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'THE




THE    ~       _
UNITED STATES AND CUBA.
]BY~
JAMES Mi PHILLIPPOI
AUTHOR OP "JAMAICA: ITS PAST AND PRESENT STATE," ETC.
"Venient annis secula seris
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
Laxet novosque Tiphys detegat orbes,
Atque ingens pateat tellus
Nec sit terris Ultima Thule."3
Sen. Med.
LONDON:
PEWTRESS & CO., 4, AVE MARIA LANE;
J. HEATON & SON, 21, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
SHELDON, BLAKEMAN, & Co., NEW YORK.


3IDCOCLVII.




1-S- ky"
LONDON:
J. HEATON AND SON, PRINTERS, 21, WARWICK LANE,
PATERNOSTER ROW.




PREFACE.
In presenting the following pages to the public, it will be
expected that they should be accompanied by a few remarks
by way of preface, explanatory of the Author's object in their
publication, and of the circumstances which have induced him
again to obtrude himself upon public attention.
The substance of this volume was contained in Lectures
delivered before various Literary and Scientific Societies. In
preparing these Lectures the Author had recourse to every
publication within reach, referring to the subjects on which
r     they treat. Thus, in addition to his own personal observation
^     and experience, he has endeavoured to condense, from authentic
but widely-scattered sources, as large a mass of information as
possible into the smallest compass consistent with perspicuity.
In pursuing his task the writer was particularly struck with
the fact, that, although histories of, and tours through, the United
States are so numerous, no book existed, so far as he was able
to ascertain, that could be put into the hands of an emigrant,
or of any one anxious to acquire general information on the
United States, conveying such knowledge as he would naturally
desire, within reasonable limits and at a moderate expense.
The present volume, therefore, by its embracing so wide a
range of topics, carefully collected and systematically arranged,
-comprehending, indeed, almost every conceivable subject
connected with the United States,-and presented in so compendious a form, the Author flatters himself will be regarded
as supplying an important desideratum.
A.




iv


PREFACE.


The Author is permitted to append to this preface the
opinions of DR. WILLIAMS, of New York, and DR. WAYLAND,
of Providence, to whom he had the pleasure of submitting his
manuscript during his late visit to the United States.
The REV. WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, D.D., New York, says:"The subscriber has had leisure to peruse but a small section in
manuscript of the proposed work of Mr. Phillippo on tlie Institutions of the United States.
"Its Author, for many years an efficient and honoured missionary in the British West Indies, will be found, as the subscriber
believes, to have scanned our country with the eye of an
intelligent and practised, but kindly observer. And his new work
will not, in interest or intrinsic merit, fall behind his former
volume on Jamaica (the scene of his residence and toils),-a book
which, some years since, introduced him so favourably, and to so
many readers, in both America and Britain."
The REV. F. WAYLAND, D.D., LL.D., Providence, Rhode
Island, says:" I have read the table of contents of Mr. Phillippo's work on
the United States. The topics which he has selected seem to me
to embrace all the most important points of interest which at once
attract the attention of an enquirer concerning this country.
From Mr. Phillippo's habits of correct observation, and from the
knowledge I possess of his work on Jamaica, I have no doubt that
his statements will be found eminently reliable and deeply
interesting. I may also remark, in addition, that the success of
Mr. Phillippo as a missionary in Jamaica, and the results of his
labours for the improvement of that island, must endear him to
every friend of humanity."
How far the writer has succeeded in accomplishing his object,
and in justifying the opinion formed of his qualifications by
these distinguished men, it remains for the public to determine.


London, Novenmber, 1857.




CONTENTS.
THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER 1.
PAGBE
PHYSICAL DIVISIONS, EXTENT, CHRONOLOGY, &C, OF THE AMERICAN CONTINSNT.Geographical position. Extent. Political divisions. How distinguished. Scriptural
vidence of the unity of origin of the human family. Probable migration of the first
inhabitants of America. In what manner, and from what part of the world peopled.
Obscurity of the early history of the North American Indians. Various theories on
the subject. General conclusion as to the origin and early condition of the Indian
tribes. Opinions of the identity of these both in North and South America, by the
most eminent ethnologists.  Reflections..........................................  1
CHAPTER II.
EXTENT AND NATURAL DIVISIONS OP THR UNITED STATES.-Chief towns. Characteristic
features of the country. Mountains, prairies, lakes, rivers, springs, islands. Past and
present general boundaries and extent. Original number of States. Comparison with
other nations. Situation of its frontier coast in regard to Europe................. 17
CHAPTER III.
EARLY HiSTORY AFTER DISCOVERY BY EURoPEANs.-When first colonized by Europeans.
In what localities, and by what nations. The Pilgrim Fathers. Subsequent exclusive
possession by the British. Progress in civilization. Rupture with the Mother country,
and its causes. Determined conduct of the colonists. Results and termination of the
war. Its influence on the national character. Present population. Its late and continued increase. Observations of Sir William Molesworth and Lord John Russell.... 25
CHAPTER IV.
FORM OP GOVERNMENT ADOPTED.-Its nature and character. By whom originated. Assimilation of the rules and practices of the Congress to those of the British Houses
of Parliament. Powers of the supreme legislature. Chief officers of Government:
their necessary qualifications for office. Mode of appointment. Supreme. Court of
Judicature. Judges. Extent of jurisdiction. Judicial establishment............ 34
CHAPTER V.
DESCaIPTION OF THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON, AND THE NATURAL BEAUTIES OF i'S
SlTOATION.-The Hall of the Senate and House of Representatives. Principal members of both Houses. Amount of talent among the members compared with that in
the past age: Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and others. Mode and character of debate in




Vi                                CONTENTS.
PAGB.
the Senate. Present leading men in both branches of the Legislature. Proportion 
of members supplied by the old States. Calculation of the influence of particular
States in the national councils. Preponderance of gentlemen of the legal profession
in both Houses. Names and number of Presidents since the establishment of the
Republic. President's house.  President. Principal officers of State.  Salary of
President, and that of inferior officers............................. 42
CHAPTER VI.
ANNUAL EXPENDITURB OF THE GOVERNMENT.-Its great economy compared with that of
England and her colonies.  Past and present financial state.  Chief sources of
revenue. Total amount of revenue per annum. Insolvent laws. Banks. Great
economy preserved throughout every department of the State. Theory of political
economy in the United States. Liberality of the Government, and its beneficial results. Equality of political, civil, and religious rights. General estimate of these
advantages by the masses. Misrepresentations of the workings of the Government
by tourists and others. Refutation of these misrepresentations. Adaptation of the
Republican form of Government to the character and circumstances of the American.
people. The equality recognised not incompatible with social distinctions. Beneficial
results of the Government exemplified in the union, order, and progress of the nation.
The national feeling and sentiment in regard to the Government.  Lines by Sir
William Jones on what constitutes a State. Anomalous conduct of America towards
a great portion of her population.  Her injustice and impolicy in perpetuating
Slavery.......................................................................  52
CHAPTER VII.
LAws OF THE UNITED STATES.-Improvement on those of England. Liberty of the press.
Naval and military establishments. America deficient in the qualities of a military
nation. Her advantage in cultivating the arts of peace. Consequences of an offensive, aggressive war-spirit to ancient republics and to Russia..................   65
CHAPTER VIII.
VAST AND RAPIDLY INCRBASING COMBaEBC.-Home and foreign. Imports and exports.
Tonnage. Magnificent lines of river and ocean steamers. Canals, railroads, and
electric telegraphs. Naval architecture and shipping. Agricultural products. Manufactories and manufactures. Their character and variety. Principal districts in which
established: Lowell, &c. Wealth of the United States. How or from what source
principally derived.  Its quality.  General distribution.  Comparative absence of
poverty throughout the Union. General contentment and happiness of the working
classes. Active enterprising habits of all classes. Prevailing mania for the possession 
of  wealth...........................................................   74
CHAPTER IX.
MANNERS AND CUSTOS. —Absence of expensive, courtly, and civic paraphernalia, antiquated costumes, splendid retinues, and aristocratic distinctions. Character of the
inhabitants of the different States. Their intimate relation to each other, and assimilation of rich and poor. Rate of wages to working men.  Cheapness of means of
subsistence.  Their abundance.  Economy of travelling. Politeness of American
gentlemen towards the female sex. Rights of women. In what they consist. Extent
to which recognised. The influence of the female sex on society at large. Uncharitable representations of both men and manners in America, by European
tourists.  Prevailing hospitality.  General politeness and urbanity of American
gentlemen....................................................................  94




CONTENTS.


vil


CHAPTER X.
PAGE.
PREVAILING CRARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL LIFE.-Personal appearance. Dress and habits
of both sexes. Houses. Cemeteries. Domestic servants, their moral character,
how regarded and treated. Character and circumstances of first European settlers.
Moral and social state of present inhabitants.  Language, comparative absence of
dialects, provincialisms, &c.....................................................  107
CHAPTER XI.
VARIETY OF SURFACB, SOIL, AND CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES GENERALLY.-Their
dissimilarity with those of Europe in the same degrees of latitude. Their influence
on human life. Seasons of the year. Varieties of vegetable life, and their general
dissimilarity to those of Europe. Scenery of the North-Eastern and Middle States.
America not classic ground.  Rural homesteads.  Principal objects of attraction
in rural scenery.  Where situated.  General character of American landscapes.
Scenery of the Southern and Western States. River scenery, the Mississippi, Ohio.
Cataracts.  Autumnal appearance of forests. Mountain scenery. Magnificent and
pictorial beauty of the lakes. Their Indian legendary Associations. Testimony of
the Earl of Carlisle. "Virginia Water"........................................ 116
CHAPTER XII.
NATURAL PasEOMENA.-The notch on Mount Washington. Hawke's nest.          Natural
bridge of Virginia. Gorge near Harper's Ferry, Maryland. Maiden Rock. Enchanted mountain in Tennessee. Sulphuretted springs in Virginia, Arkansas, Saratoga, Lebanon, &c.  Caverns, and subterraneous temples. Remarkable mountains.
Catskill Falls. Cascades in Georgia, and on the Mohawk. Particular description
of Niagara Falls in summer and winter. Beautiful lines by Brainard. Reflections.. 141
CHAPTER XIII.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.-Their number and variety. Indigenous trees, shrubs, and
flowers. Their peculiarities, as found in different sections of the country.......... 151
CHAPTER XIV.
ZooLOGY.-Animals peculiar to America. Their diversity. Number. Indigenous and
foreign. Wild and domestic. Insects. Fish. Reptiles. Birds.................. 161
CHAPTER XV.
SEC. I. GENERAL GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE CONTINENT.-Composition, structure,
position, and disposition of rocks.  Prevailing character of mountain formations.
Hypothesis as to the origin of the great mountain ranges. Supposed relation between
those of America and Europe. Peculiar geological and mineral character of the different States.  Great metalliferous belt. Its extent.  Gold deposits. Copper and
lead mines. Coal fields and basins. Anthracitic and bituminous. Fossil quadrupeds
and mammiferous animals. Where discovered. Descriptions of the different species.
Indian legends of a monster animal of a former age.  Gigantic fossil cetaceans.
Remarkable cemetery of animal remains.  Specimen of the genus cervus converted
into a silicious fossil.  Silicified plants.  Fossil fishes.  Crinoids.  Extraordinary
development of form of the latter class.  Its discovery in the carbonaceous and
silurian  strata in  Tennessee....................................................  173




V1ii                              CONTENTS.
PAGB.
Sec. II. Vast fossilliferous cypress forests in New Orleans. Their frequent occurrence
in the abrasions of the Mississippi and in Louisiana. Fossilized human skeleton.
Supposed antiquity of the submerged forests. Peculiar circumstances connected with
them. Opinions of eminent geologists and antiquarians as to their origin and age.
Collection of human bones in Virginia. Indian Herculaneum and legend. Fossil
impressions on sandstones. Producta, encrinites, &c. Vast fragments of fossilliferous
rock in sulphuretted springs in Virginia  Travertine rock. Stalactites. Petrified
mosses, agates, cornelians, &c. Fresh water shells. Naiades of Lamark. Univalve,
&c. Deposits of marine shells in the interior States.  Disclosures of interesting
geological phenomena as connected with Canada.  Infusorial deposits in rivers.
Volcanoes. Earthquakes. Reflections........................................ 185
CHAPTER XVI.
MORAL CHARACTER OP AMERICAN PROGREss'.-Benevolent and philanthropic societies.
Origin and progress of the temperance movement. Efforts to counteract the consumption of tobacco. Estimate of the quantity consumed. Of its cost and poisonous
qualities. Sabbath observance society. Society for abolition of war and promotion
of universal peace and brotherhood.  Sanitory arrangements.  Prison discipline
society. Reformatory schools, &c. Prisons.  Orphan asylums. Institutions for
the blind.  Emigrants' asylum; or, Strangers' home.  Sailors' home.  Modern
reformatory institutions for drunkards, &c. The bible and tract societies. Home
and foreign missions.  Principles and plans of their institutions.  Extraordinary
efficiency of their operation....................................................  191
CHAPTER XVII.
EDUCATION, LITERATURE, LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, AND LITERARY MEN.-Day schools.
Sunday schools.  State of education in general.  Normal seminaries for training
female teachers. High estimate of women as teachers of youth. Their especial
influence in the improvement of society.  Schools of design and practical science.
Institutions for the promotion of geological and physical sciences at Washington,
Philadelphia, &c. Great improvement in nautical science by Lieut. Maury. Advancement in everything in relation to the mind and social life. Numerous seminaries of
learning. Where situated. Quality of knowledge imparted. General character of
the principal institutions. Most eminent literary men, divines, historians, novelists,
and critics. Philosophers and astronomers. Naturalists, mathematicians, sculptors,
painters, poets, literary women.  Theological schools.  Colleges and universities.
Libraries. Museums. Female medical colleges. Newspapers and periodical publications in general. Character of the American press...........................  199
CHAPTER XVIII.
RELIGION.-Religion recognized and protected, but not supported by the State. Ecclesiastical establishments repudiated by the framers of the Constitution. Religion,
notwithstanding, the basis of the laws.  Opinions of the founders of the Commonwealth on the subject. Great progress of religion under these circumstances.  Perfect religious freedom and equality. Recognition of this principle by Congress in
the choice of chaplains. Operation of the voluntary principle. Number of places of
worship. Ministers and congregations in the Union. General statistics from last
census. Great aversion to a Church and State alliance, by ministers and people of
all christian or protestant denominations.  All religious institutions supported by
voluntary effort.  None by individual States or the Federal Government.  Great
efficiency of the voluntary principle demonstrated by its success. Embarrassment
of the episcopal church when first thrown on her own resources. Beneficial results
of her self-reliance...........................................................  220




CONTENTS.                                    is
CHAPTER XIX.
PAGE.
FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT AMONG EPISCOPALIANS.-Dlscipline. Improvements in
their ecclesiastical polity.  Comparatively healthy and prosperous state of their
churches. Happy effects of religious equality on the country, on ministers, and on
religion, in obviating jealousy, party feeling, and isolation. Fraternity of ministers
and people of different sections of the universal church as a consequence.  General
harmony of operation. Respect and kindness manifested by American people generally towards ministers of religion.  Instances in which especially exemplified.
Voluntary liberality in support of religious institutions.  Number and diversity of
religious sects.  Its influence for good rather than for evil. Prevalence of religion,
and number of places of religious worship. Architecture and internal arrangements
of religious edifices.  Especial respect paid to the Sabbath in the Northern and
Middle States................................................................ 238
CHAPTER XX.
Ssc. 1. CHIsP COMMERCIAL CITIss.-Boston. Origin of the name. Its geographical
situation and commercial importance.  Harbour, shipping, suburbs, population.
Literary and scientific institutions. Public buildings. Harvard university. Newton
theological institution.  Cemetery.  Seminary for training female teachers. Common schools. Number of places of religious worship. Particular circumstances for
which Boston is celebrated in history. Prevalence of religion. Principal religious
denominations. Architecture of public edifices. Public places of resort. Boston
common. Mt. Auburn Cemetery, &c........................................... 254
SEC. II. Rhode island. Situation and extent. Salubrious climate. Chief towns. Public buildings. Benevolent institutions. Population. Face of the country.  Rural
attractions. Origin of cotton cultivation and manufacture. State when founded.
Roger Williams.  His history.  Origin and nature of the government.  Brown
university. Origin, progress, and present state. President Wayland.............. 261
CHAPTER XXI.
CHIEF COMMERCIAL CrrIES CONTINUED.-New York. Interesting circumstances of an
approach to this city. Description of appearances of rural scenery in sailing up the
East River. Different islands. Aspect of the city on entering the harbour. Its
situation, extent, population, streets, houses, public buildings, library, philanthropic
institutions, hotels, Croton water works, manners and customs. State or county of
New York. Statistics of religious denominations. Number of adherents to each.
Number of ministers of religion in the city and state. Progress and present state of
education. Literature and arts. Brooklyn. Its connection with New York. How
approached.  Particulars of interest as to its situation.  Institutions, navy yard,
cemetery, &c...................................................................  266
CHAPTER XXII.
CaIsF COMMERCIAL CIIES CONTINUED.-State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. Situation and importance. Ancient capital of the State. Origin of Philadelphia. Resources.  Voyage up the Delaware.  Incidents. Beautiful scenery.  Reflections.
General appearance of the city. Houses. Streets. Public buildings. Institutions.
Public squares and pleasure grounds. Suburban villas. Gardens. Agriculture of
the State. Circumstances for which Philadelphia is celebrated. Description of the
city and suburbs as viewed from the cupola of the state house...................... 279
CHAPTER XXIII.
WASHINGTON.    RICHMOND.   BALTIMORE.   CHARLESTON.   SAVANNAH.    PeNSACOLA.
M OBILE........................................................................  294




X


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER XXIV.
PAGE.
NEW ORLEANS. STATE OF LOUISIANA. —New Orleans, how situated. Its importance.
General description of its appearance. Causes of its peculiar and picturesque architecture.  Public places of recreation and amusement.  Origin of the city. Early
possession by France.  Original European population.  Their discouraging prospects.  Various character and motley aspect of its present inhabitants. Proportion
between white and black, slave and free. Principal agricultural products. Market.
Levee. Places of worship. Contrast between New Orleans and the cities of the
north. Comparative paucity of benevolent institutions. Vast commerce. Acquisition of wealth the all-engrosing object of pursuit. Prevailing demoralization. Causes.
Influence of slavery. Duelling. Desecration of the Sabbath. Climate and seasons.
Infectious diseases.  Remarkable public burial place.  Slave auctions.  Slavery.
Mississippi, its source. Magnitude.  Extent and grandeur.  Cincinnati.  Ohio
river, &c...........................................................  301
CHAPTER XXV.
CAUSES OF THE RAPID ADVANCEMENT AND PROSPERITY OF THE UNITED STATES.-Her
previous oppression by the Mother Country. Qualities of government. Freedom of
commerce, of speech, and action. Religious as well as civil and political liberty.
Exemption from old habits and prejudices. Superior enterprise and energy of her
people. Quality of emigrants. Freedom of institutions. Illustration in the establishment of San Francisco, Wisconsin, Chicago, and Ohio. Influence of commerce.
Facilities of locomotion. Stimulus supplied to agricultural labour. Prevalence of
small farms and number of small proprietors. Advantages as contrasted with customs in England and her colonies. Superior domestic economy.  General selfreliance and independent spirit of the people. Great economy of the Government.
Its enterprising spirit and forethought in regard to its public works. Generous aid to
public patriotic undertakings. Prevalence of education in the Northern and Middle
States. Liberal character of the plan of school institutions, and of the instruction
given. Its direct practical tendency and palpable advantages...................... 318
CHAPTER XXVI.
PECULIARITIES oF ORIGINAL EUROPEAN INHABITANTS.-Their character and previous
circumstances. General influence they exerted. Inauspicious and painful occurrences
of their first settlement. Their industry and skill. Habits of life. Their stern,
unaffected piety. Salutary influence in domestic and social life, in the local politics
of the districts of their location, and subsequently in the councils of the nation.
General diffusion of Protestant Christianity over the land. The firm belief of the
Pilgrim Fathers in the beneficent purposes of the Almighty in their expatriation.
The evident approval of God of their plans and efforts. His continued blessing on
the plans and enterprises of their successors. Influence of the belief in the purpose
and providence of God both in the discovery and settlement of the New World.
Prevalent conviction of the final evangelization of America, and that the vast influence it is destined to exercise in the conversion of the world is the subject of ancient
prediction..............................................................  344
CHAPTER XXVII.
SEC. I. PROGRESS AND NATIONAL GREATNESS OF THE UNITED STATES UNPRBCE- 
DENTED AND WONDERFUL.-An exhibition of the mighty effects of industry and
perseverance. Her great and glorious future. Present danger to future prospects
from the continuance of slavery.  Slavery an evident incubus on her progress.




- l


CONTENTS.                                     xi
PAGB.
Great injustice as well as impolicy of the system. Advancement of the United
States, though vast, still infantile. Calculations of amount of population at different
prospective periods. Probable dense population of the whole valley of the Mississippi,
and North-West States, to the Rocky Mountains. Her vast magnitude and power,
when densely peopled throughout her whole extent to the Pacific Ocean.  This
result not Utopian. Past and present progress confirmatory of its probable result.
Prediction of anti-republican politicians and others of the certain dissolution of the
Union, from the results of the Ancient Republics and France. Great dissimilarity
in the character and circumstances of these governments, nations, and people, &c.
Alleged danger from collision between the Northern and Southern States on the
slavery question.  Daily diminishing probabilities of this result.  Evidences.
Abolition of slavery inevitable. Enquiry as to the policy of the nation in relation to
this issue. Undoubted advantages of wise and just arrangements, because in harmony
with Divine providence. Example of the consequences of injustice, and the failure
of ambitious projects to Russia................................................. 365
SEC. II. The lessons of peace and amity past history and experience are designed to
teach bothAmerica and England. The cultivation of friendship and good understanding between these two nations should be the constant aim of both. Promotion
of concord among nations the most importantbf social theories. Opinion of Montesquieu. Great impolicy as well as inhumanity of war. Examples in both ancient and
modern history. Uncertainty as to its results. Duty of England and America in
relation to each other. Improved sentiment of each in regard to war. Evidences of
mutual desire for harmony of operation. Mutual sympathy from obvious causes.
Especial influence of religion in the promotion of charity and good-will. Chief
causes of international prejudices and hostile feeling. Best means of counteracting
and obviating them. Testimony of an English nobleman. Reflections............ 377
CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
GEOGRAPHICAL PosrrIoN.-Extent. History. Description of Havanna. Religion. Morals.
General character of inhabitants. Origin. Slavery. Piracy. Government. Present
equivocal destiny of the island. Army and Navy. Revenue...................... 397
CHAPTER XXIX.
MANNErS AND CUSTOns.-Odious system of police surveillance.  Streets of Havanna.
Houses. Furniture. Dress of inhabitants of both sexes. Personal appearance and
social characteristics of Spanish ladies and gentlemen. Managers of sugar estates.
Peasants, &c. Public vehicles and drivers. Agriculture, trade, and commerce..... 419
CHAPTER XXX.
CLIMATE, SCENBRY, &c.-Description of a Hurricane in the tropical seas. Vegetable
productions. Rivers. Mountains. Domestic and wild animals. General geological
formations. Mineral riches. Principal objects of attraction to a stranger. Architecture and general description of churches. Cathedral. Church of San Domingo.
Vice regal palace.  Chapel of Columbus.   Statue of Ferdinand.  Admiralty.
Arsenal. Post office. Inquisition. American hotel. Alamadas. Plazas. Royal
tobacco manufactory.  Convent at Regla.  Plaza de Toros or colosseum for bull
fights. Conclusion............4.................................3 483




~I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I




THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL DiVISIONS, EXTENT, CHRONOLOGY, &c.-American Continent. Geographical
position. Extent. Political divisions. How distinguished. Scriptural evidence of the unity of
origin of the human family. Probable migration of the first inhabitants of America. In what
manner, and from what part of the world peopled. Obscurity of the early history of the
North American Indians. Various theories on the subject. General conclusion as to the
origin and early condition of the Indian tribes. Opinions of the identity of these both in
North and South America, by the most eminent ethnologists. Reflections.
AMERICA, the largest of the four continental divisions of the
globe, is supposed to be surrounded on all sides by the ocean,
and stretches in an extensive range through every inhabited
latitude of the world-from the regions of eternal snow to
those where all the bloom of spring and all the exuberance of
autumn are united.     On the north is the Arctic, on the east the
Atlantic, on the south the Antarctic, and on the west the Pacific
ocean. It is the largest continuous mass of land on the sur-face of the earth, extending from 75~ north to 55~ south latitude,
and lies between longitudes 20~ and 170~ west from Greenwich.
It may be said to be about 8,000 miles in length, and 2,000 in
width, having in its broadest part 40~ of longitude. Its greatest
length, from Point Beechy to the Arctic Sea, by a curve line
drawn along the Rocky Mountains and the Cordillera of the
Andes to the extremity of Cape Horn, is about 10,875 miles.
The greatest breadth of North America, at the fifty-first parallel,
from Cape St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean, is about 3,250 miles;
and of South America, from Cape St. Roque, in Brazil, to Cape
Blanco, in Peru, about 3,200 miles.*


* The greatest breadth of South America is said by other authorities to be
from the Cape of St. Augustine in the south bf Brazil east, to the South Sea near
to Quito, estimated at about 3,000 miles.
B




\


~~2  ~THE UNITED STATES.
This vast double continent is divided into North and South
by the Canataguan chain of mountains between the provinces
of Veragua and Panama in the Isthmus of Darien: the latter
being a narrow slip of land of about fifty miles in diameter.
North America comprises the northern division of the western
continent, and extends from the Arctic Ocean to Panama;
South America, from the same limit southward, to Cape Horn.
The whole continent of America may be said, more briefly and
simply, to consist of two large peninsulas, divided by a narrow
neck of land, denominated indifferently the Isthmus of Darien
and Panama, one of which is called North, the other South
America.
The northern division is shared principally between the
United States, Mexico, and the British provinces of the
Canadas. Southern America is chiefly possessed by the confederated States of Central America, Brazil; and Peru.
According to Baron Humboldt's computations, the continent
of America, from the south-eastern extremity of the Isthmus
of Panama to the parallel of 68~, forms an area of 607,337
square marine leagues; while South America comprises 571,290
square leagues.  To the West Indies and Newfoundland is
assigned a territorial surface of about 8,303 square leagues.
The total is 1,186,930 square leagues, or about 15,000,000
square miles, with a population now amounting to 60,000,000.
The area of North America is usually calculated in English
miles at 7,400,000; that of South America 'at 6,500,000; that
of the West India Islands from 150,000 to 200,000; and that of
Greenland at 900,000; making the total area 14,950,000.
The entire continent thus divided into North and South,
forming, as already said, two grand peninsulas, united by the
Isthmus of Darien or Panama, possesses some great physical characteristics. In the former part it is distinguished by its lakes;
in the latter by the simplicity and grandeur of its natural features
of plains and moiihtains'; and in both by its mighty rivers.
Assuming, on the authority of Scripture, that the whole
human race descended from one primeval pair, and that the
whole, with the exception of Noah and his family, were involved
in the general deluge, considering moreover the fact that the old
and new continents are separated by seas and oceans, the question
arises by what means and by which of the descendants of Noah
was the continent of America originally peopled?  It is not'
asserted that God in his original creation of the human species




UNITY OF ORIGIN.                            3
made several races of men, but that he made of "one blood all
the nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,"* thus
causing all to descend from one primeval pair-one Adam, one
Noah; "He fashioneth their hearts alike."          "Have we not all
one Father?" says the prophet; " hath not one God created us?"t
We have no intimation anywhere in the sacred records that
God made any more than one original human stock.              In His
designs men were never separated; for, however dissimilar in
many respects the nations of men may become, though from
various circumstances their colour may be changed,: though they
may have formed different habits, still there is but one human
body, coming into the world precisely in the same way, and
nourished after the same manner. It is the being having a human
body and a human soul proceeding from the same almighty
Creator, made of the same material, and formed precisely in the
same way, throughout every region of the world, amongst every
people that has yet been discovered, but multiplied into a vast
family, of which God is the Father, who is emphatically styled
in Scripture, " the Father of the spirits of all flesh."
"Japheth," says a celebrated commentator, "signifies enlargement, and his boundaries have been wonderfully enlarged.          Not
only Europe, but Asia Minor, the whole of the vast regions of
* Acts xvii. 26: "Made of one blood," &c.,-of one and the same nature.
The design of the apostle was to counteract the vaunted opinion of the Athenians,
that they sprang out of their own earth-were aborigines, and in nothing akin to
any other nation.
t Malachi ii. 10.
t On the subject of the different complexions of men in different parts of the
globe, Buffon, although he cannot be considered as one inclined to bear testimony
to the truth of the Scriptures, states, "Man, though white in Europe, black in
Africa, yellow in Asia, and red in America, is still the same animal, tinged only
with the colour of the climate." He further observes, " From every circumstance,
proof may be obtained that mankind are not composed of species essentially different from each other; that on the contrary there was originally but one species
of men. At Cochin, on the coast of Malabar, is a colony of Jews, originally a
fair people from Palestine, who have preserved themselves unmixed from the
people among whom they live, yet from the effect of climate they have become
as dark as the Malabariaus, who are nearly as black as the negroes of Guinea."
"The subsisting varieties of the human-race are occasioned by several physiological
causes, not only climate, but descent, and deviations of character and habit. And
in addition to the influence of physiological incidents in producing such variety
are others, to which domestication in the lower animals may be considered the
correlative,-namely, those which result from habitual and immediate emotions,
from excitements of the animal spirits, and from attachment and confidence, such,
principally, as the two emotions of love and bate, and all the variety of feelings
which they involve."
B2




4


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Asia north of the Taurus, and probably America, were peopled
by his posterity; while the resemblance between the people on
the opposite sides of the passage that divides the two continents
is such'as to show their common origin."
It is maintained by Moreri, and believed by some other historians and antiquarians, but is supported by no certain evidence, that America was known to the Egyptians, Phoenicians,
and Carthaginians,* if not to the oriental nations of China,
Japan, and Palestine.
From   the great antiquity and the local situation, as well as
from the peculiarity of a stone aqueduct which passes under
the principal building of some recently discovered ruins near
Guatimala, designated the Palencian City, it is inferred that the
people in this part of South America bore some analogy to and
had intercourse with the Romans.t
The earliest claim to the honour of discovering this important portion of the globe, as urged by Snorro Sturlonides, in
the "Chronicle of Olaus," published in Stockholm in 1697, was
by the Norwegians or Northmen, who are supposed to have
penetrated to Hudson's Bay, and subsequently to the eastern
coast.   Little doubt appears but that Greenland was discovered
and peopled from Iceland and Norway nearly one thousand years
ago, and was subsequently invaded by a tribe of the Esquimaux
* It is highly probable that America was peopled by the Carthaginians, who
were situate on the north-west coast of Africa, and possessed the Canary and
Cape Verde Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean; and as the Carthaginian ships carried
sometimes a thousand people, and were probably crowded with men, women, and
children when they sent colonies to those islands, as ours when we send to the
plantations, it is very natural to expect that some of them should miss those
islands, and be driven to the west beyond their intended port; and if this ever
happened they must of necessity be carried to America, which is situated but
three weeks' sail to the windward of the Canary or Cape Verde Islands; from
whence it was impossible for them to return to the eastern continent, the tradewinds being always opposite to them, which is the reason we never heard anything
of that part of the world until we had the use of the compass, and the art of
navigation was improved, whereby the way was found out of sailing into the
higher latitudes, out of the way of the trade-winds, in order to return to the
eastern continent.-Salmon's Geogra Gram., p. 550.
t See Description of the Ruins of an ancient City discovered near Palenque,
in the kingdom of Guatimala, in Spanish America, translated from the original
manuscript report of Captain Don Antonio Del Rio; followed by Teatro Critico
Americano; or, A Critical Investigation and Researches into the History of the
Americans, by Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera, of the city of New Guatimala. 4to,,
London, 1822.
t Some authors have asserted, though apparently without any reasonable
ground, that America was discovered by a native of Nuremberg as early as 1483.




PROBABLE MIGRATIONS.                 5
of Labrador, who reached Greenland in boats through Davis's
Straits: from  these the present race of Greenlanders are
descended, a fact that seems to be established by Scandinavian
history.*  Other authorities state that Thorwold Eriesson, an
Icelander, sailed from Eriesford in Greenland on a voyage of
exploration to a country called Vinland, from the vines with
which it abounded; and that America had been previously discovered by one Biarni Heriulfson, who, in a voyage from Iceland to Greenland, had been driven a great many days' sail from
the usual course to the south-west as far as Cape Cod, or to
Cross Cape, near Plymouth, the landing place of the Pilgrim
Fathers.
The Welsh bards and historians assert a claim both to the
discovery and partial colonization of America by Madoc Owain
Gwynedd, a Welsh prince, in the eleventh or twelfth century,
three hundred years before the expedition of Columbus, as
stated by Powell and other antiquaries, and this legend furnishes the theme of one of Mr. Southey's most finished and
attractive poems.  Hakluyt also says that America was discovered by the Welsh about the year 1170, and that a colony
was planted there by Madoc, the son of Owain Gwynedd.
Meredeth Ap Reece, a Cambrian bard, who died in the year
1477, that is, fifteen years before the date of modem discovery,
composed an ode in his native language on the subject of this
expedition, of which ode the following is an extract:"Madoc Wyf, Mwyedic Weedd
I awn genou, Owyn Guyedd
Ni frinnum dir, fy enaid sedd
Na d mawr, nid y moroedd."
Sir Morgan Jones, who was chaplain to General Bennett in
Virginia, about the year 1669 published an account of his
having discovered a tribe of Indians near Cape Atros, whose
origin he conceived to be Welsh; and Owen, in his "British
Remains," supposes that their migration happened near the
time of William Rufus, or of Henry the First; while a Mr.
Isaac Steward and a Mr. John Evans, natives of Wales, affirm
that they visited the red-haired, fair-complexioned Indians, who
inhabited a beautiful country on the west side of the Missouri,


* It is supposed that the narratives of the voyages of the ancient Scandinavians
to America may still prove of service in removing the veil which to this day hangs
over the origin of the nations inhabiting the regions of the New World.


'9




6


THE UNITED STATES.


and conversed with them in the Welsh language. Manuscripts
have also been found among them in the Greek character, but
said to be-the Welsh Bible.
At the same time it is remarkable that about the year 1815
two gold coins were dug up in Kentucky, one of Antonius and
the other of Faustina, while in other parts have been found some
bearing the impress of Augustus, together with inscriptions,
Eagles, and other symbols of Imperial Rome, and which some
antiquarians have supposed must have been carried thither by
Madoc and his followers.
Dr. Cotton Mather, of New England, in his "Magnalia,"
quotes an author who says, "If we may credit any records besides
the Scriptures, I know it might be said and proved well, that
this New World was known and partly inhabited by Britons or
Saxons from England three or four hundred years before the
Spaniards came thither, which assertion is demonstrated from
the discourses between the Mexicans and Spaniards, and the 
popish relics and British terms found among them, as well as
from undoubted passages in the British Annals."*
The native country of Madoc being distracted with disputes
as to the regular succession to the crown, he is said to have
embarked in thirteen ships, with about three hundred followers,
and settled near the Missouri. These emigrants are said to have
landed at the mouth of the Mississippi, where they built a town,
and afterwards to have gradually moved onward to their present
territory.
A third claim to the distinction of having discovered this continent at an earlier date than the first voyage of Columbus, and
to intelligence derived from which both the latter and Magellan
are supposed to have been much indebted, is asserted in behalf
of Martin Benaim, a German, who, after an expedition to
Africa, is said by Doppelmayor, in his work upon the Lives of
the Mathematicians of Nuremberg, to have sailed westward,
and settled in the Azores.
The only authentic history of the discovery of the New World
is that of its southern portion, in connection with the West India
Islands, being sighted on the 8th of October, 1492, by Christopher
Columbus, and other parts successively, within a short period,


* Journal of a Two Months' Residence among the Frontier Inbabitants of
Pennsylvania, by the Rev C. Beatty, A.M. Also a tract entitled, The Welsh
Indian, by the Rev. Dr. Burder.,




IN WHAT MANNER PEOPLED.


7'


by Ponce De Leon, Sebastian Cabot, and Amerigo Vespucci.
From the last of these, with no small injustice both to Columbus
and Cabot, the whole continent, as is well known, received its
designation. John Cabot and his son Sebastian, in the service
of Henry VII. of England, discovered North America in 1497,
five years after Columbus had planted the royal standard of
Spain on the southern islands and continent. They also explored the eastern coast from Newfoundland to Florida.
From all the circumstances it will appear, therefore, that if
Columbus was not absolutely the first European who landed on
American soil, he was the first real discoverer, since his precursors were either driven thither by adverse winds, or were led
to it by accident.
The early history also of the inhabitants of this great division of the globe is involved in great obscurity.
All nations preserve traces of their origin, having received a
certain impress at the outset both fiom the men and circumstances of each respective country or tribe which should determine the character of their condition and origin. The brightest
intellects, therefore, have ever been ready to seize upon every point
of advantage; unfettered individual activity, left free to develop
itself in every direction where it was needed, has been brought
into contact with systems of traditionary rules; and investigations have been pursued to the utmost limit,-yet all hitherto
without any satisfactory result in determining the ethnology of
the first inhabitants of the American continent.
Traditions, monuments, and other circumstances, seem to
indicate a double immigration: one from the Aleutian Islands,*
another- from more southern regions,-a tract which, as is supposed, once occupied the present place of the Atlantic Oceanthe fabled "Atlantis," described by Plato in his "Timeus," as
also by IElian in his " History of Various Things,"t and Seneca
in his " Media." The Thule spoken of by Seneca is by some
supposed to be Iceland, or a part of Greenland, i.e.; the northern
parts of America, and Tiphys is considered to have been the
pilot to the celebrated Argonautic expedition.t
The island of Atlantis is described by Plato as having been
of vast extent and population, but swallowed up or absorbed
T'be Aleutian Islands are a chain extending from Asia to North America to
the southward of Bebring's Straits.
t LElian, lib. iii. cap. 8.
Mledia of Seneca, a.c 1263. a.M. 2741.




8


THE UNITED STATtS.


by an earthquake. He writes on the authority of Solon, who
received his information from an Egyptian priest. This priest
affirmed it as a prevalent tradition "that there was formerly an
island at the entrance of the ocean where the pillars of Hercules
now stand; this island was larger than all Lybia and Asia, and
from it was an easy passage to many other islands, and from these
islands to all that continent-which was opposite and next to the
true sea; for that land which surrounded the sea called Pelagos
might justly be called a continent. In after times there happened a dreadful earthquake and an inundation of water, which
continued for the space of a whole day and night; and this
island, Atlantis, being covered and overwhelmed by water, sunk
beneath the ocean and disappeared."*  Many Hindoo legends
also refer to the circumstance, and Whitehurst quotes in proof
the geology of the coasts of Ireland. Some suppose that the
Canaries are fragments of that extensive island-the sea is said
to be shallow in that vicinity. Pliny mentions traditions of the
irruptions of the Atlantic into the basin of the Mediterranean.
" The probability is," says the Abbe Clavigero, in his elaborate
treatise on the subject, "that the quadrupeds, as well as men, &c.,
of America, passed thither by land; and that the two continents
were formerly united, their separation being caused by earthquakes and subterranean phenomena."
Passages which seem to favour this idea are to be found both
in sacred and profane history. In Gen. x. 25, and its parallel
1 Chron. i. 19, we are informed that the name of one of
Heber's sons was called Peleg, because in his days the earth
(nepelegah) divided. Thus Gen. ix. 19: "These are three
sons of Noah, and of them was the whole earth overspread"
(napetsa); x. 5: "By these were the isles of the Gentiles
divided (neperedu) in their lands, every one after his tongue,
after their families, in their nations;" also verses 18 and 32,
and chap. xi, 9; "From thence (Babel) did the Lord scatter
them abroad (epitsem) upon the face of all the earth."
Bengel, the Biblical critic, in his " Ordo Temporum," makes
the following observation: " Peleg was named from the division
of the earth (which happened in those days). The earth after
the deluge was divided by degrees-by a genealogical and politi

* See History of America, from the- first discovery thereof, with the best
Accounts the People could give of their Antiquities, collected from original.
relations sent to the kings of Spain, translated from the Spanish by Captain John
Stevens.




IN WHAT MANNER PEOPLED.


9


cal division, which is expressed by the words (nf7eetsej and
(ne-perediJ; but a very different kind of division is meant
by the word nerpelgah,-viz., a physical and geographical
division which happened at once, and which was so remarkable,
and of such extent, as suitably to answer the naming of the
patriarch therefrom. By this word Peleg, that kind of division
is principally denoted which is applicable to land and water;
whence, in the Hebrew tongue, Peieg signifies a river, and in
the Greek, IHXaayov fPelagos), the sea. And Pelagus has the
same import in Latin; thus a part of the Mediterranean, or
what was called anciently the AEgean Sea, has its appellation
Archi-pelago. Here, then, there appears to be a reference to
continents-that the earth split or divided asunder, i.e., superficially for some considerable extent, and thus opened a fresh
way, a Peleg or Pelagus, for the waters of the sea."
That both men and quadrupeds passed over from the Asiatic
continent on land, is the opinion also of Acosta, Grotius,
Buffon, Robertson, and other great and learned men, who have
made the subject one of minute and earnest investigation;
and it is remarkable that this geographical conjecture is not
only verified by the discoveries of Captain Cook, Anson, and
other celebrated navigators of more recent times, but it is also.
a well-known Indian tradition that the narrow strait which
separates the north-west part of America from the eastern part
of Asia was once fordable at low water; while some late travellers and voyagers assert that the Indians are now in the habit
of passing to and from each continent in their canoes. Hence
the language of a late popular writer: "The Indians of the
present day cross at Behring's Straits in their canoes, and this
may have been done in former days as well as now."  This is
an assertion by no means improbable, as the distance across the
strait is only forty miles, or thirteen leagues, being in latitude
66~ north, and longitude 170~ west. "The straits which divide
North America from Tartary," says another authority, "are so
narrow as to admit an easy passage from one continent to
another, and during a great part of the year it may be crossed
on the ice."
A third hypothesis has been suggested, which would people
America from that branch of the Huns who migrated to the
north-east in or about the year 100 of the christian era; while
an Anglo-American philosopher, M. M. Noah, who is of Jewish 
extraction, has adduced many ingenious and plausible reasons
B 3




30


THE UNITED STATES.


for believing that at least the greatest portion of the original
inhabitants of the New World may be descendants of the lost
tribes of Israel, whom he supposes to have crossed over from
Asia through Behring's Straits, the channel, as already noted,
which separates America from Asia, and connects the Pacific
and Arctic oceans,-these tribes at length spreading themselves
throughout America, and in process of time degenerating into
savages and idolaters.
Of the latter opinion were also the celebrated William Penn
the founder of Pennsylvania, President Edwards, and others
who had the best opportunities of judging.
After tracing the similarity of the dialect which he had acquired of one of the tribes to the Hebrew language, William
Penn adds, "For their origin, I am ready to believe them of the
Jewish race. I mean of the stock of the ten tribes, and that
for the following reasons.  First, that they (meaning the
Israelites, at their last dispersion) werer to go to a land not
planted or sown, which Asia and Africa were, if not Europe;
while their passage to America was not impossible in itself, as
the easternmrost parts of Asia and the westernmost parts of
America are nearly contiguous. In the second place, I find
them of the like countenances, and their children of so lively a
resemblance, that a man may think himself in Duke Place or
Bury Street in London. Thirdly, they reckon by moons,-they
offer their first-fruits,-they have a kind of feast of tabernacles,
-they are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones,-together
with the facts of their mourning a year,-customs of women,with many other things that do not now occur to me."*
"From the ceremonial observances and civil government of
the Indians," says a late writer, " added to several other striking
coincidents, it is the opinion of M. M. Noah, and others of
Jewish descent, that the aborigines of North America are the
descendants of the ten lost tribes, who, instead of going into
the east, for fear of the Egyptians, bent their course in a northwest direction, which brought them within a few leagues of the
American continent and which they finally reached through
Behring's Straits."
Thus says Mrs. Simon, an authoress of Jewish origin: "Those
who are most conversant with the public and private economy
of the Indians, are strongly of opinion that they are lineal


* Clarkson's Life of Penn, vol. i., pp. 384, 397.




EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.     1I
descendants of the Israelites, and my own researches go far to
confirm the same belief."*
It must, however, be admitted, in justice to any enquiry as
to the accuracy of this opinion, that the hieroglyphical delineations and rude symbolical registers found even among the
Indians of Mexico, cannot be compared with the consecutive
grammatical writings of the Hebrews, which display the
advanced state of intellectual culture and social organization
of a country and portion of the globe in which the earliest traces
of civilized man are to be found. And at the same time the
inscriptions of the Mexicans, so far as they have been deciphered,
seem to indicate a more recent era.
It may be said, indeed, of the Indians in general, that so
different are they from the ancient Israelites, that they have few
or no religious ideas: their thoughts are wholly engrossed
with the things of earth: the world of ideas,-the spiritual
world,-seems closed against them: their whole philosophy
and religion are reducible to a code of social morals, limited to
the expression of those principles of human conscience without
the observance of which society would be impossible.
The original form of religious worship, as practised by the
Indians in general, is known to have resembled closely in its
main features that which prevailed among most Asiatic nations at
the dawn of authentic history. It consisted in doing homage to
the primary elements of fire, air, water, earth, and space, with the
heavenly bodies and aerial beings,-a sort of Sabaism, in which
fire is the principal object of deification, and of which element
the firmament and sun were regarded as subordinate manifestations, as may be seen in the recently found Rigveda of the
Hindus. At the same time there is an affinity between these
peoples, in temperament and intellect, in habits, manners, and
social state. ' The American Indian is proverbially melancholic,
with a mind moderate in range, but ingenious, inventive, full of
sagacity for the useful arts and conveniences of life, but incompetent to generalize their application; leading a roaming though
not nomadic life, with a patriarchal form of society; united
together as a people by compulsive ties imposed by kindred and
by nature.
Many travellers trace a similarity between the American
natives and the Tartars, both in language and physiognomy,


* Mrs. Simon's Hope of Israel, pp. 33, 34.




12


THE UNITED STATES.


with coincidences of custom, and of mythological legends;
while they practise similar superstitions, and represent that they
were driven from their original country by the "rising of the
waters."*
Mr. Ranking, in his " Historical Researches," maintains that
the conquest of Peru, Mexico, Bogota, and Natchez, in.the
thirteenth century, was made by the Monguls. He considers it
highly probable that a portion of the Asiatic troops, despatched
by the Mongul Emperor of China, Shi-tsu, for the subjugation of Japan, had been carried across the Pacific Ocean by
the tremendous storm which scattered and destroyed that vast
armament, and that the few who were spared from the fury of
the tempest had arrived in Peru, having at their head the commander of the expedition, Mooko, whom Mr. Ranking recognises in the first Inca Mango.t  And the same author, in his
"Wars and Sports of the Mongu]s and Romans," has endeavoured to prove, what has been controverted, however, by Professor Buckland, that no bones of any fossil have been found,
except in situations in which it is probable they were placed
by the hands of men; and as will be hereafter proved, the
bones of the Asiatic elephant have been discovered in the New
World, which gives additional probability to the hypothesis that
this continent was conquered or invaded either by Romans or
Monguls.
Baron Humboldt remarks, and his authority will be regarded
'as unexceptionable, that amongst all the tribes of America, South
as well as North, many traits of Asiatic manners and usages
are apparent.  He even thought he could trace the Chinese
language in that of Mexico,-a supposition that seems to be
sustained by the narration of the Chinese historian, Li-yen,
who lived in the early part of the seventh century. He also
found in the possession of the Indians on tie Amazon, engraved
green stones, exactly resembling the Ethiopian and Babylonian,
or Sabean signets, described by Mr. Landseer as cylindrical,
engraved in intaglio on jasper, chalcedony, jade, or onyx stone,
about one or two inches long, and half an inch-'in diameter.
They were used as seals in Ethiopia, Chaldea, Arabia, and other
nations of western Asia.. They were found also in the ruins
of Babylon and Nineveh, and are both mystical and curious.


* De Guines.
4 Amer. Eclec. Recorder.




EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.     13
Stones similarly engraved were used among the Romans; and
the signet of Augustus CEesar exhibited the sign of Capricorn,
under which he was born.
In other parts of America have been discovered hieroglyphical
delineations similar to those inscribed on the tombs and temples
of Egypt. But what is still more remarkable is, the zodiac of
the Mexicans being identical with that of the ancient Egyptians.
On the fragments of walls and columns recovered from ruins
in Central America or Mexico, are depicted countenances and
head-dresses which resemble those of the Egyptian statues.
One with a sphynx-like countenance has a head-dress exactly
similar to that of the priest of Isis.
Indications of a common origin have been traced between
the aboriginal civilization of South America and that of the
Toltees and the Olmees, as well as Aztecs or ancient Mexicans,
and other nations of America. It cannot fail to be a remarkable
circumstance, however, if correct, that the Indians found within
the United States and territories, and throughout the whole of the
continent ranging from the Mississippi towards the Polar region,
differ from those of Mexico and the southern part of the continent, as also from pagan nations generally, in that they have
no idols of any form, but acknowledge and profess to worship
the "Great Spirit."*
Fragments of idols have been found in Tennessee, and in
the whole of the valley whose waters flow into the Gulf of
Mexico, that are almost identical with some of the Mexican
idols; and obsidian has been found in the mounds near Lake
Ontario, which is a strong indication of Mexican origin, as
there is no obsidian in the'United States.
Some affinities are traced between the Cherokee and Aztec
dialects, and there are strong physical and other points of
resemblance between the Cherokees and Mexicans, the former of
whom had been settled, long before America was discovered, in
warm sheltered valleys that debouched upon rivers emptying
themselves into the Gulf of Mexico.
The more the Indians are studied, it is said on high authority,
the more does everything about them appear to be eastern,their language, religion, calendars, architecture, &c.t Their


* This assertion, made on the authority of Catlin and others, is declared incorrect by Professor Miiller, in his History, lately published, of the Primitive
Religions of America.
t Alan and his Migrations, by Dr. Latbam.




14


THE UNITED STATES.


worship of fire in the open air, and avoiding the use of temples,
is precisely that of Zoroaster, as is also their leading doctrine
of two spirits, good and evil, ruling the world; and the allegory
of the egg of Ormudz has been found on an earthwork on the
top of the hill in Adam's County, Ohio. It represents the coil
of the serpent the egg produced, and is 700 feet long; but it is
thought it would reach, if the coil were lengthened out, 1,000
feet. The jaws of the serpent are represented as widely distended
as if in the act of swallowing. In the interstice is an oval or
egg-shaped mound. This repetition of a symbol is considered a
further proof of eastern derivation, while it is stated on the same
authority, that the wrong-headedness and persistence of idea in
the Indians entirely resemble the oriental branches of the great
Semitic family.*  But the Kamskadale, the Koriak, the AinoJapanese, and the Korean or semi-Chinese, are the Asiatic
languages which those spoken by the Indian tribes most
remarkably resemblq.t
The shape of this continent has induced some geologists to
infer that America and Africa were once united,-the projecting
part of the latter fitting exactly to the Gulf of Mexico, and
the prominent part of South America being about the size and
shape to fill the Gulf of Guinea.  Antonio de Herera, also,
in his "Decad," seems to favour the idea that the Americans
were of the posterity of Ham; representing that they went out of
Africa,-the earth being (nep elgah) divided or split asunder
in the days of Peleg,-to that part of America which now looks
toward Africa.$  But in opposition to such an hypothesis, it is
remarkable that no trace has been found among the aboriginal
inhabitants of real African origin.
" The over-valuation of the Esquimaux peculiarities," says Dr.
Latham, to which he might have added some philological difficulties, " is the great obstacle in American ethnology. When
these are cut down to their due level, the connection between
America and Asia is neither more nor less than one of the
clearest we have. It is certainly clearer than the junction of
Africa with north-western Asia; not more obscure than that
between the Oceanica and the transgangetic peninsula; and


* Vide Information respecting the condition and prospects of the Indian tribes
of the United States, collected and prepared under the Bureau of Indian affairs,
per Act of Congress. Also Report of the United States Exploring Expedition.
t Man and his Migrations, by Dr Latham, vol. i., p. 185.: Herera Decad, 1., book ix., chap. ii.




EARLY CONDITION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN TRIBES. 15


incalculably less mysterious than that which joins Asia to
Europe."*
The whole original native population, except the Esquimaux
and people of Nootka Sound, who inhabit the coast of the North
Atlantic Ocean to the south of Behring's Straits, and who
appear both in stature, physical conformation, and language, to
resemble the inhabitants of Lapland and the northern borders
of Asia, of the Samoide family, to which we have already
referred, are generally, if not universally, supposed to have
sprung from one and the same race; agreeing in their general
appearance, manners, and usages, along the whole line of coast,
from the Straits of Magellan to Hudson's Bay.
As some evidence of the identity in stock of the original inhabitants of both divisions of the continent, the Natchez Indians,
familiar to the novelist from the romances of Chateaubriand, are
known to the ethnologist as pre-eminent amongst the Indians of
the Mississippi for their Mexican characteristics: they flattened
the head,-worshipped the sun,-kept up an undying fire,recognised a system of caste,-and sacrificed human victims.
Some special distinctions obtain among the different tribes, as
it is natural to suppose; whilst they are found, also, in various
stages of society, from the lowest savage state to that of a halfcivilized people; but still the above description is so generally
applicable as to sanction the opinion, that. the far greater part
of the native tribes of both Americas have had but one common
origin, and that that origin is Asiatic.
Even the most northerly Indians, those of the Rocky Mountains (the Strong Bows and the Dog Ribs), have a tradition'
that they originally came from the westward; from a level
country, where there was no water,-a country producing trees
and fruits now unknown to them; and that among the strange
animals altogether different from those of the country they now
inhabit, there was one whose visage bore a striking resemblance
to the human face (supposed to be the ourang outang); and
that they were driven from that land by a flood, and, proceeding
northerly, came to a strait which they crossed on a raft, which
strait or passage has since been frozen over and become impassable.
As the result of frequent and careful investigation by men of
high character for learning and research, it is now the general


* Man and his Migrations, vol. i., pp. 184.5.




16


THE UNITED STATES.


and may be considered the established opinion that they are of
the Mongolian race, from the northern part or central table land
of Asia, the inhabitants of which they resemble in their roving,
patriarchal mode of life, as well as in the physical characteristics
of that peculiar family.
But while the same style of features, the same physical form,
and the same habits and pursuits of life, characterise the inhabitants in both divisions of this vast continent, notwithstanding
the diversities of language, which suggest a difference also of
- moral condition as well as in the stock from whence they
sprung, it is not a little singular that, though the North American Indians are by so many, from their physical conformation,
classed with the Mongolians, they are generally said to differ in
all these respects, as also in intellectual character, from every
other variety of the human race. At the same time it may be
said, that the general agreement which exists among themselves
is considered as even more remarkable than their disagreement
from the other branches of the great family of man.
"Notwithstanding a state of separation which makes every
inhabitant of the wild a foe, except a being of the same tribe,
-notwithstanding the little fusion which occurs among their
families, so similar are their social circumstances, so uniform
the action of external nature upon their condition, so unvaried
the arts of life among them, that they preserve the same aspect
through the whole continent; and variety of temperature, which
impresses a diversity of character on so many of the objects of
nature, is less powerful in producing differences among them
than their common habits and pursuits in moulding them to
the same form and feature."
<" How poor, how rich, how abject, how august,
How complicate, how wonderful, is man!"
One species thus admirably varied,-of one understanding
thus variously modified,-and of one organization assuming
appearances so diverse!




CHAPTER II.
NATORAL DIVISIONS AND EXTENT OF THR UNITRD STATES.-Chief towns. Characteristic
features of the country. Mountains, prairies, lakes, rivers, springs, islands. Past and present
general boundaries and extent. Original number of States. Comparison with other nations.
Situation of its frontier coast in regard to Europe.
The attention of the reader is now more' especially called to
that part of the continent comprehending the United States,
and to this chiefly in its north-eastern, middle, and southern
grand political divisions.
The American government, i.e., that of the United States,
exercises dominion over a country which, perhaps, at the present
moment, that of England only excepted, is more extensive,
and will support more inhabitants, than that of any nation
upon the earth. "From the Atlantic on the east to the Pacific
on the west, from the Lake countries on the north to the Gulf
of Mexico on the south,-her shores thus washed by the great
ocean, —her lakes, and seas, and rivers the most majestic that
water the earth,-her commerce whitening every sea,-her railroads and canals, like great arteries, intersecting her whole surface, carrying life and activity to the remotest corner, and whose
more densely populated surface is overspread with a network
of magnetic wires, —this colossal empire, embracing every character of soil and every degree of climate, has extended within
the last half century, and filled the untrodden forest, the uninhabited plain, and the bleak hills with commerce, increasing
towns, and a numerous population."*      The sun is four hours
in its passage from the time when it first shines on the eastern
shores of Maine till it strikes the waters of the Pacific, and it
is about four months in passing through the degrees of latitude
of the United States, in its northern and southern declination
embracing six varieties of climate.
As already indicated, the United States may be distributed
into four grand political divisions,-eastern, middle, southern,
and western.


* Harper's Magazine.




18


THE UNITED STATES.


The eastern, or New England States, comprehend those
situated to the east of Iudson's River, viz., Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode. Island, and Connecticut.
The middle States comprise New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
The southern States include Maryland, Virginia, North and
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, the Floridas, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and the district of Columbia.  And now that the
newly-acquired States and territories of Texas, New Mexico,
California, and others, are added to this section of the Union,
it comprises the whole region that extends from the Susquehana
to the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of. Mexico.
The western States and organized territories comprise.Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas,
Wisconsin, Iowa, and Oregon.
The principal or most important towns in the Union are New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New
Orleans; but the capital is Washington. All these are situated
on the sea-coast, or on the banks of navigable rivers. Among
the most considerable cities or towns of the western States, are
Detroit in Michigan, Chicago in Illinois near the head of
Lake Michigan, Milwaukee in Wisconsin, St. Louis in Missouri, and Cincinnati and Cleveland in Ohio.
The characteristic features of the entire continent are principally its mountains, prairies, lakes, and rivers.
The' chief mountain ranges or systems, are the Rocky or
Stony Mountains, in the north-western part of the continent,
regarded as a continuation of the Andes of Chili and Peru, or
the northerly prolongation of the Mexican Central Chain; and
the Alleghany or Appellachian series in the eastern. The latter
chain crosses the United States from east to west-fiom Maine
to Georgia-extending two or three, or, according to some
authorities, four thousand miles in length; rising to their
highest altitude in Virginia; their breadth varying from fifty to
one hundred and twenty miles. The chain of the Rocky Mountains is nearly nine thousand miles in length, and from one to
three hundred in width. This is the longest range of mountains
in the world, extending along the whole of the American continent, from the southern shores of Patagonia to the borders of
the icy sea. Some of the ridges of that part of the chain
distinguished by the name of the Rocky Mountains, are thirteen
thousand feet above the level of the sea. Mount Elias, in the




CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES.


9


Russian territory, which may be regarded also as a part of the
same series, called the Topian.ridge, stretching to the northward towards Nootka Sound, is from sixteen to seventeen
thousand feet in height; and one peak, called the Great White
Mountain, between the rivers Platte and Arkansas, is described
by Captain Pike as attaining an elevation of eighteen thousand
feet.
Among the second and third classes of mountains, and which
form the separate ranges of the Alleghanies, are the Black
Mountains, the White, the Blue, the Green, the Catskill, the
Cumberland, and the Highlands of the Hudson. The highest
of these, to the eastward, is Mount Washington,* in New
Hampshire, which is upwards of six thousand feet above. the
sea; and the Black ridge, said to be the most elevated point
eastward of the Mississippi, is nearly seven thousand feet high.t
The Blue ridge of the Alleghanies rises in Virginia.
Not only are the principal mountains of such considerable
altitude, but vast ridges of them follow each other in succession,
rising at irregular distances in lofty cones, or swelling up in
undulating curves, rounded gracefully at the summit,-the whole
series, Mount Washington and some others of the same craggy
sterile character excepted, covered with dense forests of pine
and firs, together with vast varieties both of trees, shrubs, and
moss. There are no such isolated mountains in the United
States as are so common in Jamaica and dther islands of the
West Indies; and the lower hills preserve an almost unvarying
regularity of form, rounded on their summits, indicative of their
geological formation,$ and following each other like massive
rollers, or huge waves of the sea.
The prairies of America are somewhat similar to the steppes
of Asia, or those of southern Russia, and resemble in some of
their features the moor-heaths of Europe, only in some districts
vastly more extended, and with different degrees of barrenness
and fertility,-illimitable, pathless wildernesses or gardens of
the desert. They have been sometimes compared to the pampas
and sllanos of South America, but resemble them as little as the
This is the highest of the White Mountain ridge. the highest elevations of
which are severally named, Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson. Madison,
and Munroe. 'Ihey are covered with snow ten months of the year, and are seen
from a great'distance at sea.
t The Black Mountain is in North Carolina; the Green in Vermont.: Decomposing sandstone.




20


THE UNITED STATES.


Sahara of Africa. They approach in character most nearly to the
wide steppes which surround the Lake of Aral, and extend to the
Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains; in some parts extremely
level, in others slightly undulating, and with rich and luxuriant
grass, on which feed countless herds of wild cattle. They may
be said, perhaps, more properly to resemble the vast expanse of
ocean, bounded by the horizon; differing materially both from
the jungles of India and the deserts of Africa. They sometimes
extend for hundreds of miles of dead level, without a tree or a
stone; but in parts are covered during summer with thistles
five or six feet in height. They are chiefly found to the westward, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains; and
from their geological structure, shells and other fossils, and
geological causes in general, are supposed to be parts of the
ancient floor of the ocean,-pointing to a time when man was
not, but when the Titans of primeval nature-megatheriums,
mastodons, and ichthyosaurians-rose up from the waters and
wandered alone over the earth. The banks of the rivers that
sometimes occur in their vicinity, are covered with luxuriant
vegetation. Long grass and low underwood, of endless variety
and form, cover the almost interminable plain. Many parts of
the surface are undulating, like the-enamelled meadows of the
Nile after its periodical inundations, sprinkled with brilliant
flowers, and matted over with a profusion of blossoming creepers
(convolvuli), and sometimes dotted with stunted trees,-the
haunts of-herds of wild horses,* deer, bisons, and other tenants
of the wilderness.
The vegetation of these boundless plains, indeed, is in parts
peculiarly attractive. Millions-of flowers present themselves on
all sides. Everywhere the rose is met with, and reminds one
of cultivated gardens and civilization. It is scattered over the
prairies in small bouquets, and when glittering in the dews, and
waving in the pleasant treeze of the early morning, is the most
beautiful of prairie flowers.  The artimesia, or prairie sage,
glitters like silver as the southern wind turns up its leaves to
the sun, and the wild thyme fills the air with fragrance, while
the orb of day mirrors his own image in the ocean of sunflowers around.
Bryant, in his inimitable poem, " The Prairies," has painted,
as words can seldom paint, the illimitable western fields in their


* No buffalo has ranged the prairies south of the Mississippi since 1820.




CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES.


21


sun-bright, solitary beauty and grandeur.  Billows! masses of
verdure and flowers waving in the wind! Above these, the
vast scene paradisaic, splendid and rich, but silent and desolate
as a desert.
c Lo! they stretch;
In airy undulations, far away,
As if the ocean in his gentlest swell
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed
And motionless for ever. Motionless?
No-they are all unchained again. The clouds
Sweep over with their shadows, and, beneath,
The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye;
Dark hollows seem to glide along and chase
The sunny ridges."
No prospect can be more 'awfully solitary than is presented
by these great illimitable western wastes. No habitation of man
appears in view,-no human beings,-no herds grazing on the
green plains, and recalling domestic associations,-no song of
birds to cheer the lone wayfarer,-nothing except heaven and
the flower-strewn earth. A western prairie, in a word, presents
one of those unbounded lonely prospects, where the imagination
of a stranger is not less oppressed than surprised by the vastness
and novelty of the spectacle. The mind distressed, seeking on
every side in vain for an object on which to repose, finds only a
solitude that saddens, an immensity that confounds.
These vast savannas, not to mention Texas, where they occur
on their grandest scale, are more extensive in Indiana, Mfissouri,
Arkansas, and Louisiana, or generally to the north of the
Ohio and west of the Mississippi, and may be said to comprise
the whole state of Illinois.
When the grass of the prairie has been dried and withered
by long drought and the action of a summer's sun, it not unfrequently ignites, sometimes as is supposed spontaneously, and
a sea of flame is swept by the wind as far as the eye can reach,
spreading more swiftly than the fleetest wild horse, or bison, or
deer, or any other living animal can fly before it.  Roaring and
hissing the fire-flood rolls on, swallowing up everything in its
course, and leaving behind it a wide path of blackness and
desolation. The scene is represented as one of the sublimest
that can be imagined. In such cases, the only resort of the
traveller or hunter, in order to escape the general destruction,
is to tear up and fire the grass around him, thereby creating a
counter flame, which burning outwards proves an expedient
that seldom fails in its intended effect.




22


THE UNITED STATES.


The principal lakes of the United States, and. which are
universally allowed to constitute one of their most prominent
physical features, are those of Champlain, between the States
of New York and Vermont, and Lake Georgia, of surpassing
natural beauty and magnificence, in the eastern part of the
same named State; with Michigan, Erie, the Great Salt Lake,
of Mormon celebrity, and others of greater or less magnitude,
equally distinguished for their beauty and aquatic wealth.
Lake Superior, which, with Huron, Erie, and Ontario, may
be said partly to belong'to the United States, is said to be the
largest body of fresh water in the world, receiving the currents
of forty rivers, and having a surface of thirty-five thousand
square miles.*  Its length is four hundred and ten, its greatest
breadth one hundred and twenty, and its circumference from
twelve to fifteen hundred miles. The five lakes-Superior,
Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario-cover an area of ninetytwo thousand square miles.
Almost all the rivers, of which there are three groups or
classes, arise from various ridges and ravines of the Alleghanies
and Rocky Mountains, flowing respectively into the Gulf of
Mexico and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The most extensive and important in this division of the
continent, are the Mississippi, Missouri, and its principal tributaries, with the Ohio, Connecticut, Delaware, Chesapeak, and
Hudson: these are the great arterial branches of the Union, by
which commerce and civilization have been so astonishingly
urged through her mighty frame.
Added to these, are numerous bays, capes, cataracts or falls,
and mineral waters, together with other divisions and peculiarities too well known to the general reader to require minute
detail.                         '
The United States have several islands along their coasts; the
chief of which are Long and Staten islands, near New York;
and Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, in the vicinity of New
England.
The United States, before the annexation of Texas, New
Mexico, and California, were bounded north by British America,
the line extending along the St. Lawrence through the lakes
Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, to the north-west point of


* It has lately been asserted that Lake Michigan contains a greater body of
fresh water than Lake Superior.




NUMBER OF STATES.


23


the Lake of the Woods in north latitude 49~ 37', and thence
onward to Vancouver's Island in the Pacific; east by the British
provinces of New Brunswick and the Atlantic Ocean; south
and south-west by the Gulf of Mexico, along the Sabine River
to latitude 32~ and the United Mexican States; and north-west
by the Pacific. They have been divided by some geographers
into the civilized and uncivilized; that portion of the country
on the right hand, advancing up the river Mississippi from New
Orleans, inhabited by Europeans and their descendants; and
that on the left, between the branches of the Missouri and the
Mississippi, or rather to the eastward of Red River and Marmento northward towards the source of the Rio Grande, possessed or partially occupied by the confederated States of various
tribes of Indians..It now includes Oregon, Texas, New Mexico, and California;
and is, therefore, bounded on the south and south-west entirely
by the Pacific Ocean, north-west by Russian America, and
south-east by the Atlantic. The boundary line extending round
the United States before these recently acquired territories was
9,500 miles, of which 3,650 were sea coast. The whole surface,
as claimed by Congress, including the territory of the Oregon,
or the entire region of country lying on the Pacific, and embraced within the forty-second and fifty-fourth degrees of north
latitude, occupies about 2,100,000 square miles, and ranges
from north to south through 29 degrees of latitude, and 58 degrees of longitude, or nearly 3,000 miles long by 2,000 wide.
The whole comprises an area of between three and four millions
of square miles.
The geographical centre of the United States is in the Indian
territory, nearly one hundred and fifty miles west of Missouri,
the central State of the Union.
The original thirteen States embraced but a little more than
one-tenth of the present territory,-their area being not much
larger than that of Oregon; and at the period of the revolution
they contained but one-eighth of the present population. The
frontier line has an extent of 10,000 miles, and a line drawn
from the north-west to the south-east would measure 3,200
miles. The total square mileage of the territory of the United
States, as ascertained by the last census, is stated at 3,306,865,
or more than one-third the surface of the entire North American
continent. According to the calculations of the coast survey,
the total main shore line of the United States, exclusive of bays,




24


THE UNITED STATES.


sounds, islands, &c., is 12,600 statute miles, of which 6,861
miles are on the Atlantic, 2,281 on the Pacific, and 3,467 on
the Gulf. If the bays, sounds, &c., be included, together with
rivers entered under the head of tide-waters, the total shore line
will equal 33,069 miles. The Encyclopaedia Americana, however, at this date, reduced the real extent of available surface
to a little less than 1,000,000 square miles, not calculating the
territories retained by the Indian tribes on the north-western
frontier. But whichever calculation may prove the most correct,
America contains a geographical area which, in point of territorial extent, is more than Attila ever ruled, or Tamerlane the
Tartar ever conquered;-is equal, Russia excepted, to all Europe:
without the addition of the vast colonial possessions of England,
more than six times' as extensive as Great Britain and France,
and equal to the whole of China and Hindostan;-embracing,
also, the finest portion of the globe-the seat of the choicest
fertility, beauty, and wealth of the whole earth.
California, on its vast disclosures of gold, became at once
a source of greatly augmented wealth and power. In compliment to this new State, and which is an evidence of its estimated value to the Union, it was admitted at once into the
number of confederated States, though deficient at the time of
the requisite population,* and was presented with a magnificent
and costly seal, which represents the Goddess Minerva as she
sprung full grown from the brain of Jupiter,-thus representing
the political birth of California without having gone through
the probation of a territory.
Americans, like the ancient Romans in regard to their empire
in the zenith of its prosperity, have a country of which they
may well be proud, if their national vanity with respect to it be
not altogether excusable.
It may convey a general idea of the situation of the northeastern portion of this continent in regard to Europe, to remark,
that New Britain lies nearly parallel with Great Britain; that
Newfoundland, the Bay of St. Lawrence, and Cape Breton, are
opposite to France; Nova Scotia and New England are on a
parallel with the Bay of Biscay; and New York and Pennsylvania are opposite to Spain and Portugal.


* A territory, before it can claim to be a State, must have at least a population
of 55,000 souls.




CHAPTER III.
EARLY HISTORY AFTER DISCOVERY BY EUROPEANS.-When first colonized by Europeans,
In what localities, and by what nations. The Pilgrim Fathers. -Subsequent exclusive posses.
sion by the British. Progress in civilization. Rupture with the Mother country, and its
causes. Determined conduct of the colonists. Results and termination of the war. Its
influence on the national character. Present population. Its late and continued increase.
Observations of Sir William Molesworth and Lord John Russell.
The history of the United States may be divided into three
periods-the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Independent.
North America was first really settled in Virginia -by Captain
Christopher Newport, who arrived with one hundred and five
colonists in the reign of James the First, and in the year 1607.
After this sovereign the first township was named. The district
was, however, first discovered by a subject of Great Britain, and
claimed by the English monarch, Henry VII., in 1497; but, in
deference to the claims of Pope Alexander VI., who had granted
to the Spaniards all the territories more than one hundred leagues
west of the Azores, no settlement was attempted before the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, in honour of whom this particular district
was designated Virginia. At James Town, which occupied a
peninsula projecting from the northern shore of James River,
may still be seen the ruins of the first Episcopal church in
North America; and this, with its surrounding burial ground, is
now almost the only memorial to be found of the original colony.
This town was established two years before the settlement of
Canada by the French, seven years before the founding of New
York by the Dutch, and thirteen before the landing of the
Puritans at Plymouth Rock.       Subsequently, and at different
intervals, the territory was peopled along parts of the coast of the
Atlantic as far as Plymouth, by the English, Dutch, Swedes,
and Finns. New York was colonized by the Dutch in 1614.
The Swedes, Finns, and Germans settled in Delaware and New
Jersey in 1683. Plymouth-the general name applied to New
England-was established in December, 1620, by the Puritans,
who arrived in the May Flower. These devoted men-the
"Pilgrim  Fathers"-found the country a howling wilderness,
c




26


TIJE UNITED STATES.


inhabited by wild and savage beasts, and by men more savage
still;-in the dead of winter, with no place of abode, their trust
was alone in God. Before the opening of the ensuing spring,
out of the one hundred and one who landed on the dreary shore,
forty-six had died.
This great and deeply interesting historical occurrence-for
such it has now become-has been so beautifully sketched by
Mrs. Hemans, that the.vriter cannot refain from     quoting her
stanzas, although it may in some degree interrupt the course
of his narrative.
" The breaking waves dash'd high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
Their giant branches toss'd;
And the heavy night hung dark,
The hills and waters o'er,
When a band of exiles moor'd their bark
On the wild New England shore.
" Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
Or the trumpet that sings of fame;
Not as the flying come,
In silence and in fear;
They shook the depths of the desert's gloom,
With their hymns of lofty cheer.
"Amidst the storm they sang!
And the stars heard and the sea!
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang,
To the anthem of the free 1
The Ocean eagle soar'd
From his nest by the white wave's foam,
And the rocking pines of the forest roar'd,This was their welcome home!
"What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Aye, call it holy ground,
The spot where first they trod;
They have left unstained, what there they found,Freedom to worship God."
Besides the Puritans and other Englishmen, together with
the Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and Finlanders, the French made
similar establishments in different portions of the continent,
and all these were connected with the respective parent govern



POSSESSION BY THE BRITISH.


27


ments in Europe; but in 1664 all the settlements, excepting
Louisiana and the Floridas, were subjected to English
authority.
These several settlements, as arranged by the British Government, consisted of thirteen States, which long existed as provinces of Great Britain, containing at least a population of
three millions. Their names were New Hampshire, Massachusetts (including Maine), Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North
and South Carolina, and Georgia. Vermont was claimed both
by New Hampshire and New York, and had not acquired an
independent colonial existence. The chief sea ports were Boston,
Newport, New York, and Philadelphia. Each State contained
from  ten to twenty thousand inhabitants.    But Parliament
attempting to tax the colonists on its own authority, without
the intervention of their legislative assemblies, and embarrassing
their trade by restrictions, added to some irritating circumstances
previously existing,* such as the refusal of the Parent Government to sanction an extension of the colonies into the interior,
the forcible deportation of the French population of Nova
Scotia under circumstances of gross oppression,-immortally
commemorated by Longfellow's beautiful poem "Evangeline,"
-together with other assumptions of power considered equally
arbitrary and unjust,-all contributed to produce an alienation
of the colonies from the English rule. A civil war ensued,
which commenced at Lexington, near Boston, Massachusetts,
in 1775, through the recklessness or indiscretion of General
Gage. The colonists considered the mother country wholly
selfish in her policy towards them, not only in the respects
already named, but also by throwing impediments in the way
of local manufacture, and by the enactment of absurd laws,
the direct tendency of which was to repress the energies of
the people, and reduce them to a state of literal serfdo'm and
dependance.
It must, however, be confessed that the conduct of the British
Government was not without some shadow of reason and justice.
The expense that had been incurred by the mother country in
* The Stamp Act was passed by the Grenville administration in 1765, and the
Duties on Tea, when Lord North was Prime Minister under the Tory administration of the latter, in 1771. The revolution commenced and continued during his
administration of the government in the reign of George III.
C 




28                THE UNITED STATES.
its war with the French, in defence of her colonies, having
increased the national debt to an enormous amount, they judged
that, as the colonists had profited by the war, it would be but
just that they should contribute their share towards the national
burdens. But here was involved a principle-the colonists were
unrepresented in the British Parliament, and this was an attempt
to tax them without their consent.  They contemplated the
consequences, and refused. They contended that taxation and
representation ought to go together; in other words, they resolved
that if the British Government would not allow them to send
representatives to parliament to speak on their own behalf, they
would no longer submit to be taxed at its discretion,-they
considered that they had a right both to self-taxation and to
self-government. The colonists reasoned, remonstrated, petitioned; but in vain-the parliament of the day was inexorable;
and great as was the pang, they thus cut asunder the ties that
bound them to their fatherland, and disclaimed all further
dependance on it. For
" Dauntless was the patriot's heart,
Though the tears were on his cheek."
They regarded it as a natural and essential right that a man
should quietly enjoy and have the sole disposal of his own
property,-a right to religious freedom in the sense which they
chose themselves to put upon the term,-a right to construct
their own municipal policy as they pleased; and these constitutional privileges were so familiar to the American people, that it
was impossible to convince them that any necessity could render
it just and equitable that parliament should impose duties or
taxes on them, internal or external, for the sole purpose of
raising a revenue, or deny them the right of control or amending the strictest fiscal regulation however oppressively it might
bear upon them. They remembered Hampden and the shipmoney of Charles I., together with the oppressions which had
driven their forefathers to these very shores. As it is the tendency
of misfortune to strengthen the character, so is it the tendency
of oppression to strengthen and arouse the passions; while it it
a natural law of man's spirit to grow more attached to that
course which the tyranny of rulers proscribes. They had, therefore, recourse to arms for principles. Their leading men rejected
the emoluments and honours which sycophancy might have
retained or ambition acquired, for the sake of constitutional




IUPTURE WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY.             9
right, and of that christian faith and practice which they were
determined to preserve and promote at the hazard of their lives,
And the result shows to how high a pitch of moral courage our
species may be elevated, and what clear light in the science of
government may be elicited from oppression and persecution.
How interesting is the task of tracing the spirit which actuated
and the effects that have resulted from these deeds, however
much we may deplore the sacrifices at which they have been
accomplished!
Within the limits of the States the flames of war raged, from
Concord, Bunker's Hill, the Lakes, and Saratoga, Lexington on
the Delaware, Schuylkill, the Chesapeak, and other scenes, to
Charleston and York Town in Virginia, where, the colonists
having been powerfully assisted by France, and to some extent
by Spain and Holland, the grand termination was effected by
the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The colonists thus successful, Great Britain acknowledged their independence by the
peace of 1783, after a calamitous and unnatural struggle of
seven years' duration.
"Astonishing deeds throughout the world," says Bancroft,
" attended these changes. Armies fought in the wilderness for
rule over the solitudes which were to be the future dwellingplace of millions.  Navies hunted each other in every sea,
engaging in battle, now near the regions of the icebergs, now
amongst the islands of the tropics.  Inventive art was summoned to make war more destructive, and to signalize sieges by
new miracles of ability and daring."*
At the commencement of this great contest America felt that
she must belong to herself alone. She showed at once both
the power and the will to be neither French, Spanish, Dutch,
nor English, but to be America.
In the struggle, she released herself from the exactions of a
distant dominancy,-she gained not only her independence, but
her liberty. And though the whole country was impoverished,
-the Union dissolving,-its sea ports desolate,-its ships
decayed,-and the flower of its youth withered in the prisonship or on the battle field,-America, awoke to an almost
instantaneous and marvellous display of enterprize and energy,
suddenly sprang into the rank of the mightiest of the nations,
and now shines as a star of the first magnitude in the constella* History of the American Revblution.


i




30


THE UNITED STATES.


tion of earthly kingdoms, sharing with her former mistress the
dominion of the sea.
It often falls, in course of human life,
That right long time is overborne of wrong,
Through avarice or power, or guile or strife,
That weakens her, and makes her party strong;
But justice, though her doom she do prolong,
Yet at the last she will her own cause right."
Though England, in her contest with America, had neither
the support of popular sympathy nor the dignity of military success,
she retired from the field of her disasters with some consolation.
She had laid the broad foundation of a nation gifted with her
own courage, intelligence, and enterprize;-an imperishable
empire possessing her arts, her morals, her literature, and her
religion; and although it was severed from her dominion, men of
experience soon began to see, that future commercial intercourse
with the United States would be more advantageous to the
mother country than it could have been if they had remained
in colonial subjection.
It has, indeed, been asserted by Sir William Molesworth, in
the British House of Commons, that America has infinitely
more benefited England by becoming independent, in consuming the manufactures of the parent state, than could ever
have been the case had she continued a colonial appendage.*
The importations of English products into the United States
at the present time, are more than equal to those into all the
colonies of Great Britain put together.t
The census of the United States, published in 1851,T
estimated the present entire population of the United States at
25,000,000; of which, about one-third are slaves, Indians, and
free persons of colour. More in detail, the Free States were
found to contain between 13,000,000 and 14,000,000, the Slave
States between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000 free, and about
* In the year ending June 30th, 1852, the imports into the United States
from Great Britain and Ireland were valued at 90,628,339 dollars, and the exports to 115,569,975 dollars.-Chambers's Things as they are in America.
t The question has been raised within the last few years, whether colonies are
really of any advantage to a parent country, as the discovery has been made that
supplies from, and for the colonies, can be procured by each elsewhere at lower
prices than from each other.
t Compendium of the United States Census, by J. D. B. De Bow, Super. of
the Union Census. Pp. 83-95.   Washington, 1854.  Hunt's Merchant's
Magazine.




