen some deeply pleasing and refreshing forms of American character, and of Christian and domestic life. The governor, in his parlour and rocking-chair, as well as at his hospitable table, is a truly genial and sociable man. He is thoroughly American in his style of thinking and speaking, as we expected and desired to find him ; and his own country and people are every- thing to him. But he knows how to appreciate the character and power of Great Britain, and speaks well of Old England when her interests and those of his own country do not jostle. Now and then he will half intimate, while dilating on American progress, a con- viction that England is about to be distanced and left behind as a worn-out and jaded nation. But this harmless outbreak of regard for his own land we feel we can afford to let pass. Taking him for all in all, the governor is a candid and robust minded man. He is manly, frank, and courteous ; and reminds one of the superior class of our English yeomanry. He has recently lost his wife, whom he speaks of with the most tender affection. He is a kind and indulgent parent, an attentive relative to his female kinsfolk who are with him, and a considerate INDIANAPOLIS. 121 lis, than vays an I, if the I. And life and > orators lete and Within d in free th them, ng forms domestic ng-chair, enial and his style d desired ire every- 3ciate the )eak8 well )f his own will half 90, a con- and left But this . we feel a candid ank, and ass of our his wife, tion. He elative to onsiderate master to his Irish servants. At his substantial table, where he helps us and attends to us as courteously as the most hospitable English gentleman could do, we meet many guests of all classes ; but the majority of them are ministers. We have been much pleased with the open and generous bearing of some of the governor's friends from the South, who have crossed the border, and come to the Conference, not as delegates, of course, but as visitors. They greatly urge Dr. Hannah and myself to accompany them to their homes, and preach to the Methodists in the Southern States ; but we cannot think of doing so, while conscious of their public rela- tion to the question of slavery. Still, we cannot but conclude that, with their friendly bearing toward, this General Conference of the North and its members, the friends whom we have seen from the South are in heart opposed to that lamentable evil. We have had with us the Rev. Henry Slicer, a presiding elder from Baltimore. With his strong American views, and the large dush of humour in his somewhat controversial nature, he has been to us a very intelligent and agreeabU" companion. We have had, too, for some days with us, a truly amiable and pleasant friend in Dr. Bally, l*res.ident and Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy at the State University of In- diana. These, as well as others, have been joint par- takers with us of the governor's hospitality, and so freely and frequently associated with us, that we have been able to converse with them at length on subjects of deep interest. They have all deplored the evil of slavery, and expressed their desire for its removal. In one or two instances there has been, what was natural, an effort to keep from our view some of the most ofifen- ta^i^/l^^ammt^^m^ mi iwi m «rt««rf:«*-wif*J>^:5 * ••««-»*•»* #%,., f I 122 INDIANAPOLIS. sive features of slavery. And when, by persevering questions we have drawn forth from the less wary what they knew of the cruel treatment of negroes, there have been side-long looks from the discreet, that told of regret within for the humiliating disclosures made to us as visitors from another country. This was notably the case one day when, after some strong observations Dr. Hannah and I had made on the abuse of slaves by arbitrary and irresponsible owners, a young lady present expressed her full approval of what we said. I immediately questioned her as to what she had seen and known, in Kentucky, of the treatment of slaves, and she gave us the following re- lation. One evening, at a friend's house where she was visiting, a weak and almost imbecile master, who had sent a slave on horseback for liquor which he, the owner, drank until he became intoxicated, would insist on having the poor negro severely beaten for obeying him, and for doing what the poor creature would, most pro- bably, have been flogged for refusing to do. The slave was brought, stripped, stretched by the extremities, and bound to stakes upon the ground ; gagged, to prevent his cries being heard at a distance, and then flogged most unmercifully, just to please the whim of a besotted and tyrannical owner. Other exposures of the inhuman and atrocious system have been made, at times, in the form of incidental evidence ; and while these recitals have caused us almost to groan with indignant feeling, we observed that they were the source of mortification and inward shame to several of our American brethren. A considerable portion of our time, since we came into the States, has been spent in conversations upon the subject of slavery. "■»>«— *V •-«"•* , vering y what •e have ;old of le to us r some on the owners, oval of • as to of the ing re- she was irho had e owner, asist on ng him, ost pro- he slave ties, and prevent flogged besotted nhuman 3, in the tals have ling, we ion and iren. A ime into ipon the 1 I. ) INDIANAPOLIS. 123 "We have also met here i^everal Irish friends whom I had seen in their native land. Their conversation is ever bright and sparkling. One of them amused us much by a thorough Irish bull, whica he perpetrated one day when we were conversing with him on the difference of time between friends at Indianapolis and in England and Ireland. A bright thought seemed to flash through him in an instant concerning the electric telegraph wire proposed to be laid down between Eng- land and Ireland, and America. " Ah ! " said he, " we are six hours behind them in England and Ireland ; but soon, in less than that time, we shall have news from across the water here — so that we shall have news of an event before it has occurred." That it would appear so by difference of time was what he meant, but it was not what he said. We have also seen the bishops, and Doctors Durbin, M'Clintock, and Thompson ; as well as our old and beloved friend, Dr. Sargent, with whom we have had much free and friendly conversation. And we are visited daily by, I had almost said, crowds of both ministers and laymen, who love and respect England and English Methodism ; and who evidently feel interested in us for their sakes. We have had many an affecting conver- sation respecting "the old country" with emigrants from England who have come miles to see us ; and we have seen muny a tear shed at the remembrance of home and friends. Aged ministers have come to us at the governor's, and talked with us at length of their labours among the Indians and the early settlers ; and younger ministers, from all parts, have spoken with us of their hopes and purposes in relation to the kingdom of Christ in their country. So that we have had within our \ { 124 INDIANAPOLIS. abode at Indianapolis, the greatest advantages for ascer- taining the state of America, both civilly and religiously. "We have been most kindly and hospitably entertained by Bishop Ames, who resides in a good and comfortable house in the suburbs of this city. We spent some very pleasant and happy hours with him, his family, and his episcopal brethren. We have also spent evenings out at the houses of the ministers and friends. At one minister's house we passed a very pleasant and profitable evening with the Rev. Dr. Young (one of the pioneer fathers whom I must afterwards describe to you), with Dr. Elliott, the historian of the great secession of Southern from Northern Methodism, and an effective writer against slavery. With these, and their wives and friends, we conversed, prayed, and sang, through some very joyous hours. We have also visited, by in- vitation, a Quaker's family, with whom, in company with the governor, we soon felt ourselves to be at home. And we have met a large company at the house of a professor of education ; — so that our intercourse with persons of different professions, tastes, and opinions, has been great, and has afforded us large means of forming our judgment respecting the true character of the people and the state of things in this country. We have been careful to improve our opportunities as much as possible. And, on the whole, our estimate of Ame- rican society, life, and manners, has been considerably raised by what we have observed. There have been touches of social and affectionate nature which must ever afford to us very pleasant and grateful remembrances ; while our intercourse has been sweetened and sanctified by the spirit of Christ-like religion which we have found among our friends. iJ K i mm -..* -itm-*^ INDIANAPOLIS. 125 ascer- Lously. tained )rtable e very ,nd Hs gs out it one jfitable pioneer .), with sion of ififective r wives through , by in- ompany it home, ise of a rse with Lons, has 'orming of the We as much of Ame- liderably ive been aust ever brances ; lanctified we have •y On the other hand we have had our joys damped by the tidings of death which have come to us from our own land. The departure of dear Dr. Beecham is deeply felt by us. He was one of my more intimate friends, and had a truly genial and affectionate soul under his somewhat formal and stiff exterior. There were few to whom I could confide an inner thought with less reserve than to him. He took our passage for us in the Africa steamship, selected our berth, and showed deep interest in our mission. It was plain to me that, since his return from Canada, be bore the marks of exhaustion upon him, and that his day of strength was over. But I little thought when I last saw him, that I should see his hearty, open, English face no more. And the Church must feel the loss of him. IL , vi a man of unbending integrity, of per- severing i'i fulness, as well as of thorough, English, practical good sense. In him a great man has fallen in our Israel ; and in other public, as well as missionary mutters, we shall feel his removal. But while God buries his workmen. He will carry on His work ; and we must more earnestly pray that He, the Lord of the harvest, will send forth labourers into His harvest. The other news concerning deaths at Liverpool has also affected us, and drawn forth our sympathy and prayer for the bereaved. We thought the time long in getting news from England; but now it has come it almost wears the form of an obituary. Wherever we may be, we find proofs that in the midst of life we are in death ; and we here in America, as well as you in England, hear a voice saying, — " Be ye also ready ; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh ! ' f» \ X LETTER VIII. PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA FROM 1773 TO 1792. ' Early Lp.boiirers: Embury, Webb, Boardiaan, Filmoor, Asbury, Straw- bridge, and Williams — Spiritual Lifekadness of other Churches ; and their Quickening, by the Introduction of Methodism — Laudable Example of the Rev. Mr. Jarratt, a Clergyman of the Established Church — Mr. Rankin sent by Mr. Wesley — Question of the Sacramental Ordinances — Disturbing Effect of the Revolution on Methodism — SuiFerings of the Preachers — Settlement of the Country, and Re-organisation of Me- thodism — Laboiufs of Bishop Asbury, Garrettson, and Jesse Lee — First General Conference, and Revision of the Constitution of American Methodism. Before I enter on a description of conferential pro- ceedings iiere, I judge it will be really interesting to you to have in your possestion a brief retrospect of the progress of Methodism on this continent, together with slight pen-and-ink sketches of it3 most devoted and successful labourers. I will therefore endeavour, in this letter, to set forth the advance and growth of Me- thodism here, from the time of the meeting of its preachers in the Quaker City, in the year 1773 (which I previously noted), to the time of the first General Conference held in the city of Baltimore, in the year 1792. My authorities will be the writers of various English and American books (which I have at hand), PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 127 773 ry, Straw- ches; and le Example urch — Mr. dinances — ings of the jn of Me- Lee— First f Americaa tial pro- esting to jct of the ther with roted and ir, in this of Me- ng of its 3 (which General the year of various at hand), t the chief of them heing Dr. Bangs, tht/ author of the " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ame- rica;" but I shall also add some information derived from Methodist friends in America, with whom I have conversed. That meeting of Methodist preachers in Philadel- phia was the firri regular " conference" ever held for Methodism in America. Before that, the meetings held ofEcially in relation to the societies which had heen formed were simply quarterly meetings for the circuits, seoarately; but the conference of preachers held in Philadelphia, in 1773, was for all the circuits, con- nexionally; and the number of 1160 members then returned, shows how, by the instrumentality of a few labourers from Ireland and England, the work of God had extended and grown. Philip Embury and Captain Webb had laboured successfully in New York, Long Island, and Philadelphia. Mr. Boardman had carried the Gospel message into the north as far as Boston, and Mr. Pilmoor into the south as far as South Carolina. The indefatigable and persevering Asbury had not only toiled, for three and six months at a time, in the central cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore ; but he had also traversed the intervening and surrounding parts, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, daily, to settlers and to negroes. Other labourers had sprung forth to aid these devoted and zealous men m their holy work. A Mr. Strawbridge, formerly a local preacher in Ireland, and who had settled in Frederick County, Virginia, began to preach in his own house ; and after- wards went forth to surrounding villages and towns, proclaiming salvation througV Christ to congregations in log-huts and by the way-side, until, at length, ho mim \ \ 128 PROGRESS OF SiETHODISM IN AMERICA. separated himself wholly from secular pursuits, and be- came an itinerant Methodist preacher. Mr. "Williams, too, a local preacher from England, and who bore a note of credit from Mi'. "Wesley to preach under the direction of his missionaries, travelled as far as Norfolk, in the south-cf portion of Virginia, publishing the good news of tL : Guspel to the people. So that within the short space of five or six years, the truth as it is in Jesus had been proclaimed by a few poor itinerant Methodist preachers through the greater part of what, at that period, constituted the most populous region of the North American States. In addition to this, it may be affirmed as unquestion- ably as in England, that the preaching and services of Methodism had been the means of quickening into life and spiritual activity, existing churches which were previously formal and lifeless. "When the first Me- thodist missionaries went from England to America, tlearly all the churches of the colony were destitute of earnest godliness. The churches of the South belonged principally to the Established Church of England; and, just as it was with the parent Church in our own country, vital piety was scarcely known among them, and they were marked by little but the observance of external forms and ceremonies. The nonconformist churches, legally established in the north, owed their origin to the " Pilgrim Fathers ;" but while they still resembled their founders in rigid intolerance to Christians of other views, they had so far departed from the stern discipline of their Puritan predecessors as to be unable to bear, in their pulpits, the earnest preaching of the great and good Jonathan Edwards against youthful immoralities. ■■•' - •" PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 129 1 be- iams, ore a jr the jTfolk, Lg the within it is in inerant I what, gion of lestion- :vice8 of into life ch were Irst Me- ^merica, jtitute of belonged England ; our own lg them, rvance of onformist ved their ile they erance to departed edecessors le earnest Edwards It is true, that the ardent and eloquent "Whitefield had been among these churches, both of the south and the north, and had aroused their attention, temporarily, to vital religion; but, for want of organisation and permanent agency, the revival of the work of God under him in America, for the most part, subsided, and lived only in the recollections of those who had heard his powerful preaching. There were also in the middle provinces, it is said, some few ministers and members of r-'esbyterian and Dutch Refornied Churches who had solid learning and fervent piety. These happily excep- tional cases, however, were few indeed, and did not ma- terially relieve the cold and formal state of the general American Church. The majority of its professing mem- bers were spiritually dead, while they had a name to live. But, on the introduction of Methodism, some of the ministers and churches were stimi^^ 3d to earnest efforts for the revival of experimental and saving religion. This seems to have been eminently the case with the* Rev. Mr. Jarratt, a clergyman of the Church of Eng- land, in the State of Virginia. He fally imbibed the spirit of Methodism, and, fraternally co-operating with its preachers, formed his awakened parishioners into classes, and led them on from the elementary principles of religion, to maturity of Christian life and character. Some of his own statements, in letters of his still extant, are precious records of Pentecostal visitations of grace, to him and his people. These letters prove that the faithful preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus, in believing dependence on the Holy Spirit's influence, will assuredly and unfailingly be made the means of spiritual awakening to a people, however dead they may be in trespasses and sins. If truth would authorise K ( \ 130 PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. the statement, it would be pleasant to have to add, that this good minister of the Lord Jesus Christ continued to the end of his life to co-operate with Methodist minis- terc in their great and successful work. But the best of human characters hao its infirmities and prejudices ; and when the Rev. Mr. Jarratt found that the Methodist societies were organised into a separate and formal Church, he was so disappointed and offended, that he not only ceased to co-operate with Methodist ministers, but even wrote letters against them. Mr. Rankin, who, immediately on his arrival, sum- moned the Methodist preachers in America to meet him, at the first conference in Philadelphia, seems to have been sent by Mr. Wesley more especially for the esta- blishment and maintenance of discipline in the societies. The saving doctrines of the Gospel had been success- fully preached by the itinerants I have named ; but the converts had not been fully brought into order, and under government. This, to the orderly and practical mind of Mr. Wesley, was not satisfactory ; for, unlike the seraphic Whitefield, he was most careful to conserve and to mature the work of divine grace begun under the preaching of the Scriptural word. He therefore sent over Mr. Rankin, a Scotchman, and a determined disciplinarian, to be his general assistant for the orga- nisation of Methodism in America. And this end of his coming to this continent, Mr. Rankin, to a great extent, accomplished. He met with some difficulties in a few of the societies ; and Mr. Asbury thought that he assumed too much authority over the preachers ; but he pursued his course with rigid conscientiousness ; and, at the end of one year of stricter church-government, there was reported 1000 increase in the societies. . ; PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. 131 that ed to ainis- »estof iices ; hodist 'ormal lat lie listers, , sutn- et him, o have te esta- Dcieties. success- but the ler, and Dractical r, unlike conserve n under herefore ermined heorga- end of a great culties in tt that he ; but he ; and, at irernment, ies. It would appear that there was arising, among both preachers and people, some unwillingness to submit to Mr. Wesley's direction on one point : his requirement that they should attend the services of the Established Church, and carefully abstain from administering the sacrament of the Lord's Supper among themselves. For, in America, as in England, Methodism began in the form of societies professing to belong to the Established Church; and not as a separate and distinct ecclesias- tical organisation. But as I have stated, the Protestant churches of America were mostly lifeless ; and many of the clergy were not only opposed to Methodism, but were openly irreligious. The societies, therefore, desired to have the sacraments administered by their own preachers ; and some of the preachers were inclined to yield to that desire. Mr. Bankin, under directions from Mr. Wesley, and assisted by Mr. Asbury, prevented this, until the States obtained their political and national independence, — when the Church of England having ceased, in America, to be an establishment by law, and the people being, in numerous cases, left without sacra- ments and ordinances through the return of English clergymen to their own country, Mr. Wesley ordained Dr. Coke for the office of general superintendent, and sent him forth with letters of authority to provide for the wants of the people by duly organising the " Methodist Episcopal Church of America." I should add, that Mr. Asbury was appointed to be associated with Dr. Coke, in the general superintendency ; and that Messrs. What- coat and Vasey were ordained " elders" for the Church. The establishment of church discipline by Mr. Rankin, before the " War of Independence," was mo^t op- portune ; for the war, it is scarcely necessary to say, ^ 1 \ 132 PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. seriously interfered with the labours of the preachers, and the spread of Methodism, in America. The societies and congregations were, of course, disturbed by the general commotion ; and many of them were reduced and broken by the engagement of some of their members in the war. The English preachers, too, were naturally unwilling to make haste in taking the oath of allegiance to the States ; and so fell under suspicion of political aims, and of enmity to the independence of the colony, Mr. Wesley's loyal letter on their duty to their sovereign did not contribute to the safety of the preachers. Some of them were silenced, others were fined, and some im- prisoned. Messrs. Boardman, Pilmoor, and Bankin, returned to England. And even Mr. Asbury, who, though unwilling to take the oath of allegiance to the States (while, as yet, their independence was unac- knowledged by the mother country), yet resolved not to leave so fair a field of evangelical labour, had to conceal hiinself by day; and, under covering of night steal forth to the settlers' cabins and negroes' huts, to speak and to pray with his people, But, with all these difficulties and disturbances, Methodism, now brought under regular discipline, lived; and, in some degree, increased. The preachers, from their prisons, preached through the iron bars to their people, and to multitudes who pressed to hear them, until, as in the case of Mr. John Hartley, in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, the authorities released the preachers, lest all the people of the towns should be converted to Methodism. Mr. Freeborn Garrettson, after being con- fined for some time in the prison of Dorchester County, in the same State of Maryland, where at night he had to lie on the cold ground, with no pillow but a pair of PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 133 saddle-bags, and with two grated windows constantly open to the air, on being liberated by the governor, at the suit of Mr. Asbury, immediately recommenced his appointed work of preaching the Gospel, and with blessed success. " The word of the Lord spread through all that country," as he himself states, " and hundreds of both white and black experienced the love of Jesus ;" so that, not far from the place of his imprisonment, he soon afterwards preached to a congregation of not less than 3000 persons, and many of his bitterest perse- cutors became, there and then, joyful converts to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. "When, however, the war was ended, then the labourers in the Gospel returned to their employment without restraint on the part of the newly-constituted authorities of the Kepublic ; and, on the arrival of Dr. Coke and his companions, pro- ceeded to organise themselves and their people into a separate and regular church, under the authority of Mr. Wesley. This organisation of Methodism, in America, into a distinct church, took place, as I have already stated, in the city of Baltimore, in the year 1784, under the joint superintendency of Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury. The preachers assembled there at that time to the number of sixty, being about three-fourths of the entire number then labouring in this continent. The first act of the Conference was to elect Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury to be joint superintendents : thus making Mr. Wesley's appointment their own, by an united act ; and thus meeting the views of Mr. Asbury, who refused to ac- cept the office to which he had been appointed by Mr. Wesley, unless elected to it by the suffrages of his brethren in America. Twelve of the preachers were >*»-— — «— ^^J— g^'i*"' "•^■^ — 131. y i, PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. ii then elected and ordained as " elders" to administer the sacraments, and to liave a general supervision of asso- ciated circuits. The " Articles of Religion," as given by Mr. Wesley in his "Abridged Form of Common Prayer," which he had prepared for the American Church, were then agreed upon, and made the standard of Methodist doctrine. These " Articles" were selected from the thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, but were reduced to twenty-five by Mr. Wesley ; ho having ex- cluded such as were doubtful, or unnecessary, in his own judgment, for a list which should form an authorised standard of Christian doctrine. The " Form of Dis- cipline" was also agreed upon ; and is similar to the discipline of our own Methodist Society in England, except that it is adapted to the more formal " Episcopal " construction of church-government established in Ame- rican Methodism. Thus, the Methodist Church of America was regu- larly organised and inaugurated, something more than fourscore years ago ; and it is impossible to trace Methodism in this country, from its commencement in IV 66 up to this period of 1784, and not see how un- doubtedly it was the work of God, and how signally it was, in its successive stages, under His providential guardianship and direction. In its beginning it was small and feeble. It was not delegated and sent by any man's authority. It was not sown or pluuted by any authorised ministry, but by a faithful aged Christian woman, and a re-awakened lay preacher. It began without system, further than that five or six persons agreed to meet together in a private house, for prayer and Christian fellowship. It laid down no precise plan of operation ; for Methodism in America was not, any PROORE.SS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 185 M more than in England, tho result of human sagacity and foresiglit. It was not sketched out at full length and breadth, in cloistered retirement, before being cur- ried out into public action, like the wily and craft- woven system of Loyola. It was formed and matured piecemeal, and according to tho advance and require- ment of circumstances. It outrcached tho thoughts and purposes of the steady and legislative mind of Mr. Wesley. It broke in upon his authority ; burst through his prejudices and predilections for the Established Church of England ; and framed itself into a re ;»ular, separate, and independent Church, making its preachers " miniHters," and its superintendents "elders" and " bishops." Mr. Wesley, however, in this instance, as in others, showed unmistakeably, that for the work of God he was read)' to sacrifice any views and purposes of his own. When the organisation of American Methodism into a regular and separate Church became necessary, he cheerfully acquiesced ; and, fully satisfied, as he states, of the Scriptural parity of bishops and presbyters (or elders), ho ordained and set apart Dr. Coke for the office of general superintendent, and sent him forth to organise the Church, and, with Mr. Asbury, to take the oversight of it. And here we may undoubtedly see Mr. Wesley's view of the form of full-church gc "^nment, where circumstances warrant and require itis t.ioption. It is that of a Presbytero-Episcopal Church, such as existed and flourished in the first ages of Christianity. Associated oversight of the churches (local societies) and their ministers is provided for ; and yet the bishops (overseers or superintendents) are not independent of the presbytery (or elders), but are elected to their office ■ r- - vTV-, j^-w— ^-«-. # - 136 PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. by their ministerial brethren associated in conference, and are held responsible for their character and acts to that conference. On the organisation of the Church the preachers went, severally, to their appointed circuits ; and the general superintendents began to travel to and fro throughout the connection, taking episcopal oversight of the churches and of their ministers. Both the bishops and ministers devoted themselves earnestly to their work, and endured hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Mr. Freeborn Garrettson (now an "elder") went, with Mr. James O. Cromwell, to Nova Scotia, at the request of Mr. Wesley and Dr. Coke. The purpose for which he was sent was, to form a society among the Methodist settlers ; and he was exposed to no incon- siderable amount of peril and suffering. Mr. Garrettson relates of his dangers in travelling : — "I traversed the mouatains and valleys, frequently on foot, with my knapsack on my back, guided by Indian paths in the wilderness, when it was not expedient to take a horse ; and I had often to wade through mo- rasses half-leg deep in mud and water, frequently satisfying my hunger with a piece of bread and pork from my knapsack, quenching my thirst from a brook, and resting my weary limbs on the leaves of the trees. Thanks be to God! he compensalrl me for all my toil, for many precious souls were awakened and converted to God." In addition to this, Mr, Garrettson suffered much, not only from persecution by the unregenerate world, but also from violent opposition by Antinomian professors. But notwithstanding these difficulties, the faithful la- bourer pursued his course ; and when, two years after- wards, he departed from that British province and returned to the United States, he left as many as 600 members in the societies which he had formed, and PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. 137 /; I , which were then transferred, for ministerial supply and government, to the British Conference. Bishop Asbury, and Mr. Lee went together south, as far as Charleston, in South Carolina, and established Methodism there ; for though both the Wesleys, White- field, and Pilmoor, had been there previously, yet no permanent footing had been obtained by their transient visits : but now a Mr. Willis was left in charge with the work of God in that part, that it might be duly fostered and preserved. The woods of Kentucky were now penetrated by some Methodist local preachers, and the scattered groups of enterprising settlers were fol- lowed by them with the word of life. One of these local preachers was attacked in his boat, on the Ohio, by savage Indians ; and died within it, kneeling down and shouting praises to God. The indefatigable Asbury itinerated north and south, labouring in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At one time we find him at New York, with Dr. Coke ; then preaching on Long Island ; then traversing the middle States, and going down into the South, by the " Dismal Swamp " of Virginia, into North Carolina ; and afterwards visiting Maryland, crossing and re-crossing the Alleghany Mountains. The notes by the bishop, in his "journal," on these long and perilous journeys, are truly interesting ; and give us by a few words an insight into the labours, pri- vations, and suflferings of American Methodist preachers in those times. Of his passage through the Dismal Swamp of Virginia he says, " I found we had to go twelve miles by water, and send the horses another way. Oh, what a world of swamps and rivers and islands we live in here!" Of his travel over the Alleghany Mountains he records :■— It : .1 t 138 PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. "Thursday, 10th (1788). Wc had to cross the Alleghany Mountain again at a bad passage. Our course lay over mountains and through valleys, and the mud and mire were such as might scarcely be expected in December. We came to an old Forsaken habitation in Tygers' Valley : here our horses grazed about while we boiled our meat : midnight brought us up at Jones's, after riding forty, or perhaps fifty miles. The old man, our host, was kind enough to take us up at four o'clock in the morning. We journeyed on through devious lonely wilds, where no food might be found, except what grew in the woods, or was carried with us. We met with two women who were going to see their friends, and to attend the quarterly meeting at Clarksbiu'g. Near midnight we stopped at A — -^'s, who hissed his dogs at us : but the women were determined to get to quarterly meeting, so we went in. Our supper was tea. Brothers Phoebus and Cook took to the woods ; old gave up his bed to the women. I lay along the floor on a few deer-skins with the fleas. That night our poor horses got no corn ; and the next morning they had to swim across the Monongahela : after a twenty miles' ride we came to Clarksburg, and man and beast were so outdone that it took us ten hours to accomplish it. I lodged with Col. Jackson. Our meeting was held in a long close room belonging to the Baptists : our use of the house, it seems, gave ofl'cnce. There attended about 700 people, to whom I preached with freedom ; and I believe the Lord's power reached the hearts of some. After administering the sacrament, I was well satisfied to take my leave. We rode thirty miles to Father Raymond's, after three o'clock, Sunday afternoon, and made it nearly eleven before we came in ; about mid- night we went to rest, and rose at five o'clock next morning. My mind has been severely tried under the great fatigue endured both by myself and horse. O, how glad should I be of a plain, clean plank to lie on, as prefer- able to most of the beds ; and where the beds are in a bad state, the floors ai'c worse. The gnats are almost as troublesome here as the moschetoes in the lowlands of the seaboard. This country will require nmch work to make it tolerable. The people are, many of them, of the boldest east of adventurers, and with some the decencies of civilised society are scarcely regarded, two instances of which I myself witnessed. The great landholders who are industrious will soon show the eff'ects of the aristocracy of wealth, by lording it over their poorer neighbours, and by securing to themselves all the offices of profit or hononi- : on the one hand savage warfare teaches them to be cruel ; and on the uUier Die preaching of Antinomians poisons them with error in doctrine : good moralists they are not, and good Christians they cannot be, unless they are better taught." Of another journey, made in 1789, over these Ame-f \ PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 139 Ame-f rican alps, to visit Kentucky, which was then a com- parative wilderness, he has recorded that, in some places, the mountains " rose up before him like the roof of a house ;" and he adds, — " Those who wish to know how rough it is may tread in our paths. What made it worse to me was, that while I was looking to see what had become of my guide, I was carried off with full force against a tree that hung across the road, some distance from the ground, and my head received a very great jar, which, however, was lessened by my having on a hat that was strong in the crown From December 14th, 1789, to April, 20th, 1790, we compute to have travelled 2578 miles. Hitherto has the Lord helped. Glory 1 glory to our God ! . . . I found the poor preachers indifferently clad, with emaciated bodies, and subject to hard fare, but I hope they are rich in faith." Such were the labours, privations, and hardships, of the first Methodist bishops, and of their itinerant brethren, in America. And, in addition to these, they were not unfrequently exposed to " perils in the wilder- ness" from hostile and revengeful Indians, who way- laid the solitary white traveller, or tracked him on his path, with the fell intent to tomahawk and scalp him. To this danger Bishop Asbury was exposed in his journeyings over the swamps and through the forests. Sometimes, from their knowledge that there would be hostile Indians in the way, it was necessary for white travellers to associate themselves in companies, and travel in " caravan." An instance of this Bishop Asbury has noted, in his journal for the year 1792 : — " Wednesday .'Sth. This morning we again swam the river," (namely, Laurel River,) " and the west fork thereof. My little horse was ready to fail. I was steeped with water up to the waist. About seven o'clock, with hard pushing, we reached the Crab Orchard. IIow much I have suffered in this journey is only known to God and myself. What added much to its disagreeableness was the extreme filthiness of the houses." ■II -»r- 140 PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. Again he records, under the date of May 1st, — " An alarm was spreading of depredation committed by the Indians on the east and west frontiers of the settlements : in the former, report says, one man was killed ; in the latter, many men, women, and children ; every thing is in motion. There having been so many about me at conference, my rest was much broken : I hope to repair it, and get refreshed before I set out to return through the wildernc-i, but the continual arrival of people until midnight, the barking of dogs, and other annoyances prevented. Next night we reached Crab Orchard, wh'ji 3 thirty or forty people were compelled to crowd into one mean house. Wt could get no more rest here than we did in the wilderness. We came the old way by Scagg's Creek and Rock Castle, supposing it to be safer, as it is a road less frequented, and therefore less liable to be waylaid by the savages. My body by this time was well tried. 1 had a violent fever and pain in my head ; and I stretched myself on the cold ground, and borrowing clothes to keep me warm, by the mercy of God, I slept for five hours. Next morning we set oflF early, and passed beyond Richland Creek. Here we were in danger, if anywhere. I could have slept, but was afraid. Seeing the drowsiness of the company, I walked the encampment, and watched the sentilcs the whole night. Early next morning we made our way to Robin- son's Station. We had the best company I ever met v/ith — thirty-six good travellers and a few warriors ; but we had a paekhorse, some old men, and two tired horses." lie adds — " Through infinite mercy we came safe ;" and then he exclaims, " Rest, poor house of clay from such exeriious ! Return, my soul, to thy rest ! " These labours and sufferings of his servants for their Lord and Master were not in vain. In different parts of the country, men not only heard the word, but gladly I'eceived it. In some places, sudden and powerful out- bursts of the Holy Spirit's influence came down upon the congregations, and great numbers were savingly changed and added to the Church. Jesse Lee, who accompanied Bishop Asbury into the southern parts of Virginia, has described what he witnessed of numerous conversions there. There were, also, some remarkable revivals of the work of God within this period, both in the city of Balti- more, and in several other places ; and, in 1790, Mr. Lee ■.v***' ■ w-c ;., :. U.«w:u* ^.t..ift.v;,»,-,',;»Vgfta /■c: PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 141 )anied has rsions of the Balti- r. Lee travelled northward as far as Boston, to establish Me- thodism in that city. Both Mr. Boardman and Mr. Gar- ret tson had been there previously ; but had left the small societies formed without any to watch over them, or to visit them ; and, as might be expected, these societies had entirely dwindled away. Not so much as a solitary Methodist, or the known friend of a Methodist, was left in Boston, to welcome Mr. Lee when he arrived there : so that, do what he could, no house or room could be obtained by him to preach in. But the intrepid evan- geli J, in his plain, Quaker-like garb, took his stand upon a table which he had placed under a gigantic elm, on Boston Common ; and there preached the word of life to some thousands of men and women who, from the shady walks around, were drawn unto him by his joyful singing and fervent praying. Yet, though the people heard him attentively, for some time after no room or house could be obtained for Methodist worship. Mr. Lee and others then went into different parts of New England, and preached the Gospel, under much opprobrium and persecution. They were pelted with mud and stones, and hooted at as " Itinerant Pedlars ;" but they pursued, their course, and gathered converts to their cause. In this year, also, Sunday-schools were commenced, in connection with Methodist places of worship, for the instruction of black and white children. And in the year following (1791), a Methodist preacher, named "William Losee, was sent by the New York Conference into Upper Canada, where, after many hardships by the way and in the country, he succeeded in gathering some converts into classes, and arranging them into a circuit. Thus " mightily grew the word of God and prevailed;" so that, by the year 1792, — i \ i. 142 PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. '! 'I. only thirty-six years from the formation of the first small society in Kew York, — the Church had enlarged and extended until it numbered 66,246 members ; and, reckoning the numerous attendants on its public services, had under its influence, it is estimated, not less than a twentieth part of the whole population then containi'd in the United States of America. At the first General Conference held in this year, in the city of Baltimore, it was found that the wor]r of Methodism had extended until tKe greater proportion of the ministers could not attend any one coBfererce togeth* r • so that annual conferences were in dar^ger of m;*king lawa and regulations that might not be ac- ceptable to the j^v-aeral body of ministers. To remedy this, and to harmoiiise the general working of Method- ism, a central couiaJ had been appointed, composed only of bit^hops and presiding elders. But this not proving satisfactory, a General Conference composeu of ministers from the annual conferences was substituted, and appointed to meet at the close of every four years, with powers to legislate for the whole connection, under certain restrictions. At this General Conference in Baltimore, the constitution of the " Methodist Episcopal Church of America" was revised ; and, since then, Methodism has progressed and extended widely over the northern part of this great coni,inent, as may be related in my next letter. / ;:ja'*^ J LETTER IX. PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA FROM 1792 TO THE PRESENT TIME. Oontinucd Persecution, Privation, and Difficulty of the Preachers and Mis- sionaries — Forest Preaching — Remarkable Outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and Striking Conversions — Camp -meetings — Great Multitudes assembled, and Extraordinaiy Good effected — Revival at Baltimore — Extension of Methodism to Canada — Union of Canadian and British Methodism — Present Prosperity of Canadian Methodism — Energy of Methodism in the United States — Its Vast Undertakings — Not Free from Division and Dis- turbance — Slavery — Separation of North from South — Charges against F. A. Harding and Bishop Andrew — Resolutions of Northern Methodism against Slavery — Fraternal Communication of British Methodism with Anti-Slavery Methodism in America. :r\ ■i- I TAKE up the historic notice of American Methodism at the point where I broke off in my last letter — the year 1792. Its progress continued to be marked by encounter with opposition and warfare with difficulties. This, indeed, is the case with every genuine work of God, whether in churches or individuals. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering ; and it is so with his followers, everywhere. We cannot attain matured strength and perfection without the discipline of struggle and conflict. Energy and power of character never spring from soft luxurious ease taken on cushioned seats or sofas ; but grow from the habit of 144 PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. li' jH' determined and persevering effort under afflictive and trying circumstances. It was this habit which made the early settlers in this country men of strength, and the fathers of a robust and energetic people ; and which gave to the first Methodist labourers here, and in our own country, that force and breadth of character which render them still great in our estimation. It will be an evil day for Methodism, here or elsewhere, when it shall cease to have opposition from an unregenerate world ; when it shall have, as its profeeised supporters, accomplished weaklings, rather than earnest, persevering labourers accustomed to go forth, like our fathers, to encounter the storm, and to enter personally into ag- gressive conflict with the enemy. At every stage of its progress in this country, the work of God has unmistakeably roused the "old ha- tred." Under the malignant influence of the god of this world, violent mobs assailed the Methodist evange- lists, and hooted and pelted them in the streets and on the roads; prejudiced clergymen publicly decried and denounced them, as " circuit-riders," and as " Satan's messengers;" while magistrates and governors prose- cuted, fined, and imprisoned them. But, constrained by the love of Christ, these devoted heralds of the Cross pursued their course of duty amidst all obstacles, not counting their own lives dear unto them, in compa- rison with their high spiritual object. The privations and sufferings of these itinerant labourers in the wild and uncultivated parts of the country seem to have been very great. Some of them are related to have passed as many as twenty-one successive nights in the open wilderness ; and often they had to swim across broad, flooded rivers and creeks, and then to sleep in .'■:3^^- ( t PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 145 their wet clothes on the hard, cold ground. Others picked their way through hundreds of miles in the forest, by Indian trails and marked trees, to the scat- tered huts and cabins of settlers, that they might carry the word of life to families separated from religious means and ordinances, and who had sunk down into such degraded depths of ignorance that Lhey had to be taught the very first elements of worship, — for they knew not when to sit to hear, or kneel to pray 1 Of others it is related that they paddled down the great rivers more than 700 miles at a length, in frail canoes, to reach their fellow-men in the western out- skirts of population, and for whose souls none others, at that time, cared. In their circuits they walked or rode on horseback as many as 1 600 miles within five weeks, to preach the Gospel of Christ often to no more than half-a-dozen persons for an audience — for many of the settlers were then only to be reached in families. And when, under other circumstances, they could assemble the people together in larger numbers within and under the shelter of deep forests, they heard bears and wolves moaning and howling around them as they preached and prayed. "While sustaining such unwearied labours and encountering such perils, they did not receive suffi- cient earthly remuneration to be able to provide them- selves with necessary food and clothing; neither, at that time, was there any provision made for their wives or children. Bishop Asbury records in his journal for the year 1806, when attending a western conference, " The brethren were in want, and could not suit them- selves ; so I parted with my watch, my coat, and my shirt.'* Yet, with all this, they were content and happy if only L 146 PROQRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. the work of God prospered in their hands. And Jehovah did not leave them without bright and cheering proofs of His power to save. The records of this period de- scribe some most signal instances of numerous conver- sions. "Where considerable numbers could assemble, not only scores but hundreds at one service were pricked to the heart, and cried out, " Men and brethren, what must we do P" In the year 1799, the first camp- meetings seem to have been held in the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. At some of those large out- of-door assemblies there were wonderful displays of divine grace. The people who attended them had, gene- rally, been moved to religious desires by the several services held among them in their own localities. Thus when called to assemble with others alike concerned for salvation, they went in right earnest, and fully resolved to get religious good it it wore to be had by earnest- ness. They came forth with their horses, waggons, food, and bedding, by thousands ; encamped, with their seve- ral tents, in the wide wilderness; and then, at pro- tracted services, under the over- hanging foliage of the forest-trees hung with lanterns at night, they continued together for exhortation, the breaking of bread, and for prayer. At one of these meetings as many as 20,000 persons were assembled i so that, for hearing the word of God preached, they had to be gathered into separate congregations, and addressed by different speakers, some of whom were Presbyterians, and some Baptists — for earnest men delight to mingle where there is earnest work going on, though the projectors of such work may not be, nominally, of their own party. Some of the scenes of spiritual awakening, both of PKOGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 147 )th of these and other meetings, were attended by signs and circumstunces such as marked the preaching of Mr. Wesley and his coadjutors in England, and such as were beheld at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Hearers of the word fell down to the ground, in the agony of spiritual conviction, and cried aloud for sal- vation. At a large camp-meeting at Caneridge, it was estimated that not less than 3000 persons were under deep religious concern together, and made the sur- rounding woods resound with their sobs and cries before the Lord. Bishop M'Kendree seems to have taken a very earnest and successful part in these western camp- meetings ; and some which he attended are especially memorable in connection with his name, . There were also gracious revivals in other parts of the country, where great numbers at a time were added to the Lord. The city of Baltimore seems to have been, on several occasions, the favoured scene of nume- rous conversions, and of large additions to the church of God. In the year 1818, a wondrous religious awaken- ing commenced at " Fell's Point," in the lower part of the city, and spread through the other parts : this gracious visitation was manifested in several influential families, appeared among the poorer portion of the population, and penetrated even to the prison-cells of felons and convicts. At that one period, nearly 1000 persons were brought into rhuroh-fellowship with iho Methodists in the city of Baltimore. This work of God spread from thence through the State of Maryluail. And in the States of Virginia, New York, and other States of New England, Methodism also grew and prospered. In Canada, too, Methodism made rapid progress. I 148 PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. havo already named its commencement in that province under Mr. Loaee ; and among the earlier notices, I find one of a gracious revival in Upper Canada, in the year 1797, under Calvin Woolster, " a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." This work of God seems to have extended from Upper to Lower Canada, and on to Quebec, under Joseph Suwyor, Nathan Bangs, William Case, and other devoted servants of Christ. In 1811, IMshop Asbury crossed the St. Lawrence River and visited Canada, with which country and its people ho seems to have been highly gratified. In 1812, the de- claration of war between America and England pro- duced uneasiness between Canada and the United States ; and the Canadian Methodists began to entertain a desire for separation from the Methodists of the States. This desire strengthened naturally by a consideration of the political relationship between Canada and England ; and, at length, by commutual consent of all parties, [Methodism in Canada was given up to the British Con- ference, for general superintendency and government ; but this was not brought about until 1828. Since that period, Canada has been divided into two sections, in its relation to Methodism, named Eastern and Western Canada ; and these have their own annual conferences, which they hold in affiliated connection with the British Conference. Canada has also had its devoted and zealous labourers for Christ : men who carried the axe with them in their adventurous journeys, that they might cut their way through the forest wilderness, and fell trees by the water-side, place the trees across streams, and so pass over, and pursue their way. s William Case, before named, and who died this year (1856), is remembered among the Indian tribes of » PROGRESS OP METHODISM IX AMERICA. 119 Canada, as " the Father of tho Indians," and was ono of tho most honoured instruments employed by God for the commencement of His work in Canada. And now schools and houses for worship have multiplied, until this great North American province, in both its Methodist sections, is " a field which tho Lord huth blessed." It should not, however, bo forgotten, that alike among tho white population and the native In- dians, Methodism in Canada is originally an offshoot from the Methodism of the United States. l*etcr Jones and John Sunday, and other Indian converts in Canada, 80 well known to us in England, and to hundreds of our red brethren, were tho fruit of Methodist agency from the States. With this wide extension of the work of God by its instrumentality, the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States has steadily advanced in the multiplica- tion of its appliances for securing the stability of its spiritual conquests, while it does not slacken in zeal and effort for further gains. It has made more adequate provisions for its ministers and their families. It has instituted Tract Societies and Sunday School Unions. It has organised d./mestic missions for widely-scattered settlers of different nations, for the poor degraded slaves, and for the remnants of the various tribes of Indians ; and it has sent forth its intrepid missionaries over the seas to South America, Western Africa, the European continent, and India. Some of these have nobly sacrificed their lives for the name of Jesus : and have, themselves, names which are not only honourable in the martyr-records of the Church on earth, but bright in the heraldry of heaven. The dying saying of one of them, Melville B. Cox, who was cut off by the destruc- ifvrsrx:?.- \ \ 150 PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. tive climato of Liberia, in the year 1832, must long be remembered as one of the most heroic sayings of heroic men. Being ae ^ ;d by his friend what should be written upon his tombstone should he die in Africa, he answered, ** Write this — * Ltjt thousands fall before Africa be given up ! ' " Other mir sionaries, both male and female, have followed this brave warrior for Christ, and willingly surrendered their lives, while in the years of compara- tive youth : thus pressing, like good soldiers ~^ their Lord, into the citadel, though they knew beforehand that they were Hkely to become mere stepping-stones for those who were to follow after them, and socure the full victory. The Methodists of the States have also established numerous Schools, Academies, Colleges, and Univer- sities, and have spread them widely over the length and breadth of the land ; and while literature has been cultivated with the most encoura;>ing success in these institutions, publications have been issued from the Methodist press by hundreds of thousands. As the work of God has enlarged, ministers, local preachers, class-leaders, and other agents of the Church have been multiplied ; and the number of the bishops, for general superintendency and oversight, has likewise been pro- portionally augmented. It was not to be supposed that such a great and ex- tended work of God as I have briefly sketched could, through good part of a century, escape the plague of internal commotion and disturbance, any more than external assault and conflict. As early as 1793, we find contention and revolt created by disappointed and am- bitious men ; and, at successive periods, secessions of the disaflected form a part of the chronicle of Methodist ..fctt'-^ PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 151 aflPairs. At one time, the appointment of ministers by the bishops was opposed, and made the subject of strife and division; more than once, the office of " presiding elder" in the Church has been assailed ; and some even of the poor African members in the churches of the States have been moved to agitation and separation, on one " vexed question" or another. In reading the history of these disturbances and divisions, it is really curious to notice the similarity of their character and names to those of the disturbances and divisions of Methodism in England. There have been " Primitive Methodists," " Eeformers," and *" Methodist Associations ; " and all these before their namesakes arose in our country. I need only add, that notwithstanding internal and ex- ternal storms, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Ame- rica has held on its way, progressing in spite of dif- ficulties and disturbances, until it is now foremost of all the churches of the land, both in numbers and in- fluence. One great disturbing element has, from early days, as you know, existed in the Chris tian Church here ; and has, at length, divided the Methodist Church of the United States into two parts : that is, the monster evil of slavery. This abhorrent syi*tem, by its authorised status under civil governments, has continually ham- pered and embarrassed the Church. Mr. AVesley, Dr. Coke, Bishop Asbury, and the early preachers, in their conferences, expressed the strongest opposition to this " complicated villany ; " and wrote, spoke, and legis- lated for its entire eradication from the Methodist Church, — prohibiting, most positively and perempto- rily, both ministers and members from any participa- tion in it. But the fact of the evil being sanctioned V «« » « I n V *y J V ^ V 152 PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. by several of the States, separately, and not being sub- ject to general legislation by Congress, interfered with the action of the Methodist Churches. Except they took the position of direct rebellion against civil go- vernment, any laws which the Methodists might make against slavery were impracticable. On this account, the Rules were modified by the appendage — that they should be carried into execution by the annual con- ferences, so far as allowed by the laws of the several States. And with evident reference to past require- ments on this matter, relating to both ministers and people being free from criminal association with slavery, the conference of 1824 passed the following resolutions, which are in the " Book of Discipline," and remain in force to the present time : — " Quest. What phall be done for the extirpation of the evil of slavery ? " Ans. 1 . We declare that we are as much as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery : therefore no slaveholder shnll be eligible to any oflicial station in our Church hereafter, where the laws of the State in which he lives will admit of emancipation, and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom. " 2. When any travelling preacher becomes an owner of a slave or slaves, by any means, he shall forfeit his ministerial character ia our Church, unless he execute, if it be practicable, a legal emancipation of such slaves, con- formable to the law of the State in which he lives. " 3. All our preachers shall prudently enforce upon all our members the necessity of teaching their slaves to read the word of God : and to allow them time to attend upon the worship of God on our regular days of divine service. " 4. Our coloured preachers and official members shall have all the privi- leges which are usual to others in the district and quarterly conferences, where the usages of the country do not forbid it. And the presiding elder may hold for them a separate district conference, where the number of coloured local preachers will justify it. " 5. The bishops may employ coloured preachers to travel and preach, when their services are judged necessary, provided that no one shall be so employed without having been reoommended by a ciuarterly conference." J . „ d ^---^ • ■ - i^ 41 V PROGRESS OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. 153 J /.: These rules were not satisfactory to some of the preachers and people, and exciting controversies arose concerning them; and, at length, the Baltimore con- ference suspended a minister, of the name of Francis A. Harding, for the holding of slaves, — which slaves, the said minister pleaded, the law a of the State in which he resided would not allow him to emancipate. He appealed from the decision of the conference of Baltimore to the General Conference held in 1844. But this conference confirmed the decision given at Balti- more ; and, in the proceedings, brought out the fact, that one of the bishops (Bishop Andrew) was also a slaveholder. This the bishop acknowledged, stating that the slaves had come to him by his marriage, that year, with a widow lady ; and that, by t)ie laws of the State in which he lived, he could not liberate them. Next, the question of this bishop's continuance in his office was raised ; and, on the ground that he would no longer be acceptable to the connexion at large, judg- ment was likewise given against him. This was no sooner done, than thirteen of the conferences in the Southern States, with the Churches belonging to them, withdrew from the general connexion, and lormed themselves into a separate connexion, under the name of the "Methodist Episcopal Church, South;" and, since then, these separatists have never been re- united to their brethren of the North. It is to the General Conference of the Northern body that we have been sent. This Church is not merely passively, but actively and determinedly opposed to slavery. The separatists of the South condemn slavery, and pro- fess to seek its extii'pation ; but the Church of the North imperatively prohibits all participation in Hi 154 PROGRESS OF MBTHODISM IN AMERICA. slavery, either by ministers or other officers of the Church. In justice to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, however, it ought to be stated, that no church whatever is doing so much for the religious instruction of the Africans in the United States as it is doing. It has numerous schools, nearly 200,000 full-church coloured members — most of whom are slaves — and hundreds of thousands more of the same dark race who regularly hear from its preachers the word of life. Irom the beginning, Methodism in England and Amc ' ca has maintained friendly relationship, and has exchanged;, as occasion allowed, fraternal salutations and greetings, both by written addresses and by minis- terial deputations. In the early records of the Churches we find declarations that Methodism throughout the world is one. In 1824, the Rev. Richard Reece, accompanied by the Rev. John Hannah, attended the General Conference which assembled in Baltimore. In 1836, the Rev. William I^ord was deputed by the British Conference to attend the General Conference of Methodism in the United States. In 1840, the Rev. Robert Newton, D.D., was at the General Conference held in the same city. In 1848, the Rev. Dr. Dixon attended the General Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in Pittsburg. And now, in 1856, Dr. Hannah and I are on our way to the General Con- ference about to assemble at Indianapolis. Before the American Methodist Church was divided, the British Conference, both bv its addresses and its representatives, had to remonstrate with the Conferences here on the ground of slavery. But, since the division, there cannot be just suspicion of any leaning towards slavery on the part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, PROGRESS OP METHODISM IN AMERICA. 155 \ I North ; and with it only the British Conference holds communication, and recognises a relationship. These hasty notices of the leading events and princi- pal circumstances in the history of Methodism on this continent, will give you a general idea of the mariner and measure of its progression up to the present time. Full particulars of such a history belong to the volumi- nous chronicler, and not to the writer of a letter. Some further characteristics of the American Methodist Church at its different periods you will, however, be able to gather from the outline portraitures of some of its most prominent and successful labourers, with which I shall endeavour to supply you in my next letter. LETTER X. 3HETH0DTST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. Francis Asbury — Dr. Coke — Asbury's Peculiar Adaptations for America — Hiii Ca])acity for Labour — His Tirelessneas in Travelling — His Abnega- tion of Self — His Primitive Manners — His Economy and Charity — Arietl/e of the Sceptical Doctor — Last Days of Asbury — Ilia last Sciiiiun and Triumphant Death — His Convert, Punch, the Negro — Punch •. 'comes a Preacher — Conversion of the Persecuting Overseer — Punch's •.'id Age — His Prayer answered — His Happy Death. Francis Asbury is uniformly spoken of, here, as the chief agent in the establishment of the Methodist Epis- copal Church : and, undoubtedly, this honour is justly due to him. For, while Mr. Wesley must ever be re- garded as the father and founder of Methodism, both in Europe and America, while they were his people who first held Methodist meetings in this country, his preachers who were first sent forth to attend to the infant societies which had been formed, and it was by his authority that the scattered societies were organised into a united and a distinct Church, yet it was Francis Asbury, more than any other man, who stamped upon the American Church the Methodist imag .• and super- scription. Dr. Coke is also very affectionately and gratefully spoken of here. How could it be otherwise ? He was Mr. Wesley's most devoted assistant and friend. He METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 157 le was the father of Methodist missions ; and gave his life, learning, and fortune, to the furtherance of that object. He was the first appointed bishop of the Methodist Church in America ; and to serve it he crossed the wide Atlantic not less than eighteen times, at his own expense. Dr. Coke was, moreover, a true friend of the degraded negro race ; and with a zeal not less ardent than that of Wilberforce, Clarkson, or Fowell Buxton, he sought their social and spiritual emancipa- tion. Here, as in England, he was the very drudge of charity ; and though a gentleman by birth and a scholar by education, he encountered the roughest mis- sionary labour in the unshorn wildernecs of this Western world. Standing under the broad, spread^'ng maple - tree, he made the deep forest echo with the sound of his overstrained voice, as he preac>.cd to assembled emi- grants and outcast slaves the word cf life. But with all his personal excellence, zeal, and de- votedness, Dr. Coke could not so fully engraft himself ipon the American stock, and be so thoroughl}'^ united to it, as Francis Asbury. He had strong predilections for the Church of England and its services : these pre- possessions the Americans did not share, and so they became unwilling to confide their entire interests to him. Above all the reasons, however, why he failed to secure the full sympathy of the Americans, the strongest was his impulsive zeal for the immediate liberation of the slaves. This brought him often into perilous collision with the slave-owners and the government ; and, by consequence, led the people to distrust his pru- dence. Besides, Dr. Coke did not remain long at a time in America ; but passed and repassed to England, leaving his colleague in the general superintendency of ^ \ 158 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. the Methodist Church, in single charge of the several circuits and the districts. Bishop Asbury, on the other hand, gave himself •wholly to Methodism in America. As soon as he ar- rived on this continent, he adopted it as his field of spiritual labour for life. And when the Church here had been thoughtfully and skilfully organised, and him- self confirmed in his office, he carried out the system of evangelical agency and pastoral oversight with amazing energy and success. As we have seen, the form of church government here established was devised by Mr. Wesley ; but how much, under God, did it depend upon the agent Mr. "Wesley might select to carry it into practical operation ! That agent was Francis Asbury ; and there can be no doubt that he was also most especially chosen of God for this great work. Like most men specially destined for important service under Divine Providence, he seems, from the beginning of his itinerant career, to have had a strong presenti- ment of his destiny with regard to America. In his journal he has recorded that, before any proposal was made by Mr. Wesley to the Conference at Bristol, in 1771, for some of the preachers to go and assist their brethren labouring in America, he had felt strong and clear intimations within his mind that he ought to go there ; and that, when he made known his views and feelings, the preachers and his friends agreed in the con- clusion that he ought to go. From the conviction that America was the sphere of labour appointed for him by God, he never afterwards moved, even for an instant. When, in the time of war and extreme peril, other English preachers left this continent and returned to their own country, Francis Asbury, as I have before \. METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 150 I hinted, remained, and resolved not to desert his great work on any account. And though, during the fiercest period of the conflict for Independence, he durst not appear abroad in the daytime (because unwilling as a British subject to take the oath of allegiance to the States), yet even then he went forth by night to instruct the people, and to pray with them in their homes. He states that the two months thus spent by him were " a season of the most active, most useful, and suffering part of his life." For the work in America to which he had devoted himself, he was ready to make any sacrifice of personal ease and comfort ; and for the ex- tension of Messiah's kingdom he was ready to perform any amount oi labour. Itinerancy seems to have been the very element of his existence. This sagacious as well as zealous servant of Christ knew, from what he had seen in England, the power of itinerant preaching for aggression upon the territory of Satan ; and, like "Wesley and Whitefield, he went forth into the thoroughfares of human society publicly to call upon men to enter the way of salvation. " General assistant" as he was, yet he did not content himself with making out plans for the stated labour of brethren placed under his superintendence. He did not seat himself in a comfortable room, and ask, with maps and rules before him, " Who will go for us?" No: like all great leaders he went forth personally at the head of his " helpers," and cried " Follow me ! " On his first arrival in America, he saw the disposi- tion of the preachers to shut themselves up within the large towns. This he not only lamented and con- demned, but he immediately went out to the neglected settlers of the wilderness ; and, as he says, " showed I \ IGO METHODIST LABOURF^o IN AMPTIICA. his brethren the way" of real itinerant labour. And when raised to the ISfoth' list episcopacy by the unani- mous voices of the preachois, and thus placed over them in the Lord, Bishop Asbury did not seek ofl&cial oaso cr personal indulgence, by leaving the drudgery of the work to others ; but continued to adventure on the most perilous evangelic enterprises, labouring more abun- dantly than they all. He travelled, it is estimated, not less than GOOO miles a year for the extended period of forty- five years ; and preached at least once a day during the whole of that time. His journeys were performed, not in railway cars or steamboats, but upon horseback or on foot, and often under the most dangerous and comfortless circumstances. In his in- teresting " Journal," where he has chronicled in the most artless manner his daily exercises of heart and life, he tells us how he had to travel on the roughest roads ; to wade through dismal swamps ; to cross difficult mountain ridges ; to jr.,jrney alone through the solitary wilderness, where tlip cl- op silence was broken only by the howls of huiigiv wolves, and the yells of murderous Indians ; to swim o^e^' broad rivers, and sleep on the cold ground in his wet clothes, with no pillow but his saddle-bags, — or, if he found shelter for the night in a settler's hut or log-cabin, it was not unfrequently in circumstances of the greatest inconvenience and dis- comfort. When detained from itinerant service, he mourned over his silence, recording in his journal, " It now eight weeks since I have preached — awfully IS dumb Sabbaths I" When so far recovered in strength as to be able to proceed over the Cumberland Mountains, \ he relates, " On my way I felt as if I was out of prison. Hail! ye solitary pines! the jessamine, the red-bud, METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 161 and the dog-wood ! How churming in full bloom ! the former a most fragrunt smell." And ai'torwards lie reeords, — *' I have travelled about 600 miles with an inflammatory fever, and fixed pain in my breast." For arduous and enduring labours, it may be affirmed, that Francis Asbury was not excelled by any of the most devoted and toiling messengers of Christ. There is but little of written mem' al respecting this most excellent man. And ' « only one authentic portrait of him that I hav 8« cept the small on( in the McthoiUst Magazine fo n^u ;; car 1809. He seems to have shrunk with instinctive dread from the honour which cometh from man. It was only by stratagem that a likeness of him could be obtained, — that of a promise of clothing for his poor preachers, if he would sit to a portrait- taker. Before he died, he solemnly enjoined upon his friends that no "Life" should be written of him, and that dying injunction to the present has been observed. His bodily remains rest, now, in the " Mount of Olives " Methodist Ceme- teiy, at Baltimore ; but no monumental stone records his deeds. Without picture-portraits, written memoirs, or marble monuments, his memory is blessed in the Church he established in the land ; and to any one standing within the living walls of that Church, charac- terised by its vast extent, and its goodly framework ctf spiritual beauty and order, if inquiry were made for Asbury 's monument, the answer might be in the words of that strikingly appropriate inscription for Sir Christopher Wren, within St. Paul's Cathedral: — " Si momimcntnm qucBris, circumspice : " — " If thou askest for his monu- ment, look around thee ! " The friends here, who remember him, describe him as M <*>, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 118 1^ ■ 2.2 I.! u 140 1 2.0 111.25 III 1.4 tL < 6" - » JS V. ^ w V > Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRBIT WnSTH.N.Y. t4StO ;716)S72-4S03 162 \ ^ METHODIST LABOUBERS IN AMERICA. having been, in person, a spare, upright, and dignified man. He is said to have had eyes that pierced those he looked upon, as if he were probing human character to its core ; while, at times, when he was administering reproof, the glance from under his large overhanging brows was terrible. To judge from the lines and fixed- ness of the mouth, and the general cast of his features, as shown in the one portrait of him, firmness and decision, seriousness and earnestness, must have been habitual with him. In his advanced years, they relate, that his long, silvery locks flowed freely on his shoul- ders, 80 as to give him a truly venerable and fatherly appearance. He is also described as having been remarkably neat and clean in his clothing, and as having worn a plain, quakerly kind of dress, and a low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat. Bishop Asbury does not seem to have been marked by imaginative or creative powers of mind. He was, rather, a man of plain, solid understanding, with a po- tential will, and undiscourageable endurance and perse- verance. He had mainly educated himself while on his itinerant rounds ; and he obtained, not only a good degree of ordinary learning, but also a critical acquaint- ance with the original language of the New Testament. He was a man of exact order and method. His business movements are said to have been almost as regular as clock-work. Like Mr. "Wesley, he ate, slept, laboured, conversed, and prayed by rule. He was a rigid enemy to ease or self-indulgence, and would not allow it either in himself or his brethren. ** The love of money" had no place in his affections: he would never take for himself more than 60 dollars (£20) a year for his support, beyond his travelling expenses; and he dis- i> •^ METHODIST LABOUREKS IN AMERICA. 163 emy ther had for his dis- 't tributed the greater part of that sum to the more needy. His sermons, in his later years, are described as being without regularity of plan or arrangement ; but still to have been very weighty and impressive. The simple truth, delivered in a solemn, authoritative manner, accompanied by ;he power of the Spirit, shook the hearts of the preachers as well as of tho people. He " ruled well," and therefore was counted worthy of double honour. He was forbearing and conciliatory where he observed any irregularity which did not Involve a principle ; but where transgression was reaUy censurable, he was immovable in firmness and resolu- tion. So unerring was his insight of human cha- racter, that he knew at a glance the materials on which he had to work ; and he had strength and courage, as well as wisdom, to use them for the best advantage of the Church of Christ. Some, who only saw him in his public administrations, thought him stern and unap- proachable; but to those who knew him well he was loving and easily accessible. When he entered the poor man*s cabin for rest or for shelter, little children ran to him as soon as he was seated, climbed up his knees, and received his fatherly benediction. Bishop Asbury never married ; for, as he used to say, he was too constantly occupied with the work of God to take upon him the cares of a private family. He seems, however, to have had a manly sense of the duty of help and succour which man owes to woman. Thus he always contributed, from his yearly pittance, to the support of some needy female or other ; and, when he died, he left 2000 dollars, which friendship had be- queathed to him, for the relief of a preacher's widow, and of the most needy of his brethren. ^{ 164 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. "With all this, he was pre-eminently a man of prayer. Dependence upon God seems to have been his constant feeling. He began and finished every service with prayer. He prayed on the road, in the silent woods, and in the houses where he lodged, whether they were private or public. He lived and breathed in the ele- ment of prayer. When a sceptical doctor of medicine refused to receive from him any pecuniary remuneration for attending upon him during a dangerous sickness, he said, " But I never suffer myself to be in debt, so let us kneel down together and discharge the obligation with thanks and supplications before the Lord ;" and, kneeling down, he prayed most earnestly for the unbe- lieving physician who had dealt so generously with him. His gift in public prayer is spoken of as having been remarkable. This talent he had well improved by exercise, as Freeborn Garrettson, his companion in labour, declared in the funeral sermon which he preached for the bishop, when he said, " He prayed the best, and he prayed the most, of any man I ever knew. His long-continued rides prevented his preaching as often as 'ue others; but he could find a throne of grace, if at congregation, upon the road." ,, This truly apostolic man lived to a good old age. When he had passed his threescore years and ten, and when his venerable father, Wesley, with Dr. Coke, and many others of his early friends and acquaintances, had departed to their eternal rest, he still pursued his itinerant labours. Incessant travelling, amidst all the changes of weather, and the constant burden of anxiety which he bore for the Church he loved, preyed seriously upon his constitution in later years. But when urged to desist from continuous labour, on the ground that ■ t \ METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 165 \ V J God had graciously raised up many strong men to carry on and watch over the work he had begun, he replied, " No man can do my work." "When too weak to preach on his journeys as often as he had been wont to do, he had printed copies of the "Word of God stored in his waggon, to distribute as he went along the road, saying, " Now I know that I am sowing good seed." From the last entries he made in his journal, it is plain that all his desires for itinerant labour were not then fulfilled, but that his heart was enlarged towards the "Far "West." They are in these words : — " My soul is blessed with continued consolation and peace in all my great weakness of body, and crowds of company. I am a debtor to the whole continent, but more especially to the north-east and south-west ; it is there I usually gain health, and lose it in the south and centre. I have visited the south thirty times in thirty- one years. I wish to visit Mississippi ; but am resigned . . . . My eyes fail. I will resign the stations to Bishop M'Kendree. I will take away my feet. . . . It is my fifty-fifth year of ministry, and forty-fifth of labour in America. ... I die daily, but my consolations are great. I live in God from moment to moment." Notwithstanding this resolution to "take away his feet," and give place unto another, he still continued his journeys, until after riding forty-three miles one day over a rough and jolting road, he said, ** This will not do — I must halt, or order my grave." Yet he per- severed, fearing to lose the last remnant of his life from useful service, until he reached Virginia, where he preached his last sermon only a few di^ys before his death. "When his friends beheld him in his feeble- I 166 W METHODIST LABOUBBBS IN AMEBIGA. ness, they besought him not to preach ; but he replied that " God had given him work to do there, and he must once more deliver his testimony in that place." And like as the " beloved disciple" St. John, according to the relation of Jerome, was carried in the arms of the early Christians to their place of meeting and placed before the people, when old age disabled him from walking, so the devoted Methodists of Kichmond carried the dying Asbury in their arms to the house of God ; and when they had placed him on a table inside the pulpit, he preached, in tremulous tones, to a weeping congregation, from the signal words, " For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will He make in the earth." He was then carried back from the pulpit; and on the next Sabbath — ^after travelling on alternate days till he reached the house of his friend, Mr. George Arnold — when bowing himself upon his bed to worship, and, like Jacob, leaning upon his sta£P, he looked up joyfully to his companion, and raising both hands to heaven in holy triumph, he passed into the joy of his Lord. , ' \ ■_ ,•, ;.,l; V Bishop Asbury was in his seventy- first year ; and his death occurred on the 21st day of March, 1816. He was, at first, interred at Spottsylvania, ir Virginia, the place where he died. Afterwards, by the direction of the Conference, his remains were brought to Balti- more, and deposited within a vault under the recess for the pulpit, in Eautaw Street Church, when a funeral address was delivered over them, to the ministers assem- bled, by Bishop M'Kendree. In the church was placed a written memorial of his name, labours, and death. Since then his bones have been removed to the Mount •^ M- n s, MBTUODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 167 of Olives Cemetery, as T have already stated ; and there, with the bodies of other bishops of his beloved Church, his mortal relics seem to have found a last resting-place, wherein to await their great change into a " spiritual body." Many interesting anecdotes are related of this good bishop from the memories of his survivors, and these reminiscences of him are vividly illustrative of his excellent character. Some of them very affectingly show his benevolent attention to the poor degraded sons and daughters of Africa, and are truly honourable to him. It is clear that he was never neglectful of them, wherever he went; and that he not only prayed and conversed with the master in his house and in his par- lour, but also with the slave in the kitchen, the field, and the log-hut. On one occasion he observes, in his journal, " I was exceedingly happy last evening with the poor slaves in brother Wells' kitchen, while our white brother (a young minister of the circuit) held a sacramental love-feast up-stairs. I must be mindful of the poor : this is the will of God concerning me." But his attention to these poor outcasts, and the great harvest of good that may spring from way- side sowing of the word of life among them, appeared very fully in his conduct towards a notoriously wicked negro, whom he one day found by the road-side, as he was riding to Charleston, in South Carolina ; and who was not only brought to seriousness and reformation of life, but became successful in winning many of his own dark race to the love of the Saviour. The relation is as follows : — Bishop Asbury came up to this negro, who was sitting on a bank, fishing in a creek, and whistling to 168 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. himself a merry jig tune. The bishop pulled up his horse, and turned it aside to drink. While the horse was drinking, the bishop began to enter into conversa- tion with the dark fisherman, asking what was his name. " Punch," was the reply. " Do you ever pray P" inquired Asbury. " No, massa," answered the negro, with a vague look that showed he hardly knew the meaning of tho question. The bishop at once dis- mounted, sat down on the bank beside the slave, and spoke to him earnestly on the evil of sin and its danger, and on the way of salvation by Christ Jesus, until the tears flowed swiftly down the black man's face, and he began to cry to God to have mercy on him. Asbury now sang, by his side, several verses of the hymn, commencing — " Plunged in a gulf of dark despair, We wretched sinners lay." This thoroughly subdued Punch, insomuch that his tears flowed faster, and his heart melted into sorrow. The bishop then explained to him the way of faith in Christ ; and, after giving him suitable directions, prayed with him, and bade him an affectionate farewell. The evangelist and the negro did not meet again until twenty-five years afterwards, when Punch obtained leave to quit the rice-field in order to make a visit to Charles- ton, where the bishop then was, and whither *he negro walked sixty or seventy miles to see him. But, to pursue the story in order : — When Bishop Asbury left Punch at the side of the creek, the negro quickly drew up his fishing-line, and went to his hut ; for the Holy Spirit was working eftectually in the depths of his soul. " I began tink," he said afterwards, " 'fore I get home I I f !■ 1 I METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 169 Punch be gone to hell." Following the directions of his spiritual instructor, he now prayerfully and un- ceasingly sought forgiveness through the blood of Christ; and, after a few days, he joyfully obtained redemption through that blood, even the pardon of his sins. Feeling the blessedness of his new state, he could not refrain from speaking of it to others. It seemed a strange tale for Punch, who had been so notoriously wicked, to tell to his fellow-slaves. But they saw that he was a changed and a happy man ; and by degrees they gathered round him, and heard with seriousness what he had to say. One after another began to pray, and then to rejoice, until, at length, large congrega- tions collected round the door of Punch's cabin for reli- gious conversation and prayer ; and soon, without intending it. Punch became a preacher of the Gospel. Standing at the door of his hut, he, night after night, proclaimed the good news of sanation to crowds of his brother negroes. " >; • • ' "" : ;> i> % This awakened the ire of the overseer of the estate, and he set himself to put down Punch's preaching and the effects of it among the slaves. And now poor Pu ' '. could only speak and pray with a few that might hide themselves in his narrow cabin. One night, when thus engaged, to his alarm he heard the persecuting overseer call him, and he went forth fully expecting to be flogged; but, behold! when he opened the door, there lay the overseer, writhing on the ground, under conviction for sin, and crying out, " Punch, will you pray for me P" and, as may readily be supposed. Punch most gladly and earnestly complied. " I cry, I pray, I shout I " he used afterwards to relate ; " I beg de Lord 170 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. to hear. De overseer rise, trow him arms round me ; and don he tank God, and tank Punch I " This over- seer afterwards joined the Methodist Ohurch, became an exhorter, and afterwards a preacher. For some years, the devoted negro's course for reli- gious usefulness was freely open ; and, having been long known to them, he continued to win his companions in bondage to newness of life. His owner dying, he passed into the possession of another, and was removed to an entirely new field for labour. There, however, as before, by zealous, persevering goodness, he won the confidence of those who were over him, and the ears and hearts of his fellow-slaves, who, like the others, resorted to him for religious instruction and worship. Several years after, when Punch had grown old, a Methodist minister was sent to that part of the coxmtry, and was requested to visit the plantation. The minister sought first the cabin of this veteran Methodist negro, of whom he had previously heard. He asked a negro herdsman if any preacher lived on the ground, " O yes, massa, de old bushup lib here," answered the man, pointing to Punch's cottage, " he be good preacher. De word burn we heart!" The minister knocked at the cabin-door, and immediately heard tottering foot- steps, and a sound of a cane on the floor. The door opened, and there within stood a trembling grey-headed old black man, leaning upon a staff. When informed of the office of his visitor, Punch was silent with the overflow of grateful feeling ; and, looking up to heaven with his dark eyes beaming with rapture, he at last burst into tears, and exclaimed, ** Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation 1 " The minister «l . METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 171 was overpowered by what he saw, and stood like one confused, not knowing what to reply. Punch invited him in, and explained to him the meaning of the exclamation, by saying, "I have many children in this place. My end is nigh, and I have looked round me in vain for some one to take my place and preach to them. I prayed to God to send some one, and I felt as though I could not die until He did. lie has heard my prayer, and sent you. So I am now ready to depart." Very soon afterwards his departure arrived. He seemed almost to know when it would come ; for, on the morning of the Sabbath on which he died, he said, joyously, " I shall die this day ! " Many weeping negroes crowded round his low, scanty bed, and heard his dying words. Again and again he repeated the grateful words of Simeon — " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace !" And as his redeemed and enfranchised spirit escaped from the dark, captive tabernacle in which it had lodged, his quivering lips were repeating, " Let thy servant depart in peace — Let— let— 1—." -■•(l^f:. ■'M v\ LETTER XL METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. Bishop M'Kcndrce— Clearness of his Conversioa — Doubts his Call to the Ministry — His Prejudices against Bishop Asbury dispelled, and his entire devotedness to Methudistn— His Labours in the West, and his personal Holiness and Success — Elected Bishop — Companionship with Asbury — Pleasing Camp-meeting Scene — M'Kendree's Farewell to his Brethren — His last Days and happy Departure — Bishop George — Habits of Prayer — Powers as a Preacher — Kindliness of Spirit — Anecdote of the Young Preacher and the Bishop — Freeborn Gurrettson — His happy Face and happy Character — Remarkable Conversion — Sets Free his Negroes — His Ministry — Suffering for Christ — Pleasant old Age — Rapturous Death — Jesse Lee — Bishop Roberts — Bishop Hedding — Bishop Emory — Joha Easter— Dr. Stephen Oliu, &c. The name held in most regard and reverence, next to that of Asbury, among American Methodists, is that of his colleague and successor. Bishop M'Kendree. His memory is more immediately identified with the West, of which he was one of the chief Gospel pioneers. No formal memoir of him has yet been written, though love for him seems to exist in every Methodist heart. He was, pre-eminently, a devoted, laborious, eloquent, and suc- cessful minister of Christ. In person, he is described as having been above the average height ; and though his bearing is said to have been impressive and dignified, METHODIST LAUOUBERS IN AMERICA. 178 yet his intelligent face was remarkable for openness ; and his large fulling rolls of d&rk hair gave him a cast of manly beauty. His voice is said to have boon one of remarkable sweetness and power. He was born in the State of Virginia, in the year 1757, and was an adjutant in the American army during the war of Independence. When thirty years of age, he was brought to God under the preaching of a " Boanerges" who then travelled in that part of the country, of the name of John Easter, and from that time to the end of his life M'Kendree was a faithful soldier of the Cross. The work of conversion was thoroughly accomplished within him. Like the re- pentant Saul of Tarsus, he was three days and three nights fasting, praying, and restlessly agonizing for the forgiveness of his sins. At the expiration of this period he was enabled to trust in Christ for salvation, and received the clear and full witness of the Holy Spirit that his past offences were pardoned and that he was adopted into God's spiritual family. Soon after this he felt risings of evil within ; but, by persevering reliance upon the blood of Christ which cleanses from all sin, he obtained power to overcome and mortify to the death nil carnal passions, and to devote himself, body and soul, wholly to the service of the Lord. When he first began to call sinners to repentance, he was strongly tempted to desist from so doing with the belief that he was not chosen for so high and holy a work ; and through the discouraging remarks of some who heard him, he prepared to return home for other employment. But God so signally owned his labours at this crisis, that neither he nor the people could longer doubt that he was truly called of God to labour in the \ \ 174 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. Gospel vineyard. A few years after he had regularly entered on the work of the itinerant ministry, his mind was warped against Bishop Asbury, and he tendered his resignation. This was owing to a discontented preacher of the name of O'Kelly, who misrepresented Asbury's faithfulness in the discharge of his duty as an abuse of his episcopal authority. M'Kendree, however, was taken to accompany Asbury where he could see the good bishop's life and conduct for himself. He became satisfied of the incorrectness of O'Kelly's representa- tions ; felt that Asbury's conduct and character were noble - 1 truly Christian ; acknowledged it ; and set himself to understand thoroughly the whole system of Methodism. And now, without wavering, he gave him- self fully to the itinerant work ; and laboured, most zealously and successfully, first as a circuit-preacher, and then as a presiding elder, in the extensive district between the Alleghany Mountains, West, and Chesa- peake Bay, East, — a district the care of which necessi- tated frequent, prolonged, and very difficult journeying. Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat had already perceived the importance of the great Western valley beyond the Alleghany Mountains ; and finding M'Kendree to be exactly the sort of labourer they desired for it, they appointed him to accompany them into that district ; and it was they also who appointed him to be presiding elder there. At three hours' notice, without books, or a change of clothes, which were far away from him, he set off on his long and arduous journey, with these two venerable, and now, through age and toil, infirm, servants o^ Christ. And here, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, he preached and laboured with amazing power and success. He used to gather large multitudes from METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 176 many luuet} around, assemble them in the forest, and there, under the overhanging trees, preach the most powerful sermons, until hundreds of his hearers, stricken with a deep sense of their sinful condition, made the woods ring with their cries to God for mercy. And as for the preacher himself, there were seasons, it is said, when he was so filled and overpowered with the glory of God, that his face seemed to shine as an angel's; and he would sink down upon the ground, silent and almost breathless with spiritual awe and heavenly rapture. All who knew him and heard him, unhesitatingly testify that he was a most eloquent and powerful preacher. His noble frame, they relate, used to quiver under the thrilling thoughts he uttered on the great truths of God ; and his preaching was in " the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power." As far as I can judge from what I have learned concerning him, he must have been a bright exemplar of personal holiness : he seems to have lived as if daily within the holy place, and t') have come forth as with sweetly- perfumed garments from within the veil. Joined with such a rich experience of sanctifying and gladdening religion, there can be no wonder that the eloquence of this great preacher was so blessedly persuasive ; and that he was not only instrumental in the spiritual awaken- ing of hundreds, but happily useful in building up believers, and stimulating them to higher acquirements in holiness. His knowledge of the Scriptures was also verj'^ comprehensive ; and this, again, would insure his usefulness, as it would render him able to meet the cases alike of the unconverted, the penitent, or the be- liever, and apply to them the very words they needed, fresh from the mouth of God Himself. \\ 176 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMEhlOA. It was clear to all who knew him that ii . ondree was designed, by the all- wise Governor of the Church, to be a leader in Israel ; and that by his years of labour and suffering, as well as by the heart of sympathy he manifested for his brethren in their itinerant trials, he had the full preparation and fitness for the office of a general superintendent. Accordingly, when at the Conference of 1808, in Baltimore, the place of the de- ceased Bishop "Whatcoat had to be filled up, he was elected to the office of bishop. It would appear from Dr. Bangs' relation of the election, that M'Kendree, on coming to the Conference, was stjarcely known to his brethren, from the fact of his having spent so many years entirely in the West. He was not, therefore, at first thought of by the majority of preachers as Bishop Whatcoat's successor. Dr. Bangs goes on to describe how the preachers were led to fix upon him. M'Kendree was appointed to preach in Light Street Church, Balti- more, on the Sabbath before the election of a bishop was to be made in the Conference. " The house," says Dr. Bangs, " was crowded with people in every part, above and below, eager to hear the stranger, and, among others, most of the members of the General Conference were present, besides a number of coloured people who occupied a second gallery in the front end of the church. Bishop M'Kendree entered the pulpit, at the hour for commencing the ser- vices, clothed in very coarse and homely garments, which he had worn in the woods of the West ; and after singing, he kneeled in prayer. As was often the case with him when he commenced his prayer, he seemed to falter in his speech, clipping some of his words at the end, and hanging upon a syllable as if it were difficult for him to pronounce the word. I looked at him not without some feeling of distrust, thinking to myself, ' I wonder what awkward backwoodsman they have put into the pulpit this morning, to disgrace us with his mawkish manners and uncouth piiraseology.' This feel- ing of distrust did not forsake me until some minutes after he had an- nounced his text, which contained the following words : — ' For the hurt of METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 17? the daughter of my people am I hurt ; I am hlack ; astonishment hath takea hold of me. Is tliere no balm in Gilead ; is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ? ' " His introduction appeared tame, his sentences hroken and disjointed, and his elocution very defective. He at length introduced h's main subject, which was to show the spiritual disease of the Jewish church, and of the human family generally ; and then he entered upon his second proposition, which was to analyze the feelings which such a state of things awakened in the souls of God's faithful ambassadors ; but when he came to speak of the blessed effects, upon the heart, of the balm which God had provided for the ' healing of the nations,' he seemed to enter fully into the element in which his soul delighted to move and have its being, and he soon canned the whole congregation away with him into the regions of experimental religion. " Remarking upon the objections which some would make to the expression of the feelings realised by a person fully restored to health by an applica- tion of the ' sovereign balm for every wound,' he referred to the shouts of applause so often heard upon our national jubilee, in commemoration of our emancipation from political thraldom, and then said, ' How much more cause has an immortal soul to rejoice and give glory to God for its spiritual deliverance from the bondage of sin ! ' This was spoken with such au emphasis, with a soul overflowing with the most hallowed and exalted feel- ings, that it was like the sudden bursting of a cloud surcharged with water, and the congregation was instantly overwhelmed with a shower of divine grace from the upper world. At first sudden shrieks, as of persons in dis- tress, were heard in different parts of the house ; then shouts of praise, and in every direction sobs and groans, and eyes overflowing with tears, while many were prostrated upon the floor, or lay helpless upon the seats. A very large athletic looking preacher, who was sitting by my side, suddenly fell upon his seat as if pierced by a bullet ; and I felt my heart melting under sensa- tions which I could not well resist. "After this sudden shower the clouds were dicsparted, and the Sun of righteousness shoue out most serenely and delightfully, producing upon all present a consciousness of the Divine approbation : and when the preacher descended from the pulpit, all were filled with adaiiration of his talents, and were ready to ' magnify the grace of God in him,' as a chosen messenger of good tidings to the lost, saying in their hearts, ' This is the man whom God delights to honour' " At the close of the service, Bishop Asbury was heard to say, " That sermon will make him a bishop." And N w 178 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. it did ; for the worthiness of the life and character of the preacher was canvassed and duly estimated, after his brethren had witnessed the eloquence and power of his preaching ; and in the week following they elected him by a large majority. This was deeply gratifying to Bishop Asbury ; and he recorded in his journal — " The burden is now borne by two pairs of shoulders, instead of one : the care is cast upon two heads and hearts." These two bishops, Asbury and M'Kendree, travelled together to superintend the Churches, and to cry aloud for God in the wilderness, through the different States, and in Canada. "Within eight months, in one tour, they travelled ovei 6000 miles, attended the sessions of nine Conferences, and publicly assisted at several camp- meetings. To do this they passed over the old diffi- culties of mountains, swamps, forests, and prairies, and crossed the Rivers Ohio and Mississippi, as well as the northern lakes. Their work cheered them in its rich results, as Bishop Asbury declared. " My flesh sinks under labour," says the veteran evangelist. " We are riding in a poor thirty-dollar chaise, in partnership But it must be confessed that it tallies well with our purses. What bishops ! Well : but we have great news, and we have great times ; and each Western, Southern, together with the Virginian Conference, will have 1000 souls truly con- verted to God. Is not this an equivalent for a light purse ? And are we not well paid for starving and toil ? Yes : glory to God ! " At one of the camp-meetings which M'Kendree at- tended about this time, a fact occurred which brought into beautiful display the tender sympathy he always felt for broken-hearted seekers of salvation. The camp- METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 179 l> meeting was held on a farm in Ohio ; and, on the Monday morning, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was solemnly administered, in the open air, to a very large number of communicants, assembled from all the surrounding parts of the country. The ministers first surrounded the table, and received from Bishop M'Kendree the emblems and memorials of their Saviour's love. Afterwards, with him, they administered to the midtitude which came up in companies to partake of the blessed ordinance. The scene was devoutly impres- sive ; and a silence pervaded it that was only occa- sionally broken by the grateful exclamations of joyful and worshipping believers. But beyond the circle of 19 \ ministers and communicants sat a lady leaning her head upon the shoulder of her converted sister, and sobbing as if her heart would break, with sorrow for her sins, as she looked upon the affecting scene before her of hundreds who were so happily and gratefully re- ceiving the tokens of the Redeemer's love. The eyes of the bishop fell upon the penitent. " Come here, my child," he exclaimed, " and kneel at the foot of the cross, where you shall find mercy ! " She publicly asked, if so vile a sinner as she felt herself to be might draw near, and receive into her unholy hands the emblems of Christ's dying love. " Yes, my child," replied M'Kendree, " it was for just such sinners as you that the blessed Jesus died ; and thus in his last agony he demonstrated his power and willingness to save the vilest of the vile by snatching the penitent malefactor from the verge of hell." " Then I'll go to Christ ! " said the weeping penitent ; and pressing through the crowd, she bowed down at the table of the Lord. The bishop gave to her the broken bread, and then the cup, — himself in 180 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. tears, and looking up to heaven in her behalf. As she drank at the cup, the divine assurance of salvation was given to her soul; and, with a countenance radiant with holy joy and intelligence, she immediately rose from her knees, and told what God had done for her soul, in a strain which caused the whole multitude of communicants to utter a shout of praise to the Almighty and merciful Deliverer. For eight years, these two bishops were united in the general superintendency of the American Methodist Church ; at the end of which period Bishop Asbury " took away his feet," as he said, and resigned his work to his brother M'Kendree, who now, in turn, became the patriarch among American Methodists. M'Kendree's excessive labours in the difficult West had told upon his constitution, and it soon became evident that his career also was drawing to a close. Bishops Enoch George and Robert R. Roberts, had been associated with him in his arduous work, and his friends entreated him to rest. But, like a true Methodist pastor, he felt his heart was in itinerant labour ; and he would continue to travel on in his rounds, though in doing so the slightest jolt upon the rugged road pierced him with most acute pain. More than once he returned to his native county to die ; but, on recovering a little strength, he left it again to travel and labour. At the Conference of 1832, in Philadelphia, Bishop M'Kendree met his brethren in their general assembly for the last time, and delivered to them his farewell words. Dr. Bangs, in his "History of American Methodism," has thus beautifully described the scene which he there beheld : — Like a patriarch in the midst of his family, with (( METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 181 his head silvered over with the frosts of seventy-fivo winters, and a countenance beaming with intelligence and good-will, he (Bishop M'Kendree) delivered his valedictory remarks, which are remembered with lively emotions. Kising from his seat to take his departure the day before the Conference adjourned, he halted for a moment, leaning on his staff. With faltering lips, and his eyes swimming with tears, he said, * My bre- thren and children, love one another ! Let all things be done without strife or vain-glory ; and strive to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.' Then spreading forth his trembling hands and lifting his eyes towards the heavens he pronounced, with faltering and affectionate accents, the apostolic benediction." The ministers gazed with tearful eyes upon his bending form; and, as he retired, wept with the thought that they should see his face on earth no more. Yet, even after this, so indomitable was the spirit of this Christian hero, that he again set out to pursue his itinerant rounds. At length he went to the house of his brother. Dr. James M'Kendree, in Sumner County, to die. Here he experienced intense sufferings of body ; and when medical skill failed to relieve him, he showed his undiminished faith in God by requesting his friends to kneel beside his bed and pray that he might have ease. In calling upon a friend and neigh- bour to do this, he said, " Now, pray for me — not as you pray in your family — but in faith, and with direct reference to my case." And after the prayer, he said, " It is easy now." In his last days he was principally attended by a loving sister ; and he had also a young niece who watched him almost constantly as he lay suffering I \ 182 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. upon his bed. " Frances," he said to her one day, " you are like a lamp : you wake when I sleep, to shine upon me when I wake." He seems to have had very strong family feelings. When he felt that his death was near, he would have his father's bedstead brought, that he might die where his beloved parent had died. On the Sabbath of the week in which his death occurred, his brother perceiving that his end was near, told him so ; and asked him if he had anything particular to say, or any departing desire to express. The cheering answer was, " All is well for time or for eternity. I live by faith in the Son of God. For me to live is Christ : to die is gain." This he repeated with delibe- rate emphasis, adding, " I wish that point to be per- fectly understood — that all is well with me, whether I live or die. For two months I have not had a cloud to darken my hope; I have uninterrupted confidence in my Saviour's love." As expressive of his state, he tried to repeat the stanza — " Not a cloud doth arise to darken the skies, .<.< Or hide for a moment the Lord from my eyes." , But his voice failed ; and another had to finish the verse for him. Of his burial, he said, " I wish to be buried in the ancient Methodist style : like an old Christian minister." He continued to suffer until Thursday, when a sudden spasmodic attack twitched up the muscle of his cheek: he gently smoothed it down with his hand, then smiled, and passed away from earth, whereon he had lived seventy-seven years. ,/ ., . ^ . >,.a Another memorable name among early Methodist labourers in America, is that of Bishop George, of Virginia. Like Bishop M'Kendree, he was converted METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 183 to God under the zealous and successful evangelist, John Easter. He entered upon his itinerant course in 1791 (the year of Mr. "Wesley's death), was elected and ordained to the office of bishop in 1816, and died, triumphantly exclaiming, " I am going to heaven, and that's enough I Glory I glory I" In personal appearance. Bishop George is described as large and well-proportioned, with a broad massive face, a sallow complexion, through exposure and fa- tigues in the open air, and with thick neglected folds of dark air hanging upon his neck. The strong lines of his countenance were touched by religion into soft- ness and gentleness ; but, both in look and quick ear- nest movement, he was ever seen to be a man of ener- getic action. His experience of the power of inward religion was deep. He spent much time in secret prayer ; and often, like the patriarch Isaac, would go out into the fields at eventide to meditate. His morn- ing hours before breakfast were regularly spent in devotional exercises ; and, like holy Thomas Walsh, he not unfrequently rose at midnight, wrapped his cloak about him, and wrestled with God for the salvation of sinners. This made him a minister of the Spirit, and the honoured instrument of the conversion of many. Bishop Geor<^e does not seem to have been a man of learning; but he was endowed with an original and independent mind, and evidently possessed the true key to usefulness. He was accustomed to say, " It is the grammatical eloquence of the Holy Ghost which deeply, lastingly, and profitably affects the hearts of men." His mastery over the passions of his hearers was great ; and he was distinguished especially for his pathetic power. Not unfrequently, the deeps of his H» W fc< t SI ! . - ff^ 'T J < ' « .« '— nv * * a i i gvji.f g fe »t--ff»?»ifl>* n 184 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. own soul would be broken up within him while he preached, so that he wept, and all were weeping around him. These were usually seasons of great spiritual good ; so that, if he went forth sowing in tears, he came again reaping in joy and bringing his sheaves with him. Some of the flights of his natural eloquence are said to have been not only beautiful, but inspiring, to all who were looking for the heavenly country; while, on the other hand, such was the power of his denunciation of sin, and the force with which he car- ried home conviction to the conscience, that cries and shrieks of heart-pierced sinners would often break forth among his congregations in all directions. Dr. Hannah was with him at the General Conference of Baltimore, in 1824, and has a distinct remembrance of eloquent passages in a sermon which he then heard from him. Among them was a description of St. John, whom the bishop described as " retiring to the Isle of Patmos covered with the smiles of Jesus, and filled with the presence of God." Dr. Wilbur Fisk, who was his intimate friend, wrote of him in a lady's album : — " Bisho2) George has gone to heaven. He left this world for glory on the twenty-third of August last; and from the known tendency of his soul heavenward, and his joyous haste to be gone, there can be little doubt but his chariot of fire reached the place of his destination speedily, and the triumphant saint has long ere this taken his seat with the heavenly company. And, since he is gone, the owner of this, to whom I am a stranger, will pardon me if, upon one of her pages, I register my affectionate remembrance of a man whom I both loved and admired, and at the report of whose death my heart has been made sick. I loved him, for he was a man of God, devoted to the Church with all his soul and strength. I lovril him, for his was an affectionate heart, and he was my friend : but the seivaut of God — the servant of the Church and my friend is dead. J admired him, not for his learning, for he was not a learned man ; but nature had done much for him. She had fashioned his soul after an enlarged model, and had given it METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 185 an original ciut and on independent bearing ; into the heart she had instilled the sweetening iutlucnccs of a tender syniimthy, and infused into the soul the fire of a spirit-ntirring zeal, sustained by a vigorous and untiring energy ; but, to finish his character, grace comes in and renews the whole man, and the Spirit anointed him to preach the Gospel, and the Church consecrated him to be one of her bishops. He superintended with dignity and faithful- ness ; he preached the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The unction that attended his word was not merely like the consecrating oil that ran down Aaron's beard, but it was like the anointing of the spirit that penetrates the heart. He preached with his soul full of glory. No woudftc, then, that his dying words were, ' I am going to heaven, and that's enough I Glory ! glory !' Yes, thou triumphant spirit, that is enough. ' May I die the death of the righteous, ond may my last end be like his.' " There seem to have been many interesting and love- able traits in Bishop George's character. Among them were his kindly attention to the young, and his prayer- ful sympathy with the afflicted and distressed. An anecdote is related of him in the Southern Ladies' Com- panion, which exhibits him as a true shepherd of the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made him an overseer: it also affords a very significant lesson for both preachers and people concerning the appointment and reception of ministers. It relates to the appoint- ment which had been made of a young preacher to a station in Kentucky, and which was very unacceptable to the Methodists of the place. Like many other ap- pointments made under similar circumstances, it may however be observed, this eventually proved to be God's own ; for He blessed it ; and that young preacher has since become eminent and useful in the Church which he has served. The bishop, having learned how unwelcome the ap- pointment of the young man was to the people, and knowing how much tender feeling there was in this youth, who had been unaccustomed to cold receptions and 186 METU0DI8T LABOURERS IN AMERICA. unsympathising treatment, set out with him towards his station, and rode with him thri, gh the woods and alonf the rouds some 200 miles. During theiv journey together, the youthful tLiristor had good opportunity of witnesH- ing the prayer fulness of the hishop, and of observing what was the secret of his spiritual strength. When about twelve miles from the place of the young man's destination, at the house of a frioid, the bishop wai attacked with asthma, &n s^ ot* to which he was liable. The usual remedi-. ^> din noi ivail ; and sending for the young preacher ii; o " '« luom, he directed his attention to the cabl^..! ' description of the New Jeru- salem given in the latter pait of the book of Revela- tions, and requested him to take his Bible with him into the grove, that he might meditate for a season upon the passage referred to, and after that come to him and preach upon it ; fur said the bishop, " I want to get made happy: and if my soul were to be powerfully blessed, I believe it would cure my poor body." The young man, not feeling himself qualified to preach on such a sublime portion of the word of God to the bishop, begged to be excused, and respectfully suggested to him that it would be better to avail him- self of the oft-tried expedient for being made happy — that of prayer to God. " Well then, my son," said this father in Christ, "go out of the room, shut the door, and let me be left alone for a season." The door was shut, and .t( er plp^iding with God nlone for a time, the holy wre'^fler v.