PRESENT POPULATION.


31


3,000,000 slaves; making the total about 25,000,000, as already
stated.  The more recent statistics of 1853 increased the
population to 25,237,000. The entire representative population
is upwards of 21,000,000, and the ratio of representation about
100,000.
The progressive increase of the inhabitants of the United
States, as ascertained at the several census periods, is exhibited in
the following table. Previous to 1790, no general enumeration
had been taken, and the means were very imperfect for estimating
the population of the colonies. According to a conjectural
estimate, the aggregate population of the colonies was, in 1701,
262,000; in 1749, 1,046,000; in 1775, 2,803,000; the increase
during a period of forty-eight years being in the aggregate
about 300 per cent. (in Pennsylvania it was 1150, and in
Virginia only 1121 per cent.)
The total population of the United States, as shown at each
census period, is as follows:Census of  1790.......................................  3,929,827
1800.......................................  5,305,925
1810......................................  7,239,814
1820..................................  9,638,131
1830....................................... 12,866,020
1840.......................................  17,069,463
1850............................ 23,191,876
It is now, in 1856, estimated at 27,114,287. At the close of
1854 the total population of the United States was, according
to its average ratio of increase, in round numbers, 26,500,000.
Corrections being made for the admission of new territories,
the census statistics show a regular diminution in the ratio of
total as well as natural increase from 1790 to 1840. But from
1840 to 1850 the ratio, instead of declining, increased over
3 per cent.   The whole number of white persons in the
United States on the 1st of June, 1850, was 19,553,068, and
of these 2,240,535, or about 11 per cent. of the aggregate,
were of foreign birth; 4,174,940, or 21 per cent., of those
American born were born out of the States in which they
reside.  North Carolina has the smallest per cent. of white
persons born out of the State, and California the largest.  In
North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania, 95, 92, 90, 78 and 79 per cent. respectively of
the free population were born in the States of their residence.
In the new States, as Wisconsin, Iowa, and California, the
proportion decreases to 17, 21, and 8 per cent.




32


THE UNITED STATES.


Thus the thirteen original States have increased, in little
more than three-quarters. of a century, to thirty-one or thirtytwo; and the national territory, to 3,000,000 of square miles;
and while Mexico, during nearly the same period, has
either receded or remained stationary in the population of its
states and cities, the United States have increased from
3,000,000 to 26,000,000, and now exhibit an annual accession
of 100,000 people. In the year 1829, it was calculated that
300,000 landed on her shores from Europe, and emigrants were
still pouring into the country at the rate of 1,000 a day. In
the two years of 1851 and 1852, we find from the returns of the
Government Emigration Commissioners, that the emigration
from the United Kingdom alone amounted to 511,618 adults
-a number very nearly equal to the entire emigration of the
twenty years ending in I 844.*
Thus Sir William Molesworth proved in 1848, that of
1,673,000 persons who had left England within twenty years,
825,564 had emigrated to the North American Union, not
calculating the large number of those who had arrived there by
way of Canada.
And in 1850, Lord John Russell showed that, of 787,400
who had sailed from the United Kingdom within the three preceding years, 525,126 were destined for the United States; and of
280,849 emigrants in 1850, 223,078 were to swell the population of the same vast Anglo-Saxon empire.
In 1855, there sailed from Great Britain and Ireland, in
vessels registered and inspected by Government, 48,772 Irish,
19,524 English, 10,620 Scotch, 5,141 principally Germans,
and 550 cabin passengers: total, 84,607. Full 2,500,000 of
the population of. England, it is estimated, within the last
forty years, have gone to swell the population of America.
The number of emigrants at the present time in the United
States is 2,244,602. 62,628 of these are farmers, 82,571 are
labourers, 24,514 are mechanics, and nearly 100,000 are-household domestics. 314,670 of the emigrants are in the Slave
States, and 1,930,000 in the Free States. The annual number
of emigrants who enter the United States is about 250,000;
and the number of native births annually in the United States
is about 654,000. The Irish emigrants settle in the commercial
towns and along the great thoroughfares; the Germans settle
* Edinburgh Review.




CONTINUED INCREASE.


33


mostly in the country; the English in the neighbourhood of
towns on cultivated lands; the Scotch largely in New England
and New York; the French in cities; and the Welsh in the
neighbourhood of woods and mines.* 
By a moderate calculation it will be seen that the population
doubles itself every twenty-five years by natural increase alone,
and will thus present towards the close of the present century
a mass of human beings approaching 100,000,000, not to
include the accession omcasioned by the impetus created by
the discovery of the gold treasures of California —from all
Europe, and the countries of the Pacific Ocean and China.
The growth of the population is without a parallel in the history
of man.
In whatever direction you proceed, from the centre of every
city or town to its various outlets, rows and piles of new
buildings are in progress of erection, and green fields and
fruitful gardens are being rapidly converted into streets and
squares, with magnificent edifices, exhibiting
" Many a row
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielding light
As from a sky."
The flood of population has swept over the Alleghanies,
crossed the blue Ohio and Father of Waters, following the
shores of the Great Lakes, and is rolling up the Missouri in the!
far west; its advancing tide having already enlivened the coasts
of Florida and Texas, and reached and peopled the shores of
Oregon and California.
* Liverpool Albion.


c3




CHAPTER IV.
FORM OF GOVERNMENT ADOPTED. —Its nature and character. By whom originated.
Assimilation of the rules and practices of the Congress to those of the British Houses of
Parliament. Powers of the supreme legislature. Chief officers of Government: their
necessary qualifications for office. Mode of appointment. Supreme Court of Judicature.
Judges. Extent of jurisdiction. Judicial establishment.
The particular form of Government in the United States, as
is well known, is a federative republic, or representative democracy, designated in the constitution of the general Government,
which was framed in Philadelphia after the successful termination of the war of independence, by the title of "The Congress
of the United States."
The constitution was drawn up by a convention of thirteen
delegates,-one from       each State,-assembled first at Philadelphia, the ancient capital; but principally by a committee composed of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman, and
Livingston, and was finally accepted by Congress, and ratified
by the people. Or, more particularly, the declaration whereby
the thirteen provinces and colonies of-North America withdrew
their allegiance from George III., and proclaimed themselves
to be free and independent States, was agreed to by their representatives, and published on the 4th of July, 1776. Jefferson
and Adams were the sub-committee appointed to prepare it, and
Jefferson was its author.*
~ Dr. Fisbback, of Lexington, says, " The following circumstances, which
occurred in the State of Virginia, related to Thomas Jefferson, and were detailed
to me by Elder Andrew Tribble, about six years ago. He died when ninety-two
or three years old. Andrew Tribble was the pastor of a small Baptist church,
which held its monthly meetings at a short distance from Jefferson's house, eight_
or ten years before the American Revolution. Mr. Jefferson attended the meetings of the church for several months in succession, and, after one of them, asked
Elder Tribble to go home and dine with him, with which he complied. Mr.
Tribble asked Mr. Jefferson how he was pleased with their church government.
Mr. Jefferson replied that it had struck him with great force, and had interested
him much; that be considered it the only form of pure democracy that then
existed in the world, and had concluded that it would be the best plan of government for the American colonies.  To what extent this practical exhibition of




FORM! OF GOVERNMENT.


35


The articles of the constitution were presented by General
Washington to Congress for their approval on the 17th of
September, 1787. The constitution was formally inaugurated
at New York in 1789, when Washington was chosen president,
and John Adams vice-president, and this was the first Congress that was elected under the new constitution.
One of the clauses in the preamble of the constitution is to
the following effect. "We, the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America."    Thus nobly did her
first illustrious statesmen consolidate the rights so hardly gained
into a permanent institution, and transmit it as a rich and
glorious heritage to unborn generations.*
The Government is called a federative republic, because it
is formed by the federation or union of all the States, and thus,
like the Republics of ancient Greece, consists of a number of
lesser Republics united in one great Commonwealth; with this
difference, that the Republic of America possesses that in which
those of the ancients were deficient-a central organ, invested
with a specific general control.
Like the constitution of England, which was closely though
not servilely followed, it provides for three branches of the
Government; but it differs from that of Great Britain, as its
three branches are elective, as it recognises a widely diffused
suffrage, and excludes the aristocratic element; that of Great
Britain being partly founded upon the old system of corporations,
and partly on that of a general national representation, thus to a
considerable degree excluding the popular element. In England,
Government is supreme.       It can alter, amend, enlarge, or
abridge the constitution as circumstances may seem to require.
In the United States, Congress has no such authority. It has
a certain delegated power it can neither extend nor restrict; any
religious liberty and equality operated on Mr. Jefferson's mind, in forming his
views and principles of religious and civil freedom, which were afterwards so
ably exhibited, I will not say."-Winks's History of the Baptists. [The declaration of independence was drawn out by Jefferson, but the constitution is supposed
to have been framed by Madison.]
* The basis of Republicanism, however, was established in Massachusets, as
will hereafter be seen, fifty years before by the Pilgrim Fathers.




36


THE UNITED STATES.


such change must be submitted to the people at large in the
separate States. It becomes, therefore, a matter of little or no
importance what are the religious principles of the administrators of the Government. The Government of the United
States secures to the people the grand principles of freedom,
liberty of conscience in matters of religion, liberty of the press,
trial by jury, and the right of choosing and being chosen to
office.
Democracy is here a palpable existence in full operation,-an
active principle, demonstrating man's capability to govern himself, and to determine between right and wrong in all political,
as well as civil and religious affairs.
The meetings of the legislature are held in the Capitol, at
Washington.
The Congress consists of a President, a Vice-President, a
Senate, and a House of Representatives. The Senate is elected
by the State legislatures; the Representatives are chosen directly
by the people.  In addition to the legislative and executive
powers, is the judicial. The first-named makes the laws, the
third expounds, and the second executes them; each constituting
a distinct and independent branch. The President is the supreme
executive officer, in accordance with the articles of the constitution, which also defines his qualifications and powers, and
which are scarcely less ample than those of an English sovereign.
He is elected for four years, eligible to reelection at the expiration of that term, and in succession to his incapacity or death;
although no instance has occurred in which the same President
has been elected for more than two periods in succession.
On entering office, the President takes an oath to protect,
preserve, and defend the constitution. He is Commander-inChief of the regular army, of the militia, and of the navy, and
is alone invested with the supreme prerogative of mercy. He has
the power of negociating treaties, though not of ratifying them
until sanctioned by a majority of two-thirds of the Senate. He
nominates all officers, civil and military; but the assent of the
Senate is necessary to the validity of the appointments. He
receives foreign ambassadors, and in almost every respect acts
like, and possesses similar powers to those of a constitutional
sovereign of Europe, only in a greater degree under the influence
of the popular will, and with more of responsibility.  The
President is assisted in the discharge of his duties by a cabinet
council, consisting of a Secretary of State, a Secretary of the




THE LEGISLATURE.


87


Treasury, and one for each of the principal naval and military
departments, as also by a Postmaster and Attorney General.*
The legislative powers conferred by the constitution are vested
in the Congress.
The Senate is composed of two members from each State,
presided over, ex officio, by the Vice-President; and as there
are now thirty-two States, this branch of the legislature consists
of sixty-four representatives. They are elected for a term of
six years, one-third of the number retiring by rotation every
second year.  It will be seen that there is. a considerable
analogy between the legislative principles and machinery of the
two constitutions, as also a close resemblance between the two
Houses, in the functions of office. Acting, indeed, with the
consent of the State, the articles of the American constitution
give to the Senate, in a few comprehensive phrases, nearly all
the legislative powers enjoyed by the King, Lords, and Commons of Great Britain.
The qualifications of a senator are, that he be thirty years of
age, that he has been a citizen during a term of nine years, and
that he be a resident in the State for which he is returned.
In addition to its legislative functions, the Senate is recognised as a branch of the executive. In this capacity it is
invested with the privilege of ratifying or annulling the official
appointments of the President.  Nor is a treaty with any
foreign power valid until sanctioned by a majority of two-thirds
of the Senate.
The House of Representatives is chosen every second year.
Their numbers are not, as with the Senate, in proportion to the
States, but to the population; this proportion not exceeding
one for every 70,000 or 80,000 of the constituents; and thus
every member of the House, numbering now 234,t has from
60,000 to 100,000 constituents.
There are, besides, delegates to the Lower House from the
several organized territories. At present there are seven of such
delegates, one each from Oregon, Minnesota, Utah, New
Mexico, Washington, Kansas, and Nebraska. These, however,
though they have a recognised right to speak on any question,
are not privileged to vote.


* Captain M'Kinnon's Transatlantic Sketches.
t The Illustrated News, in March, 1850, stated the number of representatives
to be 223.




38


THE UNITED STATES.


No one is eligible to this assembly who is not twenty-five
years of age, who is not resident in the State in which he is
chosen, or who has not enjoyed the privilege of citizenship for
seven years.  No qualification in property is required in a
candidate; and the right of suffrage is nearly universal.
The successful candidate for the office of President of the
United States must be a natural born citizen of the States, and
thirty-five years of age at the least. His election is carried on
according to the following forms:-Each of the States appoints,
in such a manner as its own legislature directs, a number of
electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no
senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust
or confidence under the United States, can be an elector. The
electors meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not
be an inhabitant of the same State as themselves; they name in
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct
ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and lists of the
names contained in the ballot are transmitted, sealed up, to the
President of the Senate of the United States, who examines
them in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives.  The person having the greatest number of votes is
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number
of electors; and if no person have such majority, then from
the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three,
on the list of those voted for as President, the House of
Representatives chooses immediately, by ballot, the President.
But in choosing the President the votes are taken by States,
the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum
for this purpose consists of a member or members from twothirds of the States, and a majority of all the States is
necessary to a choice. If the House of Representatives do
not choose a President before a fixed day (the 4th of March
ensuing the election), the Vice-President is to act as President,
as in case of death or constitutional disability of the President.
The House of Representatives performs the duties allotted
by the British constitution to the Commons House of Parliament, and has the right like it of originating bills for creating
revenue.
In order to the passing of laws, the Senate and the House of
Representatives must agree. To the President is reserved an




THE LEGISLATURE.


39


additional veto, which can always be overruled by a majority of
two-thirds, for any debateable measure.
In the United Congress are vested the power and right of
determining peace or war, of raising armies, voting and levying
supplies, and, as already said, with the consent of the President,
of ratifying and confirming treaties.
The members of Congress, during the performance of their
legislative functions in session, contrary to the custom in
England, sit uncovered; and if they are not compensated for
their services, they are reimbursed their expenses by the respective States they represent, at the ratio of eight dollars, or about
~1 16s. per diem; and the Speaker sixteen dollars; while the
same sum is allowed them for every twenty miles travelling to
and from their homes on the business of the country.
In a general sense, the rules and practice of the British
Houses of Lords and Commons form the basis of the proceedings of the American Senate and House of Representatives,
modified as circumstances successively seem to require. It
may be said indeed, generally, that the spirit of the British
mixed constitution rules the organization of the whole system
of government in the United States, and its forms are adhered
to in almost every instance in which their employment is useful
or inoffensive. The same may be said also of the standing
orders for the regulation of actual business, and of the conduct of debates and divisions, of the progress of bills in their
several stages, &c., together with other circumstances of routine, which experience has found to be both convenient and
necessary.
While the Congress represents the people, the Senate represents the State Governments. As, however, the defence of the
country, the regulations of commerce, and all the general concerns of the Union, are committed by the Constitution to the
general Government, so each separate State has its own institutions, constitution, laws, and governor, and is thus independent
in the management of its own local affairs. The States are
thus permitted by the general Congress to govern themselves,
when their ordinances and customs are not at variance with the
general concord.
These State Governments, therefore, are not, as has been
supposed, subordinate to the general,-not, for instance, as was
that of the Ionian Islands to Athens, but coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole.




40


THE UNITED STATES.


Every single State, indeed, is a perfect realm, with almost
all the various circumstances and resources of an European
kingdom, losing nothing of its distinctiveness, we may almost
say, its nationality, by its alliance. Thus the United States are
a confederation of republics, and Congress a magnificent
central luminary round which all the States revolve; it is the
sun of the Union, and all the rest of the system moves in
harmony along with it, and shines by its reflected beams;
urged by impulses suited to its various parts, and following a
common course, which is the course of nature.
In all the States the great popular prerogative of self-government is respected. It is, however, the duty of the President
to preserve order in each territory or State, to vindicate the
laws, whether federal or local, and to protect the people in the
full enjoyment of self-government from all encroachments from
without.
When the inhabitants of an organized territory desire a State
Government, and are of sufficient numbers for the formation of
a State, it is the custom for a convention of delegates to be
appointed by such territory to prepare a constitution, and submit their claim to the central Government by a memorial.
The supreme court of judicature, or hall of justice of the
United States, is also held in an apartment of the Capitol.
The court consists of one Chief Justice and eight assistant
Judges,* removeable only by impeachment, and possesses a
federal jurisdiction over the whole of the Union.    These
Judges, the only ones in America who in this respect retain the
customs of their ancestors, appear in the robes and accustomed
attire of similar officials in England.
The court holds its sittings annually during two months,
commencing in December or January each year, and is alone
competent to decide questions relating to the constitution or
general laws of the Union, except between a State and its
citizens, and the citizens of other States and foreigners: in the
latter case it has original, but not exclusive jurisdiction.
Though possessing original jurisdiction in a few cases, its
chief duties consist in the exercise of an appellate jurisdiction
from the circuit courts, which are held twice a year in the different States, and exclusively in relation to cases that may have


* The salary of the Chief Justice is 6,500 dollars, and that of the assistants,
6,000 dollars each.




JUDICIAL ESTABLISHMENT.


41


respect to the-claims of foreign nations or their representatives.
Its jurisdiction extends, also, over all controversies, internal or
external, in which the general Government may be involved,
or one State be in any way at variance with another; but the
power that gives the institution its transcendent importance, is
that of deciding between the law and the constitution.  This
court is regarded as the sheet anchor of the Union; that which,
more than all besides of a civil, political, or judicial character,
has given it permanency; and the degree of respect in which
its decrees are held may be considered an exact index to the
moral strength of the compact by which the discordant elements
of this great Commonwealth are so well harmonised.
The present judicial establishment consists of the supreme
court, thirty-eight district courts, and the circuit courts. The
judicial circuit courts are ten in number, in which a circuit
court is held semi-annually by a justice of the supreme court
and the district judge of the state or district, in which the court
is held. The district courts are presided over by thirty-seven
judges; and in each of the territories there is also a judge, and
two associate judges, appointed by the executive of the United
States.
In the States there are no courts, or sessions of courts,
technically called assizes. The judges, however, perform the
same duties in the counties within their respective circuits and
jurisdiction as the English judges, and generally in the same
manner. The American judges have not, like the English, any
special commission-their commission is single, and appoints
them to the office. But the general and public laws mark out
and define their duties and authorities whether general or
special; and these duties and authorities are generally subject
to be altered and changed by the legislature, as are those of
the judges in England.
As the courts of law in the United States resemble in their
general principles those of the country from which they originated, so the decisions of the English courts of law may be
always quoted there as authorities. It may be said, indeed, that
the whole judicial part of the constitution of the United States
very nearly corresponds with that of England.




CHAPTER V.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON, AND THE NATURAL BEAUTIES OP ITS SITUATION.-The Hall of the Senate and House of Representatives. Principal members of both
Houses. Amount of talent among the members compared with that in the past age; Webster,
Clay, Calhoun, and others. Mode and character of the debate in the Senate. Present leading
men in both branches of the Legislature. Proportion of members supplied by the old States.
Calculation of the influence of particular States in the national councils. Preponderance of
gentlemen of the legal profession in both Houses. Names and number of Presidents since the
establishment of the Republic. President's house. President. Principal officers of State.
Salary of President, and that of inferior officers.
The meetings of the several branches of the legislature, it
has been already intimated, are held in the Capitol, at Washington, the foundation-stone of which was laid by General Washington in 1793.
This building, although it has not escaped the criticisms of
men of professed taste in architectural science, some of whom
regard it as the reverse of Ovid's description of the Temple of
the Sun, —
" Materiam superabit opus,"is a noble structure, of the Corinthian order, and of considerable
dimensions, standing on the banks of the beautiful Potomac,
at the extremity of the street denominated the "Pennsylvania
Avenue," the principal thoroughfare of the city.* It occupies
a spot of elevated ground, commanding a panoramic view of
the whole of the surrounding         country, which is varied       with
luxuriant fields and woods, hills, villas, and other beautifully
picturesque objects.       It consists of a central building with two
wings, the centre and each of the wings surmounted by a cupola,
or low circular dome of glass; the whole stately pile surrounded
by a park of from twenty to thirty acres, recently increased to
one hundred and fifty acres, the principal entrance being through
a superb marble gateway in the form of a triumphal arch; the
whole area ornamented with trees, lawns, fountains, and statues,
and subdivided by terraces, avenues, and public walks.


* Pennsylvania Avenue is said to be the widest street in the world, measuring
160 feet in width. It is well paved, and has side walks of brick or stone.




THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.


43


The entire length of the building is 352 feet; but since the
addition of two wings to the Capitol, commenced in 1851, the
whole length is 750 feet, and the area it covers is more than threeand-a-half acres; forming a structure when completed worthy the
great Republic,-its gleaming white walls, and colossal proportions rising loftily above the sea of verdure, and the lofty forest
trees which gracefully shade the pleasure grounds around. Its
height to the summit of the central dome is upwards of 120 feet,
and its shape like that of a cross. From the top of the dome a
most magnificent view is obtained of the city and adjacent country,
-the two broad arms of the Potomac embracing the city and
its suburbs,-and far in the distance are seen the woody hills of
Virginia and Maryland. The vestibule, or triple colonnade, at
the eastern front of this noble building, which is formed of
twenty-four Corinthian columns of imposing dimensions, opens
to a large circular hall or rotunda, which occupies the centre of
the building. This is divided into several compartments, lighted
by the dome, and ornamented between the niches with beautiful
paintings by Trumbull, together with groups of statuary and busts,
principally of the most prominent actors in the scenes of the
revolution, and representing interesting incidents in American
history. In the rotunda is a celebrated statue of Washington,
executed in Parian marble, by Greenhough, and the Landing of
the Pilgrims, and other sculptures in alto relievo. Among the
paintings of the Capitol, are those of the Surrender of Generals
Burgoyne and Cornwallis,-the Presentation to Congress of the
Declaration of Independence,-Washington resigning his Commission,-Penn treating with the Indians,-the Embarkation of
the Pilgrims, &c. In the pediment of the eastern portico is a
fine sculptured group, representing the genius of America,
supported by figures of Hope and Justice, and surrounded with
appropriate emblems, of which the national eagle is one of the
most prominent. On the platform under the portico are two
colossal statues in marble, the one representing War in the
figure of a Roman general armed for conflict; the other Peace
as a female holding an olive branch; while above is a bas-relief
of Washington crowned by Fame.    Some of the statues or
historical mementos of the revolution, which are of gigantic
proportions, and in classic taste, are said to have been executed
by Capellano, Causici, Gavelot, and others, the former a disciple
of Canova.
The other parts of the building, to the north and south, in



44


THE UNITED STATES.


elude the House of Representatives, Senate, and Hall of Justice,
the Library of Congress, and about seventy apartments for the
accommodation of committees.
The first is a splendid semicircular saloon, ninety-five feet
in length, and sixty in height; also lighted by the dome.
Round the arc of the saloon is a range of columns composed
of breccia, with a highly decorated entablature of white marble,
-vieing in beauty with the verd antiquities of Italy.. These
columns support a gallery, part of which is appropriated to the
accommodation of ladies who desire to attend the debates, and
is sometimes filled with the beauty and fashion of the city and
by visitors from the provinces.
In the centre of the chord is the chair of the Speaker, raised
considerably above the floor of the area, richly canopied, from
which radiate seven passages to the circumference; and the
writing-desks and seats of the members -each individual
member possessing one of these conveniences to himself,
thoroughly firnished-are ranged in concentric rows. Behind
the chair is a kind of corridor or gallery, supported by twentyfour columns of marble, crowned with Corinthian capitals,
forming an oblong square, with a stove at each extremity;
which apartment being furnished with chairs, sofas, spittoons,*
and other requisites, serves as a lounging place for the members,
and for strangers to whom the Speaker thinks proper to allow
the privilege of entre.
The Hall of the Senate is much smaller than that of the
Representatives, being seventy-four feet long and ninety-six feet
'high, but it is more elegantly furnished. This room is also
in the form of a semicircle, and is in style of arrangement
similar to the Hall of Representatives; the Vice-President, as
the Speaker of the Upper House, occupying an elevated chair,
beneath a crimson canopy, in the centre of the radius line
fronting the semicircle. The principal materials of the room
are of marble, and the floor is beautifully paved in mosaic.
The amount of talent among the members of the Senate,
compared with other days, is said to be such as exhibits little
or no deterioration. If none are found to supply the place of


* Spittoons, among articles of furniture, will doubtless appear strange to
English ideas, hut they are become necessaries in America by the indulgence of a
repulsive national habit. The custom, however, would appear less revolting if the
vessels completely answered the uses for which they are intended, especially in
rooms richly carpeted.




LEADING MEN.


45


Webster, ivith his mighty grasp of intellect; of Clay, the great
embodiment of his country's nationality, with his glowing and
silvery eloquence; of Calhoun, the nervous, energetic, mystic,
but powerful southern orator; and of Benton, long the father of
the Senate, without a rival in political experience and facts
bearing upon the interests of his country; it will appear that
the average amount of legislative wisdom is preserved in the
whole number, and thus the proportion of really inferior men is
comparatively small.
Webster, Clay, Calhoun,-that great triumvirate,-are all
gone; they have left the scenes of which they formed the
central point of interest, and no Elisha has yet caught their
fallen mantle.
Of Webster especially, the American people may well be
proud. Though never elected to fill the Presidential chair, he
attained the highest moral elevation of earthly honour. He commanded, by the potent influence of his station and talents, the
destinies of an empire; he swayed the fortunes of the senate
and the nation by the overpowering force and splendour of his
eloquence; the efforts of his gigantic intellect far outstripped
those of his compeers. He may be likened to some mighty
comet moving in majestic career through the heavens, tracking
the path of its travels with a radiant brightness, throwing off
the sparkling corruscations of its glory, and commanding the
wonder and admiration of mankind.
Though there may not be often exhibited in the Congress of
the United States, as in the English Parliament, those oratorical
displays which delude the judgment as often as they excite the
fancy, yet there are frequently manifested the higher qualities of
the legislator,- a comprehensive and statesmanlike sagacity of
intellect, -evident power of philosophical generalization,accurate knowledge, and dexterity in its application to circumstances,- capacity for patient labour,-quickness of compre.
hension, and stern masculine common sense.
Many of the men possessing these qualities, perhaps, are
comparatively little known to fame; but
"Strongest minds
Are often those of whom the noisy world hears least."*
The mode of debate in the Senate, on particular occasions,
has been considered by some European judges as semi-theatrical.
* Wordsworth's Excursion.




46


THE UNITED STATES.


The debates do not so much deserve the character of argumentative and logical, as that of a succession of orations, carefully elaborated, delivered with oratorical effect, and generally
treating the subject with a philosophic completeness not usual
in England.
The leading men in the Senate, as at present constituted,
are Cass, Crittenden, Benton, Hunter, Mason, Soule, Atherton,
Douglas, Rushe, and Sumner, with Clayton, Seward, Everett,
Peace, Dixon, Jones, Badger, Truman, Smith, and Geyer.
General Cass and Messrs. Crittenden and Benton are the
veterans of the Senate, having each reached the age of seventy
years.* Most of the others have been born during the present
century. The average ages of the forty-five oldest senators, as
nearly as can be calculated, is about fifty.
The old States still preserve the preponderance in furnishing
national legislators. There are no fewer than thirty-nine out of
every forty-nine senators whose birthplaces are known to have
been in the old thirteen States. Ethnologically, the fifty-six
senators (there being six vacancies) may be thus classed:Those of Anglo-Saxon origin thirty-nine; Scotch, five;
Welsh, six; Irish, one; French, three; Spanish, one; German,
one; total, fifty-six.
One of the most striking points in the list of senators, is
the vast preponderance of gentlemen of the legal profession.
A foreigner, in looking at the occupations in private life of the
executive and legislative of the Government of the United
States, might suppose that the constitution provided that
lawyers should always have the preference. No less than fortyone of the United States senators are, or have been, of the
legal profession, leaving fifteen for other occupations; of these
last, the medical profession have two, the mechanics two, the
military, the planters, and retired gentlemen the remainder; the
merchants not having one of their own number to represent
them.t
The Presidents of the United States, since the adoption of the
constitution, have been as follows:-George Washington, Virginia; John Adams, Massachusets; Thomas Jefferson, Virginia;
James Madison, Virginia; James Munro, Virginia; J. Quincy
Adams, Massachusetts; Andrew Jackson, Tennesse; Martin Van


* Frazer's Magazine, January, 1853.
t New York Herald,




THE PRESIDENT.


47


Burin, New York; William Henry Harrison, Ohio; John Tyler,
Virginia; James K. Polk, Tennesse; Zach. Taylor, Louisiana;
Millard Filmore, New York; Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire;
and George Buchanan, Pennsylvania.
The President's house stands on an eminence at the opposite
extremity of Pennsylvania Avenue, about a mile distant from the
Capitol, surrounded also by extensive pleasure grounds of great
sylvan beauty, gently rising from the Potomac, whose calm,
blue waters spread out in long perspective before the southern
front. It is a handsome building, with a portico to the south
and north, supported by fine lofty, Ionic columns. The principal materials, as also those of the Capitol, are of sandstone,
found in the vicinity, which is by no means durable, being
continually impaired by the action of the atmosphere; but,
being painted white, has at a distance the appearance of white
marble. The entrance-hall is spacious; but the more public
apartments generally are plainly furnished. On each side are
the offices for the state, war, navy, and treasury departments.
The other most important buildings in the city are the Post and
Patent Offices, and the Smithsonian Institute.
While the President of this great country maintains the
dignity of his high office, and in general supports it, he exacts
no external deference beyond that which in ordinary life one
gentleman is entitled to claim from another. His dress, even
on public occasions, is usually that of a plain suit of black.
And although a stranger would discover nothing of the conventional magnificence and courtly elegance in the great Republican
Palace, any more than in the person or attire of the President,
which he would behold in the abodes of royalty in Europe,
he would at the same time see nothing which the most polished
courtier could attribute to coarseness and vulgarity.
There is perfect freedom from tinsel and glare, from pomp
and circumstance, both in the President and the Court. The
President has no guard of honour, and his residence is without
a sentinel.
The Americans dare to carry out their purposes,-to set
themselves against the current,-to uphold the principles which
they honestly believe.  One of the most deeply interesting
spectacles that have been seen in modern times was the appearance of the American "Charge d'Affairs,"' amidst the
splendours of a levee in the palace of Napoleon the Third,
dressed with the quiet simple elegance of a private gentleman;




48


THE UNITED STATES.


-a truly honourable representative of the great model Republican Government of the United States!*
The salary of the President is 25,000 dollars, or ~5,625 per
annum; that of the Vice-President is 8,000 dollars per annum;
of the Secretary of State, Treasury, War, Navy, and of the
Interior, together with the Postmaster and Attorney-General,
8,000 dollars each. The Chief Justice has 6,500 dollars, and
his associate justices, 6,000 each per annum. The salary of the
Speaker of the House of Representatives is 3,000 dollars.t
The pay of envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary is 9,000 dollars per annum     as salary, in addition to
9,000 outfit. The pay of a Charge d'SAjairs is 4,500 dollars
per annum; the Secretaries of Legation, 2,000 dollars; of
Ministers resident, 6,000. The salaries of British Ambassadors
amount to 90,000 dollars a year, they having from 10,000 to
3,000 per annum each.
While the Government of the United States is the most free
and liberal in the world, its administration of affairs is the least
expensive. Its national debt, in 1853, if such it may be called,
and as will hereafter be more definitely shown, was only
9,844,528 dollars-an amount not equal to the annual interest
paid by some nations on their loans.
Dr. Franklin, and the other eminent statesmen who framed
the constitution, must have pondered the sentiment of Cicero:
"Non intelligunt homines -quam magnum vectigal sit parsimonia,"t and which is especially verified in the experience of the
Government of the United States as the result of practical
effort in every department of the State.
Although Jamaica is an islet of the Atlantic, much less in
size than the county of York, with not double the population
of one town in that county, it pays taxes that would suffice for
* It is to be regretted that, in 1853, instructions were issued by the Government of the United States to its representatives at foreign courts, to use the
ordinary court dress, but still recommending that of an American citizen when
practicable!
t The Governor of Jamaica has 40,000 dollars for governing 400,000 people,
when the President of the United States receives only 25,000 for 25,000,000 of
subjects; 15.000 dollars for a Chief Justice in Jamaica, and 10,000 each for his
associates, when the Chief Justice of the highest tribunal in the United States
gets only 6,000; and so on through a succession of salaries in Jamaica all pro.
portionably enormous and equally unnecessary.
Mankind are not aware to how great an extent a strict economy will attain
the same object as increase of revenue.-Cicero's Paradoxes.




THE CURRENCY.


49


the whole government, civil and military, of half-a-dozen principalities. The whole civil charges of nine of the original colonies
which now constitute the most influential members of the
American Union, amount to no more than ~64,700 a year:
the civil expenditure of Jamaica, less by a considerable space
than any one of them, amounts to ~400,000 per annum. The
annual civil charges of the State of Maryland, four times the
size of Jamaica, are but ~26,000: the police of Jamaica are
supported at an annual cost larger than the whole civil charges
in the State of Maryland; while the annual disbursements of
the country, to be provided for by taxes, are ~400,000.*
Notwithstanding that the state of the insolvent laws in the
United States, and of the relations of the currency to the banks
and the legislature, are not calculated to place their dealings as
a nation on a safe and substantial basis, yet it is remarkable that
the whole amount of taxation of the country, including local
imports, is not at present more than what is expended for the
collection of the revenue and parochial taxes in the United
Kingdom.
Some time since, owing to a scarcity of money and the want
of a circulating medium, which operated as a great impediment to domestic commerce and improvement, a system of
credit was created, which not only occasioned a disordered state
of mercantile affairs, but involved the character and credit
of the nation. Banks were unsafe, and suspended payment.
The whole system of credit was expanded to suit the ambitious
scope and insufficient means of speculation, which brought
on a crisis that shook the Republic to its centre. The secret
power of some houses, and the bad management of others,
were thus at length brought to light. Commercial gambling
had at last brought upon itself a severe rebuke. But legitimate trade and the banking system were purified by the ordeal,
and the whole monetary system placed on a more substantial
basis.
On the 1st of January, 1856, there were in the United States
1,398 banks. Capital, 345,874,272 dollars; specie, 59,314,063
dollars; circulation, 195,745,950 dollars; loans and discounts,
634,183,280 dollars; deposits, 212,705,662 dollars; real estate,
20,865,867 dollars.
The annual report of the Director of the Mint gives the


* Examiner, 1848,
D




50


THE UNITED STATES.


following statement of the deposits and coinage at the various
mints for the year ending June, 1855:Dollars.
Entire gold deposit..........................  64,223,893
Entire  silver deposit.................................  5,793,114
Gold  coinage.........................................  53,097,182
Silver coinage.......................................  5,219,150
Copper coinage.......................................  22,458
Gold  pieces.........................................  3,870,004
Silver pieces............................ 22,848,700
Copper pieces........................................  2,274,147
' The gold product of California for 1855 was 58,111,466
dollars.  The whole coinage of the United States since the
declaration of her independence in 1793 is 498,866,567 dollars;
of which amount there has been received from California, since
1848, 313,234,330 dollars.*
Dollars in the United States are divided into dimes1 cents,
and mills.  The dollar in the Northern States is 6s. currency;
in New York and North Carolina, 8s.; in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, &c., 7s. 6d.; and in South Carolina and Georgia, 4s. 8d.
A golden eagle is ten dollars, or ~2 3s. 8d. sterling; a dollar is
4s. 38d. sterling; and a cent, 208 grs. of copper, the hundredth
of a dollar.
There are 22,688 post offices in the UnitedStates. The
post office regulations and rates of postage are as follows:Postage on letters sent to any point in the United States must
be invariably pre-paid. Letters not exceeding half an ounce,
and within 3,000 miles, three cents, and the same for every
additional half-ounce or fraction thereof. Over 3,000 miles,
ten cents, and the same for every additional half-ounce or fraction thereof.
Each newspaper, periodical, unsealed circular, or other article
of printed matter, not exceeding three ounces in weight, to any
part of the United States, one cent; and for every additional
ounce or fraction of an ounce, one cent additional: when the
postage on any newspaper or periodical is paid yearly or
quarterly in advance, one-half of said rates. Small newspapers
and periodicals published monthly, or oftener, and pamphlets,
not containing more than sixteen octavo pages each, when sent
in single packages, weighing. at least eight ounces, to one
address, and pre-paid, by affixing postage stamps thereto, shall


~ Amer. Chris. Aim., 1850, 1856, 1857.




POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS.


ol


be charged only half of a cent for each ounce, or fraction of an
ounce. The postage on all transient matter shall be pre-paid,
or be charged double the rates above mentioned. The publishers
of weekly newspapers may send to each actual subscriber within
the county where their papers are printed and published one
copy thereof free of postage.
Foreign Postage.-From any point in the United States, to
England, Scotland, and Ireland, by British and American
steamers, twenty-four cents a single rate, or half-ounce, prepaid or not. Newspapers (wrapped in a narrow band, with both
ends open) two cents, pre-paid. To Bremen, by American line,
twenty cents, pre-paid or not; newspapers, two cents, pre-paid.
To other points on the Continent of Europe, the inland and
sea postage is twenty cents, the residue of the postage is paid
abroad. To most other countries of the world, postage can be
pre-paid at any office in the United States, varying from twenty
to eighty-seven cents a rate of half ounce, but in many countries
the rate is one-fourth instead of one-half an ounce. Newspapers and periodicals pre-paid, may be sent to most-foreign
countries.
Books by mail.-The new postage law enables persons to
forward books by mail at a very moderate expense, to any
place within 3,000 miles, as will be seen by the following
order:
"Books, bound or unbound, not weighing over four pounds,
shall be deemed mailable matter, and chargeable with postage
at one cent an ounce for all distances under 3,000 miles, and
two cents an ounce for all distances over 3,000 miles, to which
fifty per cent. shall be added in all cases where the same may
be sent without being pre-paid."


D2




CHAPTER VI.
ANNUAL EXPENDITURB OF THa GOVsRNMENT.-Its great economy compared with that of
England and her colonies. Past and present financial state.  Chief sources of revenue.
Total amount of revenue per annum. Insolvent laws. Banks. Great economy preserved
throughout every department of the State. Theory of political economy in the United States.
Liberality of the Government, and its beneficial results. Equality of political, civil, and religious
rights. General estimate of these advantages by the masses. Misrepresentations of the workings of the Government by tourists and others.  Refutation of these misrepresentations.
Adaptation of the Republican form of Government to the character and circumstances of the
American people. The equality recognised not incompatible with social distinctions. Beneficial
results of the Government exemplified in the union, order, and progress of the nation. The
national feeling and sentiment in regard to the Government. Lines by Sir William Jones on
what constitutes a State. Anomalous conduct of America towards a great portion of her
population. Her injustice and impolicy in perpetuating Slavery.
The revenue of the         general federal Government is derived
almost exclusively from the sale of lands, and from duties on
imports and tonnage, or foreign merchandise; and it can create
no   other.    Direct taxes, or internal levies on          the people, are
inconsiderable, amounting on an average to little more than
eight shillings per annum each person, and are principally raised
and appropriated by the respective State Governments. While
an American farmer purchases the fee simple of his property for
five shillings per acre, he pays no tithes, no church-rates, no
poor-rates,-in      the West, no       income-tax, no      highway-rate in
money, and, with few         exceptions, no turnpike tolls,-the markets of Europe and the world being open to him. In the
neighbourhood       of Kentucky, where          assessments on hereditaments are considered high, the entire amount paid by the owner
of a house and farm worth four thousand dollars is not more
than seven dollars per annum, or less than one-fifth of a dollar
for every hundred.
The receipts into the, treasury, exclusive of loans, have
increased from     26,000,000 to over 49,000,000 dollars; and the
Californian trade, the whole of which does not appear in the
published returns,*-the commercial phenomenon of this com* Vide United States Treasury returns for June, 1852, quoted from Blackwood,
June, 1854.




REVEN UE..53


mercial age,-has also added 100,000,000 dollars to the national
commerce, and, more than any event in the last forty years, has
invigorated the navigating interest of the country, exerting a
powerful influence over the commercial marine of the world, by
swelling the internal trade of the United States, and enabling
her to own more than two-fifths of the tonnage of the world.
In the year ending June, 1852, the treasury returns exhibit
an increase of ten per cent.
For the fiscal year of 1853 there was a treasury surplus of
32,000,000 dollars, with which only 13,000,000 dollars of the
public debt was paid, leaving the debt 56,000,000 dollars. The
message of the President recommended further progress in
extinguishing the debt with the surplus,-reported the navy to
be indifferent, and recommended improvement,-an increase of
the army, especially on the frontiers,-and a reduction of the
tariff, as the second best means of preventing a future surplus.
Other estimates for 1853 affirm the expenses of the Government
to be 54,000,000, and its receipts 61,000,000 dollars; further
affirming that by accumulated balances there was at the same
time on hand 75,000,000 dollars,-stating the same difficulty
as to the disposal of the surplus.
Their revenue for the year ending June, 1854, was 14,000,710
dollars, being an increase over that of the previous year of
2,440,000 dollars, exclusively of about 100,000,000        dollars
from California.
Revenue and expenditure of the United States Government
for the year ending June 30th, 1855:RECEIPTS       Dollars.         EXPSNDITTRES.     Dollars.
From customs................. 53,025 794  Civil List, Miscellaneous, and For.
From  lands.................... 11,497.049  eign intercourse............. 24 183.4R7
Miscellaneous sources..........  481,087  Department of Interior..........  4.126.739
"    of War............ 14,773 826
Total receipts............... 65,003,930  "  of Navy............ 13281 342
Balance in Treasury, July 1st, 1854 20.137,967  Public Debt...................  9 844 528
85.141,897  Total expenditures.............. 66,209,9z2
Expenditures................. 66,209,922
Balance in Treasury, July 1 st, 1855 18,931,975
The expenditure of the United States for the year ending
June 30th, 1856, is as follows:-Judicial, 251,000 dollars;
expenses of the United States Courts, 800,000 dollars; intercourse  with  foreign  nations, 936,862    dollars; pensions,
1,458,947 dollars; the whole amount to 63,604,023 dollars.
During the session from twenty to thirty thousand acres of
national property have been given to different companies.




THE UNITED STATES.


At the close of the last financial year, it is stated that twenty
or thirty millions of gold and silver dollars were lying idle in
the treasury vaults, as a net amount subject to.draft, and that
large appropriations had been made during the three or four
past years to enlarge the Capitol, and other public buildings at
Washington.
By estimating the improved land at ten dollars per acre, and
the unimproved at three, and calculating various other kinds of
property and sources of wealth at a moderate valuation, the
aggregate amount of national wealth has been estimated at
8,760,000,000 dollars. The total value of real and personal
property in January, 1853, was 10,885,636,800 dollars.
The whole exports are 74,000,000 dollars, and of the imports
77,000,000; the tonnage in foreign and coasting trade is
1,200,000 dollars. The increase in the value of the produce
of industry during the last forty years has been tenfold.
It has ever been the aim of the legislature to reduce the
duties on imports to a fair system of revenue, and thus to
extract nothing more from the pockets of the people than is
absolutely necessary to meet the expenses of the Government,
The American Government extract nothing from the miseries
of the people. They reduce expenditure to the utmost, without
detriment to the public service.. No taxes are levied on local
manufacturing industry.  They even receive the produce of
Texas and California, which may properly be called colonies,
and of the territorial regions stretching hundreds of leagues
beyond the falls of St. Anthony on the upper Mississippi, and
to the spurs and vallies of the Rocky Mountains, free of all
charges and restrictions, into their ports and harbours, and into
the great trading depots of the interior; whilst they levy an
indiscriminate duty on all British goods of upwards of fifty
per cent. The only taxes are those on articles imported from
foreign countries.
In 1830, the President's speech announced the revenue at
twenty-four millions of dollars, while the expenditure was little
more than thirteen millions. In the same year, Mr. Hume
informed the English House of Commons that their naval and
military establishments alone amounted to seventeen millions
sterling. Regarding the physical welfare of man, so far as
it can be the care of Government and an object of political
economy, the practice of the Americans, grounded on large
experience, seems to accord more with the theory of Sismondi




SYSTEM OF TAXATION.


55


than with that of Adam Smith. The restriction of cash payments having proved fatal to the progress of the doctrines of
the latter, they seem to view political economy as a science of
proportions; they appear to recognise the principle that income
must increase with capital,-that population must not go beyond
the income upon which it has to subsist,-that consumption
should increase with population,-and that reproduction should
be proportioned to the capital which produces, and to the population which consumes it.
The extent to which each is dependent upon all the rest in a
particular country for the commonest necessaries and comforts
of life, and one commercial nation on all others, is one of the
most interesting of all the complicated phenomena of a high
industrial state.
On the supposition that the original founders of the constitution, and their coadjutors in the administration of the
government, were influenced by no fixed principles of political
economy, they yet saw and acted upon the conviction how
necessary it was,-how much to the interest of the Government,
-to relieve the commerce of the country from all unjust local
dues,-all imposts, of whatsoever nature they might be, from
which trade did not derive an equivalent benefit; and by permitting no direct taxation but that of the State, to enable trade
to gain the elasticity which is the result of freedom, and to
qualify it to bear without injury a fuller share of the national
burdens.
Thus prosperity may be said to reign among all classes of
society in the United States. The wages of labour are abundant.
The prices of some articles are high, because there is a currency
in which those prices, consisting of natural cost and tariff
duties, are to a fair and just extent permitted; the producing
classes do not feel those duties or this species of taxation to be
oppressive, because remuneration is more than adequate to
expenditure at such prices. 'Plenty therefore, content, loyalty
to the Government, and attachment to the national institutions
prevails to an unexampled extent; and thus, if the end of civilization is to discover and employ the best remedies in mitigation
of the evils of poverty and wretchedness, it will be seen that
the Americans have achieved what other Governments have in
vain assayed.
In the United States there is no hereditary rank, nor is rank
always connected with office. They seem to act on the aphorism




56


THE UNITED STATES.


of Juvenal, that "'virtue is the best nobility."  On the
basis of the constitution, the great men of the nation stand
on a level with their humble but virtuous brethren. All of
honour and distinction which the Government has to confer, is
bestowed on many of those whom other Governments would
overlook as unworthy of notice. The condition in life of, a
citizen is a matter of small importance. He is tried by another
test than that of wealth and family connections, and his claims
to favour rest on other and higher considerations. This principle of making moral worth the platform on which man should
meet his fellow-man, is the true Republican principle: it is the
first element of civil and religious liberty.  The Americans,
from the highest to the lowest, thus feel that they have a common cause, a common end, and a common destiny.      The
Government gives to the people their rights. The enlightened
few, in their own defence, enlighten the many.  It extends
power to the million, and public opinion rules the country.
Those who hope for legislative honours or distinctions, pay
court to public opinion.
Elections are not a contest for power, but of argument; and
the people by long use have the knowledge to choose their
representatives, and seldom fail to give them proper instructions..There may be some among the masses who confound insubordination and recklessness with liberty, but, excepting in the
newly-peopled territories, where criminals and others have fled
from the restraints of civilized life, they are not numerous, and
are daily decreasing. "That is true liberty, when a nation, like
an individual, itself wills the restraints which it imposes on
itself.".
It may be said generally that no people seem to have so just
an idea of the nature, the effect, and end of civil government
as the people of the United States. Their form of government
has been objected against, repudiated, ridiculed, and condemned
by Capts. Marryatt, Hall, and others, on account of its alleged
deficiencies and evils; while sober, thinking, unprejudiced men
have judged that if Republicanism has its faults, so also has
a Monarchy,-that cavils may be made against all human
institutions,-that while there must be weaknesses and deficiencies in the American Commonwealth, it would be equally
ungenerous and untrue to deny that the principles of the
Government of the United States are conformable to the manliness, benevolence, and integrity of the national character,



ADVANTAGES OF THE CONSTITUTION.


57


that, although it has never been pretended to be a standard of
pure integrity and uncorrupted political principle, it eminently
subserves the security of property, honesty, and public 'feeling
in public functionaries, the sanctity of moral obligation, and
the faithful execution of simple and equitable laws. In a word,
it is a Government chosen by the people, and chosen to suit
them,-one most congenial with the feelings of their nature,
and most favourable to their enjoyment of equal civil rights,-a
form of constitution that grew out of the wants and tendencies
of men new to the climate of liberty. It makes no invidious
distinctions; there is no partiality,-no respect of persons. Its
spirit and genius are those of perfect political and civil equality.
It creates no dukes, marquisses, earls, or lords; there are no
aristocracy,-no hereditary rights,-no hereditary honours and
privileges. The whole nation is politically a level mass, without any nobles or local magnates either to check or to head
public opinion. It seems to recognise the fact that wealth and
poverty emanate from the same omnipotent Source,-that the
same affections and sentiments are common to rich and poor,and that under a plain attire or toil-worn garment vibrates a
heart equally warm and generous with that of the man who
may be arrayed in the costly fashion which competency and
wealth place within his reach.
It cannot be said in America "that laws rule the poor, and
rich men rule the law." The law affords the same protection
and security to the poor as to the rich; to the weak as to the
strong. Like the vital air or the light of heaven, it is such as
seems needed by all and is suited to all. The members of the
Government thus assume their rights from the sovereignty of
the people, which sovereignty they recognise, and do not
depend for their legislative honours upon their genealogies, or
upon property qualification. Discarding all such distinctions
and advantages (common to the old feudal governments of
Europe), America declared that she would regard with equal
kindness, not only all her children, but all the numerous offspring of the family of man. "All men," says the preamble to
her constitution, "are created equal, —are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
The House of Representatives reflects literally and emphatically the sentiments of the people; and in the people, as we
have seen, is the only source of legislative vigour. The GovernD3




58


THE UNITED STATES.


ment are not afraid of any inundation of democracy that may
overflow them; they justly think that that public which does
America's work, and produces America's wealth, ought to have
its fair and honest share of congressional representation. But
while no chasm exists between the Government and the people,
a high and substantial power is exercised over them by the
Senate.
The Government of the United States (always excepting its
monstrous and anomalous treatment of the slave population
and people of colour,* with its mania for territorial aggrandize-.ment) is based on principles of equal right and privilege. Every
man has a claim to distinction, to honour, and to office, when
he can found that claim on his own merits, and on the virtues
of his life. It is a system which promotes the general interests
with the smallest possible injury to particular ones.
Equal rights and brotherhood vindicated by her philosophers,
preached and proclaimed by her greatest orators, and sung by
her poets in their highest seasons of inspiration,-her statesmen
were constrained to frame laws and institutions which reflected
these conceptions. Such was the combination of circumstances
after the termination of the war of independence, that the
creation of a Monarchy would not only have been difficult, but
in all probability impossible. Society possessed no materials
out of which to create a king, nor any elements for the construction of a privileged order of aristocracy or a dominant
hierarchy. The latter was an impossibility, not so much from
the diversity of religious opinions, as from the stern liberal
principles of the majority.
"I consent to this constitution," said Franklin, "because I
expect no better; and because I am not sure it is not the best.
The opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the public
good." Time has confirmed the judgment of the sage.
* Slavery is a system that early disfigured their Commonwealth. and still continues the disgrace and scourge of the Southern States. When the Government
sent a special envoy to Hungary during the recent troubles in relation to Kossuth
and his compatriots, the minister of that country sent a severe and cutting remonstrance to the American government on the subject. This being replied to on the
part of the Americans with a boast of their determination to uphold free principles, was met by a rejoinder on the part of Austria, that America, of which so
large a proportion consisted of slaves, did ill in upbraiding Austria with being
unfriendly to freedom, seeing that no such tyranny as the system of buying and
selling human beings existed in that country.




ADVANTAGES OF THE CONSTITUTION.            59
The people during the war having found out their value in
the body politic, would no longer be regarded as mere machines.
Feudalism could no longer assign to different classes the position which each was to occupy in the social scale. The gradations of rank were no longer respected: the man took precedence
of the noble, and artificial distinctions naturally gave place to
those which were more rational and real.
Thus the political establishment of America, while it restrained
the civil disbursements by an admirable and praiseworthy
economy, was evidently well adapted to the peculiar genius of
her people.  The United States were found to contain the
elements of a federal constitutional government, and it was
adopted. As already observed, this form of government may
have had its defects; and instances have occurred in which it
has been shown imperfect. The social organization of a limited
monarchy may present, enjoyments and a mode of life better
adapted for the refined, the wealthy, and the intellectual people
of England, but not, perhaps, for the American in the infancy
of his political existence. His very outbreaks, it may be said,
have proved to be the result of progress. 'In a free country
there is often much complaint with little suffering; in a
despotism there is much suffering with little complaint.s At the
same time, no kind of government can be organized at once.
The federal constitution was a grand political phenomenon.
Almost a whole continent, composed of the most discordant
elements, constituted as a federative republic, and having, like
one of the mighty trees of their forest, shot forth and developed
itself in solid trunk and goodly branches, America has solved
one of the greatest of all political questions by exhibiting to the
world the interesting fact, that entire political liberty is perfectly
compatible with order and with union,-and not only with personal liberty, but with all those higher ideas that are connected
with the conservation of law, of reverence, of loyalty, of rational
submission to right authority,-in a word, of true self-government,-the positive antithesis of the government of self.
It proves that nationality depends not on language, nor on
rule, but on institutions. The only danger that exists is, lest
the love of liberty should, as in ancient Rome, be supplanted by
covetousness and ambition,-lest so exclusive a regard should
be paid to the creation of wealth as to neglect its proper distribution,-an evil equally fatal to national prosperity.
( Government here does not seem to need the array of power







60                  THE UNITED STATES.
and magnificence that prevails in other nations.  Here are
no brilliant courts,-with an absence of nobility, there is no
military pomp,-no guards of soldiers,-no hosts of spies,no vexatious regulations of police. The law being simple and
direct, it accomplishes its beneficial purposes by a few unarmed
judges and civil officers; while it operates so silently that the
people enjoy its blessings without a thought of its existencej
Every stranger, too, is eligible, at any time, to become a free
and equal citizen, and pursue his calling or profession, of whatever kind, without any obstruction or difficulty from corporation
rules, or monopolizing companies, or the payment of money to
the public.
At the termination of two years every stranger has the title of
a citizen, and is entitled to an elective franchise; he has a vote
in the election of the President, and in that of the Governor,
both in the city and state of his locality; while he is himself
eligible in seven years to a seat in the provincial and general
congress.
All classes enjoy a peculiar felicity in the principles of
government, and of civil and religious liberty, which are more
sound, more accurately defined, and more exclusively reduced to
practice than those of almost any other nation. In the expressive words of Miss Martineau, "It ig a government embodying
the mighty principle that politics are morals."
Although, however, equality among its citizens is so universally
recognized and enjoyed under the laws of America, it must not
be understood that it is equality-of property and power,-it must
not be supposed that there are no gradations in society.
The equality here is not so much equality of social position,
as of political, civil, and religious right.*
By whatever form or name a nation should think proper to
distinguish its Government, and how rigid soever might be its
system of equality, there would always be, as long as the rights
of property are respected, an upper, a middle, and a lower class.
Thus in America, from the settlement of the Republic, notwith- 
standing the abjuration of all aristocracy, this division has existed.
In a state of society organized like that in America, while none
are debarred the rights and blessings of the constitution there
must necessarily be distinctions of property, diversity of condition, subordination of rank, and a variety of occupation.


* Captain M'Kinnon's Atlantic and Transatlantic Sketches.




POLITICAL EQUALITY.


61


Equality, in the acceptation of the term as recognized by the
Government of the United States, does not affect the distinctions
of social life. When it provides that the law regards all ranks
alike, it certifies the very existence of distinctions, but only in
accordance with the nature of things, and as subservient to the
general good. Liberty is not synonymous with personal independence. The annals of the world conclusively demonstrate
the impossibility of perfect social equality, or of complete
personal independence in communities of human beings. The
unrestrained will of the savage of the forest can exist only in his
solitude; but the eternal discord of human passions forbids the
irresponsibility of conduct and action in the intercourse of man
with man, because humanity, industry, probity, and wisdom, are
so unequally distributed among mortals.
"The equality of capacity, influence, and power between man
and man," says a late political writer, "is a natural impossibility,
and has never been dreamt of in any political scheme conceived
out of Bedlam."* But the denial of artificial elevations and
depressions, and the leaving men to find their places according
to their circumstances,-unbolstered with privileges, or unshackled with badges of arbitrary distinction,-is a true equality
of the Constitution. It must be admitted, however, that in the
absence of hereditary honours, opulence and refinement create
distinctions; but these, in the United States, are simply
respected, not worshipped. Those great men who originated
the Constitution, who for the most part had served the State
gratuitously, and who were independent landed proprietors,
formed, in reality, an aristocracy which it was difficult not to
consider as such; and although in the incipient stages of the
Government they were in a minority, they had influence in the
legislature, in the conventions, and afterwards in the congress,
corresponding with their wealth, virtues, intellect, and position.
These, in process of time, formed two parties,-the Federal or
Aristocratic, and the Democratic,-which exist to the present
day. " One party," says Jefferson, "fears most the ignorance
of the people; the other, the selfishness of rulers independent
of them."
At the same time, with such elements of control and organization, exerting their influence over the whole body, added to the
general feeling with respect to the Government, it is not


* Dublin University Magazine, Nov. 1855.




62


THE UNITED STATES.


surprising that the social and political condition of the people
should present a compactness and unity which make them both
-important and formidable.
Thus union, order, and progress, would seem to be the
national motto; and these move hand in hand together, and
produce steady, beneficent, and national results,-the growing
cultivation of those civilizing influences to which reactionary
despotisms, such as that of Russia, are the great antagonists.
These results, however, have been denied by Captains Hall,
Marryatt, and others; but, says one of the greatest writers of the
age, Mr. Charles Dickens, " The most zealous enemy of innovation must admit the gradual progress of experience, however
he may oppose hypothetical temerity." The river which dashes
over the cataract, or is suddenly swelled by its tributary streams,
soon resumes its accustomed course; and we judge of its
general character, not by its accidental deviations, but by its
ordinary tenour, by its gentle and easy flow over the obstructions which present themselves, or by its impatient struggles
and ruffled surface when impeded by innumerable obstacles.
But whatever may be the defects of the system of government of the United States, it is a fact not to be disputed, that
the attachment of the people to it is strong and universal.
However the public press may ridicule the acts of individuals,
there is nothing that can bring the laws, or those who administer them, into   disrespect; and   this is regarded by all
unprejudiced writers as one of the strongest proofs of the
nationality of the people; as well as renders, for some time to
come at least, the maintenance of the present form of government more certain than that of any government on the surface
of the earth.  Its stability thus rests on the universal will of
the nation.  Says the celebrated Sir William Jones:
"What constitutes a State?
Not high rais'd battlements, or laboured mound,
Thick wall, or moated gate;
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crown'd;
Not bays, and broad arm'd ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, proud navies ride;
Not starr'd and spangled courts,
Where low-bred baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No,-Men, high-mettled men,Men, who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain,
Prevent the long aim'd blow,
Aid crush the tyrant while they rend the chain,These constitute a State."




SLAVERY.


63


So far as the system of government, as well as other circumstances in the United States are concerned, to the extent at
least to which they have been thus detailed, the author flatters
himself that it must be seen by the reader that little is left
to be desired by the wise and liberal of mankind.  But, as
already indicated, these advantages of the American Government, like those of the ancient republics of Greece and Rome,
are invidious and partial. "The citizenship does not take up
the whole community, but leaves outside the pale of the constitution a certain portion of the population, who are not only imperfectly protected, but are not allowed to feel the throbbings of
nationality." *
Allusion is made to her "domestic institution," as it is
called,-to her slavery,-that monstrous plague-spot upon her
social and moral greatness,-that disgrace and scourge of her
southern provinces. While the roar of her cannon on every
anniversary of her independence is heard from a thousand hills,
and the air is filled with her shouts and huzzas for liberty,
three millions of her subjects are denied the precious boon,
and doomed-themselves and their posterity-to drag out their
lives in perpetual bondage. Though Congress have solemnly
declared, in the face of the world and before the God of heaven,
that freedom is the rightful inheritance of every son and
daughter of Adam, yet they continue in the true spirit of Pagan
tyranny to withhold it from those upon whom the wickedness
of their remote ancestors rivetted the fetters of slavery.
Between three and four millions of men, of the same common
origin, of the same form and delineation of feature with themselves, because clothed with a darker skin, are thus robbed of
their whole rights as human beings, and doomed by their
rulers to cruel, ignominious, and interminable bondage.
{The institution of slavery is at the bottom of everything
questionable in the policy of the Government,-everything
wicked,-everything foolish,-everything impolitic,-everything
mischievous, done by the Congress of the United States for a
long course of years. Every political change, every unaccountable new law, should be studied by the baleful light of this
institution, and all will be intelligible. It is an institutionitself a disastrous remnant of barbarism-that makes the whole
nation barbaric in many of its aspects. Apart from that, the


* Merivale on Civilization. Eclectic Review.




64


THE UNITED STATES.


national testimony of England and the free states of Europe
have ever been fully and freely borne to the principles of
political liberty and justice in the United States. }
"Americans! plead for the rights of mankind,
For the bondman as well as the free;
Unrivet the fetters of body and mind,
'Neath the shade of your liberty tree."
But your vassals, goaded to a fast coming crisis by the Fugitive Slave Law, and by your insatiate ambition of increased
slave domination in attempting to add two other slave States*
to the number of your Stripes and Stars, begin to plead their
own cause. Let us hear them!
" We owe allegiance to the State,
But deeper, truer, moreTo the sympathies that God hath set
Within our spirits' core.
Our country owns our fealty;
We grant it so, but then,
Before man made us citizens,
Great Nature made us men.
God works for all. Ye cannot hem
The hope of being free
With parallels of latitude,
With mountain-range, or sea.
If man before his duty
With listless spirit stands,
Ere long the Great Avenger
Takes the work from out his hands."t


* Kansas and Nebraska.
t Lowell.




CHAPTER VII.
LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.-Improvement on those of England. Liberty of the pressi
Naval and military establishments. America deficient in the qualities of a military nation.
Her advantage in cultivating the arts of peace. Consequences of an offensive, aggressive warspirit to ancient republics and to Russia.
The laws of the United States are in general assimilated to
those of England, and are mostly derived from them; but
they are considerably modified, and in some cases improved.
They have, however, no ecclesiastical law, or spiritual courts
in America, but simply common and statute laws. The law of
primogeniture and entail is also abolished. Mr. Jefferson, in
introducing the bill for the purpose, avowed as his reason that
he wished to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and
talent. Landed property, therefore, at least in the New England
States, is universally held in fee simple, and is shared equally
by the families of deceased proprietors,-a regulation to which
the inhabitants attribute much of their prosperity, and which
they value as the safeguard of their liberty.
In the courts of law in the United States, no one is obliged
to take an oath; with the motives of religion, public opinion,
and penalties of the law, affirmations are found to be sufficient;
thus showing that oaths are unnecessary for the purposes of
justice.*
The criminal laws have undergone alterations which have
rendered them in many instances more temperate and more
rational than our own; consequently more consonant with the
dictates of intelligent and discriminating justice.      American
legislators have at least partially achieved what the English
parliament has much neglected,-the establishment of a grada* The abandonment of oaths is now advocated in England, it being maintained
that the same penalties attached to the solemu affirmation as are now attached
to the violation of the oaths, the affirmation in such case becomes invested with
all the binding force of the oath.-Vide Blackstone's Corn., systematically abridged,
and adapted to the existing state of the law and the constitution, by Samuel Warren,
Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., 84c.




66


THE UNITED STATES.


tion of punishments according to the degrees of guilt.*  The
criminal laws, however, are still in an imperfect condition. It
has been thought by wise and philanthropic men, that it would
have been preferable if the American States had wholly repealed
the laws of English origin, instead of attempting improvements
on them, and thus commenced a new structure of criminal
jurisprudence on a basis more in accordance with the principles
of religion and humanity.
Originally, as in England, from which they were derived, the
penal laws, from their rigour and intricacy, may be truly said to
have "rained down snares upon the people;" the lawmakers appearing to have been emulous of the ensanguined and execrable
laws of Draco, which the Athenians erased from the books of
their republic, but saved the name of their author from oblivion,
to float it as a warning down the stream of an odious immortality.
In many of the States where, under the British rule, the forgery
of a promissory note of one shilling was a capital crime, the.punishment of death is entirely abolished, as it is also for all
I   ~minor felonies.t   If blood be shed in any of the States, it is
only in instances where the last degree of malignant atrocity
braves both Divine and human laws, and makes the existence
of the offender incompatible with the safety of the State.
Mr. Livingstone's Code of Louisiana, which has entirely
departed from the ancient system, approaches nearer to excellence than any of the most approved editions of the original
model, as it abolishes the punishment of death in all cases,
even for murder, substituting imprisonment with hard labour;
as has also been done in the State of Vermont; and sought for,
if not accomplished, in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.  And
public sentiment, in all the States, is daily growing in favour
of the abolition of all capital punishment in their penal code, it
having been proved that it may be done not only without disadvantage, but to the improvement of morals, and the better
protection of property and life. It must be admitted that the
state of morals in every country greatly depends on its system
of criminal jurisprudence. Sanguinary and vindictive punish

* As evidence of this, as also of the defects and oppressive character of English
law still in many points, vide Warren's Blackstone, &c.
t Comparative view of the punishments annexed to crime in the United
States and in England, by J. Sidney Taylor, A.M., of the Middle Temple,
Barrister-at- Law.




LENIENCY OF THE CRIMINAL COlE.


67


ments are regarded by all judicious and philanthropic men as
a violence to reason, a reproach to morals, and an impediment
to civilization.
More than that of any other country, the criminal laws of
the United States are built upon the christian principle of the
reformation of the offender. They are framed, indeed, with a
greater disposition to allure to obedience than to punish for
offences; they are not characterized by that excessive severity
and rigour which mark the statutes of some countries, claiming even a higher status of civilization. There is in the laws
generally of the United States, more of the forbearance, the
tenderness, and the clemency of a Christian nation.       At the
same time, the American statesmen, unlike those of England,
have not retained on their statute book obsolete laws that have
outlived the exigencies which had called them        into being,
or allowed them to remain mixed up with enactments of a
benevolent and useful character.* They likewise seem to act
upon the opinion of Beccaria, that no Government has a right
to punish its subjects unless it has previously taken care to
instruct them in the knowledge of the laws and of the duties of
public and private life; thus making the science of government
a branch of popular education. What an example to England
and her colonies!
While the penal code of the. United States is thus less
sanguinary and cruel, there are few countries where justice can
be obtained at so little trouble and expense. In relation to the
protection of the person, it is believed that the law in the
United States is more stringent than in England and her
colonies.   All persons guilty     of aggravated    assaults  are
punished with heavy fines; whilst the damages are recoverable,
not by the Government, but by the parties on whom the injuries
have been inflicted.   The laws of security are comprised of
statutes which repress crimes, misdemeanours, and contravention
of the police.
* The great Bacon, in the reign of James I, sagaciously observed, in relation
to the anomalies of the English legal system, that the "* living die in the arms of
the dead." A revision and reconstruction of the laws of England, ecclesiastical
and civil, both of which are a disgrace to the nation, have been judged necessary
through three centuries, but are yet comparatively unattempted. The necessity
for reform, indeed, has been admitted from generation to generation, and was
attempted in the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth, and in those of other monarchs
in succession; yet the reformation, in many particulars, remains unaccomplished
to the present day.




68


THE UNITED STATES.


In no country in the world is the liberty of the press,-that
great bulwark of rational as well as individual freedom, -so
universally recognised and understood.       It is considered   an
essential element in the American Constitution.        Without it
their representative government would be but a solemn show,
unreal, empty, and delusive. The free discussion of all political
measures, and of the character of public officers, is regarded of
much more importance than the freedom of debate in legislative
assemblies. Without such restraint, Government would almost
necessarily become an instrument for enforcing oppressive
measures.
The framers of the American Constitution knew, by the history
of Europe, and in particular by that of England during the
dynasty of the Stuarts, whose tyranny brought the country to the
lowest point of imbecility and degradation, that the expedients
of despotism to maintain its power, however they may succeed
for a time in breaking down the barriers of popular freedom, and
in suppressing elements of social greatness and enjoyment, are
the very means by which it is ultimately destroyed. They knew
that if the sentiments of a nation could not pass current among
themselves by the usual medium of communication, a free press,
they would be known by a kind of freemasonry, the key of which
would be withheld only from the despotic rulers whose overthrow it would soon accomplish; they knew that if ebullitions
did not find expressions in open and public discourse, they
would smoulder in secret till they burst forth with volcanic and
irrepressible fury; they knew that if religion was interfered with
by the civil authority, and the devout of every class but a
dominant party were refused a sanctuary and a pulpit for the
maintenance and diffusion of their principles, devotion would be
sublimed by persecution into a fervid, fearless patriotism, that
would not fail to demolish the Government and altars that were
opposed to its course.*
* When four Puritan ministers stood abashed before the triumphant Bishops,
the ribald Royalty of England, and a right merry and conceited Court, insulted,
discomfitted, outraged-the representatives of the reform convictions of the age,
treated with scorn dishonourable to their manhood common to all-there was playing
about that kingly court, a sedate and princely boy, some three years old.-and in
the then future, beyond the scene in which the palsy-stricken Whitgift, menaced
with a liberal Parliament, desiring rather to give an account of his bishopric to
God than exercise it among men, lay stretched in his palace on the bed of death, and
on being visited by the king, uttered his last words, lifting up his eyes and head, Pro
Ecclesia Dei — beyond the scorned grave of Bancroft, and after James had become




LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.


69


The liberty of the press in America is not treated as a mere
question of political expediency. Washington, and even Jefferson, were evidently influenced by higher motives; they had
respect to the rights of conscience and liberty of thought, which
they regarded as far superior to the highest considerations of a
merely political character.
As some evidence of the liberty of the press in the United
States, as well as of the degree in which it is protected, the laws
against its licentiousness are precise and well defined. They
punish only what is really injurious to the public welfare;
particularly attacks upon the Government,-upon-the credit of
the Republic,-upon the reputation of individuals, and whatever
is subversive of good morals and religion.
"The preamble of the New York Constitution," says Judge
Jay, " declares as follows:-'We, the people of the State of New
York, do establish this Constitution. The Constitution ordains
that every citizen may truly speak, write, and publish his
sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of
pursy and fat, and, much despised and little regretted, all his revellings over, this
poor ludicrous despot bad ceased to roll his unwieldy body in loose stuffed quilted
clothes thick enough to resist a dagger, ceased to stammer insults with a tongue
too big for his mouth. and retired, not without suspicion of poison, to his last home;
-beyond all these things there was, connected with that conference and that young
boy, an historical event in the darkness of the coming time, over which the light of
the present passed for an instant, —a silent crowd before Whitehall, a scaffold, a
masked headhman, and a dethroned king kneeling before a block;-the Whitehall
tragedy was the insults of Hampton Court, transmuted by the wrath of a people
into retribution. Revnolds having requested the revival of the meetings of the
clergy called Prophesyings, James answered that they tended to a Scotch Presbytery,
which agreed no better with monarchy than God with the devil. "Then," said
he, "Jack, and Tom, and Will, and Dick, shall meet, and at their pleasures censure me and my council, and all our proceedings. Then Will shall stand up and
say, It must be thus. Then Dick shall reply and say, Nay, marry, but we will
have it thus. And, therefore, here I must reiterate my former speech, Le Roy
s'avisera. Stay, I pray you, for one seven years before you demand that of me:
and if you find me pursy and fat, and my windpipes stuffed, I will perhaps hearken
to you." One of the courtiers, seeing the Puritan advocates were put out and
abashed by the king, remarked, doubtless wittily, "a Puritan was a Protestant
out of his wits "  James informed a correspondent that they fled him so in argumerit, that " I was forced to tell them, that if any of them, when boys, had disputed
thus in the college, the moderator would have fetched them up, and applied the
rod to their _."    Gentle reader, the royal word is a plain one, and was
suggested doubtless to the recollection of his majesty by his early experience of
the instructions of George Buchanan. He closed the conference by remarking,
" If this be all they have to say, I shall make them conform themselves, or I will
harry them out of the land, or else do worse."  After this, we need not be surprised
that Bancroft should Ifll on his knees, and thank God for a king, "as since
Christ's time the like bud niot been."




70


THE UNITED STATES.


that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the
liberty of speech or of the press.' The Constitution explains
what it means by the citizens becoming responsible for the
abuse of this inestimable right by providing that no man shall
be convicted by a jury, on thus speaking, and writing, and
publishing his sentiments, on any subject, provided the jury
shall be satisfied that the matter charged as libellous is true,
and was published with good motives and for justifiable conduct.
And the Constitution of the other States is similar. This
guarantee of freedom of discussion, which the people of the States
have given to every citizen, extends equally to religious and
political topics, and it is impossible to conceive any subject
which they may not constitutionally discuss."
The Naval power, as existing in the United States, consists
at the present time of probably about one hundred ships of the
line: frigates, sloops, schooners, and steamers,-vessels of war
of all sizes, including those of the smallest kinds, with a marine
corps well trained and disciplined. The former are promoted
by seniority, thereby insuring, as is considered, greater skill in
the service as the result of experience, as well as rewarding
bravery and talent without suspicion of partiality.
Her largest vessel of war is the Susquehanna, built at Philadelphia. She is thirty feet longer than the great ship of the
line, Pennsylvania,* but not equal to the latter in breadth of
beam.   Her crew consists of three hundred men.t
The whole naval establishment of the United States consisted
in 1853 of eleven ships of the line, fifteen frigates, twenty
sloops, four brigs, two schooners, sixteen steamers, and five
store ships, with others in progress of construction. From a
report, however, of the Constructor of the American Navy for
the year 1855, it appears that very few of these can be made
immediately available for foreign sea service. It states, indeed,
that the number really available for foreign sea service is only
twelve first-class steamers, two line of battle ships, and nine
frigates; that the sloops are of no use but for home or private
purposes.
In 1856, the naval establishment of the United States was
authoritatively stated to consist of sixty-four captains, seven of
* The Pennsylvania, the largest vessel of war that bad then been constructed,
was launched in 1837. She is 247 feet long, and 59 feet deep; carries 140 guns,
and is 3.306 tons burden.
t Some still larger vessels are now in course of construction (1856.7).




NAVY AND ARMY,


71


them commanders of squadrons; ninety-seven commanders;
eleven ships of the line; thirteen frigates; nineteen sloops of
war; three brigs; twenty-seven steamers, of various sizes, including those being built; five store ships; two permanent
receiving vessels; a naval asylum; a naval academy; and eight
navy yards.
The marine corps has the organization of a brigade, and consists of thirteen captains; nineteen first and second lieutenants;
and about one thousand two hundred non-commissioned officers,
musicians, men, &c.
Her dockyards for the navy-the principal of which are at
Boston, New York or Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Washington-are both numerous and extensive. The navy yard
at Brooklyn is supposed to contain the finest dry dock in the
world.
In the course of a few years it is probable the maritime spirit
of the country will be so stimulated, that the naval power of
the States will rival any in Europe. One-third of her sailors
are said to have been in the British navy or merchant service.
Having entered the service of the Republic, they are placed
before the mast, and officered by young Americans. Since the
last war, ships of the line in the United States' navy are named
after states; frigates after American rivers; sloops of war after
state capitals and other cities; brigs after some noted deceased
naval commander; and revenue cutters after members of the
cabinet.  The captains of their merchantmen navigate their
vessels with half the crews employed by other nations,-viz.,
with two men only to one hundred tons. They command high
freights, and conduct their vessels with no less certainty, and
with greater despatch than the English, as they invariably,
whenever possible, carry a greater press of canvas than their
parent rival.
A standing army being considered incompatible with a
Republican Government, their effective standing military force
is estimated at about 16,000 men of all arms, including about
700 commissioned officers. According to a recent communication of the Secretary of State, the standing army of the United
States, in regiments, numbers over 13,000 men, of whom more
than 12,000 are engaged in protecting the frontiers against the
depredations of the Indians.* On an emergency, their effective


* New York Mirror.




72


THE UNITED STATES.


force would amount to 150,000 men. The number of enlistments for the year ending September 20th, 1855, was 10,546;
loss by death, discharge, and desertion, 5,500.  The whole
territory of the United States is divided into five great departments, in which there are twenty-six arsenals and ninety-eight 
forts, most of which are garrisoned.*
Their militia is calculated at upwards of 2,000,000. It may
be said that every man in the Republic is a trained soldier,
disciplined to arms.  Every year calls out a new army of
local soldiery from among the peasantry; they thus train the
entire rustic population.  America could, if necessary, bring
3,000,000 of men into the field. The profession of arms is not
merely the profession of the few, but the practice, the pride,
and the pastime of the many.   But America has not the
qualities of a military nation,-rather those of a great agricultural and commercial, of an industrial and colonizing one.
War is a game which, if America is wise, Congress will not
play at.  Her interests are all on the side of international
amity; and her national motto should be, PEACE, INDUSTRY,
AND UNION. Rome was an aggressive and conquering, but not
a governing nation, and she therefore fell;- she fell like
Carthage, a victim to her degenerate army system.
Prompt and eager to settle every petty quarrel by invading
and annexing her neighbours' territory, Rome played out her
game and lost her empire.  Had the Romans yielded to the
Italians rather than drive them to revolt, and to have to arm
Numidians and Gauls against them, no inevitable fate would
have quenched Rome, and freedom, and civilization, beneath
the feet of Germany.   Had Pericles, the great Athenian
general, made any moderate concessions to save Spartan honour,
instead of at once rushing recklessly to arms, he would have
saved Greece from Macedonian despotism and spoliation. The
fascinating desire to possess Italy proved fatal to Carthage.t
The love of conquest, like that of money, seems to grow with
that it feeds upon.
America, like Russia, is invulnerable in defensive war, and
would force back any invader to his dominions, a wiser man
and a smaller potentate than when he left them; but should she
move aggressively, she is as vulnerable as the rest of the world,


* American Almanack.
t Merivale on Colonization, from Eclec. Review,




ARMY EXPENDITURE.                   73
and her defects and weaknesses would become apparent. While
America is not free from foes within her territories, there is
hardly one line of her frontier that is not beset with enemies.
Let both America and England beware! War brings with it,
too, other evils than a just retribution for pride of empire and
lust of dominion.
The cost to America of her army for the last six years ending
1851, including the Indian department, is, according to official
statement, the enormous sum of 66,000,000 of dollars.  Let
America cultivate the arts of peace, and she will not only
escape a national debt, but always have a surplus revenue,she will then continue to be rich, glorious, and free.