-i'^ heard -luring praises with a loud ami triuiixpuant voice. His bodily malady was healed, as he had anticipated; and he would have his youthful companion prepare by the next morning to accompany him to the appointed station. . . MErilODIST LABOURBUS IN AMERICA. 187 id this [>, and shut, holy and 3d, as ithful ipany Before thoir departure^ the friend with whom thoy had lodged, indiscreetly inFortnvd the young preacher how his appointineiit wus regurded by the people to whom he was going. Depressed beyond measure by the un- expected commu^ncation, li« instantly went to the bishop and expressed to him his firip clt^termination not to go to a people who thus so Hti giy objected to his ap- poiutmont The bishop »d\ is. , Mm not to act preci- pitately on such an imports nl n\,i ^er, 1 \t to give him- self to prayer for Divine dii ^f Iol and to wait before deciding what he would Jo i lil !»• - should have seen the place and the people Thi ddvi e was reluctantly complied with. Arrived at the new station, t/ - »ere lodged to- gether a the house of the prin mi Mi^thodist there. The next morning, as the bishop tM preparing for his departure in a room with his hos nd as the young man was b landing unseen by the »«n window, where he could not but hear what was saic v' in, the bishop asked, — " A^'ell, my broth'^r, how w ue young man I have brought do for this station r -" Not at all," was the instant reply ; " we migh as well be left without a preacher altogether as be lei t to him." — " I hope you will like him better after a li le," said the Jjishop : " I Will leave him with you. Only treat him well, and I am persuaded he will be made a blessing to you." — " I hav-; no objection to his remaining at my house for a few weeks, if you desire it," said the host, " but it will be for no good, for the people do not want him." The young man on hearing this was in an agony ; and as soon as the bishop came forth for departure, he fpUowed him to a sheltered part of the road, and said ^^ 188 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. I ■ t. |i ' with tears, " Bishop, I cannot remain — I heard what passed in the room between you and Mr. , and you must release me ! " — " Get your horse," said the bishop, " and ride with me a part of the way." This direction was readily obeyed ; and the cherished purpose was to ride away altogether from the station. After proceeding together a few miles, and after conversing freely to- gether upon the matter, they turned aside into the forest and prayed for direction and help from above. The presence of God was manifest ; and rising from his knees, the venerable saint took his young friend by the hand, and with a look of paternal love, said, " My son, I have now a proposal to make to you ; and if you will attend to its conditions, and then still request to be removed from this station, I will remove you. The condition is this : go back to the town where we have been, and remain there for a month ; doing diligently the work of an evangelist, fasting one day in each week, and spending an hour in each day in special prayer to God that He would make you a blessing to the people. Can you do this?" asked the bishop. " I think I can," said the preacher, trembling. They parted — the bishop pursuing his way upon the road, and the young man re- turning with fear and mortification to his station. Faithfully were the conditions of the proposal ful- filled ; but the month seemed long and tedious ; for none but one wicked man and his wife gave to him in that time a word of welcome or encouragement. At length the last — the fourth Sabbath of the month arrived, when rising from the struggle of the last covenanted hour of prayer for a blessing upon him as a preacher in that place, he walked towards his attic window, which commanded a view of the Methodist Church and the -»AMrj»».'»i*'>. ••< METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 189 streets adjoining, when to his great surprise he saw crowds from all directions flocking to the house of God. With mingled feelings he hastened to the pulpit, won- dering what the gathering of the people in such large numbers could mean. He took for his text (Isaiah, chap, vi., V. 4), — " And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried." The preacher spake with power ; for in that thirtieth hour of special prayer for a blessing, the live coal from the Divine altar had touched his lips. The people sobbed and rejoiced in all parts of the Church. Several were in that service convinced of sin and converted to God. And for the space of four weeks following, the stores and shops of the place were closed each day for several hours, so that the awakened people might assemble together and seek the Lord. Some hundreds united themselves to the Methodist Church of that place ; and thus the unwelcomed preacher (now the Eev. Dr. Stevenson) was made by God, in answer to prayer, an unspeakable and unexpected blessing ! This instructive relation of the conduct of Bishop George towards the young preacher, yields us more insight into the bishop's real character, than many pages of descriptive portraiture could afibrd ; and serves to explain to us the lasting remembrance and deep re- gard in which he was held by thousands in thia country. Freeborn Garrettson, whom I have already had oc- casion to name incidentally, was another of the early patriarchs of the American Methodist Church, and was intimately associated with Asbury, Coke, and M'Kendree, in laying its deep and broad foundations. He was one of those marked men of God who are memorable by the f 190 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. i ^ r^ spiritual and heavenly expression of their countenances. We have seen such faces in the Church. Those of men accustomed to commune much with God, and upon whose features the Divine glory seemed to linger after they came from before the mercy-seat, where a bright cloud had overshadowed them. This is more especially seen in such as have feared and loved God from their youth up. Their lineaments have been early trained and fixed by the sweetness and tenderness of religious thought, feeling, and enjoyment ; and sin has not been admitted into the soul to harden them. Holy love and joy were so evidently transfused from the soul into the countenance of Freeborn Garrettson, that an eminent Presbyterian divine has said of the effect produced upon himself by the appearance of this saint of the Lord, " My first convictions, when a boy, were received from observing Mr. Garrettson as he was walking. There was something so holy, so heavenly, in his ex- pression, that I was strongly impressed with the truth of religion." His leading characteristic was Christian singleness of heart. All who knew him speak of him as a man of godly sincerity, of transparent goodness. Without pro- found learning, or extraordinary genius, he possessed good practical sense, and devoted it to the one object of promoting the honour of Christ in the salvation of men. In figure he was round and full : neat and clerical in dress. There is a portrait of him, by Paradise, which represents him somewhat after the manner of Holbein's portrait of Martin Luther; but with less hardness in the face, and with the hair more neatly parted in front, and turned back over the ears in orderly folds. He was of European descent. His grandfather lived METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 191 in a quaint old house, of small, narrow, red brick, still standing upon a bold open bluff reaching out into Chesapeake Bay ; and was one of five brothers who had adjoining plantations in that part, which are still known by the name of the " Garrettson Forest." His father gave him a liberal education ; but he devoted himself to the study of the physical sciences, rather than to languages or classical literature. From childhood, Freeborn Garrettson was sedate, thoughtful, and virtuous ; and was greatly beloved by all who knew him. But he became convinced, by the Holy Spirit, that mere morality could not save him, that his life had been " without God in the world," and that he needed forgiveness of sins, and inward renewal in righteousness. Being thus graciously led to inquire ** What must I do to '>e saved ?" he went to the minis- ter of the parish ; but the minister, though a master in Israel, like Nicodemus, knew not these things. Soon after, a Methodist preacher came round into that part of the country, and Garrettson went to hear him. The preacher clearly explained the way of life and salvation, pointed out the necessity of a full surrender of the heart to God, and what would be its immediate effects. The word came home to Garrettson's heart with power ; and he moimted his horse to ride home on that Whit- sunday night, with the whole inner man in a fearful state of struggle. " I felt," says he, " Satan on my left, the good spirit on my right. The one contrasted the world and its allurements, prosperity in business, a a good name, and honest renown, with that which a proud man likes least to incur — obloquy, shame, dis- trust, the averted glance of friends, the open taunt of enemies." The combat was strong ; but the Holy Spirit r i) I \ \ 192 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA, continued to impress upon Garrettson's mind the all- important realities of eternity, and demanded instant decision. Garrettson felt that the crisis had arrived, dropped the bridle, clasped his hands, and exclaimed in the fulness of his heart, " Lord, I will part with all, and become an humble follower of Thee ! " In that instant his soul was filled with joy and peace, the " peace of God which passeth all under- standing." Nature seemed, in that solemn and solitary place, to unite with him in highest jubilee. " The stars," said he, "seemed like so many seraphs going forth in their Maker's praise." As he approached his home, the servants, hearing the sound of his rejoicing, ran out to meet him, and to ask what was the matter. " I called the family together for prayer," said he, " for the first time; but my prayer was turned to praise." It was a few days after this that, as he stood up to give out a hymn at family worship, the moral evil of slavery was impressed on his mind. With a willing heart he responded, " Lord, the oppressed shall go free ! " — and, turning to the astonished negroes, he proclaimed their liberty, and promised a just compensation for any ser- vices they might render in future. " And my mind was as clear of them," said he, "as if I had never owned them." Thus did he bring forth the fruits meet for repentance ; and, like Zaccheus, give proof of the reality of his change. He not only established a "church in his house," and gathered his black servants, now free from bodily bondage, for daily worship ; but he went forth to the surrounding lands and households, and declared what God had done for his soul. Blessed by the Lord in his efibrts, he saw not only all his brothers, and some of METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 193 ihe all- instant irrived, Imed in all, and joy and . under- solitary " The IS going ched his •ejoicing, 3 matter, he, " for praise." p to give f slavery leart he ' — and, led their any ser- ny mind id never nits meet f of the house," m bodily h to the red what rd in his some of his cousins converted, but beheld many others, both black and white, brought " to know Him whom to know is life eternal." By his instrumentality a Methodist society was soon formed in that part of the country, a large log-house was erected for public worship, and the society was regularly visited by the circuit preacher. From what he saw of the fruit of his labours, he next began to think that he ought to devote his entire life to the service of Christ, and to go forth as an itin- erant Methodist preacher. He foresaw that privation and suffering awaited him if he should do so ; but, like the Apostle Paul, he conferred not with flesh and blood, but gave himself up wholly to the word of God and to prayer. He laboured at first in the south-eastern States, and there bore reviling, beating, and imprisonment for Christ. As a Methodist preacher devoted to Mr. Wesley, he did not take the oath of allegiance to the States during the revolutionary war, and was thus the more exposed to suffering, but he meekly submitted to it, assured that whatever happened would be for the furtherance of the Gospel. Whether imprisoned or free he proclaimed the word of life to sinners. If at liberty, in addition to travelling on unformed and dangerous roads, he preached from one to four times a day ; and when he was in prison, blacks and whites would gather round his grated window to hear him declare how Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Like other devoted servants of God, he seems to have found that the highest consolations are often given in the time of suffer- ing, so that he could sing in his damp, solitary dungeon — " When my sorrows most increase, Then my strongest joys are given ; Jesus conies with my distress, And agony is lieaven." O ■L..HiJk,.l ' m. i»Hi <». rmr I V 194. METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. "With all his devoted attachment to Mr. Wesley, it does not seem that Freeborn Garrettson was less desirous than others of establishing the independence of Method- ism in America, when he believed that could be done safely. He was among the most strenuous withstanders of innovation upon Mr. Wesley's plan, at the first, con- cerning attendance at the Established Church, and on its sacraments. But when Dr. Coke arrived with the letter of authority to organise a separate and distinct church, Garrettson went, as the doctor states, " like an arrow," both north and south, to gather the preachers for the Conference held at Baltimore in 1784 ; and when the American Methodist Church was organised, he sup- ported it with all his life, showing himself willing to be or do anything in its service. When asked to go to Nova Scotia as a missionary to the people in that cold and cheerless region, ho went readily, and laboured diligently and successfully. Though elected bishop for that part of the continent, for some unexplained reason he was not ordained to the office ; yet he neither com- plained, nor so much as asked for an explanation. With unabated zeal he went forth, north of New York, and with several devoted young men laboured right and left of the Hudson River. Here he remained, a diligent, devoted labourer for Christ, until the year 1817, when, unasked by himself, the Conference returned him as a " supernumerary." The latter portion of Garrettson's life seems to have been very pleasantly spent at Rhinebeck, a place most lovely in its situation by the Hudson River. There, in one of his itinerant rounds, he had found, in Miss Livingstone, a wife from the Lord. From her own pos- sessions, she more than made up to him what he had METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. 195 Vesley, it 3 desirous I Metbod- 1 be done Dhstanders first, con- ch, and on I with the id distinct 3, " like an 5 preachers ; and when led, he sup- riUing to be ed to go to n that cold id laboured d bishop for lined reason leither com- Ltion. With V York, and ffht and left a diligent, 1817, when, ed him as a sems to have place most There, in md, in IMiss ler own pos- what he had expended as a Methodist preacher out of his own patri- mony. With this •* elect lady" he had a social and happy abode in the evening of his days. The bishops and ministers of Methodism were wont to repair to his house with the greatest freedom. Bishop Asbury records of his first visit there, " He hath a beautiful land and water prospect, and a good, simple, elegant, useful house for God, his people, and his family." But while he had this peaceful, happy home, in which he was " given to hospitality," yet he did not even in old age cease to travel and preach for the benefit of the churches. It was during one of these journeys that he had staid to preach, at New York, what proved to be his last sermon. He was seized with mortal sickness, and his sufferings for the time were very painful. Filled with holy submission, he said, " I shall be purified as by fire : I shall be made perfect through suffering ; it is all right — there is not a pain too much." When his bodily strength was exhausted, he exclaimed, " I want to go home ; I want to be with Jesus — I want to be with Jesus." To a friend who inquired how he felt spiritually, he said, " I feel the perfect love of God in my soul." His love for Wesleyan Methodism continued ardent to the end, for, on thinking and speaking of the heaven to which he was departing, he joyously observed, " And I shall see Mr. AVesley too." As he went down into the valley, he was heard praising God for all His goodness, and, as if rehearsing for the song of heaven, among his last utterances were " Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty! Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah!" Then clasping his hands and raising his eyes to heaven, he exclaimed, " Glory ! glory ! " Others in that room felt I' J. Ill I • ■■ II fli .]t 196 w METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. the presence and glory of God so overwhelming that they were ready to sink upon the floor with its weight and power upon their souls. The rapturous look which marked his victory over death continued upon his coun- tenance till it was hidden from human view. His body was borne to Rhinebeck, where it was buried amidst a weeping multitude, in the rear of that church in which he had preached so frequently and faithfully the Gospel of Christ. Thus, at the green old age of eeventy-six, and in the fifty-second year of his ministry, triumphantly rejoicing in God, the devoted Freeborn Garrettson pussed away to his eternal reward. He was one of the most honoured instruments of God in founding and building up the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ame- rica. AYhen he joined it, there were only 19 ministers and 3128 members belonging to it, and when he was removed from it by death, it comprised 1576 ministers, and 381,997 members. Jesse Lee, whom I have already named as the leading pioneer for Methodism in the States of New England, was another signal instrument of God in founding and spreading His truth in America. He was a native of Virginia (a State which has been remark- ably productive of eminent men of diversified talent and usefulness), and was converted to God through the instrumentality of the simple-hearted and earnest Robert Williams, who, as we have seen, was associated with the Rev. Mr. Garratt in the revival scenes of his parish and neighbourhood. Jesse Lee was tue early companion of Francis Asbury, the first Methodist chaplain to the House of Congress, — the first historian of American Methodism, — and a most laborious, self- METHODIST LABOUKERS IN AMERICA. 137 denying, a» persevering minister of Christ. He is described as having been a large, plain man, with a look of peculiar intelligence and shrewdness. He pos- sessed real native wit, and was most ready and pointed in his replies to public opponents. Many anecdotes are related of him, and some of them are very racy and amusing, and highly illustrate his power of repartee. His last sermon was preached at a camp-meeting, and it is said that when he gave out his text of, " But grow in grace," he announced it with these words, " You will find my text in the last Epistle of St. Peter, the last chapter, the last verse ; and it may be that from it I shall preach my last sermon ! " The sermon is described as being one of surpassing power. Immediately after it, he received the summons for departure to another world. Even at the point of his exit, it is said his wit and pleasantry broke forth, but without levity — it was " the ruling passion strong in death." He died happy, at the age of fifty-eight, exclaiming, " Hallelujah ! Jesus reigns ! " Indeed, triumph in death seems to have been the almost universal experience of these early American worthies. God evidently honoured his faithful and devoted workmen. There are other bishops and ministers of Methodism whose memories are gratefully cherished here, but I must only make brief mention of them. There is Bishop Roberts, " the grandfather of all the mission- aries," as the Red Men of the Far West were accus- tomed to call him. He was for many years the senior bishop of the Church, and appears to have been a plain, simple-minded, benignant, and able man. He never forgot his lowly condition when Methodism found him, rl - U 198 v\ METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. a farmer's boy in a hunter's shirt, and taught him to study and pray in the depths of the forest, and there to preach over his youthful sermons to thick, standing trees, as if they were living men. "When, as a local preacher, ho went forth in the garb of a backwoods- man, to preich in his own neighbourhood, one who heard his first sermon, and who was well able to judge of its character, has said, " It was worthy of grey hairs and of broad-cloth." As a preacher, he was powerful and popular from the beginning, and that whether in the Indian's wigwam, the forest camp- meeting, CT the metropolitan church. His election to the office of bishop made no difference in his way of life. He built himself a log-cabin in the State of Indiana, and lived in it, though the wolves were often heard howling round it in droves. There he laboured with his own hands (at intervals of cessation from preaching journeys), felling trees, cultivating ground, bid ministering to his own necessities. From this rude, primitive retreat he used to go forth, in order to take the oversight of the ministers and churches. He was simple and patriarchal in appearance, but was arrayed in the " beauty of holiness," for purity of heart and life were eminently his. His last two texts were cha- racteristic of himself: one, the words of the royal preacher, " He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king will be his friend ;" and the other, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." This modest, unassuming, and faithful Methodist minister fell calmly and peacefully asleep in the Lord, in the year 1843. His body was at first deposited in a lonely field on his own farm, but has since, at the general call of the Church, been interred j'^-^- ■~tf . - . ».-M... Jf.j AJ - .- METUODIST LABOUH :HB FN A ERICA. 199 at Greencastlo, where stands lL Mtuliodist University for the State of Indiana. Bishop IIeddtno's is another name held in great love and veneration by the American Methodist Church. He was originally from the Green Mountains, where, amid the bracing air, he had become possessed of a strong frame, and seemed prepared for almost any amount of endurance. But notwithstanding his iron constitution, his early hardships were such as almost broke him down. He is described as a large and somewhat rugged man ; of solid, compact mind ; powerful both in preaching and debate, and orderly and resolute in the administration of church disci- pline. It is said that he suffered much from calumny and reproach among brethren, but that, with un- daunted courage, he was meek and forgiving. His last words were uttered on the 9th of April, ] 852, and were, " Glory — glory — glory to God I I am happy — filled ! " Bishop Emory, as I have stated, sleeps in the dust, with Bishops Asbury and George, in the Mount of Olives' Cemetery at Baltimore. He was a man of orderly and practical mind, of accurate scholarship, of resolute, persevering diligence, and of courteous, gen- tlemanly demeanour. He attended as the delegate to the British Conference in the year 1820, for the settle- ment with it of affairs respecting Methodism in Upper Canada. His life was suddenly terminated in December, 1835, by his being hurled out from his carriage near to the city of Baltimore, through the running away of a restive and ungovernable horse. :\ \ j i!i i I fi -(■ ■ 1, : 200 METHODIST LABOURERS IN AMERICA. Among earlier names, John Eastkr, the futher in Christ of Bishop M'Kcndreo, is spoken of us having fulfilled a short, but brilliant course, llo was indeed a burning and a shining light. In one circuit (that of Brunswick, Virginia), not less than eighteen hundred souls were brought to a saving knowledge of Christ under his ministry, within the space of one year. His name, as one specially owned by God for powerful con- viction and numerous conversions, is held in profound respect and veneration. Caleh B. Pedicord, combined in himself many excellent qualities, and sutfered much for his Lord and Master. Like Paul, he bore upon his body " the marks of the Lord Jesus," having been pub- licly whipped and beaten upon the road, for preaching the Gospel. He carried the scars with him to the grave. William Gill is mentioned as a veteran preacher, of solid mind and blameless life ; and John Tunnell, Sylvester Hutchinson, and George Pickering, have each left a name beloved and honoured for excellence. Among moi'e recent worthies, who now rest from their labours, and whose works do follow them, are the amiable and attractive John Summerfield, who, at the age of twenty-eight, had consumed his slcrider frame by the earnestness of his pulpit -erci&es, which chtirmed and edified many thousands; and Dr. Stephe'/ Olin, a powerful preacher of the Gospel, whose discourses, although they extended at times over two hours and two hours and a half, are said by those who heard them never to have been too long. By devotedness to study and to the work of Christ, he found that, though naturally of a robust frame, he had become, as he said, "an old man and a broken reed at twenty- seven." In death, he said to his wife composedly, MKTIIODTST LADOURERS IN AMERICA. 201 "I may die just as I u?n, trusting, belioving, but witli no rapturous oxprosaions. Though I think I should have a glad feoling to find myself on tho borders of endless life, with infirmities, disappointments, sorrows, for ever at an end. I feel that it cannot bo that I should be cast out from heaven, where are gathered tho people whom I love, and with whose spirits and tastes I sympathise — from the society I relish, to that which I loathe, — to the hell where the worldly, tho unbelieving, for whose society I have a distasto, with whom I have nothing in common, ^^ ' "--^ir portion. It is unphilosophical to think so : it i be in God's economy to separate me from what i huve so long trusted in. He sends to hell those who will not submit to His will ; but my will is in harmony with His. Tho law of affinities will find place." These, and many others I cannot name, are held in veneration, and will be held in lasting regard, by American Methodists, for their character, and suffer- ings, and labours for Christ. LETTER XII. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. JiN ' Mi- ll I' \ i :. 1' Appearance of the Assembly — The Bishops — The Delegates from the Far West — Patriarchal Labourers — Their Jealousy of Declension — Style of their Oratory — Dr. Jacob Young — Dr. Peter Cartwright, or " Uncle Peter" — His Preaching — Strange Anecdote — "Father Finley" — His Indian Labours — " Squire Grey Eyes," the Indian Preacher — Affecting Scene in the Conference — Order and Courtesy of the Conference— Its Reception of Foreign Representatives. The general appearance of the Conference is very impr< ssive. The bishops are grave, dignified men, who bear in their very looks and demeanour the care of the churches. There is no haste or impetuosity in any- thing they say or do ; but, at all times, they show great self-possession and wisdom. When appealed to on points of law and order, they show themselves fully prepared to answer ; and yet their response to a question is given in such a manner that it by no means tends to check free and full discussion by the Conference, or to place the party complained of for being out of order in a painful or humiliating position. And if any one appeals against their decisions to the General Confer- ence, they manifest no dogmatic authority, or tenacity of opinion ; but calmly submit the case to the assembly of their brethren for final determination. The bishops I" •-"• li— fci»«iM THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 203 are, very evidently, humble and devout men, who speak and act with reverence towards God, and with respect and affection towards their brethren. This ennobles them in the estimation of all thoughtful and candid observers, and gives to them an aspect of apos- tolic dignity when seated before the general assembly cf their brethren in the ministry. The Delegates from the Annual Conferences, sent by the preachers to represent them and their churches, have the appearance of real labourers in the vineyard of the Lord. This is the first impression made upon one's mind when looking on them. They look as if they had performed hard toil in the service of their Master. Many of them are far advanced in life, and have evidently borne their share in the burthen and heat of the day. Some are deeply tanned by the sun, and exhibit unmistakeable marks of continuous exposure to the climate. There are men from California, and Oregon, and the shores of the Pacific, looking worn and exhausted by itinerant service under the scorching sun ; and seated among them are venerable men from the north and the east, with peaceful beaming faces, and with long hair white as wool. It is impossible to look upon the men of this Conference without discerning, at a glance, that many of them are persons of strong decisive character, and yet devout and humble servants of the Larab. Distinct and marked in their primitive energy and zeal, here are a few of the early backwoods- men preachers, the true pioneers of the West, who have spent their lives in the rough unsheltered wilderness. These fathers of Western Methodism seem absorbed with interest in the truth and service of Christ, and evidently watch with godly jealousy over the doctrines 204 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. and discipline of a system, whose superlative value they have proved, by witnessing its transforming and saving effects upon the most uncultivated examples of human nature. They take their full share in the proceedings of the Conference, and most earnestly use the influence which their long and successful labours have secured them, in checking any attempts that may be made, either by preachers or people, to slacken the cords or to loosen the stakes of the Methodist Taber- nacle. Some of the speeches we have heard from these earnest, practical men were speeches of great power. They were evidently spontaneous, and purely extem- pore ; but sentence after sentence struck home, to those for whom they were intended, with indescribable pun- gency and force. This was especially the case in the instance where complaints of circuit-hardship or over-labour were made by a preacher, and where he pleaded for relief or indul- gence. Then the old men arose and told of their own early life ; how they had wandered in the woods after Indians and settlers, to seek these as subjects for their Lord ; how they had to take shelter in greasy, smoking, wigwams, or in rugged, unfurnished log-cabins ; or, as one of them said, "make beds of gathered leaves for themselves and their wives; to sleep on hard boards between negroes and Indians ; shoot and hunt for their meals before they could eat ; to make their breakfast or dinner upon bear and racoon bacon, without salt or vege- tables ; and with no quarterly allowance but what they could obtain by the sale of buffalo skins, to pass from station to station, and all this through year after year." After these startling narratives of their own self-deny- ing and self-sacrificing services for Christ in the wilder- t ; THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS, 205 ness, the old men turned upon such as sought modern indulgence, with words of overwhelming rebuke. Their speeches were, for the most part, highly figurative. They showed that what they declared before Masters of Arts and Doctors of Divinity (who, they said, were too numerous) was true : that they had " studied in Nature's own great university — high up on the moun- tains — deep down in the valleys — in the spreading woods and waving prairies, and in the free school of self-culture." For nearly all their images and forms of expression were drawn from the scenes and the life of the western wilderness. Within the compass of a quarter of an hour's address, the speaker would, in his •fiffures of speech, be shooting, hunting and " racooning," ub , ith forest-settlers ; canoeing and shooting, as with Indians; soaring and screaming, as with the eagle; bounding, as with the buffalo and the deer ; climbing with the bear, springing with the panther, howling with the wolf, and darting with the serpent. Indeed, the wild beasts, birds, and Indians of the forest, would not unfrequently be all turned upon the delinquent, or the antagonist ; and made, there and then, to tear in pieces the false plea, and prey upon the false position ; and yet all this was done with manifest zeal for Christ and His cause, and without any laborious or strained eflPort for effect. With all its variety and singular combination of metaphors, the style was simple and unlaboured. Like all true eloquence, theirs consisted of short unmistakeable words, which were fused into flowing harmony by the inward fervour of the soul, that seized and employed them. Theirs was no patch- work of schoolboy eloquence, which any man with a remnant of modesty must become increasingly wearied of repeating I !( I V(: ni ! a I t, I i HI I 206 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT IMDIANAIOLIS. and using as he advances in life ; but it was the elo- quence of a sincere and earnest nature, that mellows and strengthens with years. It was Nature's own oratory : that of the strong and sincere soul pouring forth its convictions under the influence of renewing and sanctifying grace, and reaching and stirring to their depths the souls of all who were within hearing of it. Three of these pioneer fathers are especially prominent and active in the Conference. They have all passed the allotted boundary of human life, and yet they are full of vigour. Like a few ancient trees that remain to tell of the grandeur of some primeval forest, these few survivors of a by- gone generation, by their look and behaviour, embody to your imagination the towering strength and unsubduable enterprise which characterised the men who laboured with them in the wilderness. The eldest of them, Dr. Jacob Young, is not so hale and vigorous as the other two. He has been of late years the subject of affliction, that seems to have nearly bereft him of eyesight. He is of Scotch Presbyterian descent, and is the son of a Virginian farmer. In early life, by the aid of his father's books, he wrought his way out of Calvinism into Arminianism, and experienced rege- neration of heart. Almost ever since, and through a long life, he has been labouring as an itinerant Me- thodist preacher in the Western States. He is now a tall, slender man, with deeply- sunken eyes that seem filled with thought, and flowing, snow-white hair that renders him venerable even to the eye, while one's remembrance of his patriarchal age deepens the feeling. He retains undoubted marks of careful self-culture, and though not so strong and vigorous as his two veteran THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 207 brethren, nor so animated and figurative in his style of speaking, yet, on all great questions, he has something to say which commands the attention of the Conference. He is evidently a man of sound understanding and reliable judgment. The next in advance of years is Dr. Peter Cart- wright, a large, square-built man, with some native mggedness, mingled with a good deal of humour, both in his looks and in his speeches. There is a granite-like texture in his flesh, and a knotted roughness in his features, that stamp him as one who is hardy and enduring. And yet it would be a great omission in the slightest sketch of his appearance to represent him as lacking in geniality and good nature, for both his mouth and eyes, as well as the radiant play of the upper part of his cheeks, tell of a kindly and sociable nature. His head is large, and firmly supported between ample and compact shoulders. His brow is broad, and overhung with a mass of iron-grey hair. His eyes are intensely deep in colour, and shine like dark fires be- neath his shaggy eye-brows, while crow's-feet wrinkles mark their corners, and add to the peculiar expression of his coun' >nance. His complexion, never fair, is deeply tanned by the sun. His voice, when he begins to speak, is tremulous, but, as he proceeds, its old power returns, its rich natural organ tones are recovered, and he swells and rolls its deep diapasons most manfully. At times, to give point and wing to his side-shot arrows, he assumes a mock tragic tone and look, and then, after relating c^ttig backwood anecdote which convulses the assembly with irresistible laughter while he himself is solemnly grave, he falls upon his antagonist with over- whelming power, and leaves the victim prostrate uider ; ; 't' I ! I 208 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS, sarcasms. When roused by combined opposition, he launches in swift succession keen- edged sentences, and tlioughts vivid and scathing as lightning, and then, \eith a voice roaring like a forest hurricane, he pours out his condemnations and warnings with a force that crushes his foe, and fills others that hear with a sensation approaching to awe. Indeed, to hunt down and put to the cover of shame those whom he regards as dangerous to constitutional Methodism seems to be regarded by him as his proper vocation. He plainly performs this work with all the zest of a backwoodsman hunter, and, to accomplish it, he spares neither bishops, deputations, presiding elders, ministers, nor people. On some occa- sions he is absolutely terrible in execution, and seems to stand on the floor of the Conference as fearless and as irresistible as the lion in his domain. This unique and really grand sample of manhood was born and brought up among the wildest mountains of Kentucky, and has been in his day a most popular and powerful open-air preacher. For camp-meetings in the woods, his name was a magnet to draw forth thou- sands from their scattered homes to hear the words of eternal life. Some of his forest gatherings are said to have been immense, and under his full, trumpet- toned, and mighty voice, that alternatel}' wailed and thundered as he lamented the sinful state of mankind, and foretold their doom, the multitudes bowed their heads and waved as the long grass of the prairie-land bows and waves with the wind. On one occasion, not less than five hundred persons prostrated themselves on their knees while he was preaching, and prayed to God for mercy. Many anecdotes are related, as you may suppose, in connection with his name, and some of these approach the ludicrous. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 209 It 18 said that on one occasion, when interrupted by scoffers, he descended from his pulpit, and seized a notorious leader of them. The man had never been mastered in fight, but the preacher shook him until the border-ruffian, for such he was, was completely subdued. Doctor Peter then grasped him by the neck, made him kneel down and repeat a prayer to God for mercy, and then the preacher, while his opponents and the crowd were stricken with wonder, resumed his station, and preached on without further disturbance. Of course, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of thii story, or deter- mine what amount of fact or measure of exaggeration there may be in it. I can only affirm that Dr. Peter Cartwright does not seem an unlikely hero for such a narrative, and that he has a most marvellous facility for passing from grave to gay, and from gay to grave. I need only add of him that he entered the itinerant ministry at the early period of eighteen years old, and has continued in it ever since, toiling chiefly on the "Western frontier, and advancing as it has advanced. He has studied hard amidst the woods and prairies ; and, in addition to the study o^- divinity, has made, it is said, considerable attainments in mathematics, logic, physic, law, and the learned languages. And still he is found working for Christ and for Methodism among the emigrants and settlers of the Far "West. The third of these "Western veterans is the Rev. James B. Finley, or " Father Finley," as he is usually called. He is a most loveable, brave old man. In person he is large and massive, but he is neither so rugged in exterior nor so stormy in matter as " Uncle Peter " — the name often familiarly given to Dr. Cart- wright. Father Finley's face wears an habitual ex- p V 210 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. (i, pression of serenity. Religion has softened down the harder lines of his sun- embrowned countenance, and made it shine ; and his long grey hair thrown sn )othly back from his forehead, and flowing upon his neck and shoulders, places him also among the patriarchs in appearance. He is dressed in buff-coloured clothing of a primitive fashion, and always bears his staff with him, whether he walks or is seated. This keeps him at all times upright, and wherever you might see him, he would be a noticeable figure, and you would set him down for more than an ordinary character. When he speaks in the Conference, he rests what he says firmly and confi- dently on his age and experience in the work of God, and he always speaks graphically and well. In addition to his manly, Saxon style of expression, and forest- gathered imagery, there is a pathos in his addresses which is very winning. The deep founts of his nature often find vent in tears, and while speaking in the assembly, he seema to yearn over his audience with the full affection of a father in Israel. He has been through a great portion of his life a missionary to the Indians. He was among the first appointed missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church to chat noble, but unci- vilised and flagrantly abused people. His father was a Virginian minister of Scotch descent, and his ancestors fought hard for American independence. He was attracted towards the Indians in early life by their wild and adventurous sports, and seems to have loved them still more on account of the cruel wrongs they suffered. It was therefore by preference that he became a mis- sionary to them, after his conversion to God. He took charge of the first Indians converted under John Stewart, the coloured local preacher, in the north-west THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 211 of the upper States, and became himself God's instrument in the conversion of numbers of the red people, whom he has seen gathered into churches and die happy in the Lord. In his autobiography, which he has published, and which is a most interesting and exciting book on the Methodism of the backwoods. Father Finley gives sketches of several Indian preachers, with specimens of their style of preaching ; and some of these are affecting, as showing what God has done by and for the de- scendants of those who were formerly lords of the American forests and lakes. So much was this veteran missionary revered and beloved by the aboriginal Indians that they formally elected him a chief of the " Bear" tribe; as they also elected his wife to be a chief's daughter of the "Turkey" tribe. A scene has transpired in the Conference, between Father Finley and one of his Indian converts, that reached the height of moral sublimity, and which was overpowering in its effect. The convert had learned that his beloved father in the Gospel was to be as far north-west as Indianapolis, attending there with the brethren. And so the Indian set off with his " squaw," on foot ; and, as soon as he arrived at the city, Father Finley brought him to the Conference, and had him introduced, through Bishop Janes (the Indians' bishop), to the assembly. He was handed up to the low plat- form, wh&re he could see and be seen by al! ; and was announced as " Squire Grey Eyes," an Indian Metho- dist preacher of the Wyandot nation. He appeared to be upwards of fifty years of age; and is somewhat smaller in figure than the Indian red-men are in general. He has deeply sunk en grey eyes, with smooth strong hair v/f mingled white and black. Care and 212 THE GENERAL CONFEUENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. ' ^'• Its- suffering have ploughed their furrows deep upon his tuwny, shiunkcn face. He looked footworn and hag- gard ; and there wore signs on his legs and clothes of his recent struggles over the soil, and through the entangled brushwood of the forest. On his introduction, Father Finley stood up by his side, and said, with deep emotion, " Brethren, twenty- five years ago, I found thin our brother in the wilderness, a wild savage man, filled with all the pride and imagi- nary pomp and glory of an Indian chioftain. I preached to him * the glorious Gospel of the bleesed God.' He listened, was soundly converted, and retained his con- version. No man can say that Brother Grey J^'yes has ever turned away from the narrow path, either to the right hand or to the left. He has held on his way to Zion from that time to this ; and has been honourably instrumental in the conversion of others. Twenty years ago, at Springfield, in Ohio, he ^ms ordained a deacon of our Church. Sumnudo Watt, a fellow-labourer with him in the Gospel, was barbarously killed by the white people who sought the lands of the "Wyandot Indians ; and this so discouraged the tribe that they removed far away across the great river, into Kansas. There, since the removal into this new settlement, this my brother and son in the Gospel has preached the word of life to his persecuted people ; and has continued to be a fellow- labourer with you, though you have heard little or nothing of him. My heart burhed, as with fire, when I met him to-day. And when I inquired of him con- cerning my spiritual children among his tribe, I learned that many of them had gone home to heaven. Blessed be God for ever sending me among the poor Indians to preach the Gospel of His Son ! Soon, very soon, I THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 213 ere, since liira con- shall join my red brethren and sisters before the Throne. Brethren, pray and labour for the Indians ! There never was a people more robbed and maltreated than they. If I were young, I would compete with the stoutest of you for the privilege of bearing, once more, the divine message of grace and mercy to them ; and would gladly labour for their salvation. But I am old, and near my end. Bless the Lord, however, I am a happy old man I " While this was being spoken, the Indian — who before his conversion would have died rather than shed a tear, and who, according to the spirit of his people, would have stoutly chaunted his own death-song while in the hands of murderous tormentors — sobbed and cried like a child. The tears gushed profusely from his eyes, chased their course in streams down his cheeks, and fell pattering down upon the floor. He tried to speak, but was choked with feeling. Again he tried, and gave utterance to a few words, which a worn, browned labourer among the Indians interpreted for the Conference as being, — " I am far too small to speak to you — I am very small among Christian ministers ; but the love of Christ is in my heart. I am going, like you, to heaven, and when we meet, I will speak to you there!" The darkly sunburnt interpreter then related to the Conference how he had heard the last sermon of Brother Grey Eyes preached to the Wyandot Indians before they removed into the Far West ; and that among other words which he heard the preacher deliver to the assembled and weeping tribe, and which he must ever remember, were the following: "My people, we now go from this place of our fathers, who are buried here. 214 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. ' :w i ^ Wo must bid an everlasting furewoll to our mountains, our rivers, and our hunting grounds. And, most of all, we must bid farewell to our house of God, which we built, and wherein we have worshipped and rejoiced togetlier. But God shall go with us, and bless us in our now home." The interpreter further related that, on reaching their now settlement. Grey Eyes and his people built first a house for God before they prepared habitations for themselves ; and that, when questioned by some white men as to their reason for so doing, they Veplied, " Because we care more for our souls than for our bodies ; ,and more for eternity than time ! " As may be supposed, the whole of this scene produced a grCv I; effect upon the assembly. Amidst floods of tears from more than two hundred grateful and rejoicing ministers of Jesus Christ, there were bursts of " Praise the Lord!" and "Glory be to God!" from every part of the State-House. The ministers insisted upon making a collection, there and then, for Brother Grey Eyes and his tribe. This they did in hats seized at the moment for their object ; and then the Indian proucher departed with his treasure, deeply wondering at the goodness of both God and man towards him. There are in the Conference other "■ strong men," to use the phrase of the Americans when they would describe mental ability. Some of them are ready and powerful in debate, and others are men of ripe, finished scholarship. These last are principally in office, either as editors of periodicals, or professors in colleges ; and it is really a surprise to a British Methodist to have introduced to him so many ministers who are in offices not immediately connected with circuits or stations. But when the large nimiber of Methodist publications, THE OENEUAIi CONFERENCE AT INDIANArOLIS. 213 colleges, and acarlomies, in relation with the Confercnco, are tukon into the account, one's wonder on this ground must greatly abate. Our American brethren give their best men in learning and scholarship to these objects, as they ought to do ; and tlie demand for accomplished scholars is more than equal to the supply. The proceedings of the Conference are very orderly. Every one that speaks must first address the chair, and must take his turn as his "Mr. President '* may be heard by the presiding Bishop. Every one must speak to a resolution that has been regularly moved and seconded ; and which, in due time, must be handed up in writing to the secretary. All, in speaking, must observe the rules agreed upon for the government of the Con- ference. If any indulgence, as to time, or otherwise, be allowed, it must be by resolution to that effect. Every man can say what he pleases, so long as he speaks respectfully and in order ; and in the Conference, as throughout America, there is a self-confident air in public speaking exceeding what we see or hear, ordi- narily, in England. There seems to be less fear of critics, and a kind of disdain of any care as to propriety or style in speaking. A man here not only says what he has to say without fear, but he will sometimes tumble out a sentence " neck and heels " together, or send it sprawling into the midst of the assembly on " all fours." This does not help weak or vain men ; but it very effectually serves "strong" and earnest men. It enables them to put out all their strength to the greatest advantage. One thing cannot fail to surprise an English visitor to American assemblies, eugnged in discussing and deciding public matters ; and that is the frequent ,V-i,. ."_ i-.--5'»fc*i. r »./. f,*««2S3E •mmmmmm 216 TUB GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. ,:; t t !■■: question that is raised as to the judgment pronounced by the chair. We found this in the Congress, at Wash- ington, where a good part of a day was spent in dis- cussing the accuracy of a decision pronounced by the Speaker ; and we find it here in the Conference, where the decision by the presiding bishop is questioned daily, and sometimes several times in a day. With us, in England, the decision by the chair is final ; and an appeal from it would be considered intrusive and dis- orderly. But it is not so here. No offence is produced by the cry of " Question " from any one, after judgment has been pronounced upon the carrying of a resolution ; and the bishop simply says, "rise and be counted," when the reported numbers determine the result. But it would be an unpardonable slander upon the American Methodist ministers to represent them as uncourteous ; or as unconfiding, either in each other, or in deputed visitors. They are highly respectful to one another in their language and conduct. They seem to reverence human nature in itself; and the man, as throughout America generally, is more in their estimation than any accidental or adventitious circumstances whatever. And so with their treatment of stranger visitors. Such were received and entertained by them in the most respectful and affectionate manner. There were introduced into their assembly, the Revs. John Ryerson and Richard Jones, as representatives from the Metho- dist Conference of Western Canada ; the Revs. Robinson Scott and R. G. Cather, M.A., from the Methodist Churches of Ireland ; as well as Dr. Hannah and myself from the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of England. And in all cases, and at all times, they showed all and each of us the most fraternal and most courteous THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 217 attention. Their high veneration and filial regard for British Methodism were plainly evident in their conduct to us, as visitors from England. If we had been am* bassadors from princes, they could not have shown us greater favour. They provided for us a residence with the governor of the State — the highest official per- sonage belonging to it. On our arrival, the bishops waited upon us to inquire after our health and comfort ; and to assure us of the great gratification which they and their brethren had in our visit to them. At the time appointed for our introduction to the Conference, two of the bishops came to the governor's house, to accompany us to the State-House, and to lead us up to the platform. The senior bishop took the chair, out of his turn, in order that he might formally introduce us to the Conference; and the whole assembly stood up to receive us. In introducing us, the venerable Bishop Waugh, with silvered head, expressed the de p interest of that hour to the Conference, the high gratification ot all present to receive among them for their session, brethren from the parent body ; and assured us of the cordial greetings and hearty welcome given to us by all the assembly. And when, after the Conference Letter from Eng- land had been read, Dr. Hannah and I addressed the assembly, responding to its salutations, and expressing a desire that America and England might never be disunited, either Methodistically or nationally, tears burst forth in every direction, and cries of " Never ! never ! " were heard from many voices. By official direction, we took our seats among the bishops; and then, by formal resolutions, the Conference expressed and recorded the cordial welcome it gave to us as \ \ 218 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. .'/ S I ti i ii i visitors from the British Conference ; the free and full reciprocation it made to our addresses on fraternal fel- lowship; the fervency with which it united in the prayer to God for unbroken preservation of union between our respective Churches and countries ; and the earnest desire it entertained that, as we might feel disposed, we should participate at any time in the discussions of the Conference. Afterwards we were, by resolution, requested to preach before the Conference. We did so; business being suspended that the brethren might attend. They heard us attentively and joyfully, for they praised God aloud for His word and for His grace. They formally recorded their thanks for our services, and asked for the publication of our sermons, that they and their people might have a moi. "^r^rmanent memorial of our visit to them. In all our private interviews with the bishops and ministers, which have been numerous, we have enjoyed the freest and friendliest intercourse. Many inquiries have been made as to the state and prospects of " the old body " in England, and as to its extended agencies, both at home and abroad ; and the most reverential mention is made of previous visitors from the British Conference, and of fathers in English Methodism of whom they have heard or read. Letters of greeting and salutation were sent to the Conference by Churches and communities which were not represented personally in the assembly. There was an interesting document from our Wesley an- Methodist brethren in France, for whose aid £1000 had been con» tributed during the year by the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society of America. There was likewise a THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 219 fraternal address from the Congregational Union of England and Wales. These were received read, and responded to, in a most cordial and appropriate manner. But the particulars of the business of the Conference, and the extent of its relationships, I must reserve for other letters. p I If. i' ! 1 , ) I,ETTEK XIII. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. Electicn of officers — Calfing the Roll of Delegates — Appointment of Com- mittees — Opening At'dress of the Bishops — Statistics of Aracricftn Methodi'^m — Education and Literature — Coloured People's College — Periodicals — Missions to the Far West — To the Indians — To Settlers from Germany, the North of Europe, &c. — To Liberia, to Sweden, Nor- way, &c &c. — Status ( .victhodism in America — The new Proposition respecting Slave-holding Members — Judgment of the Bishops thereon. As I have already indicated, the Conference assembles in the State-House of Indiana. The hall in which it holds its session is large, and has numerous massive pillars supporting the panelled dome of the half-circular part appropriated to business, in the middle of the building. Opposite the bend of the half -circle is a platform, two steps high from the floor, of sufficient length to hold nine or ten persons, and with a table in front for writing upon. The seven bishops, with the deputations from distant churches, sit upon arm-chairs en this platform. Immediately before these, " within the bar," as it is termed, are the clerks and other officers; and around them, on semicircular rows of seats, as far as the pillars, are the members of the Con- ference. Behind the pillars, both on the floe* and in small corner galleries, are the visitors. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 221 nee assembles A considerable time was occupied, at the opening, in what is called " organising the Conference ;" that is, in appointing its officers and committees. The officers of the Conference are not regarded as holding stations of honour, like the officers of the British Conferee ce. Though the secretary, for instance, must be of good standing among his brethren to warrant their choice of him, yet his election rests principally' on their con- fidence in his business tact and general capacity. He is not so frequently associated with the bishops in official acts and documents as the secretary of the Bri- tish Conference is associated with its president. He has three assistant secretaries, who take the minutes, and prepare the lists for him. The election to each of these offices is by ballot of all the members. The Conference first opened at nine o'clock on Thurs- day morning, May 1st : Bishop Waugh, the senior bishop, presiding. After devotional exercises of read- ing the Scriptures, singing, and prayer, the roll of the Conference was called ; when the delegates from the thirty-eight Annual Conferences ansTV^ered to their names in order, and each presented his certificate of election as a representative. The names of the Annual Conferences were called in the following order : — 1 . N»>'v Hampshire. 2. New York. 3. Troy. 4. New York, East. 5. California. 6. Maine. 7. Vermont. 8. Black iliver. 9. Western Virginia. 10. East Maine. 11. Vittsburg. 12. Wyoming. 13. Erie. 14. Oneida. 15. Efist Genesee. 16. Oregon. 17. North-We-itern Indiana. 18. Genesee. 19. Michigan. 20. Ohio. 21. Indiana. 22. North Indiauii. I : \ * 222 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. li- lt;' :! 'I t !• . 23. Wisconsin. 24. Rock River. 26. North Ohio. 26. Cincinnati. 27. Iowa. 28. South-Eastem Indiana. 29. Southern Illinois. 30. Illinoia. 31. Kentucky. 32. Missouri. 33. Arkansas. 34. Baltimore. 35. Philadelphia. 36. New England. 37. Providence. 38. New Jersey. "With a map of the United States before you, this list will enable you to learn something of the localities and the extent of Methodist territories represented in this Quadrennial, or General Conference. The delegates numbered from two to fifteen from each of these thirty- eight Annual Conferences, according to their respective distances and relative importance, making in all between 200 and 300. These representatives, as you will con- jecture, are in the main the principal ministers, for intelligence and experience, of the districts from w^"* they are sent by their ministerial brethren. The Conference, as you know, is open to the public. Immediately after the election of officers, it was occupied for several sittings in fixing the times for meeting in each day, in appointing the parties who should be responsible for the daily publication of its proceedings, in electing the committees likely to be required for the consideration of the details of the different departments of its business, and in agreeing upon the rules to be observed in the government of the Conference during its session. The standing Committees for business are about ten in number, and they nearly all consist of thirty-eight members — that is to say, of one delegato from each of the thirty-eight Annual Conferences. The co;nmittee on the Episcopacy, on the Itinerancy, on Boundaries, on Slavery, on the Book Concern, on Missions, on Education, THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 223 on the Tract Cause, on Sunday-schools, on Revisals, and on unfinished business. Such are the chief committees. There are also smaller committees on Temperance, on the Bible Cause, on Temporal Economy, and on the Expenses of Delegates. This list of committees will show you, at a glance, what kind of business is anti- cipated by the assembly. I need scarcely observe that the early appointment of these select bodies is well calculated to facilitate general business. The rules agreed upon for the government of the Conference are nineteen in number, and relate chiefly to the attendance of delegates, to the order of presenting memorials, ana to the proposing, discussing, and carry- ing of resolutions. To these rules the assembly is bound to adhere, and they are printed and circulated for the use of the delegates.. The bishops do not take any prominent part in the formal proposal and discussion of questions. They simply preside in rotation, and give their judgment when appf ^ed to on points of law and order. But they preseu a joint address to the General Conference, reporting upon the state of Methodism in its several departments, and offering suggestions for such altera- tions or improvements as they may deem fit and neces- sary. Bishop Janes read the address we heard, and we thought it most interesting and appropriate. It con- tained a statistical account of the progress and extent of the work of God, as it had come under their supervision during the four years which had elapsed since the last General Conference. Of this account, rendered by the bishops, you will be glad to learn something, inasmuch as it, with other authentic notices which I may refer to, will enable you to judge in some degree of what God ia 234 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. ( ! 'i I doing by his Methodist servants in this, the northern section of the United States of America ; though mere numerals will not in this case, any more than in others, fully make known the amount of good accomplished by the Holy Spirit, through external agencies, upon the minds and hearts of immortal men. The address of the bishops reported that among the encouraging proofs of progress to be adduced were the following: — In 1851, the official minutes reported 4450 itinerant ministers, 6700 local preachers, ai 1 721,804 members and probationers ; while the minutes of 1855 return 5408 itinerant ministers, 6610 local preachers, and 799,431 members and probationers : showing a net increase during the four years of 958 itinerant ministers, 910 local preachers, and 77,627 members and pro- bationers. The statistics on education and literature showed that there are fourteen chartered Universities, or large col- leges, pertaining to American Methodism, and in which the sons of the more wealthy Methodists are being trained for useful and honourable service in the state and in the Church ; seventy Academies or seminaries of a high class, affording ample literary advantages to Methodist youth of both sexes, and two Biblical or theological institutions, formed or being formed, in distant parts of the States. Common day-schools, for the purposes of an ordinary commercial education, you are aware, are pro- vided by Government in all convenient parts of the States: it being understood that American youth have a legitimate claim upon their country for such an educa- tion as shall fit them for its service. And I must say, while the occasion serves, that, so far as I could ascertain, the common day-schools are generally good and effective ; THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 225 the school buildings are usually healthy and commodious ; the teachers are duly qualified : they are moral ; in many instances religious ; and the Scriptures are freely used in the schools. The Methodist Sunday-schools were reported by the bishops as being 10,469 in number, and as having 113,159 officers and teachers, and 579,126 scholars. The number of conversions to God in these schools within the four years, as far as ascertained, was stated as being 65,096. There is also a very encouraging movement now being made by the Methodists for the education of the youth of the coloured race. A committee has obtained land and buildings for an institution where coloured youth of both sexes shall be taught the higher branches of learning, and from which they shall be sent forth to instruct and train, in Sabbath and week-day schools, the youth of their own people. This institution is situated in the southern part of the State of Ohio, so as to be accessible from the Southern States, and already there have been instances of wealthy and benevolent gentlemen emancipating their slaves, and sending them to what is termed " The Coloured People's College " for education. The beneficial results of this institution to the African race, both in the States and in their own land, are likely, under the blessing of God, to be very great. It will bring forth to public observation the capacities and acquirements of a long abused and despised section of the human family, and will provide well-educated teachers and ministers for the coloured children and congregations, both in America and Africa. As declared l^- the deliberate judgment of the General Conference, it " will tend, under God, to the most speedy and I- iii I 226 THE OENEllAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. effectual elevation of the coloured race in this country, and to prepare the way for the restoration of the benighted millions of down-trodden Africa to all the blessings of civilisation, science, and religion." The list of publications issued under the direction of the General Conference is very large, and shows that our American Methodist brethren know how to appreciate the important power of the press. The Sabbath- school Library has in it 1066 volumes, which have been supplied to it by the Methodist " Book Concern." The total issues of publications during the last four years have been 15,588,926 publications of all kinds, including 7,226,409 bound volumes, and 8,36^,617 tracts and pamphlets. Some of these are in the German, Swediwh, and Danish languages. The Methodist periodicals are exceedingly numerous, and are scattered abroad throughout the Northern States very largely. They number, in single copies for one year, 9,097,840, having for them 285,461 annual subscribers. Yet there are not more then two or three of these periodicals which, at present, are remunerative to any considerable extent. But the good to be effected is regarded in their circulation rather than in the money returns, — and the good which is thus effected no doubt is very great. I give you the list of these Conference periodicals, as reported by the bishops, that you may see what the names and numbers of the respective publica- tions are : — Annual Subscribers Christian Advocate and Journal . 2U,875 Western Christian Advocate . . 28,718 Northern Christian Advocate . 15,000 North-western Christian Advocate . 10,033 Pittsburg Christian Advocate . 8000 • f THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 227 Annunl Subscribers Sundny-scliool Advocntc . 1 1 t,092 Missioimry Advocntc . . 31,000 Chrisliim Apologist (German) 0U67 Quarterly Review 2721 Niitionnl Mngaziiie . 15,875 Ladies' llci)ository . 29,580 These are all conducted by editors appointed from the ministers belonging to the General Conference. They are for the most part very creditable publications, and each promotes and upholds spiritual Christianity. The profits of Conference publications are professedly for the support of worn-out ministers, but, since the secession of the Southern churches from the northern on the ground of Slavery, the yearly profits have had to be applied to the payment of the share of capital in book aflPairs which has been adjudged to the South. The missionary department is reported as being cheeringly prosperous. As with us in England, the Methodist Conference here has under its direction both Home and Foreign Missions. Of necessity, it has been principally occupied with what may be called Home Mis- sions, though some parts of this field of its operation are several thousand miles off*. The swarming emigrants from different European countries, nud the rapid advance of the American population westward, demands a con- stant augmentation of the number of missionaries, if the people are to be overtaken and instructed in the way of life. And many of the settlers in the Western States would be as destitute of the means of grace, and very soon as much lost to religion and morality, as are the heathens in pagan lands, if it were not for Methodist missionaries going forth into the backwoods and into newly-formed settlements. So that properly, and in the ' '1 228 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. I' r ? - right order, tho Conference has directed its first mis- sionary efforts to tho necessities of America, und supports largely from its mission fund the preachers sent forth into California, Oregon, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and other states and districts of tlio Far West, ns well as those employed in " sparsely " settled portions of tho inner parts of the country, where there are not churches large enough to maintain their own ministers. Tho Conference has also missions to tho Indians. Nor are its efforts limited to tho preaching of tho Gospel in tho ears of tho red-man. With the aid of Government, it is providing from five to ten acres of ground for each Indian family which comes under its influence : and this land, it is said, can never be sold, leased, or rented to or by a white man. By this philan- thropic measure, it is hoped that a feeling of attachment to tho soil will be created among the native Indians, and that they will cease to wander about, and be less liable to moral corruption by vicious emigrants and settlers. And some of these missions are in a promising condition. Several Indian converts have built them- selves houses, and have been reclaimed from their roaming and restless habits. Others have been brought to settle on. farms or in villages around the missionary stations, so that the Jiissionaries express their hopes of the work of God being permanent among their red converts. They report — " The Indians, under the influence of our missions, are all gradually improving in the arts of civilised life. Their religious experience in the things of God is generally quite clear. Their attendance on the means of grace is quite uniform. Their devotions are marked with great fervour and sim- plicity, yet quite free from excesses." It is also stated TFIE QENRRAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 229 by tlio samo autlioritics that, as convortH, tlio red-nieii uro steudfust iti their Christiuii lito und profossioii — thut apostusy with them is very rurc, and that, so Cur from wasting away as do tlio unconverted Indians, and as it had been suppoKcd all the aborigines must waste away, all of them who havo received the Gospel increase rapidly, insomuch that the missions to them arc strait- ened for room. On one occasion forty Indians had been converted i, dod, and on another us many us sixty. Bishop Janes has the supervision of these Indian mis- sions, and th( ugh they have been injured und retarded by white men who have corrupted the converts by " lire- water," iiiid by their profligacies, yet they are now in a very hopeful f ;d promising condition. There uro at present ton M», ihodist missionarioa, exclusively devoted to this depunment of 'evangelical labour. AfiiOHf • the domciitii^ missions belonging to the General Conference must be also named the missioufi to the Germans, the Scandinavians, the AVelsh, the French, and the Seamen, Avithin the United States. Some of those are of recent origin, but their growth has been very rapid, more especially that of the German Mission. It is estimated that there are 700,000 of this nation within the States, and to a large portion of these Method- ism is successfully proclaiming the word of eternal life. There are not fewer than 11,778 church members and probationers of the German people now under the pas- toral care and instruction of 187 Methodist missionaries. These have schools and German literature plenteously supplied to them, and they are confessedly more liberal, according to their means, in the support of the work of God among them than any other section of Christians or Methodists within the States. The Scandinavian 230 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. Missions are those to the Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes, who have emigrated in considerable numbers to the west and north-west of the States. Of these there are about 1000 church members and probationers, under the care of eighteen missionaries. About fifteen mis- sionaries devote themselves to the Welsh and French emigrants, and there are six missionaries to the seamen who visit or reside in the principal seaports. The Domestic Missions, including those to settlers not other- wise provided for, and to the foreign populations within the United States, are 681 in number, and they have belonging to them 636 missionaries, and 69,222 church members and probationers. The amount appropriated by the Missionary Society for their support during the last year was 184,093 dollars, or nearly £37,000. But our Methodist brethren on this side of the Atlantic are not neglectful of the foreign department of missionary enterprise ; and it is evident that they are now about to put forth new strength for important services in regions beyond their own land. As I have already stated, thej'' have a flourishing Mission in Liberia, which stretches over 400 miles south of the British settlements on the coast of Western Africa, and extends backwards into the country along the river lines, giving access to 150,000 of the natives. This Mission has now belonging to it an Annual Conference of twenty-two missionaries. It numbers 1449 church members and probationers ; and has a promising edu- cational department, which includes academies, day- schools, and Sabbath-schools. It was visited last year by Bishop Scott; and the whole Mission is now so far advanced, that it cannot be left longer without constant episcopal sup-^rvision. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 231 The Conference has also foreign Missions to Germany, Sweden, and Norway, which, notwithstanding opposition and persecution from jealous governments, hold on their way, and spread Gospel light and practical godliness in those countries. The German Missionaries are suffi- ciently numerous to form an Annual Conference to mest in Germany. The agents employed in Norway and Sweden pursue their way noiselessly, but successfully. These read the Scriptures, preach, sing and pray, and commune with the people in their own dwellings ; and this labour has been owned of God, many of the Swedes and Norwegians having enrolled themselves as Metho- dists, and given proof of real conversion. The Scandi- navian Missions are three in number, under the care of five missionaries; and 450 members and probationers are, up to this time, the acknowledged fruit of their labours. These foreign missions to Europe are more especially interesting with the consideration that evan- gelical religion in the Old World is reviving under the reciprocal agency of the New. The Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes, emigrate in great numbers to this western continent, for the improvement of their temporal condition. Here they become par- takers of spiritual life ; send word to their friends in Europe how, and by what agency, they obtained it; their friends send for Methodist Missionaries; these go, and the European foreigners are converted ; churches for Christ are formed among them ; and thus, by the all-controlling beneficence of God, who wondrously " worketh all things after the counsel of His own will," nation is made to act upon nation, people upon people ; while Methodism, as Ui^ work, extends its blessed agency across continents and over 232 THE GENERAL CONEERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. seas, and gathers souls from all the ends of the earth. Finally, the foreign Missions of the Methodist Epis- copal Church of this continent include those to South America, China, and India ; and the whole of its foreign missions number 71,218 church members, who are under the care of 867 missionaries. To this work the yearly sum of 86,000 dollars, or about £17,000, is apportioned out of the general fund. The total annual sum for Missions of all kinds which are under the direction of the General Conference is £54,000. This amount is raised very much after the manner in which we raise our missionary income in England, — by col- lections after sermons, and at public meetings, and by animal subscriptions. No doubt this amount of income will largely and rapidly increase ; though there is some complaint from the General Missionary Board, that considerable sums collected for Missions are appropriated locally, instead of being sent to the general fund for proportionate distribution. The Missionary Committee here, too, it may be added, have it under consideration to establish a missionary seminary to be devoted exclu- sively to candidates for the work of missionary life; and wherein, it is conceived, they will be wholly sepa- rated from associations and influences which tend to distract, or divert, their minds from their great object. From the reports supplied of the agencies and pro- gress of Methodism in the United States, as well as from what we personally observed, wliere we have been, it is plain that it is as unrivalled among American churches for the promotion of experimental and prac- tical godliness, as it is for attention to education and ' literature, and to institutions for general benevolence. THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 233 Indeed, it may be spoken of as having the prestige among the churches which the Church of England has in our own country ; and yet, as possessing and exert- ing the vigour and evangelistic activity of British "Wesleyan Methodism. It is to be found in almost every nook and corner of the thirty-one independent states and nine territories which comprise the federal union. In its communion are governors of states, senators, and representatives in congress, judges of the supreme court, as well as cf the states. Taking the northern and southern sections of Methodism together, and including two or three small offshoots still bearing its name, it numbers 1,600,000 full -church members, and has regularly under its religious instruction six millions (or more than one-fifth) of the entire popula- tion of the United States. In this new country every section of the Church of Christ has " a fair field and no favour ;" and without old institutions to obstruct its course, Methodism here has shown its surpassing elas- ticity and might. There was another subject set forth in the address by the bishops to the General Conference, which, as soon as it was named, absorbed the attention of all the brethren; and that was — Slavery. This subject had been presented by the bishops to the thirty-eight Annual Conferences, in its relation to church member- ship : some parties having sought a change in the dis- cipline of the church, by which all slaveholders in the border churches would be peremptorily excluded from them. This attempt, it was felt by some, proposed an alteration of the constitution upon which they had originally adhered to the northern anti-slaveholding churches ; and would be perilous to the interests of the 234 TTIE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. large number of slaves on the borders, who were members and hearers in Methodism, and who might, through such an extreme act of ecclesiastical legislation, be deprived, at the will of their offended masters, of their religious privileges. This difference of judgment concerning the proposed measure had already produced considerable excitement ; and, after earnest discussions upon it in the Annual Conferences, the proposition had failed to secure the requisite number of votes (three- fourths) to secure its legal recommendation for adoption by the General Conference. Nevertheless, it was resolved by the northern men to propose the said measure in this Conference. This was known by the bishops ; and, in their address, they expressed unitedly their strong doubts that such a measure, however desirable, could be constitutionally adopted by the General Conference, unless it should have alio the requisite concurrence of the Annual Con- ferences. And after reporting upon the numbers, and relative numbers, of the parties who would be affected by the proposed measure, — namely, the churches in slave territory belonging to six Annual Conferences, which have connected with them 500,000 or 600,000 white hearers, and 143,000 white members and pro- bationers ; together with upwards of 100,000 coloured hearers, and more than 28,000 coloured church mem- bers, some of whom are slaves, — they, the bishops, declared their deliberate opinion on the effect of the existing discipline of the Church in the following words : — " In our judgment, the existence of these conferences and churches, under their present circumstances, does not tend to extend or perpetuate slavery. They are known to be organised under a discipline which charac- THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 235 terises slavery as a great evil ; which makes the slaveholder ineligible to any official station in the Church where the Ip.ws of the State in which he lives will admit of emancipation, and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom ; which disfranchises a travelling minister who, by any means, becomes the owner of a slave or slaves, unless he execute, if it be practicable, a legal emancipation of such slaves conformably to Ihe laws of the State wherein he lives ; which makes it the duty of all tlie ministers to enforce upon all the members the necessity of teaching their slaves to read the word of God, and allowing thein time to attend upon the public worship of God on our regular days of divine service; which prohibils the buying and selling of men, wonu'n, and children, with an intention to enslave them, and inquires, What shall be done for the extirpation of the evil of slavery ? " With this discipline freely circulated among the people, or certainly within the reach of any who desire to examine it, and with other churches existing in the same territory without these enactments, these societies and con- ferences have either by elective affinity adhered to, or from prel'erence asso- ciated with, the Methodist Episcopal Church. In a few instances their church relations have ex}. jcd them to some peril, and in numerous cases to sacrifices. But such have been their moral worth, and Christian excellence, and prudent conduct, that, generally, they have been permitted to enjoy their religious immunities, and serve and worship God according to their consciences." "When the reading of this quadrennial address of the bishops to the General Conference was concluded, it was, without discussion or remark, referred, by the distri- bution of its several parts, to the respective committees appointed for the consideration of the different subjects which it set forth ; and was ordered to be printed for the use of the delegates in their deliberations. And now the business of the Conference fairly commenced. The roll of the members had been called ; the com- mittees had been formed ; the principal subjects for consideration had been presented in the address by tho bishops ; and the assembly evidently set itself in order for deliberative proceedings. LETTER XIV. THT GENJ'RAI ( TiNFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. ConferciRC Business — Nature of Couunittces and tlicir Mode of Picc'lure — Lliief Subjects oi Interest in the Proceedings of Conference — New Metro- ])olitaii Ihurcli for New York — The Bible Cause — Cause of Religious Eiluojition — Appeals from Censured and Expelled Ministers — Extension uf Time [\>v ;< Alinisier's Stay in a (Mrcuit — Discussion respecting the Ofliec ol' "Prt-i'i^ug Eidct'" — Grand Debate respecting Slavery. The business of the Conference being necessarily multi- farious, it seems absolutely requisite, in order to expedite its transactions, that so many and such varied concerns shoidd be previously referred to the committees for preparation and arrangement. By this means much time is saved which might otherwise be consumed in confused debate. I have already noted for you the appointment of these committees in what is termed the organisation of Conference, but it may be well to explain to you their powers and services. There are, as I stated, ten of them, distinguished by the titles I named. 1. The Committee on the Ejmcopacy has under its examination the whole administration and conduct of the bishops for the preceding four years ; and as there is one minister on this committee from each of the Annual Conferences, no judicial act of the episcopate can well be left unnoticed. If there be any complaint, or anything appearing doubtful to the committee, the THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDFANAPOLIS. 237 bishop concerned is respectfully summoned before it to explain or to defend his conduct, as the case may be. And in the end, when due inquiry has been made, the committee report to the Conference the result of its examinations, and recoramffnd approval or condemnation. The freest and most unrestricted inquiry and debate are admitted in the Conference when the report of any committee is presented. But from the decision of the General Conference, whether it approves or rejects the advice of the committee, a bishop has no appeal : it is the final tribunal. Provision is made, in the "Disci- pline," for the suspension of a bishop by a committee composed of his brethren and presiding elders, during the intervals of the quadrennial conference, if such com- mittee be satisfied that he has transgressed ; but he has still an appeal left to the General Conference. 2. The Committee on Itinerancy examines the minutes of the Annual Conferences during the four previous years, and reports thereon to the General Conference, •according to its view of the observance or infringement of the " Discipline ;" the Conference then a^-^^proving or censuring, as the case may seem to them to require. 3. The Committee on Boundaries has assigned to it all applications for alterations in the boundary lines of the Annual Conferences, and for the formation of new con- ferences. The labours of this committee, through the ever-changing character of the population, are neces- sarily great. As many as nine new conferences have been added at this session : increasing the number of Annual Conferences for the north of the United States to a total of forty- seven. 4. The Committee on Slavery has referred to it for consideration all petitions and memorials on that subject. 238 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. and is required to collect and classify the proposals, to inquire into their agreement with the established con- stitution of the Church, and to report its opinions and recommendations thereon to the Conference. If in this or any other committee a minority is not satisfied with the report of the majority, it can draw up one for itself, and present the same to the Conference, and the Con- ference can adopt either report. 6. The Committee on the Book Concern examines the reports from the book establishment and repositories, and any recommendations that may have been made for improvement in the publications of Methodism, or with regard to their circulation. 6. The Committee on Missions considers all business relating to missions, whether home or foreign. In the intervals between the quadrennial conferences, the mis- sions are under the direction of a " Board of Managers," consisting of sixteen Methodist ministers and sixteen Methodist laymen, who are annually elected, with the bishops as presidents and vice-presidents, and, at the General Conference, their acts and administration are reviewed by this committee, who report to the Conference as they may deem necessary. The Corresponding Se- cretary and Treasurer of the Board of Managers are appointed by the General Conference, and are also amenable to it. 7. The Committee on Edncation examines, prepares, and recommends to the General Conference whatever measures may seem advisable in relation to seminaries, colleges, universities, or Biblical institutes. 8. The Committee on Sunday-schools inquires into the system of instruction pursued, the character of the books and publications employed in Sunday-schools, u mis- >> THE GENERAL C0NFEREX02 AT INDIANAPOLIS. 239 and recommends anything to the Conference which it deems likely to promote their efficiency. 9. The Tract Committee inquires into the system and agency in use for tract distribution, as well as into the character of the tracts circulated, and reports thereon to the Conference. 10. The Committee on Reviscds examines into all verbal alterations to be made in the " Discipline," and other Conference records, so that the words may suitably express the meaning intended ; and they recommend accordingly. These are the general, or standing committees, which are composed of one delegate from each annual con- ference, chosen by his co-delegates of the conference to which he belongs ; and each committee chooses its own chairman. There are, in addition to these, a few special committees appointed as cases may require, such as the Committees on Temperance, the Bible Cause, &c., which I have already named. These committees have appor- tioned to them the business to be prepared for the General Conference, as it may arise, on the presentation of memorials, the reading of minutes, &c. The memorials presented are very numerous. Several days have been occupied with the mere presentation of them. They are of all possible kinds — from conferences, churches, com- mittees, and individuals ; and, to obtain them for consi- deration in committee, the roll of each annual conference is called, when the delegates present in rotation what- ever they may have brought with them, or whatever may have been sent to them of this documentary nature for consideration by the General Conference. This year there were Memorials for Lay Representation, Local Preachers* Conferences, and Conferences of Coloured 240 THE OENEnAL CONFERENCR AT INDIANAPOLIS. Ministers, as well as for other proposed changes, which came prominently before the Conference for discussion and for formal jurlgmcnt. Among the more important subjects for the " action " of the Conference, as the brethren hero are accustomed to term their united decisions on practical matters, were those of— 1. A Metropolitan Church to be erected in Now York, as a grateful memorial by Methodists to Almighty God for his merciful goodness in employing them so success- fully and extensively in spreading scriptural holiness through the land. This church is to be supi)lied by ministers in rotation, appointed for a term of years by the bishops, from all parts of the country. The ground for the structure has been purchased, and a considerable sum of money has already been contributed, through the several annual conferences, towards it. 2. An Annual Conference in Germany ; the work of God having prospered there until this 'measure has become necessary for the wants of the people, and for the admission and over-sight of ministers. Such a conference was authorised, and is to be presided over by one of the bishops. 3. The Bible Cause, which had its representative in the Conference — the Rev. Dr. Holditch, a Methodist minister, and one of the general secretaries, who reported that the income of the Bible Society for the last year was 393,167 dollars, or £78,000, and that its issues for the year had been 668,225 volumes. The Society publishes the Bible, entire and in parts, in ten modern languages, besides what it sends forth in Indian and African dialects, and is now engaged in an effort for " a thorough exploration and re -supply " of the entire region of the THE OENEUAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 241 ve 111 lodist orted r was r the ishes ages, ricaa ough £ the United States. The report was cordially received by the General Conference, and the Society was earnestly recommended to the annual conferences and to the churches for support. 4. The Tract Cause, which, for a widely-scattered population, and for passing emigrants from all nations, is very important. This cause has its board of managers regularly appointed, and systematically issues tracts in several languages, to the extent of many hundreds of thousands per year. 5. The lleligious Education of the youth of Method- ism. • This is felt by our American brethren, as it is with us in England, to be a most important object, for they, like us, lament the estrangement of too many sons and daughters from the church of their fathers. One question formally discussed and resolved upon was " The Relation of Baptised Children to the Church." This subject drew very earnest attention, and the issue of the consideration given to it was a declaration of the claims of such children, as covenant members of the kingdom of God, upon ministers for pastoral instruction and care ; and a formal injunction to ministers to register, counsel, and watch over them, for their admission, under appro priate circumstances, into the Church. The Sabbath-schools, too, were considered in their relation to the Conference and to the churches, and recommendations were given for the observance of plans which might render them more efficient. A Sunday- Bcboul "Demonstration" in one of the churches of ftidiunapolis was authorised and attended by the Con- ference. The children were assembled and addresses delivered to them under the presidency of our host, the governor of the State. This was a most interesting R 242 THE OENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDrANAPOLTS. sorvico. ^Jos^t nppropriuto unci afrocting addresses wore given by .uinlstors from all parts — somo relating what God was doing by Sunday-scliools in Oregon, in Cali- fornia, and on the shores of the Pucific. One sunburnt, attenuated minister told of a time ho had known in California, the land of gold-mines, when a little child was so great a novelty that, where it was found, rough miners gathered round it witli intense interest, and wept over it in remembrance of home associations ; and when a minister of his acquaintance called back a mother retiring from the congregation because her infant was crying, publicly stating that its little voice was sweeter music than either he or his people had heard for months past. But now, he said, through the rush of emigrants for the gold-mines, children had become numerous, and many hundreds of them, whose parents were of various nations, were gathered into Sunday-schools, and were rising up useful and honourable members of the Church and of society. Another minister related how he and his colleague first dropped anchor in the harbour of San Francisco, at a time when there was no city, but only a few shaky tenements and an old windmill ; how they there opened the first Sunday-school on the coast of the P-' ^ific Ocean ; and how they had since been in Oregon,wliere fifty-eight Sunday-schools were now established, with 10,000 volumes in use ; and that in tliese schools, during the past year, there had been 119 conversions to God. There was also a meeting held of the committee and friends of general education, on a Saturday afternoon, presided over by the Rev. Dr. Thompson (a highly- accomplished man, of English birth), at which Dr. Hannah gave a very clear and interesting account of THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS 243 the Wesloyan Theological Institution in England, as to its character, working, und beneKciul iuHuonco upon tlio Connexion ; and I spoke of our duy-scliool operations for the poor, and of Kingswood und Woodhouso Grove {Schools as seminaries provided for the education of ministers' sons. The establishment of Biblical institutes in America, the rapid multiplication of ^Methodist col- leges and seminaries here, induced many inquiries con- cerning the educational movements of ;^^ethodism in our own land, which wo answered as well as wo could. The report of the state and prospects of the institution for tho education of coloured youth was adopted by the Conference — all breathing tho most tender compassion towards the long-degraded African race within the States, expressing tho most encouraging hopes of their elevation to honour and usefulness through such an institution, and most earnestly recommending it to tho benevolent in Methodism, and the patriotic and philan- thropic in the country at large. But the subjects discussed at greatest length, and which excited tho deepest interest in tho Conference, were : — 1. The appeals by censured and expelled ministers against the decisions of their annual conferences. These appeals were fourteen or fifteen in number, and were conducted in the most formal and court-like manner. The case was first stated, and the *' action" of the Annual Conference read from its journal. Then the appellant, in person or by substitute, pleaded. In most cases a sub- stitute was engaged ; and he, as well as the chosen ad- vocate for the Conference, being usually a minister of great ability, the pleadings were not unfrequently sustained in a very masterly manner. In the majority of cases i m. 244 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. appealed against this year, either the decisions of the annual conferences were reversed, or the cases were sent back with directions for new trials. Some of these appeals occupied several sittings, and, with the increase of annual conferences, and the general spread of Methodism, the difRculty of hearing all such appeals in the General Conf 3rence is increasingly felt. But, though urged to consider this difficulty by the bishops, and to try, if practicable, to provide some substitute in a large and wisely- selected committee, yet the brethren are not disposed to give up this privilege of supreme judicature at present — the manifest difficulty presenting itself at once of erecting a court of final appeal, in the form of a select committee, that should have more weight and authority than an annual conference. 2. The extension of time for a minister's stay in a circuit, or residence at a station. The ministers are appointed by the bishops, in council with the presiding elders ; and the limit, at present, of their continuance at one place is two years. Some of the ministers desire to extend it to three, or even to five years, and have memorialised the Conference accordingly. But, on examination of these memorials, the committee reported that it was not in evidence that any considerable number of the people desired such alteration ; and, jealous of any symptoms of decline in the spirit of itinerancy, the Committee on the Itinerancy recommended that no change bo made by the Conference. It must be remem- bered that, in not a few instances, an American Methodist minister preaches three or four times a week in the same church, and that his place is not taken by another, except once a quarter by the presiding elder ; so that, within his two years, he has preached oftener to the THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 245 same people than an English Methodist minister does ordinarily in three years. This consideration lias, no doubt, its influence both with ministers and people in determining them against the proposed change. 3. A most earnest discussion arose on the report by the committee on the exclusion or modification of the office of " presiding elder." This seems to have been an old question for dispute, and an alteration had, this time, been memorialised for by some large and in- fluential circuits. The presiding elder is an officer chosen and appointed by a bishop to act for him in overlooking the spiritual and other interests of the churches within a given limit, for a period of four years ; and who receives his support from the joint contributions of the circuits he overlooks. He has, in the absence of the bishop for whom he acts, the charge of all the elders, deacons, travelling and local preachers, and exhorters. He presides at quarterly conferences for the circuits (what we call quarterly meetings) ; hears appeals there against the preachers, deacons, or stewards ; changes, receives, or suspends preachers, as may be deemed necessary, during the intervals of the annual conferences ; inquires into the state of the circuits, churches, and schools ; and has the power of decision on the laws governing the difierent cases., subject to appeals to the next annual conference. Ho reports the state of the churches to the bishop of his district, and gives the bishop counsel for the stationing of ministers. There were as many as ninety presiding elders in this General Conference, delegated by tlicir brethren of the Annual Conference. The memorialists, in some instances, sought to have the presiding elder stationed like another minister in a circuit within his district. 246 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. from which circuit they proposed that he should receive his support and travelling expenses. In other instances, the memorialists proposed that each Annual Conference should regulate its own economy with regard to this office ; while some memorialists suggested that certain circuits named might be excepted from the support of this office. Some of the ministers think and say they can perform all the work of a presiding elder in their own circuits, and that they do not need his visits ; while some of the people regard the office as an unnecessary charge upon them. But the majority both of preachers and people are satisfied of the propriety of preserving the office; and the action of the General Conference was, that no change in regard to it should be made at present. 4. The appointment of a bishop, required for Liberia, was, as I have before stated, another subject of earnest discussion. The Missionary Committee recommended that, if a suitable person could not be found in this Conference willing to be ordained and go forth as resident bishop for Africa, the Annual Conference in Liberia should be directed to elect an elder in good standing among them, and send him to America for episcopal ordination by the bishops, — who should ordain him under the express conditions, that the churches of which he should have the oversight should still belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, and that his jurisdiction, as a bishop, should be limited to Africa. Some objections were raised against this recom- mendation of the committee, on the ground of the discipline, which requires that a bishop shall travel through the connexion at large, Ancl some few were for separating the Liberian ohurches to act for them- I l*W.i«*=!^'»'=« smif ..! *. : THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 2 i7 ' selves, recommending them to follow the discipline and government of the American Methodist Episcopal Church. In the end, however, the substance of the committee's recommendation was adopted by the Con- ference; that seeming the best and most practicable conclusion to come to under the circumstances. 5. Another question of manifest interest was, the appointment of officers and editors to the institutions and periodicals in connection with the Conference. These numerous offices lad tr be filled up ; but the appointments to them were purposely and professedly delayed, until it should be i.i^en. how the votes were given on leading public questions ; the different parties in the assembly resolving, so far as they could, to place in those offices ministers with views similar to their own. Several attempts were made to hasten such appointments, and to fix early dates on which they should be made ; but the attempts did not succeed ; and delay was avowed on the ground I have stated. On great questions the votes are taken singly, in " Ayes " and " Noes ;" so that every man's vote may be publicly known and accurately recorded. In the end, nearly all the editors of newspapers and Conference periodicals were changed, in order that the most decided anti- slavery sentiments might be put forth on behalf of the Conference. This great and sweeping change of officers, however, is not deemed very notable here, reappoint- ments not being common. 6. But the great absorbing question, as you will anticipate, was that of Slavery. The particular question in relation to it, as presented to the Conference in memorials, &c., was, whether the rule of membership gliould be made to exclude all slaveholders. The rules, 248 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLia I H )/ as they now stand, exclude all slaveholders not only iTrom the ministry, but from every office in Methodism. The rules also, by directions and injunctions, discoim- tenanco and condemn slavery, as an evil before God and man. Eut, as the civil government allows slavery, and, in some instances, forbids eraa jcipation, it was found impracticable, without making a man a rebel against civil government, to carry out a rule against slavehold- ing membership. ISuch a rule has not, therefore, been enforced. This has dissatisfied many, especially in the northern and north-eastern states, which are farthest removed from the life and scene of slavery ; and they have sought to have such a rule introduced into the " discipline." The bishops, as before observed, had sub- mitted the recommendation of the dissatisfied party to the Annual Conferences, who had not passed it by sufficient majorities. Yet, the parties recommending it resolved to press their proposal on the General Con- ference, that it might go from thence to the Annual Conferences ag?in. This produced strong excitement, and drew forth memorials and counter-memorials, which the committee on slavery had to report upon. A majo- rity of the committee proposed resolutions for the Con- ference to exclude slaveholders from church-member- ship. To this a minority of the committee objected, and drawing up their objections, presented them to the Conference for its consideration. They stated decidedly, and as a fact beyond contra- diction, that parlies, not a few, held slaves left to them with the benevolent purpose of keeping the negroes from cruel usage by irreligious owners ; and with the direction to emancipate these bondsmen as soon as practicable, and as soon as they could be provided for. ' THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. 219 ^P.' And en this ground (seeing that there is a specific prohibition, in the " discipline," of the purchase or sale of slaves, by Methodists) the minority object to exclude all slaveholders from church-membership. They also declare that such a rule would be likely to break up the churches on the southern border, and on slaveholding territory; for, while there are few slaveholders who would themselves be affected by it, they would be likely to prohibit the attendance on religious services of the slave members, who are numerous, and who would thus be deprived, in their bondage, of all the instructions of religion. And further, they object on the ground that they originally separated from the slaveholding churches of the South without such a condition of membership ; and that now, when they must be separated from both sections if such a rule were enacted, it is not kird or just to impose it. They state that the " discipline," as it is, has worked effeotually to the discouragement and extirpation of slavery; that with it the Methodist Episcopal Church is known to be an Anti- Slavery Church ; and that the rule proposed would retard, in its working, the object professed to be sought by all — the extirpation of slavery. On these grounds, and with the evidently strong plea that it is at present unconstitutional to include such a rule in the "disci- pline," since it has not passed, as required, three-fourths of the Annual Conferences, the minority of the com- mittee reported to the Conference for themselves, and objected to the report and recommendations of the majority. In stating their objections to the new pro- posal, the minority declared themselves earnestly opposed ^0 slavery ; and challenged any one to prove that there was a pro-slavery man ci the floor of the 1 M m a mmi ii m » jmi » 9m 9m 250 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANAPOLIS. Conference, amidst cries from every side of "no, no!" They urged too, that with their adherence to the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, at the time of the secession, so that they might not partake with the southern churches in the iniquity of slavery, it was unjust to harbour the least suspicion of their honest hostility to it. In proof of the well- working of the " discipline " as it is, they further stated that in the city-station of Baltimore, the capital of the slaveholding State of Maryland, where Methodism is so influential and prosperous, it is not known that there is a single slaveholder in the church. But, notwithstanding all these objections and pleas, tlie report of the majority of the committee was pre- sented, and the proposal to change the general rule was carried by 122 votes against 96. This was a decisive proof of the views held by the ministers at this Conference ; although, as there were not two-thirds of the votes in its favour, and as it has not yet passed three-fourths of the Annual Conferences (as the rules require in all essential changes), the new rule will not, at present, be entered into the " discipline." That you may .know exactly what the report and recommendations of the majority of the committee on slavery are, I subjoin them to this outline of the proceedings.* There was another test of anti-slavery feeling, by the proposal to publish and circulate largely anti- slavery tracts ; which proposal was carried by a much larger majority : the minority stating that they were in favour of such an effort, if it were made judiciously. I have described this subject of slavery as the all- absorbing one. It is so, not only within the Conference, but out of it, and throughout America. Thoughtful * See Appendix. Mf! ft •vr) THE GENERAL CONFERENCE AT INDIANArOLIS. 251 men, everywhere, perceive that this is the great problem to be solved in relation to their country ; and Christian men view it as the great and heaven-provoking sin of the land. A. very large portion of our time in America has been spent in conversing upon it. All who have spoken upon it in our hearing have deprecated it as a fearful evil. None have attempted to justify it on moral or scriptural grounds. If, as in some instances, while travelling, we spoke with persons who attempted to defend it, they did so on the ground of expediency — as having to do with an evil which existed, and must be made the best of. But it is due to our Methodist brethren to state that, in no instance, have they given any other character to slavery than that of sinfulness and crime. They do, however, make the distinction between the holding of slaves bequeathed, and which the law of the State will not allow to be emancipated, and the purchase, use, and sale of slaves, for merely mercenary purposes. Such were the principal subjects of business in this General Conference held at Indianapolis, which con- tinued from May 1st to June 4th, 1856. In conclusion it directed that its next quadrennial session (in 1860) should be held in the City of Buflfalo. all- LETTER XV. SLAVERY IN AMERICA. Motliflcd Character of Slavery in Towns — Enormity of its Evils in the South, and on the Pliintations — Its Corrnptiiig Influences both on the Families of Slaveholders and on the Slaves — Sophism, that Slaves are " Happy and Contented," exposed, and also the assertion that their Con- dition is Analogous to that of the English Operative — Nationally Disor- ganising tendencies of Slavery — Hopes for its ExtermiDation from exist- ing Agencies ; and Confidence that it will be brought to an End, founded on the Divine Character. I HAVE repeatedly alluded, in my former letters, to the subject of Slavery in America, as viewed by us in our passage through Slave States on our way to this city ; as it has been regarded by the Methodist Church from the beginning, and in its progress ; and as presented for consideration at the General Conference. But it is far too serious a subject to be passed over with inci- dental notices. No doubt, slavery will be found vital, in its final issues, both to the States themselves and. to the churches within them. I have given the most wakeful and earnest attention to this subject which circumstances would allow ; have not only had frequent conversations upon it, and read authentic books and documents concerning it, but have made careful in- quiries of persons fully acquainted with it ; and now, before leaving Indianapolis, I devote a letter to Slavery, ■•■ SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 253 in which I shall give reliable information, and, what I believe I may term, a matured judgment concerning it. I have described what we noticed of slave-life and occupation in our journey along the borders of Vir- ginia and Maryland ; but it must be remembered that we have seen it only in its domestic character. As we passed through Maryland, and skirted Virginia, here and there we saw, as previously stated, the poor dis- pirited Africans toiling wearily in the field, or lazily at the edge of the forest. But slave-life even at the road-"ide, as well as in cities and in the slave-owner's house, is different to slave-life in cotton-fields, or in sugar and tobacco plantations, where hard task- work has to be performed in gangs, and under the lash of slave-drivers. This seems to me to be a distinction very necessary to be made when considering and dis- cussing the subject of American slavery ; for, whenever I have conversed with an advocate or apologist for it, I have invariably found that he spoke of it under its mildest aspect, as the " domestic institution." Though by far the greater number of slaves in the States are not to be found lodged and boarded in their masters' warm houses, and employed on flower-gardens as ordi- nary servants ; but are miserably and indecently crowded together, as mere cattle, in log-huts, and are driven forth to daily task- work under the merciless whip. Of the real and deeply wretched condition of the great majority of slaves, I have learned much from particular inquiries made in the States, from publications issued on the ground, and from ministers and friends who have most carefully informed themselves, by per- sonal investigations, on what is passing in the South. And after due inquiry and consideration, I have come 25^ SLAVERY IN AMERICA. to the painful concl", jvn that American slavery, iii tlie Southern States, is u^ wicked, cruel, and oH'unsivo, in its character and opnrations, us it has been reported to us in England. I say distinctly, in the Southern States; — for it luust never be Ibrgotten that the Northern States have resolutely separated themselves from this evil. Half the states of the Union ha^ <^ done this. All the ^Methodist churches of the North, in those States, and some within the borders of Sl.vvo States havo done it ; and that at considerable sacrifice, as before related. The churches of Baltimore, named in a former letter, havo done this. Therefore, it is unjust, inconsiderately and cruelly unjust, to class all the States and Churches to- gether, as slave-holding, or alike involved in the guilt of Slavery. There are not more earnest, zealous, and deter- mined opponents of Slavery anywhere, than are to bo found in the Northern Slates and Churches of America ; and some of the border-men who travelled with us in our lust journey were determined Abolitionists. But in the South, and on the plantations, the evil of Slavery exists in its grossest and most revolting forms. It is there not merely tolerated for expediency; but legalized, maintained, and guarded, as if it were the most just and sacred of institutions. By some violent upliolders it is r mked with religion itself; for they inscribe upon their placards and banners, " God and Slavery!" By perversions of Holy Scripture, which nowhere, if properlj^ interpreted, favours Slavery, and in direct contradiction of their own declaration of Inde- pendence, upon which the constitution of the Union is based, and which positively and unequivocally de- clares that " all men are created equal, and are endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the SLAVERY IN AMEUICA. 255 pursuit of happiness," — the men of tlio South uphold and promote thia atrocious system oguinst the remo: • strunces of their northern brethren, uud against the t, y of the civilized world. Even in Columbia, the small district surrendered by Maryland and Virginia to tho sole control and government of Congress, Slavery exists ; and in Washington itself, tho renowned legislative capital of the United States, there are, as already noted, slave-marts, auction-blocks, pr-' •^Inve-prisons, under the control and use of license''' *ilrt ¥<;• -ealers. Indeed, in some of its ispecv the Slavery of tho Southern States of America is not only one of the most glarin.o-ly iaconsistent evils in existence ; but it is, in sorie of its legalised conditions of deprivation and cruelty, without example or parallel in the history of the world. As J^Ir. Wesley wrote of it only four days before his death — it is " the vilest evil that ever saw the sun." In a country which has voluntarily asso- ciated itself with other powers to repress and terminate the African slave-trade, not only are the existing slaves retained, but large numbers of slaves are raised and bred for the market yearly. The negro mother has no claim to her own child. By law it belongs to her owner, with all the children that she and her daugh- ters may have born to them, for ever. This is the ex- press law of the Slave States — that the child shall follow tho condition of its mother. Arid this unnatural and oppressive law leads to acts of tho most revolting cruelty and wickedness. It not only encourages the most brutish profligacy towards the females kept on the slave-breeding estates, — and that as soon as there is any chance of slave-bearing, — but it makes fathers the salesmen of their own children ; and K' ,.«^.. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 |iO ■ 22 1*0 2.0 m III ''^^ III ^'^ 1 ''^ ^ 6" ► Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STMIT WIBSTIR.N.Y. USSO (71«)«7a-4S03 •rtto-** Cx V y 256 SLAVERY IN AMERICA. it brings upon their descendants, however white and far removed from the original negro, through suc- cessive generations, the most painful and degrading circumstances. A considerable proportion of the co- loured slaves are the fruit of intercourse with white owners, owners' sons, and slave-drivers. So that some of the slaves are sold by their own fathers ; and if, in rare instances, slaves are redeemed, either by others or themselves, they have not unfrequently to be purchased from their own fathers. Yea, fathers, under this ini- quitous law, prostitute to the most revolting purposes their own children. And sometimes, as I learn from cases related to me, the most ruinous and degrading consequences will fall upon the acknowledged wives and children of slaveholders through the operation of this law. Delay in the act of emancipation (where it is allowed) towards the wife selected and obtained for her beauty and whiteness, may, by the sudden death or bankruptcy of the husband and futher, be followed by the sale of his indulged wife and accomplished daughters ; and these, who never dreamed of their slavery, must then be exposed in the public auction mart, and sold to hard-hearted and licentious slave- dealers — again, severe truth compels me to repeat — ^for the most degrading purposes. The cruelties, too, inflicted by law upon the slaves are enormous and horrible. Not only are they deprived of their natural, social, and civil rights, — robbed of self-ownership, — denied marriage contracts, family en- joyments, intellectual culture, and complaint or redress in a court of justice ; but they are unsparingly separated from husband, wife, child, brother, sister — if they may use such terms — sold to merciless slave-dealers, who SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 257 >i i brand them, chain them, lodge them in dungeons, then drive them forth in gangs barefooted and almost naked, — men and women together, — over hard rough roads and through tangled forests, to other and distant States, to be sold and branded again ; and then to be driven forth into the field for daily labour under the cow-hide lash, and to be exposed to the gloating licentiousness of hired slave-drivers. I could give abundant proof of all this, in quotations from legal documents, advertised auction sales, and published descriptions of actual occur- rences, which none can dispute. I do not suppose that all slaveholders maltreat their slaves. Some of them, I would fain believe, for the honour of humanity, are benevolent men, sorrowing over their heritages of human beings, of which, under the laws of the States to which they belong, they know not how to rid themselves. And such are kind and merciful to their slaves. But I write of the system, of what it legalises and allows, and how by many it is used. And, in cases of merciful and kind treatment by owners, death or reverse of temporal circumstances may throw the best of slaves, accustomed to mild and con- siderate conduct, suddenly into the most painful and deeply degrading circumstances. The Rev. James B. Finley, in his " Sketches of Western Methodism," relates a case which occurred in Virginia, and most affectingly proves what I have just said ; while, at the same time, it exhibits the meek and forgiving endurance of wrongs by Christian slaves, and the abundant mercy of God to the vilest sinners when they repent and turn to Him. The author of these sketches relates, that in the State of Virginia there lived a wealthy and influential planter, who owned a large number of slaves. In his circum- 8 Ml '^^^-f "•"'■"" -^- it 258 \ \ SLAVERY IN AMERICA. stances, he was a kind and indulgent owner, and souglit for them tho means of mental and moral culture. A methodist minister was invited by him to preach on his plantation, and was heard by himself, his family, and his slaves. The word reached their hearts, and on sub- sequent visits, the preacher collected into a church there, the master, the mistress, and many of the negroes. One of these negroes, whose name was Cuff, became eminent for his devotedness to Christ, and for the exemplification of Christian graces among his brethren. Being a man of superior intelligence, he was selected to conduct religious services in the absence of the minister ; and in these he was wont to pour forth prayers to God from a full heart, and to speak with words that burned into the very depths of the souls of the congregations. Both white and black hearers trembled and wept under the power with which he prayed and spoke before them. But amidst the fearful contingencies of slavery, even in its most alleviated circumstances, Cuff, through the death of his master fell into the possession of a spend- thrift son, who had soon to sell him by public auction for the benefit of clamorous creditors He was pui'chased by an infidel, newly settled in lil id whose youthful wife had, before her marriage, otton heard with deep feeling the addresses and prayers of Cuif. On making the purchase, he expret^dd to the insolvent owner his pleasure with Cuff's looks and manners, and inquired particularly what was the precise character to be received with him. The answer given was, that there would be nothing found in him objectionable to the purchaser, unless it was that he would pray and attend the meeting. " If that be all," said the infidel, " I will soon whip that out of him.'* He took home his purchased slave, who with a heavy It SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 269 the heavy heart left his old homestead, and his brethren in bond- age with whom he had so happily associated for worship. At the close of the first day's appointed labour, he went in search of a place for private prayer, which he found in a thicket of young trees near to his master's garden, and whore he knelt and poured forth his evening cries to heaven. While thus engaged, he was overheard by his youthful mistress, who was walking in the garden ; and when she heard him pray not only for himself, but also for his new " massa" and his new ** misse," the deep fountain of her heart was broken up, and she wept greatly. On the ensuing Sabbath Cuff went some miles to the Methodist meeting, returning in the evening, that he might be ready in time the next morning for his labour in the field. On Monday morning his master asked him where he had been on the Sunday, when, not knowing the infidel character of his owner, he replied, " I have been to meetin, massa ; and bless de Lord it was a good time ! " — " Cutf," said his master, with an angry voice, " you must quit praying ; I will have none of it about this place." — " Massa," said Cuff, " I will do anything you tell me dat I can do ; but 1 must pray. My Massa in heaven command me to do so." — "But you shall quit it," said the master, "and you shall promise now to do so, or I will whip you." — " I cannot do one nor de oder, massa," said the slave. — " Then follow me, you obstinate negro," said the master, inflamed with passion, " and we will see whose autho- rity is to be obeyed." The slave was led forth, stripped of the few tattered garments that covered his person, was tied to a tree, when the infidel master, full of anger, inflicted twenty- five heavy strokes of the cowhide lash upon him with his own hands. " Now, Cuff," said the master, " will you f 260 SLAVERY IN AMERICA. if quit praying ?" — ** No, massa," said the bleeding slave ; " I will pray to Jesus as long as I live." He gave him twenty-five lashes more, and that with terrible severity. "Now," said the monster of cruelty, "you will quit praying, wont you?" — "No, massa," was the meek slave's reply; "me will pray while me live." On hearing this the master flew upon his victim with the utmost fury, and ho continued to ply the bloody weapon upon the mangled flesh until, from sheer exhaustion, he could strike no longer. " Now, you infernal nigger, will you cease praying?" asked the master. — "No, massa," answered the bound and bleeding slave ; " you may kill me, but I must pray." — " Then you shall bo whipped as much as this every time you pray or go to the meeting." The slave was unbound from the tree ; he gathered up his clothes, crawled to his gloomy hut, and when be had reached it he was heard to sing within it in a plaintive voice, — " My suffering time will soon be o'er, Then shall I sigh and weep no more ; My ransomed soul shall soar away To sing Gud's praise in endless day." "While this cruel conduct had been pursued the young mistress had been looking through the window in tears ; and when her husband returned into the house she said, " My dear, why did you whip that poor negro so much for praying ? — there is no harm in that." — ; " Silence ! " said the enraged husband ; " not a word upon it, or I will give you aa much." Through the remainder of the clay the infidel husband raved like a madman ; he cursed all the negro race, and he cursed God for creating them. Night came ; he writhed with agony on his bed. Before the morning dawned he ex- claimed, " I feel I shall be damned ! O God have mercy I M * ■-■!, ^ SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 261 Upon me ! Is there any one to pray for me P " — " None," aaid the wife, "unless it be the poor negro you have whipped so severely." — " lie will not pray for me," said the husband. — *' He will, I am sure," said the wife. — " Then send for him without delay, for I cannot live as I am," said the husband. Cuff was sent for ; he came, sore and bleeding, expecting more ill-usage, when, to his great astonishment, he found his cruel master bowed upon the floor of his room, and crying to heaven for mercy. "Cuff, will you — can you pray for me?" was the earnest inquiry proposed to the bowed slave. — " Yes, massa," was the prompt reply ; " I have been praying for you and misse all night." They prayed and wept together until the heavy burden was removed from the awakened conscience, when the rejoicing master, springing to his feet, and throwing his arms around his dark slave, exclaimed, "Cuff, my forgiving brother, from this moment you are a free man ! " The master formally emancipated his injured slave, and, with his youthful wife, united himself to the Methodist Church. Afterwards, with Cuff, whom he engaged as chaplain for his estate, he preached that Jesus whose name he had blasphemed, and whose disciple he had scourged. A few persons whom I have met while in America have tried to persuade me that the slaves are happy and contented in their condition ; and have significantly re- marked that they are more so than many of our English operatives in the manufacturing districts. But if this assertion be true, why do so many of the slaves run away ? what mean the numerous public advertisements in the newspapers for runaway slaves, describing so very particularly their stature, weals, maims, and branded marks ? what mean the laws against education of slaves, * » 262 SLAVERY IN AMERICA. P i i coloured assemblies, and harbouring of runaway negroes? what mean the pronged collar, the chain, the stocks, and the notorious "Fugitive Law?" and what mean the slave-owners' tormenting fears of risings and insurrec- tions among the negroes ? And if any of them be happy and contented under this heavy pressure of degradation, what does it prove ? Not that Slavery is just and good, but that, in this instance, it has completed its destructive work, and crushed down human nature into brutality. The chained dog may frisk before his master, and not repine ; and when the spirit of manhood has been struck down and extinguished by the lash and brutal insults, then, and not till then, can man be happy and content in a state of slavery. To be deprived of all rights — to hold no place in civil or social life — to see his wife and daughters indecently outraged, and reduced to unbridled prostitution — to see his children sold away from him into hopeless bondage — to lie bleeding and writhing under the lash, — and yet be " happy and content ! " Is not such talk madness ? And what parallel can justly be instituted between the slaves in the Southern States of America and Eng- lish operatives ? Are the operatives of England raised and bred for sale in the public market ? Are they de- prived of all ownership in themselves, and sold body and soul, flesh and spirit, as mere goods and chattels, to the ' proprietorship of others ? Are they deprived of home and family, and of civil protection ? Are they exposed to the whip ? Are their wives and daughters exposed to the unbridled licentiousness of masters and masters' sons ? Are English operatives liable to be marched off in chain-gangs to other counties than those in which they live? Cannot they change their employers for fc.: Is n i SLAVERY IN AMERICA, 263 better wages when these are offered ? Does not the law of England protect them as safely, with their families, in their homes, from insult and injury as it does the titled dweller in a castle or mansion ? Where, then, is the likeness between the case of the American slave and the condition of the English operative ? There is none ; and no attempt to prove that there is will ever be made, except in sheer ignorance, or from the spirit of wilful misrepresentation . The effects of this unnatural and cruel system are as great as we, in England, so often heard that they were. It is enormously destructive of slave life, as well-authen- ticated statistics show. It corrupts the moral and spiritual life and nature of the slaves, while it destroys their physical life ; for the oppressed negro hears vice termed virtue, and virtue termed vice ; sees their proper rewards and penalties reversed ; and becomes often help- lessly blinded in his distinction of right and wrong. It degrades all residents in the States who belong to the negro race, or who are the least tinged with African blood. It deprives them of position and status in society, even though free, and living in Free States, by creating prejudice against them, which will not allow them to sit and eat, or tc :'Ae in a railway- car, in the company of the whites, lo not only drives them into the North, where the colder climate is uncon- genial to the African constitution, but it pursues them with menacing laws and restrictions, that not only prevent their citizenship, but security. In some of the Free States there are what are called " Black Laws," which prohibit their residence altogether ; and in some of the Slave States free negroes remaining so many days within them are to be seized, and sold into slavery for ever ; indeed, in not a few instances, it seizes the ^.EnW» 264 '4 i SLAVERY IN AMERICA. \ u free negro under pretence of suspicion that lio is n run- away, and if he happens not to have his manumission papers upon him, locks him up in prison, advertises him as to be sold for his expenses at such a time, and thus kidnaps and enslaves him who had previously purchased his freedom, or was born free. It is aflirmed that not less than thirty free negroes were thus kidnapped in the free city of l*hiladelphia within the years 1820 and 1826, and were sold into slavery. This evil system also demoralises slaveholders and their families — sensualising husbands and sons, and rendering hard-hearted and cruel even females and little children. A white mother will have her offending negro slave laid down and whipped before her eyes ; and even the young child in the arms of the nurse is promised, as a toy from the market or the fair, a whip, with which to flog the young negro. It corrupts the very seat of legislative government ; renders its laws a dead letter ; and seeks to make a State that would be free — like Kansas — a Slave State against its will. It impoverishes the country, so that the localities where it exists are a full century behind the other parts of the Union in the increase of the free population and in scientific improve- ment. It induces slovenly culture of the soil by negroes, who will not do anything more than they are forced to perform. It produces idleness, wastefulness, and reck- lessness of life both among the slaveholders and their slaves. It foments disputes, insolence, duels, and blood- shed between th( men of the Free States and those of the Slave States ; strikes down a senator in the Hall of Congress (as in the case of Sumner) for his speech against it; and executes "Lynch Law'* upon Aboli- tionists, or even suspected Abolitionists. Moreover, this vile system disorganises the States, SLAVERY IN AMEKICA. 265 and, in the event of an invasive war, would render them a more easy conquest. It provides increasing internal enemies in the slaves, who are multiplying so quickly, and are now proportionately so numerous, that in a century more, at the same rate of increase, they will out-number all the white people in the States put together. With such an army of revenge- ful negroes within her own borders, how appalling would the consequences be in bloodshed, if any Euro- pean power were to land on the southern shores, and give arms to the slaves ! Indeed, it fills this continent with suspicion and terror, so that zealous Abolitionists and thoughtful men of the Free States devise colonisa- tion plans which shall remove the increasing and dan- gerous Africans away from America to their own country. It is, in Mr. Wesley's words, " an execrable sum of all villanies;" it is a complicated evil of injus- tice, cruelty, licentiousness, and murder, which, unless it be abandoned, will assuredly avenge itself upon its own supporters, and will bring down upon them de- struction and shame before the gazing world. There is a God who judgeth in the earth ; and He who avenged Joseph's bondage in Egypt upon them who sold him for twenty pieces of silver, so that they acknow- ledged in the dungeon the connection of their sin and its punishment, and said, " We are verily guilty con- cerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear ; there- fore is this distress come upon us." He who heard the cry of His people under their hard taskmasters, when wasted by the heat of the furnace, and avenged their wrongs upon Pharaoh and his host in the lied Sea— He who has already avenged Slavery upon Spain and Portugal, by which powers the slave-trade on the American con- 266 SLAVERY IN AMERICA. tinent was commenced in 1603, — will arise out of His rest, and baring the rod arm of His vengeance, will judge the oppressor, ond overthrow his power. As one has justly remarked, " no attribute of God is on the side of slaveholders;" and this is a most fearful con- sideration, which ought to make them tremble, and abandon their foul iniquity without delay. But you naturally inquire if there be no hope and prospect of the removal from the States of this mon- strous and destructive evil. I believe there is. I be- lieve this, because Right is stronger than Might in the long run ; I believe this from the signs and circum- stances favourable to emancipation which now most unmistakeably begin to appear. Slavery recedes forther and farther South, and, if it continues to retire, it must eventually pass from the land, and leave America free from it. The anti-slavery principles are now widely diffused, not only in the Free Slates, but in the Slave States ; so that many slaveholders really desire general emancipation, and though not able to act openly, yet they covertly send both money and information to the Abolitionists, and declare they wish success to the cause of emancipation. Every true-hearted woman who cares for the purity of her husband and her sons must abhor Slavery, and inwardly desire its removal. Christianity, as well as the law of Moses, condemns Slavery both by its spirit and direct precepts, and must, by its pervading power and influence, remove Slavery from this country as it has banished Slavery from Christian Europe. The churches are astir for its removal, and have already effected much that is important as a preparation. The American churches are not " the Bulwark of Slavery," as they have been tauntingly declared to be. How can as can SLAVERY IN AMERirA. 267 they bo so, unless Christ's own kingdom bo divided against itself? I will not say they have at all times proved themselves as firm to endure sufferings for the cause of freedom as they ought to have done — for even martyrdom in such a cause would have been honourable. Undoubtedly a time-serving expediency has, in some instances, swayed thom in tlioir decisions and in their conduct. ]Jut with this admission, it may be confi- dently affirmed, that the (Quakers, the Baptists, the PrenViyterians, and the Episcopalian Churches, have, in various ways, and to no inconsiderable extent, rebuked and withstood the evil. The Methodist Episcopal Church has from the begin- ning condemned and contended against Slavery. Mr. Wesley did, as his letters to America show. Pr. Coke, and Francis Asbury, and others of that period also earnestly testified against it. The early minutes ex- pressly forbid any member of the Methodist Church " buying and selling of men, women, and children with an intention to enslave them." The later minutes, before noted, declare, " we are as much as ever con- vinced of the great evil of Slavery ; " and expressly provide that "no slaveholder shall hold any office in the Methodist Church where the law of the States will allow of emancipation." And for this principle the Northern churches, as I have repeatedly intimated, became separated from the Southern, and endured the great secession of 1844. The religious interests of the enslaved and coloured population have, from the very foundation and first organisation of Methodism in America, been cared for and sought. In the first published minutes I find that, at that period, one fourth of the members returned were of coloured people. In the year of Mr. Wesley's death 268 SLAVERY IN AMERICA. there were 12,000 coloured Methodist members in the States. At the time of the separation of the Northern and Southern churches, in 184 4-, there were more than 150 000 coloured members, and there are more than 200,000 now in both sections. The Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, while in error on the public question of Slavery, is nevertheless labouring most strenuously and successfully for the moral and religious instruction of the slaves ; and is, undoubtedly, doing more for them, morally and religiously, than any other agency whatever. In addition to its regular ministry and numerous schools, for both th* „ iiite and coloured people, it has not less than 145 missionaries who are exclusively devoted to their interests, and who, amidst the destructive malaria of river swamps, and the con- suming heat of rice and cotton-fields, are seeking the spiritual welfare of the negroes in bondage, and of their children. Both in the North and in tlie South, there are African churches, African schools, African preachers and class -leaders, African deacons and missionaries; and thus American Methodism, in its two sections, is diffusing Christian principles among the white and the coloured population — among the masters and their slaves, and, with the labours of the other churches of Christ in the States, must not only mitigate the evils of Slavery while it exists, but, if the Church be faithful to truth, most assuredly will eventually exterminate it. What believer in Christ can doubt this when he remembers that there are the accumulated prayers and supplications to be answered of God's servants through successive years and generations for this great and glorious object ? How many a fervent and acceptable prayer has ascended into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth from poor, overwrought, whipped, and imprisoned in the rtliern E than 13 than , Epis- public r most iligious doing y other linistry oloured rho are amidst he con- ing the of their ti, there eachers es; and iflfusing oloured es, and, t in the Slavery truth, hen he -^ers and through •at and eptable Sabaoth Drisoned il SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 269 negroes ? How many, like " Uncle Tom " in Mrs. Stowe's story (so full of real genius as well as philan- thropy), have cried to God in their bondage and meek suffering ? How many have called upon Him from the cabin and the bush, from the prayer-meeting and the sanctuary? How many white ministers and their people have prayed that the oppressed may go free ! And shall not these prayers be remembered by the Eternal? Are they lost or forgotten by him? Like the prayers and alms of Cornelius, they are gone up for a memorial before God, and shall yet be answered. Some of these prayers are on record, and may be read and repeated until the desires expressed in them shall be fulfilled. The loUowing is Mr. Wesley's own prayer, recorded at the conclusion of his " Thoughts on Slavery," in 1774 :— " thou God of love, thou who art loving to every man, and whose mercy is over all thy works — thou who art the father of the spirits of all flesh, and who art rich in mercy unto all — thou who hast mingled of one blood all the nations upon earth, — have compassion upon out- casts of men, who are trodden down as dung upon the earth. Arise, and help these that have no helper, whose blood is spilt upon the ground like water ! Are not these also the work of thine own hands, the purchase of thy Son's blood ? Stir them up to cry unto thee in the land of their captivity, and let their complaint come up before thee ; let it enter into thy ears ! make even those who lead them away captive to pity them, and turn their captivity as the rivers in the south. burst thou all their chains asunder, more especially the chains of their sins ! Thou Saviour of all, make them free, that they may be free indeed. 270 SLAVERY IN AMERICA. ' i . tl : ; 4 1 h ' The servile progeny of Ham Seize as the purchase of thy blood. Let all the heathens know thy name : From idols to the living God The dark Americans convert, And shine in every pagan heart.' " This prayer shall be answered : yea, and I cannot but think that, out of the numerous and eflficient churches of the coloured race in this "Western continent, shall go forth ministers and missionaries to their own people across the seas, and bring thousands of Africa's sons and daughters on their own native soil, into the spiritual kingdom of the Redeemer. Some of the negro members of the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Protestant, as well as of the Methodist churches in this land, are being edu- cated and prepared for important Christian services. Some of the negro local preachers are intelligent and zealous labourers in the vineyard of the Lord ; and suited as they are in constitution, sympathies, character, and modes of thought, to this missionary work to the African heathen, I cannot but think that they will be called and sent forth to engage in it. Then shall Africa's real compensation for Slavery appear. Not in pounds or dollars — for what compensation can money afford for the heavy and accumulated wrongs inflicted upon 80 many millions of her sons and daughters for so many generations ? — but in the spread of Messiah's kingdom over the African continent ; in the reception, by its millions yet to b«^ born, of the Gospel — the good news of Christ's salvation, which " healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds ; " in the real and everlasting enfranchisement of the children of Ham — for, when " the Son shall make them free, they shall be free indeed." LETTER XVI. THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Peculiar Look of the Race — Mongolian Descent — Noble Original Qualities — Hospitality and Bravery — Degratlod State of Woman — Rapidly de- creasing number of Red Men — Christian Labourers among them — John Stewart, the Nogio — Father Finley— Indian Converts and Preachers — Remarkable Occurrence among the " Flat Head " Indians — Banishment of the Red Race to the Far West — Melancholy Prospect of their Extinction. There is a melancholy interest attached to the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, as an ill-fated and declining race ; and a thoughtful visitor can scarcely fail to feel a craving for reliable information concerning them. As for what the race was in the past, there are no crumbling monuments of antiquity, no fallen arches or broken columns to attest it, or to furnish hints for the spirit of theory : one sole monument remains — the living ruin of a perishing nation. I have made diligent inquiries concerning the Indians of missionaries who have been much among them, and have studied their character and closely observed their manners and customs, being, meanwhile, devoted to their interests both for this world and the world to come. Thus, though I may not have much to communicate that will be new, yet my state- ments respecting them, and more especially of the work of God among their wasting tribes, will be authentic. \.ir i 272 \ \ THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Each specimen of the aboriginal race that I have seen in America resembles the Indian missionary visitors we have seen in England. There is the same sombre coun- tenance, the same inwardly brooding look, that seems to tell of the sense of past and present wrong, and of a proud grief deeply seated, and so absorbing as to render the subject of it almost insensible of what is passing externally. Some observers attribute the red-man's peculiar look to the hardness and inflexibility of his features from long training, rather than to his sense of injuries received from the white obtruders upon his rightful domain ; and, perhaps, it may be attributable to both these causes. His skin is not sufficiently trans- parent to allow the flush of feeling to mantle in his face, or to deepen his colour, and he would seem to have been trained to conceal rather than exhibit the working of his passions. Yet, with his stolid and immovable features, there are deeply indented lines which tell of inward contest ; that brooding, melancholy eye is often kindled into defiant fierceness, and there is a proud bearing in the red-man's upright form which seems to proclaim that he is conscious of descent from a free and noble ancestry. The theory that the North American Indians are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel finds no credit with the missionaries who have been among them, and become best acquainted with their language and cus- toms. There are some Indian words which have some resemblance to their synonyms in Hebrew, and a few Indian rites resemble the Jewish. But these scattered resemblances, it is well known, are found among many tribes where they would not bo expected — such as the Tartars, for instance. The most supportable theory, THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 273 undoubtedly, is that the Indians are of Mongolian origin, and came from Asia across the narrow sea which we now call " Behring's Strait." Come, however, from wherever they might, at the beginning, there seems to be no doubt of the common origin of all the remnant tribes of the North American Indians. Some differences exist in their language and in their customs, but none of these are so essential as to lead to the inference that all the red-men are not derived from one stock. "When first visited by Eu- ropeans, they were scattered in various, and, for the most part, mutually hostile, tribes over the continent, and numbered, it is supposed, fifteen or sixteen mil- lions. They were not when first discovered " barba- rous savages," in the literal sense of the phrase, but rather wild, roving men with an indomitable love of liberty ; and however fierce and revengeful towards each other hostile tribes might be, all were kind and friendly towards the white man when he first ap- proached them. Afterwards, when they felt themselves wronged and injured, defrauded out of their beloved hunting-grounds, and left with mere trinkets instead, they became exasperated and revengeful. When driven cruelly away from their own lands, and from the graves of their fathers, they turned upon their murder- ous pursuers, and fought for their liberty and lives like stags at bay. And when unable to compete with their enemy and with his fire- weapons in the open field, they crouched in the thicket, and shot him with the poisoned arrow as he passed along upon the " Indian track." It was not till goaded and driven to violence and bloodshed, by injury and bloodshed, that the red-man showed himself to be fierce and revengeful. Columbus T : ; I: ' I u , li i i 274 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. wrote home to his royal patrons concerning one of these aboriginal races : — " I swear to your majesties that there is not a better people in the world then these, — more affectionate, affable, and mild. They love their neighbours as themselves, and they always speak smilingly/' And their first admission of white men to their country seems to have been from motives of com- passion and hospitality, as the mournful chief declared to General Knox, in the city of New York, when inter- rogated on the reason for his dejected and sorrowful countenance amidst such gay and stirring scenes. " I will tell you, brother," said the chief to the general, " what makes me look sorrowful. I have been looking at your beautiful city — your great waters full of ships — your fine country, and I see how prosperous you all are. But then I could not help thinking that this fine country was once ours. Our ancestors lived here. They enjoyed it as their own in peace. It was the gift of the Great Spirit to them and to their children. At last white men came in a great canoe, they only asked to let them tie it to a tree, lest the water should carry it away. We consented. They then said, some of their people were sick, and they asked permission to land them, and put them under the shade of the trees. The ice 'Dame, and they could not go away. They then begged a piece of land to build wigwams for the win- ter. We granted it to them. They then asked com to keep them from starving. We furnished it out of our scanty supply. They promised to go away when the ice melted. When this happened, instead of going away as they had promised, they pointed to the big guns round the wigwams, and they said, * We shall stay here.* Afterwards came more. They brought THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 275 intoxicating drinks, of which the Indians became fond. They persuaded them to sell this our land ; and, finally, have driven us back, from time to time, to the wilder- ness, far from the water, the fish, and the oysters. They have scared away our game. My people are wasting away. We live in want of all things, while you are enjoying abundance in our fine and beautiful country. This makes me sorry, brother, and I cannot help it." The North American Indian, like the nomade of Asia, is proverbially generous and hospitable. Like the Arab, he spreads his tent in the wilderness, and refuses to dwell in a walled-up immovable dwelling; but a travelling stranger may enter his tent and lodge there for the night as freely as the passing bird can enter and shelter itself in the open bush. He gives readily to the unknown visitor the pipe of peace, and shares his best provisions with his guest. He spurns subjection to any but his uncrowned patriarchal chief, loves the chase, is fondly attached to his horse and his dogs; and bounds with the fleetness of the wind over the waving prairie-ground and through the forest after the buffalo, the bear, the panther, and the deer. He is orderly and eloquent in council, respectful of the rights of messengers and mediators from hostile tribes, and, with a voice " sharp as the eagle's and powerful as the lion's," will, after the message has been delivered, reply to what has been spoken. He is scrupulously attentive to the forms and customs of his false religion, and by bodily mortifications, prayers, and sacrifices, gives such a proof of his sincerity as ought to put to shame many a professing Christian. As it is with all heathen nations, woman is degraded among the red people ; — instead of beiog man's caressed < \ 276 TUB NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. companion and friend, she is his drudge and slave. She is wooed by scalps, purchased by cattle, and taken to perform degrading service in the smoky wigwam and in the open field. But notwithstanding this, there are frequently touching displays of connubial and parental affection among these unpolished tribes. The Indian husband, with no bond but love, is not unfrequently faithful to his purchased and laborious wife. No Indian mother, however high in rank, gives up her infant to be nurtured by another. She weaves for it a richly-embroidered cradle, bears it in its infancy therein upon her back as she goes forth to labour in the field, hangs it near to her upon the spreading branch of a tree, that it may be rocked to sleep as the cradle swings to and fro with the breeze ; and if it dies, she bears its empty cradle with her, wherever she goes, for months afterwards, that she may think lovingly of her lost offspring. Parents and chil- dren hold the graves of their lost relatives as their most sacred possessions, and often visit their burial-places from cherished reverence and love. All who know the red-men declare them to be re- markable for bravery. No coward is cherished among them. They record not their deeds in books, but they picture their wounds in red stripes upon their flesh ; and embroider their conquests over men, beasts, and birds, by suspending scalps, hair tufts, and eagles' claws to their robes. If threatened by invading foes, they prepare themselves for the conflict; make the forest and the surrounding plains echo with their war- cry of defiance ; and if taken prisoners in battle, they submit to insult and extreme tortures without com- plaint, sing their own death-song before their enemies, THE NOllTU AMERICAN INDIANS. ;/ < and die like heroes, without lamentation or tears. Indeed, so lasting an impression has the Indian made upon the mind of his destroyers by his unconquerable spirit, that while the white Americans would feel themselves degraded by any supposed alliance, however remote, with the crouching African, yet they pride themselves in any descent, where it can be traced, from the red son of the forest. And yet this interesting, hospitable, patriotic, and courageous race of men are wasting rapidly away, and are likely soon to become extinct. The opinion is almost universal that they are a doomed race, and must ultimately, and that before very many years have elapsed, totally disappear. They have been robbed of their native heritage, and driven farther and farther back from the borders of civilisation, until now they are principally located, by the Government of the United States, in the rocky and swampy regions west of the Mississippi. Here, they who at one time were numbered by millions, do not now number more than 500,000 at the most, and this number decreases rapidly. Their own melancholy conclusion on their impending fate is, tliat they are " travelling to the shades of their fathers, towards the setting sun." Well may thej'' dread the advance of the white man, and speak so revengefully of the "pale faces" who are thus pursuing them to complete extermination ! Yet this is not of necessity their fate ; for they have proved themselves capable of both civilisation and god- liness. This was convincingly shown, 200 years ago, under the holy and martyr-like labours of Eliot and Brainerd, and it has been clearly demonstrated since under the Moravian missionaries. The Methodist I : m I; 278 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Churches, both in the States and in Canada, have had churches, schools, class-leaders, and preachers among »he Indians, as I have already indicated. The com- mencement of Methodist missions to them was in 1816, and that by an instrument most peculiarly and evidently appointed of God. This was a poor coloured man of the name of John Stewart, who soon after his conversion had a strong conviction given to him that he ought to go and preach the Gospel of his Saviour to the Indians. With no encouragement and with no authority from man, he went forth on foot, with his Bible and Hymn-book, and travelled from the southern border some hundreds of miles through the forest to find them. When he found them, in the first instance, though they were attracted from their war-dance by his melodious singing, yet they attended not to the word he preached to them, and even threat- ened his life, unless he would give over preaching, and depart from them. He now travelled onwards until he met the Wyandot tribe, in Upper Sandusky ; and at one of their great festivals he sued for and obtained permission to speak to them of Jesus Christ — the morrow being appointed for his preaching. When the hour came, the poor converted negro's heart was chilled to find that his audience was only to consist of one old Indian, of the name of *' Big Tree," and an old Indian woman of the name of Mary. Nevertheless, he proclaimed the way of life and salvation to these two. A few more col- lected to hear him, gradually ; and though for a time they despised and mocked him as " a black man," yet he persevered ; and by a godly life and earnest repre- sentations of the truth as it is in Jesus, he won their TUB NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 279 confidence and was instrumental in bringing many of them to the faith of Christ. In 1819, the Rev. James B. Finley and other mis- sionaries were sent forth to the Indians, and among the first-fruits of their ministry were some chiefs of dis- tinction, who afterwards became eloquent and successful preachers to their own people. One of these bore the strange name of " Between-the-Loos." I have heard Father Finley speak of him several times, and there is a sketch of him in Father Finley's own biography. This chief was of the Bear tribe, and had gained his position by the energy and force of character he had displayed in the defence of his people. Not long before his conversion, he had voluntarily taken a long and dangerous journey on foot, to plead the cause of the injured aborigines before the Government at "Wash- ington. When reminded by the Secretary of State that he had come unauthorised, and had given no official notice of his coming, he replied, " I know ; but I thought the great way was open, so I came.'* After his conversion, his superior powers were unreservedly devoted to the cause of Christ. He became a most laborious servant of the cross, and a very powerful preacher ; was at the head of the Indian school de- partment, attended the Ohio Annual Conferences, and went into different parts to advocate the cause of mis- sions before his red brethren. The following address was delivered by him at the Missionary Anniversary held at New York, in the spring of 1826. After giving an account of the attempts formerly made to introduce Roman Catholicism into his nation, he said, — " It is true we went to Cliureh on the Sabbath-day, and then the minister preached ; but we did not understand one word he said. We saw he kneeled 280 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. I Hi |! I i down, mid stuod up, and went through motions with his great drcM on ; nud wlicn rhurrh was out wc nil went to ii plnco where they sold nun and whin- key, got drunk, and went home drunk, lie would lull us we niuitt not get drunk ; but he would drink himself, and fiolic and dance on thu Sabbath. We counted our bends, and kept our crosses about our nocks, or under our pillows, and would sometimes prny to the Virgin Mary. Hut we were oil at wc were betbrc. It made no change in m, and I began to think it was not as good as the religion of our fathers ; for they taught us to be good men aiul women, to worship the Oreut Spirit, and to abstain from evil. Soon after the Seneca Prophet came to our nation, and he told us that he Itad found the right way ; that he had a revelation, and had seen and talked with au angel, nud was directed to teach nil the Indians; that they must qui. drinking, and must take up their old Indian religion, and oiler their conHunl sacritlces, as their fathers had done, which had been neglected too much ; and, on account of Ibis, the Orent Spirit had forsaken them: but, if ihey would come back and follow him, that he would yet drive the wiilte iiinn back to bis native home. We all followed him till we saw lie went crooked, and did not do himself what he taught us to do. Then we folluwed him no more, but returned to our old cournc. Some time afterwards came tlio Shawnee Prophet, the brother of Tecumseh, and be told ns thnt n great many years ago there lived a prophet that had foretold the prcsutit state of the Indians, thnt they would be scattered and driven from their homes ; but that the Great Spirit had sai*l that he would make them stand on their feet again, and would drive the white man back over the waters, and givu them their own coinuiy ; that he had seen an nngel, and he told him that all the Indians must qiiit drinking, and all turn to their old ways that their grandfathers hud followed, and unite and aid to drive the white from our country. Many believed and followed him. Hut I got tired, and thought it wns the best for me to keep on in the old way, and so we continued. Then the war came on, and we all went to drinking and lighting. When the war was over, we were a nation of drunkards, and so wicked that the chiefs thought we must try and get up our old religion of feasting and dancing. We did our best to get our people to quit drinking. But while we were trying to reform, God sent a coloured man, named Stewart, to us with the good book. lie began to talk, and 'lajj,-, inl jnoy ; but we thuught it was all nothing, and many made fun of Mm bit- 1 •■,'■ i>c was a i i' \. man. The white traders told us we ought to dri' . lim dwa^, for the white people ■would not let a black man preach for them. We, however, watched his walk, and found that he walked straight, and did us he said. At lost the word took hold, and many began to listen, and believed it was right, and goon we bngau to pray, and we found that it was of God. Then others THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN3. 281 cnino, and they told iia tUc lamo things. The work broke (xil, nml (iod haH (lone great thinttM for n^. I watt nnioii^ the lirHt tliat took huM, niul I found it was the iri ion of Ik^ Koitr'', and from (>od. It iiiiulc my soul happy, and dofs vet. The »<'hool is (Joiug well. Our diildri'ii arc IcaruiMt^ to read the good < ik, and iiniitnsc fair to make good ond iincli^l \ni-\\. Wo thank you, our friends, for all the kindness and help you iiave shu-^n uh, «nd hope you will continue to I I'lp us till wc can stand 'ijone and \\j\\t. We will do our best to spread this religion at hutne, and send it to all nntions." In the year following that in which tliift address was delivered by him, he died triumphantly \a the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another of these converted chiefs was named " Mo- NONCUE." He was a very eloquent and effective assistant to the Missionaries sent to the Wyandot tribe. The following is Father Finley's own simple und graphic account of this Christian chief: it wil' at once show you what he was, both as a gifted and an affectionate man, and as a powerful preacher of the C/ogpel : — " This renowned chief of the Wyandot nation was about ucdiuiu in stature, and remarkably symmetrical in form. He was one of tlu most active men I ever knew, quick iu his motions as thought, and fleet n^ the roe in the chase. As a speaker, he possessed a native elofiucnce which was truly won- derful. Few could stand before the overwhelming torrent o' his eloquence. lie was a son of thunder. When inspired with his theme, ic would move a large assembly with as much case, and rouse them to as igh a state of excitement, as any speaker I ever heard. "There is a peculiarity in Indian eloquence which it is diflicii't to describe. To form a correct idea of its character, you must be in the hear ng and siglit of the sou of the forest ; the tones of his voice and the H.-xh of iiis eye must fall upon you, and you must see the significont movements of lii-^ body. As an orator Mononcue was not surpassed by any chieftain. " I will give a specimen or two of the elo([upnce of this gifted son of nature. Imagine yourself, gentle reader, in the depths of the forest, surrounded by hundreds of chiefs and warriors, all sunk in the degradation and darkness of paganism. They have been visited by the missionary, and several converted Indian chiefs. One after another the chiefs rise and address the assembly, but with no cfTeet. The dark scowling infidelity settles on their brows, and the ircqueut umtterings of the excited auditors indicate that their speeches 282 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. are not acceptable, and their doctrines not believed. At length Mouoncue rises amidst confusion and disturbance, and ordering silence with a coin- niaading voice, he addresses them as follows : — " ' When you meet to worship God, and to hear from his word, shut up your mouths, and open your ears to hear what is said. You have been here several days and nights worshipping your Indian god, who has no existence, ouly in your dark and beclouded minds. You have been burning your dogs and venison for him to smell. What kind of god or spirit is he, that can be delighted with the smell of a burnt dog ? Do you su])pose the Great God that spread out the heavens, that hung up the sun and moon, and all the stars, to make light ; and spread out this vast world of land and water, and filled it with men and beasts, and everything that swims or flies, is pleased with the smell of your burnt dogs ? I tell you to-day, that his great eye is on your hearts, and not on your fires, to see and smell what you are burn- ing. Has your worshipping here these few days made you any better ? Do you feel that you have gotten the victory over one evil ? No I You have not taken the first step to do better, which is to keep this holy day. This day was appointed by God himself a day of rest for all men, and a day on which men are to worship him with pure hearts, and to come before him, that he may examine their hearts, and east out all their evil. This day is appointed for his ministers to preach to us Jesus, and to teach our dark and cloudy minds, and to bring them to light.' He here spoke of the Saviour, and his dying to redeem the world ; that now life and salvation are freely offered to al' that will lorsake sin and turn to God. He adverted to the judgment-day, and the awfid consequences of being found in sin, and strangers to God. Oil this subject he was tremendously awful. He burst into tears : he caught the handkerchief from his head, and wiped them from his eyes. Many in the house sat as if they were petrified, while others wept in silence. Many of the females drew their blankets over their faces and wept. 'Awful, awful day to the wicked!* said this thundering minister, 'your faces will look much blacker vtillx their shame and guilt, thau they do now with their paint.' " Mr. Finley also describes the funeral scene of Mo- noncue's aged aunt, who had died peacefully in the Lord, at which the Indian chief poured forth sponta- neously an eloquent lamentation. He states : — '* I was sent for to go and bury her. Brother Riley and myself rode there in the night, and early in the morning commenced making the cofKu. It was late Ixlbre we could finish it, and, consequently, late before the funeral THE NORTE AMERICAN INDIANS. 283 tt-h Moi.oncue with a com- (vord, shut up lave been here I no existence, ling your dogs iG, that can be the Great God n, and all the ind water, and flies, is pleased lis great eye is you are burn- ly better ? Do You have not lay. This day V day on which e him, that he ay is appointed nrk and cloudy aviour, and his reely offered to judgment-day, mgers to God. ars : he caught yes. Many in iilence. Many ept. 'Awful, ' your faces y do now with self rode there the oolHu. It ore the funeral was over. But I think I shall never forget that scene. It was between sundown and dark when we left with the corpse. The lowering clouds hung heavily over us, and the virgin snow was falling. We entered a deep and lonely wood, fo\ir men carrying the bier, and the rest all following in Indian file. When we came to the burying-ground, the Indians stood wrapped up in their blankets, leaning against the forest trees, in breathless silence, and all bore the aspect of death. Not one word was said while the grave was filling up, but from the daughter and some of the grandchildren a broken sigh escaped. At length Mononcue broke out in the following strains : — ' Farewell, my old and precious aunt, you have suffered much in this world of sin and sorrow. You set us all a good example ; and we have often heard you speak of Jesus in the sweetest strains, while the falling tears have wit- nessed the sincerity of your heart. Farewell, my aunt, we shall no more hear your tender voice, that used to lull all our sorrows, and drive our fears from us. Farewell, my aunt 1 that hand that fed us will feed us no more. Farewell to your sorrows — all is over 1 There your body must lie till the voice of the Son of God shall call you up. We weep not with sorrow, but with joy, that your soul is in heaven.' Then he said, ' Who of you all will meet her in heaven?' " There were other early converts, both in the Bear, and "Wyandot, and other tribes, who were signally owned of God, as preachers to their brethren. " Squire Grey Eyes," introduced to the General Conference, as I have described, was one of them. Peter Jones, John Sunday, and Peter Jacobs, whom we have seen in our Methodist assemblies in England, were others. In the year 1833 a circumstance occurred in relation to the tribe of Indians bearing the strange name of " Flat Heads," who are dwellers in a distant region of the Rocky Mountains, which showed their earnest desire to have a better religion than their own, and which deeply interested the Christian public of America in their behalf. They heard a trader who visited them inciden- tally speak of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of mankind, and of the Scriptures which testify of him. A strong desire was instantly awakened in their minds to know : 284 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. si. more of these things, and they eagerly inquired of the trader what more he knew concerning these truths. He had to declare that he himself was not able to teach them, but that there were men "living towards the rising sun" who could tell them all they desired to know. They instantly called a council of their nation, and appointed four of their principal and most trust- worthy men to go many hundreds of miles, over the rocks, and through the wilderness, to General Clark, the Indian agent at St. Louis, to inquire of him what he could teli them of Jesus Christ and his word. These deputies instantly departed on their long and dangerous journey, reached St. Louis in safety, received from the general all the Christian instruction he could give them, and then returned to their own people to communicate what they had learned. Two of them reached the tribe of anxiously-waiting Indians in safety, and related all they had learned, but the other two had fallen through exhaustion in their long travel. The publication of this interesting fact drew forth much Christian sympathy towards the Indiana in the western region. The Methodist Mission Fund was considerably augmented through it ; several missionaries were sent to the tribe, and soon, from Oregon, and other States beyond the great Mississippi, Indian con- verts in large numbers were gathered into the Christian Church. Other eflforts for the conversion of the Indians have been successfully made both in the United States and Canada. In some instances the Indian converts began to show a disposition for regulated habits of life ; they settled on farms and in villages, and gave promise of advancement in civilisation as well as religion. But the cupidity of the American Government dispossessed THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, 285 3d of the uths. He to teach vards the lesired to ir nation, .ost trust- over the ral Clark, n what he long and f, received a he could people to of them Indians in ; the other ng travel. Irew forth ans in the Fund was lissionaries cegon, and ndian con- B Christian he Indians ited States ,n converts )its of life ; ,ve promise gion. But ispossessed (( i 4:1 them of the lands which, in mockery, had been " gua- ranteed to them and to their children for ever," and drove them from their settled homes in the heart of the country to the uncultivated and uninhabited parts beyond the Mississippi. There most of the Indians have been located by this "paternal" government; there, with a deep sense of their wrongs and injuries burning within their souls, they at present exist; and there, probably, they will be permitted to linger until the large Western States shall be peopled and cultivated ; then, if any of them remain, they will, most likely, be driven farther "VYest still — either to take refuge in the rocky uncultivable heights of the mountains, or to wander, desolate and uncared for, on the western shores by the Pacific. This removal of the Indian tribes from the abodes of civilisation has brought ruin upon the Christian churches which had been established among them ; for though Methodist missionaries have followed them to their Western region, yet the number of church members has been very seriously reduced. In some instances the mis- sionaries to them are encouraged in their labours, as you would learn from their reports to the General Confer- ence, noticed in a former letter. Where brought under the power of the Gospel, they live orderly, and increase ; but without religion they give way to irregular and corrupting habits, and waste away at a rate that is most aflfecting to observe. If they are to be saved from utter extermination, it must be by the Gospel of the Son of God. In Canada the Government has dealt more justly towards the red people ; it has cared for them and pro- vided for them with true paternal interest. But there. ^ 1 \ \ 286 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. I as in the United States, without the Gospel of Christ they fade away before the face and tread of the white man. His "fire-water" and profligacy corrupt and destroy them; and it is to be feared that this whole nation of heroes and patriots, once spread over the North American continent, will one day have fallen under the cupidity and sinfulness of professing Chris- tians. And if the fall of one hero and patriot be so loudly lamented, what shall be the voice of mourning which shall lament the fall of a whole nation ? 