E




CHAPTER VIII.
VAST AND RAPIDLY INCREASING COMMBsCE.-Home and foreign. Imports and exports.
Tonnage. Magnificent lines of river and ocean steamers. Canals, railroads, and electric
telegraphs. Naval architecture and shipping. Agricultural products. Manufactories and
manufactures. Their character and variety. Principal districts in which established: Lowell, &.c
Wealth of the United States. How or from what source principally derived. Its quality.
General distribution. Comparative absence of poverty throughout the Union. General contentment and happiness of the working classes. Active enterprising habits of all classes.
Prevailing mania for the possession of wealth.
Enjoying, as she does, the full benefits of her fertility and
her situation, unencumbered by the restraints of jealous monopolies such as existed during her subjection to Great Britain,
the commercial power of the United States is the second in the
world.
The commercial marine of the United States is only inferior
to that of England. These two great nations divide the dominion of the sea, and the carrying trade of the world.
In 1852, the number of trading vessels belonging to the
United   States was 1,444.       Their tonnage was estimated at
about half that of Great Britain, or 351,494 tons.
Within the last ten years the imports and exports have
increased from 300,000,000 to over 400,000,000; the tonnage,
inward and outward, from      6,700,703 to 10,591,043 tons;* the
tonnage owned from 2,839,000 to 4,200,000 tons.
These facts are more than substantiated by a later estimate
of an American journalist.
The total tonnage of the whole civilized world, excluding
only China and the East, consists of about 136,000 vessels of
14,500,000 tons. Of this total tonnage, 9,768,172 belong to
Great Britain and the United States; so that, excluding these
two great maritime nations, the total commercial tonnage of the
remainder of the civilized world is but 4,500,000, or less than


* In the year ending June 30th, 1852, the imports into the United States
from Great Britain and Ireland were valued at 90,628,339 dollars, and the exports
to 115,569,975 dollars.-Chambers's Journal.




TONNAGE.


75


that which either Great Britain or the United States individually
possess.  Even France, which comes next in the scale, is
insignificant in comparison, being but 716,000 tons against
5,043,270 for Great Britain, and 4,724,902 for the United
States. Italy and Sardinia stand next to France, then Holland,
Prussia, Spain, Norway, Sweden, &c.
The comparative entrances and clearances of Great Britain
and her colonies, and the United States, in 1854, were as
follows:-Great Britain and colonies, 42,563,362; United
States, 40,000,000.  It would appear from  this calculation
that the tonnage of the United States is only one-sixteenth
less than that of England. This fact, when taken in connection
with its present rapid increase,-the shipping of the United
States within the last ten years has been quadrupled, while her
population has been only doubled,-shows how short will be
the time required to overbalance the advantages which Great
Britain now possesses, and to place the United States first in
the rank of commercial nations.*
It is, indeed, asserted that the American tonnage is now, in
1856, 5,400,000 tons, having increased 410,000 tons during
the past year,-an increase larger than the whole tonnage of
Spain, Portugal, and Russia combined,-and will make a fleet
of 5,400 ships of 1,000 tons each, while that of England is
said to be 5,200,000 tons. The number of vessels built in the
United States in the year ending June 30th, 1854, was 1,774;
tonnage of the same, 535,636. Total tonnage of the United
States at the same rate, 4,802,902 tons; of which, registered,
2,333,819; enrolled and licensed, 2,469,083; in whale fishery,
181,901; coasting trade, 2,273,900; cod fishery, 102,194;
mackerel fishery, 35,041; steam navigation, 676,607. Whole
number of American vessels entered during the year from
foreign countries, 9,455; of foreign vessels, 9,648; total, 19,103.
Whole number of American vessels cleared for foreign countries,
9,570; whole number of foreign vessels, 9,503; total, 19,073.
Crews of American vessels entered, men, 135,927; boys, 726;
total, 136,653: crews of foreign vessels entered, men, 100,243;
boys, 1,212; total, 101,455. Crews of American vessels cleared,
men, 141,128; boys, 797; total, 141,925: crews of foreign
vessels cleared, men, 98,617; boys, 1,196; total, 99,813. The


* Blackwood, June, 1854. Lon. Jour., 1856. American Paper, Philadelphia,
1856.
E 2




76


THE UNITED STATES.


total tonnage of the United States, June 30th, 1855, was
5,212,001 tons; of which, registered, 2,535,136; enrolled and
licensed, 2,676,864; including 859,446 in whaling, fishing,
and steam navigation. British tonnage in 1854, 5,043,270
tons.*
Their commerce extends to all parts of the earth, and embraces the products and manufactures of all nations, from the
barren.coasts of Labrador to New Holland, the South Sea
Islands, China, India, and the continents of Africa and Europe;
and from the north-west region of America and the West Indies,
to the isles of the Pacific Ocean and Cape Horn.
The foreign trade exhibits an aggregate of 80,000,000 of
imports and exports; while no part of the world presents such
an extensive inland commerce; this greatly exceeds the foreign;
while the shipping in 1852 amounted to 5,000,000 of tonnage,
and is annually increasing at the ratio of 300,000 tons. The
value of inland imports for the year ending June, 1855, was
304,562,380 dollars; of the exports, 275,796,320 dollars. The
commerce of the valley of the Mississippi alone was estimated
in 1850 at the value of 439,000,000 of dollars, being double
the amount of the whole foreign commerce of the nation.
The increase of lake tonnage for the year ending June 30,
1855, was a fiaction less than 19 per cent.
A greater amount of tonnage enters and clears on the lakes
between the United States and Canada, than between the United
States and any other foreign port.
The lake tonnage for 1855 was 345,000 tons, which, valued
at 45 dollars per ton, is 14,838,000 dollars.
The present value of lake commerce (exclusive of Presque
Isle and Macinac, not reported) is 608,310,320 dollars.
The value of property exposed to perils of lake navigation, is
greater than all the merchandise exported from the United States
to all foreign countries, or imported from all foreign countries to
the United States.
The seven Lake States-New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin,-have a population
of 9,784,550, while the other twenty-four States have a population of 9,768,448, leaving a balance in favour of these seven
States, over the twenty-four States, of over 16,000.  This
difference is increasing daily.


* Christian Almanac, 1857.




NAVIGATION.


77


The value of vessels shipwrecked in eight years was 8,852,064
dollars.
Damages sustained by vessels for 1854, by St. Clair Flats,
660,146 dollars 56 cents.
From 1837 to 1855 there has been collected for revenue on
the lakes, 5,511,129 dollars 98 cents. Congress in the same
time has appropriated for lake harbours, 2,884,125 dollars,
leaving a balance in the United States treasury, as received
from lake commerce, over and above what has been taken from
the treasury to benefit the lakes, the handsome sum of 2,627,004
dollars 98 cents. Deduct the cost and expenses of the lake
light-houses for the same time, and the treasury still has a
balance of over 1,000,000 dollars.
Steamships navigate and throng all the principal rivers,
canals, and bays, amounting to 400,000 tons, and are claimed
as an American invention. Even the bosoms of the remotest
lakes are whitened with the sails of commerce. The smoke of
the passing steamboats is seen rising in columns among their
green islands and the fairy settlements upon their banks.
The Mississippi and its tributaries alone are traversed by
upwards of 600 steamboats, all of which make several voyages a
year; whilst the magnificent Hudson, the first great link in the
stupendous chain of inland transport, gives access to regions
more magnificent still, and pours forth its tide to the remotest
districts of the north-west, at the same time that it brings back
in a ceaseless current the boundless wealth of the most fertile
portions of the earth into the bosom of the Empire City. These
are the highways of commerce for the United States, and with
her lakes and shores of 5,000 miles extent, besides canals and
railways, completed and under construction, from every portion
of the sea coast and all parts of the interior, give to her the
facilities of trade and transit to a degree unequalled by any other
country in the world!
Canals are numerous; and Lake Erie, or Albany Canal,
extends from Lake Erie to the Hudson,-fiom    Albany to
Buffalo,-a distance of 365 miles. The cutting of this canal cost
~1,200,000. Like that of the Earl of Bridgewater in England,
it is the first and most important in America, and is next in
extent to the Imperial Canal in China, which opens a communication from Pekin to Canton, a distance of 1,600 miles.
The route by which the commerce of the west reaches New
Orleans, its chief port of shipment, is thus described by an




78


THE UNITED STATES.


American writer:-' The order in which the several collecting
districts on the lakes and rivers of the interior are shown, commences with Lake Champlain, from which it extends up the St.
Lawrence river and Lake Ontario to the Niagara river; thence up
Lake Erie, the Detroit river, and LakeHuron, to Michilitmakinac;
thence up Lake Michigan to Chicago; thence across to the
Mississippi river, and down that stream to New Orleans; thus
extending on a natural line of interior navigation, which has
but two slight interruptions from the waters of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence to those of the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of
not less than 2,850 miles; upon which is employed, for purposes
of trade and travel, a steam conveyance of 69,166 tons. The
Ohio basin forms of itself a cross section of 1,100 miles in
length, embracing simply the district on that river and its
tributaries."*  This is the Great Western waterway, so happily
adapted to attract towards the southern ports the produce collected
in Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie, with their
magnificent rivers.
The other canals of importance are the Northern and the Ohio,
with one in progress of excavation, designed (like that of
Languedoc, which opened a communication between the ocean
and the Mediterranean sea) to connect the whole extent of the
vast western territory with the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time that water carriage in the States facilitates the
costly freight of her vessels, it may be said that the cost of
transport of any heavy article from the remoter parts of England
to London or Liverpool would exceed that of the same article
from Chicago at the end of Lake Michigan on the western
prairie of America.
The railroads built, and in progress, in 1850, extended about
10,000 miles, at a total cost of 300,000,000 dollars; increased
to 13,300 miles in 1852, with ten more in progress, calculated
to cost 4,000,000 of dollars. One was lately established from
Lake Michigan to Rock Island, on the Mississippi, 1,500 miles
in length, connecting the Mississippi with the Atlantic.
From statistical tables published during the year 1856,
exhibiting the progressive annual increase of the miles of
railway in the United States since 1828, it appears that there is
now in the Union, exclusive of double and treble tracks,


* Mr. Senator Calhoun, in his Report to the Memphis Convention, appointed
to devise means for improving navigation in the western waters.




RAILROADS.


79


23,240 miles of railway; which, with 2,000 estimated miles
of double track, will make a total of more than 25,000 miles of
iron way, or a length more than sufficient to encircle the globe
at the equator. Within ten years the length has been quadrupled, and since 1850, trebled. The annual increase has been
in a progressive ratio; and this increase promises to continue,
there being now at least 6,000 miles in process of construction.
Valuing the completed railways at 30,000 dollars per mile, the
capital now invested in this interest amounts to 697,260,000
dollars.
The Americans adopted the railway almost as soon as
England had invented it, and have not only given it a wider
diffusion, but, importing from England a large part of their
rails, construct their ways, and manage them, with less expense,
with more profit, and with lower charges, than is customary in
England.
The railroad that connects the eastern and western parts of
Pennsylvania, bringing the towns of Lake Erie and the Great
Western rivers into direct communication with Philadelphia and
the Atlantic, is carried over lofty ridges of the Alleghany
Mountains by a series of inclined planes.  These are five in
number, and the summit of the highest is 2,600 feet above the
level of the sea. The trains are dragged up each incline by a
rope attached to a drum worked by a stationary engine. They
are drawn across the plateaus which intervene between the
inclines, in some cases by horses, in others by locomotives.
A new road, however, is being constructed, which will cross
the mountains by one long winding incline.  The ascent
will be so gradual in its circuitous course, that a locomotive
will be able to ascend and descend with its train of carriages.
It is calculated that four hours will be saved by the substitution of this new route, and dispensing with the stationary
engines.
"If we survey the map of the United States," says an able
American writer, "we shall find that the terminations of these
lines, at both ends, rest at the principal commercial towns of the
country, both in the east and west. The principal terminus of
each track upon the Atlantic sea-board may be found in Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, and
Savannah. From these grand points of shipment the railroad
tracks run across the interior, and intersecting in their course
the most prominent villages and cities, terminate at the grand




80                   THE UNITED    STATES.
marts of western commerce and the shores of the navigable
rivers."*
The country is also threaded with numerous post-roads or
mail routes, the aggregate length of which is 200,000 miles,t
and constructed at a cost of 400,000,000 dollars; in addition to
which about 10,000 more miles are in progress; while it is still
more closely united by a yet greater length of telegraphic wires.
By means of the latter, a message can be sent hundreds of
miles for a shilling, and the merchant at New Orleans can in
the same day charter ships at New York or Boston, and order
their cargoes from   St. Louis or Cincinnati; while the orator,
by the same instrument, addresses at one time audiences in all
the large cities of the Union.
According to Mr. Whitworth,4 ths most distant points connected by electric telegraph in North America are Quebec and
New Orleans, which are 3,000 miles apart; and the network of
lines extends to the west as far as Missouri, about 500 towns
and villages being provided with stations.
There are two separate lines connecting New York with New
Orleans,-one running along the sea-board, the other by way of
the Mississippi, each about 2,000 miles long. Messages have
been transmitted from New York to New Orleans, and answers
received, in the space of three hours, though they had necessarily
to be written several times in the course of transmission.
When the contemplated lines connecting California with the
Atlantic, and Newfoundland with the main continent, are completed, San Francisco will be in communication with St. John's
Newfoundland, which is distant from Galway but five days' passage. It is therefore estimated that intelligence may be conveyed
from the Pacific to Europe, and vice versa, in about six days;
while the Atlantic Telegraph, now near its completion, will
shorten the time requisite for this purpose to the once incredibly
narrow limits of twenty-four hours! ~
* Mr. J. H. Tauman, quoted from Blackwood, June, 1854.
t Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1853.
t Mr. Joseph Whitworth, one of the British Commissioners sent to the New
York Exhibition in 1854.
~ It is said that, "' Not many years since a noble British minister deemed steam
navigation to America so perfectly preposterous as to induce him to engage to eat
the boiler of the first steamer that crossed the Atlantic. Had the electric telegraph to France been suggested, the whole Cabinet Council would perhaps have
also engaged to eat the wires and cables which conveyed the electric fluid across
the channel."  But what would have been said and pledged at such a time had
such a project been proposed as that of the Atlantic 'elegraph 




I;______  _  I_~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~__  ~~~~~~_  __..


ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.                81
There were, at the commencement of 1854, telegraphs
extending over 41,392 miles; and now one is projected to unite
the Mississippi with San Francisco, a distance of 2,400 miles.
Such are the great results which have sprung from the simple
fact observed by Oersted, "That a magnet places itself at
right angles to the direction of an electric current."
The advantages of the electric telegraph have been in no
country more promptly appreciated than in America. A system
of communication that annihilates distance was found to be
vitally important, both politically and commercially, in a
country so vast, and having a population so widely scattered.
Distances are now to be measured by intervals not of space
but of time, and scarcely even by this. To bring Boston, New
York, and Philadelphia into instantaneous communication with
New Orleans and St. Louis,-to centralise in Washington, at
any given moment, information gathered from the far corners
of the thirty-two provinces of the Union, is to extend throughout
the confederacy bonds of the most intimate connection."
The facility of intercourse which is thus created is one of
the great elements of America's civilised strength. The rapid
returns of merchandise are not more indicative of prosperous
trade than the rapid inter-communication of human thought is
essential to national vigour.
In all that renders naval architecture at once swift and powerful, the English will soon be equalled, if not excelled, by their
transatlantic brethren. The yacht, America, exhibited in England during the great national Exhibition in 1851 (and which
is now excelled by the still more wonderful Black Maria, cutter
yacht of Commodore Stephens), as to naval architecture, sailing
power, beauty of model, and symmetry of construction, was
without a rival, outsailing all that could be brought against her
in our own waters  She won the race with the Titania, of the
Royal Yacht Squadron, and thus outmatched the nautical
celebrity of old England;-thus rivalled the parent country in
the very energies which had hitherto given her the exclusive
dominion of the ocean.
The clipper ship, Sovereign of the Seas, has made a passage
fiom Liverpool to Melbourne in sixty-eight days.  The new
American clipper, Donald M'Kay, of Boston, of 400 tons,
performed the voyage from thence to Liverpool in sixteen days.


* Industry of the United States. 1854. Manufac. and Arts.
E3




82


THE UNITED STATES.


Her model exhibits a combination of swiftness, buoyancy, and
beauty, that has never been excelled.
The first ship that entered the Victoria docks was the Euterpe,
an American clipper of 2,000 tons. The draught of this ship, it
is said, would have prevented her admittance into any other
dock in London.
In no branch of industry has greater energy been displayed,
and by no people have finer models and better workmanship
been produced, than in the United States, in relation to naval
architecture.
In 1823 there were but 15 steamboats enrolled in the United
States; from 1826 to 1830 there were 196 built; from 1831 to
1835 there were 297; from 1836 to 1840, 538; from 1841 to
1845, 620; from 1846 to 1850, 965; from 1851 to 1855, 1,296.
It is supposed that there are now in existence in the United
States about 1,700 steamboats, allowing the average duration of
a steamboat to be about seven years. The steamboat tonnage
enrolled on the Ohio river is 144,473 tons; on the residue of
the Mississippi valley, 129,050 tons; on the lakes, 106,154
tons; on the Atlantic seaboard, 261,283 tons; on the Pacific,
14,279 tons; showing that the steamboat tonnage of the Mississippi valley, including that of the Ohio, is greater than that
of the Atlantic coast.
Their steam and other packets are pronounced the finest fleets
of mail-boats that ever traversed the ocean. The Isaac Newton
steamer is the largest river steamer in the world, being 333 feet
long by 40 wide. From the expensiveness and splendour of its
construction, the gorgeousness and profusion of its decorations,
and the many appliances with which it is provided to charm the
senses and to dissipate the ennui of travel, it may be justly
designated a floating palace, and forms an appropriate introduction to the enchanting views that await the stranger in his
excursion up the Hudson. The saloon of this magnificent vessel
is gorgeously decorated with mirrors, carved work, and furniture
of elegant manufacture, and is one hundred yards in length.
The splendour of this vast vaulted apartment, with its huge
mirrors and rich and profuse gilding, dazzles the sight of the
beholder.  Among the largest ocean steamers are the Monumental City (lately lost between Melbourne and Sidney),
Washington, Hermann, and Franklin, sailing from New York
to London; the American, the Arctic, the Baltic, the Atlantic,
and the Pacific, to France and Belgium, of the Collins',




AGRICULTURE.


S3


with others of the Cunard line, which sail between New York,
Boston, Liverpool, and London; together with the Chagres
line (Howard and Son's), which no ships can surpass in swiftness, elegance, and magnificence.* Even the ancients, endeavouring with the imagination to form a craft worthy of
Neptune, their god of the ocean, never conceived of a car so
magnificent as one of these to be driven a thousand steeds in
hand. Argo, the miraculous epic ship, built by the fabled sea
gods, sinks to an insignificant river-boat in comparison.
Possessing so vast a range of surface and of temperature,
the agriculture of the United States, as may be supposed, is
wonderful in its extent. It is, indeed, the grandest that can be
conceived, and is competent to supply all the demands of the
vastest commerce that could be prosecuted. It is the spring of
her commerce, and the parent of her manufactures.  About
two-thirds of her population are engaged in agriculture. The
productions are much the same as those of England, excepting
those of the southern States. The mode of cultivation is also
similar, only less neat and scientific. Where land is so abundant,
and the soil so prolific, it is considered far more profitable to
bring new forest lands successively into cultivation than to adopt
the scientific processes of Europe.
The north-eastern or New England States of the Union are
generally devoted to grazing, the dairy, and the cultivation of
rye, barley, oats, flax, and hemp; the middle and western, produce wheat, maize, or Indian corn; and the southern, cotton,
tobacco, indigo, rice, and sugar.
The chief general exports are potash and pearlash, cotton,
flax, dried and pickled fish, whale oil and whalebone, wheat and
Indian corn or maize, molasses, tar, turpentine, rum, tobacco,
furs, staves, shingles, planks, boards, and timber in general,
with sheep and cattle. The north-western States, each separately
of greater extent than England, are now engaged, in addition
to all the cereals, in the increased production of beef, hams,
and cheese, for the supply of the English market; while masses
of Californian gold and New Jersey zinc have enriched their
contributions to the markets of the Old World during the last
few years.


* The steam vessels from  Boston to Liverpool are America, Europe, Niagara,
Canada, Hibernia, Britannia, Caledonia, Cambria, and Arcadia. Vessels of Howard
and Son's to Chagres are generally but six days from New York to Jamaica.




:i


84                THE UNITED STATES.
The following are some of the estimates of the agricultural products of the United States for 1855:-Indian corn,
600,000,000 bushels, valued at 360,300,000 dollars; wheat,
165,000,000 bushels, valued at 247,500,000 dollars; oats,
170,000,000 bushels, valued at 68,000,000 dollars; rye, barley,
and buckwheat, 30,600,000 bushels, valued at 24,740,000 dollars;
potatoes, 110,000,000 bushels, valued at 41,250,000 dollars;
beans and peas, 9,500,000 bushels, valued at 19,000,000 dollars;
clover and grass seed, 1,000,000 bushels, valued at 3,000,000
dollars; hay and fodder, 16,000,000 tons, valued at 160,000,000
dollars; cotton, 1,700,000,000 pounds, valued at 136,000,000
dollars; tobacco, 190,000,000 pounds, valued at 19,0(0,000
dollars; sugar cane, 505,000,000 pounds, valued at 35,350,000
dollars; garden products, 50,000,000 dollars; orchard products,
25,000,000 dollars; pasturage, 143,000,000 dollars. It is also
estimated that there were 21,000,000 horned cattle, value
420,000,000 dollars; 5,100,000 horses, a3ses, and mules, value
306,600,000 dollars; 32,000,000 swine, value 160,000,000
dollars; 23,500,000 sheep, value 47,000,000 dollars; poultry,
value 20,000,000 dollars; slaughtered animals, value 200,000,000
dollars; 500,000,000 pounds of butter and cheese, value
75,000,000 dollars; milk, exclusive of that thus manufactured,
1,000,000,000 gallons, value 100,000,000 dollars; 60,000,000
pounds of wool, value 21,000,000 dollars; 16,000,000 pounds
of honey and beeswax, value 2,400,000 dollars.
Slave labour is chiefly employed in the southern, and in some
of the western States. Cotton gives annually 3,000,000 bales,
of which, if we may rely on the last census, not less than
700,000 bales are consumed in the country. Tobacco yields its
170,000 hogsheads, and sugar, which is of recent introduction
as a staple product, is of similar amount. Such is the capacity
of the country for bread stuffs, as to baffle all attempts at calculation.
While the agricultural population of the American Union have
been thus led to extend the area of their labours, and to lay under
contribution new and vast sources of wealth,-while enterprise
has succeeded so signally in directing all natural advantages to
the promotion of inland and foreign commerce,-its abundance
of water power has been seized upon for manufactures of every
description. Machinery of the mostperfect kinds has been applied
to all imaginable processes-economizing labour, facilitating
locomotion, and aiding in surmounting those difficulties which




MANUFACTORIES.


85


have ever impeded the progress of young nations. The gigantic
power of steam has nowhere been more abundantly and usefully employed-in the mine and in the mill, as well as on the
rivers and on the lakes, the canals and the railroads; doing the
work of millions of hands and of human and animal sinews,
yet without creating a surplusage of labour in the market, or
diminishing at all perceptibly the rewards of industry in any
portion of the territory. America has not only been enabled to
employ profitably the natural increase that has taken place in
her population, but also to absorb, without apparent effort or
inconvenience, the vast tide of emigration which Europe has
for years been directing to her shores.
Her manufactories are both greatly on the increase, and have
become firmly established in the country. The energetic character of the people is nowhere more strikingly displayed than in
the young manufacturing settlements that are springing up in
the States. Large manufactories of ordnance are found, of a
mixed character, in almost every town of importance in the
country. The Springfield Armoury is a splendid establishment,
both as to its situation and extent; as also those of Waterbury
in New Haven, and the settlements of Holyoake, Cbicope,
Lowell, and Lawrence.*  In the northern and central States
there are upwards of one thousand cotton manufactories, employing a capital of 50,000,000 dollars (upwards of 10,000,000
sterling), being about a fourth part of the capital invested in
this branch of the trade in the United Kingdom. There are
also numerous woollen manufactories, in which from 16,000,000
to 20,000,000 dollars are invested; and these two branches
alone find occupation for upwards of one hundred thousand
human beings.   The woollen manufactories now consume
50,000,000 of pounds of native wool, besides large imports
from foreign sources,-from Turkey, Buenos Ayres, and Africa.
The Americans are in advance of the English in the character of
their manufactories. The cotton mills of Lowell and Newbury
Port are situate in the districts of Massachusetts and Maine. The
former, which is called the Manchester of America, containing
37,000 inhabitants, and situated twenty-five miles N.W. from
Boston, exhibits a moral and intellectual character on the part
of the inmates and operatives, and an admirable working of the
association or cooperative principle on which it is conducted,


* Industry of the United States in 1854: Machinery, Manufacture, and Arts.




86


THE UNITED STATES.


with which few, if any, establishments of the same kind in
England afford a parallel. The young women employed here
are well dressed, perform their work in clean and neat rooms,
and generally lodge at boarding-houses in the vicinity of the
mills.  Nearly all of them subscribe to circulating libraries,
while they themselves publish one or two monthly periodicals
of general literature.  They also seek recreation in music,
among other rational and intellectual pursuits, having, together
with other instruments, a joint-stock piano.
Other important manufactures are those in leather, various
works in iron and wood, together with machinery for manufactures,
and for purposes of agriculture. A single State (Connecticut)
makes boots and shoes, besides the manufacture of the leather,
at the yearly value of ~6,000,000 sterling. The manufactures
in iron annually reach 600,000 tons. Machines have been lately
invented for reaping, and for the manufacture of revolving firearms. They also make glass and wooden wares for exportation
to India, South America, and the Mediterranean. Nor must
the manufacture of clocks in Connecticut be omitted, not only
because it is the most extensive establishment of its kind, but
as deeply interesting in all its operations.
In all their manufactures, almost without exception, machinery
is to a very considerable extent employed. It has recently been
made to subserve the purposes of producing fire-arms of almost
all kinds, of weaving seamless bags, and not only of sawing,
but also of planing wood. Their inventions for working wood
are numerous and important. Machinery is used in making
boxes, boot-trees, lasts, ploughs, and household furniture; in
stone planing, and in the manufacture of bricks. The machines
used for some of the latter purposes are so effective, as to render
the amount of manual labour saved almost incredible. By the
operation of mechanical processes, eight men will make thirty
ploughs per day, and twenty men a hundred doors per day;
while bricks are made by the compression of dry earth at the
rate of eight hundred per hour. The application of machinery
to the development of the vast resources of the United States
is unprecedented and almost universal. And in no branch of
manufacture does the application of labour-saving machinery
produce by simple means more important results than in the
working of wood-wood being obtained in such abundance as
to be applied to almost every possible purpose.
The States to which the staple manufactures are more




MAN FACTURES.


87


especially confined, are Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New
Hampshire, and Connecticut. The largest centres of manufacturing industry are Worcester and Springfield; the latter
situated on the east bank of the Connecticut river. The principal of the more domestic manufactures of the United States
are linen, cotton, and woollen cloths, for domestic use, as also
soap, candles, wines, and maple sugar. The household articles
made by the families of farmers and others in their own homes
in the State of New York alone, in 1851, were estimated at
upwards of ~1,000,000 sterling; and in 1852, it was reckoned
that no less than 7,500,000 dollars' worth of cotton was consumed
in household manufactures throughout the Union. It is supposed that two-thirds of the domestic clothing, and almost
every other article for household use, is supplied by each family
respectively, and generally from raw material furnished by the
homestead: and the late census exhibits the rapid progress of
manufactures throughout the Union.
The entire capital invested in the various manufactures in the
United States, on the 1st of June, 1850, not including any
establishment producing less than the annual value of 500
dollars, amounted, in round numbers, to 530,000,000 dollars;
value of raw materials, 550,000,000 dollars; amount paid
for labour, 240,000,000 dollars; value of manufactured
articles, 1,020,300,000 dollars; number of persons employed,
1,050,000.
In the various manufactures of wrought and pig iron, and ironcasting in the United States, according to the census returns of
1850, the total capital invested was 49,258,206 dollars; tons
of ore used, 1,589,159; tons of iron, 608,460; value of raw
material, fuel, &c., 27,049,743 dollars; number of hands employed, 57,284; total value of products, 54,604,006 dollars.*
Among American inventions and evidences of progress in
general science may be mentioned a reaping machine already
noticed, which performs the work of ten men; and a lock, by Mr.
Hobbs, which is considered the perfection of mechanical skill.
A magnificent bridge has recently been built for the Lexington
and Danville railroad over the Kentucky river, which is one
span of wire from cliff to cliff —an intermediate space of
1200 feet. An organ has been lately constructed at Worcester,
United States, to be worked by steam as a substitute for the


* Family Christian Almanac for 1853.




31


88                THE UNITED STATES.
air-blast. The steam is used at high pressure, and the tones of
the organ can be heard more than three miles distant.
The American Government have for some years past, at the
instance and under the direction of Lieutenant Maury, of the
United States' Navy, been collecting from the mercantile vessels
of that nation observations of certain phenomena at sea, such
as winds, tides, currents, and temperature of the ocean; and
have had the results digested into charts and books, which have
already been the means of adding speed and safety to their
voyages in an extraordinary degree.
Wind and current charts, the results of these discoveries,
have been recently published in England, chiefly based on the
great work of the United States' Government, at the suggestion
and under the superintendence of Lieutenant Maury; and
by the suggestions and directions which such charts convey,
navigators have been able to shorten their passages materially,
-in many cases as much as one-fourth, in some, one-third of
the distance or time previously employed.  Much had been
previously collected and written about the winds and currents,
but general attention was not attracted to the subject, though
so important to a maritime country, till the publication of
Lieutenant Maury's admirable observations.  A very large
number of ships, chiefly American, are now engaged in observations, stimulated by the advice, and aided by the documents,
so liberally furnished by the United States' Government, at the
instance of Lieutenant Maury, whose labours have been most
praiseworthy.*
This enterprising officer has also been for many years employed by Congress in nautical surveys and experiments, by
which the attention of scientific men has been particularly
called to nautical science; and, as a consequence, a large
number of observers of natural phenomena, scattered over
every part of the ocean, have been suddenly called into
existence. Every ship-captain has been taught to profit by his
opportunities, and to become a registrar of facts.
The electric telegraph has not only been employed in the
United States for the purposes for which it was originally
intended, but also for the determination of longitude. Successful
experiments were made on the meridian of Fredericton, New
Brunswick. Signals were made at that place, and at Harvard,


* Address of the Earl of Ilarrowby to the British Association.




WEALTH.


89


in Cambridge, Boston, where the position of the observatory
has been determined by the United States' Government, so that
it might become the point of reference for the coast survey, in
which their navy has been for many years engaged.
In America, as in England, we not only witness the triumphs
of modern science, but we see further, that the distinguishing
element in the one as in the other is rapidity. The most marvellous works are accomplished in an almost incredible period of
time. They span rivers and valleys with structures marvellous for
their strength, durability, and collossal character;-they execute
some that hang in the air like threads, yet their pathway can
bear the weight and simultaneous tread of a thousand men,
marching in serried array. These Titanic accomplishments,
and the celerity with which they are executed, are in some
instances almost beyond belief. Almost as soon as the execution of any design is determined on, money is subscribed, and
the work is done. There is the bridge,-there is the street;there is the ship" Out of the earth a monster huge."
As in England, so in America, the whole industrial world teems
with wonders.
From this description it will be seen that the sources of
wealth in the United States are numerous, and chiefly derived
from agriculture and commerce. In respect of its amount,
America is doubtless still far inferior to England; but wealth is
not to be estimated by the appearances and pomps of an external
civilization. The real wealth of nations consists in a free and
wide diffusion of the elements of peace, happiness, and security,
-in the maintenance of a wise and equitable balance between
existing wants and the supply provided for them,-the nonexistence of a sense of unredressed wrongs, or the sting of
hourly-endured sufferings and privations,-above all, in the
prevalence of a deep-rooted consciousness of the beneficent
workings of those institutions and arrangements which each
citizen is called upon to support; and this is the wealth of the
United States.
There doubtless exist in America, as in other parts of the
world, what may be called the higher class, who live amidst the
adornings of civilization,-their dwellings filled with furniture
that is not excelled in the vicinity of Belgrave Square; and
there may be some wealthy merchants who aim to rival the




*1


90                THE UNITED STATES.
nobility of the old country in domestic elegance, and other
refinements of social life.
Spacious, convenient, and costly mansions, and their rural
appurtenances, are by no means rare; and some of the hotels
and public edifices are on a scale of surpassing magnificence.
Some of the former are of such extent as to render them capable
of accommodating upwards of 1000 inmates. There is an hotel
in New Jersey, on the sea-shore, occupying three sides of a
square, with a total frontage of 1,318 feet, just a quarter of a
mile. It has a mile and a half of verandah, and accommodates
3,500 persons.
But the country is not yet distinguished by any large amount
of material splendour; luxuries are not abundant.* Nor may
America, according to English ideas, be considered rich and
dignified; but the whole mass of population share and participate
the national blessings.  In no country since the fall of the
Roman empire have the masses of the people been placed in so
advantageous a position as in America, not only as to the
enjoyment of civil rights, but also as to a command of the
material necessaries and comforts of life.  Contentment and
happiness are participated in by the million. Here is to the
poor no hope deferred that maketh the heart sick.
The general absence of beggars in the cities and towns of
America is proverbial. The Duke de Liancourt affirms that he
saw but one beggar in the United States; and similar to this
are the testimonies of the Earl of Carlisle, Mr. Dickens, Captains Hall, Hamilton, and Marryatt, Miss Martineau, and many
more. " Through the whole prodigious expanse of this country,"
says Miss Martineau, in her volume on 'Society in America,'
"I saw no poor men, except a few intemperate ones. I saw
some very poor women. I saw no beggars but two professional
ones, who were making their fortunes in the streets of Washington. I saw no table spread in the lower order of houses that
had not meat and bread upon it. Every factory child carried
his umbrella, and pig-drivers wear spectacles." Says the Earl
of Carlisle, "In America they really have no poor amongst
them; a beggar is what you never see."
Poor are doubtless to be found in the United States, but the


* "America excels England in rivers, waterfalls, railways, hotels, clipper-ships,
river-steamers, daguerreotypes, reaping machines, &c."-Times Newspaper. [1 will
add, in all strictly industrial and agricultural arts.]




WEALTH.


91


number is inconsiderable compared with that class in Europe
generally. In Massachusetts, one only in 68 is a pauper supported by assessment; in New Hampshire, one in 200; in
Connecticut, one in 150; in New York, one in 229; and
in similar or lower proportions in other States; while it is
ascertained that the poverty that does exist is chiefly produced
by the use or abuse of ardent spirits.
What a contrast does this state of things present to the
pauperism and the varied forms of social wretchedness that
exist in the populous cities of Europe! Mr. Macaulay, in his
History of Great Britain, tells us that those receiving relief as
poor in England, in good years are as a thirteenth, and in bad
years as a tenth of the population. Including Ireland, however,
one in every six receives parochial relief. The annual poor rates
of the kingdom are about 41,000,000 dollars; and since 1816
to 1850 it is said that the people of England paid as poor rates
1,000,000,000 dollars.
America, though not rich,-though her banks are not stored
with bullion,-is prosperous and powerful. Here no handful of
privileged urders secure a monopoly of the soil in the face of
the claims of justice, and in utter disregard of the needs and
interests of an increasing population. Generally speaking, it
may be said there are no territorial nobility. Excellent lands
are to be purchased, in fee simple, not only for less than the
annual rent, but even for less than the annual taxes and poor
rates paid in many parts of England.
Even in the frontier States, where there is still an enormous
amount of undeveloped land, it may be purchased at a trifling
cost; and on the slopes of the Alleghanies, extending onwards
to Georgia, where numerous small farms are scattered, and where
the soil will produce 40 bushels of Indian Corn per acre, it may
be obtained for 50 cents per acre. It may be said, that in all
except the southern States, but in the north-eastern and western
States especially, land is chiefly the property of the cultivators.
Lessees of farms and plantations are almost unknown. Although,
as already noticed, cases of indigence are to be seen in America,
as in England, occasioned by idleness and dissipation, there is
not that strange connection and juxtaposition of rich and poor,
wealth and poverty, as in Europe; there are not the wide differences in property which exist in old countries; there is no class
of hereditary rich or poor; neither is there such marked disparity
in their condition.




92


THE UNITED STATES.


The most wealthy do not generally spend their money in plate
and jewellery. There are few instances of such opulence as could
enable its owners, without inconvenience, to lavish thousands in
pictures, ottomans, and vases, or on floral conservatories and
the mere embelishments of art; nor does there seem the disposition to such extravagance.
In such a country there are means of profitable outlay for
every shilling of accumulated capital; and the Americans in
general are too prudent a people to invest, in objects of mere
taste, that which would not tend to their material wealth.
The American population may be said to be almost wholly
devoted to the acquisition of wealth; not so much, perhaps, for
its own intrinsic charms, and the comforts and luxuries it
procures, as for the influence it confers, and its devotion to
patriotic and philanthropic objects. All actual capital is kept
in action, and almost all the population pursue some line of
business, profession, or trade.
It is a somewhat remarkable fact that in the last census of
the Union there is no return of persons enjoying independent
incomes; while in the last British census, the names of persons
returned in such circumstances amount to half a million.
All are in active habits, from the highest to the lowest.
Everything has a fair trial, and every bias of the mind its sphere
and its place of action, to the benefit of the many-sided developments of the human spirit, and without detriment to any. The
inhabitants, in general, are rather gainers than spenders of
money.
Americans have been stigmatised by Europeans as peculiarly
characterised by an all-absorbing lust of gold; they have been
called a mammon-worshipping people, idolators of national wealth
and commercial prosperity, and blamed for their disproportionate
estimate of those who individually possess abundant wealth and
political influence and wisdom. To a considerable degree, indeed,
this imputation is just. It is true, that to some extent wealth
has usurped what has elsewhere been the prerogative of birth;
that its creation is the grand object to which the efforts and
aspirations of all are directed; and that the science which
investigates its sources and reveals the most effectual means of
its augmentation has secured general attention. Covetousness
and ambition of power, however, no more apply to American
citizens generally than to those of Europe. It is greatly to
be feared that this is the governing passion of Americans, —




MAIMMON WORSHIP.                  93
their besetting sin,-but worshippers of mammon are not
exclusively found among them. Gold is becoming the universal
Moloch,-the monster idol of the world,-and selfishness the
all-prevailing passion. Even in England money over-rides
everything but law, and sometimes even that is not an exception.
Even in England the lust of wealth has seized almost all hearts
and enslaved them, though concealed by a thousand schemes
and pretexts.
If money in America is the nobility, money in England is
queen, lords, and commons. Of all the passions that tyrannize
over the human heart there is perhaps none that attains so
permanent and boundless an influence as avarice. Sensuality is
generally found to decay with decaying nature. Ambition also
yields to time; but avarice is usually found to exercise its most
tyrannic sway at the moment when the wretched victim is most
evidently tottering on the brink of the grave. Such also is
the influence of the same pitiful passion on states.




CHAPTER IX.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.-Absence of expensive, courtly, and civic paraphernalia, antiquated costumes, splendid retinues, and aristocratic distinctions. Character of the inhabitants
of the different States. Their intimate relation to each other, and assimilation of rich and poor.
Rate of wages to working men. Cheapness of means of subsistence. Their abundance.
Economy of travelling. Politeness of American gentlemen towards the female sex. Rights of
women. In what they consist. Extent to which recognised. The influence of the female sex
on society at large. Uncharitable representations of both men and manners in America, by
European Tourists. Prevailing hospitality. General politeness and urbanity of American
gentlemen.
As you see in America no nobles and civil officers gorgeously
arrayed, lounging in splendid carriages and luxuriating in their
wealth,-the result of enormous incomes from           the State,-so
there are no Lord Mayor's Shows, with their gew-gaw trappings,
mocking the misery of perambulating beggars; nor evidences of
pinching want and squalid misery within-doors; no palaces or
habitations in which an ordinary family is lost, and hovels too
small for human endurance.
Property is not accumulated in a few hands, and political
power confined to certain privileged orders; nor do the middle
and higher ranks enjoy, in the fruits of wealth, exuberance and
luxury, while large sections of the population are either entirely
destitute of the means of subsistence, or earn them by unrequited
toil and degradation. And the opposite ingredients in her social
and political state are not only the source of the social welfare
of America, but the basis on which her political institutions rest.
While living is on the whole cheaper than in England, rates and
taxes so inconsiderable, and wages high, among American workmen in general there is no degrading penury,-no hereditary
inferiority of class. An American artisan, as well as labourer,
is a superior being to one of the same class in Europe: he is
not only in better circumstances as to food, but in a better
position generally, having the prospect of that advancement, as the
reward of industry, to which all aspire. A kind of caste exists
in England, in consequence of which a labourer or artisan can
scarcely ever hope to rise to the rank of a master. Even the




RICH AND POOR.


95


poorest and most intractable of the native Irish, on arriving in
this country, sets to work vigorously, and strains every nerve, as
if to falsify the low estimate put upon his qualities. He appears
as if determined to be avenged upon fortune herself, by showing
that he can dispense with her favours.
All through America (the slave states excepted), there is, as
already intimated, an absence of that visible wretchedness and
degradation to be everywhere seen mingled with the wealth and
splendour of European cities. The whole mass of the working
classes are better dressed, and appear more cleanly in their
persons and attire; conveying the impression to an Englishman
that England is the workshop, and America the place where
its manufactures and fabrics are consumed.  As far as the
necessaries of life, and even material comforts are concerned,
even the backwoodsman is in circumstances of comfort amidst
the affluent solitudes of nature. The assimilation of rich and
poor, or of the higher and lower classes of America, is also
apparent with regard to the conveniences and comforts of life,as to houses, furniture, gardens, &c. And these remarks apply
with still greater truth to personal acquirements. Having mostly
to live by their own exertion, and debarred from expensive pleasures, the lower classes are induced to improve themselves with
unremitting assiduity; and for this they possess the most ample
opportunities.
In a word, America is a country in which every human being
is profitably employed,-his energies stimulated by requited
labour; where every branch of industry is flourishing, and
where every industrious man may be prosperous and happy.
Everywhere are heard, in her cities and remotest villages, the
joyful sounds of enterprising industry, the ringing music of the
workman's tools and the anvil, and the ceaseless hurry of commercial occupation.j
As has been already intimated, travelling and boarding are
nearly as cheap again as in England; and almost all kinds of
food are abundant, and obtained on very reasonable terms,
although luxuries are dear. In journeying from New York to
Philadelphia by water, as also in returning, including 30 miles
of land carriage, the charge is 18s., including breakfast and
dinner, the whole distance being 90 miles: and this is the usual
rate also on the Hudson towards Albany, and throughout the
Middle States. The distance from Boston to Albany is 200
miles, accomplished in eight hours; the charge five dollars. A




96


THE UNITED STATES.


passage may be obtained by a packet boat from New York to
Utica, a distance of 80 miles, for three dollars, being at the rate
of 2d. per mile, including board. Breakfast and dinner generally
on board the steam boats are 2s. 6d., and the table is supplied
with everything that a moderate appetite can require.  A
family could reside permanently on board of one of the most
magnificent of the river steamers, with a separate cabin, and
every luxury of living, including a voyage of 150 miles, for 10s.
each per diem.
It is said that a tourist could occupy a couple of months upon
the double journey between the United States and England,visit every State of the Union from Niagara to New Orleans, and
live in comfort during his whole journey,-for a smaller sum of
money than it would cost him to obtain the same amount of
comfort during a two months' tour of the British Isles; and that,
although the fare for the steamer, backwards and forwards
between England and the States, is ~30 each way, thus
including the whole transatlantic voyage.
It is even stated that a traveller in the States, residing for
two consecutive months in one of their principal cities, would
be better provisioned and lodged for ~100 sterling than he
would in England for ~300; and, notwithstanding all the
republican bluntness and equality, be treated with far more
consideration and respect.
Railway travelling is also much cheaper than in England,
although wages are so high, and the rate of interest on loans is
so exorbitant.  The fare from  Montreal to New York, 410
miles, by express, is only 16s. 8d. From New York to Boston,
836 miles, the fare is five dollars, and the rate of travelling 25
miles an hour, en route through New Haven, Hertford, Springfield, Worcester, and the State of Connecticut, passing along the
valley of the Connecticut river. From London to Edinburgh,
about the same distance, it is twice that sum in the second class.
Travelling here by rail, however, is less pleasant than in
England, as in parts of the country where coals are used, the
passengers are liable, by defect of arrangement, to inhale the
smoke, loaded with sulphurated hydrogen, proceeding" from the
pyritical coal in the furnace, and urged upon them by the wind.
Manners and customs are made to depend so much upon the
arbitrary opinions and fashions of a particular country, that no
particular standard exists by which to regulate them. A peculiar
style of manners, indeed, may pass current in one country, but




SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS.


07


be repudiated in another.  According to what is generally
understood by them in civilized countries, an enlightened and
liberal stranger in America, especially one who had seen something of the continent of Europe, would see little to condemn,a devotion to the Virginian weed and its consequences, together
with a few peculiarities in the more public phases of social life
excepted;-little that detracts so materially from the purity of
republican manners, as Englishmen who have never visited it
have been led to suppose from the journals of European tourists;
little more, perhaps, than he would see in England, for which he
could not find a reason and an excuse. While as to the virtues
of private and social life in the Middle and North-Eastern States,
generally speaking, perhaps, he would find America on a par
with the parent country, and in some respects its exemplar.
The various sentiments, characters, and habits of the different
European inhabitants, added to the tastes and other circumstances consequent on an original transfer of persons to differert
climates and their subsequent existence in them,-all this being
taken into account; also their being accustomed to novel
aspects of external nature, and the subjects of sympathies
generated under new modifications of social intercourse;-it
is but natural to expect that their character should be marked
by customs and manners peculiar to their condition, and even
affecting their bodily frame and constitution. There are, indeed,
some obvious peduliarities of character presented in almost
every State; and so strong does the contrast sometimes become,
as, for instance, between the cities of New York and Philadelphia, and the Eastern and Southern States of the Union,
as to render a general description difficult, if not impossible.
The New-Englanders are industrious, frugal, pious, patient,
and imperturbable. In the Middle States, Pennsylvania excepted, where the people are of a staid and sober aspect,
they are, in addition to these qualities, eminently energeti
In the Southern States, where slavery exists, they are generou 
indolent, haughty, and reckless.  In the Western State
frank, hospitable, industrious, and lovers of adventure; bi
at the same time, possessed of many deteriorating qualiti.
It may, however, be said of the North-Eastern States-Mail
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, a 
Connecticut, to which Pennsylvania may be added, that in me _
ners and various social arrangements they possess an essential.distinctive character.
F




98


THE UNITED STATES.


There being few exhibitions for amusement, and but little time
or taste for them, those who are happy enough to possess a home
find their enjoyment there to be purer and steadier than that
which is usually met with abioad; and those who have not a
family hearth, are too much exhausted with the fatigues of the
day-the ardent, stirring pursuits of business-to seek for
amusement far beyond the precincts of their own domiciles, or
those of their own immediate acquaintances and friends. There
are few to be found in America who are driven by ennui to adopt
expedients for killing time. More generally, it would appear,
than in any other part of the world, those who are at the head of
a home in the States, endeavour to make it a cheerful one, wisely
judging that happy faces are the best ornament to a house; and
thus their sons and daughters, except in some spirit of enterprise, seldom wish to wander from it.
Under these circumstances, theatres and places of public
entertainment are but little patronised.  Such inadequate
remuneration and encouragement do some of the conductors
of these institutions receive, that customary performances have
been known to be occasionally discontinued or suspended
on that account, even in some of the larger cities. Nor are
the American people addicted to holiday sports, or festive
celebrations. The principal out-door amusements of the sexes
have been said, sneeringly, to be the bar-room and the lectureroom.
It is scarcely possible to conceive of a higher compliment,
though not intended as such, than that paid to the ladies of
Boston, and to American ladies in general, by Mr. Dickens, in
his Notes. After speaking in the highest terms of the tone of
society, he adds, —" The ladies are, unquestionably, very beautiful; but there I am compelled to stop. Their education is
much the same as with us. Evangelical ladies there are likewise, whose attachment to the forms of religion, and horror of
theatrical entertainments, are most exemplary. They have a
passion for attending lectures, and an aversion from all innocent
pleasures, resorting to chapels and lecture-rooms in crowds.
There are two theatres in Boston, of good size and construction,
but sadly in want of patronage." Thus, in the eyes of some
persons, some of the characteristics of American society, imputed
to them as faults, are closely allied to virtues.  Captain HIall
reflected on the ladies of one of the States because they were
not present at a cattle show; and on others, because they were




i
I


APPRECIATION OF WOMAN.                   99
so little prone to midnight jovialities. American females are
eminently domestic both in their tastes and habits.
" Aan may for wealth or glory roam;
But woman must be bless'd at home;
To this her efforts ever tend,'Tis her great object and her end."
America, it will thus be seen, has not many charms for the
voluptuous portion of mankind. It is not a place for those who
have quaffed the cup of fashionable pleasures to satiety, and
drained its intoxicating qualities to the dregs. Such persons can
here find no excitement strong enough to stimulate the exhaustion
of shattered nerves, and no attraction in novelty sufficiently keen
to overcome the listless torpor of idleness and dissipation. Nor
has America many attractions for the romantic, the fastidious, or
the sentimental; but much for the rational, the sober-minded,
and the discreet. At the same time, the defects seen by writers
of extra sensibility are not peculiar to her.  But, however this
may be, we certainly find in the United States a delightful freedom from English exclusiveness and hauteur.
The gallantry of the old world may at least borrow something
from the chivalrous homage which all American gentlemen pay
to the fair sex. It is said that Americans sometimes go so far
as to say that a man who contradicts a woman is not a gentleman. This gallantry, perhaps, is one of the principal elements
in their rapidly growing civilization; as it is a fact not to be
disputed, that where woman is most degraded and enslaved,
civilization yet remains within its narrowest limits.
Europeans may learn yet another lesson in relation to the
female sex, from the example of their transatlantic brethren.
Among these the monogamic law is strictly observed,-the
chattel idea nowhere predominates,-the Pagan custom nowhere
rules,-not even in the backwoods,-in the outskirts of civilization. Here woman has at least the prospect of advancement to
that condition contemplated by the Founder, and taught by the
spirit of Christianity.
Whatever opinion may be formed by society at large, in either
country, of the "Rights of Women,"* as advocated by societies
"This Society appears to have originated in a well-founded impression that
at least in several States, the law which governs the marital relationship of the
mutual rights and obligations of husband and wife is defective; its object being
to seek such alteration of the laws as will recognize the independence of a wife in
F2:! OF ^




100


THE UNITED STATES.


thus designated, it is evident that our American brethren have
been foremost in the movement to elevate the female character,
by recognizing woman's right to that place in society for which
nature and Providence have designed her. They have been the
first to discover that there is no such natural difference between
the intellect of men and women, as to warrant the distinction
that has been so long made in the mental discipline provided'
for them; that the dissimilarity in their mental qualities is in
fact owing more to education than to nature.
They have not only learnt, but acted          upon the knowledge
which other nations are so slow to acquire,-that the mothers of
the present generation must mould and form the men and women
of the next,-that no degree of masculine cultivation can supply
the deficiency of mental and physical development in women, —
that it is the mother who gives the element of greatness,-that
no society, no nation, can advance where the culture of all that
goes to form the character of women is neglected,-and that
no nation can fail of greatness where women are held in genuine
respect.
The Americans recognize and promote the right of woman
to such an education as will give her the full development of all
her personal, mental, and moral qualities; believing that she
will have no    difficulty, as a consequence, in finding her own
proper place in the family,-that she will not be a less notable
housekeeper, or less the central attraction of home, or less
the event of her being united to a dissolute and tyrannical husband."-Chambers's,
December, 1854.-The following will illustrate the principles of the advocates of
this Society:" WOMAN'S RIGHTS MARRIAGE.-At Worcester, on the 29th of August, Mr.
N. W. Towne, of Worcester, was married to Miss Sarah C. Morrill, of Manchester,
N. H., by the Rev. T. W. Higginson. As a part of the services the following
protest was read:"' Whereas, the laws of all Christian countries, relating to marriage, are founded, to a
greater or less extent, upon principles of injustice and inequality, we feel in duty bound to enter
our protest against the same, while acknowledging our mutual affection and the sacredness of
the relation which we assume-that of husband and wife.
" We particularly protest against the laws which give to the husband the absolute control of
his wife's person"The entire guardianship of their children"The exclusive ownership and use of her personal property, and real estate, unless personally
settled upon her or placed in the hands of trustees"The absolute right to the product of her industry.
"In conclusion, against the whole law of inequality between the sexes, we claiming that the
wife should be mistress of her own person and property, and have an equal share in the control
of her children.
"While we reverence law, we heartily protest against oppression.
"N. W. TOWNE.
" SARAH C. MORRILL."
* '  *.;*:  *:.: 




FEMALE INFLUENCE.


101


qualified, in any respect, for an efficient discharge of her
domestic and maternal duties, for the practical management of
her whole household machinery, or dispossessed, in any degree,
of the fascinations of female loveliness.
Whenever true religion is actually cultivated by a welleducated and accomplished woman,-as it is very extensively
in America, as well as in England,-it becomes the governing
impulse of her soul; and love, and truth, and purity, are the
instincts of her being. She then feels that her great mission is
to conduct man to a higher condition,-a more fully developed
spirituality. Thus all that is truly good and beautiful in society
is'attributable to her influence. She is the real originator and
stimulater of human progress,-the steam-engine of life,-the
great motive power of love, valour, and civilization,-capable
of forming the thought, and taste, and moral sentiment of
the world.
The best and the noblest men in America, with Washington
and Franklin at their head, have been brought up by pious
mothers, in moral and religious homes.
Misfortunes impend over any age in which woman loses her
ascendancy, and in which her judgment goes for nothing
amongst men. It is the last degree of depravation. All the
nations that have laid claim to moral virtue have entertained
respect for women. Witness Sparta, ancient Rome, and the
Germans of the middle ages. At Rome, women celebrated the
exploits of victorious generals,-they mourned publicly for the
fathers of their country, and their vows and their lamentations
were consecrated as the most solemn judgment of the Republic.
Nearly all beneficial reforms, and even revolutions, have owed
their origin to women. By one woman Rome acquired liberty;
by another woman the Plebeians gained the Consulship, and
became capable of holding the highest offices of the Commonwealth,-the Censorship, the Preetorship, and the Priesthood;*
by another woman the tyranny of the Decemvirs was terminated;
by women Rome, when besieged, was saved from the tyranny
of a usurper and an outlaw. The influence of women embraces
the whole life; theirs is a reign of love, of beauty, and of reason.
Their dominion extends itself fiom the fireside over the whole
social circle, and takes deep and firm hold on the sentiments,
the interests, and the hearts of the family. Man takes counsel


The youngest daughter of Fabius Ambustus, who married a Patrician.




102


THE UNITED STATES.


of his wife; he obeys his mother,-he obeys her long after she
has ceased to live; and the ideas which he has received from
her become principles, stronger even than his passions. While
the husband and the father is pursuing his interests abroad, the
wife and the mother is imparting a cast of character to the
little group gathered around her at home. Before the influence
of the female sex can be annihilated, the ties of nature must be
sundered, and the last vestige of amiable sensibility obliterated
from the heart.
While these remarks, as they relate to the United States, may
more or less apply to females in the middle and higher ranks
of life, they are not altogether inapplicable to those of a lower
grade in the social scale; while generally it may be said, that
by the natural operation of the untrammelled laws of social and
domestic life, but few women are employed in the manual. operations of the field, or, if married, in the not less laborious
engagements of the factory; but at home, in the performance of
domestic duties.
At the same time that some English tourists have generalized
the results of their scanty and hasty observations, to which
may be attributed the violent philippics against American
manners, directed oftentimes by irate English exclusiveness,others could see no truth or reason in their conduct, and others,
again, are under the impression that an American in England
might see as much to censure or condemn there as we do in
their Republic.
It is too often the case that John Bull carries along with him
in his travels, especially to America, for which he has the least
excuse, no inconsiderable portion of his characteristic reserve
and hauteur-the result of that selfish, aristocratic prejudice, with
which he is so often, and justly charged, by highly civilized
foreigners; a course which can have no other tendency than'to
stimulate national jealousy. At the same time, the reader must
not conclude that in a country where all are ambitious of equality,
there are none by whom equality is sought and enjoyed who
imitate the ceremonies which custom has established in Europe,.as the barrier between one class of society and another.
The higher, or educated classes of America, are among the
most hospitable people in the world;-their hospitality and
courtesy to strangers, especially those who are properly introduced or respectably recommended, exhibit a most pleasing
contrast to English churlishness and impertinence, so frequently




HOSPITALITY.


103


though not generally found in our cities and provincial towns.
In relation to their hospitality, it may be said that this generous,
patriarchal, and Roman virtue seems to be recognised by our
brethren as in the number of the primary social duties; and as
a strict duty rather than a virtue it is practised also by the
Indian tribes. The custom of receiving strangers is so generally
established that in the country districts travellers are hardly
ever reduced to the necessity of taking up their lodgings
at an inn.
To no people can the Homeric maxim be more justly
applied —
Toy eicewov rapeovrta 0tLEt aTreoVTa eCre/7rtv.
"Welcome the coming, speed the going guest."
Or in their own characteristic vernacular"Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth."
Agreeably to the eastern practice, Homer frequently inculcates
the maxim that strangers are to be received as guests from
heaven; and it would seem that the Americans generally
approve and act out the sentiment,fpos,yap Ato EcLatv aTravrTs e tvot.
Although, as in other countries, there may be found among
the masses a deficiency in the minor points of etiquette and
good breeding, the manners of American gentlemen are pleasing.
They exhibit a sort of republican plainness or abruptness, but
a simplicity withal that is quite in harmony with the institutions of their country, although it may easily be conceived
objectionable to a sophisticated European.  There is also a
degree of inquisitiveness that we consider an infiingement of
the common laws of social life; but the interrogators have
evidently no intention to offend,* and the custom arises from
obvious natural causes,-it is the result of their original social
condition,-of their present migratory habits,-and of their
European connections and associations.
An American has less of artificial politeness than a Frenchman or an Englishman. He deals less in mere conventional


* The sentiment expressed by the poet Cowper should not only be that of
every traveller in America, but of every private untravelled member of civil
society,_
"A moral, sensible, and well bred man
Will not offend me, and no other can."




104


THE UNITED STATES.


forms and expressions of civility. He pays fewer empty compliments; seldom acts the amiable or the courteous, makes no
unmeaning or overstrained professions, but he takes you by the
hand with a cordiality that at once intimates he is disposed to
regard you as a friend.
Of that higher grace of manners, inseparable perhaps from
the artificial distinctions of European society, and of which
those conscious of its hollowness cannot always resist the
attraction, few specimens are to be found in the United States.
Able to distinguish between politeness, or graciousness of manner, and obsequiousness, the citizens in general exhibit dignity
without servility. The haughtiness of rank is unknown, while the
more opulent classes manifest a fit sense of their own position,
with a proper respect for what is due to the people, to the civil
power, and to society at large. If they are deficient in some of
the polite observances of Europe, they are less encumbered
with the formalities of an inexorable etiquette. The manners of
an American gentleman are pleasing, and are more gratifying
to a stranger than the farce of ceremony, however gracefully it
may be performed.   Nor are the gentlemen-merchants and
literary and professional men of the principal cities-inferior to
any in the world in extent of practical information, liberality of
sentiment, or generosity of character.
In the United States, also, you may see the development of
a purer and less arbitrary social life than where men are more
the devotees of art and helots of fashion; retaining more of the
primitive simplicity of the children of nature.  "Plain and
frugal in their domestic habits," says the Marquess de Chastellux,
"they at the same time exhibit little of that artificial polish
which, like varnish, frequently disguises very worthless materials;
and a stranger is not mortified by professions without services,
and show without substance.   Their good qualities are of a
sterling kind.. Good wives,-good mothers,-prudent housekeepers,-they may bid defiance to the satirist until they quit
the hallowed circle of domestic virtues to flutter heavily on the
light airs of vanity. Through their affectation only they are
vulnerable." Credulity, vanity, and display, are their foibles;
and these have been represented as prominent traits of the
national character.
"In all public establishments of America," says Mr. Dickens,
the utmost courtesy prevailed; not so in England.  There is
a boorish incivility about our men alike disgusting to all persons




PECULIAR CUSTOMS.


105


who fall into their hands, and discreditable to the nation that
keeps such ill-conditioned curs snarling about its gates. When
I landed in America I could not help being strongly impressed
with the contrast their custom-house presented, and the attention, politeness, and good humour with which its officers
discharged their duties."
"The manners of the people of the 'United States," says the
North American Review, of 1828-29, "are not generally
refined, but they are.very generally civil. The portion living in
cities, and who travel and enjoy social intercourse, are polished
and courteous. The body of our farmers and people of the
interior are indeed rough in their manners, though not boorish.
They have all the fiiendly, benevolent, and'hospitable feelings;
they are independent in their approaches and address to
strangers; they serve you for the pleasure it affords themselves,
not from the idea of gain; they everywhere respect and favour
the female character." 
Much has been said by transient visitors in the United
States of the indecorous conduct of the people in general at
meals. This may probably be seen to some extent on steamboats by travellers, and at ordinaries by men of business; but
it seems a misrepresentation and a satire to say that this is
characteristic of the American people.  Many travellers, to
whose testimony the writer can add his own, have asserted, that
though they were presented with numerous opportunities for
observation, they failed to see the scrambling and voracity with
which they are charged.
Although customs in the United States are generally such
as are found in Europe, there are some trifling deviations; and
these of a kind that in the old country would appear a little
singular. Hence in some of the States both married and single
women are called Miss, the latter distinguished by their christian
names. Very few married women wear a ring as a token of
their condition, thus rendering it difficult for strangers to distinguish a married from a single female.
Weddings are often celebrated by gaslight on bright sunny
mornings, but most frequently in private dwellings at eventide.
It is a rare occurrence that any marriage ceremony is conducted
at noonday, as in England. A female child is in general treated
with more consideration than a boy,-is allowed more privileges,
-dresses better,-has better food. The partiality as to dress
is sometimes carried to excess. Some little girls are decked out
F3




106               THE UNITED STATES.
like people of matured growth, and become old before their
time.  They are thus taken out of their childhood to the
destruction of their whole future.
Comparatively few of the bad social customs that prevail
among the aristocracy of England, however, are seen here;
such as the customs of going to bed at daybreak, —rising at
noon,-taking what are called morning rides towards evening,
and dining after sunset.




n'I


CHAPTER X.
PREVAILING CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL LIFE.-Personal appearance. Dress and habits
of both bexes. Houses. Cemeteiies. Domestic servants, their moral character, how regarded
and treated. Character and circumstances of first European settlers. Moral and social state
of present inhabitants. Language, comparative absence of dialects, provincialisms, &c.
Most of the original or earliest European inhabitants being
descendants from English families, not only do the present race
resemble their progenitors in their manners and customs, in all
the general features of social life, as well as in their habits and
modes of employment, but also in personal appearance and dress.
There are amalgamated with the present population, however,
natives both of the European and African' continents, sufficiently indicating to the transatlantic visitor that the breadth
of the ocean divides him from Great Britain. But although
Americans have thus been formed from so many various elements, not only as to old customs, but as to climate, productions,
and races, and thus to a considerable degree bear, as may be
supposed, a portion of the features that.distinguish each of
the nations from which they have sprung (which it may also be
inferred would give them in the mass a physiognomy difficult to
be seized by the pencil of the writer), there is, notwithstanding,
much nationality in their appearance,-an appearance marked
and peculiar in many even of its physical and moral features,
manifestly distinguishable from those of the same class in
England, and likely to assume a still more definite character
notwithstanding vast and increasing accessions of territory and
population.
The men are mostly tall, straight, penetrating, and reflective;
their complexion pale or saffron, of an immovable expression of
countenance, and wiry in muscle; withal, active and vigorous;
their external aspect accompanied by an independent carriage
and bearing.    They make excellent officers for every department of the state, and of the naval and military professions;
eminent lawyers, good political economists, and industrious,
practical men of all classes and occupations; but Americans
are seldom Utopians or theorists.




108


THE UNITED STATES.


In their mental character they are more independent than
their transatlantic brethren; less disposed to yield to custom
or fashion; they not'only think, but act for themselves; they
manifest less disposition than an Englishman to ask what their
neighbours will say or think of them; they are less trammelled
-by etiquette and a fastidious refinement, which sometimes lead
the latter to compromise their convictions out of complaisance
to others.  They are, however, extremely sensitive; not like
the French, as to breaches of etiquette towards the person,for to these they are comparatively indifferent,-but in relation
to public satires on their manners and customs. Much elated
by praise, they are in a corresponding degree annoyed by blame.
They freely satirise themselves, but are considered weakly impatient of any even triflingly disparaging criticism from strangers; apparently forgetful that it is possible to condemn or censure many things in a nation while holding the nation itself in
high esteem; and that a desire to put down free discussion,
and to curtail the largest liberty of criticism, is inconsistent
with their own avowed principles.
The females are generally of slender form, but of paler, less
riant countenance than the European; though not less beautiful
in form and contour of physiognomy.  Some of the ladies are
represented as having more exquisitely chiseled features, and
more classical heads, than their fair sisters of Albion; but their
figure is less perfect, being more angular, attenuated, and
fragile.  There are some among them, however, who in point
of physical perfection are surpassed by none in any part of the
world.  But it is remarkable that owing, as is supposed, to
some peculiarity of climate, in concert with other causes, their
beauty-is not durable.
- In England, a woman is in the prime of her attractions at
thirty-five, and she frequently remains almost stationary till
fifty, or else declines gradually and gracefully like a beautiful
day melting into a lovely evening. In America, twenty-five is
the farewell line of beauty in woman. At this age, and sometimes earlier, the bloom of an American belle is gone; and the
more substantial materials of beauty almost as quickly follow.
At thirty, the whole fabric is on the decline. At the same time,
the development of females is more rapid than in Europe.
Girls are women at fifteen or sixteen, which may account in
some degree for their premature decay.
" The ladies of America," says Dr. Latham, "early lose their




PERSONAL APPEARANCE.


109


teeth. In both sexes the adipose cellular cushion interposes
between the skin; and the aponeuroses and muscles disappear,
or at least the former loses its adipose; the muscles become
stringy  and   show   themselves;   the tendons appear on       the
surface, and symptoms of decay manifest themselves." Dr.
Latham, and other ethnologists, attribute this early decay to
the fact of their not being indigenous to the climate, and to
sudden changes of the atmosphere; but a recent American
author traces it to what will be considered more natural and
obvious causes.
The whole system of artificial life in America offers direct
defiance to the known hygienic laws; bad diet, such as a profusion of condiments, sweets, &c.,-the want of frequent ablutions,
-small, close, confined      sleeping  accommodation,-and       the
incessant, dead, withering heat of red-hot stoves.       "All day
long," says a fair editor of a newspaper in Massachusetts,
"the stove-heat burns into the brain, and withers the cheeks,
and palsies the muscles, and enfeebles the step; and though
summer comes, with its outer air, and its fruits and flowers, the
loads it is asked to remove are too much for it; and the years
circle round,-the weary, aimless, soul-consuming years,-and
the bad diet, and the uncleanly habits, and the foul air, and the
hot stove, have done their miserable work.        Beauty is gone,
health is vanished, hope is set, and the young mother, who
should just begin to shed beauty, and goodness, and light
around her, has shrunk, mournfully, into the forlorn, and
wrinkled, and unlovely old woman."*         But though thus the
beauty of the American ladies is "fading as the flower, their
virtues are lasting as the gem." There are to be found, however, as in our own country, some fine relics of by-gone belles;
staid, intelligent, amiable, portly matrons, blooming in years,
* "From the ghastly physionomics, indicating dyspepsia, that are so prevalent
in America, especially at every watering-place, it is a question whether quick eating
may not be added to the list of causes mentioned as those by which ill health and
premature mortality are promoted. Chemical solutions, to be made perfect from
solid materials in the proper time, require, at first, a little mechanical aid, that the
greatest possible quantity of surface may be presented to the solvent power. If
men would reason thus, about the faculties of the stomach, the gastric juices might
perhaps have a better chance of fair play."-Author of Excursion to thze Slare States.
-" The greater portion of the Americans appear to be dyspeptic; whether principally from the dry quality of the atmosphere, the comparatively little exercise
which they take, or the rapidity witb which they accomplish their meals, I will
not take upon me to pronounce."-Earl of Carlisle.




110


THE UNITED STATES.


and dignified in decay, to be found nowhere but among the
English and their descendants, and who are an honour to their
country and their sex. It would be an indifferent compliment
to say of many of them what General Lafeyette said of the
mother of Washington, that "they rival the Roman matrons
in the best days of their Republic." More justly may it be said,
that, like Censor Cato in his old age, they " support that dignity
in decay which seems to boast a triumph over time."
The style of dress of the principal inhabitants, especially that
of the ladies, is assimilated to the fashions of Paris and London.
But dress has become so nearly alike in all civilized countries,
that its air and appearance are unsafe tests of the rank or
country of those who wear it. In New York, however, as well
as in New Orleans, and other large cities of the Union, men are
to be seen with every imaginable costume and cut of beard, to
say nothing of their forms of visage and of their unimaginable
tongues. Some have evidently out-lived both their own times and
tastes, and find nothing unaltered but their own domiciles. These
principally belong to the Spanish, French, Dutch, and German
nations. Among the ladies also, are occasionally to be seen some
habited in the Bloomer costume, which, whatever disadvantage
it may be said by many to possess, is regarded, perhaps, by
as many more, whose minds, it is probable, are less warped
by prejudice, and less trammelled by custom, as by no means
wanting in good taste, and by not a few considered as elegant,
modest, and convenient; its novelty and plebeian prestige being
its greatest objections.
Some Dutch vrows or matrons, -are distinguished, as in
their own country, by their voluminous ample skirts, pallid
countenances, preposterous caps, and their hair drawn tightly
back from their forehead. Some of their caps are of coarse net,
or coarse lace, ornamented with pink, or blue, or orange ribbon,
and long ear-rings reach far below their borders. Blue stockings,
and gay gowns, as though fresh from Amsterdam, complete their
external habiliments.
The houses of American towns and cities, though many of
them are of wood, and heavily ornamented, according to the
taste of an earlier day, are of slender construction; exhibiting,
however, more of uniformity of architecture, and less intermixed with good, bad, and indifferent, than in England. Nor
are they blackened with smoke; but, fiom a taste said to be
derived from Dutch ancestors, in New York, they are painted or




HOUSES AND CEMETERIES.


111


coloured variously,-principally white, with verandahs of green,
-and thus present, generally, a clean, fresh, and agreeable
appearance; at the same time they give to the streets an air of
gaiety and cheerfulness which could not otherwise have been
attained. But the interiors of American houses are not arranged
in accordance with the taste of an European, or at least in
accordance with an Englishman's idea of comfort. The bedrooms are small, the bedsteads without hangings, and the apartments often scantily furnished. The principal sitting, or diningrooms, or those chiefly occupied, are below ground, or on the
basement story; whilst the spittoon, which so fully explains a
noxious national habit, is a necessary appendage to every room.
Although, however, the uniformity and external appearance of
American houses are in some respects an improvement on those
of English cities and provincial towns, yet it is evident that
neither rural nor city architecture has been much studied.
Few models of the good old English style are seen, comprising
every comfort of residence with the most picturesque effect.
There is little attempt at embellishment, in town or country,
except in a few Anglo-Saxon peopled districts. Seldom is seen
ivy mantling the walls, or woodbine twining round the lattice.
This is a deficiency that is surprising, as it is generally admitted
that a competent knowledge of the arts is no less conducive to
economy and convenience than to elegance and splendour.
In connection with these observations on the style and other
circumstances connected with the dwellings of the Americans, it
may not be improper to notice their enlightened competition
with England as to sepulchres for the dead. Cemeteries are
now common in the United States, and some of them are of
vast extent, as well as on a scale of great sylvan beauty. The
cemeteries in America, however, seem to belong more generally
to the people,-to the great mass of human beings, who can be
characterised by no other name. It is with them, after all, that
the sympathies of the philanthropist are more really linked,
than with the higher classes, who while they demand as their
right, and often somewhat imperiously, the respect paid to them
individually for their rank and power, chill, by these very
claims, the feeling with which we involuntarily regard the
sorrows of those who ask our condolence simply because they
weep.
Much has been said of the arrogance and assumption of the
domestic servants of America. There have been some visitors




f


112                THE UNITED STATES.
of the States, however, who could see but little cause for such an
imputation; they profess to have seen but few domestic servants
who conducted themselves worse than they had seen some of the
same class demean themselves in England.
The relations of master and servant, as they exist in England,
are unknown or unrecognized in America. The latter are not
here termed "servants," but "helps."
"I have lived," says Professor Nichol, "for six months in
America, and during all that time I never met with one solitary
instance of rudeness, or refusal of anything which I wished to
procure." *
Household servants are here generally expected to do much
more work than in England for the same wages, and on this
account, probably, some of them may be dissatisfied; but this is
not generally correct in relation to the houses of the wealthy.
It is true, servants in America exhibit no base subserviency,
such as is too frequently seen in the old world; they are not
such children of poverty and domestic drudgery as to be compelled to it. The master respects the menial, and elevates all
below him, by showing that he wishes no unnatural dependence:
he, at the same time, extorts no homage it would be mean to
pay. This does not imply the dependence of the higher classes
upon the lower,-the abuse that is sometimes charged upon
republics,-it is the sign of a real superiority, involving both the
knowledge and the practice of the true philosophy of help,true republican equality,-and the mantle is worn becomingly
by the wearer, and beneficially for mankind.t
"Know thyself," said the Greek sage. Know thy brother,
says the Christian teacher of men.
Artificial barriers between master and servant never existed in
the United States in such degree as in the mother country, and
those that did exist were greatly diminished by the events of the
revolution, which brought all classes of men who saw themselves
so naturally dependent upon each other into nearer interest and
association. The master had learned from experience that it
was in vain to expect that the benefits to be derived from moral
obligation could be realized, if usages and habits were opposed


* Professor Nichol's Lecture, before the Young Men's Institute of Edinburgh,
on the Social Peculiarities of America.
t American servants do not generally wear liveries. They consider that in
England these distinctions disgrace the wearers, and very few badges of serfdom
of any kind are tolerated on the plea of national custom.




DOMESTIC SERVANTS.


11S


to the interests and feelings of the servant; that that softening
of the manners which tends so'much to the harmony of social
life, could not be anticipated unless the example of the employer
was held up, and brought nearer to tle view of the employed.
As what may be termed the lower classes of the people are not
mere slaves to the convenience of others, neither are they
degraded by epithets which are applied to the masses less
privileged in some other countries -"the uncultivated mob,"
"the ignorant vulgar," are terms that are seldom  or never
employed in regard to them. They are recognised as honourable
members of the community, and an impulse is thus given to the
mercury of character compelling it to rise in the tube of society
through all the gradations of rank and station.
Far more than in England the Americans seem to make it a
principle to extend the hand of fellowship to every man who
discharges faithfully his duties, and maintains good order,-who
manifests a deep interest in the welfare of general society,-whose
deportment is upright, and whose mind is intelligent,-without
stopping to ascertain whether he swings a hammer, or draws a
thread, or spreads a table.
" There is nothing," says the late celebrated Daniel Webster,
"so distant from all natural claim as the reluctant and backward sympathy, the forced smile, the checked conversation, the
hesitating compliance, the well-off are too apt to manifest to
those a little down, with whom, in comparison of intellect
and the principles of virtue, they principally sink into insignificance."
Abstractedly we all know and believe that there is a "touch
of nature which makes the whole world kin;" and what if
Americans in some degree act out their professed principles
in relation to the necessary living appendages of their homes,
and upon whom so much of its order and happiness depends.
C" God or angel guest
With man, as with his friend familiar, us'd
To sit indulgent, and with him partake
Rural repast, permitting him the while
Venial discourse unblamed."
Few domestic servants, comparatively, are kept in America.
Much of the manual labour is performed by the females of each
family respectively, however respectable or wealthy; while their
houses are in general so conveniently arranged, as to obviate
the necessity of keeping a large establishment of domestics.




114.


THE UNITED STATES.


Family servants, and others emigrating from Europe, however, who are sober and industrious, very often find opportunities, in families, of improving their condition, in accordance
with the degree of their education, knowledge, or general
qualifications.
"The state of morality in this country," says the North
American Review of 1828-9, "is sounder than in Europe,
and we have less crime, in proportion to the population. The
Americans have less inducements to guilt, because subsistence
is so easily procured; and all their wants are within the reach
of industry.  Our vices are the results of idleness, thoughtlessness, passion and sudden impulse; not of want, constitutional
depravity, and political corruption. Having much time to spare,
the common people drink, become sots, gamble, quarrel, and
fight;- these are the prevailing excesses. We have no privileged
orders to render fashionable the vices of seduction, boxing, and
racing. Convictions are relatively fewer thanin England; they
average, throughout the whole country, about 300 annually to
the million; whilst in England they are nearly 700; and in
Ireland 800. And on a careful analysis of these convictions we
find more than half are coloured people and foreigners. We
may, therefore, call drunkenness, gambling, fighting, leading to
occasional murders, our prevailing vices; and the traits of
temper or irregular conduct that we manifest oftenest, are
vanity, exaggeration, and a disposition to over-reach one
another."
The number of original languages in the world is said to be
about 80; but, including the various dialects, or branches
derived from them, it amounts to upwards of 3000, of which
about 550 are European. In Asia and Oceana there are nearly
1000; in Africa, 276; and in America, 1200.
Although the population of America may be referred to three
distinct branches of the human family,-the Caucasian, the
Ethiopian, and that designated by Professor Blumenbach as the
American,-viz., descendants of emigrants from    Europe,
Africa and India, or aboriginal inhabitants, and therefore
descendants of almost every portion of the world,-yet being
principally of English ancestry, the prevailing language is
English; and if they do not speak a purer Saxon than their
English ancestors,-and some have a little deflected from the
standard of English pronunciation,-they have fewer provincialisms and dialects. Generally, the idiomatic infringements on




THE LANGUAGE.                   115
the purity of our language are few. There are few persons
above the lowest rank, who do not speak as well as act with
propriety.
American writers, however, adopt, expressions and idioms
unknown to the British classics. Their utterance is also marked
by a peculiar modulation, which can scarcely be reconciled to
the received ideas of euphony.




CHAPTER XI.
VARIETY OF SURFACE, SOIL, AND CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES GENERALLY.-Their
dissimilarity with those of Europe in the same degrees of latitude. Their influence on human
life. Seasons of the year. Varieties of vegetable life, and their general dissimilarity to those
of Europe. Scenery of the North-Eastern and Middle States. America not classic ground.
Rural homesteads. Principal objects of attraction in rural scenery. Where situated. General
character of American landscapes. Scenery of the Southern and Western States. River
scenery-the Mississippi, Ohio. Cataracts. Autumnal appearance of forests. Mountain
scenery. Magnificent and pictorial beauty of the lakes. Their Indian legendary associations.
Testimony of the Earl of Carlisle. " Virginia Water."
In so vast a region as that of the United States, embracing
every zone, a great variety of surface and soil is necessarily
included. Generally, America may be said to be an undulating
plain of unusual fertility.     To the north there is an area of
grain-bearing quality exceeding 1000 miles square, intersected
by lakes, railroads, and canals, where the cultivation of green
crops, to preserve the vigour of the soil, is unnecessary: this
may also be said of-other portions of the country. But, taken
as a whole, from north to-south, it is greatly diversified. And
between these fertile and extensive valleys, the inland districts
contain mountains exceeding 6000 feet in elevation, producing
a climate most remarkable, excessively changeable, and giving
birth to a peculiar character of arboreta and flora.
The climates are strikingly various.        The same variety of
climate indeed is presented by the whole extent of the United
States, so far as regards heat and cold, as may be experienced in
proceeding from the equator to the pole, or in ascending a
mountain within the tropics. Very remarkable is the succession
in the different orders of plants which rapidly succeed to each
other in ascending a mountain. From the palm trees and sugar
canes at the foot of the mountain, the traveller rises to the vines
and olives of a milder clime; thence to the chestnuts and oaks;
afterwards to the fir trees, corresponding with the climate of
Scotland and Riga; and, higher up, to the            stunted rhododendrons, corresponding to the south of Lapland; at last he
rises to the litchen, rangefi-inus, auriculas, and other plants of




APPEARANCE OF FORESTS IN AUTUMN.


117


Greenland and Spitzbergen; at the summit he finds only perpetual snow and hard-bound frost.
The climate and soil of the country together are adapted to
the production of almost everything that can sustain life or
increase its luxuries. In New England, the winters are long
and severe,-the summer oppressive,-the autumn delightful.
The atmosphere, however, is sometimes dry, thin, and desiccating,
having, as is supposed, an injurious effect on the human constitution, rendering its inhabitants less florid and robust than the
English. No portion of the earth furnishes anything more
cheering than the fall of the year in this section of the Union.
Indeed, the most splendid rural scenery presented throughout
America is when the first frost touching the leaves changes
them into a hundred dyes. The forests are then in their glory;
the brightest yellow and the deepest red are intermingled with
green, orange, and brown, in endless variety and brilliancy; the
whole woodlands presenting a depth and glow of colouring belonging to no other country;-the landscapes ever and anon
diversified by the revolutions of the seasons, and the changes
of the atmosphere. In these tints in the American fall, the
year has been said, like a dolphin, to give out its brightest
colours as it dies.
"The sloping sun with arrows bright
Pierces the forest's waving maze; -
The universe seems wrapped in light,
A floating robe of rosy haze.
O Autumn! thou art here a king,
And round thy throne the smiling hours
A thousand fragrant tributes bring
Of golden fruits and blushing flowers."
November, the month so proverbially unpleasant in England,
is here the most agreeable of the year-that during which
occurs what is designated the " Indian summer," a phenomenon
as yet never satisfactorily explained.  The atmosphere, previously chilly and damp, suddenly becomes delightfully warm.
A slight haziness,-a pure, mystical, romantic veil overspreads
the sky, through which the sun's rays diffuse a ruddy and
pleasing light. The winds are still, and all nature combines to
produce an indescribably serene and cheerful frame of mind.
After continuing a fortnight, or sometimes from October to
December, this calm, beautiful Indian summer ceases; the misty
curtain is gradually removed, and winter commences in all its
rigour.




118


THE UNITED STATES.


It is remarkable that the climate of America is found to differ
from that of the eastern continent-the amount of heat in the
same parallel of latitude being less than. in Europe, although
the difference, from causes satisfactorily explained by Baron
Humboldt, is not so great as was formerly imagined.  The
atmosphere is 10 degrees warmer on the coast of Europe than
in the same parallels of latitude on the coasts of America,
owing, as is supposed, to the vast forests that still exist, to the
peculiar configuration of the country, and to the important
influence of the polar winds, which are unobstructed from the
borders of the Frozen Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The
mean temperature of Massachusetts is 49 degrees of Fah.,
Philadelphia 53, Virginia 57, Charleston 63, and New Orleans
about 70.  The climate of the North-East States is said
greatly to resemble that of Pekin in China.  New York lies
in the latitude of Naples.  The climate of Paris, which is'
about 49 degrees north, is as mild as that at Washington,
which is about 39 degrees north; and in the same ratio in
regard to the other States.  The climate of some parts of
America is nearly tropical, and requires here no particular
description.
The atmosphere, however, throughout the greater portion of
the States, is extremely variable, often changing from heat to
cold several times in the same day. And these extremes are
great and sudden. The rays of the sun are intense at noon,
while the cold at night is excessive; and in the early morning
and towards evening it is almost equally severe. In Kentucky,
the thermometer in the summer rises to 100 in the shade, and
in the winter, although in latitude 38, sinks to 40 or 50 degrees
below freezing point.
The following are general observations on the climatic conditions of the United States by gentlemen who have made the
subject their especial study.  The summer temperature of
America is lower, under equal degrees of latitude, than that of
Europe. The average temperature of St. Petersburgh is found
on the eastern coast of America in latitude 47~ 30' or 12~ 30';
more to the south, and in like manner, we find the climate of
Koningsburg, latitude 43~ 36', at Halifax, in latitude 44~ 39'.
Toulouse, latitude 43~ 36', corresponds in its thermic relations
to Washington.
"It is very hazardous to attempt to obtain any general results
respecting the distribution of heat in the United States," says




INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON LIFE.


119


another author, "since there are three regions to be distinguished.
"1. The region of the Atlantic States east of the Alleghany.
" 2. The Western States in the wide basin between, and the
Rocky Mountains watered by the Mississippi, Ohio, Arkansas,
and the Missouri; and,
fis      "3. The elevated plains between the Rocky Mountains, and
the coast range of North California, through which the Oregon
or Columbia river wends its course."
The climate of the more northern and eastern districts is the
most mild and uniform in the vicinity of the lakes;* while it is
proved by accurate thermometrical data, that the climate west
of the Alleghany Chain is subject to greater extremity than that
on the Atlantic side.t
-As the east coast of the United States may be compared in
equal latitudes with the Siberian and Chinese eastern coasts
in respect to mean temperature, so the western coasts of Europe
and America have very justly been compared together.:
As the result of accurate meteorological calculations during
three successive years in one of the Middle States, the number
of fine sunny days has been found to be 315; the remainder
were thunder-storm and rainy days; and of the latter the
number was the smaller.~
Owing, as is supposed, to the influence of the polar winds,
and to the variation of the atmospheric currents belonging to
the more temperate regions, it has been remarked that a mild
winter in Europe often occurs contemporaneously with a severe
winter in America and Asia; while the mildness of the winter in
America affords a presumption of a colder winter on the other
side of the Atlantic.
Although the climate of America may be regarded as highly
salubrious on the whole, it is nevertheless a remarkable circumstance, and is advanced on what may be considered good
authority, that in the States only four persons out of every
hundred live to the age of sixty; while seven out of every
hundred arrive at this age in England. The average of human
life in New York is-estimated only at twenty-five years; while


* Dove on Climate.-Eclec Review.
t A Treatise, by Samuel Ferry, on the Climate of the United States in 181$.
t Humholt's Views of Nature.-Pp. 103-104
~ Chambers's Things as they are in America.




120                THE UNITED STATES.
in England the average is thirty years.t  No one who has been
in America but must have remarked the delicate appearance of
the inhabitants of both sexes.  This degree of mortality and
apparent emasculation, however, is attributable not so much to
the dryness of the climate or aridity of the atmosphere,-the
cause to which some would refer it wholly,-but principally,
as already said, to the diet and habits of the people (the
latter formed in infancy and childhood), added to want of
exercise, to close rooms heated with stoves, and to the precautions which some of these circumstances render necessary. The
exceptions that are found to this rule are in persons employed
in the open air, who though not generally rubicund and hale,
or so florid in complexion as the peasantry in England, are
wiry, healthy, and strong.
There is also a difference between Europe and America in
the seasons of the year. The succession of the seasons is in
general in England gradual and insensibly progressive. The
one steals upon the other with an imperceptible gradation; and
we find ourselves treading on the flowers of spring, and fanned
by its zephyrs, when we. have scarcely recovered from the
piercing blasts of winter. In the same manner the sultry heats
of summer overtake us before we have ceased to enjoy the
breezes of spring; and autumn tempts us with its luscious fruits
before our palates have lost the flavour of the midsummer dessert.
In America, nature seems to advance with increased velocity as
she approaches the equinoxes. The leaves begin to fall in the
latter part of September. In November, the woods are stripped
of their foliage, and winter soon after begins in earnest;the trees only renewing their verdure in May, when summer
again commences, and vegetation advances with amazing
rapidity.  Thus summer succeeds winter with scarcely the
interval of spring; and the inhabitants, after having been for
several months exposed to sharp frosts and biting winds, have
to endure the heat of a scorching sun. The increase of temperature in America is more sudden than in Europe; the
maximum and minimum readings of the thermometer are commonly, during one day in autumn, from 40~ to 50~ respectively.


t The average duration of human life, as recently shown by the Carlisle tables
for England, and by Professor M'Kay's, of Baltimore, United States, is,
England, 38.7; United States, 36.9:  making a difference in favour of the.former of 1.0.




SCENERY.


121


In no part of the world can the transition from heat to cold be
more sudden or severe than in the Eastern and Middle States.
At this period also the sky is exceedingly clear; and at night
the stars shine with a brilliancy uncommon in England; while
the atmosphere is beautifully transparent, light, and dry.
Probably no section of the country, in regard to salubrity of
climate, is to be compared with the highlands of the Carolinas
and Georgia. Added to an atmosphere of perpetual spring,
how glorious are their skies!  Though like those within the
tropics, often intensely blue, yet sometimes the horizons, though
less gorgeous and splendid, are most serenely beautiful,
resembling those of England without their tameness,-glowing
with rich and varied dyes, and an almost unimaginable mellowness of light.
America is a country where nature is not only seen on a great
scale, and in her gigantic aspects, and the energies of whose
inhabitants appear to be developed to a corresponding altitude:
it is also filled with enchanting lakes and rivers, cataracts and
beautiful prairies, with mountain solitudes, wildernesses, and
forests of unexampled awfulness and grandeur, while its virgin
0 soil can afford room, in future centuries, to nourish hundreds of
millions of human beings. These are great physical facts, and
the moral to be drawn from them is evident to all.
All the varieties of vegetable life in America are different in
species, though frequently not in genus, from those of Europe.
While often resembling each other, they are not the same.
Among other peculiarities in relation to the vegetable aspects
of the country, there are no furze commons or heaths,* and no
deserts, or vast barren arid plains, such as exist in other parts
of the globe.
Its landscape scenery, in some parts, is much the same as in
England; in others, embracing whole districts, scarcely anything is seen but a monotonous map of rude geometrical divisions,
dotted over with the charred stumps of primeval forest trees.
Here the population is thinly scattered through regions of
interminable forest and waste-land, while the appearances of
nature, widely varying from those of European countries, are
but little calculated to attract a tourist in search simply of the
picturesque.


" America has no heaths; Africa no laurini; the southern hemisphere no
roses."
G




122


THE UNITED STATES.


Here you behold something like an English meadow, and the
gay enamel of the rising hills; there the hanging verdure of the
hill-side forest; although generally you look in vain, not only
for the dark brown heath, but also for the rich and varied cornfields, the soft, smooth, well-trimmed lawns, the ornamental
plots, the pleasure grounds, and the well-dressed hedge-rows,
that are so interesting to the feelings and hearts of Englishmen
from the associations they awaken.
America is not classic ground; hence it has not that power
of recalling events and associations in which memory and
imagination so much delight. With the exception of the rude
hieroglyphical delineations and emblems, or symbolical registers
of its earlier aboriginal inhabitants, there are no memorials of
an ancient mythology; -no such impersonations as nymphs,
and fawns, and dryads;-not one valuable vestige of ancient
or mediaeval, and but few even of modern art. No temple,no ruins,-no fragments of an altar,-no inscription half
effaced, —no name half barbaric is found, recalling to the
fancy those forms of light, and beauty, and majesty, which
in other lands poetry created to people scenes of ancient
story.
Nor are there visible throughout its whole extent any ancient
Gothic cathedrals and ruined castles, suggesting historic records
and legendary tales of former times; nor royal parks, nor
magnificent palaces, enriched with the embellishments of
modern taste or the remains of ancient grandeur; but you see
a mighty extent of territory, a short time since uncultivated,
unproductive, unpeopled, now acquiring beauty and productiveness from the warm embraces of liberty. The antiquity of
Europe is no model for the juvenility of America. In most
respects things are totally different; an observation that applies
no less to external nature than to forms of government, and to
civil and social organisations.
-Through the interior of the Middle and New England States
are scattered cultivated farms, studded with neat-looking farmhouses and their appendages, not unfrequently of rather quaint
architecture, with villages of charming cottages, smiling amid
the beauty of the cultivated landscape. And who that has seen
one has not been charmed with a New England village,-the
houses, constructed of wood, painted white, with their bright
green jalousies folded back as exterior window shutters, and
their neat porches, and flower-pots in the lattice, all neat and




SCENERY.


123


trim, as though but just from the hand of the builder?* More
remotely, dense black forests,-solitudes over which broods yet
unbroken the sleep of ages,-appear blended with the bases of a
chain of low blue mountains, which, while they bound the prospect, constitute a magnificent back-ground to the picture. Here
a vast district is but partially cultivated, and intersected by
thickly wooded hills and rocky eminences receding from the eye:
through this a river flows, and rising in a gentle acclivity from
the margin of the latter beautiful dwellings and pleasure grounds
are seen, displaying, in addition to European plants and flowers,
whole groups of peach trees, disposed and arranged in combination, like the apple orchards of England.
Among other spots of captivating natural scenery in America
are those which adorn the banks of the Potomac in Columbia,
the Ohio, the Connecticut, and the Hudson; particularly that
portion of the latter distinguished by the name of the Highlands,
in the vicinity of West Point. These combine the elements of
the grand and beautiful in a high degree. The changeful sky,the fast flitting shadows,-the brilliant sunlight,-the plenteous
fields,-the broad swelling stream,-the dark rugged mountains,
verdant with trees, and with moss and lichens streaming in the
wind! The noble Hudson is seen flowing in tranquil beauty,from its broad mirror-like surface the bright sun and sky are
gloriously reflected:-we trace its winding current through
valley and through plain,-now spreading into some calm and
waveless lake,-now narrowed into a rapid stream between
massy rocks and waving trees, or overshadowed by the lofty
bluff, with its various breaks and projections, exhibiting the
boldest strokes of nature,-its crest, or stupendous wall of crags
rearing itself high above the deep water that washes its base.
No scenery on the Rhine is said to be equal to that of many
parts of the Hudsen. The river at the Highlands has formed
a passage through two ranges of mountains, evidently separated
by some convulsion of nature, and which, in the beauty and
variety of their forms, can scarcely be exceeded. The Highlands
are fifty-three miles above the city of New York, and occupy a
space of from sixteen to twenty miles in width; the loftiest
peaks above the level of the river varying from one hundred


*' Wooden bouses are common in America, but owing to the dryness of the
atmosphere, which forms a leading peculiarity of the North American climate, and
which the heaviest rains can scarcely be said to interrupt, added to frequent
painting, they are almost incredibly durable.
2




124


THE UNITED STATES.


to nearly two hundred feet in height.  Nor, in the instances of
wild and picturesque scenery, must the little falls at IYerkimer
country, in the same State, be omitted; nor the Chimney
Rocks, on the highway from   North Carolina to Tennessee;
the latter so beautifully varied with hills, rivers, and mountain streams, and summer residences, ever-verdant pleasure
grounds, splendid forests, and brilliant skies.  The defile
of the falls at Herkimer extends about two miles, and is 'a
deep cut through the- solid mountain rock for a passage of
the Erie canal, descending forty feet, by five locks, in the
distance of a mile. The stage road, the railroad, the'canal, and
the Mohawk river, all pass through this wild mountain gorge,
in the space of a few hundred feet.     The river descends
forty-two feet, by two long rapids, in about three-fourths of a
mile;-the mountains, rising up almost perpendicularly on both
sides, are clothed with pine and other trees, which in the summer and autumn are in great beauty. This view resembles in
some of its features the yet more magnificent river-road scenery
in Jamaica, called "Sixteen-mile-walk," between Spanish Town
and St. Thomas-in-the-Vale.
Notwithstanding that diffuseness so destructive of picturesqueness and point in American landscape generally, the banks of the
Hudson, as also those of the Delaware, and particularly of the
Connecticut, possess in many places scenes of a finely grouped
and concentrated character, so strongly resembling those of the
river and villa scenery of England, that they cannot fail to
awaken associations of no ordinary interest in the mind of an
English stranger who views them for the first time, and who has
gathered all his ideas, both of America and her people, from
partial and prejudiced sources;-scenes awakening emotions, as
connected with his own beloved land, for which he could be
scarcely able to account, except that he did not expect to behold
such picturesque localities and so much natural loveliness in
"'half-civilized, infantile America." One such scene still haunts
the writer's memory, and may serve as an example.
On one side were lawns of smooth and rich verdure, interspersed with luxurious groves and woods, where many seats of
elegant retirement appeared. On either side was a steep acclivity,
covered with innumerable shrubs, trees, and flowers; all arranged
with taste, and crowned with mansions of elegant architecture.
Some with spreading lawns of green sward, relieved by clumps
of flowering foliage; and others, with grounds spreading upwards from the river, thickly sheltered with trees,




SCENERY OF MIDDLE AND EASTERN STATES.


125


The extremity of a richly cultivated garden there descended to
the margin of the water, terminating with a massive flight of
steps, and sculptured water-nymphs in classic taste, exhibiting,
also, arbours of trellis work, and grottos of more substantial
fabric, covered with luxuriant convolvuli and shrubs so interwoven as to produce an impenetrable shade. All these receded
as the proud steamboat held on its way, throwing up clouds
of smoke into the pure air, and walking the calm waters in
triumphal beauty, or wrestling, like a demon of kindred power,
with the angry current; the scene, the writer repeats, receded,
but it had awakened associations connected with his native land,
and though it came and disappeared with the suddenness and
the loveliness of a dream, it left impressions that years have
not removed, and the memory of it still fills the mind with
indescribable delight.
But the general character of American scenery, in its Middle
and Eastern States at least, is by no means picturesque; while
at the same time its best and loveliest landscapes are most of
them devoid of traditionary interest and romance, as well as the
hallowing charm of poetic association. The mountains, with few
exceptions, are round and corpulent protuberances, and rarely
rise into such forms of wild and savage grandeur as are seen in
Scotland and many parts of Europe, but especially in tropical
regions.
Advancing into the interior, in one direction from New
York, the eye rests upon a rough country of great extent;
-fields of grain here and there sweeping beneath the sides of
black hills which show little else but rocks and grass;-shallow
rivulets traversing the uneven waste, but often hidden by woodlands, which intercept a prospect of the country beyond;spotted now and then with silvery glimpses of the Hudson, as it
steals through the sloping ground in the distance, and bounded
on both sides by the dim purple highlands, frowning sometimes
into hoary battlements, and sometimes subsiding into narrow
ravines hardly illuminated by the mid-day sun.
The district of Albany, Saratoga, and Lake Champlain, is
one of the few in the United States which, in addition to its
pictorial beauty, possesses interest, from the peculiar association
of these places with the history of the revolutionary struggle.
Here a series of engagements ensued, first between the English
and the French, and afterwards between the British and
American forces. The first was at Fish Creek, on the Hudson,




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where, after a series of operations in this vicinity, General
Burgoyne surrendered, with his army of 5000 men, to General
Gates, in 1777. As the tourist pursues his way to Fort Edward,
and Lakes George and Champlain, he meets with a succession
of scenes, not only among the most picturesque in America,
but abounding, at almost every step, in the deepest historical
interest.
In other parts, immense forests of most luxuriant foliage cover
the whole of the uncultivated earth, often half concealed from
view by opaque vapours, which cling close to the ground. And
as the hand of industry has not yet taught all the rivers to run
into a proper channel, or drained off the stagnant water, many
of the most fertile plains are rendered unavailable from frequent
inundations, or are converted into marshes, where the warmth of
the sun, the moisture of the climate, and the fertility of the soil,
call forth the most vigorous powers of vegetation; while in
whole districts, especially in the Eastern States, the scenery is
vapid and monotonous, if not altogether barren of incident.
For hundreds of miles towards the far-west the road passes
through immense forests, excluding every view, except where,
here and there, the axe of the woodman has made an opening,
allowing the eye a momentary glimpse of the country beyond,"wilds immeasurably spread, and lengthening as we go,"-the
gloom of which, except when the breeze sweeps over their summits, raises feelings of sublimity; as well as presents images of
solemn grandeur and awful solitude.  Amid these boundless
forests skirting the horizon northward, eastward, westward,
southward, which you cannot with the utmost effort scan, and
the blue expanse immense, unfathomable, overhead, you stand
amazed, lost in the contemplation.
There are, indeed, few scenes in America, except those
presented by the naked, silent grandeur of the Mississippi,
rolling its vast turbid tides onward to the ocean, more calcu —
lated to inspire the bosom of a contemplative christian with
high and holy thoughts of the great Creator and Father of all.
" His temple is the wilderness,
And the lone rock that my feet press
His altar-or the virgin sod;
And the deep silence breathes of God."
The ground in these vast forests being free from underwood,
and the trees having thus the advantage of fully developing
themselves, their stately growth and huge proportions render




SCENERY OF WESTERN STATES.


127


them objects of great natural magnificence, exciting the wonder
and admiration of the European traveller. But the silence of
these vast forests-the solemn, unutterable, expressive silence!
The silence is awful,-and no more awful than strange. Even
in the summer there are no birds, as in England, pouring
melody through the woodlands! Living nature is silent. No
sound is heard but an occasional sough, when the wind sweeps
over the vast vegetable mass, with a noise resembling the waves
of the sea upon the shore after an expended tempest;-inanimate
nature thus speaking only in that voice" Which seemed to him
Who dwelt at Patmos, for his Saviour's sake,
The sound of many waters."
Probably the most beautiful of the Western States, or
territories, as to natural scenery, as well as the most thriving
both as to agriculture and commerce, are Wisconsin, Michigan,
and Ohio.   The surface of the former is gently undulating.
The highest elevations are upon the shores of Lake Superior,
where the hills are covered with luxuriant forests of ever-green
firs, spruce, and hemlock. This State is intersected by five or
six navigable rivers, and dotted with numerous and extensive
lakes.
Standing on a gently rising hill in Michigan, the eye
wanders for miles over an undulating surface, obstructed only
by the trunks of massive, lofty trees, or white and burr-oak
plains; unlike the forests of the Southern States, which are
impervious even to the sight, but resembling the cultivated
orchards and parks of England, perfectly unencumbered by
underwood;-a green canopy of foliage above, and a carpet of
velvet grass beneath, admitting, even in places where the white
man's foot has never trod, not only equestrians, but carriages
and horses.
Madison is the capital of Wisconsin, and, like Cincinnati, the
chief town of Ohio, consists of villas and gardens, which are
here, however, beautifully situated between four lakes, the shores
of which are fringed with oaks,-the clean white houses in
striking contrast with the dark-green of the surrounding woods,
and the profusion of flowering shrubs. Some of these are in
the Gothic style of building, and some like Grecian temples
with Corinthian columns, which, though not always corresponding in simplicity to the tone of the rural scenery around, present
an appearance greatly and almost inconceivably attractive.




128


THE UNITED STATES.


Although all the rivers and river-scenery in America may be
said to partake of the same characteristics, that along the banks
of the Ohio is perhaps the most beautiful. This magnificent
stream, the la belle Riviere of the French, rolls along now
gentle and placid,-now   abruptly dashing aside, frowning,
threatening,-now through a gorge or defile between two ranges
of lofty and precipitous mountains, exhibiting the most magnificent scenery, and displaying fearful convulsions of nature, many
of the rocks thrown up perpendicularly, others broken into wild
and awful forms; stupendous piles, appearing to have risen from
the earth with all their glories in their prime. 'Unlike the
Mississippi, the waters are often clear, and, when within their
frame of distant violet mountains, of a fresh light green colour.
Verdant islets on either side swell from the bosom of the stream,
with their massy tufts of vine-covered thickets; while farther
off stretch the wide plains of Illinois, Iowa, and Kentucky,
garlanded with majestic forests, or presenting only-the open
vastness of the prairie.
The mountain scenery of the more easterly portions of
America, though generally uninteresting, exhibiting but few
pictorial features, is occasionally relieved by aspects of great
beauty and magnificence,-landscapes unrivalled in variety and
extent; displaying, also, stupendous phenomena of nature, which
appear to have been originally created for the express purpose
of exhibiting the power of her great Author, or of forming
exceptions to the rules by which geologists attempt to illustrate
her action.
Mount Lafayette, in the Franconia Mountain, situated in
the White Mountain group of New Hampshire, the summit of
which forms the appearance of an extraordinary human profile;
though greatly inferior to the regal Alps, which the whole Alleghany series are supposed in some particulars to resemble; and
inferior in height to the central ridges of the latter and the
Rocky Mountains, or even to Mount Washington, in the same
vicinity,-yet adding the beautiful lake that spreads its crystal
waters at the foot, the narrow gorge by which it is approached,
together with its other rural accessaries of natural beauty and
majesty, presents a subject well worthy of the painter's pencil
and the poet's song.
There are few views in America, in respect to picturesque
grandeur and massive breadth of outline, equal to that presented
by the Franconia notch, viewed especially from the hill east



MIOUNTAIN SCENERY.


129


ward, looking from the village of Bethlehem across the Franconia valley.
In the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland, the mountains
multiply as the traveller proceeds; and what was the summit of
one eminence proves only the base of another, opening out at
length to scenes of extended magnificence below. Beyond an
amphitheatre of mountains in the former of these States, whose
tops appear as numerous as waves of the sea, and whose feet
are concealed by the forest, extends the Campagna, where towns,
rivers, and woods, and all the wealth of cultivation, are seen
mingled in gay confusion; the Atlantic, in one direction,
bounding the horizon, into which, after wandering through
the whole extent of the landscape, the Chesapeake pours her
fruitful streams.
Much of the scenery of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia,
present Arcadian landscapes, where there are only lacking the
shepherd and shepherdess to render them equally delightful with
the regions of ancient romance.  Charming episodes of dell,
and rock, and waterfall, and wide-reaching plains, meet the eye
in almost every direction.
In these States, where the mighty Alleghany chain centres,
and rears its highest and most famed summits, the range to the
south-east forms an immense line of bold and lofty promontories,-sometimes presenting bold perpendicular or over-hanging fronts,-sometimes exhibiting their fantastic profiles separated into cliffs and peaks,-and sometimes descending by gentle
declivities to the ravines and valleys; while many streams issue
from between the rocks, occasionally swelling into cascades,
and rolling towards the more mighty and imposing currents,
watering the lowlands in their progress.
From the north-easternmost summit of the Alleghany Chain
in Virginia, and nearest the Atlantic, the prospect has a peculiar grandeur. In addition to the richly varied and magnificent
back ground, the Atlantic Ocean is rolling in a long, calm,
heavy swell, or breaking in savage fury upon the headland or cliff;
the monotony of its mighty mass of waters ever varied by the numerous picturesque islands and rocks that stud the coast. In the
south-west direction, the spectator seems to look down upon half
the world, the outstretched earth beneath presenting an appearance of a billowy chaos of wooded heights and valleys, in which
human dwellings are visible merely as specks of light, scarcely
discernible to the naked eye; while far away winds a lovely
G3




130


THE UNITED STATES.


river, the long woodland slope sweeping up from its banks in
rich luxuriance, and terminating in the upland precipice, or
the bold promontory crowned with embowering trees; while, in
the distance, a long line of rocky heights throws gigantic shades
over the water, and here and there at intervals, appears an opening
among these stupendous scenes, which again retreat as if for
protection into the embraces of the neighbouring mountains;
the land here rising from the margin of the river in green sloping
acclivities, until, from gently rolling hill sides and moderate
elevations, it insensibly swells into lofty and majestic heights,
whose blue outline in that direction terminates the view. To
the north-west, the prospect is circumscribed by alternately
cultivated 'and thickly-wooded hills and rocky eminences,
inclining gently upwards, on either hand from the same river,
in a semicircular form, to a little distance in the rear, enclosing
innumerable cottages and farmsteads in a spacious vale; the
entire landscape thus smiling by turns in all the charms of
tillage, and in all the beauty and magnificence of the primeval
wilderness.
A gentleman's seat in this district, near James River, is thus
described: —"The lawn is beautifully laid out, and in the style
of one of our country villas of the olden time, giving every
assurance of comfort and every feeling of repose. The tropical
richness and brightness of leaf and flowers added an inexpressible
charm to them as they stood out in bold relief against the pure
and cloudless air around; so different from that indistinct outline which is but too common in our moist atmosphere. Then
there was the graceful and weeping aspen; the wild ivy,-its
white bloom tinged as with maiden's blush; the broad-leafed
catalpa; the magnolia,-rich in foliage and in flower;-while
scattered around were beds of bright and lovely colours. The
extremes of this charming view were bounded either by the
venerable mansion over whose roof the patriarchal elms of which
we have been speaking threw their cool and welcome shade, or
by the broad stream, whose bosom was ever and anon enlivened
with some trim bark or rapid-gliding steamer, and whose farther
shore was wooded to the water's edge." 
Not only are the valleys in some of these highlands in extensive cultivation, but the soil of the mountains themselves being
singularly rich and fertile, their wild romantic character is often


* Hon. Captain Murray's Lands of the Slave and Free.




MOUNTAIN SCENERY.


131


seen tempered by the rural art of man;-stupendous heights
clothed with abundant harvests;-impetuous cataracts tamed to
the peasant's will. Cultivation-reaches even to the very summits
of some of these rugged heights, and patches of maize or Indian
corn, and other cereal products, peep out between masses of
rock and tangled brushwood.
From a mountain range in the Delaware country, about two
thousand feet in elevation, the course of which is oblique from
the river which gives the district its designation, and which
is often diverted out of its path by the irregular protrusion and
retrogression of cliffs and promontories, is presented a somewhat
different, but an equally interesting picture to the admirer of
natural scenery. From the north-west to the south-east rolls
the broad rapid stream,-now falling among the crags of the
opposite mountains, with a noise like that of loud and continued
thunder, in a mass of discoloured foam,-now flashing in the
sunbeams,-and now shadowed by overhanging woods, or deep
and dark defiles, till it is entirely concealed;-again bursting
- from beneath the darkness in a broad sheet of foam, and fallingthundering into the vale. The right bank of the river, looking
to the east, is fenced by a dizzy and inaccessible wall of crags;
while the mountains on the other side present a similar wall to
the south, which declines westward to the water at an angle, —
the whole declivity covered over with loose rocks, of a stern
character of wildness and grandeur, the remnant of some strong
avalanche tumbled from pinnacles above by the same convulsion
that thrust the mountain from the bowels of the earth, or shattered it, already uprisen, asunder. A few withered hemlocks,
and other gloomy trees, with maple, beech, and oak, are here
and there seen springing from the interstices of the rocks, their
knotted, contorted roots, seeming to bind the disjointed fragments
together; while other places are covered with flowering raspberries, alder, and other shrubs, with here and there the
euphorbia and red blossomed aloes, prickly cactus, and milky,
snake-like, creeping, cryptogamous or cellular plants of various
kinds; though, in general, the eye reposes on rocks entirely
~naked and barren, or only tufted with mosses, lichens, and
ferns.
The landscape from the Alleghany ridges, as seen from the
western edge of their summits towards the Carolinas and
Georgia, is sublime and beautiful in a very high degree. The
ridges here succeed each other almost without number, until the




132


THE UNITED STATES.


most distant is shadowed out upon the horizon in a pale and
misty magnitude that invests the whole picture with sublimity,
and creates an impression of grandeur too lofty to be scanned
by ought living, save
" The lordly eagle, when, from craggy throne,
He mounts the storm, majestic and alone."
Some of the spurs of these mountains, from some points, are seen
clothed with noble woods; sometimes they are projected into the
valley, and sometimes they run parallel with the flanks of the
mountains, whose beautiful, picturesque, serrated summits, here
undulating in rounded hummocks, and there presenting acute
ridges and peaks, have everywhere a rich velvety appearance
from the depth and luxuriance of the forests. Sometimes the
ravines between these mountains exhibit every variety of rock
and precipice. When cultivated, the slopes are disposed in a
succession of terraces. Some are rough, dark, and shapeless;
others rise in swelling summits. One, distinguished by the
name of Trail Mountain, is so high that it forms a nucleus,
whence all the hills around radiate as from a centre; not a few,
seen from a less elevated situation, shoot into fantastic and
spiral peaks. In one direction the ridge appears a continued
chain of inaccessible rocks, terminating at a prodigous height
in innumerable jagged points; and the hills on which they
rise seem to be cleft asunder as if by earthquakes; the chasms,
horrible to behold, extending through the main substance of
the rocks almost to their foundation.
A traveller advancing into the interior of these mountains,
enters, perhaps, a narrow pass, which excludes every feature of
the distant country, and finds himself shut up amidst tremendous crags, impending over the road, and where few signs of
human existence appear; this at length opens to another scene
of mountains, stretched in long perspective, wild and desolate;vast forests still hanging upon their base, and crowning the ridgy
precipices that rise perpendicularly from the vale. The scene is
perpetually changing, its features assuming new forms, as the
winding road brings them to the eye in different points of view.
Though the deep valleys between these mountains are, for the
most part, clothed with forests, sometimes an abrupt opening
presents a picture of inconceivable beauty and repose. Still
advancing, the road leads into a deep valley, surrounded by
almost inaccessible steeps; on rising again to the south-east, a
vista opens, and exhibits a long perspective of retiring summits




SCENERY OF SOUTHERN STATES.


183


rising over each other,-their ridges, clothed with forests, exhibiting, in the gloomy sunlight and transparent atmosphere of an
almost tropical sky, images of surpassing grandeur and beauty;
whilst here and there, between the receding heights, the eye
again catches a glimpse of the far distant waters fading into the
blue and clouded horizon.*.
Flint, an American author, says,_" What are called the
Gates of the Rocky Mountains, through which the Missouri
seems to have torn itself a passage, are commonly described as
the sublimnest spectacle to be seen in this vast range of mountains. For nearly six miles these 'nitons' rise in' black perpendicular masses twelve hundred feet above the surface of the
river, the chasm being little more than one hundred and fifty
yards wide; and the deep foaming waters of the Missouri rush
through the passage as if it were a cataract."
We have already said that America, like Europe,-but the
more so in proportion to the geographical extent of the former,
-affords physical and climactic conditions of widely different
Qharacter. The low arctic forms of vegetable life which clothes
the highest elevations of the Rocky Mountains, as also the
mountains of the Middle and North-Eastern portions of the
Union, present a striking contrast to the rich luxuriance of
orange groves, pines, cedars, vines, and myrtles, that are developed beneath the sky of the Southern States. 
The scenery of the Southern States, in many respects, greatly
excels that of the Northern, not only from the stateliness of its
mountains, but particularly in its general picturesqueness and
in its variety in form  and quantity.  As within the tropics,
though not in such degree, the features of nature in these
climates are broad, reposing, and dignified; power is displayed in all her attitudes; she seems to reject the temporizing
of man, and to lie satiating herself with the glory of the pure
and burning heaven; no appearance of patchwork disfigures
her; no prettiness adorns her,-her barrenness is grand,-her
cultivation is careless and irregular.  Nature here luxuriates
to romantic wildness, with which the eye, if not more delighted, is at least more fully satisfied than with the tame
insipid regularity of art.  Nothing is studied or trimmned,


* 'The Allegbanies. in the Northern States, move on in stately and unbroken
lines: in the South. they rise in Alpine summits, or break away into abrupt and
frowning precipices."-Harper's Mugazine.




134


THE UNITED STATES.


but everything grows in wild, luxuriant disorder; the earth, all
dazzling with sun-bright verdure and glorious unknown flowers;
everything as if fresh from the Creator's hand.  Myrtles and
fir trees; magnolias and cypresses; bamboos and palms; sycamores and poplars; tulips and mulberries; willows, elms, and
oaks,-these, many of them, towering above an hundred feet
from the ground, are covered with mosses, vines, and trailing
flowers, climbing to the highest branches, and depending in
festoons like fantastic draperies, and wreathing themselves into
heavy and almost impervious networks, the rich variegated
foliage relieved by gorgeous flowers, brilliant as under the
glorious first sunshine of the primeval earth, and producing an
effect unimaginably picturesque and beautiful.
Such is the atmosphere of that region, so transparent, so
pure, that every line of every object cuts clear and distinct
against the sky, and a sense of the presence of all objects
pervades the whole mind.    Everything tells, - everything
appears ample and independent.  The scenes here presented
sometimes compose a terrestrial paradise, compared to which
the finest gardens of Europe, with their statues, artificial cascades, and all the refinements of human invention would appear
insignificant and tame.  In some of the landscapes in this
region it would seem impossible for art to add anything but
what would rather mar than adorn them. Nothing can be conceived, indeed, in comparison with them when spread out under
the morning sun and the clear blue and brilliant atmosphere,
except what we find now and then in the works of the first
masters, such as Claude Lorraine, in which there is a selection
and combination of beauties, and a disposition of parts, forms,
and tints, which genius alone can seize from the living landscape,
and transpose and transfer to canvas, and render perceptible to
the minds of others.
" In the South, the proud mountain heights lift up their voice
of praise to heaven." For the verdant meadows of the North,
dotted with cottages and grazing herds, the South has her broad
savannas, calm in the shadow of the palmetto and the magnolia;
for the magnificence of the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Ohio, are her mystic lagunes, beneath whose
stately arcades of cypress, fancy floats at will through all the
wildness of past and future. In exchange for the fairy lakes
of the North, she has the loveliness of valleys composed and
framed like a dream of the painter. Above are skies soft and




SCENERY OF SOUTHERN STATES.


135


glowing with the genial warmth of summer suns, and beneath
lie mysterious caverns whose secrets are still unread..
"If," says Miss Bremer,t "life in the Northern States is a
grand issue,-a poem full of great teaching,-then is that of the
South a romance of infinite picturesque beauty;"-a remark that
equally applies to the physical features and conformation of
these States, and to their climatic conditions and character.
In Georgia and the Carolinas, are seen, as in Italy, the
more modest forms of vegetation mixed with some of the
most glorious productions which characterise the tropics,
and here we may in some degree realise a conception of that
exuberance of vegetable life which flourishes in all its splendour
in Jamaica.
But as the woodland scenery of the North-Eastern and Middle
States of America presents features different to that of the
Southern, so also does that of the southern provinces to that
within the tropics. Although the trees and shrubs in the Southern
States are all evergreens, very beautiful, and of all shades, from
lightest grey to a dark green, and of many varieties of hue, still
there is not here the riant appearance of the tropics, but in
the stern grandeur and gloominess of much of their mountain
scenery they more resemble what is represented of Spain or the
north of Barbary.
At the same time the coasts of Florida and Louisiana, so
near the glowing line where the life of nature never ceases to
bloom in magnificence, present some of the loveliest scenery
which earth and ocean can produce. The trees are large, tall,
and beautiful; the most picturesque productions of the vegetable
world ever seen in temperate regions. The sea is studded with
tracts of fairy land, glittering like emeralds in the golden sunshine, where the waving trees dip their long branches into the
water; and against the deep verdure of the submerged rocks the
sea anemone, amidst thousands of coral groves, rears its orange
base, tipped with flower-like fans, or hangs its snake-like
tentacles, writhing as the head-dress of Medusa; where the
smooth sands are covered with shells sparkling with all the hues
of the prism; where birds of orient plumage skim aver the surface of the silvery sea, or glance in and out from groves laden
with fruits and flowers; where the ocean, land-locked by these
* Harper's Magazine.
t Homes of the New World.


I




. 136 -

THE UNITED STATES.


flowery labyrinths, these fairy isles of the tropic sea, retains its
tranquillity even during the summer tempests.*
One peculiarity of the forests in some of the more northern
divisions of the States is, that they are entirely free from underwood, so that they are easily penetrable by the foot passenger,
and generally accessible to one on horseback, thus presenting
an appearance of great stiffness and formality, while in the
Southern States, as in the West India Islands and southern
continent, such is the exuberance of vegetable life, that the
woodlands are impervious even to the eye, while myriads of
parasitical plants climbing the tall trees and otherwise encompassing them, or clasping them with their circling tendrils, hide
the formality and stiffness of the vegetable giants that support
them; and thus under the prodigal profusion of their clustering flowers, waving and drooping in easy motion with every
tiny breath that moves them, they hang in curved wreaths from
tree to tree, their flowers dancing and glittering beneath the
bright glare of a semi-tropical sun. What can be more grand
than a forest of oak in the Northen and 'Western States? or
more beautiful than a grove of beeches and elms clothed in
their autumnal tints? or more delicious than an apple or peach
orchard of New England in full bloom? Yet tllh palm, the
olive, the cypress, the cedar, the orange, the citron, the fig tree,
and the pomegranate, the myrtle, and the vine, convey a different,
a more luxurious feeling to the mind, and are associated with
ideas which give to the landscape they adorn a character more
delightfully, more poetically picturesque.
The sky, also, in the Southern States, is different in its aspects
to what it is in the Northern, although throughout America
it is clearer, more intensely blue, and more brilliant than in
England, showing a difference in the rarefaction of the air, and
in the natureof the terrestrial exhalations; circumstances on which
much of the beauty of a landscape, as well as the salubrity of
climate depend. During the autumnal season, and sometimes
in winter, the air, soon after dawn, becomes agreeably elastic,
and so transparent that distant objects appear almost as distinct
and defined as within the tropics, while gold and amber clouds
streak the heavens with glory far up into the clear azure; and
at the same time, and owing to the same cause, the shifting,
hiding, uncertain effects of European scenery are nowhere visi

*    Coast of Florida.




LAKE SCENERY.


137


ble in America.     The shadows are everywhere defined and
massy,-the mist lies like a solid substance against the sides
of the mountains, whose summits spring up as fiom        a magic
base, delineating their sharp or bold rounded outline upon the
bright surface of the air.
The summer scenery of the lakes, especially of Lakes George,
Michigan, Champlain, and Huron,-the latter celebrated by
the poet Noble,-is in some respects like that of Windermere.
Here nature is seen in all her virgin beauty. Gay, luxuriant
views break upon the spectator as he passes onward over their
bosom, like scenes of fairy enchantment, or those produced by
the fairy visions of the poets; spots where the genii who roam
with printless feet over the dominions of nature (if ever such
fairy forms have made their way to the world of twilight) might
love to gambol under the light of the moon; Arcadian retreats,
where an Acteon might dream of the pine-shaded Gargaphie,
its "fons tenui perlucidus unda," and the bright creatures of
the mythic world, that once animated the waters of that solitary
grot.*'
But the fairy and the wood-nymph are alike unknown in
America; poetic illusion, save in the immortal verse of her own
living bards, Bryant and Noble, has not yet consecrated her
glens and fountains, her forests, her uninvaded glooms;-her
rivers roll in silence, and even her ridgy mountains lift up their
blue summits in unphantomed solitude. Association sleeps, or
it reverts only to the vague mysteries of speculation.
Perhaps a restless Indian queen,-" pale Marian with braided
hair,"-may wander at night by some highly favoured spring; t
perhaps some tall and brawny bunter, "in vestments for the
chase arrayed," may yet hunt the hart over certain distinguished
ridges, or urge his barken canoe over some cypress-fringed pool;
* Ovid, Metam. 3.
t It is recorded of a beautiful Indian female, as an instance of deliberate
suicide, that she threw herself into one of these lakes in consequence of her
ardent love for one who proved false to her; reminding the classic reader of
Phillis in her ungovernable passion fot Damaphoon. who describes the crescent
bay into which she intended to throw herself, and tells him of her determination
and the consequences that should follow:" Est sinus, adductos modice falcatus in arcus;
Ultima prserpta cornua mole rigent.
Hinc mihi suppositas immittere corpus in undas
Mens fuit; et, quoniam fallere pergis, erit.
Ad tua me fluctus projectam littora portent,
Occurramque oculis intumulata tuis."-Ovid, Hero. 2.




138


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but all other places are left to the caprice or fancies of the
utilitarian.*
Here are seen silvery seas that lie like mirrors, now of sapphire,
and now of crystal, studded with emerald islands, and adorned
with variegated trees and shrubs, forming in many places natural
arbours or sylvan arcades of superlative beauty, offering shady
retreats from the mid-day sun; here are fringed terraces that
overhang "the imaged heaven in the waters,"t and woody vales
opening from their banks into the country beyond,-a carpet of
grass spreading beneath, green and refreshing, mitigating the
heat of the sun which shines over them in the summer months
with refulgent splendour; here the water is tenanted by fish of
endless varieties, the air by birds of orient plumage, and millions of azure butterflies. Like Windermere, the diffusiveness
excepted, the chief characteristics of these lakes are stately
beauty and magnificence. Their extraordinary clearness is such
that the eye can distinctly see the finny inhabitants of the deep
recesses, as they play in shoals,t and
"Sporting with quick glance,
Show to the sun their waved coats dropp'd with gold."
How glorious! Lake George, or more appropriately and
poetically, in Indian phrase, "Horicon," meaning "pure water,"
the most beautiful of all, which lies asleep and motionless
beneath the woody mountains that encircle it, reflecting their
images as well as that of the pure heavens in its mirror-like
surface, supplies an outline, says an admiring tourist, "which
fancy might fill up with a thousand Edens." Though its length
is only thirty-four miles, and its width from two to four, the
islands it includes number three hundred,~ and vary from ten
feet to a mile in length. Many of these are congregated in the
centre, thus forming numerous tiny lakes which lie among the
hills like clear mirrors in romantic peace and beauty.
To this lovely spot, more beautiful than the fairy creations of
eastern romance, while the mystic illusions of the mirage which
* The Indians think the Islands in the lakes inhabited by spirits, and on this
account they esteem them sacred.-Parley.
t Calling to mind the scriptural expression, "A sea of glass mingled with
fire."-Vide Milner's Astro., p. 128.
$ So clear are the waters of these lakes, that a white napkin, tied to a lead,
and sunk thirty fathoms beneath a smooth surface, may be seen as distinctly as
when only sunk three feet. —Colton's Lakes, vol. i., p. 90.
~ Lake Ontario has upwards of 1600 small islands.




LEGENDARY ASSOCIATIONS.


139


sometimes spreads its dreamy enchantment over its surface in
the summer calms, mixing islands, clouds, and water in strange
confusion, the beautiful lines of Southey, on Virginia Water,
may be well applied.
"Soul of these sylvan haunts, delicious lake;
K$:l~ ~         E'en when the flickering clouds obscure the sun,
And the sky shows in spots,-give me to muse
On thy untroubled banks, when the warm air
Lies like an infant on thy cradling breast.
Then the gull screams not, but the trilling thrush
Makes glorious music in thy skirting woods,
And midst her gusts of song there is a stillness
Which not a ripple stirs, while the hushed soul
Hugs up its thoughts, as if it feared to wake
The spirit that sleeps upon thy quiet breadth.
Or let me gaze on thee, when the soft moon
Sheds a perfusive gentleness around,
While wood, and water, and the cloudless sky
Lose each their features and peculiar hues,
In something lovelier than the eye can pierce,A subtle,-viewless,-mute indefinite joy.
Waveless or rippling,.thou art beauteous ever,
Sweet Lake! and beauteous are thy shadowing banks;
Thou art a place for pure and gentle thoughts;
N^'~  ~        Thou hast a charm to free the entangled heart
From low and earthly chains; thy calm makes audible
The voice of Omnipresence."
Nor are the scenes now described altogether destitute of
historical and legendary associations.    It was near these enchanting lakes that the British and American forces contended
in the earlier period of the war with such desperate vaJour. Fort
Detroit, Fort Teconderago, Crown Point, Saratoga-the melancholy scene of General Burgoyne's surrender, as well as of
Andre's execution,-are localities that excite strong emotions in
the mind of a stranger as he reviews the cause, progress, and
results of this unnatural contest between a great country and
her colonists.
Lest the descriptions of the face and general aspect of the
country thus drawn should be thought by some to be exaggerated
or too highly coloured, the writer once more appeals to the
authority of the Earl of Carlisle:"North America, viewed at first with respect to her natural
surface, exhibits a series of scenery various, rich, and in some
of its features, unparalleled; though she cannot on the whole
equal Europe in her mountain elevations, how infinitely does she
surpass her in her rivers, estuaries, and lakes. This variegated




140               THE UNITED STATES.
surface of earth and water, is seen under a warm, soft, and
balmy, in some cases, blue and brilliant sky, in all its latitudes
with a transparency of atmosphere which Italy does not reach,with varieties of forest growth and foliage unknown to Europe,
-and with a splendour of view in autumn before which painting
must despair."




A


CHAPTER XII.
NATURAL PHMEOMgENA.-The Notch on Mount Washington. Hawk's nest. Natural
bridge of Virginia. Gorge near Harper's Ferry, Maryland. Maiden Rock. Enchanted
mountain in Tennessee. Sulphuretted springs in Virginia, Arkansas, Saratoga, Lebanon, &c.
Caverns, and subterraneous temples. Remarkable mountains. Catskill Falls. Cascades in
Georgia, and on the Mohawk. Particular description of Niagara Falls in summer and winter.
Beautiful lines by Brainard. Reflections.
Natural curiosities and picturesque features in the United
States are numerous and striking. It is only possible, however,
to select the principal, and we can give them no more than a
passing notice.
What is called the Notch on Mount Washington, in New
Hampshire, with its silvery cascade, and the Profile Rock,-a
desolate mass of granite,-are especially attractive.  The latter
presents the appearance of a large human head and face,
about forty feet from the chin to the top of the forehead,
delineated in the solid rock with great exactness;-conjectured
by some (though the conjecture is generally discredited) to
have been thus shaped by the Indians, and to have been
worshipped by them as a divinity. The mass of rock forming
this extraordinary profile is said to be eighty feet in height,
fifteen hundred feet above the lake, and about half a mile fiom
a spectator on the road; from a certain point of which it appears
to be at the top of the mountain, though it is in reality five
hundred feet below the summit.
The Hawk's Nest, in western Virginiaf;  vast mass of shelving
rock, is so called on account of its resemblancoto the nest of a
mammoth bird.
With the great geological phenomenon-the Natural Bridge
of Virginia-every reader must be familiar; as also with Wier's
and Madison's Caves in the same State; they- are, perhaps,
among the most beautiful and extensive of the kind yet discovered in the world.
The Gorge near Harper's Ferry, on the borders of Maryland,
where the confluent streams of the Potomac and Shenandoah




142,


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have worn their channel across the blue ridge of the Alleghanies to the sea, is celebrated by Mr. Jefferson, in his notes
of the "Ancient Dominion,"* as one of the most stupendous
scenes in nature, and as being worth a voyage across the
Atlantic to see.
The Chimney Rocks, on the highway from North Carolina to
Tennessee along the broad French River, are also marvellous
works of nature. They rise perpendicularly to a vast height,
and are about two hundred yards in diameter at the base. Being
of sandstone formation, and the water having worn the ridges
smooth, they present the appearance of a solitary gigantic pillar
of granite rising from the prairies.
Nor must the Cascade in Georgia, called Toccoa, and the
series of beautiful and sparkling falls in the deep gorge of
Tallulah, be regarded as undeserving a passing observation.
These, and other such manifestations of the wonder-working
power of the Almighty, have been well described as epics in
the poetry of nature.
The Enchanted Mountains of Tennessee are remarkable for
the vivid impressions of human feet and those of lower animals
than man upon what is now become solid sandstone rock.
The Sulphuretted Springs with which this and the neighbouring States of Virginia and Arkansas abound, as also those of
Saratoga and New Lebanon in New York, are so celebrated for
their natural beauties as to require little or no description.
The Virginian mineral waters contain sulphuretted hydrogen
and carbonic acid gas, evolved in. bubbles, rising at intervals
from the bottom of the spring. By analysis, the minerals in
combination are fontd to be sulphate of lime, carbonate of
magnesia, carbonate of lime, sulphate of magnesia, chloride of
sodium, and iron. Some of the springs are thermal, and may
be said to exhibit the same phenomena as the celebrated
Fountain of the Sun, near the Temple of Ammon, as described
by Herodotus,-viz., that they are warm at midnight and cool
at noon-day.
Saratoga contains four great classes of mineral springs: the
acidulous, which are highly charged with carbonic acid, or acid
of charcoal; the chalybeate, impregnated with iron, and of an
acid taste; the saline, composed of different saline ingredients,


* Virginia was so called from its being the first settlement of the English in
America.




NATURAL PHENOMENA.


13


such as sulphate of magnesia, soda, muriates, and carbonates
of soda and lime; and the sulphurous, the prevailing character
of which arises from the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen,
either uncombined or united with lime, alkalies, iron, &c.
The Lebanon springs are similar, excepting that at neither
of these are there thermal waters. The temperature of these
last-named springs ranges only from between 48 and 51 degrees
of Fahrenheit.
The Mammoth Cave in Rockingham County, Kentucky, is
remarkable not only for its magnitude, but also for its situation,
being found beneath level though broken ground, and not, as such
caves commonly are, amidst mountain rocks. For more than six
miles you pass underground to the principal area, which contains eight acres, without one pillar to support its magnificent
vaulted roof. Many of the rooms are not only covered with
sparry incrustations, but are filled with millions of stalactites,
descending in all forms from the ceiling, and meeting their
stalagmite kindred on the ground, and thus forming splendid
crystal columns; while here and there, over the broken rocks,
fall beautiful cascades, which feed the quiet lakes that are
scattered over the area, occasionally adorned with moss and
weeds, and cryptogamic flora, hydropores, confervse, and occilitoriee, together with climbing bignonia, fragrant vanillas, and
golden flowered banistereas. Though not so celebrated as the
ancient Antiparos in the Grecian archipelago, the stones and
stalactites of which, like diamonds, are said to throw back the
light of torches, it is far more extensive, and is more splendid
in appearance than can be well expressed or even conceived,
exceeding in every respect those of Elora and Elephanta.
The Monument Mountain, in the route from New York to
Barrington by the Housalonic railroad in Connecticut, is celebrated for its relation to the romantic history of a beautiful
Indian girl, who, under the influence of a passionate love
for one with whom the religion of her tribe would not allow
her to be united in marriage, threw herself from the mountain
and perished. Every Indian who afterwards passed the place,
threw a stone upon the grave to commemorate the event.
The Mammelle Mountain in Tennessee, a natural pyramid,
seven hundred feet in height,-the Regicides' Cave in New
Haven,-the splendid Waterfalls of the Catskill in New York,
of Trenton near Utica (the next to Niagara in beauty,
grandeur, and extent),-the falls of the Missouri, tearing




144


THE UNITED STATES.


a passage through the Rocky Mountains of three hundred feet
in width,-and many other natural phenomena, justly excite.
the astonishment of every spectator, at the same time that they
exhibit evidences of the primitive beauty and power of nature,
under the mighty influence of which the mind expands with
reverential awe and admiration.
--  There is a beautiful undying charm
In God's created works; the whispering winds and waves,
The mountain brooks, the creeping grass, the flowers,
And quivering leaves, even to the lowliest things,
Do lisp their Maker's praise."
"C Thou great Invisible!
Can I view
These objects of my wonder,-can I feel
These fine sensations, and not think of Thee!"
The Catskill Pine-Orchard Fall is on the Catskill Mountains,
about three-quarters of a mile above the level of the sea. Here,
on the very summit of a rock, is a beautiful and commodious
hotel, which in summer is much frequented by travellers. Often
on the summit of this mountain the spectator views beneath
him the fierce conflict of the elements;-thunder-clouds, with
their forked lightnings darting upwards from their bosom, are
seen passing along far below him, or reclining in masses at his
feet, reverberating with tremendous echo.
Hundreds of meteors, which are never seen on the plains, here
present themselves in the fine clear evenings of autumn; and
sometimes during the day; and in a peculiar state of the
atmosphere, the shadow of the mountain is seen projected upon
the body of the air, and the spectator's own image reflected as
in a mirror upon the opposite cloud.
In the early morning, as the sun's rays dart into the many
valleys which lie between the higher ranges, the stagnant air
contained in the low recesses becomes quickly heated; heavy
masses of vapour,-dense, white, and undefined,-arise from
the hollow, meet over the crests of the hills,-cling to the
forests on their summits,-enlarge, unite, and ascend rapidly to
the rarefied regions above; a phenomenon so rapidly developed,
that the almost sudden disappearance of the stupendous scenery
beyond from the spectator's gaze looks like the work of magic!
To the visitors -of this magnificent spot who can relish the
majesty of nature, nothing can exceed the pleasure of beholding such a splendid spectacle; as also on the close of the day




FALLS OF NIAGARA.


145


when they watch the rising cloud and observe the evening
spread her grey and dusky mantle over the features of the
landscape till they are exhausted and lost, and view the stars as
they successively appear through the increasing obscurity.
When the sky is clear, the immense vault of the heavens
appears in awful majesty and splendour, and the whole scene
produces indescribable emotions.
To heighten the beauty and interest of the spot, two miniature
lakes, behind the hotel, unite their waters to form a stream
which falls one hundred and seventy-five feet into a ravine,
and then dashes precipitously in its winding course down the
deep gorges of the mountains, concealed for a time beneath the
dense umbrage of the jungle.
At the Landville Falls, on the borders of Georgia and South
Carolina, is a number of lofty and fantastic cliffs; and among
them one vast isolated column, several hundred feet high,
around which are clustered in the greatest profusion the most
beautiful vines and flowers. This column occupies a conspicuous
position a short distance below the Falls, and it is by no means
difficult to imagine it a monument erected by nature to celebrate
her own creative power.
But the mbst remarkable and truly wonderful of all natural
scenes of magnificence and grandeur are the Falls of Niagara,
called by the Indians Oniagara, or Ochniagara; a word signifying "the thunder of the waters."
This mighty river, which, in its subsequent confluence with
the St. Lawrence, divides the State of New York and the
American territory from Upper Canada, takes its rise in the
north-eastern extremity of Lake Erie, and the unknown fountains
of the St. Lawrence.
The Niagara forms an outlet of the vast chain of western
lakes, chiefly those of Superior, Michigan, and Huron,
beginning with Lake Superior, and its hundred tributary
streams; and is the principal feeder of Lake Ontario. It drains
an area of country, according to the estimate of Professor
Drake, of Kentucky, equal to 40,000 square miles; and, the
extent of their own surface being 93,000 square miles, the
whole area, including lakes and rivers, is not less than 150,000
square miles; with a total.descent of not less than 334 feet.
The Falls are fourteen miles from Lake Ontario, and twentyfour from Lake Erie-the lakes which the river immediately
connects. On the emergence of the river from Lake Erie, its
H




146


THE UNITED STATES.


breadth is about 900 feet, and its current strong and irregular.
At the distance of two miles on its course it becomes more
smooth and tranquil.
The two branches of the river which encompass Grand Island
unite about a mile above the rapids, and thus the river is,
between Chippeway and Fort Schlosser, two miles in width,
assuming the appearance of a lake, apparently surrounded by
an amphitheatre of hills. A At Chippeway, a British village
opposite to Navy Island,* it suddenly contracts to the width of
abht one mile, becomes violently agitated, and, as if infuriated
Jbya consciousness of the tremendous plunge it is about to make,
ft dashes against the rocks that impede its current, and becomes
a rushing torrent, broken into cascades and sweeping billows.
Forced onwards by its own momentum over a descent of ninety
feet, it now rushes with an impetuosity truly awful,-with a
power and vehemence that cannot fail to fill the mind of a
beholder with sensations both of terror and amazement. From
ridge to ridge,-from side to side, it bounds, hissing, foaming,
splashing, until it reaches the perpendicular rock down which
the whole mighty stream suddenly leaps headlong.,
But this is not the climax of the spectacle. The entire
cataract is in the form of a crescent, or an irregular semicircle.(
The perpendicular fall is one hundred and sixty feet, and the
descent of the rapids immediately above it fifty-seven feet. Nearly
on the verge of the precipice the river is divided by Goat or Iris
and Prospect Islands, making three distinct falls, and preventing.
the water from falling in one unbroken sheet. At the bottom
of the Falls the fluid mass is shivered by rocky projections into
minute particles, assuming an infinite variety of fo;rms, and
radiant with prismatic hues. The volume of air carried down by
the waters in their descent so greatly diminishes the sustaining
power of the element, that only substances of the greatest
buoyancy will float in the chasm beneath.  One of these cascades alone is one-third of a mile broad: and the breadth of the
whole Falls is four thousand feet, or three-quarters of a mile.
The Fall on the Canada side contains the greatest volume of
water, being seven hundred yards across, while that on the
American side is only three hundred and thirty yards. The


* Celebrated as the seat of M. Noab's famous Jewish colony, containing, as
is said, 11,000 acres; and for the occurrences between the Americans and the
British, on the destruction of the steamboat Caroline. 


N'




FALLS OF NIAGARA.


147


whole distance over the curve, including Iris and Prospect
Islands, is computed at fourteen hundred yards. The height of
the cataract on the northern or American side is one hundred
and sixty-four feet, and on the western or Canada side one hundred and fifty-eight feet. The fall on the Canada side, which
from its greater convexity is denominated the Horseshoe Fall,
is the most magnificent as well as the most extensive.  The
whole vast concentrated tide pours over the tremendous precipice
with a roar which is heard in a still but slightly humid atmosphere at the distance of forty miles; and its lofty pyramidal
cloud of fleecy vapour, or sea of spray and foam (seen at the
same distance), now hanging dark and heavy above it, now
wafted away by the current of the wind, reflects all the colours
of the rainbow, always brilliant and beautiful, as the sunbeams
fall upon the misty curtain, and successively varied as the winds
disperse the water-spirit, and shapes it into new phantasmal
forms glowing with light and loveliness. Sometimes the mist
is thin and gauze-like, with every variety of colour above and
below, brilliant with prismatic hues, which arch themselves
higher and higher up into the pale blue heavens, or deeper and
deeper upon the green water in the abyss. In the clear cold
weather of winter, this vast volume of water, touched by the
rays of the setting sun, appears in the distance like the flame
and smoke of a burning city; whilst its roar sometimes resembles that of the ocean or an overwhelming tempest.  Some
writers have fancied in it sounds similar to the explosions of
artillery, amidst a combination of musical tones. Such, indeed,
are its strange mystic thunderings, that they are said to combine with no other sounds,-they are such as could be heard
amidst the roaring of the volcano, and yet would not drown the
chirping of a swallow.
The position on the American side, from which the Falls are
best seen, is that called Point View, from which Vanderlyn
sketched one of his great paintings; that also from the Table
Rock in Canada, beneath the sheet of falling water, is commanding; but best of all are the prospects from the point of
Iris Island, where it overlooks the Horseshoe Falls, and from
the tower at the Terrapin Rocks, along the Table Rock, —the


* So called from the flatness of its surface and resemblance to a table. It was
situated at the top, and rose to about forty feet above the cascade. The view of it
from this point was truly grand. This immense mass of stone was on the Canada
i 2


N




148


THE UNITED STATtS.


latter now partially destroyed. The. spectator can advance to a
great distance behind the cascade by traversing a ledge of the
rock connected with the over-hanging cliff; and having arrived
at the customary limit, a scene of wonderful and fearful interest
displays itself before him.  "A curtain of water separates him
from the world; a rocky canopy rises far above his head; his
feelings are those of a prisoner, but never surely was there so
magnificent a dungeon."
- The momentum of the whole body of waters may be better
conceived, when all the circumstances connected with it are
combined.    Let the reader, therefore, imagine a column of
water nearly a mile broad and twenty feet deep, propelled by the
weight of the surplus water of the whole prodigious basin of
the lakes,-which contains nearly one-half of the fresh water
on the surface of the globe,-rolling down a rapid declivity
of fifty feet for the distance of half a mile, and then leaping and
pouring over a precipice of one hundred and sixty feet of perpendicular descent, as if falling to the central depths of the
earth! How vast is the conception!      How overpowering must
be the scene, to those familiar with it only from description!
Rather, however, than sublimity, the feeling actually excited
in the mind of an observer is silent amazement, or profound
reverential awe; many literally hold their breath, in the sudden
excitement created by the spectacle.     The mind accustomed
only to the ordinary phenomena and exhibitions of nature's
power, feels a revulsion and recoil from the new train of thought
and feeling forced for an instant upon it.
Nature arrays herself in this phenomenon like some angry
and irresistible power that has torn itself away from the mighty
grasp of its Creator. With the awe and reverence inspired, the
mind on first beholding the immensity of the scene is overwhelmed also with a sense of its own utter insignificance and
helplessness; for the wild rush of the descending flood is
absolutely bewildering.   The quantity of water precipitated is
670,000 tuns, or 169,344,000 gallons every minute. The eye
distinctly measures the vast mass, and the spectator can hardly
side of the river, projecting so as to afford the spectator a front view of the Horse.
shoe Falls. It was considerably undermined; and fissures on the surface had for
some time previously indicated the disruption. But in 1836 a larger mass was
detatched, completely destroying the most favourable position for viewing the
magnificent appearance presented by that stupendous face of waters.-Fisher's
Drawing-room Scrap-book, 1836. [In 1853 the whole front of the rock fell with a
tremendous crash.]




PALLS OF NIAGARA.                149
avoid thinking with the peasant, that the fountains of the upper
world must be shortly drained down into the yawning gulf;'
while the classic scholar cannot fail to be reminded of the
countryman of Horace, who being unable to ford a liver from
the impetuosity of its torrent, took up a resolution to wait till
the stream had all run by.  But this mighty torrent, with
resistless force, continues to pour on,-continues to pour down,
-in the same mighty, impetuous volume,-with the same
unceasing roar; and will thus continue to flow on, as seems its
destiny, till time shall cease;-the concentrated, impressive,
and amazing symbol of the power of Omnipotence, proclaiming
His majesty from age to age.
"In winter these falls present, if not a still grander spectacle,
yet one almost equally grand, and much more picturesque.
The spray, drifting over the adjacent shores, has transformed the
commonest objects into shapes of such fairy-like beauty as is
otherwise only conceived in dreams. All things are enveloped
in gleaming ice. The islands are laid with a pavement as pure
and as solid as the most stainless Parian. The rocks that shoot
up from the far depths of the precipice are hooded and wrapped
in vast breadths of ice, like monks doing homage to the Genius
of Peace. The trees, bound down to the earth by their snowy
vestments, are like a worshipping choir of white-robed nuns.
Everywhere but in the immediate channel of the swollen and
surging river the ice-king reigns supreme. Under his magic
touch nature is visibly idealized. Stalactite groves, and towers
of crystal, and forests glittering with brilliants and pearls,
seem no longer a figment of genius, but a living and beaming
reality." *
This stupendous spectacle, viewed under any circumstances,
cannot be exaggerated by the most lofty poetical description;
and every attempt hitherto made to describe it in poetry and
prose have come infinitely short of the reality. The scene is
altogether such as to exhaust all the epithets of beauty and
grandeur that human language can command in the most
laboured delineations.
In its widest scope the subject is suited only for the genius
of a Milton, or some poet who could " soar beyond a middle
flight," and in sublimest language assert eternal providence,
and justify the ways of God to man.


* Freeman.




150


THE UNITED STATES.


It is thus beautifully and impressively, though far from
adequately, apostrophized by Brainard:" Stupendous cataract!
The thoughts are strange that crowd into my brain
While I look upward to thee. It would seem
As if God poured thee from his hollow hand
And hung his bow upon thine awful front;
And spake in that loud voice which seemed to him
Who dwelt at Patmos for his Saviour's sake,
The sound of many waters; and had bade
Thy flood to chronicle the ages back,
And notch his centuries on the eternal rocks.
Deep calleth unto deep I and what are we
That hear the question of that voice sublime?
O what are all the notes that ever iung
From war's loud trumpet by thy thundering side?
Yea, what is all the riot man can make
In his short life to thine unceasing roar?
And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him
Who drowned a world, and heaped the waters far
Above its loftiest mountains? A light wave
That breaks and whispers of its Maker's might."
The writer, when gazing on this stupendous scene, probably
for the last time, and standing entranced with the final view,
found himself exclaiming involuntarily, and with much emotion,
in the words applied by a late writer to Mont Blanc:" Farewell, then, 0 Niagara! still may'st thou move onwards
into the lone eternity;-still, while the long ages, morning and
evening, light on thee the rosy fires of their perpetual sacrifice;
still, while suns shed on thy front the full flood of their perpetual
glory, while moons bathe thy countenance in their sleeping
beams, while stars weave mystic circles round thy brow, while
clouds sail full-bosomed around thee, and thunders exult in their
dreadful revelry!
" But thou,-thou art still the same when the poor mortal, and
myriads like to him, who bow, and shall bow down before thy
mystic presence, with all their hopes and fears, and joys and
sorrows, shall be less than the least particle of the elements,thy scorn!"




CHAPTER XIII.


VEGeTABLR PRODUCTIONs.-Their number and variety. Indigenous trees, shrubs, and
flowers. Their peculiarities, as found in different sections of the country.
The trees, shrubs, and plants of America, domestic and wild
animals, birds, reptiles, fish, are far too numerous and various
for minute detail.
Of the whole number of pheenogamous plants,-such as have
visible organs of re-production,-and which are estimated at
38,000, Baron Humboldt gives 17,000 to the temperate and
tropical regions of America.    The United States alone are
estimated to contain 2891 species, while only 385 are found in
Europe. The immense forests of the more northern part of
the Continent contain trees, tall and straight, of extraordinary
height and girth, like columns of a vast Gothic cathedral,
whose mysterious winding aisles, overhung with an impervious
foliage, form lofty, vaulted, magnificent arcades; amongst them
are pines and firs of every variety; oaks of several species;
walnut and chestnut; yew, ash, beech, cypress, elm, willow,
poplar, alder, lime, with others common to the other continent,
but often of different species; they are found in vast profusion,
often, as already said, loftier, of far greater dimensions, and
bearing different leaves and fruit to those of the same names in
Europe.
In the neighbourhood of the lakes are chiefly found the pine,
spruce, hemlock, maple, oak, elm, and tamarak; and towards
the more western regions, the sycamore, hickory, sugar-maple,
together with a profusion of wild vines that in summer interlace
the forests. The dark green foliage of the fir of these forests
contrasting with the bright green of the hickory, maple,* chestnut, and other deciduous trees, renders their appearance inconceivably beautiful.  The hard woods in the west principally
consist of oak, ash, elm, maple, hickory, poplar, basswood,
cherry, and large quantities of cedar.
* Sugar- maple is found mostly in New England, and west of the Rocky Mountains,




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Among the trees and shrubs peculiar to this region that are of
a highly ornamental character, are the plane,-the laurel or calico
tree-its bloom of indescribable beauty,-the magnolias,-the
tulip, commonly called whitewood tree,-the magnificent largeleafed, umbrageous vallombrosa, compared with which the farfamed floral giant of that name in Tuscany is insignificant,-the
acacias, with numerous shrubs and plants of such floral splendour
and magnificence as become the primitive possessors of a virgin soil. Among the latter, together with foliage plants, which
depend more upon their leaves for their beauty and interest than
upon their flowers, are the sassafras, the red mulberry, the wax,
with the several species of honeysuckle.
One attribute of the exquisite floral beauty of the thousand
lakes which gem the western part of Michigan, and belonging
to a considerable extent to those of larger dimensions, is that
their surface is ornamented with lilies, red, white, and yellow,
in bud and full bloom, and other aquatic flowers of various shades
of yellow, with here and there the freshest tufts of green weed,
and the edge of the water fringed with the numerous rich-leaved
plants which have their native habitat in such situations. Among
the most luxuriant and beautiful of the first-named plants are
the broad-leafed water-lily and wild lotus, which seems akin to
the celebrated Victoria Regia that flourishes so magnificently in
the southern rivers; while among the islands, and on their
banks, are strewn the rose, the violet, the lily, the magnificent
sun-flower, asters and gentians, the purple and scarlet iris, the
blue larkspur, the mocassin flower, the crimson and green
lichen; with mosses, flowers, and vines, too various to have yet
obtained a name.
In the forests of the warmer regions, in addition to many
enumerated' as found in the west, are the palms, the magnolias
(both umbrella-leaved tripetala and grandflora), the cedar, the
mahogany, the wild orange, the deciduous cypress, cotton-wood,
poplar, oaks, mulberries, elms, willows, coffee-bean tree (a
phaseolus,-the giant of peas and beans), sweet-gum, locust, and
others of the family of acacias and mimosas, the lime or linden
tree, the double flowered horse chestnut, the laburnum, the
black walnut, with numbers of other species that attain an
amazing altitude and bulk.     The black walnut tree in
Western Virginia, near the Ohio, grows to the height of 100
feet from the ground to the branches; its trunk of an enormous
size, and the fruit surpassing anything of the kind in the East.




VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.               153
The grape vine here attains the size of three feet eight inches in
circumference, and the common sumach one foot in diameter.
But the sycamore is the king of the Virginian forest; one being
found in Mucus-bottom, Madison County, sixteen yards in circumference. In the cultivated districts is the cotton-plant of commerce, together with fruit trees of almost innumerable varieties,
from the orange to the apple; the climate and soil being adapted
to the production and sustentation of vegetable life common
to both the temperate and torrid zones; while at the same time,
none of the European fruit-bearing species are natives of
America, but were introduced into the country by the early
European settlers. The principal indigenous fruits and vegetables are the potato, the maize, tobacco, the banana, the love
or tomato apple, the strawberry, and the medlar.
All the fruits of the Old World, indeed, have been naturalised
and cultivated in different parts of the New, and flourish to an
extent and with such success as to rival the gardens and conservatories of Europe. Here are nectarines, apricots, peaches,
apples, pears, and the choicest plums, together with vegetables,
with one or two exceptions,* fully equal to those produced in the
gardens and conservatories of England.
Among the underwood and parasitical plants of the species
corcoon and arum, wild fig and vanilla of the southern forest,
are the saw-brier, the thorny robinia pseudo or false acacia,
green brier, and supple jacks-vegetable pests, forming a combined mass of vegetation, which, from their thorny surface or
flexile serpentine convolutions, render the uncultivated districts
impenetrable, from the danger of strangling or laceration.
In the lagoons and woods near the banks of the river St.
Mary in Georgia, the forests abound with splendid trees of live
oak and bay, cypress, black gum, and ash.
Between Georgia and Florida, in the morass, one hundred and
seventy-five miles in circumference, called by the Indians the
O Refonoco Swamps, are forests of amazing stateliness and
grandeur, so entwined and interlaced with flowering and other
parasitical plants, as to present a barrier of parterres or hanging
gardens in the air.
The flowering trees and shrubs peculiar to the southern part
of the Union most distinguished for their floral splendour, are


* Among some other European vegetables, turnips are said not to thrive in the.United States.
H 3




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the cornus Florida, with its mass of snow-white blossoms; the
yucca gloriosa, distinguished by its bell-shaped clusters still
more delicately beautiful; the odoriferous olea fragrans from
Peru; the brilliant flowery azaleas; the umbrella-leaved magnolias (tripetala), with their massive snowy crowns in contrast
with their sober, dark green laurel leaves; and the catalpa,
with its flowery covering of yellowey white. Andromedas, with
their beautiful bell-shaped rosy flowers, which droop as if abashed
by the admiration they excite; the arbutus, or strawberry tree
(arbutus unedo), covered with bell-shaped, half-transparent
flowers, with its fruit resembling strawberries; together with the
ledum hydrangia. Added to these are the China tree, or pride
of China (melia azedarakJ; the French yoke wood (bignonia
leucoxiton), covered with large pink or purplish flowers; the
blue mahoe (hibiscus arboreus)-a timber tree of vast size and of
great splendour, covered with flowers as large as the orange-lily
of European culture, the flowers tinged with yellow, red, and
orange hues, presenting an assemblage of floral magnificence
before which the renowned tulip trees of Strathfieldsaye must
hide their diminished heads. Many of these splendid creations,
in the recesses of the forest, are covered with flowers, not on the
head only, but over all parts of the trunk and branches, with
Cactacev and Orchidacew of many species displaying their gorgeous and matchless charms of colour and form, dazzling the eye
with their beauty, and delighting the sense with their perfume.
With many of the forms of vegetation in the Northern and
Middle States of North America a European may be familiar,
if not from his own observation, yet from the efforts of the
artist's pencil; but not so with these more gorgeous forms
developed under the favouring climatic conditions afforded by
proximity to the tropics. Millions are here "born to live and
blush unseen."
Of FLOWERS there are the red, white, and yellow jessamine;
the celebrated hundred-leaved rose (rosa centifolia); the
white Cherokee rose (kudbeckia); the beautiful South-sea rose
(nereum); the white Indian creeper; the lagerstr6mia, with its
pale red flowers; together with others of the family of Tellandsia.
The magnificent grandiflora cape jessamine (gardenias radicans), is unsurpassed in the whole varied range of vegetable perfumes for delicacy and sweetness. There is also the bromeliacious
plant (Pitcairnia), displaying spikes of long scarlet blossoms;
with the numerous genus of the class Melastonza, of which




FLOWERS.


155


there are one hundred and twenty species in the warm parts of
the world. In kalmias, the very woods are rich; as also in
rhododendrons, the arboreum, and the catawbiense-the latter
so named because found in the greatest abundance on the banks 
of the river Catawba in Virginia. The cactus, or prickly pear;
the Virginian creeper; the myrtle, or five-leaved ivy (ampelopsis
hederacea); the Virginian evening and China primrose (godelia
rubicundaJ; the different species of acacia (grandiens, pulchella, &c.), with their globular tufted flowers; the euphorbia
splendens, camellias, and pelargoniums, or, as the latter are
popularly called, geraniums, are particularly attractive.
The tribes of orchidaceous plants undoubtedly rank among the
most interesting and wonderful of all vegetable productions; they
are the richest of our floral treasures,-whether we consider their
vivid and rich colouring, their grotesque aspect, their singular
structure, or the exquisite perfume of their flowers,-not to
mention their wonderful assemblage of cells and vessels which
can preserve organic life in them for a thousand years!
Nor is their mode of growth less extraordinary. A great
number of the most splendid, being parasitical, attach themselves by their snake-like roots to the trunks of living or decayed
and fallen trees, investing them with an inconceivable wealth of
colour and fragrance, so that these flowers are the chief beauty
and glory of the tropical forest,-their summer-like luxuriance
blooming with all the freshness and delicacy usually peculiar to
the flora of spring.
The most beautiful and magnificent of these, and that which
is considered the queen of all the race, is what is called in
England the cattleya mossiae, which unites in itself every
admirable quality that can grace a flower.
The celebrated pitcher plant (sarracenia purpurea), with
its long, broad, patulous leaves, must not be omitted in this
enumeration.   It is the nepenthes of the tropics, called the
wild plantain.   By botanists it is denominated a syphon
plant, from the peculiarity which it possesses of absorbing
water by capillary attraction for the supply of its pitchers. It
is thus described:-" A herbaceous plant, with thick roots, and
a simple stem crowned with bunches of flowers. The leaves
have no footstalks, but partly embrace the stem at the base, and
are terminated by tendrils, each of which supports a hollow
vessel of an oblong shape, which is covered with a top like the
lid of a box. These singular appendages contain each about a




156


THE UNITED STATES.


wine glassful of clear, wholesome, well-tasted, and particularly
refreshing water. In the morning the lid is closed, but it opens
during the heat of the day, and a portion of the water evaporates: this is replenished in the night, and each morning the
vessels are all full." It seems that these fountains are designed
by an all-bountiful and gracious Providence to cheer and supply
birds and other inhabitants of the remote and often parched
regions.
In these semi-tropical primeval forests is the life of nature
seen indeed in its luxuriance; but here is, also,.as so justly described by the fair author of "The Homes of the New World,"
the realm and reign of Pan-the old pagan god of nature, in
all its entirety; a reign which embraces both the good and the
evil, life and death, with the same love, and which recognises
no law and no ordination but that of production and decay.
Beneath the verdant leafy arches, which overshadow   the
waters that steal through their solitudes, lie the peaceful tortoise
and the cruel alligator waiting for its prey. Elks inhabit these
natural temples, and in close neighbourhood are panthers,
tigers, and bears.
Around these columns of leaves and flowers wind the rattlesnake and the poisonous mocassin; and these beautiful romantic
forests are full of venomous and noxious creatures.
Towards the Rocky Mountains and the far north, as also on
the summits of the highest lands both in the temperate and
semi-tropical regions, the orange, the sugar cane, the cotton, and
the myrtle, give place to another character of sylva and flora;
the chief representative of the former is the pine tree,-of the
latter the asclepias tuberosa, the rhododendron, kalmias, andromedas, and the American arbor vits; with numerous asters and
mosses, lichens, and fungusses. Besides these there are alpine and
arctic plants specifically identical with those of northern Europe.
It is a result of actual observation that the culminating point of
the Rocky Mountains, called the South Pass-a region which
is 7499 feet above the sea-is found to be embellished by a
profusion of artemisie, especially a tridentata,* and varieties
of asters and cactusses, which cover the micaceous slate and
gneiss rocks.t  In many places green mosses clothe the overhanging precipices, whose brilliant capsules lighten up even to
brightness their refreshing verdure; while boreal plants, which


P Nuttal.


t Humboldt's Views of Nature.