1 'I I of Christ the white >rrupt and this whole L over the lave fallen ling Chris- triot be so mourning i 5 7 I LETTER XVII. THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE " FAR WEST. 0, 0. m lA v> THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 20] wood, mixed with wild flowers; the clouds of larg gaudy butterflies, brilliant gauze- winged dragon-flies, and gleaming flre-flies, with here and there a bird of purple or red plumage; and then the boundless, un- broken, self-sown pasture-lands, and interminable prai- ries ; — these sights and scenes so varied, with all their vastness and silent solitariness, have a power over the feelings which is indescribable — they are so utterly unlike anything one has seen in England or in Europe. Since I beheld them I have dreamed of them by night, and thought of them by daj', until my mind seems filled with them, and until it seems stretched out and expanded with the effort to contain them. Indeed here lies the great difference between Ame- rican scenery, generally, and the scenery of Europe. Here all is on so much larger a scale. Nature is here wrought out with so much more boldness, that it seems everywhere to have a sort of large-featured sublimity ; and when you turn your mind from it to Europe, it seems like reversing the telescope, and reducing crea- tion to miniature. I do not wonder that an Ameri- can, when visiting England, should somewhat compla- cently express himself as if afraid to move, lest he should fall off the sides of our little island ; or that the phrase of " our great country" should here so often be used. The land, in its vast length and breadth, in its immense chains of granite and limestone mountains, and sweeping valleys, in its unbridged chasms, unshorn forests, interminable prairies, and deep swelling rivers, thousands of miles in length — looks as if it were framed for a race of giants. We reached the terminus of the westward railway on Tuesday at noon, and proceeded from thence in an V s i 292 THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PAR WEST. omnibus to tho eastern bank of the Mississippi, which was near, that we might cross the great river by the steam- ferry to St. Louis. And here, in going the short distance, we were exposed to extreme danger by the recklessness of our driver. To get first to tho water- side, he drove post another omnibus, round a sharp angle, and over soft new-made ground, on the edge of a very deep embankment, until tho wheels on one side sank down far into the soil, and threatened us with a complete overthrow. Being by the door, I jumped out of the vehicle, expecting to see it turn over the next moment ; but this American Jehu pushed on to the edge of the river, and kept the omnibus and its sixteen or eighteen passengers right side upwards. "We drove on to the deck of the ferry-boat, and remaining within the omnibus, crossed the strong, heavy, muddy current of the Mississippi, which there is about a mile wide and some 70 feet deep. "We soon were driven up the land- ing on the other side, and found ourselves rattling and rocking in the carriage through the streets of St. Louis. This city, like almost every other we have visited in America, occupies a very favourable site for commerce. The best view of it is obtained while crossing the ferry. It is thence beheld rising gradually up from the water's edge to a considerable height, with a mile or more of wharf thronged with craft of different sizes in front. Large massive warehouses line the quay, while behind rise the streets, principally in parallel rows, with their houses, stores, and public buildings, planted and back- grounded with green-lands and shrubbery. A more advantageous situation could not possibly have been chosen for this great commercial city of the "West, which already contains more than 94,000 inhabitants, THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 203 ami exhibits everywhere the signs of activity and pro- gress. It is, in fact, the central point of coinnioico between the west and the east, the north and the south, of the United States; and considering its connections with the great rivers of the north-west, with the Ohio, and its outlet by New Orleans to the ocean, one would hardly dare to say what St. Louis, in extent of commerce will become. It now employs more than 2000 steam- boats; its import and export returns show that it shares one-third of the whole foreign commerce of the United States. Wo had a rapid view of the different parts of the city ; found it contained some good houses and stores ; and were interested with the great mixture of nations of which its inhabitants are evidently composed. St. Louis was originally a French settlement ; and it is said that, among the first inhabitants of the town, there was no slight admixture of Indian blood. But now it is inhabited by natives, not only of all the States in the Union, but from nearly all the countries of Europe. "VVe were shown through its bustling thoroughfares by a Methodist minister, who was on his way from the General Conference to his field of labour in Kansas and Iowa. He is a fine, athletic, energetic man, who has evidently learned to "rough his way" for the attain- ment of his noble object, and related to us some inter- esting events and circumstances connected with his missionary work among the Far West settlers and the Indians. Having made inquiries concerning Methodism in St. Louis, and having learned that it is divided between the Northern and Southern Churches, and num- bers in white and coloured persons some 1500 members ; and having visited the ofiice for the Methodist news- I - ?? -:-rjj;; ' :at; i nui t wiH B mni ' lM" \\ 294 THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. i! paper of the "West, we made our way down to the wharf, and after hard search among the crowd of ships, and dragging of our luggage to and fro several times amid the scorching and exhausting heat, we found a steamship that would take us up the Mississippi, went on board, and by five o'clock, or a little later, loosened from our moorings to ascend " the Father of Waters." The Mississippi, for some few miles, was in the main such as it appears to be in front of the city of St. Louis — a wide, muddy stream, with a heavy, swelling current in the middle, which hurries down huge logs of wood, and crooked trunks of trees, in its course towards the ocean ; while the sandbanks at its side^ are often verdureless. As we proceeded, however, the scenery on each boundary became more picturesque, especially on the western side, where the bank of the river rose to a considerable height, and was richly covered with trees. At about eighteen miles distant from St. Louis, on the left, the great turbulent Missouri River, which rises in the Rocky Mountain?,, and drains the land for 2655 miles, pours its flood of waters into the Mississippi. Islands are constantly being raised up, swept away, and formed again, by the soil-deposit and force at the confluence of these two giant rivers. Twenty-five miles further upwards the Illinois River, which is a fine, deep, navi- gable stream, 245 miles long, also flows into the Missis- sippi; but so superior is the mightier volume of this, ** the Father of Waters," as the Indians named it, that while it is known to deepen in its channel by its reception of tributary rivers, yet, by the appearance on its surface, it seemed to gain no accession by its union with the flowing volumes of the Missouri and the Illinois. When we had passed the confluence of the two rivers, and "#r THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 295 began again to ascend the Mississippi, it flowed, appa- rently as widely and as heavily as before. But its waters were now clearer, and its banks, with their trees and rocks, were seen reflected on the glassy surface. Nume- rous lovely islands also burst upon our sight — islands which the mighty river Lad formed by its eddying current striking diagonally from a point, and depositing its sediment. These islands, in an incredibly short period of time, become clothed with fast-growing cotton- trees, that give shelter to various kinds of aquatic fowl, such as swans, geese, ducks, and pelicans, which con- gregate there. The captain of our steamer stated that no chart of the river, with its islands, could be laid down, so as to be practically and permanently useful ; and that he had known islands to be produced within the period of his going up the river and returning. There might be some exaggeration in the latter part of this statement : but to the speedy formation of islands in the Mississippi, and of the rapid growth of their rich covering of verdure, many give testimony. The trees at the sides of the river increased in size, until we were bounded on the right and on the left with dense forests of giant growth, extending on the plains and over the hills, as far as we could see. In some parts, the river had overflowed its banks, and was many miles wide, until the scene combined, with its own vast extent all the swelling grandeur of the Scotch and Cumberland lakes, and, with its numberless and picturesque islands, all the romantic loveliness of Killarney. Towards the evening of our first day on the river, a vision of indescribable magnificence and glory burst upon us. The sun was sinking behind the hills and forest trees on our left, and had irradiated all that side -- «i. i. r ; t f 296 w THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. of the sky with the richest orange and crimson light. His golden beams pierced through the fringes of the massive foliage, and shone aslant on the water. The colours deepened into glowing carmine and lake tints, until at length the wholo scene seemed dyed in scarlet, and yet shone as if on fire. On our right, over the dark forest, now came up the moon, apparently twice as large as we see it in England, and not pale and silvery, but red and glowing, as if it had ascended from out a furnace of molten gold. It rose rapidly into the heavens, gilded not only the hills and the trees, but threw such a pathway of splendour across the river, that we seemed surrounded with dazzling enchant- ment. Exclamations of wonder and admiration broke un- controllably from Dr. Hannah and myself as we wit- nessed the successive phases of this vision of creation's glory ; and at last I climbed to the upper deck of tho steamer, to muse upon it alone. Here, thought I, I am really on the bosom of this magnificent Mississippi, which has long, through reading and from report, been a dream of the imagination that I never expected to realise. Here, for untold thousands of years, has flowed this mighty river, through unbroken solitudes, a course of 3200 miles in length, draining off into the measure- less ocean the surplus water of considerably more than a million square miles — swallowing up in its courso the turbulent Missouri, the bright Ohio, the white Arkan- sas, and the Red and Yellow Stone llivers, all of great depth, length, and breadth, and yet, without any changed appearance, absorbing all of them into its volume. Thus it flowed, perhaps, ages before the scream of the eagle or the war-whoop of the Red Indian were THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 297 heard on its banks ; and thus it shall flow on, perhaps, to the end of time. But how different will be the Future from the Past ! Here, on each side of this mighty river, shall rise cities and ports, in which civilised man shall build and trade, and send forth the produce of the cultivated soil and the works of his hands to the ends of the world ; and here, amidst the teeming population which shall throng these shores, shall rise churches, and colleges, and halls of learning and science that shall vie with those of my own land ; and here shall rise men of art, and literrture, and religion, whose names will become watchwords for future gene- rations. I tried to imagine the feelings of De Soto, when, two centuries ago, he discovered this great river. And I thought also of the self-forgetful, self-sacrificing, and persevering zeal of the French Jesuit missionaries, who, nearly two hundred years ago, adventured upon the ocean -like current of this giant river in light frail canoes, and explored it, for Christ and their king, from the Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico. Those disciples of Ignatius Loyola (Joilet, Marguette, and Le Salle) may have been mistaken men, but surely their examples of Christian neroism and enterprise ought to shame and stimulate Protestant ministers into self- denying and laborious service for the Lord of Hosts. But the Future — the Future ! — is the thought which swells within you as you gaze on this grand river ; indeed, it is the thought which is perpetually rising uppermost go where you will in America. No hoary castles or ivy-hung monastic ruins serve to wing back your thoughts to the Past in this region. Each forest- clearing and embryo giant city lead you to ask, amidst .'V r ■} I P' \ \ 298 THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. the exhaustless resources of the vast country, ""What will this America and its people be in the Future?" This valley of the Mississippi, with its unparalleled richness of soil, and with every variety of climate, has in it more than one and a quarter million of square miles, and would hold, without inconvenience, all the nations of Europe. Its commerce is now much more than all the foreign commerce of the States besides. Its rivers, which are its great highways, extend 17,000 miles, and already have upon them 1200 steamboats. The tide of emigrationhas set in for this valley of the Mississippi from all parts of the States — nay, from all parts of the world. Its dark rich mould — the deposit of ages, and often 100 feet deep — where cultivated, produces corn and fruit rapidly and abundantly, until this great " cen- tral basin of the States" appears like a huge loaded harvest-waggon. As Berkeley wrote, — " Westward the course of empire takes its way," and numerous circumstances contribute to the rush of the population towards it. Disappointed, ruined, and restless men of the States hasten towards it with hope, or for shelter, and men of other nations press on to it as the great agricultural field of the world, where they may obtain as many acres as they choose at almost a nominal price. Already there are ten or twelve mil- lions of people in this immense valley, and fifty or sixty thousands a year enter it afresh. And when it is remembered that the Mississippi River lies along the middle of the United States, and has as much land on the west of it as it has on the east, the mind shrinks from the fatigue of stretching itself to conceive what America and its Mississippi valley shall one day be- THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 299 reat " cen- come. "Going "West" and "Far West" are phrases that sound more curiously, and raise the imagination, the more one hears them. We heard them in the Eastern States, we heard them as we crossed the AUeghanies ; but still we hear them — though hundreds of miles from the Atlantic, the cry is still "Going West ! " and about the country " Far West." After the moon had risen high into the heavens, I went below into the saloon and the under-deck, to look at our steamboat and our fellow-passengers. The steamer was a monster of its class, and bore the name of Mattie Mayne. It had three decks, and seemed to have no hull to rest upon, and nothing but its large paddle-wheels to unite its piled-up castle-like tiers together. The saloon was luxuriously fitted up with sofas, rocking-chairs, tables, and mirrors, and stretched from end to end of the vessel, under the upper deck, for the convenience and enjoyment of the better-paying passengers. The berths were in closets at the sides — some for families, and some for individuals. In the middle, encased in glass, through which its bright working parts might be seen, was the engine, with its rising and falling beams, all in the cleanest and purest condition. In front of this was a brass-railed spiral staircase, leading down to the refectory, or eating cabin ; while right and left of the saloon were common wash-rooms for the passengers, with pro bono publico towels, hair-brushes, and combs : one of each of the last-named articles serving for all who enter the wash- room. In the fore-part of the saloon was the bar for the sale of drams, American cordials, and tobacco. Below was a huge deck (that seemed almost level with the water), crowded with emigrants, furniture, heavy r^ I - ■k \ li \ i I 300 ^ \ THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. goods, and firev/ood ; while in the middle was burning the great engine-fire, and around it, shining with pro- fuse perspiration, were some big black men constantly throwing logs of wood and lumps of resin upon it to make it burn fiercely. The company in the saloon was of all kinds. The people seemed to be of several nations ; and some of them were most uninviting in their aspect. Several of the men had dark-lantern looking faces, with hollow cheeks, deeply sunken eyes, long hair, and grisly un- shaven faces; others had a bilious or aguish look. Now and then, from under the waistcoats of some of them, or out at their pockets, might be seen obtruding the handle of a bowie-knife or a revolver. Some of them looked like " border-ruffians," or slave-dealers, if they were not such ; and as we had the Slave State of Missouri on the left of us, we were ready to conclude that some of them were really of this character. They lounged, whittled pieces of sticks, and balanced them- selves on broken -legged chairs and lame stools, when upon deck, and in the evening cast off their coats, waistcoats, and shoes, and danced with ladies in full dress until near midnight. We retired to our berth, but not to sleep, though we had been travelling all the night before, for our berth was next to the bar, and the gathering and loud talking at it, as well as the sound of music and dancing until far into the night, kept us awake. We were obliged to go into the common washing- room when we rose in the morning, for there was no provision whatever for our ablutions in our berth ; and we were glad that jve could take with us into the washing-room our own combs and brushes, if we could THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 301 not obtain towels and water-glasses for ourselves. In this room tLere was a barber, who shaved any who were disposed, for fourpence, placing them on a high seat, with their feet on a resting-block as high as their chins, as if they were going to have a surgical operation performed upon them. I submitted to this mode of treatment for once, but was glad when I passed from under the hands of the Western barber. Our meals were very unsatisfactory, for our companions, as usual, clutched first at seats, and then at meats, until we could hardly find room or food ; and unchanged plates and knives at table did not increase our relish for eating. Unfortunately, too, our drinking-water was not clear and good, as it had uniformly been before in our travelling, but was the thick muddy water of the river, drawn up for use as the steamer sped along. The following day was principally spent on the fore- part of the upper deck, viewing the river and its vary- ing and beautiful scenery, though, in remaining in that part of the vessel, we suffered no small inconvenience, at times, from the large wood sparks, which issued in shoals from the two huge black chimneys of the steamer. I sketched, hastily, passing memoranda of the river at several points, with its islands, bends, and skirting foliage, so that I might have, by minute obser- vation of its forms, its character and associations fully stamped on my memory. In some parts it was beauti- fully placid and calm, spreading itself out over miles on the right and left, as if in bays or lakes. In other parts it was pent up in a narrow channel, where it boiled furiously, and tore away at its sides large masses of soil with their falling trees, and formed these trees into the most dangerous obstacles of navigation on the Missis- r i I, :l \ ', 302 THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. sippi, by fixing them with their roots in the bottom of the river, and their tops and forked branches just under the surface, ready to damage the hulls of ascending or descending vessels. These impediments to navigation are called, in Western phraseology, " snags" and " saw- yers." The quantity of floating logs and driftwood in some parts of the river was amazing. On the river-banks were to be seen, every few miles, log-cabins, belonging to squatting woodcutters, with long piles of timber cut into short lengths, and laid ready for sale and exportation. Nearly all the fuel of this region is of wood, and it is a large article of com- merce on the borders of the Mississippi. Our steamboat stopped at several points to replenish its fuel from these stores. Some of the woodcutters' cabins are very for- lorn and desolate in their appearance, being in the midst of swamps formed by the overflowing of the stream; and the men and women, separated as they are from society, sink into coarsen prs, until they look like uncivilised creatures. I am told it is no uncommon thing for men, when driven from general society for crime, to fix their dwellings in these wild spots, not caring for any other title to their lands than the rifle or the revolver. There are, however, some good rising towns on the banks of the river, among which mtiy be named Alton, Louisiana, and Hannibal, as lying in our course. We saw also as we passed along large floating rafts of timber, such as are common on the Rhine, bearing upon them men and women, wbu were lodged in temporary huts in the centres of them, and steered them down in the current of the river for the towns and cities below. As we sat and viewed the scenery on our way, we thought of the slaves THK MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. 303 on our left hand hiding themselves in the cane-brakes and trees till they can escape across the water to the free State of Illinois, and of the poor Indians who have been driven into western seclusion by the Government. The day was exceedingly hot, and the sun scorched and blis- tered us with its heat ; but we could not forego the sight of this solemn and beautiful scenery, and except during the intervals of meals, we sat on the uncovered deck through the day. In the evening the same glowing sunset and the same burning appearance of the moon were seen as on the evening before. The whole panorama was dyed in orange and crimson, and when the sun had gone dovm, the eflfects of objects upon the water and by the river-side were very striking. The moon glared behind us like a huge globe of fire, and streamed its red light upon the water, making i*8 reflection appear like a pathway of blood. The steamboats that we met, with their funnels issuing ceaseless showers of large sparks, seemed like living monsters with open throats of flame snorting fire from their blackened and upturned nostrils, while the horrid screeching of the vessels, by way of warning signals as they approached and passed, strength- ened this imagination. Then, at intervals, the lights of rising towns on the banks sparkled in the distance before us, and reflected their burning points deeply down in the water, while watch and signal-fires, in high stilted cauldron-like grates, blazed on their quays and piers. As we passed the islands and swamps, we heard the croaking of monster bull-frogs mingled with the cries of disturbed and afirighted birds. We gazed upon and listened musingly to these strange sights and sounds until nearly eleven o'clock, when the signal-fire of Quincy made apMa , 304 THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THE FAR WEST. known to us that our landing-place was near, and we must prepare to disembark, after having steamed up thu Mississippi, in thirty hours, nearly 200 miles. We landed on the sloping embankment, and drove up, at the recommendation of an English mechanic (who told us that, as a coachmakers' smith, he earned four dollars per day), to the "Virginia" Hotel, to pass the night. But our countryman, we hope unwittingly, had misled us. The room allotted to us was loathsomely filthy and comfortless, with broken window, broken fur- niture, broken utensils, and with hard straw half-covered beds ; so that we did not pass a very easy night, but we thought and said that many good men had been worse lodged than we were, and, needing rest, we made the best of our circumstances, and in partial undress soon fell asleep. \ 'm LETTER XVIII. PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, AND THE GREAT LAKES. Departure from Quiiicy — The Prnirie — Prairie Pircs — Riclinrss of Prairie Soil — Destruction of Cattle on Anierieati Haiiways — "Off the Line" — General Tom Thumb — Neighbourhood of Naiivoo — Thouglits on ]Mor- monism — Its Future in the States — ('hicago — Amazing llnpidiiy of its Growth — Meeting with Prieuda — Drive round the City — ^Magical haste with which People get Rich in Chicago — Paniily I'arly — Tiie Lady's Question — Dci)ariure from Chicago — Arrival at Detroit — Sabbath wpent there — Account of Churches and Services — Voyage to Hull'alo — The Great Lakes of America — Sketch of Buffalo City — Arrival at Niagui'a. "VYe rose early on Thursday morning, May 22nd, to leave Quincy by the railway for Chicago. At breakfast we had a goodly number of companions, several of whom appeared to be Western traders. Our meal was some- what coarse and uninviting, but, with iced milk and bread-and-butter, we have never felt ourselves at a loss for a satisfactory morning or evening meal while in America. Through the stolid indifference of our host, we were in danger of being left a whole day at Quincy — the vehicle for conveying us and our luggage to the railway not having been provided for us until a few moments before the starting of the train. We had made the best use of our morning hour for glancing over the town. Quincy is situated on an elevation of \ t 306 rnAIUIE LAND, CIIICAOO. DETUOIT, ETC. i. 125 feet ubovo the ^Ussissippi, and coinmaiuU a fino view of tlio river and of the surrounding country. It appears to bo a town of eonsidorablo trade, with some good buildings, ehiefly of wood, and is suid to have a population of more than 9000. The railway torniinua is not yet completed, being at present without suitable rooms and booking-ofhces. After a hard and jolting drive in our hastily-provided vehicle, we reached tho carriages, deposited our luggage in tho van, and started , at 7 A.^r. for Chicago. Our road lay over forest and prairie land. Towns in process of formation wore seen at distant intervals. Some of the prairie wildernesses over which we passed were exceedingly impressive. They extend for scores and scores of miles unbroken bj' any trees or hills, or, indeed, by any other object tlian tho lino of railway which passes through them. All round to tho horizon, on every side, is prairie — j^rairie, just as in the middle of tho Atlantic all round is sea — sea. The grass has not yet attained its full height, but it is more than breast high, and rolls before tho wind in billows or undulating forms, such as reveal to us tho meaning of tho epithet often given to the prairie lands — that of the " land ocean." These immense plains of heaving grass are richly enamelled with large, beautiful flowers, that grow in clusters or patches of white, red, yellow, lilac, and blvie. We could see here and there in our course what deso- lation had been made in the high grass of the prairies by fires in it, occasioned by the, large blazing wood- sparks which lly in shoals from the engine-chimney as it rushes along with its train. In some parts there are black gaps of miles in circumference which have rRATUlE LAND, CIIICAflO, DETROIT, ETC. 307 bocn made by this means. Wo aro told that tho confla- grations in tho prairio- grass, through lightning or other modes of combustion, aro most fearfully sublime and destructive. When its high-waving stalks are set on fire, tho flame rushes on with tho wind at the rate of five miles an hour or more, consuming all in its course, and destroying beasts, reptiles, birds, and even men, that may bo sheltering in or travelling tlirough it. The prairie-fire, with tho huge black cloud of smoke which accompanies it, seems to be as swift and fatal as tho simoom is in tho Arabian or African desert, and is much dreaded by all living creatures. "When seen or scented at a distance, beasts — buffaloes, wolves, and wild horses — dash through the grass with furious 8i)eed to escape from it if possible ; while a company of men unmounted have no chance of saving their lives but by burning a large clear space around them, and then prostrating themselves flat on their faces until the prairie-fire has leaped over them. Some very exciting stories hav»^ been told me of these prairie- fires, such as wouUi form delicious food for excited ears on 1 jng winter ni'^'hts under the ancient chimney nooks of old-fashioned Lincolnshire. Where tho prairie lands are broken for cultivation, the pastures appeared to be very rich indeed. Large numbers of cattle, tended by long- limbed boys on horse- back, were seen feeding, or gambolling and galloping to and fro. Indian corn-stalks were standing to rot and fail upon the soil, not being ^n orth the labour of cutting and gathering ; and wooden frames and houses were seen rising in diflferent localities on grass land (with the names of stores and streets upon them), where, in a short time, will be found important towns and cities. Tho more fre- tl iilliifeMtah 308 V \ PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. quented thoroughfares of these skeleton streets and buildings were deeply ploughed into ruts by the wheels of vehicles which had passed over them, and were it not that the soil is light and sandy in character, though dark in colour, the roads would seem to be almost impassable. Many of the houses seemed to be neatly furnished, and displayed cleanliness in their window-blinds and bed- coverings. The women, too, who stood at the open doors to gaze at the train as it passed, were trimly dressed, and looked very much like what may be seen at the doors of middle-class houses in English small towns and villages in summer time. The stores appeared to contain more of the necessaries of life than of its luxuries, and were made known by large lettered signboards outside, rather than by display in the windows. The men were tall, and looked rough and earnest. They ride and drive horses long-limbed and as full of energy as themselves, like American traders generally. They seem every- where and at all times in haste, and one would think, as one looked upon them with their grisly unshaven chins, strong clothing, high over-boots, and hurried move- ments, that they were afraid of not obtaining the for- tunes they desired out of the lands on which they had settled, before the crowds of coming emigrants should arrive to share with them in their "Western possessions. There is, however, in nearly all the persons we have seen on this line, whether in the embryo towns by its side, or within railway-cars, a thriving, well-to-do appearance, which has led us to conclude that they had made a good selection of locality for settlements. Guide-books here are but of little use to travellers. To be reallv service- able, they ought to be published every month, as Brad- shaw's Eailway Guides are in England. '/ PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. 309 This railway, like the others on which we have travelled in America, in most parts is iinfenced off from the adjoining lands, and cattle may be seen a-head in. droves, standing or lying across the rails. To scare them away, a most horrid screech-horn is blown by the engine ; but sometimes the oxen will not move, or, if they move, it is so slowly that the engine-driver ha«« to stop the train, and either he or his man leap down and drive the beasts away. The thousands of cattle run over and destroyed annually upon this railway is almost incredible. On our way we ran off the rails, and that on a somewhat rude embankment, and over soft boggy land. , But the officials seemed fully prepared for such an ordinary mishap, and, by a species of wooden fulcra and levers, they succeeded in less than an hour in getting us back upon the rails, and again we sped along. The railways in this part are rough and jolting. They appear as if they had been made for only temporary use — the iron rails are laid over sleepers which are very irregular both in thickness and length, while little or no attention seems paid to the levelling between them, or about the rails. And here, as in nearly all other parts of America, the traveller may see by the roadside, or crossing the land for a shorter course, the telegraph- wire supported by rough, tall posts, and at points he may read on a rudely-constructed guide-board perhaps " 300 miles " to some city of importance. In this Western part of the world, as elsewhere, we found that the sublime and the ridiculous are often near neighbours, or that the one comes often close at the heels of the other. We were bounding over the rich and immense plains of waving prairie land, and were full of solemn thoughts on the strange panorama, and 'TSsaaatmmfmm.iJHmmmmrrKr&f!. tmmm iH urTiiiriiiii \ \ 310 PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. on the great future for these regions, when, on stopping at the rude station of a newly-risen town, who should enter our car and take his seat near to us but " General Tom Thumb ! " He looks older, less childlike, and more jaded and worn than when he was exhibited to such crowds in England. He does not seem to have grown much. He was dressed in blue clothes of the ordinary shape, ornamented with gilded buttons, and with a somewhat tall hat upon his head. He looked more like a dwarf than he did when in our country. He lounged, stretched his short length upon the seat, slept, walked to and fro, and spoke with the assumed airs of a full-grown man, but it was evident that in mental capacity he was still a mere child. When in the neighbourhood of Quincy, both on the river and on the rail, we could not but think and speak together upon the Mormons, for we were there nigh to the locality in which they made their first Western settlement — Nauvoo, or " The Beautiful," as it was named by them. It was about fifty miles from Quincy, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, and was, consequently, on our left hand when we were on the railway from Quincy to Chicago. Nauvoo is now in ruins, as a place that has been deserted by its people, and destroyed by its invaders ; but its large temple, built of polished lime- stone to accommodate 3000 persons, may still be dis- tinctly seen standing, as if in monumental mockery of its infatuated and impious builders. While steaming up the solitude of the great river, on the evening that we drew near to Quincy, with the knowledge that the remains of the Mormon city were not distant, and in the direction to which our faces were turned, it was impossible not to reflect upon the deeds of Joe Smith PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETJ. 311 and his designing company a few years ago in that region ; and then, after thinking of the blasphemous pretensions, the gross indulgencies, and the unwarrant- able expectations of the Mormon prophet and his suc- cessors, we had only to turn to the left, and think of the region of Utah and its Salt Lake City, where so many thousands of deluded beings are settled under a system which is the most revolting, as well as the most astounding, of any that has appeared among men. To think that a scheme of such gross falsehood, sensuality, and despotism — a scheme which, on the basis of a clumsy fraud, represents God in the Trinity of the Divine Persons as material, which makes pretensions to miracles, and which authorises an unbridled licentious- ness, should now number among its converts in England 30,000 souls, and should have emigrating to its Sodom, in the Salt Lake valley, thousands yearly, many of them not of the lowest classes, but farmers, mechanics, and clerks, with their wives, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters — this is, undoubtedly, the most humiliating fact that an English traveller in the Western world can possibly contemplate. I am informed that the scenes beheld among the emigrants to this land of blasphemy and vice are often most appalling. We have been in their great highways of passage to the City of the Salt Lake, and have heard lamentable accounts of the deplo- rable and broken-hearted condition into which many of the poor deluded parties are plunged by the time they arrive on the borders of the West. They are worn and haggard, ragged and wretched, having exhausted their means and become awake to the folly and sinfulness of their undertaking. They generally travel in caravans, or companies, from this part to the Far West, and the ****"™ ■ ■^■■.>-#-,»t.i^»»*»«-»-^ »■■*». „':!■ ;r::: ja*vtx:;; -«&S TCJa»«h..i.-. — -♦.., 312 PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. 1 white settlers, as well as the revengeful Indians through whose regions they have to pass, hold them in the strongest abhorrence. With thoughtful persons in the States, a serious question has been ponder'^d concerning the admission of such a communion of profligate persons into the Federal Union when they shall become numerous enough, as they soon will, to claim 'x formal position among the recognised States, and to have their senators and representatives in the Congress. Already, indted, the Mormon district of Utah has been inaugurated ai. i " territory, ' and has its representative without a vote; and the president now appoints its principal officers, of governor, judges, marshals, &c. But when the time for its full reception into the Union as a " State" shall come, its deeply immoral laws and irreligious principles must be freely and searchi"gly investigated ; and then, remem- bering the spirit of defiance and insubmission which Mormonism has manifested in the past, it is expected that it will come into direct and desperate collision with the authorities of the Union rather than give up its intolerance and its polygamy, or open its territory to settlers from all parts of the earth. For a time, the struggle with such an infatuated and evil-principled[ multitude may be dreadful, but, in the end, the general laws of the States muse prevail over the so-called " priestly " domination of Utah. On arriving at Chicago, about seven o'clock in the evening, we found ourselves in a city which, perhaps more than any other, impresses the mind with astonish- ment at the rapid advance of the western parts of Ame- rica. Thirty years ago a solitary log-cabin for Govern- ment stood here at the head of Lake Michigan : now it is a city which contains nearly 100,000 inhabitants, PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. 313 with its streets, stores, warehouses, railways, shipping, and all kinds of trade. And from the very first glance one takes at its situation, and its widely-scattered build- ing-plots, it IS evident that Chicago is only in its infancy, and must eventually become a monster city. It stands adjoining the great lake region of the north- west, and is in communication with the immense corn- growing districts east and y.est of the Mississippi, while it has direct means of transit both to the Eastern States and the Atlantic Ocean. It is, in fact, and must continue to be, the great store city of the north-west of America, holding trade and commerce in articles of food and clothing not only with other parts of the Union, but also with England and with other nations of Europe. On arriving at the railway terminus we were assailed by a crowd of "touters," or runners, from different hotels and boarding-houses ; but we had previously fixed upon the Fremont Hotel for our abode while we should remain in Chicago, and so we pressed through the shouting crowd, and drove away for our lodging as quickly as possible. The Fremont is a huge hotel, and is crowded with travellers from many parts of the States. In going to it we ^:issed, on bridges, over the river, wh'^h divides the city into three parts, and could see, as we went along, the shipping, wharves, and warehouses of a place of great trade. The large wide streets, too, were thronged with people hurrying to and fro; while lighted-up stores, restau- rants, public lounges, and places of evening amusement, told of a ^ay and flourishing city. Next morning, after an early bidakfast, we set out to view the city, ruder the guidance of the Rev. Thomas . »» ■**. (i 318 PRAIRIE LAND, CIFICAaO, DETROIT, ETC. saw many a creek and bay on our left hand, whero Indian canoes, a few years ago, undoubtedly entered and were lodged ; indeed, the signs of Indian residence in that part were distinct and certain. Several of the places through which we passed bore Indian names — such as Dowagiac, Taw-l'uw, Kalamazoo, &c. We saw also, at the stations on the road, civilised Indians in European clothing, mingling and conversing freely with the white settlers ; and, in several instances on the way, we saw proof, in complexion, eyes, and hair, of intermarriages of whites and Indians. We had another breakdown stoppage, through our "Lightning Express" train running off the rails; but we were soon " all right" again, and on we went. Some coloured youths came into our car, and were quite cheer- ful and merry together, laughing and jabbering, and showing their even rows of pearl-white teeth, in free style. This was pleasing to us. It was a sign, not only that Micliigan, into which we liad now come, is a free State, but also that in this quarter prejudice against the poor negro race is not so strong as in some others. The day was very hot and sultry ; we drank freely at the water-can, and were thankful for apples and oranges sold to us by boys, who, at the successive stations, came into the cars with baskets full of cakes and fruit. The dust, too, gathered thickly upon us. But by seven o'clock in the evening we reached Detrcjit, and drove as quickly as possible to the Biddle Hotel. We obtained very comfortable bedrooms adjoining each other; and after plentiful ablutions and our evening meal, we walked out to see what we could, by lamp-light, of the city. Of course we could not see much of it at that time of day, but we learned the general character and plan of I'llAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETUOIT, ETC. 319 the town, and saw what was its general aspect as a place of trade and merchandise. Detroit, as its name shows, was originally a French settlement. It was so as early us the year IGIO, and it still, by the names, countenances, and manners of many of its people, bears undoubted marks of its origin. The city is situated on the southern bank of the river De- troit, and is seven miles from liake 8t. Clair, and eighteen from Lake Erie. It is a large, well-built city, having a very wide street about a mile and a half long, running parallel to the river, and several cross streets, squares, a market-place, &c., — extending backwards a mile or so from the river, and sloping upwards from the water 50 feet or more. Detroit contains some good public buildings, such as the State- House, the City Hall, and the Market-House. It has numerous churches, belonging to different denominations, several literary institutions, and many good shops, and has more than ' 40,000 inhabitants. It is a place of considerable mer- chandise, has its manufactures, is a great timber port, is visited by nunierous steamboats and water-craft of various kinds, bears a high reputation for ship-building, and, by its returns of imports and exports, shows that it is increasingly prosperous. The western part of the principal street is a very pleasant promenade, and with its plank walks, overshadowed with trees, and skirted with good houses and lovely gardens, is much frequented in fine weather. We passed the Sabbath in Detroit ; and as our other Sabbaths in America had been wholly spent among the Methodists, we resolved, after a visit to the Methodist churches, to attend on that day the services of other denominations. Early in the morning we went to the \ 1 320 PRAIRIE LAND, CIIICAQO, DETROIT, ETC. Roman Catholic Cathedral, where we found a large congregation, and heard a young priest delivering in- struction to the children of the schools on the section of the Creed relating to "the Communion of Saints." His discourse was intensely popish. He began by show- ing how persons became members of the true Church by baptism and the eucharist administered ])y autho- rised hands ; showed how they then had communion with all the faithful, both in heaven and earth ; and on this ground exhorted his audience to pray earnestly to angels, and to select their patrons and guardians from the calendar of departed saints. Next, we went to the Protestant Episcopal Church, which is a neat wooden building, on the right-hand side of the great thorough- fare in which the Roman Cat\olic Cathedral is situated. Here, also, we found a good congregation, and very English in its appearance. After the Eii«?lish Liturgy, somewhat altered and mutilated, we heard a very good sermon against infidelity and scepticism, by a minis- ter from Nc"' York. It was founded on Psalm cxix. 98 — 100. In the afternoon we went to an elaborately ornamented Presbyterian church, of Grecian architec- ture, and heard a good, plain, practical sermon on prayer (Numbers xi. 2), delivered to a somewhat fashionable congrr^gation. After our evening meal we went to St. Paul's, expecting to hear the bishop of the Protestant Church preach. The large, hand- Gothic structure, richly adorned, and cheer- some, fully lighted with gas, was well filled by a respectable- looking congregation — a more brilliant and imposing scene I never witnessed within a Protestant church. The bishop read the Liturgy in a manly, effective style, displaying now and then a little of the Irish accent; PHAIUIE LAND, CIirCAGO, DETllOIT, ETC. 321 a minis- but a clergy man on a visit to Detroit preached the sermon, from 2 Peter i. 18, which was in the most popular style of French oratory, and was delivered with considerable taste and power. It was on the Transfiguration of our Lord. Altogether, we were much impressed by the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Detroit — remembering 'lat that Church, in other parts of the States, is so little attrac- tive to Americans, that it is only in the third or fourth rank among Christian churcl.es. On Monday morning, at ton o'clock, we left Detroit for Niagara Fulls, by a large sf earner which was to take us through Lake Erie to liuftalo. V\^o des -^ Tided the river, — a pleasant stream delightfully boi Kred on its banks with trees, — and, by one o'clc^'', after pussii - a sort of lighthouse and some other biuldings on the extremity of its western shores, we found ourselves fairly on Lake Erie. We steomed onwards in its deep green waters, being scarcely ever out of sight of one or other of its shores, oil of which were well wooded, and reflected their forms clearly in the water. Lake Erie is one of the smaller lakes, and yet it took the steamer till five o'clock the next morning to reach Buffalo, at the other end of it. Our passage over it was very pleasant ; the aii ^. is still, the water smooth, wo had a good and commodious steamer, and the banks and trees that skirted the lake were, in their long- stretched outlines, ricii clothing, and reflected forms, highly picturesque. These great American Lakes are not to be imagined as being similar in appearance to the lakes of England, Scotland, and Ireland, or even to the larger lakes of Switzerland. They are totally unlike them in all their fipinv'*" ,/ 322 PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. more characteristic features ; and, unless personally visited, can be but imperfectly realised in idea. The European notion of a lake is that of an expansive sheet of smooth water, locked in by sheltering mountains, glistening under the sun like a polished mirror, and over whose calm bright surface pleasure-boats glide with their white- winged sails, like birds asleep in the sky. The image is that of unconscious loveliness, or beauty asleep on a flower-bank in summer-time. Hence we speak of " the fair bosom of the lake." Or, if we think of the European lake as stirred by the breeze, we imagine it rippled on its glassy surface into innu- merable glittering wavelets, that silently chase each other to the sloping margin, where they fall languidly upon the shore, kissing the pebbles of the strand as they fall in succession, and making only a soft silvery sound that dies away from us like the music of a dream. Very different is it with these great American Lakes ; they are, in fact, inland seas, and, in length, breadth, and depth, exceed considerably some of the renowned inland seas of Europe, Though very pleasant and calm at times, as was Lake Erie when we passed over it, yet at some seasons, and under certain influences of the wind, they are exceedingly stormy and dangerous. The wind sweeps down upon them from all sides, disturbs the waters, breaks them into tumultuous billows, lashes them into fury, and renders the passage over them far more perilous than over the wide open ocean ; and, even in their calmest moods, being un- moved by any ebb and flow of the tide, there is a soli- tary desert-like effect in the monotonous dead-level of their still, green or blue waters, which, if not seen, can hardly be understood, No mere study of engraved PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. 323 maps can give the full idea of their extent, and no word-painting can effectually convey the true image of their expansive desolateness. It is estimated that in this great chain of Lakes, extending eastward from the north-west point of the United States, and, for the most part, forming the boundary line between the States and Canada, there are not less than 5000 miles' length of coast-line. It is stated that in the Georgian Bay, the mere arm of one of these lakes (Lake Huron), there are not less than 2700 islands, the largest of which is more than one hundred miles in length. The official returns give the following as the dimensions of the principal lakes in this vast extending chain of navigable waters : — Lake Superior, the largest of all the lakes, and which is situated at the extreme north-west point of the United States, is 420 miles long, 100 miles in average width, and is 900 feet deep. Lake Michigan, which extends from the south-east point of Lake Superior to Chicago, is in length 340 miles, in average width 58 miles, and is 850 feet deep. Lake Huron, which extends from the south-east point of Lake Superior, and from the north-east point of Lake Michigan, in a south-east direction towards the Lakes of St. Clair and Erie, is 270 miles long, 70 miles in average breadth, and is 950 feet deep. Lake St. Clair is the smallest of these lakes, and is a few miles north of Detroit. It is eighteen miles from north to south, and twenty-five miles from east to west. Lake Erie, extending eastward from Detroit River^to Buffalo, and receiving for transmission towards the 324 PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAQO, DETROIT, ETC. Atlantic the water of the four lakes above-named, is 240 miles long, 38 miles in average breadth, and 265 feet deep. Lake Ontario extends eastward from the Niagara River, by which it is united with Lake Erie, to the Biver St. Lawrence, and is 180 miles long, 40 miles in average width, and 650 feet deep. All these lakes flow, by rivers, and straits, and canals, out of one deep basin into another ; and from Lake Superior, in the order I have named, transmit their volumes of fresh water (drained from the great north-west of the continent) by the River St. Lawrence, which is 700 miles long, into the Atlantic Ocean, making, in one continued line of measurement (without following, as we did in our former reckoning, the inden- tations of the shores), more than 2000 miles : the largest inland navigation in the world. On reaching the north eastern shore of Lake Erie, we found we were at the bottom of the port and city of Buffalo. The pier at which we landed is constructed of stone and wood, and has a lighthouse of yellow lime- stone standing at its head. This pier extends as much as 1500 feet into the lake, and serves as a breakwater for the protection of vessels from the violent gales which are occasionally experienced here. There ap- peared to be many vessels of different sizes in the port, and, in the lower part of the city, it bore quite the aspect of a maritime place. After depositing our lug- gage at the railway station, we ascended the rising ground to look at the city. Buffalo resembles other American cities, being regular in its plan, well-built, and having broad, open, straight streets, that intersect each other at right angles. The principal street, run- PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. 325 ning from east to west, is named "Main Street;" it is more than two miles long, is 120 feet wide, and on each side has large massive piles of buildings for stores, dwelling-houses, and hotels. There are three public squares, named " Niagara," " Franklin," and " Wash- ington" Squares ; they are planted with trees, and add much to the appearance of the city. There are also some good public civic buildings, and numerous churches of more than ordinary architectural consistency. Alto- gether, the city looks like a great commercial mart, and situated as it is on the shore of Lake Erie, from which vessels can go not only to Detroit, but also to the Great West by the large upper lakes of Superior and Michi- gan, and having direct railway communication with the St. Lawrence, and also with the Northern and Eastern States, Buffalo presents ever}'" promise of increasing im- portance and thrift. It first became a settlement of white men in 1800 ; in 1814 it was only a small village, surrounded by thick forests ; in 1825 it had only 2000 inhabitants ; but since then, tlirough the formation of the Erie Canal, which opened the navigation between the Atlantic and the upper lakes, its increase has been amazing. Three times within thirty years it has doubled its population, and it now contains as many as 80,000 inhabitants. Its situation by Lake Erie secures to it both pleasing views and refreshing breezes. After having viewed Buffalo, we took the railway- train for Niagara Falls, and passed through several small towns and villages, having the Niagara River flowing smoothly at our left. In little more than an hour we passed through Niagara village, crossed the new suspension bridge over the deep chasm of the river, and landed at the railway station on the Canada side. 326 PRAIRIE LAND, CHICAGO, DETROIT, ETC. We engaged a coach, drove towards Clifton House, and as we went, knowing that we were now in the British dominions, we took off our hats, and, with loyal hearts, together exclaimed aloud, " God save the Queen ! " We soon had our rooms solected, and, making as little delay- as p jssible, you may be sure, went out to have our first gaze at the giant cataracts, the deep ponderous sound of which we could now distinctly hear. r:' "rj^^^ E^-. . "vT?' SAt_ ETC. House, ard the British loyal hearts, leen!" We I little delay ve our first srous sound 'xic'^m-i^ % LETTER XIX. THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. i Source of the Falls from the Great Lakes— The River of Niagara — The Whirlpool — The Rapids— Goat Island— The American Fall — Luna Island — 'J'he Middle Fall — The Canada, or "Horse-shoe" Fall — Retrogression of the Falls according to Geologists — View of the Falls from the Hotel 13alcouy — View from the River Bank — From "Prospect Place" — From the Bridge over the Rapids — Landing on Goat Island — " Prospect Tower ' —The "Cave of Winds"— The Falls by Moonlight— I -gends and Tales of Horror respecting the Falls. I AM now in the presence of this great overpowering wonder of creation — the Falls of Niagara. I have been here three days, viewing it from all points, until my mind is filled with it, and now, from the hotel window, from whence I can see it, and from amid so much of its ceaseless sound as seems to make the earth tremble under the building, and which shakes the window-frame of this my chamber, I attempt to describe it. I feel the attempt to be almost hopeless, for words can never describe this overwhelming spectacle, nor express the mingled sensations of awe and delight with which it is beheld. I have here felt more than ever the excelling grandeur of the works of God as compared with the works of man. One may have experienced deep and solemn emotion in visiting English and foreign cathe- drals — viewing them in their long-retiring perspective 328 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. of columns and arches, of nave and choir, of transept and aisles — under varying and changeful lights, or coloured with slanting reflections of richly-stained win- dows, at noon of day, or darkened into gloomy and frowning grandeur at the approach of night; but the contemplation of God's workmanship, which man can neither alter or adorn, is productive of far more profound and indescribable feeling and thought. I felt it to be so when you and I together viewed the stern uninhabitable Alps, which rise so far above the paths of men, and seem themselves to inhabit the heavens — those Alps, which, when once viewed, ever afterwards " stand fast" before the mind as the everlasting hills which i cannot be moved, and as the abiding proof of the Divine ^ omnipotence. It was so with the ocean, as I saw it in our outward voyage to this continent — that dread infinity of "many sounding" waters has a voice for the soul which language cannot express. And it is so with Niagara : there is a might and majesty in it which irresistibly sway the soul of man, and make him feel his own insignificance, and the littleness of all — even of the greatest works of his race. Before coming to view the FalL-j, we were repeatedly warned by our iriends against yielding to a feeling of disappointment at first sight. But though in most things where high expectations are entertained the imagination usually exceeds the reality, it was not so with us and Niagara ; indeed, it is difficult to under- stand how expectation could surpass this scene. When it first burst on our sight we felt it to be unspeakably sublime; and as we have viewed it from various standing- points day after day, our wonder and delight have never abated. We have scarcely thought of anything else by day, and we have had no real sleep by night ; rushing THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 329 cataracts have always been before the mind, whether we have been in slumber or broad awake — we seem to live in a sort of reverie with waterfalls. "When in the immediate presence of this marvel we are all agitation — our awe approaclies to terror — the blood seems to be sent back with overj^owering pressure to its fountain — we stand ^^asping for breath, mute and powerless, and are some minutes before we can do anything but gaze, and before we can begin to contemplate. I believe it to be impossible for words, however skil- fully employed, to express the feelings and thoughts with which Niagara is viewed. It must be seen for those to be known. The most moderate and defective language will seem exaggeration to those who have not been where we now are. I am not sure that what I now write will not, even to you, seem to be such ; but I must, in this instance, be willing to pay the unavoidable penalty of being deemed too emotional, and console myself with the thought that nearly all who come after me will irresistibly and inevitably find themselves in the same case. Yet I must attempt something like a narrative description. The Falls of Niagara are the headlong plunging of an immeasurable mass of waters, which flow down from the Great Lakes enumerated in my last letter, and which here suddenly precipitate themselves over immense shelves of rocks down into the river or strait below. From thence they hurry onward to unite themselves with the lower waters of Lake Ontario, which empties itself into the St. Lawrence, from whence, winding amidst a thousand islands, the outlet is into the vast Atlantic. The source of this im- mense volume of water is in the rocky region of the north-west of the American continent. It is estimated 330 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. ''.' '\ that Niagara drains an area of not less than 40,000 sfjuare miles, and is connected with half the entire quantity of the fresh water of the globe. The waters of the four large inland seas — Tiakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie, with all the rivers and streams flowing into thera — all pass onwards by this course, which, in their narrow, deep bed between liuke Erie and Lake Ontario is named "the River of Niagara." The dis- tance between these two lakes (and, consequently, the length of this river) is about thirty-seven miles, and its entire descent from the basin of Lake Erie to that of Lake Ontario is 334 feet. At about twenty miles from Lake Erie, across the entire bed of the descending river, occurs a sudden break in the rock, where the waters I'all 160 feet downwards over the perpendicular cliffs, and these are called the Falls of Niagara. The river, as it leaves Lake Erie, is about a mile in width, and flows but lazily along at first, between low and marshy banks, and almost in a straight line, being dotted with many small islets. It widens, however, in some places as it approaches the Falls to nearly three miles. Then, when it has passed the Falls, it suddenly narrows exceedingly, for immediately below them the river is confined within a gorge of only three-quarters of a mile wide, and thus it flows onwards in its straitened channel, in a more serpentine course, to Lake Ontario. In the upper part, or before it reaches the Falls, the river is comparatively shallow, but half-a-mile below the Falls — the point nearest to them at which soundings have been ascertained — it is as much as 260 feet deep. Lower down it is deeper still. Immediately under the Falls, where the bed of the river receives the descending flood, the depth cannot be fatl tmed, but, from the time which elapses between the passage of a huge piece of timber THE FALLS OP NIAGARA. 