PLANTS.


157


only find appropriate conditions where constant humidity and
intense cold are combined, present, near the banks of streams or
rivulets, a galaxy of beauties.
Here in this New World it may perhaps be said, although it
is regarded by naturalists as possessing a comparatively small
indigenous flora and fauna, that the horticulturists and florists
of Europe are supplied in a far more comprehensive manner
than in the old hemisphere, with a knowledge of the vegetable
physiognomy of the whole world. While the high and northern
lands of America present all the species of northern Europe;
those numerous varieties of rubiacife, euphorbise, and legumes,
which so naturally increase as they approach towards the equator,
are seen in the south in all their varieties, and decked in all
their richest splendour.
Among the trees and shrubs that clothe the highest peaks of
the Alleghanies towards the south, are pines of the genus
kalmia latifolia, and the vaccinium frondosurm, or wortleberry.
The slopes of the ridges are covered with chestnut, hickory,
walnut, linden, locust, robinia, pseudo acacia, oak (red and
white); and the plains with nearly all the magnificent productions which so strikingly characterise the scenery of the torrid
zone. The bamboo here waves its colossal plumes; luxuriant
palms and ferns shoot their feathery tufts of flowering fronds
far up into the pure heaven; whilst the branches of other trees,
infinitely varied in magnitude and kind, are loaded with curtains
of forest moss and parasitical plants pendent to the ground.
At one season the different species of magnolia form the most
beautiful objects in the scenery of the forests, especially the
magnolia grandifora, the tulip-tree or lily-tree of the French
Canadians (liriodendron tulipefera.)  And what an ornamental appendage to the transatlantic forest is the wild tamarind;-a timber tree, with dark green leaves doubly pinnated,
having much the appearance of the English yew, with long
pods of the hue of coral, open and furnished with seeds of
ebony, hanging in thousands from the branches! But of all trees
east of the Mississippi, the great laurel is the most remarkable
for the beauty of its form, the magnificence of its foliage, and
the soft splendour of its flower.
The Pinus Douglasi, forming extensive forests of vivid green
throughout the Western States, is a tree of great beauty, of
magnificent aspect, and of almost incredible proportions. This
arboreal giant seems, like the Wellingtonea Gigantea of




158


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Professor Lindley, as far to exceed the trees of the surrounding
forests, as the cotton tree (bombax ceibaj or baobab of the
tropics surpasses the common heath shrub of the temperate
zone.  It is of such magnificent height, as well as of such an
enormous bulk, that the stems of some of them rise from sixty
to an hundred feet high before they throw off a single branch.
Of the diversity, richness, and luxuriance of the vast forests
now existing the untravelled European can form no just conception. Every tree has a character of its own, its peculiar foliage
and tints often quite unlike those of the trees which surround
it.
In the highest of the southern Alleghanies, also, such as Trail
Mountain and the Blue Ridge, both from five to upwards of six
thousand feet above the level of the sea, the ascending scale of
vegetation from the tropical sugar cane and spices to the arctic
lichen and the whole race of cryptogamic plants and mosses, is
seen in almost as complete a picture as by the traveller in the
Andes, or on the borders of the frozen ocean.
"( ---   Living flowers
Of loveliest hue spread garments at the feet."
Innumerable gentians variegate the emerald turf, and the
blushing tufts of dwarf rhododendrons (rose des alpes) are
scarcely less plentiful on their summits; the whole character of
the vegetation having no more affinity to that of the lowlands
than it has to that of the arid plains at the foot of the Andes;
and still less, perhaps, to that of Europe. Some specimens of
European genera may be seen in these districts, and, finding a
congenial soil and climate, may there flourish; they are only
naturalized, however, and are not indigenous.
Sometimes the rhododendrons are seen not as dwarfish shrubs
but as magnificent trees, in all their blaze of beauty, amidst forests
of pine and oak, presenting masses of deep, cold, green foliage,
studded with flowers of warm blushing red, rivalling in luxuriant richness of tint and flower the most beautiful specimens of
flowering trees ever seen in any region.
It may be here observed that the development of different
families of plants, and the distribution of organic beings
generally over the surface of the earth, do not depend alone
upon the great complication of thermal and climatic conditions,
but also upon geological causes which continue almost unknown
to us.




REFLECTIONS.


159


Milton has represented Adam in Paradise, when arriving at
the full perfection of all his senses, as astonished at the glorious
appearances of nature,-the heaven, the air, the earth,-together
with his own bodily frame,-and led by the contemplation of
these to ask whence this wonderful scene arose.
"Oh, then what soul was his, when on the tops
Of the high mountains he beheld the sun
Rise up and bathe the world in light;-he look'dOcean and earth,-the solid frame of earth
And ocean liquid mass, beneath him lay
In gladness and deep joy. The clouds were touch'd,
And in their silent faces did he read
Unutterable love. Sound needed none,
Nor any voice of joy;-his spirit drank
The spectacle. Sensation, soul, and form
All melted into him;-they swallow'd up
His animal being;-in them did he live,
And by them did he live;-they were his life.
In such access of mind.-in such high hour
Of visitation from the living God,Thought was not;-in enjoyment it expired.
No thanks he breathed,-he proffered no requests;
Wrapt into still communion that transcends
The imperfect offices of prayer and praise,
His mind was a thanksgiving to the power
That made him;-it was blessedness and love."
Strange that these wonders have not uniformly the effect of
leading man to the contemplation of the Great Cause of all!
To the naturalist who walks abroad, looking through nature
up to nature's God, what sources of devout gratification and
instruction do such scenes supply!
Not a flower
But shows some touch in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivall'd pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes
The forms with which he sprinkles all the earth.
Happy who walks with him! whom what he finds
Of flavour, or of scent, in fruit or flower,
Of what he views of beautiful or grand
In nature, from the broad majestic oak
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun,
Prompts with remembrance of a present God."
"The works of the Lord are great, honourable, and glorious,
sought out of all them    that have pleasure therein."*     "The


~ Psalm cxi. 2, 3.




160               THE UNITED STATES.
book of nature, as well as that of revelation," says Bishop
Watson, " elevates our conceptions and incites our piety; they
mutually illustrate each other; they have an equal claim to our
regard, for they are both written by the finger of the one eternal
ind incomprehensible God; to whom be glory for ever."




CHAPTER XIV.


ZooLOGY.-Animals peculiar to America. Their diversity. Number. Indigenous and
foreign. Wild and domestic. Insects. Fish. Reptiles. Birds.
The whole animal system of America is equally distinguished
with its forms of vegetable life, by variety and profusion.
The zoology of America, indeed, is very peculiar and diversified, differing, as much as its flora and arboreta, in many
important respects from that of the Old World. But though
like the other continents America is distinguished by zoological
peculiaities of its own, determined, perhaps, more or less by
its geological aspect, it is yet marked by many of the features
that also belong to other parts of the world. Many families of
animals are so extensively distributed as to be almost equally
characteristic of the most opposite regions.
Of about one thousand three hundred and fifty mammals that
have been described and classified, America possesses about five
hundred and forty. But, with few exceptions, the new hemisphere, on its discovery, was found remarkably deficient of useful animals. Neither the horse, ox, sheep, hog, nor even the
domestic fowls (excepting the turkey, which was originally
wild), were seen by Columbus or his contemporaneous discoverers. All the domestic animals have been introduced by
European settlers; and some of these have increased to such a
degree that they form herds in a wild state, swarming the prairies
and other uncultivated tracts.
The most remarkable animals within the boundary of the
States are the opossum and the beaver, the racoon, the glutton,
and the sloth; the wapeti, or American elk, whose antlers are
sometimes seven feet in length; the prong-hored antelope, the
ocelot, the lynx, the bison, and the musk ox; with the black,
brown, and grisly bear. The last-named of these (ursusferox)
is the most powerful and dangerous wild animal of America,
possessing amazing muscular power and extreme tenacity of
life. Specimens have been killed and measured which have
been found equal to the largest size of the Polar bear, though




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there is much variety in the dimensions of the different individuals.  They abound in the Rocky Mountains, and places
east of them to six degrees. They secrete themselves in caves,
where during winter they remain torpid. They subsist principally on the succulent or edible roots of the wild pine. These
animals are of such gigantic size that some of them have been
found to weigh 800 lbs.; while the skin of one that was killed
by a hunter is said to have measured eight and a half feet in
length.  The average may be taken at about 500 lbs. weight.
The claws, which they have the power of moving independently,
cut like a chisel when the animal strikes with them. The tail
is so small as to be scarcely visible.  Such is its strength,
that it has been known to drag easily, and to a considerable
distance, the carcase of a bison weighing 1000 lbs. These
bears do not hug their victims, but strike them with their
terrific paws. When one of these animals sees an object he
stands erect upon his hind legs, and generally gazes at it for
some minutes. He then, whether it be man or beast, goes
straight on towards it regardless of numbers, and will seize it
in the midst of an armed batallion.
The following incident in relation to one of the least ferocious
of these species of animals, as well as illustrative of life in the
backwoods, may not prove uninteresting:"A farmer in one of the backwood settlements being engaged,
together with one or two assistants, in clearing some additional
land on the outskirts of his farm, felled among others a large
hollow tree. While standing at the stump of the tree, when his
companions proceeded to cut off the branches, he cast a glance
into the cavity, and discovered something that had the appearance of a living animal, though from the obscurity of the
hollow he could not distinguish the genus to which it belonged,
but supposed it to be a racoon, an animal often found in
similar situations. He immediately divested himself of some
of his clothing, and crawled into the tree with the intention of
satisfying his curiosity, and of making a prize of the intruder
whoever he might be. He had not advanced far when his
progress was obstructed by the animal which disputed his right
to enter; and the pressure at length became so great that the
farmer was forced to a hasty retreat, which he was not long in
effecting; although almost simultaneously with his own exit he
perceived a bear of unusually large dimensions forcing his way
after him in great wrath. The sudden and unexpected appear



ANIMALS.


163


ance of so formidable an antagonist disconcerted the farmer
for the moment, so that he did not seize the advantage that
his axe afforded, then lying beside him. But he soon found
that something must be done, and that quickly, in self-defence
at least. Bruin, though still appearing much displeased at his
disturbance by the farmer in his bivouac, seemed disposed to
end the difference by a speedy retreat, and was just about
effecting it when his assailant grappled him round the body
with his arms.  The bear became additionally angry at this
unceremonious treatment, and taking advantage of the unguarded
situation of his antagonist, by a desperate movement of his
fore paws, freed himself from the grasp of the courageous
farmer, but, still inclined to leave the field without further controversy, made towards a more secluded and quiet resting-place
and home. The farmer recovering from the fall, and nothing
daunted by the scratches he had received and the evidence he had
acquired of the superior prowess of his adversary, immediately
pursued and overtook him, when the conflict recommenced.
The farmer now a second time grappled the bear round the
body with his arms, as though to detain him until a satisfactory
explanation could be had. This was too much for bruin, and
he began to be in real earnest. Just at this juncture the companions of the farmer, who with a laudable regard for their
own safety had retreated at the onset of the engagement, seeing
the perilous situation of their employer flew to the rescue,
levelling blows at the head of the bear, which soon brought him
to the ground. They almost immediately despatched him, taking
off his scalp as a trophy. He was in good condition, as well
as large in size, weighing between two and three hundred
pounds. The farmer was severely wounded in the affray, but
not dangerously; and he lived many years afterwards to boast
of his exploit."
The black bear, the black and grey wolf, the elk, the moose,
and the deer, the otter, minx, white-fisher, racoon, martin, the
rabbit, with a variety of squirrels, are still abundant in the
regions of the lakes, as also a small species of monkey in some
of the Southern States; but the panther, the grisly bear, the
buffalo-or more properly the bison, and musk ox (bos moschatos), the latter said to be a variety of the English cow, and
used in breeding with European cattle, are found only occasionally in districts where cultivation has extended; while the beaver
has now become almost entirely extinct.




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In North Carolina, however, wolves are said to abound,
inhabiting the swamps on the slopes of the Alleghanies.
Eighteen of these animals were killed by settlers in the district during last year, in their attempts on the hogs of the
farmsteads.
These animals once roamed fearless through this domain, as
there was none to dispute with them their inheritance; but they
have long since retreated before the axe of the woodman, and
the busy scenes of towns, and villages, and corn-fields, created
by the art of man.
The vast savannahs and prairies towards the south of the
Rocky Mountains, and the wild steppe-lands of Nebraska and
Kansas, with other almost wholly unappropriated regions, are
also still covered with herds of bisons, elks, moose, antelopes,
and deer of different species, with argali or wild sheep and goats;
the former generally understood to have been introduced from
Europe. But the argali or wild sheep are supposed by some
naturalists to hav; migrated from Asia, over the ice at Behring's
Straits, being id ntical with the Asiatic species now existing;
though by otherF they are thought to be the original savage stock
whence the dormestic variety has descended. Thus the Asiatic.
argali, the ophy s ammon of naturalists, which was the ophion of
the ancients, and the ophis pagargus of the mountains of western
America, is said to be the same with the tragelaphus of Africa
and the mousimon or moujlon of Buffon, of the large islands of
the Mediterranean; and they all equally seem to bear evidence
of being primitive races, and all readily breed with the domestic
animal. The argali differs as much from the domestic sheep as
the wild boar from the domestic hog, being equal in stature with
the deer,-assimilated in habits and manners to the wild goat,and having large convoluted horns. Like animals of kindred
species it feeds principally on the tender grass that springs up
after the fires which frequently desolate the plains. These regions also swarm with various kinds of the lesser quadrupeds;
the ermine, the skunk or weasel, the otter, the racoon, the opossum, the fox, the musk-rat, the marmot or prairie dog, and the
sloth.*  The latter is a most remarkable animal, combining
several peculiarities of conformation which are to be met with.
in no other part of the creation. There are, however, comparatively few of the smaller ruminating animals in America, but it


* The sloth is suppcsed to be only now found in South America.




ANIMALS.


165


abounds in the rodent or gnawing tribes, on which the carnivorous animals partially subsist.
Indigenous carnivorous mammals, such as the bear, the wolf,
the panther (felis discolor), the lynx, the spotted wild-cat (felis
rufa), so destructive to the young domestic stock of the backwoodsman; and the puma or American lion (felis concolor),*
which bears so strong a resemblance to the African lioness, and
which, with the grisly bear found in no other portion of the
globe, probably surpasses its kindred of other countries in ferocity, though mostly inferior in strength and size, are numerous
in all the uncultivated and unfrequented parts of the country,
especially in the middle and more southern ranges of the Alleghanies, as well as in the Rocky Mountains, where scrubby pine
and dwarf cedar (juniperus prostrata), with their rooting
branches, form an almost impenetrable underwood; but they
are found more particularly in California, among the mountains
and valleys of the Sierra Nevada, and in the original forests
spread over the several elevations of the chain from Louisiana
to the Carolinas, running north-east and south-west.
One of the most formidable enemies to the farmer is the wild
hog; but perhaps the most cunning and destructive of the wild
animals is the prairie wolf,-a distinct species (canis latrans),
between a fox and common wolf It inhabits the still unpeopled
territories that lie between the Mississippi river and the shores
of the Pacific Ocean, in the wooded ravines of California and the
Rocky Mountains. These animals pursue their prey in flocks;
and the tales of their sagacity and cunning almost exceed belief.
It is remarkable, however, that there are no quadrupeds in
America that can compare with the most gigantic species of the
other hemisphere;-nothing like the elephant, hippopotamus,
giraffe, or rhinoceros. Nor are there in the northern divisions
of the continent, monkeys or apes, or even serpents of the boa
and anaconda species peculiar to other climes.
Bones, however, as will be hereafter seen, have been found
embedded in the soil, of animals that have no existence in
the present day,-as the great mastodon, found in Louisiana;
the tapir, allied to an extinct species called the palseotherium;


* The puma (felis concolor) is said to inhabit the southern and middle regions
of the States. It is called the American lion; but though free and graceful it is
deficient in that haughty, stern, decided bearing which renders the lord of the
African forest so truly majestic. It is even distinguished by an opposite contour.




^


166                THE UNITED STATES.
an animal in Ohio not unlike the elephant; and other quadrupeds, which evidently roamed over the country not many centuries since, or are the buried ruins of a former world.
At the same time it may be here observed, that America has
not only produced in former ages other orders of animal existence, but also vegetable life in forms that are now extinct.
Of the North American river animals, such as the bull-frog,
varieties of turtle, &c., little need be said.
While the woods and fields display all the beauties and
utilities of nature, and sometimes resound with the melody of
birds, they are rendered dreadfully insecure in the less populated
regions by the venom of serpents, and the deadly powers of
destructive tribes.
The uncultivated tracts to the south swarm with the most
noxious reptiles,-snakes, alligators, scorpions, and centipedes,
-all of which are much more dangerous and much larger than
any which occur in corresponding latitudes of the Old World,
or even in the West Indian Islands.   Of these reptiles, the
rattlesnake and the alligator are the most formidable and dangerous. The former comprises five or six different varieties,
and is proverbial for the deadly venom of its bite. Besides
these, seventeen species are said to have lately appeared in
South Carolina alone, though not all venomous. The alligator,
or American crocodile, harbours in the southern rivers, and is
sometimes found twelve feet in length.
In the Egyptian mythology, the scorpion is represented as
the symbol of the genius of evil; and certainly of all the
obnoxious of the reptile tribes none is so repulsive as this
animal in its appearance and habits.*
Scarcely less forbidding in its aspect, or less venomous in its
bite, is the centipede (scolopendra morsitans), called by its
popular name erroneously, from the miscalculated number of
its feet. This reptile is sometimes found in the States a quarter
of a yard in length,-commonly six inches,-and about the
thickness of the finger. It is covered with a soft down or
hair, and, apparently destitute of eyes, is furnished with two
antennae or feelers with which to supply the deficiency of sight.
The head is round, and the mouth furnished with two sharp


* The best antidote to its venom or sting is vulgarly said to be rum, in which
one or more of its own species is steeped. Hence a phial containing this remedy
is often found in the cottages of the poorer classes in the West Indies.




INSECTS.


167


teeth or fangs, with which it inflicts the wounds which render
it so formidable.*
Insects of almost endless species, some of them so noxious
as to render whole tracts of land almost uninhabitable, and so
numerous as to cover the whole of the uncultivated earth,
swarm in the more temperate regions as well as nearer the torrid
zone.
Musquitoes and sand-flies, at particular seasons of the year,
are even more formidable here than in the West Indies; and
in the marshes and mangrove swamps of Florida and other
provinces of the south, every pool of stagnant water is
covered with struggling vermin; while the houses in these
localities swarm with ants, cockroaches, and other creeping
abominations.
Butterflies in some of the Southern States appear in such
swarms as seems to justify the assertion of a celebrated naturalist,
that "if nature had not formed numerous and powerful checks
to this insect, its increase in three years would fill the world."
Nor are they distinguished only for their fecundity.  Their
variety and beauty also are almost beyond belief. The heliconia
charitonia is distinguished both for its beauty and singularity of
form. Its contrasts of colour are more brilliant than can be
conceived-yellow, lemon, and velvety black. The most splendid is the emperor species, the colours of which are of exquisite
tint, and its wings like dotted pearl.  It is thus beautifully
described in Latin verse by Archdeacon Wrangham:" Proles arbusti, papilio ut forem
Violas, et lilia et rosas halens
Erraticus, usque de flore, ad florem
Qnae pulchra, qute suavia sunt, osculans."
Bees and wasps, in all their varieties, are numerous in the
forests; and the former are extensively cultivated throughout
the Union.
The rivers, lakes, and bays abound with fish in endless
variety, the principal of which are unknown to European
ichthyology; and with the innumerable lesser fry, they have also
their share of the monsters, or sovereigns and princes of the


* A sailor who was bitten by one of these reptiles felt excessive pain, and his
life was supposed to be in danger. He, however, recovered hy the application of
roasted onions to the affected part-a very favourite remedy with sailors for the
stings and bites of reptiles.




168


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deep. Among them, not generally known, is a species of sunfish, of prodigious size and strength,-probably identical with
the colossal ray or devil-fish of the tropic waters, and presenting
a possible -explanation of the fabulous kraken of the Scandinavian seas; there is also, as reported, the celebrated sea-serpent;
whilst the whale, and that vampire of the ocean, the shark,
abound in all their varieties of form and species.
Among the fish of the lakes and northern rivers, those which
are the most valued by epicures are the black bass or rockfish, the maskelonge (a fish of a mackerel flavour), the seatrout, the salmon-trout, the salmon, perch, pike, and whitefish, the sucker and the mullet.  Others of excellent flavour,
such as the cat-fish, large red horsesucker, buffalo, cod, halibut,
sturgeon, together with thousands that cannot be detailed, are
generally distributed throughout the country. Added to these
are shell-fish of endless variety, and innumerable other tenants
of the waters.
The pearl fisheries were formerly a great source of wealth to
their possessors, but for many years past they have been of so
little value that they are nearly all abandoned.
Birds are numerous; but no where in the New World, whatever the temperature of the climate, do they seem generally to
possess the gift of song. The American forests, throughout
every portion of the Union, are dreamy, lifeless solitudes, over
which seems to brood an eternal sleep. As in the West Indies,
the principal singing-bird is the American nightingale, or
mocking-bird (Turdus polyglottos), called by the Indians
concontalolly, or the hundred-tongued. It is a species of thrush,
of which there are several varieties. But in the United States,
as in the West Indies, the forest or the lone wood is not the
haunt of this celebrated warbler.
c" --     His strain
Flows for the tenant of the plain
And cultivated mountain. He
Awakes not with his melody,
The gloom of the deep woods,-the lone
Recesses where the wild doves moan,
The untrodden solitudes,-the peaks
Untenanted. The haunts he seeks,The gardens that to man belong,And cheers the labourer with his song."
Among the feathered tribes distinguished for their beauty of
plumage, are the ivory-billed woodpecker (picus principalis);




BIRDS.


169


the blue jay, the bitter enemy of the owl, and, like its kindred
species in Europe, possessing great capabilities of vociferation
and mimicry; the black and red birds; the king-bird and the
humming-bird. The ivory-billed woodpecker is not only remarkable for the beauty of his appearance, but also for the
dignity of his bearing and his almost incredible powers of
destruction. The humming-bird, which is distinguished both for
its minuteness and for its beauty of form and plumage, is found
in the States, as in the West Indies and the Southern Continent,
in almost all its numerous varieties. Scarcely less splendid in
tint is the Baltimore oriole, than remarkable for its pensile,
pendent nest.  The scarlet tanager or Virginian nightingale
(Pyranga rubra), the whole family of brilliant cardinal birds,
so called from the splendour of their colours, and the Carolina
parrot, with others of equally superb plumage, seem to hang
on the trees like a brighter kind of blossoms, and rival in lustre
rubies, emeralds, and sapphires.
Among those of the varieties unknown to European orni
thology, or to that, probably, of any other part of the world,
are the nightingale or mocking-bird, the humming-bird, the blue
jay, the butcher-bird or shrike, the whippoorwill, the pennantwinged night-jar, the tanager, the wild turkey,* the cliff-swallow,
and the burrowing owl.t  The swallow and the night-jar are
distinguished by the peculiarity of their migrations, and the
burrowing owl for its habitat in the villages of the marmots.
In the far, deep, cool sylvan bowers that skirt the lakes,
the soul of the wanderer is often expanded and soothed by
the cooing of the turtle dove; lulled into melancholy by the
monotonous dirge or shrill reiterations of the whippoorwill, so
deeply interesting from its associations with Indian mythology;
or thrown into ecstasy by the mimicry and liquid melody of the
mocking-bird.
The prairie and pinnated grouse, the canvas-back duck (that
ne plu1ultra of the gourmand), the wood duck (anas sponsa),
with its magnificent crest, zeider duck (anas mollissima),
together with the beautiful teals (anas decoris), pheasants,
partridges, quails, and wild geese, are among the general deli

* It has been said that not only the turkey, but also the duck and goose of
Europe are descended from the wild breeds of America.
t For the character and habits of this bird (the burrowing owl), which is
principally found in the trans-Alississippian forests, see Lucien Bonaparte on
Wilson's American Birds.
I




170


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cacies of the table. The largest aquatic bird is the wild swan,
which is sometimes found of a weight between thirty and forty
pounds.
Wild fowl of the genus Columba, so widely diffused over
both the temperate and tropical regions of the earth, here
abound. Thus there is the bald-pate (Columba leucacephala
of Lin.), and the pea-dove (Columba zeneida of Bonaparte),*
whilst those particularly of the passenger species are so
numerous in some districts, that they may be said, like the
army of Xerxes, to darken the sun, or, more poetically, that
in their flight the light of noonday becomes dim as under
an eclipse.
" Their rising all at once is like the sound
Of thunder heard remote."
According to Mr. Wilson, the celebrated ornithologist, they
sometimes desolate and lay waste a tract of country forty or
fifty miles long, and five or six broad, by making it their
breeding place.
While in the State of Ohio, Mr. Wilson saw a flock of these
birds, which extended, he judged, more than a mile in breadth,
and continued to pass over his head at the rate of one mile in a
minute during four hours, thus making the length about two
hundred and forty miles; the whole flock, according to his
moderate estimate, amounting to 2,230,272,000 pigeons!
In their swift motion they create a current of air, and produce
a rushing and startling sound like a cataract. These flights
constitute one of the most remarkable phenomena of the western
country. The woods are sometimes loaded from the top to the
bottom with their nests.  For a great number of miles, the
heaviest branches of the trees, broken and fallen to the ground,
are strewed with young birds, dead and alive. A forest thus
loaded and half destroyed by these' birds, presents an extraordinary spectacle; but when they are on the wing, often wheeling and performing evolutions almost as complicated as pyrotechnic movements, and creating whirlwinds as they move, they
present an image of fearful power.t
Mr. Audubon, another celebrated naturalist, also testifies to


* This bird is fully and beautifully described by C. Lucien Bonaparte in his
American Ornithology, of which there are such exquisite engravings in plate 17
of vol. iii.
t Featherstonebaugh's Tour of the Slave States.




BIRDS.


171


this fact. "When on the banks of the green river in Kentucky,
where the trees are of great magnitude, and where there was
little underwood, the air was literally filled with pigeons."
Aquatic birds, palmepides and grallatores (web-footed and
waders), swarm over the coasts and inland waters. The most
gorgeous specimens of feathered life, in endless variety, harbour
in the beautiful recesses of the lakes and woodlands.
The chief birds of the rapacious kind (accipitres), are eagles,
vultures, hawks, and falcons (falco anatum   of Bonaparte,
and falco Columbarium, the former similar to the Perigrine
falcon of Europe), and owls; and of the Gralle, there are
loons, bitterns, cranes, &c.
The crane is the scourge of the cornfield in the far west; the
black vulture or turkey buzzard (cathartes aura of Illiger and
Cuvier), as in Jamaica, and some other of the West India
Islands, is the scavenger of the districts he inhabits; and the
designations of the duck or great-footed hawk and the pigeonhawk, are sufficiently indicative of their propensities.
The white-headed eagle (haliceetus leucocephalus) frequents
the cliffs and forests of this vast continent in the neighbourhood
of the sea. It subsists principally on fish, but often on the smaller
stock of the farmer, and on carrion, contrary to the rest of the
eagle species. This bird is peculiar to America, and it is not
a little singular that it was selected as the national emblem.
"For my part," says Dr. Franklin, "I wish the bald eagle had
not been chosen as the representative of our country. He is a
bird of a bad moral character; he does not get his living
honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead tree,
where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labour of the
fishing hawk; and when that diligent bird has at length taken
a fish, and is bearing it to his nest in support of its mate and
young ones, the bald eagle pursues him, and takes it from him.
With all this injustice, he is never in good case; but, like
those among men who live by sharking and robbing, he is
generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank
coward; the little king-bird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks
him boldly, and drives him out of the district. He is, therefore, by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest
Cincinnati of America."
The fish-hawk (pandion halicetus), also indigenous to
America, is the harbinger of fine weather and of abundance to
the fisherman.
I 2




*i


1.72              THE UNITED STATES.
The great-eared owl (bubo maximus) is chiefly found along
the mountainous shores of the Ohio and in the deep forests of
Indiana. As soon as the evening draws on, this screeching
solitaire startles the weary pilgrim as he slumbers by his forest
fire, "making night hideous " with his din.
In.this enumeration of the birds of the New World, it can
scarcely fail to appear remarkable that no bird of the ostrich
kind is found throughout its whole extent, unless we except
the rhea of the southern division of the continent, of the
family Struthionidce, which more resembles the emeu of New
Holland, or the cassowary of the Indian archipelago, though
by some classed as of the same species as the ostrich.*
Nor can it fail to be thought equally singular that the family
of the Brevipennes is seldom to be met with in any part of the
continent. Mr. Wilson, who has diligently studied the ornithology of the United States, speaks of six kinds indigenous to
the country; namely, the grakle, tanager, turkey, parrot,
manaken, and humming-bird.
Most of the birds here named are similar to those of the
West Indies; but while many of them are identical with those
in Jamaica, numbers are also specifically distinct. At the same
time, many of the former migrate to the warmer regions of the
tropics. Among these are the rice-birds of the Carolinas, the
wood-thrush, called by.the labouring people the May-bird (turdus mustelinus), the Carolina cuckoo, the fulvous or cliff swallow, the tyrant fly-catcher, the whippoorwill, and the scarlet
tanager; these, with many others, pay their annual visits to
the shores of the West Indies, and relieve the solitude, of their
woodlands during several months of the year, and some of them
make two migrations to tropical regions during that period.


* Very recently, however, two specimens of what are described as the real
American ostrich are reported to have been killed at Forde de Moines, in Iowa;
they stood five feet high, were four and a half feet long, and had bills six inches
in length, straight, and very sharp.




CHAPTER XV.
Sec. I. GeNERAL GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OP TaH CONTINENT.-Compositton, structure1
position, and disposition of rocks. Prevailing character of mountain formations. Hypothesis
as to the origin of the great mountain ranges. Supposed relation between those of America
and Europe. Peculiar geological and mineral character of the different States. Great metalliferous belt. Its extent. Gold deposits. Copper and lead mines. Coal fields and basins.
Anthracitic and bituminous. Fossil quadrupeds and mammlferous animals. Where discovered.
Descriptions of the different species. Indian legends of a monster animal of a former age.
Gigantic fossil cetaceans. Remarkable cemetery of animal remains. Specimen of the genus
cervus converted into a silicious fossil. Silicified plants.  Fossil fishes. Crinoids.
SEC. II. Vast fossil cypress forests in New Orleans. Their frequent occurrence in the
abrasions of the Mississippi and in Louisiana. Fossilized human skeleton. Supposed antiquity of the submerged forests. Peculiar circumstances connected with them. Collection of
human bones in Virginia.   Indian Herculaneum and legend. Fossil impressions on sandstone. Vast fragments of fossilliferous rock in sulphuretted springs in Virginia. Travertine
rock. Stalactites. Petrified mosses. Fresh water shells. Deposits of marine shells in the
interior States. Disclosures of interesting geological phenomena as connected with Canada.
Infusorial deposits in rivers. Volcanoes. Earthquakes. Reflections.
SECTION I.
The leading features in the geological structure of America
are as follows:-First, a continuous belt of high mountains and
plateaus traverses its western border, from Behring's Straits to
Terra del Fuego, forming the most uninterrupted extent of primitive mountains in the world. The northern portion, consisting
of the Rocky Mountains, appears to be chiefly granitic; while in
the Cordilleras of Mexico, and the Andes of South America,
the primitive strata are, for the most part, covered with immense
accumulations of transition porphyries, trachytes, and lavas,
the products of numerous volcanoes, many of which are still
in   constant activity.         Secondly, a wide          expanse     of   low   and
generally plain country succeeds immediately on the east to the
above-mentioned zone of mountains, through which, in both
continents, flow some of the most magnificent streams in the
world.      This    region    consists    of   immense       deposits     of  newer
rocks, over which is thrown everywhere, like a mantle, the
alluvial    formation,      or   a  covering     of   sand     and   gravel, with
which     are    intermingled       rolled    masses      of   rocks.      Thirdly,
a chain of mountains of lower elevation and irregular con



174


THE UNITED STATES.


tinuity, forms the eastern boundary to the low country, the
principal-masses and highest points of which are composed of
granite.  Fourthly, the clusters of islands occupying the seas
between North and South America, which are almost, without
exception, of volcanic origin,* complete the list of geological
peculiarities.
The geology of the United States presents little of a special
character. Rocks of the primitive, transition, secondary, and
tertiary classes have for the most part the same general composition,
structure, position, and distribution as in Europe and Asia; as
have also the more recent formations,-volcanic, diluvial, and
alluvial,-which are supposed of later date, and consist chiefly
of fragments of rock broken to pieces by the action of either
fire or water.t
The Rocky Mountains, which are regarded as continued in
the Andes, extending to the Straits of Magellan, are partially
covered with sandstone, consisting of the ruins of granite.
They are thus of the primitive order.
It is conjectured by some geologists that the grand ranges of
the mountains of the earth have risen from below, through rents
in previously existing strata; and that not all at once, but at
different times; and, further, that all mountain ranges having
the same general direction, have made their appearances from
below at the same time; so that the Alleghanies, since the
general direction of their ridges (not of the entire chain) is
parallel to the great circle which joins Natchez to the Persian
Gulf, would seem to belong, in respect to date, to the PyreneeoAppenine system, for the ridges of the Pyrenees and the
Appenines have this same direction. And it is the opinion of
Adolph Erman, that in some cases an American and an Asiatic
mountain chain may have resulted from the same internal
fissure, and have been erupted by the shortest channel. Elie
de Beaumont, to whom this ingenious speculation is primarily
due, has been able to verify the accuracy of some of these
inferences from the descriptions of American geologists.:
The springs and gaseous waters in the centre of the Alleghanies, arnd certain peculiarities of the White Rock Mountains,
such as their horizontal fossilliferous strata, are regarded as
' Facts, by Sir Richard Phillips.
t Excursion in the Slave States by Featherstonehaugh.
X Facts, by Sir Richard Phillips.




MOUNTAIN FORMATIONS.


175


evidences of the theory of their upheaval by some vast internal
commotion.
Along the whole chain of the Alleghanies, which have their
south-western termination about two hundred miles from the
Gulf of Mexico, and run through the continent in the general
direction of north-east far into the part of Canada which lies
south of the St. Lawrence, the rocks are principally of secondary
formation: they abound in trap, sandstone, limestone, and all
the aggregates which belong to this peculiar class; as well as in
their ordinary accompaniments-coal, arborescent fossil forms,
gypsum and salt, lead and iron.
In the White Mountain chain of New Hampshire, and the
Green Group of Vermont, between which lies the rich valley of
Connecticut, and which are the north-eastern commencement of
the Alleghanies, the rocks are of granite, with some veins of
mica, talc, and schist, that run between the masses of the
primitive formation; and from the prevalence of this rock in
New Hampshire it is called the " Granite State."
Mount Washington, the highest of the White Mountains,
and some other parts of the chain, consist largely of marble,
slate, and limestone, abounding in organic remains. Trap, and
a species of iron-stone, of the secondary series, which appears
to have been formed by the action of fire, are common in New
England.   Near Amherst, in New Hampshire, is an elevation
of above one thousand feet above the Connecticut river, composed of pudding-stone; and the small stones within it, of
various sizes and colours, are round and smooth as though
washed by the ocean. In the vicinity of New Haven, the
semi-capital of Connecticut, are bold bluffs of trap rocks, rising
almost perpendicularly to the height of from three hundred to
four hundred feet, standing forth in gloomy grandeur amid the
brilliant forests,-the ruins or the pyramids of primeval ages.
Diamond Island, in Lake George, is almost entirely formed of
crystalized quartz, from which it receives its designation.
The ridges of the chain which traverse the interior of the
State of Pennsylvania are principally secondary, thus rendering
the State of Pennsylvania more abundantly productive of
mineral wealth than any other in the Union. It is remarkable,
however, that beds of chalk of this formation, so common in
England and on the European continent, are not found in the
United States.
New Jersey, Long Island, and Delaware, possess indications




176'


THE UNITED STATES.


of tertiary formation,-sand, clay, marl,-which contain, if not
oolite (of which some geologists dispute the existence anywhere
in America), yet lignite and gritstone,-the remains of marine
animals; together with vast quantities of shells, corals, fishes,
and other organic deposits.   The highland range on the
Hudson is composed principally of gneiss, and is supposed to
have formed originally the south shore of the Great Lake,
extending north beyond Lake Champlain in Vermont.;
Tertiary deposits, indeed, extend over a great part of Maryland, and along the coast of the north-west of New England..The tertiary beds of Maryland abound in the usual types of
European tertiary, -marine shells, &c., —which present a
striking analogy to those of the Paris and London basins.t
It is remarkable that the city of Charleston is built upon geological formations identical in age, as well as otherwise similar,
to those upon which the cities-of London and Paris are located.
The river Patapsco, in this State, flows over beds of granite,
clay, slate, and gneiss; —the latter in' some places containing
small transparent garnets. Sometimes limestone occurs resting
upon deposits of tertiary rocks, marly clays, and limestone with
organic remains, resembling those met with in the tertiary deposits on the north shore of the Mediterranean.t
The- palaeozoic occurs in the north western portion of the
State of Georgia, and appears referable to the carboniferous and
the upper silurian formations. The crystalline rocks occupy
the largest portion of this State, and are the most important of
its formations, both with regard to agriculture and mineral
products.
The Blue Ridge of the Alleghanies, the centre of the range,
and which has an elevation of four thousand or five thousand
feet, with its summit two miles wide, is of limestone formation;
alternating with slate, hornblende, greenstone, and other ancient
slaty materials; sandstone boulders and pebbles,-the remains
of strata once forming an integral part of the whole highlands,
similar to some of the formations in the State of New York,
abounding in imbedded minerals and fossils apparently contemporaneous with them; and are supposed to belong to the
silurian system, as formed by Sir Roderick Murchison and
Professor Sedgwick. The whole of the ridges in this locality


M. litchell's Geography.       t Mantell's Geology.
t Featherstonebaugb's Slave States.




MINERAL STRUCTURE.


177


have an anticlinal structure, by which the super-position of the
rocks is greatly disturbed.
That part of the chain in front of the Atlantic, and which
may be properly called the Atlantic primary chain, in distinction from that inclining to the central parts of Virginia, and
which is more properly designated the South-west Mountain,
consists of a mixture of talcose, quartzose, hornblende, green,
altered epidotic rocks, ancient sandstones, and chlorite slates,
exceedingly intersected with strong quartz veins; being also
non-fossilliferous, it is in the strictest sense of the word, and
according to the received opinions of the most accredited
European geologists, to be classed among the primary rocks, in
the sense that these have preceded the formations containing
fossilliferous beds.*
On the other hand, the ridges which immediately succeed to
the west of this Atlantic primary chain, consist of fossilliferous
beds and sedimentary rocks without exception, and undoubtedly
belong to the formations which have hitherto been called transition, and which Sir Roderick Murchison has now included in
his system of silurian rocks.
Extensive tracts of transition series exist also in many parts
of the States, abounding with all those simple minerals existing
in similar formations in other countries;-calcareous rocks, with
fossils like those of European transition; and mountain
carboniferous limestone.
The Cumberland Mountains, in Tennessee, are of much the
same formation as the Alleghanies, but with masses of compact
blue limestone, as in the town of Sparta, for example.
The mineral structure of the State of Arkansas is curious and
novel; anthracitic coal is found in most of the valleys, and at
the foot of ridges conforming to the flexure of the strata; while,
the country being undulating, the horizontal non-fossilliferous
limestone is always found in the valleys, and silicious rocks on
the highlands; and in many places a beautiful novaculite of a
pearly semi-transparent nature, opalescent in places, lies in vertical laminae, presenting singularly pure, glossy, natural faces,
and occasionally tinged with metallic solutions.t
The banks of the Missouri consist of strata of clay and loam,
exhibiting, also, various beds of fossilliferous limestone, thought
to be the equivalent of carboniferous limestone in England.
-  Featherstonehaugh's Slave States.  t Ibid.
3




178


THE UNITED STATES.


Here also is seen a substitution of silicious for calcareous matter, which is very striking, as also in the northern part of
Arkansas.
Limestone and sandstone compose the secondary formations
of a large portion of the level of all the vast extent of country
drained by the Mississippi. All the rocks west of this mighty
river have also a strong tendency to a silicious character,
associated with iron. Near the Rocky Mountains the whole
surface of the ground is strewed with rocks of gneiss, mica slate,
and white granite.
The general order of the strata throughout the Southern
States is but a repetition of the ordinary succession of slates,
limestones, and sandstones; the last of which are very ferruginous. Sometimes the surface of the summits of the mountains
consists of slate, at other times of sandstone; the modifications
which the ridges have received appearing to be in proportion to
the violence of movement which has elevated them, and the
subsequent action of the retiring waters.
Limestone generally forms the bottom of the valleys; but
where the ridges have taken an anticlinal form, and have been
dislocated, the limestone has been often found on their flanks.
In New York a stealite, or soap-stone, has recently been
found, which is likely to supersede everything else as a building
material. It is so soft that it can be cut with a chisel, planed,
bored, sawed, or turned by a lathe. At the same time, it will
resist very considerable pressure, particularly when mixed with
harder ingredients.
Trending in a south-west direction from the Potomac, the
Alleghanies form a metalliferous belt, extending from this river
to the heads of the Telapoosa in the State of Alabama, passing
through the intervening States of Virginia, North and South
Carolina, and Georgia. The length of this belt is six hundred
miles, and its breadth eighty miles.
In every part of this extensive line, gold is found in alluvial
deposits, and in various streams; whilst the contiguous rocky
strata abound in quartzose veins, more or less auriferous.
Gold is found, indeed, at intervals from Canada to Georgia,
a distance of one thousand miles,' and though insignificant in
quantity as compared with California, it occurs under the same
conditions. Very recently it has been discovered in the head
waters of the Red River, in the territory west of Arkansas, as
also in the sweet waters in the great Salt Lake valley.




MINERAL STRUCTURE.


179


In Georgia and the Carolinas it is uniformly found imbedded
in, or associated with quartz rock, forming veins in the talcose
and micaceous schists and altered sandstones, and in pyrites
consisting principally of gold. The general trend of the old
metamorphic rocks in the United States is northward by southwest, and the gold veins conform to this general direction.*
It has been very recently ascertained by a party of American
citizens returning from an exploring expedition, that there is
gold also in Texas, in mountains seventy miles north of Galveston. It was found both on the surface and by digging. This
party brought back, as an evidence of their discovery, several
specimens, which were valued at 5950 dollars. They added, that
the deeper the digging the more abundant was the ore.
Gold is sometimes, though to an inconsiderable extent, found
in ores associated with silver, lead, copper, iron, and zinc; with
quartz, granite, slate, oxide of iron, and sulphate of 'iron.
This principally occurs in Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri,
Illinois, and in the White Mountain districts of New Hampshire. It has also recently been discovered at Bridgewater in
Vermont.
In the vicinity of several of the gold mines are threads of
crystalized or transparent quartz, as well as real rock crystal.
In some of the mountains of the Southren States lie hidden, it
is supposed, as in the Andes, unimaginable quantities of silver,
iron, copper, and quicksilver; whiting but the application of
science and the hand of industry for their development.
"Iron is abundant. At the Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob,
in Missouri, there are, according to careful estimates, above the
surface, 420,000,000 of tons of superior iron ore. How immense the quantities below the surface cannot be determined."
Very extensive copper mines are also found near Bristol, in
Connecticut, in which three hundred men are employed; and it
is supposed that if they were more properly and vigorously
worked, they would give employment to thirty thousand miners.
At Litchfield, in the same State, a mine is said to be still more
extensive and valuable, a net profit having been already realised
from it of 120,000 dollars.
Near Lake Superior the country abounds in rich copper ore,
-in agates and cornelians,-and there have been discovered,
along the shores of the latter, large quantities of magnetic iron.


* American Year Book of Facts in Science and Art, 1850.




180


THE UNITED STATES.


In Michigan is the finest copper mine in the States: at the cliff
near Lake Superior masses have been broken up of sixty or
even eighty tons in weight; its abundance almost exceeds
belief. The whole district of the Lakes, indeed, is said to be
the richest in the world in mineral wealth. Burton's lead mine,
in Louisiana, is so extensive, that the mineral is calculated to
cover two thousand acres; while mineral resources remain yet
undiscovered, among the rocky solitudes of the mountains, of
inconceivable extent and value.
Lead mines were once worked in Missouri and Illinois; and
those of the latter State are said to have been greatly important
and valuable; but, owing to some unknown circumstances, they
are now, and have been for some time abandoned. Lead is
abundant in Wisconsin and Iowa; and a rich vein has lately
been discovered in some excavations on the line of Ogdenburgh,
Clayton, and Rome railroad, in the vicinity of Redwood, New
York.
Still more recently, a mountain of mineral paint was discovered near Ely Town, Alabama, which is described as almost
inexhaustible; as also in the Bridgewater Mountains, New
Jersey; the latter composed of silicia, alumina, and peroxide of
iron, in chemical combination. This paint is stated to be perfectly fire-proof. Its other properties are said to be, adhesiveness, flexibility, and durability, affording an effectual protection
against rain, sea-water, and damp, and becoming, after a few
months' exposure, hard and lasting as stone.
The rarest minerals in the United States are brookite, the
arkenstite of Professor Shepherd, as also tellurium and solenum,
the latter of which has only recently been found in the States.
With the exception of the tertiary subcretaceous areas, the
other mineral formations in the United States do not rise higher
in the geological column than the beds of the carboniferous
series; the entire oolite being absent.
Coal fields are found on the banks of the Potomac and Ohio,
in the Kentucky rivers, and in some other localities. In the north
of Kamar territory, on Nahenman River, there has lately been
discovered a fine vein, three feet thick. It has also been found
near Little Rock, in Arkansas. The Cumberland coal basin, in
Tennessee, lies in the trough or valley formed by the two ridges
into which the Alleghany range forks as it advances in a northeasterly direction towards Northern Virginia, and, crossing the
western part of Maryland, enters Pennsylvania.




COAL.


181


It is, indeed, said that the coal regions of America are divided
into three principal masses:-First, the great central tract, extending from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the west of Pennsylvania,
and being apparently continued to New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia. The second tract strikes north-westward from Kentucky,
crosses the Ohio, and stretches through Illinois to the Mississippi River. A third region, smaller than the others, lies
between the three great Lakes-Erie, Huron, and Michigan.
And in all cases they conform to their place in the geological
series of rocks belonging to England, having sedimentary strata
beneath them.  In some places the coal itself lies upon a
coarse granite of the porphoritic kind, containing great quan'
titles of red crystal of felspar, resembling the Shapfell granite
of England.
The coal is of two qualities,-bituminous or cannel coal,
burning with a bright and vivid flame; and anthracitic or stone
coal. In the Alleghany Mountains of Pennsylvania, the latter is
seen imbedded in a ferruginous sandstone, and is commonly
known by the name of Peach Orchard, or Peach Mountain coal;
the former is more abundant on the hills around Pittsburgh,
along the banks of the Ohio, and in Massachusetts.
The coal fields of North America exhibit the singular and
striking geological phenomenon of a carboniferous area fifteen
hundred miles long, and eight hundred miles broad, divided into
two bituminous districts by an elevated belt, in which the central
part of the coal has lost its bitumen, through the agency of the
force which raised it from below.@
These coal fields have been otherwise described as the Ohio,
the Illinois, and the Michigan. That of Ohio is seven hundred
and forty miles long, and one hundred and eighty miles wide;
covering an area of sixty thousand square miles,-a surface
greater than that of England and Wales. The Illinois coal field
covers an area of five hundred thousand square miles; and the
Michigan occupies fifteen thousand square miles. Inexhaustible
beds of excellent coal underlie a large part of the western valley.
Professor Swallow, late geologist for Missouri, estimates the
coal beds of that State as sufficient to supply 100,000,000 tons
per annum for thirteen hundred years.
The elliptical coal area, by the Pittsburgh'seam, is two hundred and twenty-five miles in its largest diameter; while its


* Featberstonehaugh, vol. ii.




182


THE UNITED STATES.


maximum breadth is about one hundred miles; its superficial
extent being about fourteen thousand square miles.
Besides these, as already intimated, there are anthracitic
basins in Pennsylvania and Virginia; the farthest being one
hundred miles from the Ohio coal field. The anthracitic field
is five thousand feet deep, and contains fifty seams of coal. The
bituminous coal field of Ohio is two thousand eight hundred
feet deep. The working of these coal fields is increasing very
rapidly; three million tons of anthracitic, and one million tons
of bituminous coal are raised annually.
Very recently, pure anthracitic coal has been found in the
waters of Patterson Creek, in the county of Bottelourt, Virginia,
near the James' River and Kenawha Canal, which it is supposed
will confer a great benefit upon the mercantile interests of the
State. There has also recently been found a vein of this mineral
in Pocotalico Creek (a tributary of the Kenawha in the same
State), rising in a wall of from ten to fifteen feet above the
surface of the earth, smooth, and nearly perpendicular, stretching
out to an immense distance, and dropping down to a depth as
yet unknown.
Mineral wealth lies buried everywhere in the bowels of the
earth, which needs but the true divining rod of organized and
scientific labour for its discovery.
Although it cannot perhaps be said that the United States
abound with fossil quadrupeds and mammalian animals, carrying
the thoughts backward beyond the limits of recorded time, and
far into the earth below the dust of the representatives of the
human race, many specimens have nevertheless been found.
M. Koch, a geologist of Gottingen, discovered, in 1846, in
the State of Alabama, at the depth of eleven feet below the surface of the ground, the complete fossil skeleton of a serpent,
one hundred and twenty-five feet six inches long, the vertebrse
of which are from twenty-four to thirty inches thick, and eighteen inches in circumference. M. Koch is of opinion that the
animal must have lived in the sea, and that it was carnivorous; a
conclusion that tends, perhaps, to establish the fact of the present
existence of the sea-serpent, so generally regarded as fabulous.
In the museum at Philadelphia is a fine specimen of the mammoth. This wonder of the animal creation was found in the
spring of 1801, at Newburgh, on the Hudson, or North River,
in the State of New York; that part of the country abounding
in morasses. Another was discovered by Dr. Mitchell, of New




FOSSILS.


183


York, in the town of Goshen, in Orange County, about sixty
miles from New York, in a meadow of vegetable mould.
At a later date, the skeleton of a huge mastodon was dug up
near Ploughkeepsie, in the State of New York; another proof
that whole herds of that animal once existed in the valley of
the Hudson; while within the last few months some bones were
exhibited in New York which were discovered underground, in
the valley of the Mississippi, the jawbone alone weighing upwards of twelve hundred pounds.  This jawbone must have
belonged to some such animal as the behemoth, described in
the fortieth chapter of the Book of Job.
A fossilized jaw has been discovered in Indiana, which
Professor Agassiz describes as of a kind heretofore unknown;
and belonging to some extraordinary kind of shark, allied to
the sword-fish. He regards the discovery of almost as great
importance in fossil ichthyology as was that of the ichthyosaurus
and plesiosaurus in fossil erpetology.
A new species of fossil footmarks has been found in the
Connu Valley, made by an animal not less extraordinary than
the newly-discovered shark. Professor Hitchcock calls it the
gianbipus cauditus,-the tailed giant biped. The length of the
footmark is sixteen inches, and the distance between the steps
thirty-nine or forty inches; and the furrow made by the tail is
distinct and unbroken.
Professor Gibbs, of Carolina, a natural historian, has a
collection of the remains of antediluvian creatures, among which
are the megatherium and mastodon dug up in that State;Titanic creatures, whose single tooth is as large as a human
hand. He also asserts that eight species of mosasaurus have
been found in different States of the Union.
In what is called the basilosaurus bed of the Charleston Basin,
was found the most perfect skull yet discovered of the gigantic
fossil Cetacean, and which has determined the true character of
this wonderful animal; besides isolated teeth and bones of
basilosaurus, dinotherium, methagerium, equus, and nearly fifty
species of shark. The bed of the Charleston Basin has been
pronounced by Professor Agassiz the richest cemetery of animal
remains he had ever seen.*
There are, however, what are termed bone-caves, or caves of
fossil bones, near Carlisle, and in the Susquehanna, in Pennsy]

~ American Year Book of Facts in Science and Arts, 1850.




184


THE UNITED STATES.


vania, filled with those of wolves, foxes, rabbits, bears, muskrats, otters, lynxes, panthers, beavers, &c. Besides the remains
of mammalia, there are also numerous vestiges of other
vertebrate animals; birds in great quantities; wild turkeys of
enormous size: some of the latter must have weighed thirty or
forty pounds.
A paper was lately read before the Geological Society of
London, on the geology of Georgia, which described the alluvial
tracts along the coasts of that State, with their sunken forests,- as
largely abounding in fossil mammalian bones. And in every
instance the fossil bones have been found in the inland swamp
alluvium, near to the bottom, and resting on a yellow or white
sand of post-pliocene age. The burr-stone, or bitoides limestone formation of Georgia, has also been adverted to. The
cretaceous formation is known by its mosasaurus, and other
reptilian remains, and occupies but a small extent of country in
this State.
Skeletons of the great mastodon, or animal of Ohio, not unlike the elephant, are found in the bogs of Louisiana, and in
New Jersey; in the latter place they were imbedded in black
earth. In the construction of the Rutland and Burlington
Railway, in Vermont, a fossil elephant, of the Asiatic species,
was found in a state of good preservation.
Near the Rocky Mountains, bones of the genus cervus, have
been found converted into a silicious fossil, together with various
specimens of silicified plants, the evident physiological remains
of a former age.
Some curious specimens of mammoth fossil remains have
been lately discovered underground, in Texas, larger than the
mammoth, or behemoth, and proving indubitably, if-evidence
were required, the existence of an extinct species of animals.
In the soft argillaceous limestone of the same State are seen
fossil footprints, as distinct as if they had been made in plastic
clay. The stride is'so long, that a man of ordinary size can
with difficulty leap from one footprint to another. They are,probably like those discovered in the red sandstone formations
made by an extinct species of bird. The adjacent strata contain many marine fossils, among which are the ammonite, nautilus, and gryphite.*
In the States occupying the valley of the Connecticut from


* Featberstonehaugh.




FOSSILS.


185


New Haven to the north line of Massachusetts, a new red sandstone occurs; as also in the plains between the Mississippi and
the Alleghany mountains; which contains carboniferous shale,
with numerous plants belonging to the fossil genera, of calamited
cycopodites, voltzea, feucoides; and bituminous'shale, with fishes
resembling those of Mansfeldt in Germany.*
The Potsdam sandstone, which forms the basis of the lower
silurian rocks of the New York series, has usually been considered the oldest of the fossiliferous rocks in the geological
formations of America.                         O
Fossil crinoids have been discovered in the carbonaceous
and silurian strata of the State of Tennessee, and show a
wonderful development of that form of animal on the shores
of the rivers during the palaeozoic period. Thirty-one genera
have been discovered, sixteen of which are considered comparatively new.
SECTION iI.
In excavations made in New Orleans, and in the abrasions of
the banks of the Mississippi, successive growths of cypress timber
have been disclosed. Cypress trees of ten feet in diameter are
not uncommon in the swamps of Louisiana; and one of that
size was found a short time since in the lowest bed of the excavation at the gas-works at New Orleans. Some burnt or charred
wood was also found at a depth of sixteen feet; and at the
same depth the workmen discovered the skeleton of a man: the
cranium lay beneath the root of a cypress tree belonging to the
fourth great level below the surface, and was in good preservation.
The type of the cranium was that of the aboriginal American
race.t
Dr. Bennett Dowler has made an ingenious calculation of
the last emergence of the site of the city of New Orleans, in
which these cypress forests play an important part. He divides
the history of this event into three eras.  (1) The era of colossal grasses, trembling prairies, &c., as seen in the lagoons,
lakes, and sea coasts; (2) the era of the cypress basins; and
(3) the era of the live-oak platform.
Existing types from the Balize to the Highlands show that
the land was developed from the water at successive periods in
* Mantell's Geology.
t Westminster Review, July, 1854.




186


THE UNITED STATES.


the order we have named in belts: the grass belt preceded the
cypress, and the cypress was succeeded by the live-oak.
Supposing an elevation of five inches in a century, which is
about the rate calculated for the accumulated detrial deposits in
the valley of the Nile during seventeen centuries (as tested by the
Nilometer mentioned by Strabo), we shall have fifteen hundred
years for the era of aquatic plants until the appearance of the first
cypress forest, or, in other words, for the elevation of the grass
zone to the condition of the cypress basin; so that a careful
calculation of the successive periods of these eras, during which
ten subterranean forests, with the one now growing, have been
formed, establishes that an exuberant flora existed in Louisiana
more than 1 50,000 years ago, and that the Mississippi then.laved
the magnificent cypress groves with its turbid waters. It is calculated, however, by Messrs. Dickson and Brown, that in some of
the filled-up cypress basins only 4,000 years need have passed
since the first cypress tree vegetated on them. Directly above
these cypress forests, stately live-oaks now flourish, as living
witnesses of the slow progress of each successive formation;
the present not having changed its level for generations and
ages.*
In one of the caves of Virginia were found deposited a great
collection of human bones, imbedded in plaster, in the immediate vicinity of a bed of slate, with granite and limestone strata
only a short distance off, the whole constituting a conglomeration unexampled in geological experience and research.
Within this plaster bed was found the remains of an unknown
animal, which must have been of unprecedented dimensions:
one of its teeth measuring ten inches in length, and weighing
four pounds and a half, and found only three feet below the
surface.
It is not improbable that it is this animal to which the
Indians refer in the following legend prevalent among some of
the tribes. It is said, that "ten thousand moons ago, when
nothing but the gloomy forests covered this land of the sleeping
sun, long before the pale men, with fire and thunder at their
command, rushed on the wings of the wind to ruin their garden
of nature, when only the untutored beasts of the wilds, and
men as untamed, were lords of the land, a race of animals was
in being, huge as the frowning precipice, cruel as the bloody
Westminster Review, 1854. Article: Art, Science, &c.




FOSSILS.


187


panther, swift as the descending eagle, and terrible as the angel
of night; the pines crushed beneath their feet, and the lakes
shrunk when they quenched their thirst; the rapid javelin in
vain was hurled, and the barbed arrow fell harmless by their
side; whole forests were laid waste at a meal."
Another attractive feature consists of a kind of Indian
Herculaneum, where, deeply imbedded in sand and clay, are
the remains of a town, whence have been brought to light a
great variety of earthen vessels and curious utensils.
Upon this spot, also, many shells have been found, which are
said never to have been seen except on the shores of the
Pacific.
For details of. fossil fishes, which are very abundant, the
reader is referred to the great work of Professor Agassiz, for
which he was awarded the Cuverian prize.
Thus in the New World, as well as in the Old, the geologist
finds himself surrounded by the relics of a time when passing
seasons and fleeting years marked not the lapse of duration,
but whose mighty epochs were recorded by the successive
formation and extinction of whole worlds teeming with rank
vegetation and gigantic animal existence.
In some of the sulphuretted springs and dry mountain brooks
of Virginia and Tennessee, are numerous fossil impressions on
sandstones-producta, encrinites, &c., with vast fragments of
fossilliferous rock.
By some of these springs, masses of travertine rock abound,
which open into vast caverns, displaying numerous depending
stalactites resembling fillagree work, and petrified mosses, produced by the spray of a cataract, or the filtrations of the
water through the rock; and along some of the beds of the
rivers, in the district of Holston particularly, agates and cornelians are found.
Towards the sources of almost all the rivers and streams in
the interior of the Southern States, and which mostly take their
rise and flow exclusively over silicious minerals, or where calcareous matter is comparatively scarce, many of the varieties of
fresh-water shells occur, especially those of the genus Unio,
one of the divisions of the family of the Naiades of Lamarck;
as well as an elegant species of univalve (fusus Jiuvialis of
Say); and which, though considered by some a distinct species
from those of the more simple type found in the Atlantic
streams, ate identical with them, the difference in conformation




/ 7'


188                   THE UNITED     STATES.
being only occasioned by the peculiarity of the mineral districts
in which they are found.
It appears that all the streams that flow to the south from
Tennessee pass over tertiary deposits, as well as those which
run   eastwards   into  the   Arkansas    river.   These   deposits
contain a great quantity of marine shells, suchbas ostrea, turritella, calyptrea, cerithium, &c., and    thus afford   conclusive
proof that the ocean at one of the most recent geological
periods has flowed up to the base of the highlands from Canada
to Red River in Arkansas; tertiary deposits existing on the
whole line of the St. Lawrence,-at Martha's Vineyard, and in
innumerable localities from thence southward to Ried River.*
" Old Ocean's abdicated empire; here
I see in wondrous strata deep and vast,
Once subjects of the main,
The branching coral and the pearly shell,
Left by the refluent waters."
It may be proper also to notice, that almost all the rivers contain infusorial deposits.
There are said to be two hundred volcanoes in the world, but
it is remarkable that, except they exist in the Rocky Mountains,
there are none in the United States, although the vast quantities
of pumice, and other volcanic productions, that float down the
Missouri, and are deposited in sand-bars and islands along
its course, are strongly indicative of the existence of volcanoes
in the north west of the continent, the direction from which
they come. It is indeed asserted, on the authority of Captain
Fremont,t that in the territory of the upper Missouri, near the
eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains, a scorified pseudovolcanic product (a kind of porcelain jasper) is found. Mount
Elias and Mount Fairweather, in Russian America, the highest
points of the Rocky Mountains, which are of a conical form,
' It seems certain that the whole of Canada has been violently convulsed by
some effort of nature since the floods of the deluge passed away. The mountains
are abrupt and irregular in outline, and in some places cleft with immense caverns.
The rivers also show singular contortions. North of Quebec and in St. Paul's
Bay are many cases of volcanic eruptions; and vast masses of alluvial rocks
bearing marks of vitrification frequently appear on the surface of the earth. 'There
is, besides, strong evidence that the American continent has lain for unknown ages
beneath the great deep, or that it is of later formation than Europe or Asia "-Sir
John Lyell's America.
t Captain Fremont's Report of his Expedition, made to the Congress of the
United States.




REFLECTIONS.


189


are believed to be still active volcanoes. In the lower ranges
of these vast elevations, Captain Fremont collected volcanic
products, as scoriaceous basalt, trachyte, and true obsidian;
and he discovered near Fort Hall an extinct crater, but no
traces of still active volcanoes emitting lava and ashes.
Along the southern border of the Alleghanies, also, there are
traces of active igneous movement, the strata being perforated
by intrusive volcanic rocks; but none have been known since
the discovery by Americus and Cabot, and no traditionary
records of their existence have been left us by the Indians.
At the same time, the geological formation of these mountains
gives undoubted proof of the most overwhelming revolution
effected by subterraneous volcanic action, though at a very early
period in the history of the now habitable globe.
Some shocks of earthquake, so common and frequent along
the southern and western border of the Gulf of Mexico, in
central South America, and in Europe, have occurred in the
States, but none have been of a destructive character; indeed
they have been considered only sympathetic with those of the
Southern Continent.
In concluding this chapter, the author is persuaded that he
speaks the sentiments of his readers when he says that we cannot
but stand amazed at the magnitude and magnificence of the
field which this world we inhabit presents to the investigations of
human intellect, and at the sources of human happiness which
such researches open up. At the same time, let us reflect, as
creatures gifted with reason and intelligence, on the multiplied
attestations which all creation affords of an infinitely benignant
Almighty Cause.
Every place is pregnant with materials for human delight;
both animate and inanimate existence, proclaim omniscience;
-all creatures point to a Governor, somewhere presiding, whose
order is their rule and power,-their support and life,-and they
all call on man, the vicegerent of earth, to take up their song
of thanksgiving, and lead the universal choir:"Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens:
praise him in the heights.
"Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
"Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of
light.
"Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be
above the heavens... 




190


THE UNITED STATES.


"Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded,
and they were created.
"He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath
made a decree which shall not pass.
"Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
"Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling
his word:
" Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
"Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
"Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges
of the earth:
"Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
"Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone
is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven."*
* Psalm cxlviii.


I,



CHAPTER XVI.
MORAL CHRARCTER OP AMERICAN PROGRESS.-Benevolent and philanthropic societies.
Origin and progress of the temperance movement. Efforts to counteract the consumption of
tobacco. Estimate of the quantity consumed. Of its cost and poisonous qualities. Sabbath
observance society. Society for abolition of war and promotion of universal peace and brotherhood. Sanitory arrangements. Prison discipline society. Reformatory schools, &c. Prisons.
Orphan asylums. Institutions for the blind. Emigrants' Asylum; or, Stranger's home.
Sailors' home. Modern reformatory institutions for drunkards, &c. The bible and tract
societies. Home and foreign missions. Principles and plans of these institutions. Extraordinary efficiency of their operation.
The progress of this great country has not been exclusively
of a material character; nor can its aggregate prosperity be
accurately estimated from revenue and population returns,
statistics of shipping, of agriculture, of manufactures, or of
natural resources.
Benevolent and philanthropic societies have increased,-literature and education, and the means of religious teaching have
advanced step by step with the progress made in commerce and
in national wealth.      Most of those institutions, indeed, by
which the civilization of the Old Country is distinguished, exist
also in the New, and some of them are even in a more prosperous and healthy condition.       It must, however, be conceded,
that less attention is paid in the States than in England to
science and philosophy, as also to the more costly and delicate
labours of art.
Among the benevolent institutions in the United States, the
Temperance Society occupies a distinguished place.
The temperance movement, indeed, originated with our transatlantic brethren.    They were the first to concentrate public
opinion upon the subject, by organizing a society to counteract
the influence of intemperance, having, as early as the year 1813,
convened a meeting and formed a board, called " The Association of Massachusetts Proper," specifying as its object "the
checking of the progress of intemperance."
The results of their first investigations, as ordered by this
board, were appalling. The extent, tendencies, and fatal conse



192.


THE UNITED STATES.


quences of the evil, were found to exceed the most fearful
apprehensions of those whose solicitude on the subject had been
supposed extravagant.  Four hundred thousand of the community were ascertained to be confirmed drunkards, four-fifths
of the crimes existing were attributed to it, two-thirds of the
pauperism, and one-third of the mental derangement.
It was also estimated, about the same time, that the annual
cost of intemperance in France was 260,000,000 dollars, in
Great Britain 195,000,000 dollars, in Sweden 65,000,000 dollars, and in the United States 40,000,000 dollars,-and all this
in addition to the cost of prisons, police, asylums, and workhouses, which are rendered necessary by intoxicating drinks.
The following is a calculation made in relation to America
alone, about the same time, or soon after the society was formed,
by a gentleman deeply interested in the cause of temperance:"It appears that, independently of items which cannot be estimated, our country pays or loses at the rate of one hundred
and twenty millions of dollars per annum by intemperance.*
This sum is five times as large as the revenue of the United
States' Government;-it would pay off our national debt in six
months;-it would build twelve such canals as the Grand Erie
and Hudson Canal every year;-it would support a navy four
times as large as that- of Great Britain;-it is sixty times as
much as the aggregate income of all the principal religious and.
charitable societies in Europe and America;-it would supply
every family on the earth with a bible in eight months;-it
would support a missionary or teacher among every two thousand
souls on our globe! How prosperous might this country be,what blessings might it confer upon the world, —if it were only
relieved from the curse of intemperance!"
By the circulation of temperance tracts,-by the addresses of
travelling agents supported by the society for the purpose,-by
the formation and zealous action of auxiliary associations,-and
by the acquisition of individual assistance for the performance
of a variety of duties tending to promote the great object, public
attention was attracted towards the society, and the example was
quickly followed by Great Britain and Ireland.
The zeal manifested in this cause was crowned with an extent


* This appalling fact was substantiated by Judge Cranch, of Washington, and
by Senator Butler, of Albany, in 1853, who affirmed that intemperance then cost
the United States more than one hundred millions of dollars per annum.




THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.


193


and efficiency of success that excited astonishment and admiration. A fund of twenty thousand dollars was procured in one
district towards the support of some gentlemen of distinguished
ability and piety, who volunteered their services to disseminate
throughout the country such principles and information as
would best promote the benevolent design in view.
In a very short time after their establishment, these societies
so much increased in number and efficiency, in some parts of
the Union, that in one district alone fifteen hundred vendors
of ardent spirits gave up the trade; and they now number
half-a-million of members.
A few years since it was said by the editor of an American
paper, "Five thousand drunkards have been reformed;-a very
large number in the army and navy, as well as the labouring
man, refuse longer to use ardent spirits. A million of free men
and christian men have decreed the traffic in ardent spirits a
moral wrong; two thousand distilleries have been discontinued,
and all Christendom is turning from it as from a pestilence."
It is gratifying further to observe in connection with the
objects of this society, that efforts are now being made for the
establishment of curative hospitals for drunkards.  On this
subject the eminent Dr. Benjamin Rush observes, "To the
account of physical remedies I shall add the establishment of a
hospital in every city and town of the United States for the
exclusive reception of hard drinkers; they are as much the
objects of public humanity as mad people."*
The Americans exceed the British in the number of their
temperance ships. In short, it may be said that in no instance
has private philanthropy and patriotism ever been more displayed than in that of the temperance movement in the United
States.
Impressed also with the astounding fact that the total produce of tobacco grown on the face of the globe has been
calculatedt to amount annually to the enormous quantity of two
millions of tons, which is as much as all the wheat consumed in
England; that the greatest producers of this are Spain and
America, and that the labour for its cultivation and manufac* It is estimated that during the year 1854, the sum expended in the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in cigars and tobacco, exceeded f~8,000.000
sterling. This enormous sum exceeds the gross amount levied for the poor rates
of the entire nation.
t By Mr. Crawford.
K




194


THE UNITED STATES.


ture is by slaves, as also that the whole duty on the above is
upwards of ~4,500,000 per annum, equal to a poll-tax of 3s.
per head for the whole population of the States; added to considerations more especially affecting the moral and social state
of the country, the philanthropic portion of the community
have also made a determined effort to counteract the consumption of tobacco by moral means, thus to wipe away the reproach
that has been so long fixed on the national character by its
abuse. The cost of tobacco used in the United States alone
is estimated to be greater than the expense of supporting all the
ministers of the gospel of every denomination in the Union.
An association exists here also for promoting the observance
of the christian Sabbath. A meeting was held some years since
(1828) in the city of New York, composed of a number of
delegates from different parts of the country, and some hundreds of other influential individuals for the purpose of devising
the best means of redeeming the Lord's day from dishonour and
growing abuse. One of the leading rules adopted by the delegates was the following:"We, whose names are undersigned, do hereby acknowledge
our obligation to keep the Sabbath according to the Scriptures;
and we pledge ourselves to each other and to the christian
public, to refrain from all secular employments on that day;
from travelling in steam-boats, stages, canal-boats, or otherwise,
except in cases of necessity and mercy; and to aim at discharging the duties of that sacred day: and also that we will,
as circumstances admit, encourage and give a preference to
those lines of conveyance whose owners do not employ them
on the Sabbath.'"
Our brethren of the United States were the first to volunteer
the pledge of universal brotherhood, uniting in efforts for the
abolition of all war, and to oppose the spirit and all the manifestations of war throughout the world.  They also conceived
the idea of the abolition of all restrictions upon international
correspondence and friendly intercourse by the establishment of
an ocean penny postage.
Aware that all the appliances of physical as well as social
science are necessary to preserve the natural vigour of the
population, especially in cities, and desiring thus to develop the
inexhaustible resources of their race, they have called into existence the most efficient and extensive sanitary arrangements.
Thus the crowding of the people in houses in close streets,




SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS.


195


from deficient and defective house accommodation, is a far less
extensive and destructive evil in America-the city of New
York, perhaps, excepted-than in England and other European
kingdoms. In their most crowded cities there are few putrescent
courts or pestilential alleys,
aC Where flags the noontide air,
And as we pass
We fear to breathe the putrifying mass."
To the health-measures generally adopted, or to the rendering
them unnecessary by previous foresight and arrangement,-the
foundation of all efforts to benefit the working man, as well as
the most benevolent of all charitable ideas,-is attributable,
to a very considerable degree, the order, intelligence, and social
happiness so visible among them, and which no merely political
enactments can bestow. Arrangements for health and cleanliness,
however, are not so extensive and general in America as in
England, but the subject has begun to enlist the sympathies of
the benevolent classes in a degree corresponding with its importance. Hence, in New York, public baths for the people
have been recently established at a cost of 30,000 dollars, with
a drying apparatus attached of great convenience and utility.
While the Benevolent Societies in America are nearly
if not equally as numerous as in Britain, some of them are
conducted with even greater vigour and efficiency.  Among
these may be particularly noticed their Prison Discipline
Society; a subject than which, as connected with the domestic
policy of a nation, none is of more important and permanent
interest. This society, which is not only in effective operation,
but being in part supported by voluntary contribution, employs
numerous effective advocates and is vigilantly inspected by
voluntary agents, has been instrumental in alleviating a sum
of human misery that may be justly regarded as immense. It
aims to turn the sinner from the error of his ways, to reform
his vicious habits, to enlighten his dark mind, and to prepare
the criminal for the awful doom that awaits him. The institutions themselves,-for they are numerous,-and the manner in
which they are conducted, are the universal theme of commendation. The state prisons of Boston and Philadelphia are
worthy of the world's imitation.. The active benevolence which not only takes so deep an
interest in the objects of punishment, but in all who really need
the exercise of human charity, can hardly be surpassed in any
Kr2




196


THE UNITED STATES.


part of the world. The Americans take the lead in these departments of active philanthropy, and are thereby earning a distinction for their country more honourable than could result from
the highest eminence in arts, or the most glorious achievements
in arms. But the voice of the philanthropist, although it has
accomplished much in relation to the criminal, has not yet
secured, except in a few of the States, the abolition of the punishment of death for the capital crime of murder as well as for
some other felonies; yet executions do not, as in England and
other countries, take place before the world, but within the prison
walls, in the presence of a few respectable citizens, and of the
judge and jury who fixed the crime and adjudged the penalty.
Their Orphan Asylums and Institutions for the Blind are
numerous, well supported, and admirably conducted.   The
Gerard Orphan Asylum, at Philadelphia, would be an honour
as well as an ornament to any country.
In the list of benevolent societies in America, the Emigrant's
Asylum or Strangers' Home, must not be omitted, as it is one
of the most interesting and really philanthropic that could have
been devised,-its object being the reception and assistance of
emigrants who arrive in the country in sickness Or destitution.
This is an institution indeed which awakens the heartfelt gratitude of thousands in every part of the land. The character and
circumstances of multitudes daily proclaim its praise. And
scarcely inferior to this, in its highly beneficial influence on a
vast body of useful and interesting men, is the Sailors' Home.
America does much more than England for the welfare of
foreign sailors, and attends much more to the moral improvement of her own maritime population. She expends 40,000
dollars annually, to support chaplains for sailors, not only in
her own country, but at foreign sea-ports,-as at Canton, Havre,
Honalulu, Marseilles, Smyrna, Mobile Bay, Havannah, and
New Orleans.  It is also worthy of observation, that in none
of the charitable institutions in America, are the recipients of
such charities degraded by the badges of grotesque and antiquated uniforms. "The Americans," says Mr. Dickens, in his
facetious language, expressive of his indignation at conventional customs which are degrading to the species, -"the
Americans do not consider charity and leather breeches inseparable companions." Nor, it may be added, are their charitable institutions less free from absurd restrictions and sectarian
prejudice.




HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS.


197


Banks for savings are common; and that at the Lowell
Institution, according to a recent report, contained upwards of
1,000,000 dollars, chiefly the savings of persons employed in
the mills.
Bible Societies, Religious Tract, and Missionary Societies,both home and foreign,-are on a scale of magnitude and
importance scarcely inferior to those of the mother country.
The receipts of the American Tract Society are three-fold the
amount of those of the Tract Society of England, and its benefits
more than proportioned to its means,-an advantage resulting
from its admirable system of colportage, and from the absence
of taxes on knowledge.  The American Tract Society alone
employs six hundred and fifty-nine missionaries, and issues a
monthly serial for children, which has a circulation of 500,000;
the cost to each subscriber being no more than fourpence
a year.*
The United States have numerous foreign missions. These
establishments are found on the shores of Burmah, Batavia
and Sincapore, Siam, Assam, China, and the Coromandel
coast of India; among the islands of the Pacific Ocean; Cape
Palma, and Monrovia in western Africa; France, Germany,
and 'Greece; in Athens and Servia, and in the Island of Crete;
they extend along many other shores in the provinces of Asia
Minor, and from the ridge which supports this high central
region towards the Mediterranean, the ~Egean, and the Black
seas; they exist in Pisidia, Phrygia, Galatia, and Cappadocia,
and upon the plains of Cilicia and Pamphylia, Pontus and
Bythinia, thus embracing the district celebrated for the seven
apocalyptic churches, where their agents are labouring, attempting to rekindle the lamp of pure religion long extinguished,
but which once burnt so brightly there,-whilst others are
carrying back the torch of Divine truth to that blessed land
which-first saw the Sun of Righteousness arise; aiming thus
finally to supplant the crescent by the Cross.
Nor while they cultivate the vineyard of others do they
neglect their own.  Their Domestic, or Home Mission, is
spread widely among the Indian tribes.  And though the
devotion and zeal of the domestic missionaries may receive little
applause from men, yet they are not unblest,-not without their


* Speech of C. H. Stuart, Esq., at the Paris Conference of Evangelical
Alliance.




198               THE UNITED STATES.
present reward; while their work of faith and labour of love
are correctly estimated on high, and will be fully recompensed
at the resurrection of the just.
In 1850, there were five hundred and seventy missionaries
among the Indian tribes; more than half of whom were women.
Altogether this society has a revenue of 79,000 dollars yearly.
To the list of its agents thus named must be added two
thousand preachers and helpers among the natives themselves.
One thousand churches, of various christian denominations,
have been erected; and the number of professing christians
among the Indian tribes is 40,537. There is, besides, a great
number of schools.*
Nor is this the total result of all the Society's labours.
As collateral benefits of the instruction given by these devoted,
self-denying men, thousands of the different tribes have been
weaned from savage habits and allured to the superior advantages
of civil life;-they have exchanged the tomahawk and the
scalping-knife for the plough and the hoe; and instead of
ranging the forests in seeming affinity with the beasts of the
desert, peacefully and rationally enjoy the produce of their own
labour in the fruitful field.
The various Bible Societies established since 1804 in different
parts of the world, have issued no less than 40,000,000 copies
of the Holy Scriptures, and in this noble work the United
States have borne their part. Last year, Great Britain raised
3,500,000 dollars for the spread of the Gospel; the continent
of Europe, 750,000 dollars; and the United States, 1,750,000
dollars.
There is scarcely a single object of christian and benevolent
enterprize in England, or even one that tends simply to the
promotion and happiness of our race, that does not equally
secure the sympathies and efforts of our brethren of the New
Hemisphere.


" Report of the American Board of Missions for 1850.




CHAPTER XVII.
EDICATIONs, LITERATttRE, LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, AND LITERARY MRN.-Day schools.
Sunday schools.  State of education in general.  Normal seminaries for training female
teachers. High estimate of women as teachers of youth. Their especial Influence in the
improvement of society. Schools of design and practical science. Institutions for the promotion of geological and physical science at Washington, Philadelphia, &c. Great improvements in nautical science by Lieut. Maury. Advancement in everything in relation te the mind
and social life. Numerous seminaries of learning. Where situated. Quality of knowledge
imparted. General character of the principal institutions. Most eminent literary men,
divines, historians, novelists, and critics. Philosophers and astronomers. Naturalists, mathematicians, sculptors, painters, poets, literary women. Theological schools. Colleges and
universities. Libraries. Museums. Female medical colleges. Newspapers and periodical
publications in general. Character of the American press.
Although England is justly renowned for her cultivation of
the arts and sciences, and notwithstanding the poor rates of
that country exceed ~5,000,000 sterling per annum, yet there
are few Protestant countries probably where the education of
the poor is so much neglected. It is different in America.
Here just and rational views on the subject are more generally
entertained.
Education has ever been a subject of deep interest and importance in America; and there is no country in the world
where it has to so great a degree reached the masses. The
great founders of the national institutions seem to have been
aware that republics especially have no stability or safety
unless   founded     on   virtue   and   intelligence.      Hence     almost
every village has its school-house as well as its place of worship.
There are in the United States about 80,000 common schools,
which are supported at an annual expense of nearly 6,000,000
dollars; more than half of which is expended by the States of
New    York and Massachusetts.             The details are as follows:Of public schools, there are 80,091; of teachers, 92,000; of
pupils, 3,354,173. Their total income is-from endowment,
182,594 dollars; taxation, 4,686,414 dollars; public funds,
2,574,669 dollars; other sources, 2,147,853 dollars: aggregate,




200


THE UNITED STATES.


9,591,530 dollars.  Of academies and other schools there
are 6,032, with 12,207 teachers, and 261,362 pupils. Their
annual income is-from endowments, 288,855 dollars; taxation,
14,202 dollars; public funds, 114,788 dollars; other sources,
4,235,987: total, 4,653,842 dollars.
Infant schools in particular, which are calculated more than
all others, or than any other means, to form  and improve
the morals and manners of the masses, being established
throughout the entire of the Northern, Eastern, and Middle
States, are constantly exerting their influence on the million.
Reformatory industrial schools are also established for young
criminals.*
Sunday schools are universal, and are ably and vigorously
superintended. Sunday School Unions are formed to promote
the extension and efficiency of these institutions, as well as to
render them permanent; while day schools are more or less
general throughout the Union.
The public sentiment with respect to schools cannot perhaps
be better expressed than it has been by Mr. Horace Mann, the
great public advocate and promoter of these institutions. "We
inherit," says this great philanthropist, "capacity of mind, and
good and bad qualities fiom our parents. One generation inherits
from another. The sins and virtues of the parent, according to
the Scriptures, are visited, punished, or rewarded in the person
of his children's children. By diffusing the influence of a good
education through the whole people, will the whole people be
elevated; and if the next generation be similarly treated, having
$   inherited a higher intelligence, human nature will be elevated
still more, and so on infinitely."
"Public education," says another influential individual, "has
everywhere shown itself in the United States the great principle
of the popular elevation and development.  The American
mind has caught the idea, and will never lose sight of it, that
the whole of the State's property, public and private, is holden
subject to the sacred trust of providing the means of education
for every child in the States."
This determined habit of education principally originated
with the Pilgrim Fathers, who had so high a sense of the
advantages of elementary instruction and of scholastic learning
* That at Westborough, Massachusetts, is supposed to be the original of these
institutions.




STATE OF EDUCATION.


201


in general, that one of their first public acts was to resolve
that every child of their settlement should have a good educational training.  This was as early as the year 1642.  Since
that period the system of elementary schools has been improved
in various ways, and formally established throughout the
North-eastern States, whence it has extended to other parts of
the Union.
In New England particularly, the greatest attention has
invariably been paid to this important subject.  In Connecticut, the towns are divided into school districts. The result
of this beneficial arrangement is obvious and striking. The
Americans of the Eastern and Middle States are a wellinformed and moral people. Even in the humblest walks of
life a citizen in Massachusetts will hardly be found incapable
of reading and writing, or ignorant of grammar or arithmetic;
while there are thousands who, through the instrumentality
of higher schools, have acquired a respectable classical education.*
Parents, excepting those who are so steeped in ignorance and
profligacy as to be altogether regardless of their children's
welfare, see the growing importance of education in regard to
secular considerations and prospects, and thus themselves unite
in promoting it.
However neglected' some districts may be, and however
incompetent many of those engaged in the work of instruction
may be considered, still the number of schools of different
descriptions, scattered over the country, is already large, and
is rapidly increasing; while under the influence of a variety
of motives, the advantages, such as they are, which these
schools present, are turned to general as well as to individual
account.
Recent movements have directed attention so universally to
education, that even the lowest classes which have hitherto been
indifferent to the subject are being aroused to efforts for its
attainment; and it seems probable that an amount and variety
of exertion will be called forth which will form a sufficient
guarantee that the great mass of the rising generation will at
least be taught to read and write.
The following summary shows the results of recent calcula

* The greater part of the public schools are supported by the State and City
G overnments.
3




202


THE UNITED STATES.


tions on the subject by Dr. Bacon, of New Haven, in Connecticut:Persons under 25 years of age Over 20 who cannot
receiving education.     read and write.




New    England States.....................       4 out of     5
New    York.................................    1,,      24
New    Jersey..............................  1,       3
Pennsylvania...........................  1,,     4
Delaware, Maryland, and           district of
Columbia............................   1,   7
Virginia, North and South Carolina,
Georgia, and Florida...............  1,,    104
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky,
and Missouri...........................       1,     11
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mitchigan,
Wisconsin, and Iowa...............  1,       44
The entire United States free population....................................,,      34
Free States.................................,,      3
Slave States free population.........   1,,    10...... 1 in  100......,,  22......,, 19......  1,,  9...... 1,,  11...... 1,,  6......  1,,  5......  I,, 1 13......  1,,  12...... 1,,  22...... 1,,  6


In 1850, it was estimated that more than four millions of
American youth were receiving instruction in the various
educational institutions, which would be at the rate of one in
every five free persons. The teachers numbered 115,000, and
the colleges and superior schools nearly 100,000.
For that class of the population whose disposition leads them
to seek other fields of knowledge, and whose circumstances
permit them to indulge that disposition, ample means are already
provided. In Massachusetts, and generally in the States, the
plan is pursued of imparting a free education according to
existing ability, and it is carried through the several grades of
primary, intermediate, and grammar schools.
Great attention is now being paid to the education of females
in the United States. But their education is more public than
in England. Few private governesses are employed. Boarding
and day schools are abundant. Girls and boys are commonly
educated togethert by school-mistresses in the common schools
to a certain age, and then transferred to schools of a higher
order, which are generally the creation of individual effort.
But of all the educational institutions in America, the Normal
seminaries for the education of women for teachers are the


* This analysis most strikingly shows the blighting influence of slavery upon
all the best interests of the country, and all the elements of social and moral
progress.       t This practice is not so common as formerly.




EDUCATION OF FEMALES.


203


most important and interesting. These are multiplying, and,
in general, are much superior to those of Europe. Woman's
increasing value as a teacher, and the employment of her as
such in public schools, even in those for boys to a certain age,
is a notable fact which speaks much for America's future, as well
as for her humanity.
This practice mostly prevails in New England, and it seems
as if the daughters of those States have a peculiar faculty and
love for this employment.* Young girls of fortune devote themselves to it. The daughters of small farmers go to work in the
manufactories a sufficient time to earn the necessary sum to put
themselves to school, in order to become teachers in due course;
while crowds of school teachers go to the western and southern
States, where schools are being established and placed under
their direction.
"The young daughters of New England are universally
commended    for their character and ability.  Even Waldo
Emerson, who does not often easily praise," says Miss Bremer,
"spoke in commendation of them. They learn in the schools,
the classics, mathematics, physics, algebra, with great ease, and
pass their examinations like young men. Not long since, a
young-lady in Nantucket, not far from Boston, distinguished
herself in astronomy, by discovering a new planet, and received,
in consequence, a medal from the king of Prussia."t
And the estimate of women as teachers of the young is increasing day by day.  " If I must choose between giving an education
to the men or women of a country, I would leave the men and
begin with the women," said one of the American statesmen to
Miss Bremer. "And I believe I do not say too much," adds
this able and benevolent authoress, "when I maintain that this
mode of thinking is participated by the greater number of men
in the United States, so strong is the conviction of woman's
influence on the rising generation."  " Women govern us," says
Sheridan; "let us try to render them perfect. The more they
are enlightened, so much the more shall we be. On the cultivation of the minds of women depends the wisdom of the men.
The daughter of the late President Filmore is teacher of an academy for
ladies at Buffalo. This young lady is said to have felt herself in a more honourable
position when usefully employed in the successful attainment of her own independence, than surrounded by the statesmen of the Republic in the saloons of the
palace of the President at Washington.
t Homes of the New World.




204                 THE UNITED STATES.
Woman is the guardian of the morals of society. Her vocation is
to teach,-to entreat,-to preach,-to strew the path to eternity
with flowers; she is the medium through which the whole race
of mankind will eventually be elevated to the purest condition
of humanity; she is destined to become the social regenerator
of the world."
As the language of a woman, there is great force, as well as
beauty, in the following lines addressed to her native land, by
Mrs. Sigourney:" There is strength
In thy young children, and in those who lead
Their souls to righteousness. The mother's prayer
With her sweet lisper ere it sinks to rest,The faithful teacher 'mid a plastic group,The classic halls, the hamlet's slender spire,
From whence, as from a solemn Gothic pile
That crowns the city's pomp, ascendeth sweet
Jehovah's praise: these are thy strength, my land;
These are thy hope." 
Science also is here making rapid progress.  Lectures are
being constantly delivered on all branches of natural philosophy,
as well as on the subjects of peace, liberty, genuineness of
character, temperance, purity, and the ennobling of every phase
and condition of life and imparting cultivation to all men. They 
are well attended by persons of both sexes, and their happy influence is obvious. The taste for positive knowledge as contrasted with speculative, for experimental instead of dogmatical
philosophy, is descending deeply and spreading widely among
the people. And out of this grows the progress of the social
mind of America,-her steamboat navigation, and all her other
general improvements and appliances in relation to agriculture
and commerce,-inventions by which the powers of matter are
made the servants of man.     And it is to be noted that the
Americans seem to be particularly attracted by any subject that
relates to the increase of motive powers,-anything that relates
to methods for expediting movement and accelerating communication. The impulse and the necessity to obtain possession
of all the natural resources of the country are in full activity,
and, consequently, much is done by Government, as well as by
individuals and companies, to promote the extension of practical
science. And there are few persons in the United States to
whom projects of improvement, based on theoretic principles,
are idle dreams, useless speculations, incapable of any beneficial
action on the stubborn realities of practical life.




SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION.


005


Recently, in imitation of England, schools of design have
been established; and although, as with their Saxon progenitors,
the natural genius for drawing and painting in the circle of the
arts comprised under the name of Design for Manufactures,
may not raise them to an equality with some other nations, yet
they are progressing rapidly in portraiture and landscape
drawing.
Geology and the physical sciences flourish; the different
States send scientific men to examine new districts within their
own borders; and institutions are established for the advancement of useful knowledge, especially in natural history and
mechanics.
One such is the Franklin Institution at Philadelphia, and
another the Smithsonian at Washington. For the latter, an
ornamental Gothic building has lately been erected on the banks
of the Potomac.  This institution, endowed by the wealthy
gentleman whose name it bears, is intended to form a national
centre, where all the scientific labourers of the United States
may find a point of union. This establishment is a peculiarly
important one, as it attempts the culture of general knowledge
on a scale so liberal as cannot but prove valuable to the community.
Progress is being made in everything in America, but in
nothing more than in relation to the mind and things material
in social life. Everywhere knowledge is demanded; and the
supply is poured out on all sides,-running through all channels,-rolling onwards like a noble and beautiful stream,augmenting its volume and its force by a thousand tributaries,
-bearing on its placid bosom  the rich products of many
minds,-and scattering with profusion innumerable blessings in
its course.
The influence of education has improved, is improving, and
will yet further improve, moderate, soften, and meliorate the
character of even American backwoodsmen, and the population
of the remotest provinces; daily diminishing the blunt, coarse
manners that formerly obtained, or which, to some extent, and
in some localities, may yet prevail-the result, probably, of isolation, and a vain and extravagant idea of the political institutions
of the country;-the latter having its origin in the successful
struggle for independence of the early settlers, and the subsequent national prosperity. Their complacency is now generally
moderated by better knowledge; and they have learned to know




206


THE UNITED STATES.


the value of those accomplishments and that civilization which
they once regarded it as patriotic to despise;-their estimate of
themselves is consequently now more in accordance with their
real merit.
Our American brethren are also beginning to look upon the
great world that lies toward the rising sun with other eyes.
They have associated in some degree with the most learned and
reflecting of modern nations, so that their literature is enriched
with all other literatures, and bids fair to become the treasured
knowledge of a Mithridatic nation conversant with all languages, from the Rocky Mountains to Japan.
In no part of the world are seminaries of learning more
numerous, or, perhaps, more generally efficient. It is, indeed,
alleged, that America is not distinguished for mental vigour, and
has produced few men of genius in the walks of literature, as
compared especially with France, Germany, or England. This,
however, if true, is by no means a degrading imputation; nor is
the defect, if real, one that should excite surprise. It must be
remembered that America is yet in her early youth; that her first
business has been to cultivate the desert that she might provide
for her physical wants; to lay the foundation for her fiture agricultural and commercial greatness; and that her national energy
has been hitherto directed towards these pursuits, rather than to
polite literature. The seed-time and the harvest could not be
expected together. At the present time almost every American
being still more or less a working man,-more or less dependent
for subsistence upon his own exertions,-a practical education
is still the chief desideratum, and in almost universal demand.
Knowledge is thus almost universally estimated by the amount
of available acquirement which it enables a student to bring
to the common business of life. Learning is not, except in
a comparatively few instances, followed for its own sake or
for its remoter advantages, but for the purpose of accomplishing a direct and immediate practical result. Hence the
arts and sciences which have flourished most in America, as
during earlier centuries in England, have been those almost
exclusively which are recommended by their utility,-those
which teach the application of knowledge to practical purposes, -which aid in the invention of useful machinery,which give vigour to domestic improvement,-and which promote the grandeur of commercial enterprise. Where the necessity of labour is imposed on a whole population, and where few




SEMINARIES OF LEARNING.


207


are independent in fortune, to expect that any great demand
should exist for learning not immediately connected with the
great business of life, is unreasonable. Admitting, however,
that there are fewer finished scholars in America than in
England, it must, on the other hand, be conceded that general
knowledge and intelligence are more diffused.
It is by no means ingenuous or fair to judge of one nation by
the conventional standards of another; and those travellers who
are not chargeable with intolerance of the defects and peculiarities of their European neighbours, should in justice make more
allowance than has hitherto been usual for those of a people as
yet in an incipient state of national existence.
There have not been wanting men who have even reproached
the late republic of Haiti for not exhibiting an almost perfect
civilization, or producing men to rival the savans of England
and France!
Whatever may be thought by some critics of the claims of
American genius to originality and inventiveness in poetry and
philosophy, it cannot be denied that they are advancing rapidly
to a state of intelligence in which their genius may be developed
to the same perfection as is exhibited by the more privileged
members of older and more fully civilized communities.
"The literature of America," says Professor Nichol in his
late lecture on "The Social Peculiarities of America," before
the Young Men's Institution of Edinburgh,-" the literature of
America is now giving signs of an originality which it has never
yet possessed. Its poetry is especially worthy of notice as indicating the altered condition of the New as compared with the
Old World. Unlike Shakspeare and others, they address themselves to the practical purposes of life. They address labour
in much the same spirit as Burns addressed it, while yet in
the simplicity and purity of his soul 'he walked in glory
following his plough upon the mountain side,' before he had
been corrupted and demoralised by. the fashionable society of
Edinburgh."
"Great as have been the disadvantages of our transatlantic
brethren," says a high authority,* speaking of the present time,
"they have formed for themselves a literature of which they
have no reason to be ashamed, and which bids fair to rival
that of the most polished states of the Old World."


" Charles Dickens, Esq.




008


THE UNITED STATES.


The North American States have, to their honour, shown a
spirit of rivalry in establishing not merely colleges and universities, but subordinate scientific associations, for the promotion of literature and the furtherance of useful studies; and
what is still more to the honour of the American people, these
institutions are popular, and are supported by voluntary contributions, thus purifying and maturing the influence which
belongs to them in the great body politic.
And the United States is not without her heraldry of science
and literary fame. In the long list of American divines of the
past and passing age, whose works will hand down the theology
and piety of America with honour to posterity, are-Presidents
Edwards, Dwight, and Moses Stuart; Drs. Channing, Webster
(the lexicographer), Payson, Wayland, and Williams: Bancroft
and Prescott, are found among her historians: and Washington
Irving, Cooper, Paulding, Dana, Hawthorne, and Emerson, are
eminent in works of criticism and romance. America has produced her Franklin and Silliman in philosophy and astronomy;
has half naturalized her Audubon and Agassiz in natural history; she boasts her Rittenhouse and Fuller (a slave of Maryland) in mathematics; her Trumbull and Hiram Powers in
statuary and painting. In poetry, Bryant, Longfellow, Percival,
Whittier, Lowell, and Edgar Poe, shine like the brightest constellations of their southern firmament.  Some of her sons are
eminent for attainments in every kind of science; while it is
remarkable that the proportion of literary women in the United
States is greater than that in England or on the European
continent.
Among the most distinguished of these are, Mrs. Sigourney,
Sedgwick, Carey, Child, M'Intosh, Hall, Kirkland, Osgood, and
though last not least in this bright roll, the late Sarah Margaret
Fuller, or Marchioness of Ossoli, and Mrs. Harriet Beecher
Stowe.* America can even boast of females in the higher
departments of philosophy, science, and the arts. Among them
are several who have graduated at universities as proficients
both in classical and medical knowledge.t   A young female
* The well-known author of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," one of the most popular
books ever issued from the press. Its sale in America alone amounted to 300,000
copies.
t It is stated by " The American Collegiate Mirror," that the honorary degree
of Mistress of Arts has been conferred upon two of these ladies,-Mrs. Hall and
M rs. Sigourney.




COLLEGES.


209


was lately pursuing a course of studies in sculpture in Florence,
and has already distinguished herself by executing several admirable busts. She has more recently modelled an ideal figure,
which gives promise of a perfection in the arts which no female
has ever before attained.
It is an evidence that the learning of the country is rapidly
advancing to a higher grade, that colleges are so numerous, and in
so flourishing a condition. In 1850 there were one hundred and
twenty-three of these institutions. Some of them were established
between one and two centuries since. These colleges contain
from ten to eleven thousand students, who are receiving an education of the highest kind under four hundred and thirty-five
instructors.  The total number of alumni who have passed
through these one hundred and twenty-three colleges is about
eighty-two thousand; and eight thousand five hundred and
seventy-five of those who have been educated there were or are
ministers of religion. The libraries of these colleges contain
nearly 800,000 volumes. The largest individual library is at
Harvard or Cambridge University, which contains upwards of
80,000 volumes. That of Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut,
contains 47,000 volumes, with a splendid mineralogical cabinet,
consisting of more than 16,000 specimens, and a magnificent
collection of paintings by Trumbull and other distinguished
artists.
In the year 1850 there were forty-two theological schools in
the United States, with one thousand three hundred and fifteen
students, and with libraries amounting to 17,500 volumes.
The number of law schools was twelve, with four hundred
and fourteen students. The medical schools were thirty-five in
number, with four thousand five hundred and fifty-five students,
and most of them give all the more essential parts of a complete literary, scientific, and medical education.  But other
authorities state that there were in 1850 upwards of seventy
theological schools; forty-four medical and surgical schools;
nineteen schools of law, and ten of practical science; total,
one hundred and forty; whilst upwards of two thousand young
men are under a course of instruction in their different colleges for the work of the ministry. The latest estimate, very
recently published, on the authority of public documents, is,
that there are in the United States one hundred and twentytwo colleges, with more than a thousand professors, and
having more than twelve thousand students. They have exten



210


THE UNITED STATES.


sive laboratories and astronomical instruments, and libraries
containing more than 1,000,000 volumes.  There are about
forty medical schools, with about two hundred and fifty professors and five thousand students. There are forty-four theological schools, with one hundred and twenty-seven professors,
and between thirteen and fourteen hundred students. There
are sixteen law schools, and about six hundred students. In
the United States and territories, there were in 1856, two hundred and thirty-five colleges, with one thousand six hundred
and fifty-one teachers, and twenty-seven thousand one hundred
and fifty-nine pupils.  Their total annual income is,-from
endowment, 452,314 dollars; from taxation, 15,485 dollars;
from  public funds, 184,549 dollars; fiom  other sources,
1,264,280 dollars; total, 1,916,628 dollars.
There are also female medical colleges, their object being to
promote the education of females as professional attendants
upon their own sex and upon children, thus to open to females
a wider sphere of employment than that to which they are now
restricted. The principal of these are established in New York,
Boston, and Ohio. Many women of energy and practical sense
have been there educated for this vocation, and the institutions
are justly regarded by philanthropic men as a movement worthy
of the age. With schools, academies, or lyceums, gymnasiums,
and colleges, the country may almost be said to be filled; while
they are generally provided with talented and well qualified
teachers and professors.
The principal of these seats of learning in the United States,
are, —arvard University, at Cambridge, near Boston; Brown
University, Rhode Island; Yale, in Connecticut; Andover,
in Massachusetts; Columbia College, New York; William
and Mary College, in Virginia; Princeton in New Jersey,
situate midway between New York and Philadelphia; Columbia College, Washington; and Kenyon Episcopal College in
Ohio.
These colleges and seats of learning viewed in the mass, as
extending from the polished cities to the log settlements of the
backwoodsmen, vary much in regard to respectability, numbers
of students, and means of support. Most of them, however, are
generously supported and efficiently conducted; while it may
not be unimportant to remark, on the authority of the Rev.
Mr. Casswell, an Episcopalian minister, an Englishman, and
author of an interesting work on America and the American




COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.


211


Church, that the institutions which have been endowed, and
which are sustained by the State, seldom prosper equally with
those which have been established by the voluntary efforts of
some christian denomination.
The history of Transylvania University at Lexington, in
Kentucky, is cited as one evidence among numerous others,
that in America religious influence is essential to the success of
such institutions; as the one under consideration, though
blessed with ample means and appliances, has been not only
a failure as.to its object, but has proved a hotbed of infidelity.
It is, however, said to be now, after many vicissitudes, in a
better state.
The course of instruction in all American colleges is from
three to four years.  Certain reasonable qualifications are
required of candidates for admission, which vary according to
the regulations of the different institutions.  Generally they
embrace a knowledge of English grammar, geography, and the
first rudiments of a classical education. The course of instruction commonly pursued embraces the Latin and Greek languages,
mathematics, natural philosophy, rhetoric, and practice in
English composition; moral and intellectual philosophy, and
some treatise of natural law and the law of nations. Particularly
(and this is properly held to be a very important object) a
thorough knowledge of the constitution and laws of their own
country is considered indispensable in all students.
In some colleges provision is made for the study of Hebrew,
and several moder languages. Some have additional departments for the study of medicine, theology, and law; somewhat
as it is in the University College, London.
Harvard, or Cambridge, embraces all three of these departments. Philadelphia is celebrated as a seat of literature and
science, especially of medical science. The Pennsylvania and
the Jefferson schools both enjoy a high reputation. There was
also formed at Cambridge, in 1847, an association called "The
American Association for the Promotion of General Science,"
similar to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington.
There are not only Normal schools, and schools of medical
science, established in America for the female sex, but colleges
also, where they are favoured with every advantage in the way
of literature to instruct, elevate, and delight the mind, as well
as render it energetic and elegant. And connected with colleges
for their especial benefit are public libraries for the same object,




212               THE UNITED STATES.
containing all that. is valuable in science, elegant in accomplishments, delightful in literature, and useful in domestic life.
Thus that mind which forms the greatest blessing of man's
existence, which by its beauty can render the sunny ways of his
life still brighter, and by its fortitude protect him through the
darkness of adversity, is no longer suffered to wander on in the
old and obscure ways of knowledge, or only furtively to enjoy
the new.
"Whatever the defects of American universities may be,"
says Mr. Dickens, "they disseminate no prejudices, rear no
bigots, dig up the buried ashes of no old superstitions, never
interpose between the people and their improvement, exclude
no man because of his religious opinions.* Above all, in their
whole course of study and instruction they recognise a world,and a broad one too,-lying beyond the college walls."
The Professors of Cambridge, and others of the institutions
named, are further represented by the same authority as
gentlemen of such learning and varied attainments as would do
honour to any society in the civilized world.t
"There are springing up in that land at the present time,"
says Professor Nichol, " a body of speculative philosophers who
will not be surpassed by those of any nation upon the face of
the earth. They have more of the practical element in them
than the Germans, and more of the speculative than the British.
Their philosophy assimilates to that of Greece, and, like that
of Plato, will live, because it is adapted to the wants of society.
The facility with which the professional man can find a competency in America has set loose a host of active intellects,
which are devoting to the development of the educational institutions the most disinterested and unwearied exertions."$
The total number of public libraries in the United States,
independently of colleges, as reported in 1849 to the regent of
the Smithsonian Institute, was one hundred and eighty-two:
of which forty-three contained over 10,000 volumes each; nine
over 20,000 volumes each; and only two over 50,000 volumes
each.  The number of volumes in all these libraries is
1,294,000. The library of Congress is rated at 45,000 volumes,
and is one of the most select and valuable in the country. In


* And wby on account of tle colour of his skin?
t Notes: passim.
+ Lecture in Edinburgh on the Social Peculiarities of America.




LIBRARIES.


213


the number of its public libraries America is only exceeded by
France, which has two hundred and forty-one: but in the
number of volumes she is surpassed by Germany, which has
5,500,000; by France, which has 5,000,000; by Great Britain,
which has 2,500,000; and even by Russia, which has
1,500,000.
The census of 1850 gives the following statistics of the
libraries in the United States:-"Public, 1217, containing
1,446,015 volumes; school, 12,067, containing 1,647,404
volumes; Sunday-school, 1988, containing 542,321 volumes;
college, 213, containing 942,321 volumes; church, 130, containing 58,350 volumes: total, 15,615 libraries, containing
4,636,411 volumes." The largest single library in the world is
said to be the Bibliotheque Nationale, in the Rue Richelieu,
Paris, containing 1,400,000 volumes, mostly in handsome
binding, of coloured leather, enriched with gilt, and placed in
solid walls, from floor to ceiling. And yet the reports of the
American Tract Society show that within the last five years
alone it has put in circulation 4,721,873 volumes, or a number
of books exceeding the aggregate collections of all these
libraries put together.*
The census returns of 1853, however, or those of the preceding year, report that, independently of private, college,
church, or private school libraries, the total number of public
libraries is 1262; of volumes, 1,212,858; public school
libraries, 10,605;t and the number of volumes, 1,321,349:
total libraries, 12,867; total volumes, 2,534,207.1
There being no taxes on knowledge in the United States, the
number and circulation of newspapers and periodical works are
beyond anything known in the Old World. The daily journals
are more numerous here than in all the kingdoms and states of
Europe united: there being to every twenty millions of population in the United States between two or three thousand newspapers, and not more, probably, than one thousand to one hundred and ninety millions of the Old World; while they are
reported to be increasing in the Union in the ratio of seventy
per annum. It would appear by a late estimate that, in proportion to the population, five times as many papers are pub* Christian Almanac, 1857.
t Since estimated at 18,000.
$ American Almanac.




*1
214                THE UNITED STATES.
lished in the United States as in the British Isles, and nearly
twice as many as in all other nations combined.
The whole number of newspapers and periodicals in the
United States, according to the census returns of 1850, amounted
to 2,800: the aggregate circulation of those 2,800 papers and
periodicals was about 5,000,000; and the entire number of
copies printed annually amounted to 422,600,000; the average
circulation was 1,785; giving one publication to every 7,161
free inhabitants of the United States and territories.
There are now, says a more recent authority, about one hundred and forty religious newspapers in the United States,. distributing at least 600,000 sheets every week; while magazines,
journals, and reviews, of all grades of excellence and utility,
have so multiplied, that a catalogue of their titles would fill a
respectable volume. It is estimated that the reading matter
annually published in the United States, is equal to an octavo
volume of 600 pages for every man, woman, and child of the
population.
Some of these journals issue 50,000 copies daily; and there
are publishers who find an annual demand for 150,000 copies of
geographies and arithmetics. A large and respectable paper, published by Greeley, in New York, called " The Tribune," which
advocates every kind of social improvement, is said, in its various
forms of weekly and semi-weekly to have an almost incredible
circulation-estimated at 100,000. And each paper is sold at
little more than a penny English per copy, exclusively of a
comparatively trifling postage stamp when sent to a distance.
An American consul, on the subject of newspapers, says,
"Their number, cheapness, and the extent of their diffusion, are
unparalleled. It may, in fact, be asserted, that almost every man
in the country reads a newspaper, for every man has a direct
personal interest in public affairs; and as the policy of the
country has been to facilitate their distribution by the mail, they
penetrate everywhere, and constitute, probably, the greatest part
of the reading of at least the humbler portion of the agricultural population; and are, there can be little doubt, one of the
main elements of the national greatness."
Hence, also, religious publications, in the cheapest possible
form, are conveyed to all parts of the Union, in numbers that
can scarcely be imagined. One religious newspaper, published
by the American Tract Society, issued 30,000,000 copies in
about eighteen months- an incomparably larger circulation




BOOKS AND PERIODICALS.


210


than that of any other paper, secular or religious, on our globe.
Its subscription price is five dollars a year, and it can be supplied three thousand miles from the place of publication at five
and a half dollars per annum, including postage. Some of the
periodicals of a similar character, as " The American Messenger,"
have a circulation still larger, and are sold at twenty-five cents
a year.
In the book list of American publications for 1855, it is
represented that there are one hundred and seven publishers in
New York, fifty-four in Philadelphia, and fifty three in Boston,
including the publishing Boards of the religious societies. In
all departments, except that of fiction, there were published
about eight hundred different works, and including new and
old novels, about two thousand.
Everybody reads, and everybody buys books. Every mechanic,
of any respectability, has a library of his own.  There is no
impediment in America to the freest and fullest diffusion of
knowledge of every kind among the masses of the people. The
humblest labourer indulges in the luxury of his daily paper;
and as all read, knowledge penetrates to the lowest grades of
human society. Like the sun in the heavens, from day to day,
with ceaseless power, it continues to flood with light the whole
intellectual domain of the New World.
The means of education and enlightenment thus brought to
the door of the poorest cottager, the hard working man is
enabled to read the daily history of the world at his own fireside, and to his own family, instead of frequenting the alehouse
or the gin-shop to hear it read for his own exclusive information
and entertainment, at a far greater money cost, and at an incalculable amount of positive demoralization.
"If an observant stranger," says Mons. Tocqueville, "only
singles out the learned, he will be astonished to find how rare
they are; but if he counts the ignorant, the American people
will appear to be the most enlightened community in the world."
And to this extension of knowledge among the people of the
United States, and to the establishment of their extraordinary
state of society, no one thing, nor all things together, except
the Pulpit and the almost universal prevalence of schools, have
contributed so much as the Newspaper and Periodical Press.
The number, cheapness, and universal diffusion of newspapers
and periodical literature, in addition to the direct benefit they
confer, have been great incentives to the national education and




216


THE UNITED STATES.


improvement. In Prussia, and every kingdom or state where
the Press has been limited or restrained, knowledge has made
little progress among the masses, although the means of school
instruction have been general.
The amazing power of the Daily Press in particular, has been
thought by some to be an evil attribute of the great political
institute of the United States. It has been thought to create
socialism, and to generate and excite political discontent and
rebellion. Here, as in all other countries, doubtless, editors of
newspapers are to be found who disgrace their attainments and
prostitute their advantages, by pandering to the depraved and
vicious taste which they should labour to amend,-unprincipled,
malignant, reckless men, who make their pages the vehicle of
public slander,-incompetent men, whose productions daily proclaim their ignorance, imbecility, and errors,-exhaling a moral
pestilence which, like the nopal, distils its poisonous ichor on
all who come beneath the shadow of its branches.
But if the Press is conducted by some of the worst, it is also
directed by some of the best of men;-if by infidels, socialists,
and malignants, so also, but to a far greater extent, by christians
and philanthropists.
Thus if the Press here, as in all other countries where it has
been unfettered, has been found to be powerful for evil, it has
been found much more powerful for good. So much, indeed,
do its advantages preponderate, that on a fair balance, collected
from authentic history, there would appear to be no proportion
between the benefits and the mischiefs which mankind have
derived from its influence.
All past history certainly gives its testimony against the imputation of social disorganization and national commotion as a
consequence of the general diffusion of political knowledge
through a cheap unfettered medium. The socialism of Vienna
and France,-the rebellions, as they were termed, of the Magyars
and Neapolitans, Sicilians and Germans,-and the war-breathing
spirit of the Russian hordes,-all point to another and a very
different origin.
Nor are the criminal population of a country generally readers
of newspapers or periodicals. By far the greater proportion of
culprits cannot read newspapers or cheap literature of any kind,
being entirely ignorant of the art of lettered knowledge. Such
characters are therefore safe from any pernicious influence
which such vehicles of knowledge may instil.




THE PRESS.


217


The advantages of an unfettered Daily Press are numerous
and immense. If the Press is not the leader of the national
mind, it is the great colrective power for the abatement of all
great public evils, the instrument by which it arouses public sentiment, and brings it to bear against the parties by whom those
evils are perpetrated. To a very great extent, doubtless, it reflects
public opinion. It is an index to the minds of men, demonstrating what are their views and wishes, and it may also be regarded as a safety-valve, by which much acrimonious and democratic feeling escapes, instead of bursting forth into violence and
outrage. At the same time, it supplies topics for conversation
both on social, political, and religious subjects to the inhabitants
scattered through the vast regions of America, thus diverting their
minds from the mischiefs of scandal and absorption in their own
more petty local interests and affairs, and informing those who
live most remote from the seat of Government of all the popular
questions and events of the day,-of all that occurs not only in
the vicinity of Washington and the Empire State, but throughout the whole of their wide-spreading regions and throughout the
world; benefitting them to an incalculable degree in promoting
union, in creating a general thirst for education,-in a word, the
press makes education a necessary of life. Even the backwoodsman reaps the advantages of its softening, harmonizing, elevating
influence at his own fireside, in his far-off western home.
The periodical press of America is highly respectable as to
character, as well as very extensive. More than four hundred
periodicals, exclusive of newspapers, are always in course of
publication. The National and Harper's magazines, the North
American Review and the various monthlies, edited by Washington Irving and others almost equally celebrated, nearly rival any
of the same class in England, both as to character and circulation; and the same may also be said of Sartain's and Godey's
magazines, and thousands of the exclusively religious monthly,
or more or less frequent periodicals and journals. And while
many of the periodicals of America will not suffer by a comparison with any in Europe, the better class of newspapers
in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, with those of most
of the populous towns, will compare favourably with most of
the English journals in the style and temper of their leading
articles and political disquisitions, as also in the statesmanlike
mode of treating their subjects, as well as in the general talent
with which they are conducted.
L




'N. -&~-A  - q  I  0 -.


218                THE UNITED STATES.
It will thus be seen that the food for the mind being here
untaxed, as well as food for the body, America has greatly the
advantage of England and her colonies in the rapid and wide
diffusion of knowledge.
It is a fact that can hardly be regarded as otherwise than
astounding by those to whom it may not have been familiar,
that until lately there was a threefold tax imposed upon-education
and general knowledge in England, consisting of a duty on
paper, the advertisement duty, and the penny stamp impost,
which weighed like an incubus upon intellect, impeding the
operations of the general machinery for education, and opposing
a barrier to the extension of all collateral civilising influences,
as well as to the promotion of good morals and religion. As
the result of the absence of any tax on advertisements in the
United, States, advertising is practised to such an extent, that
the newspapers of New York alone contain more advertisements
than those of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Such an exemption, it need hardly be said, bears powerfully on
the interests of trade.
Not only here, as in England, do cheap publications teem
from the press, but here, as there, also, the most able men of
the age,-only in greater number and with greater zeal,-have
set themselves to divest science, as far as possible, of all that is
abstruse and forbidding, and so to simplify the enunciation of
its principles as to enable the comparatively poor unlettered
student to appropriate its treasures.  Philosophical truths,
unknown to the most eminent men of former times, or but
dimly seen by them, are now explained with a simplicity that
reduces them to the comprehension of the most moderate
capacity.  At the same time, these benefits are conferred, it
may almost be said, gratuitously;-like the fabled fountain of
Florida, pouring forth its revivifying waters to every recipient.
So, throughout this vast empire, streams of light and knowledge
flow forth to cheer and bless its vast and continually augmenting
population.
With cheap and easy books, cheap and easy lectures,
mechanics' institutes, circulating libraries, and other means,
full opportunity is afforded to the operative classes,-at least in
all the chief towns in the empire, —to acquire a kind of
knowledge which even so recently as the last generation was
confined to persons in affluent circumstances and with ample
leisure.




THE PRESS.


219


In the various departments of lighter reading an unequalled
supply is offered. The works of many of the most popular
authors of other countries are reprinted at a price so low as to
bring them within the reach even of the poorest; while the
domestic writers, whose name is legion, are incessantly producing, in one form or another, new contributions to the stores
of cheap literature.
It may be true that much of the knowledge acquired in
America is more superficial than solid or satisfying. Let it be
allowed that what in some instances affects to be science and
learning is conceited ignorance, still there is so large an amount
of genuine information diffused throughout the country as to
exercise a most potent influence on the social and national
interests and character.


L2




CHAPTER XVIII.
RELIoGoN.-Religlon recognised and protected, but not supported by the State. Ecclesiastical establishments repudiated by the framers of the Constitution. Religion, notwithstanding, the basis of the laws. Opinions of the founders of the Commonwealth on the
subject. Great progress of religion under these circumstances. Perfect religious freedom and
equality. Recognition of this principle by Congress in the choice of chaplains. Operation of the voluntary principle. Number of places of worship. Ministers and congre.
gations in the Union. General statistics from last census. Great aversion to a Church and
State alliance amongst ministers and people of all religious denominations. All religious
institutions supported by voluntary effort. None by individual States or the Federal Government.   Great efficiency of the voluntary principle demonstrated by its success.  Embarrassment of the episcopal church when first thrown on her own resources.  Beneficial
results of her self-reliance.
With literature has come knowledge, and with knowledge
truth.
In no part of the world does religion flourish in the same
degree as in America, as it is here free from the trammels of
State influence, and left alone to its own spontaneous, unobstructed operation.
No sooner had the first settlers in New England set their
feet upon its shores, than they began to accomplish the object
of their religious mission. Thus also did good men of different
denominatiois in other parts of the coast at subsequent periods.
Previously, or at the same time, or in succession after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on Plymouth Rock,* came the noble
and generous Oglethorpe to Georgia; the Baptists, Moravians,
and    Lutherans     to  the   Carolinas     and   New     York;    and    the
Huguenots of France both to New York and to the shores of
the St. Lawrence and the Lakes. All these appointed pious
and zealous ministers for themselves, and established seminaries
for the instruction of the natives, whence scholars were selected
to preach the gospel among their savage countrymen.
Religion is considered by the legislatures of the different
States of this great republic as absolutely necessary to their


* Virginia was settled some years before Plymouth Rock.




RELIGION RECOGNISED.


221


existence and prosperity as a nation; and it is, therefore,-contrary to the opinions generally entertained in Europe,-distinctly
recognised and protected by the laws.   In America, as in
England, religion is the basis of the common law. The Congress distinctly acknowledges the sanctity of the Sabbath, and
provides for the maintenance of religious worship in its army
and navy; while it is equally regarded by the great majority of
the State Governments and the civil authorities.
President Tyler, in his message to the Senate and House of
Representatives in 1844, commenced with a declaration, that "If
any people ever had cause to render up thanks to the Supreme
Being for the parental care and protection extended to them in
all the trials and difficulties to which they have been from time
to time exposed, the Americans are that people. From the
settlement of our forefathers on this continent," he continued,
"through the dangers attendant upon the occupation of a
savagewilderess,-through a long period of colonial dependance,
-through the war of the revolution,-in the wisdom which led
to the adoption of the existing republican form of Government,
-in the hazards incident to a war subsequently waged with
one of'the most powerful nations of the earth,-in the increase
of our population,-in the spread of the arts and sciences,and in the strength and durability conferred on political institutions, emanating from the people and sustained by their will,the superintendence of an over-ruling Providence has been
plainly visible;" and he justly and piously added, that "preparatory to entering upon the high duties of legislation, it becomes us humbly to acknowledge dependance upon Him as our
guide and protector, and to implore a continuance of His parental watchfulness over our beloved country."*
Apart from the subordinate influences which the mere statesman recognises true religion to possess, our American brethren
consider that it is advantageous to the State,-that it protects
liberty,-diminishes the necessity of public restraints,-and, to
a considerable degree, supersedes the use of force in the
administration of the law, from the consideration that religious
men are a law to themselves. They regard religion as the soul
of freedom,-the safeguard of the national prosperity and
During the administration of the Government of the country by President
Polk, commencing in 1845, it is understood that he discontinued balls at the
Government House from religious scruples, and regularly maintained domestic or
family worship in the great Republican Palace.




* ~


222                THE UNITED STATES,
honour,-they believe that it unites and concentrates public
opinion against injustice and oppression, and spreads a spirit of
equity and goodwill throughout the community.  They consider, indeed, that pure and unadulterated Christianity is not
merely friendly to the civil and sacred liberties of mankind, but
that it is the only system on earth by which the sweets of
rational liberty, and the full enjoyment of natural rights, can be
secured;-a fact incontrovertibly established; as, wherever religion comes in power so as to obtain all the influence that it demands over the character, it strikes atthe very root of every
passion that is depraved and selfish, and necessarily restrains
a man from tyrannising over others. Thus President Washington, in his farewell address to the people of the United States
on his resigning the executive government,-which address has
justly been regarded as admirably fitted to crown the services of
that eminent statesman, and deserving to be held in veneration
as a legacy of wisdom,-strongly affirms the necessity of religion to the wellbeing of a nation.  "Of all the dispositions
and habits," says he, "which lead to political prosperity, religion
and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that
man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness,-these firmest
props of men and citizens."  The great Washington thus at a
glance discerned the essential importance of the religious
element in the State, and the impossibility of there being a
true State without it. "He thus recognised the inseparable
connection between all true government on earth and the invisible government of God;-an idea indispensable to all true
nationality, involving as it does the sacredness of an oath,-the
true doctrine of a national conscience,-and of a solemn national accountability. He saw that there must be in every State
a predominant religion or a predominant irreigion, — Christianity or atheism,-and that a State could not permanently
exist or prosper unless Christianity was made the recognised
foundation of the law of the land.  At the same time, the
forecasting mind of the framers of the Constitution solved the
problem of the age, how far the purest toleration of action and
opinion was consistent with that predominance both of religion
and of race, which in some most liberal and catholic form would
seem to be an essential element in all true nationality."* 


* Harper's Magazine.




RELIGION NOT SUPPORTED BY THE STATE.


223


Washington, Roger Sherman, Franklin, and Jefferson,-but
especially the latter, with some of his illustrious colleagues,seem to have understood, better than the political economists
of Europe, the nature and proper functions of Government in
regard to religion.
"The finest problem in legislation," says Mr. Burke, " is what
a State ought to take upon itself to direct, by the public
wisdom, and what it ought to leave, with as little interference
as possible, to individual discretion:" and this problem the
framers of the Constitution solved, by abstaining from all
legislation on the subject of'religion, at the same time that
they recognised the necessity of its existence. In a word, they
saw and acted upon the conviction, that though religion was
necessary to the State, State influence was not necessary to
religion.
A State-religion, indeed, as "already said, is not only here
unknown, but it is most palpably seen everywhere to be
unnecessary. Churches and chapels are found rising up one
after another in every city, town, and village of the Union,
and generally with crowded congregations.*
"The Tribune," in gleaning from a recent report. to
Congress by Mr. Kennedy, superintendent of the census,
makes the following statement:-The churches or edifices for
divine worship in the United States number 36,011; of which
the Methodists own one-third, or 12,467; the Baptists nearly
one-fourth, or 8,791; the Presbyterians the next number, or
4,584; and if we count the Dutch Reformed, Congregational,
Lutheran, and German Reformed with the Presbyterian (and
the differences between these seem slight and unessential), the
total is 8,112. But the estimated capacity of the Presbyterian
and allied churches is greater in the average than that of the
Baptist and Methodist churches; so that while all the Methodist
churches will accommodate but 3,209,333 worshippers, and all
the Baptist but 3,130,878, the Presbyterians, and related
churches aforesaid, have room for 3,705,211 worshippers. The
Catholics have but 1,112 churches, accommodating 620,950
worshippers.t  The Episcopalians have 1422 churches, accom

* " The churches of the different denominations," says the Earl of Carlisle,
" are extremely well filled."-Lecture on America.
t The Romanist progress in this country is not such as greatly to encourage
its friends or alarm its enemies, as we gather by the following statistics from the
Catholic almanac;-There are in all forty-one dioceses, of which number thirty.




224


THE UNITED STATES.


modating 625,313 worshippers.          The average number which
each church edifice in the Union will accommodate is 384;
the total value of church property, 86,416,639 dollars; and if
all the churches should be filled at one time they would hold
13,849,869 persons-probably something near the total population that could at one time attend.*
"Every little colony of houses," says Mr. Dickens, "has its
church and school-house peeping from amidst the white roofs
and shady trees." "In Genessee," says another tourist of equal
credit, " a small village, with a population of only two thousand,
they have four churches." A statistical table in Captain Murray's Lands of the Slave and Free, shows that the same liberal
supply exists all over the States, accommodation for 14,000,000
being provided for a scattered population of 23,000,000.t
The States contained in 1833 thirteen thousand ministers, in
nearly two hundred denominations; and their incomes averaged
1000 dollars, or ~225 sterling each, besides the cost of churches
and chapels.
"We hear much," says "The Christian Miscellany," "of the
spiritual degeneracy of our day, and of the rapid diminution
one report a population of 1,844,500. If the ten not reported average the same,
which is hardly probable, it would give us 405,000, which added to the foregoing
make a total of 2,249,500. Two millions and a half of Catholics in the United
States is all that can be made out on this showing. Nor does their past or present
increase equal what many have been led to suppose. The first Catholic bishop
was consecrated in 1790. In 1840, fifty years after, there were-1 archbishop,
13 bishops, 501 priests, 418 churches, and 1,000,000 members. In 1855, fifteen
years later, there were 7 archbishops, 33 bishops, 1700 priests, 1824 churches, and
about, as we have said, 2.500,000 communicants, or rather 'Catholic people,
young and old, male and female. Their colleges and female seminaries are as
follows;In 1808.............. Colleges  1......  Female Schools  2,, 1830.............,....,,     20,   1840..............,   8....           40,, 1850.............,  17......,     91,, 1854...........,,  20                    112
1855..............,,  21......           117
The Catholics themselves complain of losing fifty or sixty per cent. of the Irish
population by emigration to this country; anid certainly their increase by no
means compares with that of the Methodists, Baptists, and some other denominations; and hence we do not think that there is the remotest probability of their
ever getting the upperhand in. our country. We probably make ten converts
from them to one made by them from us.-Prim. Magazine, Feb. 1st, 1856.
* Recorder copied from Baptist Magazine, 1855. The Westminster Review,
for 1854, states that in 1850 the number of churches and chapels was 36,221,
with accommodation for 13,967,449. Vide, also, American Christian Almanac
for 1853 or 1854. P. 62.
t The chapter on " Church, Schools, and Law."




PROGRESS OF RELIGION.


225


of candidates for the Gospel ministry, and yet if statistics
carefully gathered may be depended upon, evangelical ministers
were never more numerous in proportion to the population than
at the present moment; and notwithstanding the vast emigration of Romanists and open infidels, the ratio of churchmembers to population is larger than thirty years ago.        We
would not apologise for the worldliness and spiritual apathy of
our churches, or the want of earnestness and devotion in the
ministry, but we honestly believe that American Christianity
was never, as a whole, purer in doctrine, or more vigorous in
its aggressive 4tacks upon a wicked world than now."
The "Foreign Missionary," the organ of the Old School
Missionary Board, gives the following statistics of ministers,
church-members, and population at three different periods:Years.                 Population.             Ministers.
In 1832.....................  13,713,342..................... 9,537
In  1843....................  18,768,822.....................  17,073
In 1854.................... 25,953,000..................... 25,427
Or thus:
In 1832,.1 Minister to every 1,437 souls.
In 1843, 1,,,,    1,093,,
In 1854, 1,,,,    1,020,,
RELATIVE NUMBER OF COMMUNICANTS.
In  1832-Population.......................................  13,713,244
Deduct under ten years of age..................... 3,657,245
10,056,999
Of whom communicants in Evangelical churches... 1,342,461
In 1843-Population....................................... 18768,822
Deduct under ten years of age.................... 5,984,554
12,784,269
Of whom communicants in Evangelical churches... 2,544,763
In  1854- Population....................................... 25,953,000
Deduct under ten years of age................ 7,371,000
18,582,000
Of whom communicants in Evangelical churches... 3,337,822
Or thus:
In 1832, 1 communicant to every 74 souls.
In 1843, 1,,,,      5,,
In 1854, 1,,,,     54,,
Dr. Baird, in the late edition of his valuable work, "Religion
in America" (1855), gives the following statement of the five
L 3




226


THE UNITED STATES.


great evangelical denominations in the United States.     The
Congregationalists and Presbyterians being in many important
respects the same, he places both under the head of Presbyterians.
Churches.  Ministers.  Members.   Population.
Baptist......... 14,070... 9,476... 1,322,469... 5,900,00(
Methodist...... 14,000... 8,740... 1,593,794... 5,500,000
Presbyterian... 10,000... 8,472...  926,318... 5,500,000
Episcopalian... 1,000... 1,742...  108,850... 1,012,000
Lutheran...... 1,900... 1,000...  225,000...  750,000
Nearly all the population of the United States profess to be
christians, and take the Bible as the basis of tWeir faith, however much they may differ in their theological opinions. All
persons at the same time are allowed the right of worshipping
God according to the dictates of their consciences. Nothing is
imposed as an article of religious belief.  Intolerance is unknown. The word toleration is obsolete, expunged from the
American vocabulary. Religion is regarded entirely as a matter
between man and his God, because man is accountable only to
God for his belief. None are ineligible to office on account of
their belief, any more than those who deride Christianity, or
who believe it imperfectly or in parts. Here the question is
not what is a man's creed, but what is a man's conduct, his
character.  The religious liberty here enjoyed excludes all
reference to creeds. Jews have all the privileges of Christians.
Nor does any danger to religion arise from this leniency, as the
Constitution is inviolable, and therefore uninfluenced by any
officials of the Government or changes of administration. The
Constitution is unalterable, except by the voice of the great
majority of the people as expressed through the different State
governments. Whatever the creed therefore of the President,
it would be of little consequence, as he could exert no influence
calculated to disturb or alter the present basis of the Constitution.
Of all errors, none are so irrational and pernicious as that of
attempting to enforce uniformity of opinion by penal laws;
while the thing itself is impossible, as every sincere Christian
must feel it his duty, at whatever sacrifice, to obey God rather
than man. Nothing is so insane and unjust as for a Government to assume the responsibility of holding in abeyance intellectual powers which God has made for action, and placing upon
moral energies fett6rs of a kind which He never intended them
to wear.   The laws of God invest all mankind with certain




RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.


227


rights, which are neither dependent upon any earthly tribunal
nor annullable by earthly legislation. While no human law can
add force to the Divine law, it is equally plain that no human
enactment at variance with it is binding.
These views being general in the States, and founded upon
the New Testament, which is obviously not only a message of
peace, but a law of perfect liberty, though not to be used to
licentiousness (inculcating, indeed, the highest order of religious
liberty), it is natural to suppose that any compulsory contribution for the support of religion would be considered by every
American a direct encroachment on personal liberty.
The American Government, indeed, recognise a right to perfect religious liberty. They regard man as he is represented in
the Scriptures, as a free agent, and they consider that being
a free agent, he is responsible to God alone for his belief;
arguing that if he is not thus responsible, he is not a free agent,
-that God having given man freedom of will as to good and
evil, He has also given him freedom of will and liberty of
choice as to his religious creed. In other words, they allow that
every man has a sacred and inalienable right to worship God
in a manner most satisfactory to himself,-most in accordance
with the dictates of his own mind; that this right no government
or legislature can without injustice and oppression directly or
indirectly infringe, because it is right for every man to do
everything for himself which is not inconsistent with the good
of others. This is far beyond the limits of the " Toleration Act."
X The word toleration implies permission, but not a right; it
presupposes incomplete religious liberty, and in reality involves
it. The power to tolerate once admitted, the power to refuse
toleration abroad and at home must follow. Religious equality
and religious liberty are synonymous.
The idea of toleration is a relic of the effects of the papal
usurpation. That usurpation did not tolerate; and Protestants
or the prelacy thought it was a great act of charity for them to
concede what the papacy had thus refused. The very word toleration is therefore repudiated by all generous reflecting men. The
Toleration Act, indeed, may be regarded as little less than blasphemous, and might be properly entitled, "An Act to permit
Almighty God to receive the worship of his creatures."
It was gratifying evidence that the sentiments of Americans
are beginning to prevail even in England on this great question,
when Lord Brougham, in his late introduction of the " Religious




.228


THE UNITED STATES.


Disabilities Bill" into the House.of Lords, remarked, that
"toleration was a word totally inapplicable to religious opinions
and worship. The Dissenter was no more bound to be grateful to
the Established Church for allowing him to worship and believe
after the dictates of his own conscience, than the Church was
bound to be grateful to the Dissenter for his corresponding
sufferance towards it."
Every man has in America a right freely to disseminate as
well as to profess his honest opinion. And this is regarded as
an equal right. If it is possessed by the Christian, so it is also
by the Jew; if by the Protestant, so also by the Papist; if by
the believer, so also by the unbeliever. It is an universal right.
No man is disqualified for any office on account of his religious
creed. So far as the law is concerned, a Jew, for example, may
serve the office of sheriff, or be elevated to the presidential chair.
While the connection of religion with the Government in. the
United States (as has been shown) is organic, and the Government itself has all the solidity of resting on a religious basis,while there is no restriction upon the rights of conscience,while no element of the religious life of the nation is excluded,
-yet no denomination of christians can be the machine of the
State, and no pecuniary exactions can be made for the support
of any particular section of the christian church.
Even within the walls of the Capitol religion has a sufficient
guarantee that the badges and pride of ecclesiastical distinctions
are abolished,-that an equalizing system reduces all religious
persuasions to the same level,-that every trace of sectarian
favouritism is expunged from the civil code, and expelled by
the constitution of the land.  A  chaplain of Congress is
elected from the ministers of the different religious sections, by
a majority of the members.  An Episcopalian, a Wesleyan, a
Presbyterian, a Congregationalist, a Baptist, or a Roman
Catholic-all are equally eligible.  "Thus," says Mr. Casswell,
the Episcopalian minister, whose authority has been before
cited, "none of the existing denominations is preferred before
the others.  The chaplains appointed by the Government are
often Presbyterians and Methodists, sometimes Episcopalians,
and occasionally Roman Catholics."
This religious freedom and equality is considered the most
glorious characteristic of American laws. For this the Pilgrim
Fathers toiled, and suffered, and died; and their posterity have
appreciated the noble heritage bequeathed to them.




OPERATION OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.


229


The voluntary system being thus universally recognised and
adopted, has abundantly proved its efficiency by the degree in
which real Christianity has been diffused throughout this vast
continent.  "During the last fifty years," says a writer on religious statistics in the United States, " the number of members
of the evangelical churches has increased from 400,000 to
3,500,000, being an increase of eightfold, while our population
has increased only fourfold." A sufficient refutation of the
assertion which some writers have made, that the increase of
piety in America does not keep pace with the increase of their
rapidly-growing population. And this fact is sustained also by
the authority of Mr. Casswell. "With the happy union of
heart among the different denominations of christian ministers,
there is a union of effort; and thus a knowledge of the general
principles of Christianity is diffused by various means throughout the country. A number-of religious societies, all feeling
their equality, endeavour to act upon, the principle of disseminating those doctrines, and those alone, in regard to
which all evangelical denominations agree. Hence it is that
the Bible, with the exception of a few of the recentlyrecognised States and territories, is found in almost every
house in the land.  'In travelling in the high mountains of
Georgia and Carolina,' says a gentleman of veracity, 'which
are covered with a number of small fa rmers, who are generally
Methodists or Baptists, distinguished for their sobriety, I have
never entered three or four cabins where I did not see a copy
of the Bible.' Hence it is that tracts are circulated in almost
endless profusion, strongly inculcating the necessity of personal religion, although putting out of sight whatever relates
to modes of worship, ecclesiastical authority, or outward
ordinances."*
Thus America shows the noble and gratifying spectacle of
the whole christian church within her borders sustained solely
by the voluntary energies of the people, and yet thriving
throughout an immense empire, receiving the homage of men
of every rank, and sending forth its missionaries to distant
realms.  Fluctuations there may be; but the tide is ever
flowing-the advancement is actual and permanent.
The voluntary system, in relation to religion, was once an
experiment in the States. The question had never been tried,


a Casswell's American Church.




230


THE UNITED STATES.


indeed, in any other country since the first ages of Christianity, whether or not an ecclesiastical establishment was
essential to the support of the christian religion.  And when
James the First drove forth the sturdy Puritans to the New
World,*   with   the sarcastic  observation  that they   should
go to test their schemes of ecclesiastical government, little did
that narrow-minded, bigotted monarch and his minions anticipate the results. These schemes of ecclesiastical government
have been tested, and they are no longer an experiment.t      It
is decided by the strongest of all evidence, the evidence of facts,
that religion, like philosophy, can make its own way in the
world by its own intrinsic excellence.
The German philosopher, Gervinus, in a work lately published, entitled, "An Introduction to the History of the
Nineteenth Century," in discussing the doctrines of the Reformation, and their influence upon the world, thus speaks of Roger
Williams, _and the doctrines first evolved by that illustrious
Reformer:" In accordance with these principles, Roger Williams insisted
in Massachusetts upon allowing entire freedom     of conscience,
and upon entire separation of the Church and the State. But
he was obliged to flee, and in 1636 he formed in Rhode Island
a small and new society, in which perfect freedom in matters of
faith was allowed, and in which the majority ruled in all civil
affairs. Here in a little State, the fundamental principles of
political and ecclesiastical liberty practically prevailed, before
they were even taught in any of the schools of philosophy in
Europe. At that time people predicted only a short existence
for these democratical experiments,-universal suffrage, universal eligibility to office, the annual change-of rulers, perfect
religious freedom,-the Miltonian doctrines of schism.       But
not only have these ideas and these forms of government maintained themselves here, but precisely from this little State have
they extended themselves throughout the United States. They
*  I will compel them to conform," said be, "or I will harry them outtof
the kingdom."
t 'he second charter for Rhode Island, granted by Charles II in'1663, and
probably sketched by Roger Williams, allows every person and community freely
rand fully to have and to enjoy his own and their judgments and consciences in
matters of religious concernments. In alluding to this, some years after, Williams
observes, " His majesty declared that be would experiment whether civil government would consist with such liberty of conscience."




OPERATION OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.


231


have conquered the aristocratic tendencies in Carolina and New
York, the High Church in Virginia, the Theocracy in Massachusetts, and the Monarchy in all America. They have given
laws to a continent, and formidable through their moral influence, they lie.at the bottom of all the democratic movements
which are now shaking the nations of Europe."
It is now proved that it is only in the atmosphere of political
freedom and religious equality where social rights are not
systematically invaded, and exclusive social interests not transmitted by aristocratic pride, that religion can thrive in all its
native vigour and luxuriance.
" Religion," says an American divine, " to be completely successful, must be free. Experience shows that in this country it
has the energy of liberty,-it has free course, and is glorified.
Beyond a doubt it will ultimately triumph.  At this time
(1840) we are more than a million of communicants in the
several Protestant Churches of the United States; probably a
larger proportion than exists in any other country in the world.
The number increases at the rate of 100,000 a year. Such
increase is perfectly unexampled since the days of the apostles.
Religion will triumph, and no power on earth can prevent it;
and it will triumph precisely because it is free."*
The intelligent clergy of all denominations understand this,
and would be the very foremost to oppose any effort to bind
religion to the car of the State.
Up to the period of the Revolutionary War, the number of
Episcopalians was very small, except in the southern colonies.
They subsequently, i.e., in the reign of Charles II., took
measures to obtain an Episcopate, but failed. The subject was
afterwards agitated with no better success, although being considered hitherto a part of the establishment of the mother
country, Episcopalianism had been supported by a public tax.
But when the colonies were actually separated from Great
Britain, the'destruction of the Church appeared almost inevitable, notwithstanding the fact that the great Washington himself was an Episcopalian. "A few years nearly overthrew the
work which had been slowly carried forward by the exertions of
a century and a half; and had not Omnipotence interposed
the ruin would have been complete. The fostering hand to which
the American Church owed a long continuance of care and proReligion and Education in the United States, by Dr. Lang.




_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I__ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~. 


232                THE IUNITED STATES.
tection was withdrawn, and the Propagation Society no longer
rendered its accustomed aid.  Many of the clergy were thus
left entirely destitute, and some"-it is presumed the mere
hirelings of the flock-" were obliged to betake themselves to
secular employments for support."*
On the 25th of September, 1785, the First General Convention was held in Philadelphia, and no longer could it be said of
the clergy that their loyalty to the king was treason to the State,
nor from the nature of the altered state of things could it
be longer said of them,
"How many, could we make the search,
Who, while they hate the gospel, love the church."
The church had been entirely thrown on its own resources like
an infant deprived of the sympathy and guidance of a careful
parent.
It was foretold that unless religion was connected with and
supported by the Civil Power, itinerant agitators would propound any doctrine they pleased till the people in general would
be left without a christian pastor, and ultimately without any
true religion.
At the termination of the eighteenth century the church was
completely re-organized, and was gradually recovering fiom the
tremendous shock sustained at the Revolution.  The really
evangelical of its members had by this time learned in some
measure to rely on their own resources, and its best ministers
were, in some instances, comfortably supported by their flocks.
No great enterprises were undertaken, however, because a hard
struggle was necessary to maintain the ground already occupied.
It was reserved for another century to witness the rapid
developaent of the energies of the church and the consequent
increase of its numbers, its piety, and its zeal, as the result of
absolute self-reliance.
"From that period to the year 1839," adds Mr. Casswell,
"it has gained on the fast extending population of the United
States, s6 that it has quadrupled itself during the last twentyfour years; while the population has little more than doubled."
The same testimony is supplied by another well-known author,
Judge Haliburton, whose prejudices in favour of Episcopacy
are known to be inveterate.


Casels American Curch
* Casswell's American Church.




OPERATION OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.


233


"As soon as the Episcopal Church of the United States was
released from the authority of the English hierarchy, persecution ceased, and, like all other bodies, it was permitted to take
its chance for popular favour unmolested and unheeded.  Its
growth has exceeded all expectation; and its further increase,
from obvious causes, is, from the progress of the nation, destined
to be no less certain and rapid, for, unconnected with the State,
she confines herself to her own calling. She neither asks nor
desires a union with it; she has no ambition but to perform her
allotted task, and no object but the meritorious one of being a
worthy servant of her blessed Lord and Master. She endeavours
to make her people good christians, and in doing so, makes
them good subjects."*
A shrewd writer, a graduate of the University of Oxford, and
a clergyman of the Church of England, in an address to the
bishops and clergy of England, makes the following observations on the state of religion in America:"It is now proved to a demonstration that it is not necessary
for civil governments to profane religion by converting it into
an engine of the State, in order to keep the people in obedience;
for never did a new government so readily consolidate itself as
that of the United States; and while all other governments have
been overturned or shaken to the centre so as to tremble for their
existence,t this one, which had dissevered the Church from the
State, has not only remained safe and quiet, but has risen to a
degree of strength and influence which has astonished the
world."$
In no part of the earth does religion enjoy such triumphs!
The christian who is awake to the instructions which God is
affording by his providence, must see the high superiority which
the church here enjoys in consequence of its being freed from
the trammels of the State. Even Episcopalians, whose system
leads them to cling to a State alliance, have been converted by
events; and a Bishop in America has shown himself the
most keen-sighted to discern all approaches towards political
interference with religion, and the most determined in his resistance of the incipient evil. He has warned his clergy of the


* Rule and Misrule of the English in America.
t Alluding to the late French and other Continental Revolutions.
An Address to the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England, on the
expected Dissolution of her Alliance with the State, by a Graduate of the University of Oxford.




234


THE UNITED STATES.


danger, and has offended many in this country, where he once
received a flattering entertainment, by exposing the evils which
the Episcopal church here endures in comparison with the
unfettered liberty which it enjoys in the United States.
At a meeting recently held in New Zealand, for the purpose
of promoting the adoption of a representative system of Episcopal church government in that country, similar to that adopted
by Dissenters, the Rev. Mr. Godley, a minister of the Established Church, thus addressed the meeting, and such words,
from such a man, speak volumes on the subject:" It is often said by enemies of the English Reformed Church,
that she is a creature of the State, dependent on her establishment and her endowment for existence,' and incapable of standing like other ecclesiastical bodies, humanly speaking, by her
own strength, and working with her own means; and I confess,
if I were to look at the present state of our colonial churches
alone, I should find it difficult to rebut the sneer.
"But I can show another side of the picture.
" When the United States declared their independence, it may
be said that the church fell with the monarchy. Episcopacy,
especially in communion with the Church of England, was, for
obvious reasons, not only unfashionable, but almost infamous.
The endowments of the Church, which had been very large in
some of the States, were taken away; her edifices were destroyed; even her communion plate was sold; numbers of her
clergy emigrated, together with the most earnest members of
their:flocks.
"In short, it is impossible to conceive a more complete and
overwhelming prostration than the American Episcopal Church
then suffered; one would have said that within the lifetime of a
generation her existence in the United States, like that of the
British Constitution on which she was said to depend, would be
a matter of history. Now let us look at the sequel. For some
little time the depression consequent on the revolution continued; but the American Churchmen who were left were not
dismayed; they had sense to see that new measures were required to meet the emergency, and faith to believe that they
would be sufficient to meet it. Now it is instructive for us to
remark that the first step they took, when forced to shift for
themselves, was the formation of a governing body. The first
general convention of the American Church met in ] 785, only
-three years after the peace.  The first American bishop was




OPERATION OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.


235


consecrated in 1787. The church was organized with a rapidity
and completeness eminently characteristic of the administrative
talents of the people. The civil constitution of the Republic
serving naturally to a great extent as a model. 
"A general convention was constituted, consisting of all the
bishops, and of clerical and lay representatives from each diocese,
and possessing full legislative powers for the whole church;diocesan conventions exercised similar powers within their respective jurisdictions;-vestries administered parishes.  By
degrees the outline thus sketched was filled up; canons of discipline were passed; the liturgy was revised; provision was
made for education, for foreign missions, for domestic extension. Scattered and helpless individuals became an animated,
active, working body, far inferior, indeed, to most of the other
denominations in outward circumstances, but at least able for
the first time to do justice to itself, and make free use of its
own resources.
"I cannot find out what the number of Episcopalian clergymen was after the revolution. I can only ascertain such isolated
facts as that the State of New York, which in 1844 had three
hundred and four clergymen, had only five in 1787. I am
compelled, therefore, to begin my general comparison at a later
date. In 1814, I find that the Episcopalian Church numbered
two hundred and forty clergymen, officiating in organized
parishes. In 1844, the last year for which I have been able to
procure the statistics, it had twelve hundred and two. Assuming
that its congregations multiplied in equal proportions, and there
seems no reason for doubting it, we have here the fact that in
thirty years the number of American Churchmen increased fivefold, or about twice as fast as the whole population of the Union.
So that even if we allow, for argument, that immigration supplied them to an extent proportioned to their original numbers,
they must have more than doubled themselves by conversion
alone in thirty years. And that they have done so, at least,
seems to be shown by the fact, that in 1839 more than one-half
of their clergy, and nearly one-half of their bishops, had been
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, or Baptists.
" I need not say that the proportion of converts is likely to
have been larger among the congregations than among those
who rose to office and dignity in the Church.
"Again, the American Church gets plenty of money. Her
clergy, which must now amount to at least sixteen hundred,




236


THE tNITED STATES.


have an average income of ~200 a year; and if I add the
funds raised for church building, education, missions, and other
church purposes, I am sure I shall be within the mark if I set
the income of the American Church at half a million sterling
annually; that is, speaking roughly, 1Os. a head for the members
of her communion, or ~2 10s. for every family.
"'In fact, we do not want money,' says her historian, 'we
have funds enough; we want men for the ministry.'
" This is the natural result of the zeal and interest which is
engendered among her members by an active participation in
the management of her affairs. In every department of her
proceedings the advantages of her system are visible.
"When an extension of the episcopate is required, she is not
obliged to go, like some other people I have heard of, to a
heterogeneous legislature, composed of men of every religion
or of no religion; nor to a colonial minister, who may be her
bitter enemy, in order to ask leave to consecrate a bishop, and
discuss the boundaries of a diocese, and the amount of the
endowment. The American Church settles that for herself, as
every church ought.
"But I need-not expatiate longer on these advantages of
system and organization which the American Church enjoys.
I have been induced to say thus much on her constitution and
progress, because as presenting the only instance of an ecclesiastical body in communion with the Church of England,
which possesses a regularly constituted representative Government, she affords the only available precedent for our own case,
and also because the signal success which has attended a career
begun under such discouraging circumstances, seems to show
that in order to fulfil her mission the Church of England
does not require endowments or State connection;-she only
wants to have her hands untied, a clear stage, and no favour.
Of course I do not consider self-government is the only
cause of the success of the American Church; but it does
appear not only to be remarkably coincident with that success,
but to constitute almost the only material difference between her
position and that of the colonial churches, which are so far
behind her in available life and energy."*


* Speech of the Rev. Mr. Godley, at a meeting convened at Christ Church,
Canterbury Settlement, New Zealand, Australia, by the commission of the Bishop
of the diocese, extracted from the " Lyttleton Times."




OPERATION OF THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.         237
"As to dissenting interests," says another clergyman of the
Church of England, "we all know that it is not by aid of
parliaments, or kings, or queens, or ministers of state, that they
become progressive, but in spite of these great earthly powers.
Their faith streams against the wind; and if we were visibly cut
off from all earthly aid,-visibly subjected to all forms of social
and political injustice,-visibly reduced to rely on ourselves
alone, with God for our only helper, I cannot help thinking that
we, in course of years, should be very much stronger than by
following the present mean-spirited and pimping course."
Lord Brougham, in his introduction to the Religious Disabilities Bill, before referred to, says, "Let the Church stand on
her own merits, and she has nothing to dread. I have no fear
of error, if error were left to itself; but I have great fear of
persecution."




CHAPTER XIX.
FORM OF CHORCH GOVERNMENT AMONG EPISCOPALIANS.-Discipline. Improvements in
their ecclesiastical polity. Comparatively healthy and prosperous state of their churches.
Happy effects of religious equality on the country, on ministers, and on religion, in obviating
jealousy, party feeling, and Isolation. Fraternity of ministers and people of different sections
of the universal church as a consequence. General harmony of operation. Respect and
kindness manifested by American people generally towards ministers of religion. Instances in
which especially exemplified. Voluntary liberality in support of religious institutions.
Number and diversity of religious sects. Its influence for good rather than for evil. Prevalence of religion, and number of places of religious worship. Architecture and internal.
arrangements of religious edifices. Especial respect paid to the Sabbath in the Northern and
Middle States.
As may be supposed from the statements of the previous
chapter, the Episcopalian churches of America are developing
themselves    very    differently  from    those    of  Europe.      The
European churches had an historical basis; they sprang out of
certain conditions of old European society, which conditions
have no counterpart in America. The consequence is, that all
those churches whose framework has been borrowed from the
old world, are being rapidly modified by the new circumstances
with   which    they   are   environed.     The    Church     system   of
Europe is a system which an American cannot comprehend.
It is foreign to all his habits and to all his tastes.
Even the Roman Church is growing powerless in the United
States. The idea of a church with a supreme dignitary in a
distant country is to an American, especially if a native,
altogether preposterous.
Thus the Episcopalians, who though not the most numerous
body in America are highly respectable, are far less wedded to
conventional forms and distinctions than in England and her
colonies.    At the same time they are destitute of the offices
and dignities inseparable from a State Establishment, although
they maintain their distinctive character as a religious community, having bishops, rectors, and curates.
Dr. Russell, in his "History of Modern Europe," observes
that a bishop during the first and second centuries was only a




ECCLESIASTICAL.POLITY OF EPISCOPALIANS.


239


president in a council of Presbyters at the head of one christian
assembly; and whenever the episcopal chair became vacant, a
new president was chosen from among the Presbyters by the
suffrage of the whole congregation.  It is similar in the
United States.
A diocese practically consists of all the Episcopalians in a
given State, organized upon a prescribed plan as an ecclesiastical
commonwealth, of which the bishop is the president, and by
which he is supported. Generally, however, he is elected by a
majority of the standing committee of all the dioceses of the
United States.
While this highly respectable denomination have not scrupled
very considerably to alter and amend the Prayer-book, —disburdening the Liturgy of all the appendages that were made
to it in the reign of Charles II.,-and to deviate from other
prescribed forms of the Anglican Church, they sometimes administer baptism by immersion both to children and
to adults.
In one Episcopal church in Kentucky, the font is in the'
shape of a large bath, six or seven feet in length.  Several
adult persons in Philadelphia have been baptized by Episcopal
clergymen in the Schuylkill
While the Episcopal establishments and ministry are supported like those. of other denominations, (except in the State
of New York, where landed property is possessed, guaranteed
before the settlement of the Constitution,) viz., by funded
endowments, by pew rents, by voluntary contributions in
general, and by matrimonial fees,* their views on the subject of
a connection between Church and State are similar. "I cannot
think," says the Rev. Mr. Casswell, " that any civil legislation
would add in the slightest degree to the weight of the American
canons.  On the contrary, it would probably tend to bring
them into disesteem among the Episcopalians."
The kings and ecclesiastics of Europe, for so many centuries,
had held undisputed sway over the mind and conscience, that
the people generally seemed to regard them as inheriting the
authority not only to control their property, but also to mould
their civil and religious opinions.  To call in question this
authority was considered a most flagrant act of rebellion; and


* This is a very considerable source of emolument; the presents made on
such occasions amount to a very considerable sum per annum.




240


THE UNITED STATES.


he who dared to do it was punished for his temerity either by
death or banishment.
In the United States, things were soon managed differently.
It is the almost uniform conviction of the people on this side
the Atlantic, that the church is competent to take care of
itself; that legislative interference would be a positive injury;
and that civil government will sooner need the protection of
religion than religion require the support of the State. Perfectly
distinct in themselves, it is found that they both accomplish
their respective objects most effectually by pursuing them in
their distinct and separate capacity. American Episcopalians,
we have already shown, are generally satisfied, that to set up
an Established church in America would be the utmost folly;that while defects in the American system are freely admitted,
it can hardly be doubted that the voluntary system will finally'
prevail, which on the whole is the best both for clergy and
people.*
To the same effect is the testimony of another high authority.t
"Although I think that the experience of the United States does
not as yet enable them to decide on either side the argument
between the established and voluntary systems in religion, yet
take the towns by themselves, and I think the voluntary system
appears fully adequate to satisfy all religious exigencies."
M. De Tocqueville, who visited the United States, and saw
the good effect of the voluntary principle, says that he was
struck with the intimate connection between religion and
liberty. He interrogated on the subject Catholic and Protestant
ministers.  "All," he adds, "attribute mainly to the entire
separation of Church and State the peaceful empire which
religion exercises among them." - "I do not fear to affirm," he
continues, "that during my residence in America I never met
with a man, ecclesiastical or layman, who was not agreed on
this point."
Mere human authority, however venerable in Europe, has
here lost its prestige. Stereotyped orthodoxy is in all departments at a discount. Enquiry cannot be frowned down or
silenced, for the million stand foot to foot with the unit, and
demand discussion, proofs, reasons. Treat men like men, and
they reason like men; treat them like beasts, and they sink into


* American Church by an Episcopalian.
t Earl of Carlisle.




GOVERNMENTS AND RELIGION.


241


brute obstinacy; honour them as free citizens, and they cultivate
free and generous thought.
Since, then, the people are not here taught to believe that
free enquiry and manly remonstrance are sedition,-are not subject to a clerical despotism, grounded upon the assumed absolute divine right of the clergy to be the only authorised
interpreters of the Divine Word,-but have the right to doubt
freely and discuss openly all religious questions, without damage
to their social position and rights;-since free trade in thought
and speech is as popular as free trade in the markets of the
world, it is not wonderful that there should sometimes appear
excesses in the direction of freedom. In many instances, doubtless, there is an abuse of human powers,-the want of balance
in their exercise, and the perversion of liberty into licentiousness; but to repress even the excesses of the human mind by
authority, or even to check it by harshness, or by imprecations,
or by fulminations of Divine wrath, would only disgrace the
religion of light and love, and provoke the bitter scorn of the
unbeliever. Religious liberty even to equality has in no case,
as was prophesied, opened the floodgates of error and irreligion.
Governments, it is repeated, cannot commit mistakes more
injurious than when they attempt to regulate the religion of a
people; while direct interference in ecclesiastical matters by the
civil powers of the State inevitably produces sanguinary results
in a rude, and inextricable confusion in a civilized, community.
Attempts to procure uniformity of religious belief and action
have, as is witnessed by the dark dismal uniformity of the
Church of Rome, sunk whole nations into apathy.      The
experiment has been tried from the time of Constantine, and
ecclesiastical history has long since determined its results. The
attempt has not only occasioned anarchy, confusion, and apathy,
but it is engraven in characters of blood. Human power, in
the enforcement of its laws, may make men hypocrites, but it
cannot make them believers; it may change the conduct, and
should be invoked to correct the grosser immoralities, but it
cannot reach nor change the heart. If the heart be right with
God it will be right with man; and such is the true and solid
basis whereupon governments should repose. And this lesson,
which other and older nations have been so slow to learn,
America, to her honour, has exemplified from her earliest
infancy. Had such a principle prevailed in France she would
M




4 


242                THE UNITED STATES.
have been preserved from revolution; in Ireland, she had never
weltered in her blood. Kings should know that if they are to
reign at all it must be in the hearts of the people. Unity of
opinion, perhaps, abstractedly considered, is neither desirable
nor a good. If the centre be error, its results will be such as
will inevitably be deplored. If, however, the centre be truth,
its circle cannot be too widely extended.
Roman Catholics have taunted Protestants with being broken
up into sects, and have appealed to the unity of their church as
a proof of its superiority; but there is implanted in man, for
wise purposes, a spirit of emulation, by which alone astonishing
results have been accomplished; and the denominational
differences which prevail among Dissenters are productive, perhaps, of infinitely more good than evil. The Romish Church,
in its boasted unity, it has been said, may be compared to a stagnant pool covered over with weeds and scum, and sending out a
baleful miasma; while the Protestant body resembles a rippling
brook, passing over pebbles of party-coloured hues, with scarcely
one yard of its course resembling another, but diffusing health
and gladness as it rolls along.
Religious liberty and equality in America has in no case, as
was so confidently predicted, opened the floodgates of error and
irreligion. Freedom of thought, and speech, and action, so far
from having tended to promote scepticism and infidelity, are
found to have operated against error in general.
The American people, especially those residing in the country,
are in the habit of hearing a great variety of preachers, who
agree with each other on certain points, and disagree on others.
The doctrines on which they agree are generally believed, while
those on which they disagree are often disputed or denied.
Hence it is that amidst much error and confusion orthodox
views are generally held on the doctrines of the Trinity, the
inspiration of the Scriptures, the atonement of the Saviour, and
a state of reward and punishment hereafter. As, moreover, the
Americans are a nation of travellers, in the most remote districts
there are some who have enjoyed a religious education, and are
willing to communicate such information as they are able to
bestow. Only a small portion of the population, therefore, can
be charged with gross heresy.
In regard to doctrine, indeed, the great majority of the American people are orthodox. This is most emphatically the case,
and affords a strong evidence that the Bible alone is sufficient




RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.