331 over the pi*ecipico, and its reappearance on the surfuco of the river below, it is supposed that the depth of the cauldron of waters there is very great indeed. An opinion is entertained that, at the foot of the Falls, and in other parts, there are vast cavernous openings through which a portion of the water finds its way, by subterraneous channels, beneath the natural bed of the Niagara, straight into liuke Ontario. This opinion would seem to find support from the fact that there are concave recesses and deep yawning hollows under and behind the Falls, as well as from the appearance of the water :it points and bonds lower down, where it whirls up as from rushing under- currents. The bed of the river, as it proceeds downwards in its winding course, narrows into a deep, rocky, picturesque gorge, which, in one part, is not more than 100 yards wide, and descends in its surface line below the overhanging cliffs and wooded banks, until it is as much as 400 feet below them. It, there- fore, becomes difiicult to conceive, without the admission of a subterranean passage, how the millions of tons of water from the Lake region above, which are precipitated every hour over the Falls of Niagara, can be held within that narrow channel below. At a distance of about three miles below the Falls, at a bend of the river in its nar- rowest ptrait, there is a singularlr turbulent appearance in the midstream, called the " Whiilpool," where the gathering waters whirl in circuiyr and agitated eddies until they rise as much as 10 feet above the edge of the stream. Here huge logs and fallen trees are caught in their descending course, and are twisted round and round by the circular motion of the water until they stand on end with several feet out of the river, and then sink down and disappear entirely. It is supposed that this is one of those cavernous hollows where the water 332 THE FALLS OF NIAt XaA. / either rushes up from a subterrunenn pnssngo beneath the bed of the river, or sinks whirling down from the channel above into the vaulted stream below. Whether either side of this theory be true, or whether the strange turmoil there is caused by the river making a sharp bend in its narrow rock-bound channel at nearly a right- angle, I am not competent to pronounce, I can only say that the sight of the " tro iblcd waters " there is very impressive. As the floods hurled over the Fulls rise up from the huge seething cauldron into which they have been pre- cipitated, and issue forth into the lower river to flow towards this whirlpool, and then in a widening channel to Lake Ontario, they do not toss themselves into waves, but move heavily along, as if stunned by their fearful descent, or as if " Astoundi'd and nmozud ; No wonder : fall'u such a pernicious height." Paralysis seems to succeed the sudden shock. But this is only temporary. As the river descends in its course it recovers strength and buoyancy, and at length hurries rapidly towards its destined receptacle. Lake Ontario. The rate at which the River of Niagara travels from one lake to the other is from two to eight miles per hour, according to the nature of the declivities and angles met with in its passage. Immediately above the Falls are what are termed " The Bapids." These are tumultuous descents of the water over a succession of rocky shelves towards the giant pre- cipice of the Falls. Within one mile's space the stream thus descends, by a succession of slopes, as much as 50 or 60 feet, and also narrows itself, as I have stated, from about three miles in width to three-fourths of a mile. All along its journey over these rocky shelves, the speed of the river is, of course, much accelerated, its waters 4 THE FALLS OP NIAQARA. 333 oneath im the hother itrange •p bend ;. angle, liut the iressive. •om the jen pre- to flow channel waves, r fearful But this ;8 course hurries Ontario. Tom one )er hour, tries met ed"The he water iant pre- e stream ich as 50 ted, from f a mile. ;he speed s waters rago furiously, toss and upheave themselves into the air, and seem to battle madly with each other in their fated course to the margin of the precipice which awaits them. About half way up the llapids, the raging waters are divided into two moving masses by the intervention of an island called " Goat Island," which lies nearly in the middle of the river, and extends its north-western extre- mity to the very edge of the grand precipice, and thus makes of Niagara two great falls of water. The body of water between this island and the American shore is named "The American Fall," and the body of water between Goat Island and the Canadian shore is termed "The Canada Fall." The American Fall is 900 feet in breadth, and the water descends nearly perpendicularly over a precipice of 164 feet in depth. This fall, by the intervention of another and much smaller island, called " Ijuna Island," from the lunar rainbows seen on it by night, is divided for the space of 30 feet into another cataract, which bears the name of " The Middle Fall," and is a fall of crystal clearness and beauty. The Canada Fall is as much as 1800 feet in breadth, without any intervention in any part, and with a deep bend in the surface line, formerly in the shape of a horse-shoe (whence it is called "The Horse-shoe Fall"), but now worn to the figure of a demi-hexagon ; and its vast body of waters descend less perpendicularly, or with a greater projectile curve, over cliffs 158 feet deep. The greatest volume of water rushes over the Canada Fall, and it is by far the grandest and most impressive spectacle — though, if the American Fall were alone, it would be reckoned one of the greatest wonders of creation. As much as seven-eighths of the whole descending water rolls over the Canada Fall ; and that with a pro- (k- i> \ \ 334 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. I!' r jecting curve of not less than twenty feet at the edge of the precipice. This sweeping curve-line, with the glancing sun-light upon its ever-moving crest, and its constant variety of translucent colours, give the Canada Fall an aspect of more commanding attraction than that of its neighbour. The American Fall can only boast of a straight line, which, as every one knows, is never favourable to ccauty. And then, again, while wantipg that gracefully sweeping curve of rolling waters over the edge of the precipice, its cataract does not, as in the Canada Fall, pour itself into an abyss of con- vulsed and fathomless waters, white as molten silver — but plunges among fragments of dark fallen rocks, from whence it winds its way into the lower river. From the foot of both the Falls, however, clouds of white mist or spray, like fine steam, ascend high up into the air in curling wreaths, until they seem to mingle with the clouds of heaven. In this respect the "Horse-shoe" Fall is still greatly superior to the American; the cloud of shining vapour hanging over it proclaims to travellers far distant that they are approaching this wonder; and, no doubt, it calls up before the imagina- tion of some of them, as it did with me, that Pillar of the Cloud which hung over the Tabernacle in the Wil- derness, and which preceded the march of the Israelites to the Promised Land. According to Sir Charles Lyell, and other geologists, the Falls of Niagara have gradually retrograded north- wards, having eaten their way backwards from Queens- ton, which is seven miles distant from the present Falls, four miles beyond the Whirlpool, and about half way between the present Falls and Lake Ontario. This conclusion of men of science is a very probable one ; for the action of the immense volume of water which pours B edge th the ind its Canada a than n only LOWS, is I, while r waters i not, as , of con- silver — ■ ks, from . From iiite mist he air in with the •se-shoe" ;an; the aims to ling this imagina- Pillar of the Wil- ;sraelite8 eologists, ed north- Q,ueen8- present bout half ■rio. This one; for ich pours f f THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 335 over the precipices at the rate of 20 millions of cubic feet per minute, with the stupendous weight of 100 millions of tons per hour, must of necessity " wear away stones," and so remove the Falls farther and farther upwards. No person can examine, even cursorily, the strata of the Falls and the bed of the river, without per- ceiving that the process of disintegration, or gradual abrasion and removal of both rocks and soil, has long been going on, as it is going on at the present time. The ponderous body of water which teems over the precipice falls from a height as great as that of the front towers of York Cathedral. The upper ledge is of hard limestone rock, and the immediately underlying bed consists of slaty shale in horizontal layers, which is perpetually crumbling away. Blasts of wind, charged with the spray that is constantly rising from the fathom- less abyss under the cataract, strike against this bed of perishable shales, and, together with the expansive agency of frosts, incessantly crumble and force it away from under the calcareous rock, and leave the limestone to project without support. Through the operation of these agencies, there is now a passage behind the falling waters of the Horse-shoe Fall of 50 feet wide in some parts ; hither adventurous visitors go for a length of 100 feet, upon a slippery path, to be immersed in spray and sand-dust, while they have the concave recesses and worn-away limestone on the one hand, and the crystal veil of the descending flood, through which the light gleams, on the other. From time to time, the unsupported rock falls in large masses headlong into the profound abyss below, and into the bed of the river around, with a sound the most terrific. Such a fall occurred on the American side in 1818, and again in 1843 ; and on the Canadian side in I m ' 1 <\ 336 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 1828. In 1852, a large portion of thf Horse-shoe ledge fell, and left a severed mass, 150 feet high, re- maining erect. On all these occasions, it is affirmed, the surrounding district was shaken as if by an earth- quake. Parts of the fallen rocks still remain at the foot of both the cataracts, and appear like the over- thrown rrlics of a Cyclopean wall. Living men, of advanced years, who from childhood have resided in the neighbourhood, affirm that in their time the Horse- shoe Fall has receded as much as 150 feet. An early print, made from a drawing by Father Hennepin, in 1678, confif jQs this statement, and shows another fall jetting out obliquely from the Canadian cliff, where the "Table Rock" has since fallen: with the Table Bock the oblique jet has wholly disappeared. Every intelligent observer may ascertain for himself, that the appearance of the disintegrated strata (along this space of 150 feet, which is said to have been worn away within the memory of living men), as seen at the sides of the ravine, are precisely of the same character as that of the seven miles gorge which has been gradually excavated backwards from Queenston to the present Falls ; while, at several points, he will find unmistake- able wearings of an overflowing flood of waters : so that the probability, if not certainty, is with the con- clusion of geological science, that the Falls have gra- dually receded through the seven miles chasm up to their present position, and have scooped out for them- selves the deep and rocky ravine through which the river now flows from them southwards. The only difficulty in the way of this conclusion is the length of time required for the process. For, if 150 feet have been worn away within the memory of living men, it would require 10,000 years at least (Lyell [orse-shoe high, re- affirmed, an earth- in at the the over- men, of esided in le Horse- An early Qepin, in )ther fall rhere the 3le Rock himself, long this )rn away the sides r as that ;radually present mistake- ters : so the con- ive gra- n up to tr them- lich the usion is For, if mory of t (Lyell Bfl^K^ ', ; ■Is t O 55 H U FALLS OF NIAGARA. 337 sp.ys 35,000 !) for the Falls to have reached their present situation. But, without encroaching on the Scriptural chronology of the world in this instance (if the first verse of the Bible is not to be separated, as a general statement respecting the creation of all things), since it cannot be proved that the rate of the abrading power upon the rocks has never been swifter than it is at present, the difficulty of time, even with the most tenacious holder by the old chronology, need not prevent the conclusion of science on this question. Another question may arise in the mind, as to the number of years that would be required to bear back the Falls, at their present rate of recession, throvigh the twenty miles which intervene between thjm and Lake Erie. But the geological survey recently made may save us the trouble of a calculation : the limest jne rock dips northward towards Lake Erie, and at the distance of two riiles — if the Falls recede so far — the limestone will be at the base, the ledge incomparably lower than it is at present, the weight of water incomparably less, and, most likely, the recession would cease altogether. Such, at least, is the opinion of the first living geologists. The accompanying ideal bird's-eye view of the course of the Niagara waters, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, as suggested by Sir Charles Lyell in his Geographical Observations on America, will explain to you, at a glance, both the position of the Falls, and the character of the bed of the river down which their volume flows. But whatever the supposed facts of the formation and process of this great phenomenou of nature may be, undoubtedly it is one of the most stupendous and over- whelming of all the works of the Almighty. If a visitor to these shores were to see nothing else, it would be z ' 11 338 ^ i THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. worth his transit over half the convex world. Dr. Hannah and I commenced our survey, on the morning of our arrival, without any preconcerted plan. We agreed simply on one thing — that we would not hurry from point to point, but would deliberately view it in its various features, until we should have received into our minds as full an impression of its solemn grandeur as possible. And this has proved our best course. "We have now walked and sauntered around it for nearly four days : we have stood before it on fallen masses of rock, under its white drizzling spray, until, with sight bedazzled and ears confounded, we could almost imagine that we were witnessing a wcrJd of waters come tum- bling down out of a rent in the firmament, or that Chaos were come again ; and we have watched it with greater calmness at a more respectful distance. The general scene, as beheld even from the balcony of the hotel where I am writing, is magnificent. Yet this view of the Falls being from an elevated point, and at a distance, is not so overpowering in its awful effect as that taken from a lower stand-point and in closer con- tiguity with the great wonder. Here, from the hotel balcony, the vision is that of a panorama of cataracts. The Hortie-shoe Fall is directly before us — an extended line of overflowing waters, reaching across and filling up the whole breadth of the yawning chasm between one bank of the river and Goat Island. The American Fall is on our left, separated from the Canadian Full by that islana, and divided by Luna Island into one expansive cataract, and another of more slender breadth. The water, as seen rolling over the rocky ledge at this distance, appears like moving sheets of snow-white foam, varied at intervals with gleaming crystal and THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 339 . Dr. lorning 1. We t liurry iw it in (red into ■randeur je. We p nearly lasses of til sigbt imagine me tum- lat Chaos ti greater )alcony of 1 Yet this and at a effect as oser con- ;he hotel cataracts, extended ad filling between A.merican iian Full into one ' breadth, re at this LOW- white ?8tal and emerald. The background beyond the Horse-shoe Fall, and on the right, is a richly-wooded elevation sprinkled with villa-like buildings. The clothing of the forest trees on Goat Island, and of the shrubbery on the shelving sides of the river, is a rich spring green ; while from both the great cataracts rise clouds of spray that steam high up into the air, are wreathed by the wind into spiral forms, and then disperse imperceptibly, or join the overhanging vapours in the heavens. I have sketched and coloured this view, from the hotel balcony, considering that, though it is not the most impressive, yet it may be regarded as the most explana- tory view of the Falls that could be selected to present to the eye of a noi.-observer. When we first descended from the balcony of our hotel, we advanced towards the Horse-shoe Fall along the Canadian cliff. We then returned to the point im- mediately on the left, by our hotel, and winding down upon a carriage road formed at the side of the river, we took the ferry-boat, and crossed over to the bank on the American side, that we might view the general scene from thence. In crossing, we found the river, which looked peacefully smooth from above, to be variously agitated and heavy in its descending current. Our skifi" seemed a mere cockle-shell in the disturbed waters ; but our strong-armed ferryman pulled us over, with our bow pointed against the flow of the current, and in ten minutes landed us at the foot of the wooden stair- case on the other side of the river. In our short pas- sage the spray from the cataracts fell thickly upon us, and partially obscured our view of the Falls ; but this served to heighten the efiect, by veiling the grand object in mysterious folds. ,../ P! 340 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. Haying landed on the American side, we ascended by the wooden staircase of 300 steps to the cliffs, — passing out at intervals to view the American Fall in its huge profile, — and on reaching the top we stood on a picturesque and frequented piece of ground, called " Prospect Place," doubtless on account of the impres- sive view here to be obtained of the Falls. Standing at the side of the American Fall, and looking over its vast body of waters as they rush down from the Rapids at your left, and rt.l over the edge of the precipice at your right into the guif beneath, you see the great Canadian Fall, with its long reach of snowy foam in front, skirted and backed with trees and verdant embankments, and with its column of half-transparent spray hovering before it and ascending on high. We had this view daguerreotyped, with Dr. Hannah and myself in the foreground — for such is the regularity even in the in- dentations and foldings of these ever-moving waters, that they may be successfully transferred by the sun- light to the chemically prepared plate. But it is impos- sible to give, even with this accurate representation by the sun itself, the accompanying impression of resistless and overwhelming power which is experienced by the spectator in the presence of this great work of the Creator : such profound feeling cannot be transferred by any art, however skilful or true. Upon the perfect accuracy of the lines of the scene, as you will see them in the daguerreotype, you may, however, confidently rely. After lingering a considerable time over the view from Prospect Place, we picked our way eastwards by the side of the American Rapids, until we reached a long wooden bridge, which undaunted and persevering man has thrown over the lesser breadth of these turbu- > ended ifFs,— 'all in )od on called apres- ling at ts vast pids at it your nadian skirted ts, and (vering IS view in the the in- waters, le sun- irapos- tion by jsistless by the of the isferred perfect hem in y rely, le view irds by iched a Bvering turbu- i THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 841 lent waters, that he may have an entrance to Goat Island. Here, perhaps, from the middle of this bridge, which trembles with the violent rush of the water over the rocky shelves beneath it, you have as impressive a view of the Rapids as can possibly be obtained ; for though the amount of water rushing over the American Rapids and under you, as you stand on this bridge, is only one-seventh of the moving mass which descends over the Rapids to the Horse- nhoe Fall, yet, as there is no bridge over the Canadian Rapids, there is no middle point for seeing them. The comparative narrowness of the channel which is spanned by this bridge renders the waters more tumul- tuous, and from this stand-point on the safe but trem- bling bridge, the vision of the Rapids is really sublime. There is a solemn grandeur in the wildness of the waves that thrills one's whole nature. They are broken into every variety of form, as they rush over their shelving bed ; some of them leap perpendicularly many feet, and rear their foaming crests in the air, far above the horizontal line of view, showing themselves in their whirling fury strongly against the background of the sky, and catching at every change of form and posture gleaming prismatic lights from the sun. Others rush headlong over their broken bed, as if too sullenly reso- lute on reaching without delay the edge of the great gulph, to linger even for a moment and upheave them- selves into spouting billows. The entire spectacle of these wild, tumultuous waters, extending up to the very heavens on one hand, and down below to the precipice on the other, and reflecting in their raging and multiplying forms the various hues of sky and trees, is indescribable in its effect upon the mind of the beholder. 312 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. Crossing the long wooden bridge, we landed on Goat Island. This island contains about sixty acres of forest land, and is about a mile in f in'xnnferenco. Where you first step upon it from the bridge there is a picturesque cottage, with a garden on the left, and a factory-like paper-mill by its side on the right. For the greater part the islet is thickly wooded with forest-trees of large growth. We hastened along a colonnade of these to the north-western point of the islet, singularly n; raed " Hog's Back," where there is a most charming and impressive view looking down the deep gorge of the river. The profiles of the American Falls, divided by the IcAely islet of Luna, are immediately in front ; and the graceful suspension bridge of 800 feet span, with its double floor, and swinging on its slender cables, is also before you. I traced this scene also in my sketch-book, and while so doing, a most beautiful rainbow shone out in its prismatic colours amidst the ascending spray from the fall, and seemed to corroborate the suitableness of another name which is sometimes bestowed on the islet of Lurja, that of " Iris Island." From thence we took a narrow path, by the side of the river, leading to the Ilorse-shoe Fall ^passing what I have since visited alone — the descent to the eastern shore of the river between the cataracts, called " Biddle Stairs," where I sketched memoranda of some terrific views of the descending torrents in front of the " Cave of Winds"), and picked our way to the south-western corner of Goat Island. Here, by a narrow, slender bridge of shaking plankp, we passed over the Rapids to a sort of lighthouse structure, named " Prospect Tow^r," that stands on the very edge of the terrible abyss of the Falls. Ascending to its height of 45 feet, we looked if of the ooked THE FALLS OF NIAflAUA. 343 \ dizzily down from our frail and tremblinf^ platform into the hugo cuuldruii of soothing and smoking waters below. And hero again, as may be supposed, tlio scene of the raging llapids and descending cataract was fear- fully sublime. The waves from the expanse of the upper river came tumbling and whirling along, and uniting at some distance from the curved-out precipice, rolled over its ^ k with unexampled grandeur. TV ;< smooth, dee]i ' between the llupids and the ecje of the Fall 11 we *ii ake a stream of molten glass, it was so pelluciu, UiAii bO even and un wrinkled on its sur- face. But, as it formed its curve of 20 feet over the brink of the precipice, it broke into an infinite variety of forms and colours ; — here it looked like whirling pillars of alabaster, and there it streamed over like liquid emerald ; — here it seemed forming spiral pillars of glistening snow, and there it sparkled and gleamed like rolling folds of crystal. These ever-changeful forms seemed to chase each other down into the terrific gulph beneath, from whence clouds of drizzling spray came rolling upwards to our faces ; while, as if to inspire us with hope on our slcn ler and quivering stage over the fearful abyss, lovely rainbows interlaced each other before us, and, as if to inspire ns with praise to the Creator of so much awful magnificence, a little song- bird, so iring amid the ascending incense of this high altar of falling waters, warbled its sweet carol in notes of silvery-ringing clearness, so as to be distinctly heard above tho deep roaring from the cavern of howling winds below. But all this, in its mingled grandeur, terror, and beauty, surpasses verbal description ; it must be beheld to be appreciated. If I were asked how best this scene of wonders S^ v> <^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I I^IM |25 £ 1^ 12.0 u& 1.25 IJL4 IJ4 -\ < 6" - ► n y Hiotograidiic Sciences Corporalion 23 WBT MAIN STRUT WiUTIR.N.Y. U5M (716) •72-4903 I i V i 344 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. can be yiewed P I should answer, " Alone, and in silence : in deep, profound silence." This is the imme- diate dictate of man's nature while standing before it. And doubtless this dictate ought to be obeyed. There are some scenes, sacred in their solemn majesty, which ought to be viewed alone, — scenes where the presence of another seems an intrusion, and where a passing footstep would dissolve the solemn charm. And when in the presence of this great wonder of creation, the spell under which the admiring soul is bound ought not to be broken, even by the voice of loved compa- nionship. Man feels himself to be here most veritably in the awful presence of the Almighty and Infinite Source of Being, and he would stand before his Creator and worship in silence. Without any agreement foT this. Dr. Hannah and I, before inseparable in American scenes, have obeyed this instinctive feeling, and fre- quently paced our way separately and alone around this scene. And as I have stood at parts before it to gaze and contemplate, I have thought of the great Sir Isaac Newton, who, by his contemplation of the stupendous works of creation, was so filled with reverence for the matchless Maker, that he uniformly took off his hat at the mention of God's name. So, in silent adoration before God at the Falls of Niagara, man may well uncover his head and worship. Infinity and Almighty power are here the great impression. Voices from innumerable past ages sound in its ever-flowing waters, and the future of its continuance seems to have no limit but the end of time. Infinite variety and diver- sity are seen in all its parts, and irresistible and over- whelming power are everywhere apparent. Niagara is, in fact, the true sublime ; and like the true sublime ^ ?", - ■»i<*«T.■<» ,nd in imme- :ore it. There which resence passing I when 3n, the L ought compa- eritably Infinite Creator lent for merican md fre- md this to gaze Lr Isaac pendous for the hat at oration |ay well mighty s from waters, ave no diver- d over- [iagara I sublime THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 11 345 in other things, it is, with all its rush and fall of waters, calm and majestic. It is not hurried and confounding. It does not seem to put forth all its might. And its vast booming, which resounds for miles distant, is still the yoice of majesty. It does not bawl or strain ; it is not like any other sound of earth, air, or sea ; for it is a voice deep — profoundly deep and imbroken. It is "the voice of many waters and of mighty thunderings ;" and after all that has been written and sung concerning it by gifted travellers and poets, the Iroquois Indians' simple name for it is its best description — Niagara, or " the Thunder of Waters." The appearance of the Falls, and the scenery around them, when beheld by moonlight have an exceedingly impressive and subduing effect. The whole is then flooded with soft silvery brightness, which harmonises the scene, and renders it more spiritual in its aspect. The harsher lines of the rocks and cliffs are softened down ; the river flows in its deep bed as if it were molten silver ; the trees stand as in dreamy repose ; the cataracts themselves have a subdued lustre ; and the very sound of the Falls, by its softened cadence, seems to be in sympathy with the scene. But I am told that the spectacle in winter is surpas- singly grand and wonderful. And from what I have seen here of daguerreotype views taken by an accom- plished artist at that season, I fully believe it to be so. In the coldest periods the body of water continues, of course, to descend as usual ; but above the Bapids, and at a mile or so below the cataracts, the river is frozen over, 80 that passengers go over it on foot. The water rushes from under the ice of the upper level to supply the \ < 346 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. /'■ Falls, and then passes again under the ice of the river below, to flow, under cover of it, to Lake Ontario, which, as well as Lake Erie above, is entirely frozen over in midwinter. In its course from above, the descending water brings with it huge boulders of ice, many tons in weight, and precipitates them over the Falls, where they accumulate imtil they sometimes get progressively piled up even higher than the Falls themselves. Mean- while the cataracts keep for themselves a free passage between the edge of the precipice, over which they roll, and the wall of ice and snow before them. The re- mains of one of these winter-screens are now to be seen in large dimensions at the foot of the American Fall, and appears as represented in the sketch from the hotel balcony. But the appearance of the rocks, and cliffs, and trees at that season, as depictured in the daguerreotyped views which I have seen, is especially striking. The rocks and cliffs appear hooded and cloaked with ice and snow. The trees, retaining the drifted particles of frozen spray from the cataracts, accumulate upon their stems and branches masses and bunches of gleaming ice, un*^'^ they assume the most grotesque and significant for> The forest bends, as it were, under the fruits of ico with which it is laden ; while the smaller trees and shrubs on the margin of the river get filled up -^^/ith statue-like shapes, and stand like nuns in snow-white vestments to do saintly homage in this Scandinavian temple. Of course there are legends and tales of horror told in connection with the paths and precipices of this scene of terrific majesty. In the rear of Goat Island there are several sentimental-looking islets that lie side by side covered with moss and shrubbery, and divided cr«iTT:r-a(fi«Mi ' > I nver vhich, irer in, nding ons in where jsively Mean- lassage )y roll, he re- to be lerican 3m the ia, and in the pecially ed and ng the taracts, lies and most nds, as laden ; of the stand lomage ror told of this Island lie side divided // THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 347 by feathery-like falls, which are associated with love- scenes, both of life and death. There are solitary patches of ground in the midst of the Rapids, and cul- tivated plots on the island, that are shown by Niagara guides as having been inhabited by an eccentric hermit, who, wearied with the dissipations of fashionable life, built here for himself a log-hut, and lived in voluntary solitude until he was drowned while bathing in the river below. Respecting almost every prominent point there are relations given of perilous falls, surprising rescues, and instantaneous deaths that thrill the listener. At Hog's Back, in addition to the united deaths of two lovely young persons swept over the middle cataract, a Dr. Hungerford is said to have been suddenly precipi- tated, by a falling piece of the cliff, into the river below, where he sunk to rise no more alive. Near Biddle Stairs, a madman, named Sam Patch, leaped from a scaffold ninety-six feet high, and afterwards attempting a more daring feat still, was drowned. From the Irail narrow bridge which extends from the south- west corner of the island to Prospect Tower, a gentle- man is said to have been swept by the wind into the current, and yet to have been rescued from an arrestiiijj rock at the very brink of the precipice. In Indian times an annual human sacrifice to the Great Spirit was sent over the great cataract in a canoe ; and, as might be expected, " the chief's lovely daughter " is named among these sacrifices in the legends. Perilous situations, surprising rescues, and frightful deat'is, are spoken of in connection with the islands in the Bapids. As late as 1844 a youthful lady, stooping to pick up a flower from the margin of the Canadian side of the river near to the Horse-shoe \ \ 848 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. / Fall, is said to have been plunged with tlie crumbling soil into the destructive gulf below. There are also caves in different parts of the rocky sides of the river that have names of heroes and super- natural beings associated with them. Some of these caves are grotesquely festooned with petrified moss and stalactites of carbonate of lime. Others of them, like the "Cave of Winds" behind the middle Fall, are fearfully stormy and turbulent. There are also stories of desperate battle between Indians and Europeans, and Englishmen and Americans, associated with this scene ; and though one would not be over credulous, or so voluntarily superstitious as to receive for facts all that one hears in this locality of wonders, yet who that has any sense of the marvellous within him would doggedly close his ears against the stories of the Niagara guides ? It would strip life of many of its flowers, if everything were brought down to proved reality. Who would wish to dissever the Lakes of Kil- lamey from the legends of O'Donoghue and his attend- ant sylphs P Who would stay to have Rob Roy's hiding-places in the caves around Loch Lomond all shown to have no existence ? Who would desire to have the beautiful tale of William Tell proved to be, what some have of late affirmed it to be, an entire fiction? No ; life must not be denuded of all its poetry, and entirely reduced to leaden, dull prose. Niagara may be permitted to have its traditionary legends as well as its authentic stories. But whatever may be true or false in what is related as belonging to it in years gone by, it is now in itself, and apart from all fictitious accompaniment, a sublime reality. ibling rocky super- ' these >ss and m, like 11, are stories opeans, th this idulons, 'acts all ho that would of the Y of its proved of Kil- attend- > Boy's ond all esire to to be, entire ry, and ira may well as true or irs gone ictitions LETTER XX. CANADA.— WESLEYAN CONFERENCE AT BROCKVILLE. Railway from the Falls along the Line of the Niagara River — Lake Ontario — Arrival at Toronto — Methodist Friends — Sabbath Services at Toronto — Sketch of Toronto — Great Normal Schools — Dr. Ryerson — Illness of Peter Jones, or " Kahkewaquonaby," the Methodist Indian Chief — Cana- dian Parliament — Mackenzie, and Scene in the House of Representatives — Loyal Attachment of Canada to England — Lake Ontario, the " Thousand Islands," and the St. Lawrence — Arrival at Brockville — Proceedings of the Conference — Railways in Canada — Resources and Prosperity of the Country — Arrival at Montreal. We left the Falls for Toronto at noon of Saturday, May 31, travelling by the train as far as Lewiston, and from thence by steamer across the western end of Lake Ontario. When passing Queenoton, seven miles from the Falls, we could see on its heights the monument erected to the memory of General Brock, a British officer, who received there a mortal wound, when, in 1812, he was about to lead his men to the conflict. It is a high columnar monument, something like our Nelson's in Trafalgar Square, and is of very recent erection — the former monument having been shattered and destroyed by some unknown person, who, in the night, blew it up with gunpowder. It was interesting to trace the bed of the Niagara Eiver as we passed along, and to observe how it had worn its way through the strata of the country, and united itself with the lake. 350 CANADA.— CON PERBNCB AT BROCK VILLB. On reaching the pier at Lewiston, we took the steam- boat across the lake to Toronto, a distance of 50 miles. Leaving the American Niagara Fort on our right, we started in a " tight " and commodious vessel, with the British flag streaming from the stern, and with fifty or sixty passengers on board. The day was exceedingly fine, and we enjoyed the lake scenery very much. Our company, too, was more English than it had been since we landed in America, especially in manners. There was less inquisitiveness, and less hurry, and more sobriety and quietness. After three hours' passage, we neared tho city of Toronto, which stands at the head of a large open bay, and, being met by ministers and friends at our landing, we drove with them direct for the house of the President of the Canadian Methodist Conference, the Rev. Enoch "Wood, like ourselves a native of homely old Lincolnshire. He resides in a pleasant cottage in the upper suburbs of the city. We were most cordially welcomed by him and his family, and it was proposed that both Dr. Hannah and I should be his guests. But a friend from Dublin soon learned of our arrival, and insisted that I should accompany her to her hospitable home. From pleasing reminiscences relating to the " Sister Island," I was nowise reluctant to do so. Dr. Egerton Ryerson, and his daughter, just returned from England (where she had been presented to the Queen), spent the evening with us ; and with such companions, together with Mr. Hodson, the intelligent husband of my cheerful and youthful hostess, the evening was exceedingly pleasant. The unexpected meeting with former friends in a far country, and among a crowd of strangers, is a pleasure that can only be estimated from experience. 1 1 CANADA.— CONFERENCE AT BROCKVILLE. 351 Bteam- miles, fht, we ith the fifty or jclingly . Our n Bince There 1 more age, we head of L friends le house ference, homely ttage in lordially )roposed 8. But val, and spitable to the ,0. Dr. ed from Queen), anions, band of Ing was ig with prowd of led from On the Sabbath morning Dr. Hannah conducted the service in Richmond Street Chapel, and preached to a crowded and admiring congregation an eloquent sermon on the Priesthood of Christ; it was full of divine unction, and was delivered with amazing energy and power. In the evening, I preached to a multitude in the same chapel, and afterwards assisted in administering to several hundreds the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The services here were thoroughly English in all respects. The chapel is large, and in a good style of Grecian architecture. It will hold, I suppose, fifteen hundred persons ; but it has one fault — copied, I pre- sume, from some recent erections in England : the entrance is at the end where the pulpit stands, so that the minister is disturbed by cold draughts of air from the door every time it is opened, and by the entrance and exit of the congregation, while the worshippers have their attention arrested by everything that transpires at the doors in connexion with persons coming in late or going out early. Under such an arrangement, no Sabbath-stroller is likely to enter the house of God to hear the saving truths of the Gospel as he passes, for he would have to face the whole audience to do so. Nor can a mother with a crying inff ri. retire without dis- turbing both the minister and peopi*. . Dr. Hannah also preached in the evening at another large Methodist chapel in the city, and administered there the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. "We enjoyed the day greatly, feeling so much of home in our services. We had, too, our own English hymn-book, unaltered and unmutilated, and this was satisfactory. The number of British emigrants who gathered round us, and in- quired concerning England and friends, was very great. A \ 852 CANADA.— CONFERENCE AT BROCKVILLE. I.v One of them came seventy-five miles, with his wife and child, to have his last-bom infant baptised by Dr. Hannah. In the small vestry of Biohmond Street Chapel I must have counted not less than twenty Methodists who had emigrated from our own county of Lincoln, and how many more there were in the general congregation who did not press into the crowded vestry to speak to me I cannot say. Most of them seemed " well-to-do," so far as I could judge from appearances ; but with all of them there were the same affecting remembrances of home and England that we found with English emigrants to the States. Childhood's home is nowhere forgotten. On Monday we visited the principal buildings and institutions in Toronto. Some of the streets, with their shops, will bear a comparison with the best streets in Liverpool, Manchester, or Birmingham. Several of the public buildings are in good architectural style, and imposing in their appearance. The cathedral, and some of the churches, are excellent Gothic structures in stone. The Methodists have several excellent chapels, a well- furnished book-room, with its numerous publications, and a weekly newspaper. The president has recently built a very neat Gothic chapel, with its belfry in front, near to his own dwelling : and, altogether, Methodism has a foremost plrce in Toronto, among the different sections of the Christian Church. The Koman Catholics are strong in the city. They have their cathedral and their " religious houses,'' and have at the head of their priest- hood a Irench nobleman, who devotes himself and property to the interests of the Church of Eome. We spent considerable time at the great Normal establishment for th^ schools of Canada, which is under ) / CANADA.— CONFERENCE AT BROCKVILLE. 853 B and Dr. Street (fenty nty of eneral vestry eemed ances ; fecting d with Lome is gs and ,h their •eets in 1 of the le, and id some stone, a well- »ns, and ly built it, near has a [sections ics are id their priest- lelf and iNormal IS under the able superintendency of the Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryer- son. This is the normal college for all the grammar and common schools, supported by the Government throughout Upper and Lower Canada, and is a most effective and flourishing institution. It is Dr. Ryerson's own creation, after careful inspection and comparison of the different systems of education in Europe and the United States, and must remain a lasting and honourable memorial of his enlightened and benevolent zeal for the best interests of the youth of his own country. The Government have, happily, been liberal in their grants for his object ; so that, in most respects, the funds required for the accomplishment of his plans are supplied. The buildings of the Normal and Practising Schools, with the offices of the superintendents and clerks, are in an ele- vated situation, and have a large open space of garden- ground and walks round them. They are of Italianised Grecian style, and have a good fa9ade with central turret, in connection with the long line of public offices in front. The Practising Schools, with their class-rooms and theatre, are behind and in the wings ; the play- grounds are in the open spaces at the sides. We attended the exercises in the different de- partments, and were much interested with the order and proficiency of the scholars; but, above all, we were delij^hted to see that coloured children were unreservedly mingled with the children of the whites. The school system pursued is most like the national system of education for Ireland. This system does not secure by itself the religious and scriptural edu- cation of the scholars, but in its present superinten- dency the practice is better in this respect than the profession. Dr. Ryerson, as a methodist minister, is A A \v 854 CANADA.-CONFERENCE AT BROCKVILLB. evidently watching over this part of education, and, by his own arrangements and iuperintendency, to a great and admirable extent secures it. But we could not help inquiring with solicitude, "How shall this be secured in perpetuity, when it is not provided for in the system P " We saw several of the Government day-schools in Toronto. They are neat substantial buildings, mostly of good white brick, with stone dressings, and have ample playgrounds attached to them. We afterwards dined at Dr. Ryerson's, and found there, at his friend's house, the Rev. Peter Jones, or " Kuhkewaquonaby," the Methodist Indian chief who visited us in England some years ago. He is thin and sunken both in countenance and body, and is dying of consumption. But love to Christ and to the churches of England beamed from his dark eyes, and irradiated his tawny face, as he said to us, " Tell my friends of England that I die triumphing in the blood of a cruci- fied Redeemer." Dr. Hannah administered the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper to him, to his wife, and to his friends ; and the solemn service in the dying chief's chamber is truly memorable. With Dr. Ryerson, his wife, and Dr. Ryerson's mother, we had some lengthened conversation respecting Peter Jones and his Christian course. We learned that his father was a Welshman, but that his mother, by whom he was brought up, is so thorough a " squaw," that she never could be persuaded to sleep on anything but her own blanket, however good or comfortable might be the bed in a house where she was visiting with her son. Peter was converted under the preaching of a missionary from the United States, as before related. He has since that time laboured un- i CANADA.-CONPBRENCB AT BROCKVILLB. 366 id, by great Id not his be in the ools in mostly 1 have . found mes, or lef who bin and lying of ihurches radiated lends of a cruci- sacra- and to chief's son, his gthened hristian Ishman, p, is so rsuaded er good ere she under States, ed un- ceasingly for the temporal and spiritual interests of his Indian people, and has been employed as a Methodist missionary among them. He has aided the British Government greatly by his interpretations and by his loyalty, and among all classes he is held in high estima- tion. It is most probable that this worthy servant of Christ will have passed to his eternal reward before you receive this letter.* In the evening I went with Mr. and Mrs. Hodson to hear and see the Canadian representatives in their own house of legislation. The Upper House was not assem- bled, but we went into the hall, which is a good room, richly canopied and adorned, and hun^^ with some full- length portraits of English kings and queens. The Hall of Representatives is a large room, very much after the style of the old British House of Commons — the floor being devoted to the- speaker and members, and the gallery given to the public. Several of the members are of French descent, as you will ■ suppose, but the whole assembly had a most English aspect, and the gentlemanly bearing of the speaker, and of the mem- bers generally, made one feel it creditable that they belonged to England. There was in the house one member who is known as an opposing demagogue — Mackenzie, who took a promi- nent part in the Canadian rebellion of twenty years ago. He is a thin, sharp, ferrety-looking man of more than sixty years of age, and sits at his desk, watching, in Joseph-Hume-like style, everybody and everything. "When any of the members on the Government side can retort upon him, they evidently do so with great zest. * He died on Sunday, the 29th of June, in the fifty-fourth year of hia age, and was followed to his burial by multitudes of both rich and poor. 1^ i J- 1 366 \\ CANADA.— CONFERENCE AT BilOCKVILLB. Some of them did so with considerable effect on the evening I was in the house. Mackenzie had been attacking the Government most unmercifully, and had represented it as a rotten cabbage, which became only more corrupt and offensive by age. He said that he was the oldest member in the house, and he had not in the whole length of his experience known anything so nauseously offensive as was the present Government. A member on the Government side, by way of rejoinder, exhibited Mackenzie as an old rotten cabbage, and, after showing from the demagogue'*' political life, that Mac- kenzie had always been a corrupt member of that house, finished with the conclusion that, as he was the oldest member and the most corrupt, he was, on his own principle, the most offensive. Loud cries of "Hear, hear ! " from all sides told that the force of this repartee was almost universally felt, and Mackenzie tried to parry the effect of the blow by pretending to join in the general laugh, and by exclaiming aloud, " Good — very good ! " but when his foe proceeded to administer still further castigation by similitudes, and likened him to a fusty old maid dressed up in man's clothing, and bothering everybody with his ridiculous officiousness and petty meddling, his face lost its assumed smiles, and twitched violently with chagrin. And when a French- man, in broken English, exclaimed aloud, in Macken- zie's own words and manner, " Good — very good ! " the roar of united laughter was overwhelming, and the old man was for once, at least, thoroughly put down. It is plain, even to a casual observer, that the policy now pursued by England in granting enlarged freedom and independent action to Canada has worked most sue- < CANADA— CONFERENCE AT BROCKVILLB. 363 le log- I proofs lountry le new >ked, in ir asso- iments, should y than nto ac- rivers, vrancing nted in one of s popu- I in that d towns city of mts; it ssessed terling. rossing At way in within 1" Great bridge t Mon- ,ffic be- here is ary of indeed, the facilities of the country for transit, agriculture, mining, trade, and merchandise, seem to be boundless ; and, ultimately, Canada must assert its claim to be classed among the most wealthy and flourishing por- tions of the globe. With the river on our right, as an interesting com- panion for several miles as we rushed along, we ad- vanced towards Montreal. We reached it at four in *he afternoon, and drove to the St. Lawrence Hotel, where we obtained a two-bedded lodging-room for the night. We went out to look at the town until dinner- time, and got a fair general idea of it. Montreal is a large, fine city, stretching along the side of the river about two miles, and extending inwards, up a sloping acclivity, a mile and a half. Paul Street, the chief commercial thoroughfare, runs parallel to the St. Law- rence for the whole length of the city. There are several good squares and places of promenade. The quay at the river-side, a full mile in length, by its situation and masonry may be favourably compared with any structure of the kind in England. There are some large, fine public buildings. The churches are good. There is a very handsome Gothic Methodist chapel in James Street, which will hold, I should say, 1500 persons. But the most pretentious structure is the French Boman Catholic cathedral. It is said to be capable of accommodating from ten to twelve thousand persons — a report which, from experience of the exaggeration so customary in speaking of public buildings, and the number they will hold, I should translate into five or six thousand at the most. This cathedral is of flat, pasteboard, Gothic style, outside, with high towers ; but !i 364 CANADA.-CONFERENCB AT BROCKVILLE. '/ inside (like the Eomisli Church itself), it has nothing worth admiration. Here, too, as in the cities of the United States, the Romish cathedral is pewed, and has no open space left, as in Europe, for the kneeling poor. The town, in many parts, bears unmistakeable signs of Koman Catholic inhabitants. It has several religious houses and schools ; and in the lower parts there are crowded together the poorer classes of French people, not the most cleanly in their persons and dwellings. There are many large handsome houses in the great streets and in the suburbs ; also an English university, a college, and numerous institutions for the promotion of learning, science, and religion. There is, likewise, a marble monument of Nelson ; but it is much shattered and broken. The population of the city of Montreal was 9000 in the year 1800 ; now it is 75,000, and it is rapidly on the increase. The aggregate value of the real estate of the city is estimated this year at £6,391,333, and the total revenue at £71,258 ; so that Montreal is now a city of extensive and increasing mer- chandise and trade. With the exception of half an hour for dining, we spent our hours till bed-time in looking over the town, and, as you will suppose, found in it much to interest us. // nothing !S of the and has ng poor, signs of religious here are 1 people, ings. the great liversity, romotion likewise, shattered Montreal }, and it value of year at ; so that ling mer- half an [-time in io, found LETTER XXI. LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. Departure from Montreal — Railway-ticket Sharpers — Beauty of Lake Champ- lain — Town of Burlington — Brief Separation from Dr. Hannah — State of Massachusets — Glance at its History — Its English Features — Boston — Sketch of the City — Wooden Bridges — State-House — Chantrey's Statue of Washington — Faneuil Hall — Ancient "Timber Houses" — Public Buildings and Monuments — Ascendancy of Uuitarianism — Theodore Parker — Departure from Boston — The Infidel in the Rt\ilway-car — Striking Scenery — Albany — Descripti-^u of the City — Churches and Sects — The Shakers — Sabbath in Albany. We left Montreal on Friday morning, the 6th of June, at six o'clock, — Dr. Hannah intending to re^t for a day or two at Rhinebeck, while I turned aside to see Boston and Albany, and then returned with him to New York. I had very much desired to visit Quebec, having heard much of the advantages of its position, and the gran- deur of its surrounding scenery. The doctor, however, evidently felt some effects of our long travel and con- tinuous excitement; and having become fully accustomed to each other's company, I resolved not to remain so far behind, but to journey with him as far as Rutland, at which point we might separate more safely for a day or two, knowing that, meantime, we should not be far from each other. The morning was fine, and I rose from my bed in a 366 vv LAEB OHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. thankful frame, for it was the anniversary of my birth- day. But as soon as we reached the quay to cross the river for the Rutland Bailway, we met with considerable discomfort. A crowd of eager, bawling ticket-sellers surrounded us, contending for us as purchasers of rail- way tickets, which they said we could not obtain after we left Montreal. Many of our fellow-passengers, either on the ferry- steamer or the quay, saw how much we were annoyed and perplexed, yet allowed us to stand and reluctantly buy our tickets of these contentious sharpers at any price they chose to demand. Not a word was spoken for our counsel or relief by our fellow- passengers, though they knew that tickets might be had either on board as we crossed the river, or of the conductor in the railway-car. We purchased our tickets of the salesmen on the quay, at the lowest price we could obtain them for, and went on board the steamer, in which we were to cross the River St. Lawrence for the train waiting to receive us on the other side. On being seated in the railway-car, it occurred to me that our bill of charges at the hotel was very high, considering the brief time we had stayed at Montreal. On examination I found that full three-quarters of a day each more than was due was set down to us. This increased our annoyance, and the more so because it was the first overcharge we had detected since we left home (except in the hiring of coaches), and it had occurred in the British dominions. We felt our British character involved in it, and I immediately pencilled a note to the proprietor of the hotel, enclosing the bill, and pointing out the overcharge, which I hoped was the clerk's error, and which I requested he would remit to me in dollar notes. Having done this, we deter- T I LAKE OIIAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALB ANT. 367 / birtli- *oss the Iderable t-sellers of rail- in after 3, either luch we o stand tentious Not a r fellow- light be r of the ir tickets price we steamer, tence for 5. id to me y high, [ontreal. iT8 of a This [cause it we left it had British Icilled a the bill, )ed was Id remit deter- mined to rise above our annoyances, so resumed our spirits, and prepared for the enjoyment of the scenery in our way.* We passed over forty or fifty miles of cultivated prairie land, between the Montreal ferry and Rouse's Point, which is at the head of Lake Champlain, and immediately on the border line between the United States and Canada. Here we crossed the lake in the railway-car over an unfenced timber bridge, and ran several miles down on the east side of the water to Burlington, crossing the several creeks and bays of the lake also on wooden supporters. We might have gone down the lake in a steamer, and landed at Burlington to take the rail, if we had not been perplexed and con- founded at starting by the ticket-sellers. If we had done so, we should have seen more of the beauty and expanse of the lake, and of the charms of its lovely islands. But as we had bought our tickets for the railway we went upon it, and the prospect afforded from it was very pleasing and beautiful. Lake Champlain is 132 miles long, and at Burlington, the widest part unobstructed by islands, it is nearly ten miles across. It varies in depth from fifty to nearly three hundred feet. Its shores are richly-wooded, and are surrounded by lofty Cumberland-like mountains. Many of these heights have an historic interest from the skirmishes and battles that were perseveringly sustained in them. Burlington seems to be a town of importance, both in learning and trade. The University of Vermont, founded as early as 1791, is here, with its president and five professors, and its library of 10,000 volumes. It is * Since our return home the overcharge has been returned to us, thereby showing that it was a clerk's error only. 8G8 LAKB CIIAMPf-AIN, D08T0N. AND ALDANY. (situated on a rising ground, at about the middle of the east side of the lake, on one of its larger bays, and li some good streets intersecting cuch other, and regularly laid out. Steamboats and i ivor-craft are plentiful on the water in front of it. On leaving Burlington by the train, we still kept near to the lake for an hour and a half, as far as Vorgonnes. From that town we took a direction somewhat more inclined to the east for Hut- land, where Dr. Hannah and I separated for a shi^rt time — the doctor going on south to Albany for tli- nl^'it, and from thence to llhinebeck the next mornin'.v, ^hile I went south-east to Boston. The sronc'. while we were together, was highly picturesque. - ( » ery much resembled some parts of the "Welsh scenery in its gorges, mountain passes, and valley streams. But all the scenery, both of hills and valleys, was richly wooded, of a light pea- green colour. When the doctor and I separated, I journeyed on by rail to Keene. The scenery continued to be very delightful ; some of the rocks and cascades pouring from them were strikingly picturesque. After this I entered the State of Massachusets, and proceeded towards Boston, which I reached about nine in the evening, having travelled in fifteen hours about 330 miles. I obtained good accommodation at " The American House," and, after a comfortable meal and a brief stroll through the town, retired to bed. , ,. p: Massachusets is one of +he oldest, wealthiest, best- cultivate!, and most influonti;u Htntes of t^-^ Union. It is small in comparison ^ Mi ^jOij other states ; but it is rich in iron, lead, marble, and limestone, as well as in the varieties of its soil. It is also advantageously posited, with its fine bays and ports on the east coast, while it is LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, D08T0N, AND ALBANY. 36a of the ,nd li gularly 1 on the by the ir and a e took a for Rut- a sh' it K; niffi, ill rr, while ^rhile we ry much s gorges, all the ooded, of leyed on be very ing from entered towards 1 evening, liles. I imerican [ief stroll ^st, best- liun. It but it is lell as in posited, fhile it is well watered by its rivers within. Of Into y^sars the maiiuftictures of this State have risen to conw^le^able importance. Farms are numerous, in proportion to the extei ♦^ of the .^liitc, and aro well cultivated. The roads are good and well fenced, the gardens ar'd oruhunlH are trimly kept, and, altogether, au English truvcUor * more reminded of his own country in passing throujt Massachusets, by its enclosed fie ids, Hocks of whoip, blooming orchards, and flowery )2;arden8, than ho is by what he sees in any other Stutte. 8o that he is fully reconciled to the use of the name given by Prinr Charles to this and the five adjoining States eastv urd oi the Hudson River, that of " New England." I need scarcely say to you that in this State is the landing-place of the " Pilgrim Fi thers," who, after their long and perilous voyage in the 3JapJlower (fleeing from the persecution of the first Stuart), reached its shores on December 22, 1620, and founded thotown of Plymouth. Their early struggles in the establishment of their infant colony are familiar to you. Massachusets, in the beginning, seems to have borne very much of the character of its Puritan founders. Its laws were most unjustifiably strict for mere private and domestic faults, and it was disgraced by its cruel persecution of the Quakers, and its barbarous burnings lor " witchcraft." It seems to have been involved with the other States in the guilt of slavery, and to have advertised for sale not only negroes and Indians, but also Irish and Guernsey boys and girls. It also committed some sad depredations upon the Indian possessors of the soil. One is happy to say that Massachusets, like some other parts of Chris- tendom, has now cleared itself of many errors which lingered too long, and that it is now foremost of all the B B t.i .1! 370 ^ ( LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. States in the promotion of benevolent and mon 1 scliemes for the advantage of the coloured race and the aborigines, as well as of its own population. Before the revolution of 1776, Massachusets had virtually abolished slavery in its own territory, and now not only are the coloured people within it all free, but possess equal electoral rights with the white inhabitants. It has also its organised Abolition Society, which is zealous and active. Eliot and Brainerd were mis- sionaries to the Indians from New England ; and, at the present time, not only is Massachusets the richest of all the States in its provision of university and college education for the youth of the wealthier classes, but it has public schools which are said to be fully adequate to the wants of all the children within it. There is, however, one drawback to its public reputation, and that is a very serious one ; it is foremost in the profession of Pantheism, and of the Socinian heresy. Next to the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, the Unitarians are most numerous, while the Universalists have also many supporters within the State. The people, generally, seem cold and phlegmatic. There is a hard, stern, Scotchman-like look and bearing in their demeanour that differs as greatly from the sunlike glow of the luxurious and hos- pitable South-rner as it does from the impulsive, go-a- head recklessness of the onward-bound Westerner. Boston is the capital of Massachusets (as the abori- ginal Indian tribe after whom it was named called themselves), and the metropolis of New England. It was first described by an Indian name which signified "the hill with three tops," and which was Englished into " Trimountain," or " Trement," but afterwards, in honour of a minister and some emigrants from Boston, , LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. 371 jlieines ■igines, its had nd now pee, but .bitants. ?liich is re mis- a, at the chest of 1 college )ut it has lie to the however, is a very Btntheism, sbyterian lumerous, upporters cold and iman-like differs as and hos- ive, go-a- •ner. the abori- led called rland. It signified [Englished [•wards, in |m Boston, in Lincolnshire, it was authoritatively determined to designate it by its present name — the emigrant's feeling for his native place being strong then, as it is now. It is on record that the first three children baptised in the church of Boston were named " Joy," " Recompence," and " Pity," by way of memento, no doubt, as in patri- archal and Jewish days, of the state and circumstances of the parents. The city is now large, handsome, and prosperous. It contained at the last census 1C2,629 inhabitants. It is older in appearance than any other city of the States which I have seen, and is less regular and methodical in its plan and thoroughfares. But it has a substantial, well-established look throughout, and, like the State of which it is the capital, is very English in character. Boston stands on a kind of peninsula, and when seen from the water, with its rising terraces, streets, and domes, like Baltimore, it reminds one of pictures of Constantinople seen from the Bosphorus. One of the remarkable sights here consists in the long wooden bridges which connect the city with the sur- rounding country. Some of these are as much as 6000 feet long, and 40 feet wide. They rest upon hundreds of piers, and at night are lighted with numerous lamps, that seem doubled bv reflection in the water. Here are numerous wharves, with large, handsome warehouses upon them, capacious docks, and shipping so extensive as to rank next to that which is seen in the harbour of New York. The State-House, and other public buildings, are on the crown of Beacon Hill, in front of which, on one side, is a large park for the use of the public — " Boston Common," as it is usually called ; and on the other, is the huge reservoir for the supply of the city with fresh l| I I Ut.H \ \ I '1 373 LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. water. The principal street for stores of light and fashionable goods is a long street named after Wash- ington, in the lower part of the city; but the most elegant shops for ladies are those of Tremont Row, which is in the higher part, leading to the park. The business in heavy goods, which of course is great, is transacted near the wharves. The private residences in Boston are good and substantial, and are almost wholly of stone or brick. Many of them, with their granite basement and steps, their tasteful porticoes, balconies, and palisades, are stately and imposing. The impression made by the whole, whether in the throng of the city, or in its suburbs, is that of wealth divided and diffused among the many, and not amassed and possessed by the few. There are no huge mansions, but there are numerous good and elegant houses, with their garden plots and trees before or around them; and almost everywhere but in the lowest parts of the town, there is an air of cleanliness and solid comfort beyond what can be found, so far as I have observed, in the other large cities of the States. The public buildings are large and respectable. The State-House stands on the highest point ; and is seen, with its well-proportioned dome, as a crowning orna- ment of the city from every point of view. It is a good structure, and is something after the form of the Capitol in the city of Washington ; only, it is coloured as stone, instead of being whitened as marble. It is approached by a lofty flight of steps. Both the Senate Chamber and the Hall of Representatives are fitted up with semicircular and gradually elevated desks, fronting the chair of the speaker — the arrangement common to all the legislative halls of America. It is, in fact, LAKB OHAMPLATN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. 373 bt and Wasli- ,e most t Row, :. The ;reat, is 3nces in I wholly granite ilconies, pression the city, diffused 3ssed by here are r garden I almost , there is jsrhat can ler large e. The is seen, Qg orna- It is a n of the coloured It is le Senate fitted up fronting common in fact, e. the model of the old Greek theatre, if you imagine a stage in place of the speaker's chair ; and undoubtedly combines more advantages for both seeing and hearing than any other form that could be followed. In u recess farthest from the door of the grand entrance to the State- House, is an exquisitely beautiful statue of Washington, executed by Chantrey, in the very best style of his art. This is the statue of Wash- ington : the face, the form, the calm and dignified intelligence, the conscious strength and serenity em- bodied to the eye in the marble — seem a full reali- sation of the mind's ideal of skill and courage, goodness and greatness. Near to the State-House is the tenement formerly occupied by John Hancock, one of the leaders in the revolution, and whose name stands first among the signatures to the " Declaration of Independence." The building is still occupied by his descendants ; and is not much unlike an English village parsonage of the olden time. The " City Hall " and " Faneuil Hall " are both large old buildings. The latter is regarded as " the cradle of American liberty," for in it the first strugglers for in- dependence assembled to rouse the people into resistance against the British Government. There are also a few old " timber-houses " of the Elizabethan order, hanging awry with their wooden projecting stories and gables. So that the city of Boston bears more of the signs of antiquity than any other city of the United States. There is a public museum in Tremont Street that pro- mises much by its outside appearance, but greatly disappoints an English visitor, who, on entering, sees only a strange jumble of wax- works, paintings, engrav- ings, casts from statuary, and Indian clothing and Mmmmmm ■■B 374 LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. weapons of war. There are some large churches and lecture halls in Boston ; and several imposing structures belonging to literary, scientific, and philanthropic insti- tutions. The appearance of the people is, in general, American. The men are tall and thin, with bilious complexions, serious countenances, and straight hair, having a puri- tanical cast. They are, for the most part, well-dressed, without show or dandyism : and have less hurry and bustle in their movements than you see in New York and Philadelphia. The women may not vie with the "Baltimore beauties;" but they have truer taste and less gaudiness in their dresses, and there is a quiet air of superiority evident in both their gait and look. No one professes aristocracy in Boston, yet there is said to be a talk of "the best circles;" and there is more reserve of look and manners in this " Athens of the West," than you see in most other places in this new and republican world. All things in this city wear more of the air of English life and society than other parts of the States ; and many of the inhabitants, while most reluctant to admit the superiority of the English to themselves in any respect, yet pride them- selves on the purity of their descent from English families of distinction. The suburbs of Boston have their objects of interest. There is the " Harvard University," with its numerous professors and students, and its extensive library. But this is now in the hands of the Unitarians, and is a stronghold for the corruption of real Christianity, rather than the defence and preservation of it. There is also the Auburn Cemetery, which, with its natural scenery of river, lake, forest, and shrubbery, some admire more LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. 375 ties and ractures ic insti- nerican. )lexions, ^ a puri- -dressed, irry and 3W York jvith. the aste and a quiet nd look. there is there is Lthens of s in this this city lety than abitants, of the de them- English interest, lumerous ry. But and is a ;y, rather ire is also cenery of ire more than the celebrated Pere-la-Chaise of Paris. And then there is the much-talked-of Bunker's Hill Monument, which I expected to find far more massive and imposing than it is. It is barely a modern grey granite obelisk, not near so high, and far from being so symmetrical, as some of our factory chimneys, to say nothing of our Gothic towers and spires ; and, in my humble judgment, has no grandeur of effect, though placed on an eminence by the harbour of more than one hundred feet. There are also the Navy Yard, docks, and navy hospitals, which cannot fail to interest the visitor, and which, with other public works and structures, surround and adorn the city; and, on the whole, an English traveller cannot leave Boston without a deep impression of its advanced state both in substance and refinement ; while, if he be a regenerate man, he will sigh as he turns away from it, and remembers how rapidly it is becoming the citadel of Unbelief. Boston, in still greater proportion than the State to which it belongs, is the seat of Unitarianism, Universalism, and various forms of scepticism. The Unitarians have more churches here than any other worshipping comro.unity. Both Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches have fallen, with their ministers, into this Christ-dishonouring heresy, and have borne along with them large numbers of the more wealthy and influential families of the city; while the University of Cambridge and other colleges have fallen into their hands. Theodore Parker, the polished Pantheist, gathers his crowded audiences in this city, and, with his spurious conceptions of tole- rance, is said to bless God that Mormonism can have its free and unrestrained liberty in Boston. The Roman Catholics, too, chiefly through the influx of Irish emi- I ■lit :i 376 LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. grants, are numerous, and have here their priests and female agents in full employment. These facts, to a mind under the influence of spiritual and saving Chris- tianity, throw a gloomy cloud over the city, and lamentably darken its character. The Methodist Epis- copal Church numbers here some 2000 full-church members, and has its " Book Concern," from whence it issues its Zion's ITerald, and various literature. I left Boston for Albany by the Worcester Railway, and had not been long in the car before I had proof of the prevalence of scepticism and iniidelity in this part of the States. A lady, the wife of a senator, as I learned, took her seat at Boston immediately behind me. Verj' soon a respectable-looking man seated him- self beside her, and, in the American manner, entered freely into conversation with her respecting her journey. The lady stated that she was from Auburn, and was the wife of a county senator, who, at a sudden call by the death of a brother on the railway, was journeying from Albany to the West. She seemed to feel her bereave- ment deeply, and spoke of it as a very serious and solemn event. The gentleman on the seat with her said that it was not surprising that such an event should be felt by the bereaved friends, but for himself, he was reconciled to death on the ground that it terminated existence, and with that all pain and sorrow. He used, he observed, to shudder at the approach of death, when he believed in reward and punishment after it, but in late years he had given the subject a thorough investi- gation, and he was convinced, both from reason and Scripture, that there was no hereafter. Then he entered upon pretended expositions of passages in the Bible bear- ing on the question, and gave the most false and unwar- ap-JS'-Jas ni^JfttMite fciw LAKE OHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. 377 rantable interpretations. The lady expressed her doubt respecting his conclusions, and declared that, in her view, they afforded no relief or consolation in bereave- ment, or in the personal prospect of death. He set himself still more earnestly to shake her faith in the doctrine of a future state, and tried to show her how his unbelief was relieving in such a case as hers. I forebore from making any remarks as long as I could, but this attempt to seduce a sorrowing woman from the truth seemed so insidious and unmanly, that it reminded me of Milton's representation of Satan as a toad squat at the ear of Eve, and I could no longer restrain the expression of my condemnation; so turning round to the gentleman, I said firmly, " Sir, you must excuse me for seeming intrusion upon your conversation with your friend, but, sitting where I do, I could not but hear what you have said ; and satisfied as you may have personally become on the subject you have named, yet you must admit that you incur tremendous responsibility in trying to take from the mind of another the all-powerful motive to moral and religious duty which is to be derived from a belief in a future life." He evidently quailed under the rebuke ; his eyes drooped, and the flesh quivered on his face. He admitted the responsibility incurred by his conduct, but endeavoured to justify it on the ground of truth. "We then discussed the question itself, exa- mining Scripture texts ; but hia ardour in debate soon subsided, and, on our stopping at the next station, he either left the train, or went into another car, for neither the lady nor I saw him again. The scenery on this line was very pleasing, particu- larly in the neighbourhood of Springfield, where we crossed the Connecticut Biver. The chain of hills for 378 LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. i i'i I ,'■ .1 m many miles was beautiful in its round swelling forms and rich green clothing. It was covered with fresh- leaved trees, and that from the river-edge to its summit, so that the sight as I rode along and viewed them was very refreshing. As the train approached Albany the hills became less undulating and more extended in their outline. They assumed more of the form of mountains, and were not so uniformly wooded. With the hori- zontal streaks of the descending sun behind them, they produced a very solemn and grand eflfect, which was more sombre as we advanced, and before arriving at Troy, where we crossed the Hudson by ferry for Albany, the scenery was almost wholly massed in darkness. The lights of Albany, sprinkled over the sloping heights of the city, made known its general outline. I drove up to the Congress Hall Hotel, and soon pronounced myself to be in a very comfortable lodging. Albany is the legislative capital of the Empire State of New York, and was one of the earliest Dutch settle- ments. It was wrested from them by Charles II. in 1664, and, both under the English and the Americans, has continued to prosper, so that now it is a large and im- portant city, with more than 60,000 inhabitants. Lying on a sloping ascent on the western bank of the Hudson, Albany looks well from the opposite side of the river, as it is seen rising from its quay and wharves at the water's edge, and displaying its buildings and streets at differ- ent steps of elevation, until they are all crowned by the dome of the City Hall, which, being overlaid with plates of zinc, glistens in the sunshine most brilliantly. The chief trade is in the lower parts of the city, and, both in appearance and names, the stores remind a visitor of the Dutch origin of the place. Albany is L. LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. 379 nearly at the extremity of the deeper navigation of the Hudson, and being, as it is, a gre point of commu- nication with Canada and the Atlantic, as well as with the West, the steamboats and river-craft are numerous. The public buildings and better sort of residences are in the higher part of the town, either on the crown of the hill, or in either of the two chief cross streets, named Market Street and Pearl Street. The great thoroughfare is a long, wide street or avenue ascending from the banks of the river, and reaching to the Capitol on the hill. The streets are irregular in the older part of the town — that nearest the river ; but in the higher and more modern division, order has been observed, and large spaces have been appropriated to public squares, which, with their walks and trees, add much to the pleasant appearance as well as to the salu- brity of the city. The Capitol is not so stately and imposing as some other public buildings in its neigh- bourhood, which are of later date. Churches and educational establishments are nume- rous in Albany; there is church accommodation for more than two-thirds of its population, including chil- dren ; and it is said that fully two-thirds regularly attend public worship. The Methodists have the greater share of the churches, and hold a very good position in the city. The Presbjrterians, the German Reformers, the Baptists, and the Protestant Episcopalians, as well as the Roman Catholics, have large churches, and all of them have Sunday-schools belonging to them. There are also normal or model schools on a large scale, in which teachers are trained for the public schools in the State. That very singular religious sect, the Shakers, have 380 LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, BOSTON, AND ALBANY. M; \ ■:< ' ,v, ' a large establishment within eight miles of Albany, but I had not time to visit it. They are the followers of "Mother Ann Lee," of Manchester, in our own country, who joined herself to some German Shakers, and began like them to profess special revelations and manifestations from Heaven, and held meetings in which leaping and dancing were the results of high mental excitement in some, and persecution the natural result in others. She left England to escape the perse- cution, and, in 1776, located herself at Niakynna, in this neighbourhood, where the chief community of her followers still reside. There are other communities of this strange sect scattered over the States, comprising 4000 men, women, and children, nnd they are said to be gaining adherents more rapidly now than for some time past. I might have spent the Sabbath in visiting the Shakers' establishment, and I must confess that I had some curiosity to witness their monastic sj'stem, their jumping, dancing, and singing, especially as they have the h^* jhest reputation for morality and sincerity ; but I could not, on reil^ction, think it the most suitable way of spending the hours of the sacred day. So I remained at Albany, and visited the various churches. In the morning I went to the Methodist service in Pearl Street, where, in a good, commodious church, I heard a somewhat desultory, but on the whole t telling sermon on the Christian duty of overcoming evil with good. The service was fervent and impressive. After- wards, I turned into a large Protestant Episcopal church in State Street, where, to a fashionably-dressed audience, I heard delivered a decent moral discourse, which lacked earnestness, evangelical motive, and direct application. In the afternoon, I looked in at the Boman Catholic LAKE CIIAMPLAIN, BOSTON AND ALB HY. m Albany, ' ollowers >ur own Shakers, ions and tings in of high e natural he perse- :ynna, in ty of her anities of Dmprising re said to for some in -visiting !ess that X system, y as they sincerity ; st suitable ay. So I hurches. service in church, I t telling evil with After- »al church audience, [ich lacked (plication. Catholic ME. HUDSON RIVER, BROOKLYN AND VOYAGE HOME, 387 oboken, of New nabining )eautiful he river, it kinds, Iditional rattling B metro- luggage One of error, for hicb was r, by ex- ^hole (ten ing coach our large jlief from for about •. Mead's, our long ican con- ur dollars ! railway, of keys and that bme. we went s^hile Dr. went on al-place is sing New ^r, and its white marble tombs and obelisks are surrounded or overhung with shrubbery and trees. There is some- thing very instructive and subduing in these American grave gardens. Reverence and love for the departed are evident in the care, order, and taste with which the graves and sepulchres are preserved. The mementoes of garlands and bunches of faded flowers strewn over them, tell of visits by the bereaved, and the simple and unaffected inscriptions which some of them bear in the place of the full name — such as " My Husband," *' Our Mother," or " My Brother," are very touching. I also revisited the Methodic^. Book Concern, where the kindest attentions were paid to me by the Rev. Thos. Carlton, and where copies of several publications were generously presented to me. I also stepped into Har- per's great book-store, and several other publishing and bookselling establishments. But I found little in the price of American books to tempt me to add much to the weight of my luggage ; nor, indeed, did I find anything in the States much cheaper than the like article in Engh nd, while many things, particularly clothing, were considerably higher. Dr. Hannah preached, by special request, in the evening of the single entire day we spent in New York on our return, in Green Street Methodist Church. The large building was crowded ; and the doctor, worn and jaded though he was, preached a most eloquent and powerful sermon. Many had come not only from dif- ferent parts of the city, but from different parts of the country. Some were there whom we had known in London and Manchester, and seemed to feel much under the remembrance of old times. After the sermon I was proceeding to conclude the service, when we discovered ] Hi 388 HUDSON RIVER, BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. that it had been arranged to take a public farewell of us on the eve of our departure for home and England. Many ministers were within the communion-rails and around. Dr. Bangs delivered to us a most aflPectionate address, and Dr. Hannah replied to it appropriately. They pressed me for a speech ; but I was tired of public exhibitions, and was too much the subject of emotion to speak at length, so I sheltered myself under the speech of Dr. Hannah, and made my escape from a front position. The inquiries made of us, and the messages and daguerreotypes entrusted to us, by settlers in tho new world, were very numerous. We shook hands that night with not merely scores, but hundreds, of friends ; and we returned at a late hour to our host's, in the " Second Avenue," to sleep a little, and then prepare for com- mencing our homeward voyage on the morrow. We were on board the Africa — our old ship — by eleven o'clock on the morning of June the 11th, accom- panied and met by a crowd of well-wishers — among whom were our constant friend. Dr. Osbon, his wife, and Dr. and Mrs. Palmer. The last-named lady has written some excellent works on Christian holiness, and kindly presented copies of them to us. At twelve at noon, with feelings never to be forgotten, we waved our hats and handkerchiefs, as the steamship was loosened from her moorings, and began to move her paddle- wheels for England. When we could no longer discern our friends on the pier, we took our last long look around the beautifully expanding bay through which we were steaming towards the ocean ; and sighed forth our prayers to heaven for the churches and brethren from whom we had received such uniform attentions, OMB. HUDSON BIVBR, BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. 389 rell of us Cnjjland. ails and 3ctionate ipriately. tired of abject of jlf uDder )e from a iges and the new hat night ads; and " Second for corn- ship — ^by accom- among his wife, lady has |ness, and welve at aved our loosened paddle- Ir discern •ng look •h which led forth Ibrethren tentions, and expressions and proofs of regard during our sojourn in America. We were now fairly afloat, and bound for home. The captain, officers, and men belonging to tlie Afnca recognised us with pleasant looks and words, as their old passengers; and we were not long before we set our cabin in order, and prepared for repoje, after nine weeks continuous travel and excitement. We both felt the effects of our doings, and were glad to escape from the saloon to our cabin, there to rest, and speak unre- strainedly together of our thoughts and feelings in relation to the past and future. We were scarcely out at sea — that is to say, fairly out of sight of land — before we were enveloped in thick fog, so that the horrid screech-horn, to warn approaching vessels, was heard every few minutes. And this was to be endured for several days and nights. On crossing the banks of Newfoundland, where the cold current from the ice-bound north comes in contact with the warm Gulf Stream, in which we sailed, the fog thickened greatly upon us. Fog, fog, fog, was everywhere — shrouding our vessel, hiding from us the sky and the sea, and filling the sal on and cabins with dense vapour. We were crowded with passengers ; and had still greater varieties among them than among those who were with us in our outward voyage. They were well-behaved; and less sea-sick than those we went out with, for the water was remarkably and con- tinuously smooth. There were sudden stoppings, and alarms at times, which made the passengers crowd to the gangway. But the doctor and I kept much in our berths, feeling seriously the effects of our past toil, now the excitement was over. 11 WOTP \\ 1 390 HUDSON lllVER,, BROOKLYN AND VOYAGE HOME. At length the fog cleared off for a time ; and from the deck we could see whales sporting in the water, and spouting out the steam from their nostrils. Then several icebergs were beheld drifting towards us from the north ; a sight which interested us all, somewhat apprehensively. I sketched them with black and white crayons. They were like floating islands, as white as snow ; and, in the place of dark shadows upon them, there were green, emerald-like reflections. One of them, as it passed by us, having worn the under part away in its course, until the upper had become the heavier, toppled over fully in our view. Thus my desire to see icebergs was fulfilled ; and that under most favourable circumstances. I have been greatly interested and amused by con- sidering the varieties among our passengers — especially of their adornments of beard and moustache ; and, one day, I set myself to sketch the forms of these, as I could see them, during the time of a meal, in the saloon. I have sketched no less than thirty-five varieties, which extend from the first pepper-dust crop on the lip and chin, to the full-trained bushy beard that covers all the lower part of the face. Some of the forms are very fanciful and ridiculous, as you will see; and if exhibited, as they might be, to the public, might tend to shame fast and foppish young men from disfiguring the " human face divine " in this barbarous wav. Some of these beards, you will observe, resemble much those of a goat ; and others give the face a sort of harlequin character, by patching it with pieces of dark and light colour. Surely, this rage for face^hair training is the most absurd rage which has displayed itself in modern times ! , OME. HUDSON RIVER, BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. 391 nd from iter, and 1. Then us from jmevvhat nd white white as )n them, One of ider part 3ome the rhus my at under by con- jspecially and, one ese, as I I, in the varieties, p on the at covers "orms are ; and if ;ht tend figuring Some ch those arlequin |nd light ig is the modern On the Sabbath, Dr. Hannah preached in the saloon, and I real the liturgy. The passengers were very attentive, and the service was most refreshing. A venerable Kussian general, on board, took much to us, and was eager in his inquiries concerning religion. He particularly asked questions regarding the bodily, or " real," presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. He was evidently sincere ; and seemed glad to be instructed in the things which belong to salvation. We have had some delightful singing on board. In the evening, the Germans, who are numerous, gathered between the decks, and sang some of their fuU-chorded German hymns, which sounded most heavenly on the water. A lady, too, with her guitar, at night, sang most charmingly : " Her voice was like the music of a dream," We are now bearing on-vard, in clear weather, with a fair wind ; and I am hoping, in a few more hours, to see England, " home, sweet home," and yourself. This inspires me until I could not forbear perpetrating some verses expressive of my thoughts and feelings ; for cold prose does not seem an adequate or appropriate vehicle of the mind, in such circumstances. I am like the Irishman who wrote a loiter and carried it himself; for no mail will get this sheet from me to convey it to you : I shall have to bring it myself. Yet, having described by letter almost all things I have seen, heard, and thought, in my Transatlantic tour, I am induced to spend my time on board in thus penning for you the memombilia of our homeward voyage. Indeed, land is now in sight, and we are making for the south-east point of Ireland ; in other words, for the • 392 HUDSON RIVER, BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. entrance into St. George's Channel. Nearly all the passengers are on deck in their better clothing ; many of them with spy-glasses in hand, to look for the first speck of England. The water is smooth as glass ; and as I shall have time and space to do so, I will try, in the next hour or two, to pen for you my most mature thoughts upon the character of America and its people. The country and its resources are great beyond conception by a stranger: indeed, it is a world in itself. The area of the United States is three millions of square miles, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, east and west, and from the British possessions on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The extent of shore line is 12,609 miles ; half of this line being on the Atlantic coast, and looking towards the old countries of Europe. It has thirty-one independent States, and nine territories, including the district of Columbia. In the first twenty years of independent existence the States doubled their territory, and in less than sixty years increased it threefold. The entire population of the United States at present is more than twenty-seven millions ; one-sixth of this number are coloured people, of whom all, except about half a mil- lion, are slaves. The yearly revenue of the United States' Government is now more than thirteen millions sterling. All this indicates an immense advancement, for it is not yet a century since the Americans won their independence. And when it is considered that their country contaias every variety of the raw materials of commerce — wood, coal, stone, and the metals — in abun- dance ; that the soil, for the most part, is as rich and ME. HUDSON RIVER, BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. 393 ill the many tie first 9; and iU try, T most and its beyond 3rld in nillions to the sessions 1. The bis line rds the pendent trict of jendent in less entire ire than 3er are a mil- United nillions cement, 3n their it their rials of a abun- ch and productive as can well be conceived, and that under every variety of climate ; that its vast sea and lake lines girdle it all round, affording openings for the most convcLient ports and harbours, and that by these, and by railroads and rivers within, it possesses the very best facilities for both external and internal communications — it must be perceived that the prospect for further advancement is almost boundless. But it is on the American character that one relies when anticipating a vast progress for the country, since mere material advantages can never make a great nation. And the Americans have energy, expertness, and tact, such as cannot be overmatched by any other people in the world. Brother Jonathan is really a handy fellow ; he is ready for anything that will produce profit. And although he eagerly reaches after the " almighty dollar," one cannot charge him with sheer avarice, for the liberal provision he makes for his numerous philan- thropic institutions would disprove the charge at once. The Americans live in an element of political party strife, and are constantly at war on the borders between the North and the South, but they are resolutely deter- mined, at all costs, to maintain their Federal Union, and whatever may be their internal broils, they would com- binedly resent the interference of any foreign power, as certainly as the quarrelling husband and wife within doors resent the unasked interposition of a meddling neighboui'. They are disgracefully criminal, as well as grossly inconsistent, in their association with Slavery ; but several of the States are progressively severing themselves from this monster evil, and surely we may hope that the rest will, sooner or later, follow the'r example. Perhaps it is to purely religious effort, after I 894 HUDSON river Brooklyn, and voyage home. all, that wo must look for the moving power that shall eventually secure negro emancipation in America. Ono cannot help expecting, with very anxious interest, tho coming decision of the Northern Methodist Church relative to this question. It may bring the important issue sooner than some people seem to expect. And yet great preparation seems necessary before the coloured race could take rank with the whites in America. Whoever has seen the country, and felt himself girt in by the prejudices and contemptuous habits of the whites towards the negroes, will fully understand how difficult it is to persuade one's self that the evil can be swept away. But with the Almighty Governor of nations this is possible. With His blessing on the struggles now making, and with increasing and persevering efforts, enfranchisement shall be won for the poor negro. People who have only heard and read the ridiculous sketches of American character and manners so com- monly given, may affect to despise this great Trans- atlantic people, but those who have been among them, and made due use of every opportunity for observation, cannot do so. An Englishman may prefer his own country, people, and institutions ; he may admire most devotedly his own island scenes, all under full cultiva- tion, and rich in their architectural antiquities and historic associations ; he may love the English breadth of face and figure, and rejoice in the fresh, healthful appearance of the men and women of his native land ; he may exult in the balance and spring of the British constitution, and believe that, under our beloved Sovereign, it bestows more genuine freedom than whore government is exercised by presidents who recklessly outbid each other in promises for popularity: but with ME. HUDSON IlIVER BROOKLYN, AND VOYAGE HOME. 895 it shall I. Ono DSt, tllU Church portant Liid yet oloured rncrica. girt in ) whites difficult 3 swept 3118 this les now efforts, I. iiculous 50 com- Trans- them, rvation, lis own re most cultiva- les and breadth ealthful land; British beloved n whore cklessly )ut with e all this preference and love for happy Old England, an observant mind cannot regard Young America without admiration and hearty good wishes. Since writing the foregoing letter, wo landed at Liverpool, and arrived safely at our homes, after an absence of nearly twelve weeks, and an extent of travelling of nearly 11,000 miles. As the steamer entered the Mersey, brilliant rockets were profusely discharged, as signals to the town of Liverpool of her approach. John llobinson Kaye, Esq. (who, with Dr. Wood and others, had witnessed our departure), met us at midnight in the river, where we let full our anchor to remain until the morning, and informed us that our wives and friends were well, and that Mrs. Jobson was at Birkenhead awaiting my arrival. On hearing this, I left the steamship with Mr. Kaye, and went ashore, grateful to God for His sparing and protecting mercies. The next day, when journeying to Summerseat, and looking on the trim, fruitful scenes of my own country; I fully appreciated the saying of foreigners, that it is "all a garden," and rejoiced that I was born an Englishman. APPENDIX. hepoiit on slavery. [I'OjfO 260.] The Committee on Slavery picscut the following ns llicir report : — "Timt the reduction of a moral and r(>sponsil)le being to the con- dition of pro])erty is u violation of natural rights, is considered by most men an axiom in ethics; but whatever opiui(ms may have obtained in general society, the Methodist Episcopal (yliurch luis ever maintained an unmistakeablc anti-slavery position. Alfirmations that slavery is founded in the philosophy of civil society, that it is the corner-stone of Republican institutions,' or that it ' is sanct ioned by the Bible,' have never met M'ith an approving response in our Church. Contrariwise, the founder of Methodism denounced the system in nnqualified terms of condemnation, and the Fathers unwaveringly followed the example of the venerated Wesley. " The M. E. Church has, in good faith, in all the periods of its his- tory, proposed to itself the question, ' What shall be done for the extirpation of the Evil of Slavery ?' and it has never ceased, openly and before the world, to bear its testimony against the sin, and to exercise its disciplinary powers to the end that its members might be kept unspotted from criminal connection with the system, and that the evil itself be removed from among men. '' It is atHrmed and believed that the M. E. Church have done in >re to dilfusp anti-slavery scutiments, to mitigate the evils of the system, and to abolish the institution from civil society than any other organ- imtion, either political, social, or religious. It is also aflirmed and believed that the administration of discipline in our Church, within the bounds of Slave territory, have faithfully done all that, under their circumstances, they have conscientiously judged to be in their power to answer the ends of the discipline in exterminating that great evil. m-m^ *»*- 1**'*^ -^z:^ APPENDIX. 307 cport : — tlic con- lidcrcd by may have li 1ms ever itiona that it is ilie clioncil by ir Church. system in k^ttvcringly of its his- ic for the d, openly in, and to might be and that one hi jre ic system, icr organ- rmcd and ch, within lat, under in their (i)ig (hat " At this period in our history \vc are met with the iufpiiry — Does our book of dis(>i|)liui> state clearly and dellnitely our true position and our real sentiments':' Does the letter of the statute distinctly indieat(! the practice we propose l* We answer No, and give from among others the following reasons for our negative leply. The dis- cipline does not, in express teniis, make I lie .slnveliolder ineli^il)le to the Epi8Co|)acy, and yet the (Jencral Confer«'uce of '11 con.siilered itself justified, both by the spirit of tin; discipline and the acknow- ledged preacher of the Church, inatlirmingthat the relation of slave- holder was a dis(pialiflcation for the olliee of a Hishop, and this it did at the expense of an ever-to-be regretted division of our ecelesiastieal organisation. The discipline declares that 'when any travelling preacher becomes an owner of a slave or slaves, by any means, he shall forfeit his ministerial character in our Chureh, unh'ss he execute, if it be practicable, a legal emancipation of such slaves conformably to the laws of the State hi which he lives,* but the adininistratit)n assuming that legal emancipation in the case of travelling preachers, universally practicable, does not aduiit a slaveholder to the itiiieraut connexion. "Again, our discipline docs not distinguish between mercenary slave-holding and the holding of a slave for benevolent purposes, and yet idl the argunients found in our ollicial [)ul)licaiions or heard in our Conference debates, by which the admission of slaveholders to church mendjership is justilied, are based upon this distinction, and that for the obvious reason that the distinction itself does really and justly ^xist in the pub'ic n\ind, and tin; jjractice referred to cannot otherwise be justified. Our book of discipline does not expressly enjoin it upon *iur members that they secure to their slaves the sauctitv of the con- jugal and parental relations, and yet within all the borders of our slave-holding territory, the uttered 8US[)icion that Methodists are negligent in these regards would be repelled with indignation. " We now inquire whether the time has come when it becomes the duty of the Church through its representatives assembled in its highest ecclesiastical court, to so revise the statutes of the Church as to make them cxjiress our real sentiments, and indicate our prac- tice as it is? We answer — I rst, because it is just and equal; it is right before God and all n\(Mi that on a subject involving directly the personal liberties of thousands, and indirectly of millions, of our fellow- men, the position of the Church should be neither equivocal or doubt- ri M \ ^ 398 APPENDIX. ful ; secondly, because we cannot answer it to our own consciences, nor to God, the Judge of all, if we fail to do what is in our power to bear testimony against so great an evil ; thirdly, because it is solemnly demanded at our hands by a very large majority of those whom we represent ; and, fourthly, because the signs of the times plainly indi- cate that it is the duty of all good men to rally for the relief of the oppressed, and for the defence of the liberties transmitted to us by our fathers. "We are aware that it is objected that in the present excited state of the public mind to take any action on the subject will be to place a weapon in the hands of our enemies, with which they may do us essential injury. We reply that in all cases to say one thing, and mean another, is of doubtful expedifnici/ as well as of doubtful mora- lity. We judge the rather that on all questions vital to morality and religion, the honour of the Church is better sustained by an unqualified declaration of the truth. " We come now to state what, as it seems to us, is, always has been, and ever should be, the true position of our Church in respect to slavery. We hold that the buying, selling, and by inference, the holding of a human being, as property, is a sin against God and man ; that because of the social relations in which men may be placed by the civil codes of slave-holding communities, the legal relation of master to slave may, in some circumstances, submit innocently ; that con- r-cetion with slavery \^ prima facie evidence of guilt; that in all cases of alleged criminality of this kind, the burden of proof should rest upon the accused, he always having secured to him the advantages of trial and appeal before impartial tribunals. In view of these facts and principles, the committee recommend the adoption of the follow* ing resolutions : — " Resolved — 1st, by the delegates of the several annual Conferences in General Conference assembled, that we recommend the several Annual Conferences so to amend our General Eule on Slavery as to read — ' The buying, selling, or holding a human being as property.' "Resolved — 2nd, by the delegates of the several Animal Con- ferences in General Conference assembled, that the following be and hereby is substituted in the place of the present seventh chapter of our book of discipline, to wit — ' What shall be done for the Extir- pation of the Evil of Slavery ?' " Ans. 1. — We declare we are as much as ever convinced of the APPENDIX. 399 isciences, power to solemnly jvrhom we inly indi- ef of the to us by ited state 3 to place lay do us liing, and ful mora- rality and nqualified Iways has in respect rence, the and man ; !cd by the of master that con- 1 all cases lould rest dvantages lese facts he follow* inferences le several *rery as to •operty.' lual Con- ig be and lapter of he Extir- ;d of the great evil of Slavery. We believe that all men, by nature, have an equal right to Preedom, and that no man has a moral right to hold a fellow-being as property ; tlierefore, no slaveholder shall be eligible to membersliip in our Church hereafter, where emancipation can be effected without injury to the slave. But, inasmuch as persons may be brought into the legal relation of slaveholders, involuntarily or voluntarily, by purchasing slaves in order to free them, therefore the merely legal relation shall not be considered, of itself, sufficient to exclude a person who may thus sustain it, from tlie fellowship of the Church. "Ans. 2. — Whenever a member of our Church, by any means, becomes the owner of a slave, it shall be the duty of the preacher in charge to call together a committee, of at least three members, who shall investigate the case, and determine the time in which such slave shall be free, and on his refusal or neglect to abide by the decision of said committee, he shall be dealt with as in case of immorality. " Am. 3. — It shall be the duty of all our members and probationers, who may sustain the legal relation of slaveholder, to teach their servants to read the word of God; to allow them to attend the public worship of God, on oiu' regular days of divine service ; to pro- tect them in tlie observance of the duties of the conjugal and parental relations ; to give them such compensation for their services as may, under the circumstances, be just and equal ; to make such provisions as may be legally practicable, to prevent them and their posterity from passing into perpetual slavery, and to treat them in all respects as required by the law of love. "Am. 4. — It shall be the duty of our preachers prudently to enforce the above rules. " All of wliich is respectfully submitted. " M. Raymond, Chairman." THE END. J. d. VIUTCK, PUI.NTEK, (;llk KUAU. \s WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. — -^ . . ^ ^ In croton 8vo., price Five Shillings, A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT: BEINO WITH SKETCHES 01" WESLEYAN LIFE AND EELTGI0U8 SERVICES. niuBtrated by Twenty Engravings on Wood by E. Landells, from Original Pictures by J. Smetham & F. J. Jobson. •' The most interesting piece of Christian biopraiihy, dealing with feminine and private excellence, which has appeared for many years past. The least of its merits is the elotiaiit embellishment afforded by numerous spirited vignettes." — London Quartei'ly Revitw, " The social means of grace, as enjoyed among us, are well described. The notices of the progress of Methodism in Lincoln and in the country are full of life: and the slietches of Christian worthies — from the i)rimitivc class-leader of the city to WilHa;i. 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The illustrations are numerous, and by the best artists. The Crystal Palace— a Teacher from Ancient Art, is the subject of Papers by the Rev. Charles Boutell, M.A., whose pursuits ha spe- cially qualified him to direct the student to the value of example a school at all times accessible. Botany — as adapted to the Arts and Art-Manufactures, a coi - nuous Article by Christopher Dresser, Esq., Lecturer on Artistic Botany. The Illustrations to this subject are numerous. Art-Manufacture — as assisted by Improved Machinery, is treated of by Professor Hunt, of the Museum of Economic Geology. Descriptions aud Engravings of the Progress of Art-Manufacture are also continued. British Artists : their Style and Character. — These Articles, which have for some time constituted a feature in the Art-Journal, are con- tinued monthly, with engraved Illustrations. Pictures in the Royal Collection. — The following will probably appear during the year: — King George IV. entering llolyrood Palace . . 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Edited by Ingram Cobbin, M.A., and E. Henderson, D.I., with an Introduction by the Rev. H. St»iBBTng, D.D. Barnes is so well known as a commentator that few persons, either in this country or America, can require to be told of the value of his writings. His earnestness and spirituality have commended him to those wl.j chiefly desire, in a commentator, helps and suggestions to thought ; while he "s suf- ficiently ^\>\/\/ V JAMES S. VIRTUE, CITY ROAD, AND IVY LANE, LONDON. In One Vol. super-royal 8yo., price £1 5«., THE WORKS OF JOSEPHUS. PICTORIAL EDITION. With an Introductory Essay by the Rev. Henry Stebbino, D.D., author of "A Faip-lj History of Christ's Universal Church," &c. Illustrated by upwards of Eighty fine Woodcuts, from Designs by Melville; also Forty -five Engravings on Steel, a well-authenticated Portrait of Josephus, and a Vignette Title-page. The writings of Josephus are among the most valuable records of anti- quity, lie lived at the period when T»ivinc justice was employed in executing its awful decrees against the Jewish people. Few men of his nation pos- sessed a more accomplished mind ; and to his qualifications in this respect were added, by the position which he occupied, very ample means of acquiring information, and describing the real character of his contemporaries. In One Vol, price £2 2*. cloth gilt, THE CHRISTIAN IN PALESTINE; OR, SCENES OF SACRED HISTORY. Illustrated from Sketches taken by W. II. Bautlett, during his journeys in the Holy Land. Comprising Eighty highly-finished Engravings on Steel, by Cousen, Bentley, Buandard, and others. With explanatory Descrip- tions, by Henry Stebbino, D.D., F.R.S. In Two Vols, demy 4ito., price £3 cloth gilt, AMERICAN SCENERY. 120 HICHLY-FINISr :D PLATES, After Sketches taken on the spot by W. H. Bartlett ; being Land, liuke, and River Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature. The accompanying Descrip- tions by N. P. Willis, Esq. In the press, THE SAINT AND HIS SAYIOUR. A COURSE OF LECTURES. BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON. JAMES S. VIRTUE, CITY ROAD, AND IVY LANE, LONDON. NEW EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. In One Volume royal qttarto, price 28*. cloth yilt, WITH NUMEBOUS ILLUSTRATIONS ON 8TEBL, GUIDE TO FAMILY DEVOTION. BT TUB REV. ALEXANDER FLETCHER, D.D., OF FINSBDRY CIIAPBL, LONDON. Containing 730 Hymns, 730 Prayers, and 730 Passages of Soriptnre, WITH APPROPRIATE REFLECTIONS, AND A VARIETY OF PBAYTCRS CONNECTED WITH AKFLICTIVE AND OTHER EVENTS OF PROVIDENCE. Twenty years of uniiiternipted popularity, the issue of more than Fifty thousand copies, and a still increasing demand, are sufficient evidences of the sterling merit of any Work, and form a testimonial of its value which seldom falls to the lot of a living author to receive. Such, however, is now the position of the Rev. Alexander Fletcher's Guide to Family Devotion. These flattering results are rendered still more gratifying when the approval of numerous Ministers of the Gospel, of every denomination of Protestantism, can be educed in proof of the truly devotional spirit of the whole, and of its total freedom from Sectarianism ; and, further, when it can be shown that its circulation in the Uuited States and in the British Colonies has been fully equal to that which it has secured at home. Encouraged by these evidences of the high esteem in which the Guide to Family Devotion is held by a large body of the Christian Public, and anxious to extend the sphere of use- fulness that, under the Divine blessing, the Author and Publisher trust that it has already created, they have uuited their efforts in the production of an entirely New Edition. Letters have been received from the following Christian Ministers^ of various Denominations, in favour of tlie Rev. Alexander Fletcher's "Ouide to Family Devotion." 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