243


to impart a knowledge of all truth necessary to salvation. It is
a fact which even a High Churchman can contemplate with
pleasure, that Episcopalians, Congregationalists, the Dutch Reformed, the German Reformed, the Lutherans, the Methodists,
the Moravians, the Presbyterians, and most of the Baptists and
Quakers, agree in maintaining nearly all the truths contained
in the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Thirty-nine
Articles.  Among these denominations is found almost the
whole religious energy of the country; and from these the great
philanthropic institutions of America derive their prosperity
and vigour.*
To the same effect is the statement of Miss Bremer, in her
" Homes of the New World."    "All christian sects acknowledge,
after all, the same God, the same divine Mediator and Teacher,
the same duty, the same love, the same eternal hope."
The various churches are various families, who having gone
forth from the same parent are advancing towards the eternal
mansions in the house of the eternal Father. It was the statement of a British officer in travelling through Pennsylvania
many years since, "Although there are so many sects, and
such a difference of opinion in this province, it is surprising
what harmony subsists among them. They consider themselves
children of the same Father, and live like brethren, because
they have the liberty of thinking like men. To this pleasing
harmony is to be attributed the rapid and flourishing state of
Pennsylvania above all the other provinces."t  Every one has
his separate mission to accomplish in the kingdom of mind.
God has given different gifts of understanding, and thence arise
different forms of comprehension and expression of truth. By
this means truth, in its many sidedness, is a gainer, and the full
discussion even of the highest subjects which takes place in the
different churches in this country, as well as in the pages of
their different organs,: is of infinite importance for the
development of the religious mind of th~e people. Besides,
these controversies and conflicting declarations on points of
"The American Church," by the Rev. Mr. Casswell. Mr. Casswell adds,
"The Baptist sects, taken collectively, constitute the prevailing denomination
in the States."
t Captain Abury in 1791.
t Every one of the most considerable of the christian sects has its own publications, which diffuse its own doctrines, as well as the reports and transactions of
its own body.
M 2




244


THE UNITED STATES.


religious difference must tend to an increasingly clear knowledge of the essential points of resemblance in all christian
'communities,-to the knowledge of.the positive in Christianity,-and must prepare the way by degrees for a church
universal in character, and with oneness of view even in externals.
An American bishop, of the Episcopal church, recently in
the course of the visitation of his diocese, on arriving at —,
found that no notice of his appointment had been received,
and no preparation consequently made for holding the accustomed services. Being in some difficulty what to do, he was
waited on by the Presbyterian minister of the place, informing him that their presbytery were in session, and would be
happy to have him perform the church service and preach
for them in the evening. The bishop did so, preaching from
Acts xvii. 30, 31.J
The Bible Society especially, as in England, while protecting
divine truth from the attacks of Rome and Infidelity, affords a
rallying point for Protestants of all denominations.
"Indifference," says the Earl of Carlisle, "cannot be laid to
the charge of the people of the United States. Probably
religious extremes are pushed further than elsewhere. There
certainly is a breadth and universality of religious liberty which
I do not regard without some degree of envy."t
Under the state of things thus existing other advantages
accrue. While some of the Episcopal clergy who are strong in
their assertion of the apostolical succession may decline friendly
ecclesiastical intercourse with ministers of other bodies, there
are others who recognise all who hold evangelical views, and
whose credentials are visible in their character, capacity, and
usefilness as ministers and members of Christ's church. These
cheerfully connect themselves with some of the great societies
formed among other churches; in short, discover their sympathy
with their fellow-christians in every way that the canons of their
church will allow.
There is little of that pride of ecclesiastical station which
belongs to aristocratic families in England and her colonies,
always showing how corroding to the best. impulses of the
heart, and to the dictates of common sense, are those strong


* New York Guardian.
t Earl of Carlisle's Lecture on America.




RELIGIOUS EQUALITY.                245
prejudices, which, early implanted, petrify themselves into the
character in the course of years.  The grand aspect in which
Protestant Christianity appears to men in general in the New
World is, as a teacher of equality;-" One is your master, even
Christ; and all ye are brethren."
As a consequence, that sacerdotal mien and cold reserve
which it is the unchristian and mistaken policy of many of
the clergy of the Established Church of England and her
colonies to adopt towards those who maintain their right to
differ from them is here unknown; nor is there ever displayed
any fierce bigotry or prescriptive intolerance.  Instead of
appearing among the people and ministers of other societies in
the stiffness of professional hauteur and contempt, the ministers
of the Episcopal church are, like others of their ministerial
brethren with whom they differ on minor points of theology
and discipline, at all times accessible and friendly. No factitious
grandeur encompasses them; no supercilious airs mark their
deportment. Ministers of all denominations meet together on
the same platforms, preach in the same pulpits, and sit at the
same committee-boards as equals.
There are no conventional distinctions; nor is there any
affectation of singularity or superiority. Precedence is usually
awarded by courtesy to seniority, talent, usefulness, and
character, irrespective of denominational peculiarity, but is not
claimed by any as a right. The same equitable spirit pervades
the councils of the different States, as well as of the Congress.
Nowhere is a minister of the Gospel degraded and tabooed
because he has the honesty and the manliness to maintain
independency of thought and action.
And this religious freedom and equality is productive of
another and a still more important advantage. All religious
denominations being on an equal footing with respect to the
Government, there is no room for jealousy or envy; ecclesiastical
injustice and its consequences are unknown; so that religious
equality has both secured the peace of the community, and
essentially promoted the interests of truth and piety.*
The Rev. John Howard Hinton, A.M., author of a wellknown History of the United States, has published a volume


* "Since the revolution." says an American author, " by which all denominations were put on an equal footing, there has been no disputing among religious
sects. They all agree tu differ."




246


THE UNITED STATES.


under the title of "The Test of Experience,' in which he has
presented a masterly argument for the voluntary principle in
matters of religion. The " test of experience" is in this, as in
all other things, the best of tests, and the religious institutions
of the United States can well bear its application.  One of the
most noticeable results of the non-interference of the State is
pointed out in the following passage:-" To travellers in the
United States, no fact has been more immediately or more
powerfully striking than the total absence of religious rivalry.
Amidst such a multitude of sects, an inhabitant of the Old
World naturally, and almost instinctively, looks for one that
sets up exclusive pretensions and possesses an actual predominance. But he finds nothing of the kind.   Neither Presbyterianism, nor Prelacy, nor any other form of Ecclesiasticism,
makes the slightest effort to lift its head above its fellows.
And with the resignation of exclusive pretensions, the entire
ecclesiastical strife has ceased, and the din of angry war has
been hushed; and here, at length, the voluntary principle is
able to exhibit itself in its true colours, as a lover of peace and
the author of concord. It is busied no longer with the arguing
of disputed claims, but throws its whole energy into free and
combined operations for the extension of Christianity.  The
general religious energy embodies itself in a thousand forms;
but while there is before the church a vast field to which the
activities of all are scarcely equal, there is, also, 'a fair field
and no favour,'-a field in which all have the same advantages,
and in which each is sure to find rewards proportionate to its
wisdom  and its zeal.  This inestimable benefit of religious
peace is clearly due to the voluntary principle."
Familiar and affable to all, Episcopalians in America stand
among the people members of the great human brotherhood,
strictly identified with-the common species whose interests and
characters they unite with christians of other sections of the
great christian church in efforts to elevate and improve. Their
churches and congregations, like those of all others, are formed,
and embodied, and supported by themselves. In a word, good
men of all christian denominations in America feel themselves,
and act more generally upon the conviction than in any other
christian country, that "they are all one in Christ Jesus."  It
is the nature of true religion to bind heart to heart.  True,
unbounded, disinterested benevolence is its genius. Into this
peaceful, happy, and natural state of things do men subside




TESTIMONY OF DANIEL WEBSTER.


247


when the great causes of jealousy and animosity are obviated
or removed.
The following is the testimony borne to the character and
usefulness of ministers of the gospel generally by the late
celebrated Daniel Webster, in his speech in Congress in the
Girard case:
"I take it upon myself to say, that in no country in the
world, upon either continent, can there be found a body of
ministers of the Gospel who perform so much service to man,
in such a full spirit of self-denial, under so little encouragement
from Government of any kind, and under circumstances always
much straitened and often distressed, as the ministers of the
Gospel in the United States, of all denominations.
"They form no part of any established order of religion;
they constitute no hierarchy; they enjoy no peculiar privileges
-in some of the States they are even shut out from all participation in the political rights and privileges enjoyed by their
fellow-citizens; they enjoy no tithes-no public provision of
any kind. And except here and there, in large cities, where a
wealthy individual occasionally makes a donation for the support
of public worship, what have they to depend upon? They have
to depend entirely on the voluntary contributions of those who
hear them.
"And this body of clergymen has shown, to the honour of
their country, and to the astonishment of the hierarchies of the
Old World, that it is practicable in free governments, to raise and
sustain a body of clergymen-which, for devotedness to their
sacred calling, for purity of life and character, for learning,
intelligence, piety, and that wisdom which cometh from above,
is inferior to none, and superior to most others-by voluntary
contributions alone.
"I hope that our learned men have done something for the
honour of our literature abroad.  I hope that the courts of
justice and members of the bar in this country, have done
something to elevate the character of the profession of the lawI hope that the discussions above-in Congress-have done
something to ameliorate the condition of the human race, to
secure and extend the great charter of human rights, and to
strengthen and advance the great principles of human liberty.
But I contend that no literary efforts, no adjudication, no constitutional discussions, nothing that has been done or said in
favour of the great interests of universal man, has done this




248


THE UNITED STATES.


country more credit at home and abroad, than the establishment 
of our body of clergymen, their support by voluntary contributions, and the general excellence of their character, their piety
and learning.
"The great truth has been thus proclaimed and proved,- 
a truth which I believe will, in time to come, shake all thehierarchies of Europe-that the voluntary support of such a
ministry, under free institutions, is a practicable idea."
While this testimony is borne to the character and deport- 
ment of consistent and devoted ministers of the Gospel in
America, the conduct of the people generally towards such
ministers must not be omitted.
Clergymen of all denominations are here treated with great
consideration and.respect.  Nor does this consideration and
respect include merely verbal expressions of civility and
courtesy.  "In travelling through Ohio," says the Episcopal
clergyman so often quoted, " it has several times happened that
after spending a night at an inn, and having taken supper and
breakfast, the landlord has refused to accept any payment on
hearing that I was a clergyman. For the same reason, a drayman whom I once engaged to remove my furniture from one
house to another, resisted all my efforts to induce him to receive
compensation."
There are captains of steamboats who will sometimes carry
clergymen a great distance for half price, or without any charge.
Quite recently, a bishop was conveyed on board a steamboat
without cost from New Orleans to St. Louis, a voyage of more
than 1,000 miles. Medical men also prescribe for ministers of
all denominations and their families gratuitously; and lawyers
seldom charge the clergy for their services. These are common
practices towards ministers of all denominations by the American
people, and are honourable alike to the feelings of their hearts
and the liberality of their sentiments.
The same generosity is manifested towards all persons who
are known to devote their time and talents to benevolent objects
of whatever kind. It is said, that Miss Dorothea Dix-the
Caroline Fry of- America-is privileged to travel from the
utmost extremities of the country entirely free of charge. No
proprietor, captain of steamboat, or director of railroad car,
would think of her paying the customary fare.
As to the voluntary liberality manifested in the support of
religion generally, "I have been informed," continues the




VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS.


249


gentleman just quoted, " that many of the wealthiest merchants
habitually devote a tenth part of their incomes, and sometimes
much more, to religious purposes. The annual assessments on
pews are often as high as from two to two hundred dollars, which
all pay cheerfully. And there are few of any class who do not
give their support to some mode of worship; and this they do,
not grudgingly, but of a cheerful mind,-not as a tax extorted
and reluctantly paid, but as a free-will offering to Him from
whom they derive their life, and breath, and all things."
The voluntary contributions of the people of the United
States to religious and benevolent institutions, as well as for the
support of ministers, are among the most gratifying evidences
of their moral enlightenment. The receipts of nineteen of the
great christian organisations for the year ending April last,
(1856), were 100,849,823 dollars, 48 cents; being an increase
of 20,794,887 dollars upon the receipts of the previous year.
The "New York Christian Advocate" says, "There are at least
400,000 Sabbath school papers issued monthly by the Sunday
school press of the United States, amounting to 4,800,000
dollars."
The different denominations, unitedly,. have 70,000,000 of
dollars invested in church property; 20,000,000 are annually
raised for the support of ordinances at home; and 4,000,000
for the spread of the gospel abroad.
It may be supposed from what has been already intimated,
that America is more remarkable than any other country for her
diversity of religious sects.
There are, it is said, upwards of sixty different communions;
but, as has been stated above, their difference is not so much in
doctrine as in discipline and formulas. The principal are Congregationalists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and
Wesleyans. The Congregationalists, or Independents, obtained
an early prevalence in New England, originated by the Puritans.
The Presbyterians were settled in one or two of the middle States,
about the year 1620. The Episcopalians established themselves
in Virginia, and in some of the older States, between the years
1607 and 1609. Maryland was settled by Roman Catholics in
1634; and Pennsylvania by the Society of Friends in 1681.
The Swedes and Finns introduced Lutheranism into Delaware
and New Jersey in 1627; while the Baptists, who were among
the foremost in their expatriation to the New World, and are now
probably the most numerous, are spread over almost every part
M 3




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of the Union. They had their origin, as is well known, in the
North Eastern States, in the labours of Roger Williams, in
Rhode Island; while the Swedes and Germans, in 1683,
followers of Simon Menno, established themselves on the
Delaware, on the Hudson, and the Mohawk.
Wesleyanism was introduced into America in 1714 and 1752,
by emigrants from Ireland, who settled in Massachusetts, Virginia, Long Island, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania,
the principal of whom were the Tennent family.
In 1765, Philip Emery and Captain Webb began to preach
in Long Island and some other parts of the country. The first
regular preachers sent from England, were Messrs. Boardman
and Pilmore, in 1769. The first conference was held in Philadelphia. The Wesleyan Methodists are now, next to the
Baptists, the most numerous body of christians in the United
States.
The voluntary system has thus powerfully proved its efficiency.
It has been, in all respects, productive of such extraordinary
results that its superiority to the system of State endowments
amounts to a practical demonstration. The holy fire kindled in
Britain, and borne across the Atlantic to its shores, is thus
diffusing itself with astonishing rapidity over this mighty continent; her more equable and rational laws animating the
churches there to a vigour and a speed in the race of christian
benevolence and love, that may well excite the apprehensions
of the parent country lest they pass them on the road and leave
them far behind.
Thus, while in the commercial world all is noise and activity;
while every day records some mighty undertaking-some
unparalleled results; so in the religious world, enterprise and
constant effort are daily leading to the founding of some
of the noblest institutions which ever elevated or blessed
mankind.
It has been before noticed, incidentally, that churches and
chapels are numerous in America. They also, for the most
part, in the Eastern and Middle States, possess considerable
architectural pretensions. The more ancient of the Congregational chapels, both of the Independents and Baptists, resemble
the village churches in England, being usually large square
buildings, with square windows; the structure, at its front gable,
surmounted by a tower and bell; but in all cases fitted up with
more convenience. The more recently erected buildings, though




PLACES OF WORSHIP.


251


in exterior appearance much in the same style, are furnished
and arranged with a much greater regard to comfort; some are
elegantly furnished, and generally with large platforms instead
of pulpits. Mr. Chambers, in his late tour in America, says, " I
entered a church of respectable appearance in Albany, which I
found belonged to the Baptist connection. The church, which
was filled with an exceedingly well-dressed and attentive congregation, was fitted up with every regard to taste and comfort,
-strikingly characteristic of places of worship in the United
States.  Every traveller remarks the neatness of American
churches. They resemble neither the venerable parish churches
in England, with their old family oak pews, antique monuments,
and troops of charity children; nor the parish churches of
Scotland, with their plain deal seats, damp earthen floors,
and unmelodious precentors. All of them, of whatever communion I chanced to attend, were carpetted over like a drawingroom; the pews, of finely polished or painted wood, were
spacious and cushioned; the windows furnished with venetian
blinds to moderate the glare of sunshine; and the pulpit low,
and without sounding board, consisted of a kind of enclosed
platform, which was provided with a handsome sofa for a seat.
It may also be noticed that the pews are generally provided
with light fans, which the ladies employ during warm weather.
I never saw any functionary acting in the capacity of a clerk
or precentor.
"The singing is generally led by an organ and choir in the
gallery opposite the pulpit. Not the least remarkable peculiarity
in the arrangements is the voluntary association of a number
of young ladies and gentlemen to compose the choir. In some
fashionable churches there are paid singers; but throughout the
country generally the members of the choirs belong to the best
families and act gratuitously. In one place which I visited,
the leader of the church choir was the principal medical man in
the town.  Facts of this kind are too pleasing to be overlooked."
Comparatively few of the workmen in England are members
of christian churches. Such churches are generally composed
of the middle classes; the masses, those at least living in the
large manufacturing and commercial cities and provincial towns,
are generally Socialists, Chartists, or those who profess to be
connected with the churches established by law, and who
seldom or never enter them. In the United States there are




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very few comparatively who are not connected with some
religious society and profess some religious creed. Irreligion
or neutrality is disreputable and injurious to the character and
temporal interests of the parties.
However discordant the elements, moral and religious, that
the tide of emigration is daily pouring upon her shores, by
some mysterious process such emigrants, especially the Irish,
seem almost instantly to become amalgamated with the general
mass, and influenced by their general habits and opinions.
In America, as in England, Christianity being recognised as
the law of the land, the sittings of Congress, and of all the
State Legislatures, are regularly suspended on the Sunday.
The Courts of Justice, the Custom-House, the Banks, and the
Land Offices, are closed on that day, as well as all private
offices, shops, and stores.
The Post-office is the only exception to this rule, and the
question as to the duty of closing this also has become the
subject of warm discussion, both out of doors and in Congress.
There is no part of the world, not even any part of England,
where the Sabbath is more strictly regarded than in the Middle
and North Eastern States of America. As an evidence of the
public sentiment with respect to it, more than thirty railroads do not run their cars on the Sabbath. Recently, the
three principal lines of railroad in New York, the Central,
the Erie, and the Hudson river, have discontinued the Sunday
passenger trains.  The principal lines of steamboats have
for some time found it to their interest to discontinue their
Sunday trips, and the railroad companies have now come to the
same wise conclusion.
In no part of the civilised world can the sentiment of Horace,
though in a more elevated sense than that in which it was conceived, be more properly applied:Festus in pratis vacat otioso
Cum bove pagus."
" The leisure village jocund in the fields,
Keeps holiday together with the steer
Loosened from toil."
Let it not be supposed that the. author intends to convey the
impression by the statements he has just given, that true religion
predominates in the United States, or that ignorance and sin
have been totally expelled by the light and influence of truth.
Darkness and wickedness still inherit the land, from the summit




STATE OF RELIGION.                 253
of the Alleghanies to the far off Pacific,-from the frozen lakes
to the Southern Gulf. And errorists and unbelievers are found
throughout this whole extent, of every possible sect and school,
from the mildest form of heresy to the bleakest and dreariest
negations of Atheism. This, alas; is as yet true of all nations
on the face of the earth! But the candid reader, who attentively considers the foregoing account, will not hesitate to admit
that the United States of America already take rank among the
most advanced peoples in the race of civilisation and religion.




CHAPTER XX.
SEC. I. CISBF COMMERCIAL CITIES.-Boston. Origin of the name. Its geographical
situation and commercial importance. Harbour, shipping, suburbs, population. Literary and
scientific institutions. 'Public buildings. Harvard university. Newton theological institution.
Cemetery. Seminary for training female teachers. Common schools. Number of places of
religious worship. Particular circumstances for which Boston is celebrated in history. Prevalence of religion. Principal religious denominations. Architecture of public edifices. Public
places of resort. Boston common. Mt. Auburn cemetery, &c.
SEC. II. Rhode island. Situation and extent. Salubrious climate. Chief towns. Public
buildings. Benevolent institutions. Population. Face of the country. Rural attractions.
Origin of cotton cultivation and manufacture. State when founded. Roger Williams. His
history. Origin and nature of the government. Brown university. Origin, progress, and
present state. President Wayland,
SECTION    I.
Boston, originally      Shawmut or Tri-mountain, was              called
Boston from      Boston in Lincolnshire, of which town many of
the Pilgrim Fathers are supposed to have been natives. By
railroad it is thirty-seven miles from Plymouth, the landingplace of the Pilgrims, and two hundred              and thirty-six    miles
from New York. The fare from the latter town is five dollars,
and the rate of travelling twenty-five miles an hour, en route
through New Haven, Hertford, Springfield, and Worcester;
passing over a populous country, and through the State of
Connecticut, along the valley of the Connecticut River. It is
the capital of the State of Massachusetts, which State is divided
into fourteen counties, and contains three hundred and three
towns. Some of these towns are important as marts of manufactures and commerce, and are distinguished for their architectural beauty and for the scenery around.
Boston is the metropolis or principal town in New England;
and New England is a portion of the Union that includes the
States of Maine and New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Boston principally occupies the peninsula of the Bay of
Massachusetts, a peninsula which is nearly three miles in length,
with an average breadth of one mile, and is distinguished by
triple hills. Like Venice, though not actually built on the sea,




BOSTON.


25,


it is also surrounded by broad, deep waters, except at a narrow
point at the western extremity of the bay at the mouth of the
Charles River, which is connected with the surrounding country
by curiously-constructed artificial avenues or bridges, and railroad viaducts; and from the first of these peculiarities as to
situation the town is said to have derived its original designation.
The Harbour is a magnificent basin, nearly encircled by a
beautiful country rising in gentle acclivities of from fifty to
one hundred and ten feet above the sea.  From its neatness, its
irregularity, and its beautiful suburban villas, it might be taken
for one of our English sea-ports.  Some of the streets are
narrow and circuitous, but others (among which is Washington
Street, extending through the city) are not much inferior to
the best in our English provincial towns; many of them have
also broad side-way pavements of granite, and are thronged
with passengers. For many miles around the prospect extends
over as fair a land as ever rejoiced the heart of man: mountain
and valley, forest and water, city and solitude, grouped together
or dispersed in forms of almost ideal beauty; these, with the
numerous islands which dot the harbour, present a highly commanding and picturesque appearance from the sea, as also from
Dorchester Heights and Mount Washington.
The town may be said to be almost entirely English, both
in its aspect and character.  Not rectangular, as is usual in
America,-not with rows of trees shading the side-walks-it
bears no similarity to Philadelphia and Washington, the streets
and buildings there resembling a chess-board;-but its plan is
irregular, and its streets broad and narrow, straight, crooked, and
diverging. So little is there of what is foreign and novel, either
in the town or in the manners and customs of the inhabitants,
that an Englishman at times can hardly persuade himself that
he is in the New World, or at all beyond the precincts of his
native land.
This town is distinguished both as the literary and the commercial emporium of New England, and the manufacturing
centre of almost the entire continent. It is also the centre of
the railroad system; and, including South Boston, which does
not stand upon the peninsula, is the largest town in the whole
of the United States, extending over nearly three square miles.
Boston is not in reality a city; and there is not a city, in the
true meaning of the term, in all New England, as no one town,




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of whatever magnitude,-Providence in Rhode Island excepted,
-contains a Mayor, Aldermen, and the other municipal officers
which form the necessary adjuncts of a Corporation.
The shipping of Boston amounts to more than one-eighth of
the whole tonnage of the United States. Its trade extends to
all parts of the world, and it is the fourth in rank among the
mercantile cities of the Union. Situated at the most favourable
point of the eastern coast for trade with England, and the
nearest to the shores of the Old World, it is said to possess
advantages for foreign as well as coasting trade over every other
American port.*  Its navy yard, called the United States Navy
Yard and Dry Dock, is without a rival in the country. The
former is of great extent, and contains three large sheds for
ship-building, one of which is occupied by the ship Virginia,
which has been on the stocks for more than twenty years.
The population is about 150,000, but with its environs,
including Cambridge and South East Boston, it is estimated
at about 300,000.- The whole district is supposed to contain
half a million of inhabitants. Boston is celebrated, among other
distinguishing characteristics of eminence, for the number and
elegance of its public buildings, and its literary and philanthropic institutions. Altogether there are about fifty churches
and other public edifices deserving of notice. Among these are
the State House, the State Prison, the New Market House,
Fremont House, the King's Chapel, the Massachusetts General
Hospital, the Institution for the education of the Blind, the
New Custom House, and Faneuil Hall.
The last-named building, as is generally known, is celebrated
for the meetings held within its walls during the struggles for
independence. It is on this account greatly venerated by the
whole American people, and is styled the cradle of liberty.
Scarcely less celebrated has it more recently become for the
assemblage of brave men who attempted the rescue of Burns,
the first victim of the fugitive slave law, and for the resolutions
there passed against that iniquitous statute. The State House
is a handsome building, occupying the summit of Beacon
Hill, an eminence in the midst of the town, from the cupola
or dome of which a most beautiful panoramic view is commanded, both of the whole town and of the surrounding


* According to the calculations of Lieut. Maury, the distance from Boston to
Liverpool is 2,880 miles, 160 miles nearer than from New York.




260


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also a drawing school, or school of design for girls. " Young
women, at one or both of these admirable institutions, learn
Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Algebra, and the Physical Sciences;
and, it is said, evince the greatest facility in acquiring knowledge
of these subjects, which have been considered so difficult, if not
incomprehensible to the female intellect."*
Nor is it merely for educational purposes that the spirit of the
New World is preparing woman for a freer development of her
being, and a wider sphere of activity; as already shown, it opens
to her free paths in arts and manufactures. This is the object
of the drawing school, as will be hereafter described. Literary
and Philanthropic societies, as also private as well as public
schools, are perhaps more numerous and more efficient here
than in any other town, or city, or district of the Union.
Literature, music, and the fine arts are therefore more cultivated
and better appreciated, and the inhabitants are more refined.
While it is somewhat remarkable as a fact, suggestive both of
the social state and prudential character of the people of New
England in general, that the State of Massachusetts contains
fourteen hundred and six physicians or medical men, or one to
every seven hundred and seven of the inhabitants. The town
and whole district of Massachusetts it may be added, indeed
the whole North-Eastern States, are distinguished for order,
cleanliness, regularity, and social arrangements in general,
giving evidence, from age to age, of the characteristics of their
high Puritan lineage. "The tone of society here," says Mr.
Dickens, "is one of perfect politeness, courtesy, and good
breeding. The ladies are unquestionably very beautiful; their
education is much the same as with us."
Religion has strongly entrenched itself in this celebrated town.
Boston contains at the present time upwards of forty large and,
for the most part, elegant places of worship, and probably eight
or ten of inferior size.
The population of Boston proper, according to the last census
in 1850, was 138,788; of the whole district, within a circle of
nine miles, it was 269,874. Estimiating the population of the
town alone at about 160,000, there will be found one place of
worship to about 12,000 inhabitants.
The church edifices.in Boston, especially those of the Congregational (including Baptist) and the Episcopal denomina

Aliss Bremer.




BOSTON COMMON.


259


hibiscus (rosa sinensis), the arborescent euphorbia, tilandsias,
the amias, the ligar, and scarlet belladonna lily; some beautiful
vacciniums, as well as monotropa, called the Indian pipes, with
others of unusual splendour, many of them  common to the
gardens and pleasure grounds of England.
Among the tombs that command the especial interest of the
casual visitor, are those of Mrs. Hannah Adams, the wife of
one of the ablest statesmen and Presidents of the Union; and
Dr. Spurzheim, the phrenologist; Judge Storey, the distinguished
jurist; and the celebrated Dr. Channing. While, more recently,
the remains of Margaret Fuller Ossoli have been there
deposited, or, at least, a marble monument has been erected to
her-memory and that of her husband and child.
The Common, in the summer season, is a delightful spot,
situate at the extremity of Fremont Street, which runs parallel
with Washington Street, and is a place of great resort, especially
to the youthful part of the population. As a promenade, it is
to the Bostonians in general, what St. James's and Regent's
Parks are to the populace of London; and is scarcely less
attractive in native and artificial convenience and beauty.  It
consists of about fifty acres of land, containing in its centre
a beautiful and extended reservoir or lake; this reservoir is
supplied from what is now called Cochituate Lake, which drains
a surface of nearly twelve thousand acres of the surrounding
country. It is nearly surrounded by streets or terraces of
elegant houses, occupied by the most wealthy of the citizens,
and the beautiful suburbs, studded with numerous country
seats and well cultivated farms, give an additional charm to this
source of rural recreation. Some of the vast trees that ornament these charming haunts of the country-loving citizen, are
supposed to be one hundred years of age.
Boston and its neighbourhood derives additional interest to
the passing stranger, from the many illustrations of history it
presents in the surrounding memorials of the great revolutionary
struggle.  This metropolis of the North being, as already
intimated, the cradle of education and of general enlightenment
in the New World, as well as of liberty, is often designated
the American Athens. Public schools are numerous, and may
be said to be models of what such institutions should be;
the respectable portion of the population, generally, taking an
interest in them.  At West Newton, near to Boston, is a
seminary for female teachers, established by Horace Mann, and




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villas scattered over the landscape, give to this portion of the town
an appearance preeminently English. Cambridge is the location of Harvard University, already noted; the oldest, richest,
and most celebrated literary institution in the country, being
founded in the year 1636. Here, also, is an Athenaeum, a very
superior institution, unrivalled by any in America; the Mercantile Literary Association; the Lowell Institute, for the
advancement of art, science, and religion; aid an Asylum for
the Insane and Blind, all most ably conducted.
Boston gave birth to Benjamin Franklin, the hero of peace,
and one of the quiet benefactors of the human race. He was
the third man in the great triumvirate-Fox, Penn, and Franklin
-the first man in the battle of the press, and for freedom of
thought in America, and for American independence.  Here
the revolution commenced. Its ports were closed in 1774, by
order of the British Government, and a garrison planed in a
position within it to defend the town. It was, in consequence,
besieged by the American army under General Washington,
who finally compelled the English to abandon it.
Boston was not only the cradle of civil liberty, but also the
source of those great schemes of elementary education that
have extended over the whole Union; whilst, in almost everything tending to general improvement, her people have almost
invariably taken the lead.
Among the picturesque and beautiful rural attractions of
Boston, and the numerous watering-places and other charming
places of resort in the suburbs, are Mount Auburn Cemetery,
near Harvard University (the Pere la Chaise of America), and
the Boston Common.
The former contains upwards of one hundred acres of land,
of a beautiful undulating surface;- hills and valleys of great
picturesque effect, as if artificially designed; diversified with
patches of water, trees and shrubs, dells and glens; and the
whole intersected with gravel walks, and ornamented by the
trees characteristic of the neighbourhood. These trees are mostly
elms, the most common tree in Massachusetts; beautiful from
their wide-spreading palm-like crowns and ponderous trunks,
-their pliant branches, bending gracefully over the greensward,
-the pendant nests of the oriole, swinging beneath them in the
wind. Among the most novel and beautiful shrubs and flowers
that attract the eye in this magnificent cemetery, and amid these
beautiful garden graves of the dead, are the Linnea borealis, the




PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN BOSTON.


257


country, as far as Plymouth, thirty miles distant along the
coast, where the Pilgrim Fathers first knelt to worship beneath
the hoary forest trees.  It is a massive square building, with
a piazza of arches surmounted by a range of Corinthian
columns.
Quincy Market is a splendid edifice of granite, and is the
most clean, commodious, and best supplied of any market in the
United States. The abundant supply of wild fowl, together with
poultry of all kinds, successively exhibited here, is astonishing
to a foreigner.
The King's Chapel was erected just before the revolution,
it was the only place, for a series of years, in all the North
Eastern States, in which the doctrines of the Church of England
were preached or its common prayer-book used.
Fremont House, or Hotel, is a very elegant building, as is
also the whole pile of edifices of which the magnificent street
is formed of which this constitutes a part, being built of granite,
and from three to four stories high.
The New Custom House is also a handsome and commodious building. It is of the Doric order, with three porticos of
fluted columns each approached by fourteen steps, all of massive
granite.
Charleston is a suburb of Boston, and is connected with it
by three bridges.  The centre of the town is occupied by
Bunker's Hill, celebrated for the battle fought on it during the
revolutionary war, and which is commemorated by a monument,
a plain granite shaft, two hundred and twenty feet high and
fifty feet square at the base. The elevation on which it stands
is encircled by a neat iron railing, and intersected by tastefully
arranged walks and promenades.   From this height, also, a
most magnificent view is presented of the surrounding country;
the horizon, in a particular state of the atmosphere, being incredibly extended. Plymouth, the landing-place of the Pilgrim
Fathers, is distinctly visible.
Many houses here, as in South East Boston, are of granite,
or rather, of sennite; but brick is the prevailing material. The
streets, though narrow, and often irregular, exhibit much finish
and cleanliness.
Cambridge is united to Boston by two bridges, and may be
said, like Charleston, to form a constituent part of the town.
The broad winding roads, and the beautiful lawns and pleasuregrounds, with their vast forest trees embosoming the beautiful




RHODE ISLAND.


261


tions, are of a highly creditable character as to architecture.
Some of them are ornamented with lofty towers, with their
usual adjuncts of spires and bells.
SECTION II.
Rhode Island is the smallest of the American provinces,
containing only five counties and thirty-nine towns.  It is
considered highly salubrious and healthy.  In summer it is
refreshed by sea breezes.  Beautiful both for its situation and
luxuriance, it has been denominated the "Eden of America."
Its principal towns are Providence and Newport. The former
is situated on an eminence-its site a peninsula-between two
indentations of sea, one of which is called the Providence River,
and is navigable for the largest ships to the wharfs of the town.
It commands a complete view of Narragansett Bay, and is fiftyfive miles from the sea, forty three south-west from Boston, and
one hundred and eighty-six from New York.
Providence is built on both sides of the river or arms of the
sea, and is connected by wide and substantial bridges. It is a
large handsome town, containing many elegant buildings, and
from forty-six to fifty thousand inhabitants. The whole population of the island is probably upwards of one hundred and fifty
thousand.  This is the second city or chief town in New
England in population, wealth, and commerce. Its commerce
was formerly foreign; but the investments of its citizens have
been principally of late years in domestic manufactures-cotton
goods, machinery, and metallic wares.
Among the principal buildings in Providence are, Brown
University, the State House, the City Hall, the Hospital, the
City Jail, the State Prison, the Arcade, a building for the Historical Society, containing a few early records, the Athenaeum,
with a large library for general use and reading rooms. Besides
these, there are a number of places of religious worship. But
among these it is said, that none but the Arcade, faced at either
extremity with an Ionic portico, makes any pretensions to architectural distinction or display.
Brown University is the most attractive and important object
of the place. The buildings are of stone, and finely situated on
the summit of a neighbouring height. The University received
its designation from Nicholas Brown, who, if not its founder,
was one of its earliest and most munificent benefactors. It was




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incorporated in 1769, and soon rose to a very respectable rank
among the kindred institutions of the country.  For several
years subsequently, owing principally, it is supposed, to a defect
of discipline and good government, it declined and languished
until ready to become extinct.  This state of things resulted
in a change of the principal, which produced a speedy and
thorough revolution in its affairs. The course of studies prescribed by the new regime was such as to raise the acquirements of the institution to as high a standard as the most
efficient collegiate institutions in the Union. A code of laws
was framed and adopted by the faculty, which may be considered a model for the government of collegiate institutions
generally.
The salaries of the acting professors were raised, and the
offices of non-resident professors, whose places were little less
than sinecures, were discharged. All the officers were required
to occupy rooms in the college buildings during term time, and
the chairs were all ably filled. The library was augmented by
donations from England and soon numbered 6,000 volumes,
including within its walls an additional 6,000 belonging to
literary societies, thus making an aggregate of 12,000 volumes,
recently increased to 28,000 volumes, exclusive of 6,000 accessible to all the students of the university, which comprise the
libraries of the Philarmenian and United Brother Societies.
Many of these works are of great value; they are also well
arranged, and kept in excellent condition. The philosophical
apparatus is extensive, and measures have been constantly taken
to supply deficiencies, and to complete a still more extensive collection.  Arrangements were likewise made by which to add to
the studies already prescribed, a course of popular instruction
in English and the modern languages of Europe, for the benefit
of such as do not intend entering the learned professions. The
students in the university some time since edited a periodical
called "The Brunonian,"-a production which exhibited talent
and learning of considerable promise.
These great and efficient changes in this important institution, which have raised it to a proud rank among those of
greater age and richer endowment, were effected under the
administration of President Wayland, recently retired,-one of
the ablest and most reputable men of the United States,assisted by several able colleagues. The affairs of the institution
are governed by a board of fellows and trustees, composed of




RHODE ISLAND.


263


gentlemen of high character and ability.  The Chancellor of
the University for many years was the venerable Bishop Griswold, whose name is associated in the minds of all who knew
him with everything that is good in christian character, and
great in literary attainment.
The faculty of the University consists at the present time of
a President and ten Professors, and in 1850 there were one
hundred and ninety-five students, while to that date the alumni
numbered one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, of whom
four hundred had entered the ministry. The presidential chair
is now ably filled by the Rev. Professor Sears.
Providence contains many benevolent institutions, and is
equal to any city of its size in the number and efficiency of its
schools. It contains thirty-five churches of different denomina-'
tions, thereby proving that the tolerant spirit of its founder
has occasioned no indifference to the great subject of religion.
Newport stands on the south-west of Rhode Island at the
head of Narragansett Bay,-the bay stretching westward before
the town.  Rising gradually from the water, it is deservedly
celebrated for the beauty of its situation as well as for its slubrious air.  It is, therefore, a place of fashionable summer
resort.  The harbour of Newport is one of the best in the
Union, while the whole island possesses numerous localities
suitable for commerce and manufactures. Newport is five miles
from the sea, thirty south-east of Providence, seventy-one from
Boston, and one hundred and sixty-five from New York. The
face of the surrounding country is mostly level. Part of the
State has a thin and sterile soil, but other parts are fertile.
In Rhode Island the first cotton was produced and manufactured, and the first cotton-mill erected in the New World.
This State was established by the celebrated Puritan, Roger
Williams, a man distinguished by his uncompromising adherence
to the Scripture rule of doctrine, practice, and ecclesiastical
organization and discipline, maintaining that a christian church
is an exclusively spiritual institution, independent of the State,
and complete in itself for all the purposes of education and
government.  The system of government established by him
was consequently the first in the world based on the rights of
conscience and on entire intellectual liberty. Under the direction of this refugee from foreign oppression and colonial persecution,-this prince of the Pilgrim Fathers,-on November
11th, 1641, it was ordered by the whole body of freemen, and




264


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unanimously agreed upon, "That the government which this
body politic doth attend unto in this island, and the jurisdiction thereof, in favour of our prince, is a democracy or popular
government; that is to say, it is in the power of free men,
orderly assembled, or the major part of them, to make or constitute just laws by which they shall be regulated,' and to choose
from among themselves such ministers as shall see them faithfully executed between man and man." It was further ordered
that "none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine."          And this
law for liberty of conscience was perpetuated-a charter having
been procured from Charles the First, and subsequently a more
comprehensive one from Charles the Second on his restoration.
"The little community was held together by the bonds of
affection and freedom     of opinion," says Bancroft; "benevolence was their rule; they trusted in the power of love to win
the victory."    The signet for the State was ordered to be a
sheaf of arrows, with the motto, "Aimor vincit omnia."*
Williams landed at Rhode Island in          1636, on an arm      of
the sea projecting inland from Narragansett Bay, near the spot
now occupied by the city of Providence,-which city was so
denominated in commemoration of that event,-described as a
"place of shelter for persons distressed for conscience' sake."
According    to  the legend, the Indians, on the approach           of
Williams, saluted him with the words, " What cheer," and these
words were adopted as the motto of the State, and to this day
Roger Williams first settled at Plymouth, but was afterwards driven from
it by the intolerance of some of his brethren of a different denomination, who
themselves sought in the New World an asylum from persecution. He was welcomed to Rhode Island by a native chief called Massosoit: "and," says his
historian, " the barbarian heart of Canonicus, the chief of the Narragansetts loved
him as his own soul."
The Pilgrim Fathers who fled from persecution at home, and who willingly
expatriated themselves in the cause of civil and religious liberty, when they
settled on the western shores of the Atlantic, endeavoured to found a Scriptural
comumulity. And what was the result? Those very men who had maintained
the cause of human rights and liberty, who had thrown their all into the contest
with the noblest recklessness of the truest heroism, founded a theocratic association. and made church membership a criterion of civil privileges. The temptations
to such a course were no doubt most powerful under the circumstances of their
exile; but the laws were, nevertheless. essentially tyrannical, and brought forth
the natural fruits of dissention, coupled with the hypocrisy or heresy of those
who purchased their civil status by assenting to religious forms and ceremonies in
which they had no real interest.  Society recovered its equilibrium by a law
which limits the disturbing forces. and which varied according to the intelligence
of the people.-Eclectic Review, October, 1854.




RHODE ISLAND.


265


appear on the city seal, and are impressed on the public documents. An elegant building, situated in one of the principal
streets, is called, "What Cheer Hall."
The villages in this island are built principally of wood, and
are in general situated in valleys for the convenience of water.
Surrounded by gardens, they present a beautiful appearance.
There are also glass conservatories for the cultivation of tropical
flowers and plants. The land is covered with cotton. Woollen
and other manufactures are numerous, and many of its inhabitants are opulent and highly educated. The government of
Rhode Island is almost the same as before the Revolution. A
Governor, Senate, and House of Representatives are elected
annually by the citizens of the State, the ordinary revenues of
which are derived from a population of 147,000, and an area
of forty-seven by thirty-seven miles.  They amount to only
50,000 dollars; but, besides this, the State expends directly
from its treasury for education the sum of 35,000 dollars per
annum, to which may be added 55,000 dollars raised by local
assessment for the same object.  The yearly salary of the
Governor is said to be 400 dollars, or about ~80 sterling. The
taxation is about a dollar a head per annum, including everything.


N




CHAPTER XXI.
CHIEF COMMERCIAL CITIES CONTINOED.-New York. Interesting circumstances of an
approach to this city. Description of appearance of rural scenery in sailing up the East
River. Different islands. Aspect of the city on entering the harbour. Its situation, extent,
population, streets, houses, public buildings, library, philanthropic institutions, hotels, Croton
water works, manners and customs. State or county of New York. Statistics of religious
denominatione. Number of adherents to each. Number of ministers of religion in the city
and state. Progress and present state of education. Literature and arts. Brooklyn. Its
connection with New York. How approached. Particulars of interest as to its situation.
Institutions, navy yard, cemetery, &c.
New York was originally called New Amsterdam, being first
settled by   the Dutch.      On   approaching this city from       the
Atlantic up the East River, from which only a true impression
of the character of its position can be obtained, a scene of
commercial bustle presents itself somewhat similar to that on
the Thames towards London.
The first objects of attraction to a stranger, as the vessel
moves forward up the stream, are the high lands of Nevisink,
on a conspicuous part of which stand two light-houses marking the entrance to the harbour. The writer may be permitted,
perhaps, to describe the scene as it presented itself to him
personally as a voyager some years since, in.company with
some other passengers.
Before us lay Staten Island, with its snow-white houses,
scarcely distinguishable through the dark mist that then spread
over land and water.        On the right stretched Long Island,
green and verdant.
The narrows were next approached, situated between              the
upper and lower bay of the great American capital, the pass
strongly defended by batteries; the sloping shores on either
side disclosing scattered villas, reminding the spectator of the
river scenery on the banks of the Isis or the Clyde. The bay
opened   out magnificently, bounded        on  the   right by   Long
Island, and on the left by Staten Island and New Jersey,
altogether presenting a most beautiful picture; the hills of the




-1


NEW YORK.                    267
finely undulating country covered with wood, agreeably interspersed with villas and cottages, smiling in all the charms of
the cultivated landscape.  Beyond, appeared the delta of
Manhattan Island, though from the mist and rain almost
undistinguishable; as also several small islands,-Blackwell's,
Bedlow's, and Governor's. The latter chiefly attracted attention by its formidable batteries,-Fort Columbus and Castle
William,-and its beautifully cultivated appearance. The city
lay looming in the distance, very imposing in its outline as the
mist gradually cleared away; while its whole extent, as far as
the eye could scan along the North and East Rivers, by which
it is almost environed, displayed a forest of masts.  Long
Island stretched away far onwards on our right. This island
is the largest in the States, and is separated from the main
land by Long Island Sound; its western end approaching New
York. It is about one hundred and forty miles in length and
ten in width. The land is, in general, low and level, with the
exception of a few hills, viz., the landmark of Montuck, on which
stands a lighthouse, and Hampstead, at its eastern extremity,
-the latter of which is three hundred and nineteen feet above
the sea level. It is thickly populated, and in conjunction with
the surrounding scenery, presented a beautiful appearance from
the deck of the vessel.
The clouds and mist having at length completely dispersed,
and everything being bathed in the flood of sunshine that succeeded, the suburbs of the city and the whole scene became additionally attractive; especially just before the full round orb of
day sunk into the clouds of gold and amber that seemed spread
out for his repose, his last slanting rays reflected from the snowwhite houses, public buildings, and villas, in all the magic of
light and shade; while the rising hills beyond, though they
gave but a limited horizon to the picture, looked enchantingly
green and refreshing-" beautiful exceedingly."
We soon anchored in the broad stream before the city,
amidst a vast concourse of shipping, bearing the flags of almost
all nations, and the most abundant evidences of bustle and
activity. Steamboats and craft of all descriptions traversing
the harbour,-the creaking of machinery,-the loud voices both
on the river and from the shore,-all indicated the presence of
a vast commercial capital.
New York, the "Empire City," which is situated ninety miles
north-east of Philadelphia, and two hundred and ten miles from
N 2




268


THE UNITED STATES.


Boston, stands on the southern extremity of Manhatten Island,
which is thirteen and a half miles long, and about one and
a half or two miles in medial breadth, enlarging in width as it
recedes from the apex of the triangle, which is formed by the.
confluence of the two great streams before mentioned, called the
North, or Hudson, and East Rivers, bounding it on the east
and west; and which, rising westward, fall into the Atlantic
Ocean-the view terminating by the beautifully wooded shore
of New Jersey. New York, however, is not exactly an island,
though divided by the strait called Haarlem River, which crosses
from the East River to the Hudson. Whilst New York itself
may, as a whole, be considered deficient in pictorial beauty as compared with many sea-ports in Europe, arising from the limited
extent of the island or peninsula on which it stands, and the
consequent absence of villas, yet the entire landscape it adorns
probably transcends anything seen on so extensive a scale, and
in the beautiful proportions of its different features; moreover,
it is, perhaps, without a rival as to its situation for commerce.
In no season of the year can there be any obstruction to its
communication with the ocean; and with the magnificent
Hudson stretching nearly two hundred miles into the interior
of a fertile country, its natural advantages are unparalleled.
It is impossible to conceive of a finer site for a great mercantile
city than that occupied by New York,-a tongue of land jutting
forth into deep water, and protected by the curved point hnd
islands which form its bay. It therefore presents such facilities
for commercial purposes as the whole world cannot rival. This
city, indeed, has been compared to a large hotel, or caravanserai
for the world.
The traffic of New York is immense, both by sea and canals
and railroads.  The latter penetrate to the very centre of the
city, the cars being drawn by horses from the station in the
environs where the locomotive is detached, and run along the
causeway.
Constantly stimulated by the current of commerce ever
flowing through these channels, business knows no rest and no
termination. "The mighty advancement of New York during
the last ten years, distances all that ever happened in the progress of a city; and considering its natural advantages and the
commercial facilities to which enterprise and art have added, it
is impossible to conceive how great a city and port it may
become.




NEW YORK.


2G9


"But New York is not merely a commercial emporium. She is
largely engaged in manufactures of various kinds;-to a greater
extent, indeed, than any other city in America is she so
employed. In 1850 she had 3387 productive establishments,
in which there was a capital invested amounting to 34,232,822
dollars. In those works there were employed 83,620 hands,
and their produce in that year was valued at 105,218,308
dollars."* Tons of paper and barrels of mucilage are every
month employed in the manufacture of letter envelopes. It is
estimated that at least 4,000,000 are made in New York every
week, one establishment turning out nearly 1,500,000 weekly
of 1000 varieties. They are mostly made by hand, girls being
employed in folding and gumming them, a single girl being
able to gum from 60,000 to 70,000 a day, and to fold from
5,000 to 7,000. The machines for making them average 18
envelopes a minute, or 20,000 a day.
The police arrangements of this city are represented as
being very imperfect. Nor can the State Legislature, nor the
Corporation, be complimented on their administration of its
civil affairs in general. The admirable order and efficiency of
the fire brigade is, on the contrary, the subject of universal
commendation. 
The province of which New York city is the capital, is three
hundred miles from north to south, and three hundred and fifty
miles from east to west. Its area is 55,000 square miles. It is
said by another authority to be, exclusive of Long Island, about
four hundred and eight miles long; but including that island
about four hundred and eighty, and in breadth from north to
south, about three hundred and ten miles, the whole including a
superficial area of 46,085 square miles.t The population of the
city and suburbs, including Brooklyn, presented in 1855 an
aggregate of 1,104,498, showing that there is in the territory
surrounding the city, a population of more than half a million,
and but little less than that within the city limits; exhibiting,
moreover, a rate of increase equal to 100 per cent. in sixteen
years,-a ratio which, should it continue, will make the inhabitants of New York city, in twenty-five years, amount to 2,000,000,
the present population of London, and the population of the
United States altogether, to 50,000,000.  The last general


* Robertson's Few Months in America.
t Colton's American Gazetteer.




270


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census returns give the entire population of the State bf New
York, 3,436,118.* The permanent population of the city alone
is now estimated at 629,810, while it receives 300,000 emigrants
annually from every country in Europe, ranking it amongst the
commercial cities of the world the third in population, and the
second in importance.
On the west side of the city, as already said, flows the North,
and on the east, the East River. The latter is about a mile
wide, dividing New York from Long Island. The entrance to
the harbour lies between Sandy Hook, on which stands a light
of great brilliancy, and a part of Lind Island on the north. At
a distance to the northward of this there are also two beacons
which are illuminated, called the "False Hook Lights," serving
as low lights to shipping in the night. The highlands of Nevisink are at the entrance of the harbour on the south side. At a
distance, they appear like an island, nearly level on the summit,
with the exception of some irregular elevations, and rise from
about two to three hundred feet above the sea. Fort Diamond
and Governor's Island, are, as already intimated, at the entrance
of the Narrows, situated between Long and Staten Islands, on
the eastern shore.  The latter island contains a battery that
defends the pass to the city, surrounded by grounds of considerable extent, designated "The Castle Gardens," intersected
by walks, shaded and ornamented with shrubs, trees, and flowers,
for the recreation of the citizens. The Battery itself is about
fifty yards from the shore, and is approached by a substantial
bridge. The gardens are often used for public entertainments,
and are fitted up during the summer season for displays of fireworks-an object of great attraction-and on such occasions
they are thronged with visitors.
Broadway is the principal street of the city, and is one of
the finest in the world. It is eighty feet wide, commencing at
the Battery, and extending in an unbroken line the whole length
of the city-a distance of nearly three miles-along which
omnibuses ply as they do in London. Here in this street,
and towards its southern extremity in particular, the interest
and attraction of the city seem  to centre.  It is the Fleet
Street and Strand of the first city of the New World.
The houses in New York are good, many of them elegant,


* Albany Register. The population of New York city in 1856 was estimated
at 800,000.-Railroad Guide.




NEW YORK.


271


and present a different and a more unique appearance than in the
cities and provincial towns in England, as they are seldom
intermixed with those of an inferior description.
The city, however, is not without its contrasts of poverty and
riches, beauty and deformity, though not to the same extent as
in European cities. The St. Giles's of the Empire City is the
district named "Five Points," so designated from five narrow,
filhy streets diverging from one place, where the lowest and
most depraved of the population have their abode.
The dwellings possessed by the more wealthy citizens are
generally of brick, sometimes of brown sandstone, others of
brick faced with stone or marble-those in the Fifth Avenue
are superb. Their interiors are very similar to the residences of
the same class in England. The dining and drawing-rooms
are almost uniformly on the ground floor, and are made, in
numerous instances, to communicate with each other by folding
doors, which, on any occasion of entertainment or necessity, are
thrown open for convenience.   Superiority or splendour of
furniture is not one of those adjuncts of wealth and station
which the Americans in general take pride in displaying. Hence
drawing-rooms are mostly more primitive in their appearance
and appliances than those of the more opulent classes in
England.
In about the centre of Broadway, and about half-a-mile from
the Battery, stand the City Hall, the Merchants' Exchange, Hall
of Justice, New York Hospital, and Post Offices. The first of
these, with some other public buildings, is situated in an open
space of ground, called " The Park," a triangular enclosure of
eleven acres, verdant in summer with grass and trees, and
ornamented with a beautiful and capacious fountain, pouring
its clear streams from the calyx of an Egyptian lotus.  On
the City Hall is a large bell, at which a man is always stationed
to give notice of fires: conflagrations of a very destructive kind
having been of very common occurrence in the city; although
of late years, from the energy and the admirable order observed
among the firemen, very serious damage but seldom results.
The street terminates at the upper end in a handsome square,
with the Governor's House in front, ornamented with public
walks, gardens, and pleasure-grounds.
Among other attractive buildings in the city, are large
churches and chapels, some of them ornamented with elegant
cupolas and spires. The new Trinity Church, in Wall Street, on




272


THE UNITED STATES.


the site of the first Episcopal Church in America, is a magnificent building, and the best specimen of pure Gothic architecture in the country.  Other edifices of note are the New
York Institution, occupied by the Literary and Philosophical
Society; the Historical Society; the Lyceum of Natural History;
the Museum; the Cooper Institute; and the American Society
of Fine Arts, or Arts' Union. The latter contains, among
its other exhibitions of native talent, the celebrated marble bust
of "Proserpine," the "Greek Slave," and the "Fisher Boy"
listening to the sea-sounds in a conch shell, the masterly performances of the famed artist, Hiram Powers, as also some
splendid paintings by Alston.
The Cooper Institute is a noble building, erected by Mr.
Peter Cooper, of New York, to be devoted to the "moral,
intellectual, and physical improvement of his countrymen."
The building consists of an entire block, having a front on Third
Avenue of one hundred and ninety-five feet, on Fourth Avenue,
one hundred and fifty-five feet, on Eighth Street, one hundred
and forty-three feet, and on Seventh Street, eighty-six feet. It
is in the immediate vicinity of the new Bible House, the Astor
Library, the Mercantile Library, and the rooms of various
literary and scientific societies.  In the basement is a large
lecture-room, one hundred and twenty-five feet long by eightytwo wide and twenty one high; and this, and also the first and
second stories, which are arranged for stores and offices, are to
be rented, so as to produce a revenue to meet the annual
expenses of the Institute. The Institute proper, or the Union,
commences with the third story, in which is an exhibition-room,
thirty feet high, and of an area of one hundred and twenty-five by
eighty-two feet, lighted from above by a dome. The fourth story
may be considered as part of the third, being a continuation of
galleries, with alcoves, for painting and sculpture. In the fifth
story will be two large lecture-rooms, and the library, consisting
of five rooms, which connect with each other and with the lecturerooms. There are also rooms for experiments, for instruments,
and for the use of artists. The cost of the building is about
300,000 dollars, and the annual income from the rented parts
will be from 25,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars. The whole is
to be given to a Board of Directors for the benefit of the public;
the courses of lectures, the library, and the reading-rooms all
to be free. In the munificence both of the gift and the endowment, and in the importance of the results intended to be




NEW YORK.


273


secured, the Cooper Institute will be a monument to its princelyhearted founder more noble than the pyramids.
Nor must Astor House or Hotel be forgotten in this enumeration of splendid or otherwise attractive edifices.  It was
erected by the proprietor whose name it bears, at an expense of
~100,000. This is the Astor of Washington Irving, recently
deceased, whom the novelist celebrates in his Astoria as going
over to America a poor German boy, and acquiring a great
fortune. Others have more recently been erected that rival this
splendid edifice, both in size, extent, and grandeur. Among
these are the Irving, the Prescott, the Metropolitan, and the
Nicholas Hotels, which have an elevation of five or six stories,
with a frontage of from three hundred to five hundred feet, and
resemble in their external appearance the palaces of kings.
The Hotel Nicholas is about one hundred yards square, five
stories high, will accommodate one thousand guests, and cost
upwards of 1,000,000 dollars in its erection. These establishments seem to concentrate every cQnvenience, and every known
requirement of life.
There are several squares in different parts of the city
beautifully arranged and ornamented, particularly near the
upper extremity of Broadway, among the residences of the most
wealthy of the citizens, although compared with the cities of
Europe they are few and insignificant. This deficiency, however,
is being supplied. Several have recently been formed; and a
new park is to be opened in the upper part of New York,
extending from Fifty-ninth Street, a little more than half a mile
above the Crystal Palace, to One-hundred-and sixth Street,
being about three miles in length, and from Fifth Avenue to
Eighth Avenue, or about half a mile in width. There are
seven thousand five hundred city lots taken from private owners
and included in the park, for which more than 5,000,000 dollars
is awarded. The city is awarded 650,000 dollars for property
taken from it. Owners in the neighbourhood whose property is
improved are assessed about 1,650,000 dollars towards the
expense.
One of the most important, as well as ornamental works in
the State, are the Croton Water Works, or the aqueduct for
conveying water into the city from the Croton River, reminding
an intelligent observer of the aqueducts of the ancient Romans.
It might be almost termed a miracle of engineering. It is
forty-five miles in length, will supply sixty million gallons of
N3




274


THE UNITED STATES.


water to the city daily, and cost between 12,000,000 and
13,000,000 dollars, or between ~4,000,000 and ~5,000,000
sterling. The aqueduct commences five miles from the Hudson
River, and extends across the Haarlem River on a magnificent
bridge of stone, called the High Bridge, and discharges its
waters into a receiving reservoir, situate in Eighty-sixth Street
and Sixth Avenue, and containing one hundred and fifty millions
of gallons.
Among the most remarkable benevolent institutions are the
Refuge for the Destitute, the Hospitals, the Model Farm for
Orphan Children, and the Model Prison at Sing-sing. Westpoint, up the Hudson, is celebrated for its military establishments, situated amidst scenes of great natural beauty and historic interest.
The public libraries in the city of New York contain 337,290
volumes, of which 80,000 are in the Astor Library, 47,000 in
the Mercantile Library, 40,000 in that of the New York
Society, 25,000 in that of the New York Historical Society,
24,000 each in those of Columbia College and the Union
Theological Seminary, 18,000 in the Apprentices' Library,
15,000 in that of the Free Academy, and 12,000 in that of the
Episcopal Theological Seminary.   During sixteen months,
160,274 volumes were delivered from the Mercantile Library;
the number of visitors to its reading-room was 308,254.
Among some local peculiarities of custom observable by a
stranger, is that in relation to the periodical domestic cleaning
and change of residence. Just previously to the first of May,
when spring really commences in the Middle and Northern
States, it is an almost universal custom in New York city to
have what is called a regular and systematic "clearing out" of
their houses from the garret to the cellar; while it is equally the
practice, previously to that day, to remove to new residences.
In addition to the universal bustle of every domestic establishment, the trains of carts and waggons laden with household
furniture that now crowd upon the sight would lead a stranger
almost to believe that half the city was forming into a grand
caravan to travel to Utah, Deseret, or California.
Nor are the customs of riding and driving here less singular
and novel to an observant English stranger. A horseman never
rises in his saddle, almost all horses being trained to pace;
and on meeting a horseman or a vehicle of any kind you are
expected, if travelling similarly, to pass on the right hand side




NEW YORK.


275


of the road, instead of the left, as is the custom in England.
This seems to be a general rule in America, reminding the
beholder of the well-known paradox, though here reversed," The law of the road is a paradox quite,
For in orderly riding along,
If you go to the left, you are sure to go right;
If you go to the right, you go wrong."
The usual dinner-hour at New York, as is general in the
cities of America, is three o'clock.  Almost everywhere the
tables, if not splendidly, are cleanly and neatly furnished; and
the different courses at the principal hotels or lodging-houses
are not brought in in succession as in England, but, as in
Jamaica and the West Indies generally, the table is covered at
once with the profusion prepared for the entertainment. Much
has been said by some visitors of the ravenous manner in which
the Americans despatch their meals, and their taciturnity during
the process of eating them; but much of this is misrepresentation, or if it has been a custom, it is, like many other usages
that deserve oblivion, fast disappearing, at least from respectable
circles.
May-day in New York is one of great interest in many
respects,-replete both with reality and romance. It is the grand
nuptial day, when hundreds enter by marriage upon the realities
of life.
It must not here be omitted that in this city are seen some
encroachments upon democracy, such as liveried servants, and
not unfrequent announcements of distinguished individuals at
watering-places and hotels.
The State of New York, in form, is somewhat in the shape
of an isosceles triangle, having the south-eastern shore of the
lakes of Canada and the river Niagara for its base, and the
city of New York for its apex. Each side of this triangle,
except the base, is at least four hundred miles in length.
Its superficial extent, already noted, is forty-six thousand
square miles,-nearly as large as England,-and its population
upwards of three millions,* nearly equal to that of Scotland.
The Americans call New York the Empire State; and whether
we regard the fertility of its soil, or the astonishing facilities it


* The "Albany Register" says, the census has been so far completed (it is
presumed since the last decade) as to give the entire population of the State,
which is 3,460,118.




276


THE UNITED STATES.


affords for foreign commerce and inland Navigation, it well
deserves this lofty appellation.
Albany, on the Hudson, one hundred and forty-five miles
above New York, is its nominal capital,-a city finely situated on
the brow of a hill, which rises above the margin of the river.
Popular education in this State is almost universal. Upwards
of five hundred thousand are taught in the common schools.
There are also nearly three hundred academies, eleven colleges,
and an university.
The ministers of religion are upwards of two hundred of all
denominations, occupying, as is estimated, one hundred and
fifty places of religious worship; and thus there is a place of
worship for every eighteen hundred persons of all ages.
According to a directory published in the city in 1849, there
were then in New York city three hundred and seventy-five
streets and avenues, thirty-three banks, one hundred insurance
companies, fifty periodicals, ninety- eight newspapers, one
hundred and ten schools, one hundred and sixteen moral,
benevolent, and literary associations, forty-one councils, two
hundred and seventy-seven churches; of which forty-one were
Protestant Episcopal, thirty-three Presbyterian, thirty-one
Methodist Episcopal, twenty-six Baptist, seventeen Roman
Catholic, fifteen Dutch Reformed, nine Jewish, seven Congregational, four Unitarian, four Universalist, four Friends', three
Lutheran, two Associate Presbyterian, three Associate Reformed
Presbyterian, thirteen Reformed Presbyterian, two Welch, one
Methodist Protestant, twelve miscellaneous.
It may be regarded as remarkable, as has been before observed
with respect to the continent in general, that extremes of heat
and cold are greater in this State than in England, which is in
nearly the same parallel of latitude, and vary considerably more
than in Naples, which is precisely identical in position, a fact
ascribable to the influence of the surrounding ocean; and doubtless the climate, depends for its variations, in a great measure,
on the situation of any place with regard to the sea.
Connected with New York is Brooklyn, which is to this city
what Southwark is to London. It occupies a peninsula on
Long Island directly opposite, separated from New York, as
before observed, by the East River, nearly a mile broad, and
sufficiently deep to float vessels of war. Brooklyn is a town
of considerable importance and extent, and presents a very
neat and rural appearance, many of its streets having avenues




NEW YORK.


277


like those of Philadelphia, formed chiefly of the willow, the
locust, the acanthus, or Chinese tree, of the acacia family.
Unlike New York, Brooklyn has all the quietness of a suburban
village. The land on which the town stands ascends gradually
from the banks of the river, and the houses which occupy the
heights, and which are many of them delightful residences,
tenanted by merchants and others of New York, command a
fine prospect of the extended harbour, the city, and its environs,
as also of the beautifully wooded heights and green fields in its
own immediate vicinity.
The principal objects of attraction it presents are its Navy
Yard and Cemetery,-the latter remarkable for the beautiful
monument of Iowa, an Indian princess; and that of a young
eccentric poet, situated near the Sylvan Water. The cemetery
is called Greenwood. Like that of Boston, and other provincial
towns in the north-east, it is really beautiful, both in arrangement and appearance,-another "Pere la Chaise" of the New
World, but on a more gigantic scale than its prototype in
France as to extent and design. It covers two hundred and
forty-two acres of beautifully undulating ground, partly adorned
with magnificent forest trees, presenting from its elevations
beautiful and extensive views of land and sea.
The navy yard, called the New York Navy Yard, is the
second in importance in the country; it occupies upwards of
fifty acres of land, and gives employment to between four and
five hundred men.  It contains the largest dry dock in the
United States, constructed to admit vessels of the largest size.
The principal marine steam-engine works are also in New York;
but there are large establishments of a mixed character in
almost every town of importance in the Union. For the benefit
of the men employed in the various works of the dock-yard,
there is established an institution named the United States
Lyceum. It consists of a splendid collection of curiosities and
mineralogical and geological cabinets, with many other natural
curiosities.
The two places, Brooklyn and New York, are connected by
ferries and steamboats, of which there are several. There are
at present no bridges, as over the Thames, connecting London
with Southwark. These conveyances leave each side of the
river every five minutes of the day, and continue to ply through
the greater part of the night.  Carts, waggons, horses, and
stock of all kinds cross over in great numbers. Sometimes




278


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horses and carriages are driven on the ferries and driven off
again on the opposite side without either the horses being
detached from the vehicle or the driver or inmates of the carriage
quitting their seats, the round ends of the boats fitting into
corresponding recesses in moveable piers, which rise and fall
with the tide.
Brooklyn has upwards of one hundred thousand inhabitants,
a magnificent Town House or City Hall, and from fifty to sixty
churches and chapels, with numerous schools. The Female
Academy here contains five hundred young girls.  At this
institution they study and graduate as at Boston, and as is done
by young men in the English universities. The principal
public buildings are the City Hall, the Lyceum, the City
Library, the Savings' Bank, and the Female Academy.
The ferries also cross the North River to Jersey city,
Whichawken, and Hobokin, where also, as at Brooklyn and
Staten Island, it is mostly the wealthy who reside. At the latter
are the Elysian Fields, which present an inviting retreat to the
toil-worn and country-loving citizen of the capital, whither he
occasionally flies to inhale the balmy breath, and to enjoy the
soothing influences of nature,-to revive the powers that have
been impaired, and to heal the bruises that have been inflicted,
by an artificial mode of existence. Steamboats also ascend the
Hudson, morning and evening, to Albany and Troy, conveying
thousands of passengers onward on their journey to the
Hesperides of the far West,-the only region of American
romance,-the golden land of promise that is ever in perspective.




CHAPTER XXII.
CHIEF COMMEBCIAL CITIES CONTINrUD.-State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. Situation
and importance. Ancient capital of the State. Origin of Philadelphia. Resources. Voyage
up the Delaware. Incidents. Beautiful scenery. Reflections. General appearance of the
city. Houses. Streets. Public buildings. Institutions. Public squares and pleasure grounds.
Suburban villas. Gardens. Agriculture of the State. Circumstances for which Philadelphia
is celebrated. Description of the city and suburbs as viewed from the cupola of the Statehouse.
Pennsylvania, from    its position and general importance, is
called "The Keystone State:" it was founded in the year 1682.
Next to New York, it is the largest in extent of the four Middle
States, and second as to numerical strength in the confederation. Its nominal capital is Harrisburgh, beautifully situated
on the banks of the Susquehanna, ninety-eight miles west of
Philadelphia.
The interior of the State is traversed by the different ridges
of the Alleghany Mountains, while the eastern and western
sections are moderately undulating It was settled, as is well
known, by William Penn, of the Society of Friends, the son of
Admiral Penn, who subjugated Jamaica with General Venables,
-and it thus became a colony of Friends.
The soil is well cultivated, and yields in abundance all the
varieties of grain and other products common to most of the
Western and North-Eastern States. Its mineral wealth is probably greater than that of any other portion of the country,
and it is highly distinguished for its manufactures and other
public works.
Places of religious worship and schools are numerous. lThe
latter are supposed to be nearly five hundred in number.
Pennsylvania has also one university and eighteen colleges,
with many respectable private seminaries.
The writer, in his visit to this distinguished and interesting
section of the country, many years since, proceeded from New
York, partly by water and partly by land. The steamboat in
which he embarked was a magnificent vessel, crowded with




280


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passengers-a floating palace in its interior accommodations
and ornaments. A spacious dining saloon was furnished with
the richest carpets and sofas, and from tall mirrors, surmounting marble tables, the person of each passenger was
reflected every moment. Among the company were some personages high in office, and a considerable number of emigrants
from Europe.
We proceeded along the noble bay and harbour of New York,
amidst all our smoke and steam, with great quietude and velocity.
The scene altogether was beautiful: the narrow straits between
Staten Island and New Jersey shore, adorned on both sides with
beautiful residences, gardens, and pleasure grounds, meadows
and corn-fields, the abodes and their appendages of opulent
citizens from the metropolis,- arrayed in all the attractions of
fine architecture and eligible position, and commanding views
of the city, islands, harbour, and adjacent shores; while far in
the distance the smoke arose in beautiful spiral wreaths over
the masses of foliage that skirted the horizon-the sign of a
numerous population.
Here and there glistened through the rich foliage that partially
enveloped them, the suburban villages of New Brighton and
Staten Island; the latter the Quarantine ground and Greenwich
Hospital of the States, as also of historical importance from its
being the rendezvous of Lord Howe in the first contest of the
mother country against her colonies, previously to his sailing
up the Chesapeak to his attack on Philadelphia.
Boats passing along,-the measured strokes of the oars as
they sparkled by their contact with the water in the full blaze
of the sun,-the swift motion of the lesser craft as they swept
by us,-were all calculated to interest a stranger recently arrived
from  the tropics.  The banks of the river in some places
presented every variety of wild and picturesque rocks, giving
evidence of some fearful subterranean convulsion;-thick
forests,-fertile plains, sometimes gently sloping, sometimes
stretched out among lofty crags where industry bad won a domain
from the fortresses of nature; here and there ornamented with
flourishing towns and villages.  In a word, the eye ranged
over a landscape that seemed to possess every element of effect,
while the wildest and most boundless scenes were presented by
the distant mountains;-there were the rushing torrents,-the
dark, mysterious forests,-and, over all, the gorgeous masses of
cloud sailing across the transparent heavens. The whole State




STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.


281


presented a pleasing alternation of hill and vale, cultivated fields
and primeval woodlands.
We disembarked at South Amoy, twenty-eight miles from
New York, taking cars from thence to Bourden Town, thirtyfive miles distant, and thus passed up the beautiful Delaware
through Trenton.
Bourden Town, which is situated thirty-five miles from South
Amoy, on the Delaware River, is the capital of New Jersey.
Once a place of considerable trade, it is now celebrated for little
except its ingenious and antique wooden bridge across the
Delaware, the carriage-way of which is underneath the arches,
supported by heavy iron chains suspended from the parapet or
summit of the bridge.
In our journey by land we passed the mansion once
tenanted by the ci-devant king of Spain, the late Joseph Bonaparte, which   is  situated  on   the  banks   of the Delaware,
occupying a rising ground at some distance from the road.
The estate was originally called " Point Breeze," and resembled
the residence and grounds of a country gentleman in England.
We were to terminate our journey by an ascent of the noble
Delaware, running through an undulating and richly-wooded
country,-a circumstance which awakened in the mind of the
writer deeply interesting feelings, associated as it was with
some romantic ideas of early youth, and calling up recollections
not less interesting of riper years, as the result of acquaintance
with the history of the labours and successes of the devoted
missionaries of the past generation,-Eliot and Brainard, the
Mayhews and others, among the children of the wilderness, at
the forks of the Delaware and Crosweeksung.      What a contrast
was now presented to the scenes and circumstances they-not
more than a century since-witnessed and described.*
' " Having received new orders to go to a number of Indians on the Delaware
River," says Mr. Brainard, "I this day took all my clothes, books, &c., and disposed of them. 1 then set out for the Delaware River, and made it on my way
to return to Mr. Sargeant's in the evening. Rode several hours in the rain through
the howling wilderness." The next day he went forward on his journey, continues
his biographer, crossed the Hudson River to Delaware, about a hundred miles
through a desolate and hideous country above New Jersey, where there *ere but
few settlements.
The names of Eliot, Mayhew, and Brainard, are justly placed among the benefactors of the pagans on this continent. But the question arises to a traveller,
Where are the churches established by these apostolic men? We visit the banks
of the Susquehanna and the Delaware, where but a century more or less ago,
Brainard fed his pious flock, and there we find nothing that reminds us that a




282


THE UNITED STATES.


The country on both sides the river was delightful. Here;
was a region rich in orchards and corn-fields,-there, a forest extending itself for several miles over a space beautifully diversified
with hill and dale,-a quiet, unbroken, far-reaching landscape,
-there, a romantic village, each clean white dwelling, with its
rural porch and its gay flower garden, contrasting beautifully
with the dark or vivid green of the fields and woods,-old farmhouses, in dull solitary grandeur and languid repose, with villas
of a superior order, and occupying a commanding site,-the noble
Delaware, the while, creeping along in silent grandeur through
the level plains, all creating the highest interest as we approached
the city.   Nothing, perhaps, seen out of England, exceeded the
beauty of some of the suburban villas,-the disposition of the
grounds,-the- grouping of the trees,-the style of the architecture,-the terraces and       statues, all reminded us of England.
Above all, the beautiful outlines of the adjacent heights which
closed in the view were illuminated with the light of the setting
sun, and soon the bosom of the water, when rocks, and mountains, and city were fast receding in the darkness, presented a
scene which interested both the eye and the heart.
christian missionary ever laboured among the native tenants of the soil. Where
are the offspring of these churches?  They are gone,-they have not only left
their father's sepulchres for wilds far to the West, but they have forgotten their
pious example, and have mingled with their unreclaimed brethren of the forest.
Various causes of this, doubtless, might be named; but I am persuaded that the
most powerful is that these worthy missionaries were not furnished with the
means for supporting schools for the education of the converts of their children.
Some attempts, indeed, were made by Eliot and the Mayhews, in translating part
of the Bible into some of the Indian dialects, and some few youths were taught to
read, but nothing of a permanent character in this department was attempted.
This evil has to a considerable degree been remedied by modern missions, but it
is to be feared that the importance of schools in giving a permanent character in
such neighbourhoods where they labour, to missions in heathen lands, is not even
now sufficiently regarded. Hence the introduction and establishment of schools
is an object of special importance at every Missionary Station. It lays a foundation for perpetuating the religion which is taught. If schools are in operation in
which the Scriptures are read, divine truth like "the leaven hid in three measures
of meal," will silently diffuse a permanent salutary influence. Other facts show
that schools are of immense importance.  Without them there cannot be a native
agency raised up, and a native agency there must be before the world will be fully
evangelized. It may be added that it has been almost invariably found that at such
stations as have been abandoned for want of European labourers, where no schools
have been established, the cause of God has in almost all cases been extinguished in the course of years, and that on the contrary, when those stations
where schools have been established for any length of time, have been deserted
from a similar cause, God has raised up native agency to carry on and perpetuate
the work.




PHILADELPHIA.


283


The city of Philadelphia is situated on an isthmus, about two
miles wide, between the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers,
five miles above their junction; and in the districts to the north
and south of these rivers, the inhabitants are independent of
the city, having their own municipal governments. The more
densely populated parts of the city have a circumference of about
eight miles, and a length on the Delaware of from four to five
miles. It is built on a plain slightly ascending from the river,
the highest point of which is sixty-four feet above high-watermark.
On the east bank of the Schuylkill immense reservoirs are
seen supplying each of the six hundred streets of the city with
an abundance of water. Bridges lead across the Schuylkill and
the Delaware; steamboats keep up a constant intercourse with
New York and Baltimore; a railway over the Alleghanies and
the Pennsylvanian Canal communicate with Pitsburgh and the
Mississippi valley.
Philadelphia, therefore, is a great thoroughfare, besides being
the political capital of Pennsylvania, and the seat of a large
and flourishing trade.
The capital employed in manufacture alone exceeds ten millions of dollars.
The real and personal property of the inhabitants is worth
more than five hundred millions of dollars.
The population of the city is estimated at upwards of half-amillion, and it is thus the third as to importance in the Union.
Philadelphia is ninety miles, or by railway about five or six
hours, distant from New York, three hundred and twenty-two
miles south-west from Boston, ninety-seven from Baltimore,
and one hundred and thirty-five from Washington; and stands
at the head of the bay formed by the mouth of the river
Delaware. It is one hundred and twenty-six miles from the
Atlantic by the course of the river and bay, but these are navigable the whole way by ships of the largest tonnage.
The shores on each side of the bay are richly wooded, and
scattered over with neat farm-houses and villages.
The streets of the city are laid out in squares like a chessboard, the streets crossing each other at right angles, and bearing
the names of the different trees of the country. The city, as
originally planned, formed an oblong square, with a river on
either side, and a straight street on either end.  But several
populous suburbs have arisen in the neighbourhood, which now






284                THE UNITED STATES.
form parts of the city similar to the connection of Westminster
and Southwark with London, so that the mass of buildings
constituting Philadelphia proper alone retains its original form.
The houses are of red brick, generally well-built and handsome;
the more elegant are ornamented with white marble steps and
silver knockers.  For the most part they are faced with a
description of white marble, which abounds in that part of the
State, and with which most of the public buildings are constructed, or at least this material is used in the basement story,
steps, and window-sills.
Well-constructed sewers being arranged to carry the drainage
far down the channel of the Delaware, Philadelphia is one of
the cleanest cities of the Union. Its cleanliness is proverbial.
No town in Holland can vie with it for cleanliness: There are
seen no dirty and filthy streets, the refuges of squalid poverty;
-thus forming a contrast to almost every other city of the
world. And still less even than any other town of the Union
does it exhibit a disparity of rich and poor. The republican
and democratic character of Philadelphia may be almost read in
the external aspect of its capital.  Its chief defect is want of
variety,-unbroken uniformity wanting relief; it is distractingly
regular. " In walking about the city for four or five hours,"
observes Mr. Dickens in his Notes on America, "I would have
given fifty pounds for a crooked street."  So monotonously
uniform are they, that it may justly be said," Street answers street, each alley has a brother,
And half the city just reflects the other."
All the streets are well paved, and the footways on each side are
generally formed of red bricks instead of flags. Along the edge
of the foot pavement, and along many of the streets on both
sides, are growing trees of different descriptions,-Lombardy
poplars, walnut, chestnut, &c.,-the beautifully green foliage of
which not only contrasts agreeably with the buildings on either
side, but afford a most delightful shade from the fierce rays of
a summer's sun.    The streets, also, are named after these
trees.
The principal public buildings are the United States Bank,
decorated with superb fluted columns and a white marble portico;
the Pennsylvania Bank; the Exchange; the Custom-House;'
the State-House, so celebrated for its historical associations;
the Post Office; the great Model Prison, or Eastern Penitentiary,
on the separate system; the State Prison, so celebrated for the




PHILADELPHIA.


285


advantages it exhibits of a judicious treatment of criminals;
the Lunatic Asylum; the Hospital, an excellent institution;
the Pantheon; the Gerard College; the Franklin Library; the
Drawing Academy for Young Girls, and Medical College for
Ladies.
The institution called the State Prison of Pennsylvania, and
one or two other public institutions, merit more than a passing
notice. The former is a large building of granite, of great
extent, surrounded by a tower at each angle, enclosing within
its walls an area of ten acres of land. In the centre of the area
is an observatory.  The principle of punishment is solitary
confinement, mitigated by labour. There is in this State, as in
several others, but one capital offence, viz., that of deliberate
premeditated murder. Punishment for other offences consists
of fine, imprisonment, and labour; and these are awarded
separately or conjointly according to the magnitude of the
crime. When prisoners have been convicted and sent to the
great jail at Philadelphia to undergo their punishment, it is
expected of them that they should maintain themselves out of
their daily labour,-that they should pay for their food and
washing,-as also for the use of their different implements of
labour,-that they should defray the expenses of their commitment, and of their prosecution and trial; an account of all which
is regularly kept against them, and if at the expiration of the
term of their punishment there should be a surplus of money
in their favour, arising out of the produce of their work, it is
given to them as a present on their discharge.
As a consequence of the admirable regulations on which the
prison is conducted, it has rather the appearance of a large
manufactory than a jail.  Carpenters, weavers, joiners, nailmakers, are all busily employed, and with the greatest order and
regularity: while no chains are used or needed as security.
The effect of this system is greatly advantageous both to the
criminals and to the State,-to the criminals by its promotion
of habits of industry, good morals, and religion,-to the State
by the diminution of crime, and the restoration to its bosom
of numbers of reformed citizens.
The State, since the operation of this and kindred systems of
penal discipline, has experienced a diminution of crime to the
extent of one half; while the greater part of the criminals have
been restored from the jail to society as honest and industrious,
if not moral and religious characters.   The conduct of




286


- THE UNITED STATES.


numbers during confinement has been so exemplary as to obtain
for them a remission of their sentence.*
The Lunatic Asylum is a very extensive and beautiful
institution, and is also admirably governed. The whole demesne,
which extends over several acres of ground, is surrounded by a
wall so constructed as to obviate all impression of restraint; at
the same time it possesses every element of attraction,-everything that can possibly excite the sympathies and best feelings
of the inmates.
The Girard College is a large school, in which three hundred
boys, otherwise unprovided for, are instructed in lettered
knowledge, and in every kind of handicraft trade. The building
is of the purest white marble even to the roof, with a portico
and colonade, in imitation of the Greek Temple of Minerva,
or rather, probably, after the same model as the Madeleine at
Paris.
At the Drawing Academy for Young Women, instruction is
given gratuitously, or at a trifling cost. This consists principally
of drawing, painting, and grammatical composition; in the
execution of designs for woven fabrics; carpets or paper hangings; in wood engravings, lithography, &c. This institution has
already been so successful, and so great is the progress made
by the pupils, so numerous are the orders for designs, wood
engravings, and other works, and so remunerative is it to the
artisan, that the young girls are able already to make considerable
earnings; and there is every reason to believe that in the course
of a few years the establishment will be able to support itself.
The Medical College for Ladies, which now contains nearly
one hundred female medical students, enables females to receive
a scientific education as physicians. It was established by the
efforts of an intellectual and high-minded woman, Elizabeth
Blackwell, designated Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell;-a clever and
worthy descendant of those Pilgrim women who endured hardships so courageously, and laboured equally with their husbands
in establishing that Republic which now extends over half a hemisphere. After much opposition and difficulty she graduated as
physician in the city of Geneva, in western New York. She subsequently passed the medical colleges in Paris and London, and
now practises successfully in Philadelphia, directing her efforts to
the diseases of females and children, and those parts of medical


" Tle public prison at Providence, Rhode Island, is precisely similar.




PHILADELPHIA.


287


science which are now thought to belong preeminently to the
female sex. Thus the fabled Hygeia, the Goddess of Health,
the daughter of Esculapius, and the grand ancestress of Hippocrates, is again called to earth!
Fairmount Water Works on the Schuylkill is a magnificent
monument of American enterprise and skill, as is also the bridge
of wood over the same river; the latter is a single arch three
hundred and forty feet in span, which rises in the centre only
twenty feet above the level of the springing. The line-of-battle
ship Pennsylvania, built in the dockyard a few years since, was
probably one of the largest and most magnificent specimens of
naval architecture that then had been constructed, and is
now only rivalled by the Duke of Wellington and her own
Susquehanna. The dockyard of Philadelphia is only second in
importance to those of New York and Boston.
As few cities can be compared to Philadelphia in point of
neatness and symmetry, in the cleanliness of its streets, as well
as in the regularity with which the houses and the general order
of its civil affairs are arranged; so no city in the world is better
supplied with water, or ought, in so far as human means are
concerned, to be more exempt from infectious diseases: each
house being supplied with as much water as is desired, within
and without, at any moment, for eighteen shillings a year.
Altogether, it is the neatest and handsomest, as well as the
most orderly city of the Union; but, as may be supposed,
though its commerce is very extensive, it has not the business
and animation of New York. At the same time, owing to the
extension of its manufacturing establishments during the last
few years, its population has increased from three to five hundred
thousand.  It is called by some "The Bath of the United
States," and is even visited by the same class of persons for
the same objects as those who visit temporarily, or spend the
remnant of an active and successful life in its English namesake.
Some of the shops, or, as they are here called, stores, are as
beautifully fitted up, and have as inviting and tasteful an appearance as those of Regent-street and Ludgate-hill, London; while
the stock appears equally extensive, substantial, and costly. Of
the necessaries of life there is everywhere the most abundant
supply. No market of the metropolis of England can be furnished with a better or a greater abundance of fruit and vegetables. Both the domestic and foreign trade of Philadelphia.           o




288


THE UNITED STATES.


has been greatly facilitated within the last few years, by its manufactories, and its increased maritime and inland communication.
The principal or high-street of the city is one hundred feet
wide, and the others vary from fifty to eighty feet in width. The
market street is the great thoroughfare, and runs through the
centre of the city. All are well paved, but the footway on each
side is generally formed of red bricks instead of flags. While
the principal streets are distinguished by some particular tree,
the cross streets are by figures.
This city,-a very unusual thing in America,-has several
public squares adorned with beautiful trees and grass plots intersected by gravel walks, and ornamented with fountains, reservoirs
of water, &c. In addition to these, should be mentioned its
beautiful cemetery, called "Laurel Hill," on the banks of the
Schuylkill.
It is not unworthy of observation in this connection, that
though there are but few places of public resort in America,
those that do exist,- gardens, pleasure-grounds, menageries,
&c.,-are accessible to the meanest citizen and his children
free of charge; the poorest and humblest of the people can also
walk through the wide avenues and the spacious edifices of
Washington with a feeling of possession and ownership that
could be felt in no other country;-the public feel and act upon
the conviction that these places are their own.
In the suburban villas of this interesting city-and the same
may be said in respect to the city itself-floriculture is perhaps
more nurtured and matured than in any other city of the Union.
As in England, this enchanting science occupies a conspicuous
place among the items of expenditure of the wealthy, as well as
exercises a considerable influence over their mental habits.
Many of the conservatories and gardens are beautifully and
tastefully arranged,-perfectly in keeping with other characteristics of the city and its inhabitants,-and abound with the
choicest collections of plants both from the temperate and semitropical regions of their country. Auriculas, and orchids, and
lichens, from the recesses of the forest, here display their
gorgeous and matchless charms of colour and form. Here,
also, are seen the cactaceee in all their varieties, and in all their
wondrous loveliness, though so far removed from their more
sunny habitats. Here are primroses, violets, crocusses, crimson
hepaticae, snowdrops, the sparkling von-thal tulip, the delicate
China primrose, and the equally delicate Persian iris, scarlet




PHILADELPHIA.


289


pelargoniums, petunias in all their varied attractiveness of
colour, interspersed with the long trailing tropreolum canariensis,
and the graceful grass plant like the isolepis gracilis, and trailing verbenas.  Here tulips and carnations, various coloured
holyhocks and roses, and camellias, irises, and amaranths, vie in
the brightness of their colouring with the small, dark, pyramidal
leaves of the beautiful Virginian pine, and with the peach trees,
-which latter also ornament the fields.   Here and there
appears the feathered acacia, from whose pendant branches
the little Bayah bird hangs its aerial nest, which waves aloft
over the gorgeous arum, the crown-lily, and beds of flowers of
almost every kind and hue. While, as evidences of the improving taste among the middle and lower classes for this
most rational source of earthly gratification, many decorated
windows and pretty gardens* are to be seen in the heart of the
town, as well as extensive and chaste gardens and conservatories
in the suburbs. This predilection for floriculture, which may
be said to be common in some parts of America, operates
quietly, yet powerfully, against all that is sordid and base in
human character and manners. As the altars of mammon
and the all-absorbing pursuits of business, for a time or at
intervals, are made to give place to the shrine of Flora, —a
goddess who exerts a benign dominion over the heart,-the
love of natural objects must exercise a refining influence over
its possessor,-it assures that home is delightful, and that it
contains tranquil and humanized minds. For no one can look
upon the beautiful forms of vegetable life, collected and displayed in the summer and autumn of the year, without feeling
that they appeal to his intellectual nature; while with the silent
eloquence of a divinely-adapted instrument, they call for his
thankfulness and gratitude.
Philadelphia, as a city, is distinguished in other important
respects besides those already named.  It was here that the
christian statesmanship of William Penn, the disinterested
heroism of Washington, and the shrewd social philosophy of
Franklin, displayed themselves with such splendid results; aided
in the national councils, if not in the camp, by other Fathers of
the Republic-Jefferson, Otis, Quincey Adams, and Hancock,
Marion, and Greene, and Putnam, and Roger Sherman, and
Patrick Henry.


' Auriculas and polyanthuses are much cultivated by cottagers in Pennsylvania.
0




290


THE UNITED STATES.


It was here, in the old State-House, still standing,-and in
appearance almost unaltered,-where once the broad, silky folds
of the flag of England waved in the currents of the passing
air, that the knell of feudal civilisation was sounded and
liberty proclaimed,-that the declaration of independence was
signed, and thus asserted and placed on a sure basis the civil
and political rights of mankind-an act the most pregnant of
forthcoming events that history records.  Many of the illustrious characters, whose portraits adorn the walls of the celebrated hall, were not instrumental by their military skill or
personal bravery in the battle-field in contributing to the independence of their country, but they became the honoured means
of giving that independence its chief value, and have thus
earned the higher praise which Cicero bestows upon the framers
of wise institutions above the author of even patriotic victories.
The room in which they deliberated is preserved, as said, almost
without alteration-the table at which they sat, the chairs they
used, the draperythat shaded the windows, the inkstand and
the pens with which they signed the declaration. On the bell
which was rung when the act was completed, the citizens have
engraved these appropriate words: "Proclaim liberty throughout this land to all the inhabitants thereof."
Here in this city are the rooms and library of the Philosophical Society instituted by Benjamin Franklin, whose library
chair is still shown in its committee-room; 'and which also contains, among other memorials of interest, the original painting
of William Penn contracting his treaty with the Indians, and a
statue of General Washington.
Franklin's resting-place is in a burial-ground known as
Christ's Church Yard in this city. On entering the yard from
Arch Street, attention is unavoidably directed to the humble
tomb by a well-trodden path leading from the gate to the
marble slab that bears the humble but eloquent inscription,
"Benjamin and Deborah Franklin."
The city and state abound also in religious, educational, and
literary institutions.  The former is celebrated as a seat of
literature and science, especially of medical science. Its University enjoys a high reputation for efficiency in all its departments; but the Jefferson Medical College and Hospitals, as
already intimated, are preeminent.
True evangelical religion, as well as general knowledge
and science, continue to flourish. -Upwards of one hundred




PHILADELPHIA.


291


and fifty places of worship adorn the city, occupied by nearly
the same number of ministers of the Gospel of different
denominations, besides other indirect agencies employed' in
disseminating its truths both from the pulpit and the press.
Intellectually, the mass of the people seem decidedly in advance
of the poorer classes of English cities, owing to the superior
advantages in many respects enjoyed;-particularly in relation
to education, which is here of a most efficient character, and
generally diffused; while there is, at the same time, a demand
for knowledge here which does not exist in any city or province
of the Old World; and the instruction imparted is so far different
in quality to that given generally in England, that it is more
immediately practical and more easily attainable.
While Philadelphia has the advantage of New York in its
external appearance and its conveniences of internal arrangement, it has not, as may be supposed, the business and animation of the latter city. At the same time, excepting Boston,
there appears more constraint and exclusiveness in society,more resemblance to the fashionable class in European cities,
than is found in America elsewhere.
A most splendid panoramic view of the whole city and its
neighbourhood is presented from the cupola or steeple of the
old State House, which is now situated in about the centre of
the city, and surmounted with the national star-spangled
banner.  The ascent is from the inside of the building, by a
circuitous flight of stone steps, to the height of one hundred
and thirty feet from the level of the street. The prospect from
this elevation is imposing and beautiful in a high degree-a
glorious panorama.
Beneath, as upon a map, extends the goodly city, in a wide
and various mass of habitations, to the distance of nearly five
miles on the banks of the Delaware on the east, and about three
and a half miles on the banks of the Schuylkill on the west,
and varying from one and a half to two miles in breadth;
presenting at the first glance a confused array of brick walls
and dusky roofs, but when scrutinised more closely, abounding
with much of interest and magnificence.
Far in the east, the dim blue woods of New Jersey blend
with the horizon; and more immediately at hand, the banks
along the liver lie pleasantly crowned with villages, and trees,
and meadows, in.all the chequered beauty of the waning
summer.
o2




92a


THE UNITED STATES.


The Delaware lies smiling like a sheet of tremulous silver in
the unclouded sunshine. Steamboats are moving from either
shore, with their wreaths of smoke ascending like offerings in
the air; while the white sails are careering gracefully along its
bosom; and foreign ships, with their broad ensigns displayed,
are at anchor in the stream or lying alongside the animated
wharfs, with their pennons streaming like light cloudlets in the
breeze.
Turning to the south, the most striking features which were
presented in that portion of the city are the Navy Yard, and in
the distance the Delaware, which hastening on to the ocean
here sweeps in a westerly direction, around a soft and placid
reach of meadow scenery, broken by rich clusters of large and
beautiful trees, whose verdure seems to delight in the morning
smiles of heaven.
Immediately beneath, the southern prospect includes the
State House and Washington Square, with their brownish
yellow walks, their verdant grass plots, and their noble trees,
whose leaves and blossoms wave in sweet luxuriance as if
stirred into music by the bland air.
The survey of the south-west, north, and north-west, presents
the combined serenity and loveliness of the quiet country and
the moving splendour of the city. The blue swelling lands of
Pennsylvania and Delaware, disposed in pleasant vistas and
green sunny spots, lit up at intervals by gleams from both
rivers, seem 'touched by a changeful colouring of dark and
bright verdure; the darker hues sometimes deepened by the
passage of some vagrant cloud, and the bright rendered still
more bright by the glancing sunbeams.
Far to the south-west, Chestnut Street, which passes the
north front of the State House, stretches away with its tasteful
and lofty buildings, until it seems to end in a rich green
meadow beyond the Schuylkill, whose waters can be seen in
occasional spots shining along the verdure of the banks. From
this river from the north-west to the south-west the scenes are
extremely lovely.
JTowards the former point, the pale yellow-gray walls of the
Penitentiary rise with their turrets, and form  no indifferent
representation of a feudal castle,'with its tiara of towers: Fairmount also is seen, with the white paling which surrounds its
pure reservoir; while the meadows, encircling the country seats
of the opulent citizens, with the attendant gardens and orchards,




PHILADELPHIA.


293


form the visible and cunningly blended links which connect
town and country.
By much the largest and most interesting part of the city
lies northward of the State House. It extends, as it were, in
an unbroken assemblage of bustling streets, churches, gardens,
banks, and public edifices of every description for nearly three
miles.
Immediately beneath the spectator, among the beautiful trees
which there overshadow the walk, moves the tide of Chestnut
Street beauty and fashion.  To the north-east, the Delaware
appears gliding by its islands of tranquil summer verdure, low
trees, and emerald banks, until the blue waters seem to melt
away in the reflected light of earth and sky. Its pleasant and
picturesque shores are adorned with white dwellings, fields, and
orchard plots. With the aid of a telescope, some of the ferries
situated many miles up the river are plainly seen, as also the
steamboats, which arrive and depart to and from New York and
Philadelphia.: Beneath and around you extends the proud capital of Pennsylvania, basking in the sun, and sending up the monotonous
hum of busy bustling existence. Beyond on either side, the
distant and uprising landscape melts in soft and perfect beauty
into the horizon, "while over all is spread the blue infinity
of the sky, as ever and anon a slight cloud, touched with the
hues of gold and amber, moves up in silent pomp into the
heavens, impelled by the light air of the west, and chequering
the hills and vales with pictured light and shade."




CHAPTER XXIII.
WASHINGTON. RICHMOND. BALTIMORE. CHARLESTON. SAVANNAH. PENSACOLA. MOBILE.
The city of Washington is the capital of the federal Union,
as well as-of the State of Columbia, but is chiefly distinguished
for its being the seat of the Congressional Parliament. From
its character and aspect, together with its spacious outline and
rural scenery, it is ironically designated "the City of Magnificent
Distances," "the City of Magnificent Designs," and "the City
of the Woods." It is said that it was planned on paper before a
single house was erected. The thoroughfares are arranged in
parallel, rectangular, and diagonal lines. Those which run in
one direction are called from the letters of the alphabet, and
those that cross them are distinguished by designations no less
simple and appropriate.
Washington is situated on a point of land formed by the
fork of the Potomac,-the river which separates Virginia from
Maryland, —and is about one hundred and twenty miles from
the sea. The Capitol stands on the spot which was the place
of meeting and council of the Indian tribes of Virginia when
first known by Europeans.
The federal city, as seen from the highest terrace of the Capitol, presents on a clear spring- or summer's morning an enchanting panorama, —the broad streets or avenues opening below
through the trees, the Virginian hills laved by the mighty Potomac, the heights of George Town, and all the varied life embraced
within the scene. Here are beheld splendid public buildings,
immense hotels, the dwellings of fifty thousand people, church
spires near and distant, the half-Norman, half-Gothic Smithsonian Institute, the unfinished Washington monument, carriages, elegantly dressed men and women in all imaginable
civilised costumes, the broad stone pathway along the avenue,
with a stream of water gushing by its side through a channel
cut in the stone, together with the old monument bearing the




WASHINGTON.


295


names of the most celebrated victims of the revolution,-all
these rising above, or beautifully situated amidst the majestic
forest trees, or the sea of verdure that surround the city!
Besides the Capitol and the House of the President, &c.,
described in a former chapter, the city contains several other
public buildings of importance, viz., the Patent Office, Museum,
Post Office, State Paper Office, and Jesuits' College.  The
Patent Office is conspicuous among the public edifices of the
city for the beauty of its architecture. It is built of white marble, and modelled after the Parthenon at Athens. The model
rooms contain twenty-three thousand models; and the patents
issued amounted, in 1855, to two thousand.
Among other interesting records and relics in the Museum is
the original Declaration of Independence on a large sheet of
vellum, signed by the fifty-six representatives of the thirteen
original States; the press at which Franklin worked when a
journeyman printer in London; a specimen of the hair of
each President of the United States, and their autographs;
together with several relics of Washington. In the State Paper
Office is the original draft of the declaration of independence,
in the handwriting of Jefferson, with various corrections and
erasures; Major Andre's letters before his execution; and an
early number of the "Pennsylvania Gazette," published by
Franklin at Philadelphia.*
The Smithsonian Institute, referred to in a former chapter,
derives its name and endowment from James Smithson, Esq.,
of England, a son of the first Duke of Northumberland.
After receiving his education at Oxford, he passed a considerable
portion of his life in travelling on the continent; and he died
at Genoa, June 27th, 1829. By his will he bequeathed his
entire property to the United States of America, to found at
Washington a college under the above designation-an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. The
United States' Treasury received this fund in September, 1838,
and it then amounted to 515,169 dollars.
In the Navy Yard there are from five hundred to six hundred
men in the various departments, employed in the manufacture
of ordnance, marine engines, chains, cables, anchors, &c., as
well as in the ordinary departments of ship building.


e See Welds's Tour of the United States and Canada.




296


THE UNITED STATES.


Baltimore is the next city of importance on the Atlantic seaboard, proceeding southwards. This city is the great commercial
metropolis of the State of Maryland,-the State so called from
Mary, Queen of Charles I.; but Annapolis is the nominal
capital.  Maryland was first settled by Catholics, under Lord
Baltimore, and may be regarded as the type of American activity
and enterprise in its south-eastern frontier, advancing with
gigantic strides in population, luxury, and refinement. It is
situated on a commanding eminence, gradually rising from a
branch of the Patapsco River. It is fourteen miles from Chesapeake Bay, about one hundred and eighty miles from the sea,
and is one of the most elegant and symmetrically-arranged cities
in the Union.
In its general aspect it resembles Boston, though its houses
and streets display more regularity in their arrangement and
architecture. Its trade, however, is less than'that of Boston.
Flour and tobacco are its principal productions; but the State
occupies a respectable rank in manufactures and commerce.
The beautiful Chesapeake also adds to its fame; and Baltimore
is still more celebrated for its hospitality. The general welcome
of old English times is still cherished by her sons, free from the
ostentation of an opulence quickly achieved. Baltimore exhibits
an example of social life (her negro slavery always excepted)
'which it would be well for her wealthier sisters to follow. The
population of the city is nearly two hundred thousand, dwelling
in one compact body.
Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and stands on James'
River, one hundred and nine miles from its mouth: it merits
no more than a passing notice. The State received its designation ini honour of Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign, in the year
1584, it was first visited by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Raleigh is the metropolis of North Carolina, and Wilmington
its largest and most important town.
Charleston, in South Carolina, was so called from Charles II.
It is one of the few cities of America that resemble English
provincial towns, or more properly, perhaps, the suburbs of
interior county towns. The greater part of the houses are of
brick, and many of them may be termed splendid. Both in its
size, its appearance, and its trade, it is said to vie with some of
the first cities in the Union. It stands on an isthmus, between
two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper. Its climate is highly
insalubrious. Charleston, however, is beautiful in appearance,




SAVANNAH.                    2O97
resembling an assemblage of villas standing in gardens, which
during all seasons of the year are brilliant with flowers and
fragrant with odoriferous trees and shrubs. The aroma of orange
blossoms, myrtles, jessamines, roses, and oleanders, fills the air.
The divisions of the city formed by the streets are a succession
of small detached villas with their grass plots, enclosed within
elegant iron palisading, shaded by beautiful flowering trees.
Around the green verandahs and porticos which ornament the
fronts of the houses, are seen the most beautiful crysanthemums,
honeysuckles, asters, and gentians, every variety of roses,
japonicas, geraniums, and olives, interspersed with amberflowering poplars, and cypress trees pointing their tall spires to
the skies, all alive with humming-birds rapidly glancing in the
sun their brilliant hues of green, purple, and gold, and all
melodious with the song of the mocking-bird. It may be said,
indeed, that plants and flowers of almost every clime display
their tints and wave their foliage in Carolina. The very roads
and fields are bestrewed with choice shrubs and flowers.
Savannah is the principal city of Georgia,* but Augustine is
the interior emporium of the State. "Savannah," says Miss
Bremer, "is the most charming of American cities, and reminds
me of the 'maiden of the green wood.'" It is, even more than
Charleston, "an assemblage of villages which have come together
for company."  In each quarter is a green market-place,
surrounded by magnificent lofty trees; and in the centre of
each verdant market-place leaps up a living fountain,-a spring
of fresh water gushing forth, shining in the sun, and keeping
the greensward moist and cool.
Savannah may be called "the City of the Gushing Springs."
There cannot be in the whole world a more beautiful city than
Savannah. All nature is here beauty and romance-the realm
of Pan. Georgia, with more justice than Carolina, may be
called the Palmetto State, as the palmetto is here more abundant,
besides many other plants and trees"which indicate proximity to
the tropics, exhibiting a new face of nature.t The interior of
the country in different directions, amidst very considerable
cultivation, is clothed with lofty woods, and adorned with
clusters of white houses and churches everywhere.


* Georgia was the most recent of the thirteen origina'tStates to join the
Union, and one of the most prominent in the War of lndependence.
t Homes of the New World.
3




298


THE UNITED STATfS.


Florida, divided into East and West, is the flower of the
Southern States; the land of which it was said by one of its
discoverers, that its "delicious balmy odours made it the
fountain of eternal youth."  It was discovered by Ponce de
Leon, in 1512, who first reduced the island of Puerto Rico.
He called it Florida, either because he discovered it on Palm
Sunday, or because of its gay and beautiful appearance. He
met with vigorous opposition from the natives in his attempts
to explore and possess it; but he finally accomplished his
desires by effectually subjugating it to the crown of Spain.
Florida continued for more than two hundred years a Spanish
province, and was ceded by Spain to the American Government
in 1819. In 1822, East and West Florida were formed into an
organised territory, not having sufficient population to entitle it
to rank as a State. It adjoins the State of Georgia upon the
north, and New Orleans and Alabama upon the west-thus
extending from the west side of the Mississippi to the frontiers
of Carolina and Georgia, and including all the islands within
six leagues of the coast.  The chief towns are St. Augustine
in the East, and Pensacola in the West. The surface of the
country is in general fertile, but mostly uncultivated, covered
and even choked with a rank luxuriance almost impervious to
the eye-the whole surface of the ground concealed by the thick
covering of shrubs, herbs, and weeds. The land is also but
slightly elevated above the sea, and may almost be considered a
peninsula. It is to so great an extent overspread with stagnant
lakes and ponds exhaling such unwholesome vapours, as to
render it generally insalubrious.  Throughout all nature the
cessation of motion seems to be the signal for the work of corruption, and corruption is diffusive.  In these uncultivated
regions it is remarkable also how the active principle of life
wastes its force in productions of inferior kinds. In addition
to the impervious forests and the vast, superfluous vegetation, the
whole country is alive with every species of noxious animal.
Legions of ants coyer the surface of the ground,-the air is often
darkened with clouds of insects,-the damp forests and marshes
teem with almost every offensive and poisonous creature which
the power of a sultry sun can quicken into life. Some clean,
cultivated spots, however, are seen at intervals in this wilderness; and it is delightful to observe the contrast between the
vast level, woody masses, and the beautiful appearance which
nature assumes under the forming hand of industry and art.




FLORIDA.


299


The soil bordering the streams is peculiarly fertile, and well
suited to the production of cotton and maize; but, generally, it is
considered better adapted for grazing than for agriculture, The
climate is one perpetual spring. Vegetation never ceases. The
trees and meadows are crowned with constant verdure. All
tropical fruits and plants are produced in abundance, as also
some of more northern origin. Florida, however, unlike'Georgia,
is not celebrated for its mineral productions; but great varieties
of beautiful shells and corals, madrepores, together with other
ornaments of the sea, may be gathered on its shores, which are
also studded with white and brown rocks of various quality and
formation.
St. Augustine, a large town built in the Spanish style, is one
of the oldest of the Union, and its climate is so salubrious,
and therefore so attractive to valetudinarians, that it may be
said to contain a convalescent establishment.  Tolahape, or
Tallahassee, is the new capital. The town of St. Mark is
situated on Apalache Bay. The tides on this coast are remarkable. Among other peculiarities, and especially as compared
with the same phenomenon in other places within the tropics,
they run here, as it is termed in nautical language, "tide and
half tide," in the same manner as at Plymouth, the Needles, and
the Isle of Wight, viz., three hours' flood, succeeded by three
hours' ebb; next nine hours' flood, and nine hours' ebb. They
do not rise, however, to an equal height in all places, nor do
they run with equal rapidity in every part of the coast.
In the direction south-westward along the sea-coast, as a
vessel stands into its beautiful bay, is the town of Pensacola.
It is situated on a plain extending along a beach, is of an oblong
form, and contains some spacious and elegant buildings. Its
situation is romantic, commanding a noble prospect from the
harbour. Some parts of the coast are iron-bound by rocks piled
up to a great elevation, which receive the breakers of the
Atlantic as they burst after their long sweep over the ocean.
In other directions the sea rolls over an immense beach of bright
and polished sand, and in the storms that rage there in winter
throws in numerous wrecks on its enormous billows.
Still advancing along the south-western shore is the town of
Mobile, in the State of Alabama. It stands at the head of a
bay, and is of considerable commercial importance, although
greatly inferior, in all respects, to others that have been more
recently founded. It occupies the side of a hill at the mouth




300


THE UNITED STATES.


of the river Tombigbec or Mobile River. It is regularly built,
of an oblong form, but stands in the midst of-marshes and
lagoons, largely productive of fevers, agues, and numerous other
diseases. Alligators and other noxious reptiles and insects are
also found in the vicinity. Near the entrance of the bay are
several islands, the principal of which are called Dauphin and
Pelican islands. On the latter of thesethe soil is in some places
arid, but in others covered with pine trees down to the beach.*
The water is very shallow at a distance, and the bottom, which
can be distinctly seen from its surface in fine weather, presents a
moving picture of various animals gliding along in quick succession over the rocky points and accumulations of coral that
there abound.
The principal agricultural products of the State are corn,
cotton, and tobacco. Mobile itself may be said to be only a
place of trade-the great mart of this celebrated cotton-growing
State. Its merchants are wealthy, spending nothing in luxuries.
Its exports are only second in extent to those of New Orleans.
No elegant houses are here to be seen, nor equipages, but a
crowded harbour. The inhabitants have no public amusements,
and comparatively, it is said, very little of religion.


* The Bayous of Alabama and Florida are celebrated for having been formerly the rendezvous of pirates.




CHAPTER XXIV.
NEW ORLEANS. STATE OF LOUISIANA.-New Orleans, how situated. Its importance.
General description of its appearance. Causes of. its peculiar and picturesque architecture.
Public places of recreation and amusement. Origin of the city. Early possession by France.
Original European population. Their discouraging prospects. Various character and motley
aspect of its present inhabitants. Proportion between white and black, slave and free. Principal agricultural products. Market. Levee. Places of worship. Contrast between New
Orleans and the cities of the North. Comparative paucity of benevolent institutions. Vast
commerce. Acquisition of wealth the all.engrossing object of pursuit. Prevailing demoralization. Causes. Influence of slavery. Duelling. Desecration of the Sabbath. Climate and
seasons. Infectious diseases.  Remarkable public burial-place. Slave auctions.  Slavery.
Mississippi, its source, magnitude, extent, and grandeur. Cincinnati. Ohio river, &c.
The next principal city, as the voyager passes along the great
Atlantic sea-board, after Baltimore, Charleston, and Savannah,
is New Orleans, leaving to the north-east, as already signified,
Pensacola in West Florida, and Mobile in Alabama, both
situated in the Gulf of Mexico.
New Orleans is the capital of the State of Louisiana, and is
called "the Crescent City."         It is situated on the banks of the
Mississippi, about one hundred           miles from     the mouth     of the
-river, one thousand six hundred and forty-four miles from New
York by the shortest route, and is one of the most flourishing
cities of the Republic. As a commercial depot it is unrivalled,
as are also the activity and bustle on the river and on the
shore.    It is built on a level bed of alluvium, on a surface that
slightly dips southward, which was formerly a cypress swamp,
and is at high water but from        two to four feet above the surface
of the river. The plain on which the city is built rises only
nine feet above the level of the sea.             Excavations     are often
made far below      the level of the Gulf of Mexico.            To prevent
inundations, a high bank, called "the Levee," has been raised,
extending along the city, and reaching a considerable distance
beyond it, forming an extensive and pleasant promenade.
The city stands on the left bank of the river, being a tongue
of land between the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain, into
which great inland sea the waters of the Gulf of Mexico enter.




802


THE UNITED STATES.


It extends round the elbow of the stream, forming a curve
nearly in the shape of a half moon, and has from this latter
circumstance received the designation of "the Crescent City,"
as intimated above.
The city is in the form of a parallelogram, extending a distance of five miles on a line parallel with the river, and may be
said to be divided into two portions, French and Anglo-American,
or, politically, into three municipalities.
It was originally formed of heavy-roofed, old French and
Spanish houses, and the streets were laid out as nearly as possible at right angles, running the whole length and depth of
this great city. They are still in general narrow, a style which
was judged by the Spaniards, and not without reason, best
adapted to a warm climate.  But at the same time they are
always filthy; their condition is an absolute nuisance, and in
wet weather they are almost impassable. There, are brick causeways (the trottoirs of the French), but the carriage-ways are
left in a state of nature.
The houses are principally constructed of wood, and the
architecture of the older sections of the city is Spanish. When
Louisiana came into possession of the French, the original
taste in building seems to have been retained and to have preponderated for a long time:
As a security against hurricanes, as is supposed, the houses
in general are but one story high; they are ornamented with
green verandahs and balconies, and the principal apartments
open to the street. -While, however, most of the houses are
built of wood, and exhibit the architecture of an earlier day,
there are edifices of greater pretensions covered with stucco,
adorned with verandahs, centered in plots of garden-ground,
half-hidden with oleanders, magnolias, palms, aloes, and the
yucca gloriosa, which, added to the orange trees disposed in
rows on each side, covered throughout almost the entire year
with beautiful aromatic blossoms or brilliant fruit, and these
again relieved by acacias and other flowering trees and shrubs,
render the appearance of this part of the city truly beautiful
and picturesque. The vine and various species of convolvulus
grow wild on every side; while the orange, the myrtle, and the
arbutus, loading the air with perfume, are often mingled with
red-blossomed aloes, the prickly cactus, and variegated hollies;
together with all the varieties of rubiacwe, euphorbise, and
legumes.




NEW ORLEANS.


303


There is something in the general air and tout ensemble,
-the style of building, the mingling of the foliage, particularly
that of the palm tree with the quaint architecture,-when seen
through the vistas of the straiter streets, which calls up a confused remembrance of some of the best Spanish and French
West India towns, though in some other respects they are greatly
dissimilar, and more allied to towns in Flanders.
This quarter of the city is the residence of the Spanish and
French part of the population. That occupied by the AngloAmericans has but little attraction of any kind, being built in a
plain, monotonous line, with but little embellishment from art
or nature. The streets are wider, and the houses larger, higher,
and the stores more capacious; but the internal superiority of
the latter, as to comfort, has been attained at the expense of
external effect.
The city now contains a considerable number of public buildings, some of which, particularly the Cathedral of the Roman
Catholics and the Charles's Hotel, are of very respectable architecture. Among those of the second class are the Town-House,
the Churches and Chapels, the Military and general Hospitals,
the Barracks, the Custom-House, and the Theatres.
One of the hotels, called Charles's Hotel, or the French
Restaurant, the property, in whole or in part, of a Frenchman,
is said to be the most splendid of its kind that is to be found
in the Southern States, resembling in its exterior architecture
the Pantheon at Rome. When at its full complement, five hundred and sixty persons dine there at the ordinary every day,
three hundred and fifty of whom sleep in the house. There are
one hundred and sixty servants, and seven French cooks. All
the waiters are whites-Irish, English, French, German, and
American. The proprietor or manager assembles them every
day at noon, when they go through a regular drill, and rehearse
the service of dinner. This magnificent building was finished
in 1838, and cost 600,000 dollars. The gentlemen's diningroom is one hundred and twenty-nine feet by fifty feet, and is
twenty-two feet high, having four ranges of tables capable of
accommodating five hundred persons. The ladies' dining-room
measures fifty-two feet by thirty-six. There are, altogether, three
hundred and fifty rooms, which might be made to contain, with
little inconvenience, between six and seven hundred people.
The front consists of a projecting portico, supported by six fine
Corinthian columns resting upon a rustic basement. The whole




304


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is surmounted by a large dome forty-six feet in diameter, and
crowned by a beautiful Corinthian turret. This dome is the
most conspicuous object in the whole city. Viewed at a distance, the whole building seems to stand in the same relation
to New Orleans as St. Paul's to London. The furnishing of
the establishment cost 150,000 dollars. The cooking at this
mammoth hotel or boarding-house is performed by a steam
engine and other apparatus. The charge for board and lodging
is three dollars per day; but there are others in New Orleans,
scarcely inferior in all the requisites for respectable inmates,
where they could be accommodated for about, or even for less
than half that amount.
There are several other Hotels in the city of considerable
size, but all conducted in a style far inferior to that of the
French Restaurant.
There are in this city six public squares laid out with taste,
filled with the luxuriant foliage of the South. Magnolias, myrtles, oleanders, jessamines, the fragrant clematis, with roses and
flowering trees and shrubs of endless variety, flourishing, it may
almost be said, in all the affluence and magnificence of the
tropics; while here and there, from amid the masses of verdure,
are seen towering the cypress, the ceiba, and the fig, some of
them spreading their vast arms over the lower tribes of vegetation, and clothed with heavy draperies of parasite orchis, and
innumerable other parasitic plants, creeping from tree to tree, or
flinging their long tendrils above a hundred feet from the
ground. The most magnificent, as well as the most abundant,
of all the trees here, is the live-oak, an evergreen, from the
branches of which, as from the ceiba, are seen depending mosses
and other boreals hanging down in rich festoons.   These
pendant, grey mosses upon the heavy branches, particularly
when the trees have been planted with any regularity, produce
an almost unimaginably picturesque effect.  From  all these
circumstances, the city wears an appearance of comfort, and
convenience, and beauty, seldom enjoyed amidst a dense population, and very unusual in American cities in general.
New Orleans was originally founded by a small number of
Spaniards in 1719, and in 1782 remained little more than a
village, containing only about 4,000 inhabitants, being injured
in its trade by the monopoly of the Spanish rule. In 1801 it
was conceded to France, who allowed the Americans to use it as
a place of deposit for marketable produce. Through the con



NEW ORLEANS.


305


stumnat policy of Jefferson, it was at length purchased by the
United States Government for 15,000,000 dollars, and thus
became annexed to the Union, having its own provincial government, and sending its own representatives to the general Congress. At this period (1803), the population of the whole
State numbered no more than 8,000 souls, who were almost
entirely French and Spanish.
The present population, considering the infancy of its existence under the Government of America, is amazing, being now
upwards of 100,000; and it continues to augment with such
astonishing rapidity, as to justify the expectation of its becoming
in a few years the greatest emporium of commerce in the whole
of the New World, so admirably is its situation adapted to the
purpose. As New York is called the London, so New Orleans
is called the Liverpool of the United States; and it must also be
to the South what New York is to the North and centre of the
Union.  At the same time it has communication with New
York and the more northern ports, both by the Atlantic seaboard and by means of canals which connect Ohio with Lake
Erie and Lake Erie with the Hudson; thereby commanding a
portion of the commerce of the whole Eastern and Western, as
well as of the Northern and Southern States. Thus holding
the keys of the whole West, and commanding the commerce of
20,000 miles of river navigation, as well as along the whole
Atlantic coast, it has during the last few years leaped into prodigious activity and life. No longer since than 1812 the first
steamboat arrived from Pittsburg, when the trade of the place
commenced. Enterprise increased at a rate unprecedented. In
twenty years it contained 50,000 inhabitants, and in ten succeeding years the population was doubled.
The cotton and, sugar of Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana,
-the grain of the vast fertile Western States,- the lead of
Illinois,-the peltry of the Oregon,-with all their active trains
of owners and supercargos, pour into the city continuously
during eight months of each year.
Enterprise and industry, stimulated to incredible activity by
brilliant success, has thus been richly rewarded; whilst wealth
and the means of subsistence naturally and speedily augmented
the population.  The inland trade has become immense,-from
fifteen thousand to twenty thousand flat boats, fifty or sixty
steam-boats, and a vast mass of steam vessels of extraordinary
tonnage, may be seen as though constantly lying along its




806


THE UNITED STATES.


Levee.   During the ten years between   183.5 and 1844,
the average receipts of duties at the Custom  House were
905,196 dollars; and in the eight years from 1845 to 1852 inclusive, the average was 1,648,298 dollars. There has also been, as a
consequence of the prosperity of New Orleans, a remarkable
increase in the trade of the other Gulf ports, including Mobile,
Pensacola, St. Mark, Apalachicola, and the ports of Texas.
Nor must the fact be omitted as to the facilities of travelling,
that the advantages afforded by the conveyance of passengers
and goods, as also the comparative inexpensiveness of both, are
immense. A passage from New Orleans to Louisville, a distance
of fifteen hundred miles, is accomplished in four days, at the
cost of a few dollars.
It may not be irrelevant to add, that those States have
progressed most rapidly in which improvements in the accommodation afforded for traffic and locomotion have been most
vigorously carried out. The only States, indeed, which show a
decline in population are Missouri, and one or two of the slave
States, in which the formation of railroads and other public
works and facilities of intercommunication have been neglected.
The plantations of these States, (as may be said of the
Southern States generally,) which once attested the operations of
human skill and industry, will soon be nothing but a luxuriant
wilderness, inhabited by the brutalised descendants of a race of
slaves.
The varied character of the inhabitants of New Orleans, both
in personal appearance and dress, adds greatly to the picturesque
effect which the city presents to a stranger. The southern
planter, with his broad-brimmed panama, or neatly plaited grass
hat; the clean and neatly apparelled American native tradesman;
the long-haired French creole, with his black tresses waving
over his shoulders; "the tall, dark Spaniard; the unpolished
Irishman; the gaily clothed people of colour; with here and
there Sclaves, Chinamen, and Polynesians; and lastly, the slave
population-white, black, yellow; together with indigenous red
men,-exhibiting almost every variety of shade of colour, from
the jet black through all conceivable transitions to white almost
as pure as that of Europeans. These are peculiarities calculated
to create an interest in ethnological facts and disquisitions
unknown in Europe; while probably no city in the world, in
an equal number of human beings, presents greater contrasts
of national manners and language.




NEW ORLEANS.


307


In the two last respects, what assimilation exists is principally
with the French. Many of the Creole ladies are really beautiful,
both as to person and figure,-light and graceful,-with fine
teeth, and eyes large, dark, and lustrous.  The native ladies
generally, however, are without energy, animation, or vivacity.
Few of these can speak English, and still fewer of the slaves.
The latter are said to speak the French language, but it is a
kind of patois, unlike anything ever heard in France.
The proportion between the whites and men of mixed cast
and blacks is nearly equal. As a nation the French, among
the whites, are considered the most numerous and wealthy;
next the Anglo-American; and thirdly, the natives of the
British Islands. There are but few Spaniards and Portuguese
in New Orleans; but Italians, -with individuals of all the
civilised nations of Europe, are scattered among the population.
The principal agricultural products are sugar-cane, maize,
rice, cotton, indigo, and tobacco, with various textile and
oleaginous plants, wines, and tropical fruits.  Taking into
consideration the amazing variety of the produce, together with
the great diversity of the character and dress of the populace as
here exhibited on a market day, a more curious spectacle can
hardly be conceived. Domestic animals, many of them of
novel descriptions to a stranger, together with both European
and tropical fruits and vegetables of great variety and of almost
all kinds, are here seen in the greatest profusion. Parrots of
diverse size and plumage; various beautifully coloured birds in
cages; gigantic herons; wild ducks and geese, of all sizes and
colours; pigeons, owls; with squirrels, white and grey; fish of
indescribable varieties and colours, such as are never seen in
European waters; together with cray, and other varieties of
shell-fish, equally new and indescribable, are here found
ad injinitum.
The Levee outside the market is crowded with itinerant
venders of many races,-English, Irish, Germans, Spanish,
Negroes, and Indians,-exhibiting all their characteristic phases
of manners, customs, and language, and surrounded by symbols
of the products of their own labour.
The market here, as always within the tropics, is opened with
the earliest dawn of day, and may be considered as over by seven
or eight o'clock in the morning. The meat is killed during the
preceding night, and brought to the stalls in a state that may
be properly termed yet warm with life. Even with this necessary,




308


THE UNITED STATES.


thoKugh disagreeable haste, unless it be cooked almost immediately, it will, during the hottest weather, turn green and
putrify in the course of a few hours. At any time, as in the
West Indies,. to purchase more than is needful for the day's
consumption is useless, as all beyond what is necessary for the
day is wasted.  It will be easily conceived, therefore, that
economical housewives, as in some places in England, though
for other reasons, have often to test their ingenuity to devise
the most ingenious dinners which will not leave any cold
perishable viands for'the following day.
Although there are numerous places of religious worship in
New Orleans, belonging to different religious denominations,
whose pulpits are mostly occupied by pious and respectable
ministers of the gospel, yet such is the influence of slavery 
and other related circumstances in a city so rapidly formed,
and of such diverse and rude materials, that in morals and
religion, as well as in the virtues and accomplishments of social
life, it presents on the whole a very different picture to the
cities of the North.  -
There are some benevolent institutions and schools in the
city; but they are not numerous, and but a few are in a healthy,
flourishing condition. The schools, however, are said to have
recently improved, teachers, both male and female, having come
hither from the North-eastern States, bringing with them that
educational life, and benevolence, and energy, which so evidently
distinguish the descendants of the sturdy Puritans.
Institutions for higher intellectual and moral culture appear
to be in little demand. There are no ennobling artistic enjoyments here. New Orleans is beyond everything else a business
and trading city. The' object of all appears to be to amass
wealth, and to retire with it to a more congenial atmosphere and
home. They have bound the negro slave, and the negro slave
has bound them, —preventing them from developing education,
and every good institution that gives strength and greatness to
a nation; if it has not obliterated the affections that are necessary to constitute a home.
And the chief causes of the prevailing demoralisation it is
as little difficult to conjecture.  It is traceable to the same
source; it arises, principally, there can be little doubt, from the
existence and operation of slavery, as the state of society is in
some respects similar in almost all the Southern States where
this enormity exists.




NEW ORLEANS.


309


Such a result is perfectly natural; as slavery, by presenting
human nature in a state of moral debasement, and affording
constant opportunities for the exercise of uncontrolled dominion,
must lead insensibly to impatience of contradiction and irritability of temper-to a frequent display, indeed, of all the worst
passions of the depraved heart.
Neither their sickly climate, nor their familiarity with sudden
death, nor their mild landscapes, have softened the spirits of
the slave-holders, or lulled their nervous irritability.  "The
whole commerce between master and slave," says AIr. Jefferson,
himself a slave-holder, "is a perpetual exercise of the most
boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism, on one
part, and of degrading submission on the other. The parent
storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath,
puts on the same airs in the circle of the smaller slaves, gives
a loose to his worst of passions; and thus nursed, educated,
and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it
with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who
can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances."`
Duelling is awfully prevalent in New Orleans. Only a few
years since, several persons called "gentlemen" arrived at
Natchez, from Alexandria, in Louisiana, to settle some personal
differences long standing by personal combat. Two of them
had a duel, and were about leaving the ground unharmed when
others arrived and insisted on a renewal of the fight. A desperate contest ensued, during which two of the number were
killed, and two dangerously wounded. And such occurrences
are common along the whole shores of the Mississippi, and in
all the States where the influence of slavery is felt, as well as at
New Orleans.  Bowie knives and pistols constitute a part of
the equipment of those who frequent the gambling hells with
which the city of New Orleans abounds. The state of society
in regard to the last-named atrocities may be in some degree
conceived by the following announcement in a late American
paper:-" For the first time in the annals of Louisiana a duellist
has been convicted of manslaughter. The case was a very horrible one, the combatants having fought with knives; but the
jury recommended the culprit to mercy."


Jefferson't Notes on Virginia. V'ide also Featberstonehaugh.




310


THE UNITED STATES.


That sacred day which is set apart in other States of the
Union for the rest of the body and the refreshment of the soul,
is here shamefully dishonoured and profaned. With multitudes,
especially the Catholics, Sunday is the great day for amusements
of all kinds. Shops are open,-the markets display unusual
attractions,-and the sounds of merriment and music are-heard
in every street. In the morning, a very considerable part of the
population are seen at mass, and the Cathedral is crowded with
people of all colours in their best and gayest attire; but in the
after parts of the day and in the evening, their time and attention are transferred to the occupations of worldly pleasure, or
they are found in the pandemoniums of profligacy and dissipation. It is, however, but just to say, that a stranger may learn
something from  the great difference exhibited between the
Catholics and Protestants in their treatment of slaves and poor
in their places of public worship.
Vice, in every form which, a diabolical invention can devise,
'i~ become habitual to a large portion of the community,
especially in the dregs of the French and American population
which here find a refuge. Every degree of profligacy is exhibited
that is degrading to the individual and injurious to society.
Unwholesome as are the material elements by which the
atmosphere is tempered, New Orleans contains a malaria yet
more dreadful than its swamps, tainting and poisoning the
whole social state and inner life.
The feelings prevalent among what are termed the higher or
more aristocratic portion of the community, in points of violated
morality, resemble those formerly current in the fashionable
world in Europe, only being less fastidious.  The stigma
attached to profligacy and licentiousness is so slight, that often
people do not hesitate to accuse one another of laxity of conduct on the most fallacious grounds; and the utmost purity of
life and correctnes's of manners sometimes prove insufficient to
secure even a female from being suspected of errors and levities
which are alike repugnant to her principles and to her inclinations.
Although situated so near the glowing line, the seasons in
Louisiana admit of spring and summer as in Europe; but the
winter seasons are much milder.  The nights are uniformly
temperate. Droughts are common, and thunder-storms and
rains are frequent and excessive.  The advantages of New
Orleans, as to climate, are great. At some seasons of the year




.  - T,           _1   1..   c a   I    "Z S


NEW ORLEANS.                    311
it is delicious, but its disadvantages are proportionate to its
benefits, for the district is awfully subject to yellow fever and
other infectious diseases.  Sometimes the whole city appears
under the influence of the former dreadful epidemic. At no
season of the year is it healthy.  The exhalations from the
Mississippi, as well as from the vast swamp by which it is surrounded, taint the atmosphere continually.  The variation at
different seasons is only in degree, while on every inundation,
when the river runs to a higher level than the town, the putrid
swamp is ever ready to ooze through the thin layer of rank soil
above it, and thus spread infection on every hand.
The rainy seasons, it may be supposed, as is the case generally
within the tropics, are the most sickly of the year, from the
abundance of the exhalations which then form a kind of faint
vaporous bath, from which only those who live in apartments
the highest from the ground are least in danger, the atmosphere growing gradually clearer and purer in proportion to the
ascent.
This awful scourge, the yellow fever, however, though partially
caused by the malaria of the swampy ground on which the city
stands, and the frequent inundations occasioned by the bursting
of the Levee, or embankments, is not so much attributable to
these causes as to the intemperance that prevails, to the quality
of the food that is consumed, and to the want of cleanliness,
on the part of the lower classes, both as to houses and persons.
"An effectual remedy of these evils," says an eminent medical
practitioner of the city, "is cleanliness, which would contribute
more to secure cities and countries in general from pestilence
than all the quarantine regulations that were ever framed."
From what has thus been said it must not be supposed that
New Orleans, morally and physically, is without any redeeming
features. It is neither without its natural attractions, as a place
of residence, nor destitute of the charms of social life. Amidst
much that is forbidding and corrupt in general society, there is
much that may be pronounced refined and unexceptionable.
There are many elements of good in real, powerful, practical
operation in the public mind; and evil influences decrease in
proportion to the wealth and numerical strength possessed by
the resident North-eastern Anglo-American.
One of the most interesting objects to be seen in New
Orleans by an European stranger is the public Cemetery, situated
about two miles and a half from the city, where the dead are




s - *


312                THE UNITED STATES.
buried in water, or in tombs above the ground, the tombs and.graves consisting of whole streets and squares. It appears like
what it really is, "a place to bury strangers in," strongly contrasting with the cemeteries of the other States,-" no trees, no
grass-plots, no fountains, nothing green, no flowers, nothing
which testifies of life, of memory, of love. All is dead, stony,
desolate, and no back ground, except the clear blue heaven."*
The most revolting spectacles beheld in New Orleans are the
slave auctions. They occur every day in the City Exchange,
and the man who wants an excuse for his misanthropy will
nowhere discover better reason for hating and despising his
species than at this spectacle of fiends in the shape of
humanity.
" God of Goodness! God of Justice!" exclaimed a spectator
of some recent tragedy perpetrated in the heart of this city,
"there must be a future state to redress the wrongs of this, or
I am almost tempted to say there must be no future state and
no God."
"Mothers of New England!"-I will add, mothers of
England! of Jamaica!-" christians and philanthropists of
every sex and name, teach your children to hate slavery, to pity
its victims! Never cease your prayers nor your efforts until
the blighting curse is driven from the world!"
"While almost every country in the civilised world can
respond to the proud boast of the English common law, that
'the moment a slave sets his foot on her soil he is free,' says
an enlightened, right-hearted American traveller in Europe, "I
do not hesitate to say that slavery stands as a dark blot on our
nation-character. There it will not admit of any palliation;
it stands in glaring contrast with the spirit of free institutions;
it belies our words and our hearts; and the American who
would be most prompt to refute any calumny upon his country
withers under this reproach, and writhes with mortification when
the taunt is hurled at the otherwise stainless flag of the free
Republic."
Even some planters speak of it as a noxious exhalation, with
which the whole atmosphere is poisoned, and that the fear is
that it will only be eradicated by some terrible convulsionthat the sword is already suspended. By the perpetuity of this
unnatural and revolting system Americans lay under the impu

* Homes of the New World.




NEW ORLEANS.


313


tation of being petty despots and tyrants, who "call that freedom when themselves are free." In their conduct with regard
to slavery they deny the first principles of republicanism, and
descend to the morals of common filibusterers, pirates, or buccaneers. Slavery involves the slave trade, and the slave trade,
under the laws of civilised nations, involves piracy.
As if in mockery of the unhappy victims of this accursed
system, and really in condemnation of the hypocrisy of the
perpetrators of the atrocities that system produces, often in the
very purlieus of the inhuman auction-mart, where floats the
"star-spangled banner," as well as from the haunts of merriment and dissipation, or from the shipping in the harbour,wafted to every part of the city by the evening breeze,-is heard
the loud chorus of the national song, "The land of the Brave
and the land of the Free!"
But let us turn from these depressing features of the scene
before us, and consider the brightest parts of the picture. And
foremost amongst these is that parent of commerce and wealth
to New Orleans-the magnificent Mississippi.*
The flow of a noble stream is at all times an interesting
object; but when its banks are occupied by long ranges of
imposing and handsome buildings, shaded by palm-groves, and
enlivened by boats and vessels of all descriptions, with all the
other signs of a vast and prosperous traffic, the coup d'ceil
formed by such a combination can hardly fail of producing a
very animated picture: and such is the view of the Mississippi
from any one of the many points upon its banks from whence
a spectator can command the whole space occupied by the city.
A more vivid scene, indeed, can hardly be conceived than that
presented by the forest of masts and steamboats that crowd the
crescent outline of New Orleans.
Below the city towards the Gulf of Mexico a vast forest
extends on either side as far as the eye can reach, opened here
and there by the axe of the settler, where the scene is enlivened
by the happy-looking rustic homesteads, and the more villagelike establishments of the planter. Still farther on, the river
disembogues itself into the Gulf of Mexico, through three
mouths, or "passes," as they are called by sailors, which throw a
wide and deep volume of fresh water far into the ocean wholly
untainted by the saline matter of the heavier fluid through


* In the Algonquin language, ' "Missi Sepe," or Great River,
P




314


THE UNITED STATES.


which it flows. The whole extent between these passes is occupied with islands and shoals, on which countless pelicans assemble, and monstrous alligators disport themselves.
The river at New Orleans is about eight or nine hundred
yards or three-quarters of a mile broad, increasing rather than
diminishing towards Louisville. Its greatest depth is twentythree fathoms; the general velocity of the current has been estimated at about two nautical miles per hour. The navigation of
the river is difficult and dangerous, owing to the perpetual shifting of the sands, and the vast and ever-increasing accumulation
of islands formed by trees and earthy deposits brought down by
the stream.  Sometimes large islands entirely disappear; at
other times they attach themselves to the main land; or, rather,
the intervals are filled up by myriads of logs and masses of
coral cemented together'with mud and rubbish.
About eighteen miles from St. Louis, and four miles below
the city, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers blend their giant
currents, forming a mighty confluence; and for several miles down
the stream of the latter, can be seen on one side the dark, pulpy,
yellowish, muddy, angry waves of the Missouri, and on the
other, the pure crystal waters of the Upper Mississippi, both
having swept alternately through beautiful meadows, ancient
hoary lime-stone bluffs, marshes and deep forests, swelled in
their advancing march by the beautiful waters of the Ohio,
and the tributes of a hundred minor streams.
These gigantic rivers flow side by side for a considerable
distance without entirely commingling, until, at last, the earthladen tide from the far-west gains the mastery, and thence united
in one wide, dark, turbid, and perpetual torrent, the "Father of
Waters" rolls his accumulated floods in lonely majesty through
the deltas formed by the diluvium of his own waters to the Gulf
of Mexico, and thence far onward into the Atlantic Ocean.
No thinking mind can contemplate this mighty and resistless
swollen current, as if bearing away the superfluous waters of
the world, sweeping, in proud course from point to point, curving
round its bends of leagues in extent, rolling in silence through
the dark forests, watering a tract of country containing millions
of square miles, extending from the cold climate of Canada to
the sunny regions of the tropics,-no one, I repeat, can contemplate this vast phenomenon of nature without feeling that he
has before him one of the most striking instances of the sublime
that the whole world affords.




CINCINNATI.


315


This vast liver, which in its greatest extent for navigation, is
eleven hundred miles in length,-a traveller from its primal
source of more than three thousand one hundred and sixty miles,*
that is, more than two-thirds of the diameter of the globe,-nine
hundred yards in medial breadth, and draining a far larger tract
of country than any other river on our globe, is estimated at
one million square miles in surface, and, in one feature, resembles the Nile of the Old World, as it rises periodically, and then
suddenly inundates the whole vast magnificent valley through
which it flows. It further opens a maritime communication
with all the fertile countries through which it passes, and even,
as already intimated, with Lake Erie and the Hudson-reaching
Lake Erie by the Ohio, and the Hudson by canals.
" It has been the fashion of travellers," says Capt. Hamilton,
"to talk of the scenery of the Mississippi as wanting in grandeur and sublimity. Most certainly it has neither. But there
is no scenery on earth more striking. The dreary and pestilential solitudes, untrodden save by the foot of the Indian; the
absence of all living objects, save the huge alligators which
float past, apparently asleep on the drift-wood, and an occasional vulture, attracted by its impure prey on the surface of the
waters; the trees with a long and hideous drapery of pendent
moss floating on the wind, and the giant river rolling onward
the vast volume of its dark and turbid waters through the
wilderness, forming the features of the most dismal and impressive landscape on which the eye of man ever rested. Rocks and
mountains are fine things, undoubtedly, but they could add
nothing to the sublimity of the Mississippi.
"Pelion might be piled on Ossa, Alps on Andes, and still to
the perceptions and heart of the spectator, the Mississippi would
be alone. It could brook no rival, and it could find none."t
It seems scarcely proper to close this sketch of the principal
cities of the United States without a reference to Cincinnati the
"Queen City of the West," though now almost rivalled by
Chicago, in Illinois, and Milwaukee, in Wisconsin.  It is
situated on the banks of the Ohio, ascending that river from
the Mississippi.
The town of Cincinnati in the year 1800 contained a population of 700 inhabitants; in 1840 its population was 47,000; in


* By some geographers said to be 4,400 miles in length from its remotest source.
t Capt. Hamilton, p. 334.
P2




816


THE UNITED STATES.


1850 it was 1 6,000. It is built on the right bank of the Ohio
river, and is about a thousand miles from New York and Boston,
or, as distances should now be reckoned, sixty-seven hotrs. It
stands upon a double platform gently rising from the river, and is
again surrounded by a wall of lofty and picturesque hills that
appear immediately beyond its streets. Some of the streets run
up the sides of these hills, " and in them, I was informed," says
a traveller, "resides the 'upper crust' of the society in Cincinnati." The broad stream of the Ohio circles round the base of
the mountains and of the town, and two suburbs containing
about 20,000 inhabitants rise on the opposite bank,-the Slave
State of Kentucky.
Floating wharves are adapted to the rise and fall of the river,
so that merchandise can at all times be landed and embarked
without difficulty.  Steam boats line its quays and cover its
waters. About one hundred and fifty are owned by merchants
of the town. The imports of Cincinnati are worth 50,000,000
of dollars, and her exports 56,000,000 of dollars a year; and
upwards of two hundred steam engines are at work in flour
mills, saw mills, cotton factories, and type foundries.
Hog slaughtering and pork packing is the most important of
all the trades of Cincinnati. They have slaughtering and packing
houses which enable them to dispose of twenty thousand hogs
per day; but as the weather necessarily restricts the season to
about twelve weeks, and as there must be unpropitious days
even in these, they can seldom provide more than four hundred
thousand hogs a year.
But the " Queen City of the West" is not merely a commercial place; it is a seat of literature also. There are published
here eleven daily, twenty-five weekly newspapers, and six
monthly periodicals.  Book business, printing, and stereotyping, are done here with beauty and neatness.
Nor is religion forgotten by the inhabitants of Cincinnati.
Sixty churches are devoted to different modes of worship. Of
these, twelve are Catholic, two are Jewish, and four are Episcopal; the others are dedicated to the promulgation of what in
England are called the different modes of dissent. In nine
churches the services are performed in German.
"A busy, smoking, reeking place Cincinnati thus very necessarily appeared to us," continues the traveller from whom this
description is chiefly quoted. "During the first morning walk
the sun was very hot; and I found the air impregnated with an




CCINCINNATI.                 317
oppressive odour which I could not understand. We returned
to the Barnet House to dinner at two o'clock. About one
hundred people were seated in the dining room; the women
were, as a matter of course in America, very stylishly and
flauntingly dressed; many of the men sat down in brown
Holland frocks."*
0 The Wabash.




CHAPTER XXV.
CAUSES OF THE RAPID ADVANCEMENT AND PROSPERITY OF THE UNITED STATES.-Her previous oppression by the Mother Country. Qualities of government. Freedom of commerce,
of speech, and action. Religious as well as civil and political liberty. Exemption from old
habits and prejudices. Superior enterprise and energy of her people. Quality of emigrants.
Freedom of institutions.  Illustration in the establishment of San Francisco, Wisconsin,
Chicago, and Ohio. Influence of commerce. Facilities of locomotion. Stimulus supplied to
agricultural labour. Prevalence of small farms and number of small proprietors. Advantages
as contrasted with customs in England and her colonies. Superior domestic economy. General
self-reliance and independent spirit of the people. Great economy of the Government. Its
enterprising spirit and forethought in regard to its public works. Generous aid to public
patriotic undertakings. Prevalence of education in the Northern and Middle States. Liberal
character of the plan of school institutions, and of the instruction given. Its direct practical
tendency and palpable advantages.
It is no easy matter to penetrate the ultimate design of
Providence in this mighty donative of territory and power to
the American people. But it is open to us to enquire into the
causes of their greatness as a nation, and of their rapid strides
in material and religious wealth, and happiness, and prosperity,
under a form       of Government so         different from     those of the
ancient continent. And we shall find that no inconsiderable
degree of her importance and progress may be traced to her
Government.         Its  nature    and   some    of its   advantages have
already   been    described.      It is only necessary       to   exhibit its
beneficial working and peculiar adaptations as promotive of the
progress of society.
The constitution of American society being founded not on
alleged   duty, as in      England,-whence          feudalism    attained   its
strength,-but on natural right; the principle that now exercises
a growingly perceptible influence in the destiny of nations, was
the soil in which American institutions were rooted, and out of
which they have so vigorously grown.
Civil liberty was not regarded as freedom from restraint.
Men, it was considered, might be wisely and benevolently
controlled, and yet be free. The spirit of subordination, indeed,
so far from being inconsistent with liberty, is inseparable from




QUALITIES OF GOVERNMENT.


319


it. It is essential to liberty that men should be subject to the
restraints of law. And where this restraint is limited to a wise
regard to the best interests of the State, there men are free.
True liberty results from the most perfect subjection of every
soul to the empire of law, and therefore is not that liberty
which is sought by illumnines and atheists.
Republicanism in America, contrariwise to that which resulted
from the revolutions of France, learned the art of constructing
a self-maintaining power combining effective rule and universal
sanction. Nor is it, like the Republicanism of the French,
founded upon a specious philosophy,-upon the propagation of
false theories of the rights of man, and visionary definitions of
natural liberty; but upon enlightened knowledge, such as is
now spreading over all classes of society.
The great founders of the Constitution framed their plans
and pursued their measures in the belief that there was a
superintending Providence; they recognised and acted upon
the conviction, repudiated by the French, that a gracious, wise,
and all-powerful God, had to do with the dispensation of
human affairs. The superstructure of their commonwealth was
based on firm faith in a divine revelation.
The relation of the people to the federal constitution of the
United States also is very different to the systems of equality
established at the revolution in France. The former provided for
elementary diversities, and recognised local rights on a par with
those of the general community; whereas in France there was
no such distinction, and everything alike was placed at the disposal of the Central Government,
All Government offices in America are filled by the people at
the nomination of the head of the State, who is himself chosen
of the nation, and thus the gradations of a centralised beaurocracy overspread the country, with an Executive at its head,
and the people a level mass of twenty or thirty millions at its
feet, without any nobles or local magnates to influence public
opinion. In a word,-and this was the rock on which they
split,-the French Republic recognised the principle, that the
people existed for the Government; the American, that the
Government exists for the people.'
Thus the tiny sucker of the good old English oak has grown
into a vigorous and wide-spreading tree, rivalling the parent


* Dublin University Magazine, January, 1854.




320


THE UNITED STATES.


stock; while successions of abortive germs of the Gallic plant of
liberty have perished in the heat from which they sprung. The
American Republic is the only real Republic that ever existed
in the world; the others were only impracticable democracies.
The Americans alone, of all the great Republics that have
ever existed,-Greece, Phoenicia, Carthage, and Etruria, as well
as Rome,-have succeeded in solving the great problem of permanent justice: first, to defend all parts of each community
from all other parts of it; and, secondly, to defend the whole
community against violence from without. In the Republics of
ancient Greece in particular, each State was internally sovereign;
in a majority of which the cardinal idea established itself, that
public law was the only legitimate ruler in the State, and that,
accordingly, all magistrates elected to their office were servants
of the law from which they derived their sacredness.  The
deliberate and formal consent of the community enacted laws,
whether fundamental or of secondary importance; but the mode
of collecting and determining this consent varied in different
States.*
/ It is the democratic element in the American system which
elevates the character and promotes the aspirations of the mul-.
titude,-which gives freedom to the subject and stability to the
State,-which makes the masses endure adversity with a higher
courage than other people, and at the same time animates
them in times of prosperity with a vigour nowhere else to be
excelled.t,,
Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," says, "That the principle of a Republic is virtue," which he defined politically to be,
"respect for the laws, and a love of our country." In this
sense virtue is found nowhere so strong as in the United States,
-it is the essence of the Republic.
Her prosperity is thus in part owing to her freedom,-to the
recognition of the principle that every citizen has a right to
his person and property, and to its control and management,to the power of each individual to act as he deems best. for his
own advantage, unshackled by any laws but those that administer to the general benefit.


* Eclectic Review.
t The frightful tales related by travellers of Lynch law and summary justice
inflicted by excited mobs, are occurrences peculiar to territories bordering on
civilisation.




FREEDOM.


321


A nation swayed by the stern spirit of despotism exhibits in
its character and condition all the effects of its miserable
thraldom; while a country blessed with that degree of freedom
which is adapted to the social state, and ruled by equal and just
laws, which no sovereign will except that of the people, can
either abrogate or suspend, displays at once its prosperity and
elevation,-its virtue and happiness,-the benign influence of
its civil constitution.
The system of government adopted by the American Republic
began to work with a beneficial energy and harmony from its
commencement. Every man soon felt his independence, and
venerated the spirit by which it was secured. Every man soon
felt that everything dear to him was connected with the continuance of liberty.
At the same time, such is the leniency of their laws, that they
have not only given new, and permanent, and inestimable
advantages to civilization, and promoted the moral and social
welfare of the people, but they have invested power with its
best security, by placing it on the imperishable foundation of
enlightened justice, by vanquishing and wresting from legislative barbarism the weapons of extermination, and laying
them down at the feet of rejoicing humanity.
With other privileges enjoyed, there was an utter absence of
all restrictions imposed on the accumulations of industry and
wealth,-of all enactments that tended to keep down the industrious habits of the people. They no longer suffered embarrass 
ment from antique usages. They were no longer content to
breathe the atmosphere of the past, and remain surrounded by
influences that ought to have been before discarded for something newer. For under the government of the mother country
there was no new development, most of the conditions and
usages belonged to the traditions of the medioeval era.
Life and vigour were now diffused through every department of the Government, and every artery and fibre of the
Republic. The air of freedom so braced the moral constitution
in every department of scciety, that it rejoiced in the high and
strong pulsations of robust health. All began to work for the community, but each in his own path, and according to the dictates
of his own individual will. There were errors and evils in the
incipient workings of this form of government; and instances
of riotous proceedings have occurred when the will of the mass
has been opposed; but the agents of these outbreaks have
3




322


THE UNITED STATES.


invariably found themselves the greatest sufferers,-have been
to a considerable degree convinced of their error, and been
deterred from their repetition,-they were the errors of inexperience and ignorance, and led directly to their own cure,-they
were the natural accompaniments of a change from restraint to
indulgence, and were sure to pass away like a summer storm,they were not the symptoms of any permanent distemper of the
body of the nation, but merely the seasoning fever of men new
to the climate of liberty.
Composed of so many heterogeneous elements, it can hardly
be a matter of surprise if the social relations existing among
some of the newly formed communities of the present day are
such as render difficult the unity of governmental action, and
even to render it liable to be occasionally stimulated to violent
and destructive results; but it is one of the advantages of
democracy, that when an evil becomes evident to popular
opinion, it tends to bring its own cure. The Government of
the United States carries within itself the seeds of recuperation,
requiring no forcible revolution. The ballot-box is all that is
necessary to effect its improvement in accordance with the progress of the times.
It has been the policy of America to relax, not restrain,-to
throw aside the enactments that exist solely upon the supposed
merit of their antique virtues, and to leave men to act according
to the necessities of the conjuncture. In proportion as this has
been done, she has continued to increase in population, in
riches, and in piety-the sole elements of her national and
spiritual power.* National improvement has always been identified with the growth of civil and religious liberty. There are no
artificial fetters thrown on industry in any way or in any shapenothing to impede the action of wealth and enterprise. A well
employed and a well paid population is the great source of
wealth. No laws of men are made to counteract the greater
laws of universal beneficence, restraining the blessings which
flow from unrestricted freedom from the apprehension of evils
that are never likely to arise.
Here there are no absurd laws to tie up the hands of industry,
as by the Poor Laws' Commission Bill of England, or the Law
of Settlement, which, irrespective of the encouragement it
actually gives to idleness, confines the range of labour within a
* Eclectic Review..




CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.


823


certain circle. Here a labourer or an artisan of any kind knows
that if under any circumstances he cannot find employment
where he was born, or where he first plants his foot as an
emigrant, he can seek it elsewhere, without the danger of being
subject to that degradation of personal misery which accompanies temporary poverty in Europe.
As in England, constitutional liberty and free speech have
been some of the chief sources of America's gigantic progress,
and her no less wondrous strength. These are the cause of her
superiority to despotic nations of greater antiquity,-it is the
light which dispersed ignorance, and under whose warm fostering
care knowledge flourished and spread,-it arrested superstitious
virulence,-it has been the fountain of that light through which
it seems ordained mankind should be evangelised.
America, by being greatly free from prejudices and habits of
the past that have no foundation in reason, accumulates the
elements of her power without hindrance, and grows unceasingly, her territorial superfices being so extensive. Where there
is intolerant, overbearing rule, there is small progress in knowledge; but where freedom reigns in opposition to despotism,
there is an increase of true religion, and riches increase along
with it with amazing rapidity.
A despotism of whatever kind destroys itself,-it paralyses all
advantages of nature,-of popular capability and of individual
energy. The genius of prosperity goes not with arbitrary will,
-it is republican,-it must be free to breathe,-it is a " chartered
libertine." Whatever cramps mental development is inimical to
it-as is every faith that resigns its owner's soul into the keeping
of a fallen fellow-creature. Hence, too, no country exclusively
Catholic in the present age of the world cuts a figure in
Protestant States, in which religion is made an affair between
man and his Maker, and not between man and man.*
It is by the existence of freedom and free institutions, more
than by natural advantages of country, that industry and
a bold spirit of adventure are stimulated, that civilization is
extended to distant lands, and man reclaimed from barbarism
A splendid proof of the savoir faire in self-government is
given at this moment in the States organization of California.
During a few years the wildest adventurers from all nations of
the earth rushed thither in the delirium of the gold fever. But


* Eclectic Review.




824


THE UNITED STATES.


the best of the people have banded together, organized and
maintained the observance of law and order; and California is
rapidly advancing to a population of 200,000 souls, and has
now asked its place as a fully competent State in the circle of
the great free States of the Union. Even the Chinese, who
hastened to California by thousands, settle themselves down to
live in peaceful community under the powerful hand of the
Anglo-American.* It was for this liberty, more than for all
else, that the blood of the people was poured out like water at
Concord, at Bunkers' Hill, at Bennington, at Sarratoga, at
Redbank, at York Town, and New Orleans.
The prosperity of America is greatly attributable to the
enterprise and energy of her sons. To hurl mountains out of
the way in the construction of railroads, to bore through them
to form tunnels, to throw mountains into the water as a foundation for roads in places where it is necessary for them to overpass the water,-all this the Americans regard as nothing. They
have literally a "faith to remove mountains,"-they hesitate at
nothing, -they regard nothing as impossible.   It does not
appear that they ever ask the question, Is such a thing easy or
difficult of accomplishment? but, Can it be done?-meaning
that if it is possible to be effected by human effort and ingenuity,
it shall be accomplished. They seem to act as though, difficulties were made to be surmounted; while, like all other men of
energy and entreprise, they find that both body and mind are
improved by the toil that fatigues them. This characteristic is
well expressed in the following lines of one of their own
poets:"'Though before you mountains rise,
Go ahead,
Scale them! certainly you can:
Let them bravely dare the skies;
What are mountains to a man!
Go ahead.
"Though fierce waters round you dash,
Go ahead.
Let no hardships baffle you;
Though the heavens war and flash,
Still undaunted firm and true,
Go ahead."
We have already referred to the enterprise displayed in the construction of railroads and canals to connect the remote Western


* Homes of the New World.




ENERGY AND ENTERPRISE.


325


States, the great lakes, and the extensive valley of the interior,
with the ports and cities of the Atlantic sea-board, as the main
immediate cause of the vast development of the production and
commerce of the American Republic which has recently taken
place; and it may not be irrelevant to add in this connection,
that those States in general which first took steps to facilitate
locomotion and intercourse by railroads, canals, and other
means, have made the greatest progress in importance and
prosperity.
Not the least of the causes of America's success as a
nation are the facilities created by extended locomotion.
Railroads, as a mode of international and inland communication, have wonderfully told upon American progress. So fully
aware were the Romans of the advantages derived from facilities
of conveyance and inter-communication, that they gave great
attention to road making.  They everywhere employed their
legions when free from the more pressing work of war, in constructing those highways of which so many monuments exist
even to the present day. And such is the creed and practice of
the Anglo-Americans.
In further relation to the industry and energy of the American
people,it may be stated as one of the causes of her rapid advancement in the scale of nations, that one man in the United
States does more work in a single day than ten in many
countries of the ancient continent.  The Americans having
improved their machinery by thousands of patents, and having
adapted them to almost every purpose of husbandry, can, therefore, though labour is dear, by the employment of a smaller
number of hands, successfully compete with the agriculturalists of Europe and her colonies.   Hence their ability to
undersell the cultivators of the English West Indian colonies
in almost all the cereal productions. At the same time their
policy has been, especially at the earliest period of their history
as a commonwealth, to encourage emigration from Europe; not
of the dregs of the population as has so frequently been the
custom in our colonies,-men who were of no service but to die
and fatten the soil,-but of such as would infuse a spirit of
intelligence and activity into the social mass, and that energy
and knowledge that bore directly on the social and commercial
advancement of their adopted country.  Many of them were
men of capital, intent on its augmentation for the advancement
of their families.




326


THE UNITED STATES.


The freedom of American institutions is admirably adapted
to new settlements; and the extraordinary energy which this
freedom produces, is seen in the present day in many districts
of the Far West, but especially in the rise of San Francisco, in
California, a city where commerce and agriculture are amazingly
expanding,-where there are already many miles of streets,
many churches, thoroughfares, railways, and electric telegraphs,
with a population of upwards of 60,000.  From this city of
yesterday, steamers run to Oregon on the north, and Valparaiso on the south, and are about to ply to the Sandwich
Islands and to China.
The site of this city a few years since was a wilderness; its
free institutions have thus led to the most marvellous results.
Among the evidences of extraordinary progress in the Western
States, it will only be necessary to refer to Wisconsin, situated
between Lakes Superior and Michigan, and the Mississippi
River. It was admitted into the Union in 1838. In the year
1854-fifteen years afterwards —the number of inhabitants had
increased to 50,000, and now, in 1856, to 305,000.
Life and property, notwithstanding the motley character of
the population, have been wonderfully preserved and protected.
Unlike the British colonies, the most distant states and territories of America are contented and prosperous, because, as
expressed by Sir William Molesworth, "they are not confined
by the swaddling bands of infants."
In the very childhood of the Republic, every man enjoyed the
power and the right of carrying his labour, skill, and industry
to the best market he could find.  Restriction was regarded
as wholly inconsistent with that fair competition which is essential to commercial freedom and prosperity.
Commerce tends to wear off those prejudices which maintain
distinction and animosity between nations.  It softens and
polishes the manners of men. It unites them by one of the
strongest of all ties, —the desire of supplying their mutual
wants.  It disposes them to peaee, by establishing in every
State an order of citizens bound by their interests to be the
guardians of public tranquillity. As soon as the commercial
spirit acquires vigour, and begins to obtain an ascendant in any
society, we discover a new genius in its policy, its legislation,
its wars, and its negociations. In this view, very considerable
influence for good in the United States, is attributable to her
commerce.




COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE.


327


The intercourse with America being so extensive on the part
of England, has been highly beneficial in softening the differences produced on character by their forms of government by
the memory of past wrongs, by difference of climate, and by
strongly contrasting habits.  The merchant is a true cosmopolite, and the estimation in which he holds a people with
whom he deals, is in general a more truthful commentary on
their tastes, their probity, and their intelligence, than the most
brilliant and laboured exposition of the historian.
Mankind may be knitted together for a time in various
countries by sympathies excited by accidental circumstances;
but there can be no common political bond of union between
nations, but one founded upon a feeling of common interest.
It is the just remark of a wise man,-" Make foreign nations
dependent upon you for some of their comforts and their conveniences,-encourage them in the prosecution of their industry
by becoming their customers, —give to them the products of
your own in an exchange advantageous to both parties, and
you will raise up mutual feelings of affection and sympathy
which will go further than anything else to prevent that, which
in my mind has been, and is, the greatest curse that has ever
afflicted mankind-WAR."
The spirit of commercial enterprise which the first settlers
took with them to America, has been a moving power of the
political machinery, a fountain of national strength, and a vital
element of the social system.  It is the spirit of commerce
taking advantage of the energy and enterprise awakened that
has pushed on the population into the wilderness, opening new
channels of trade, creating fresh markets in all directions, and
calling new cities into existence as if by enchantment, along
the line of its march.
While the superior spirit of enterprise manifested by our
transatlantic brethren is not without its influence in securing
the stupendous results we have described, the legislature, at the
same time, considers itself the incorporated patron of the public
good, and lend its corporate credit to the promotion of every
object for the benefit of the nation.
Railroads, canals, steam navigation companies, are all powerfully aided by Congress, and the government thus confers lasting
benefits upon the country. There is truth in the observation of
an eminent New Englander,-" Men may talk about the burden
of taxes to build railroads and other facilities of conveyance, but


I




828  A


THE UNITED STATES.


the tax the people pay to be without them is an hundred fold
more oppressive."
In America there is a proper estimation of the respectability
and dignity of labour, and of field labour in particular. Parents
and heads of families seem generally here to act in accordance
with the custom which is said to obtain in many patrician families in Germany, in that especially of the Imperial House of
Hapsburg and Lorraine, of having all their sons instructed in
some trade or handicraft, so that should everything else fail, the
common labour market of the world would be open to them.
They consider that a gentleman is not less a gentleman because
he is conversant with law, with medicine, with trade, or with
agriculture. They seem to consider that a man without the
personal power of producing some portion of what he is compelled by nature to consume, must be a frequent slave to his
fears, if not sometimes to his necessities.
All regard labour, especially agricultural labour, as one of
the great elements of society, the great substantial interest on
which the nation stands. Labour; intelligent, manly, independent, thinking and acting for itself, earning its own wages,
accumulating those wages into capital, educating childhood,
maintaining worship, claiming the right of the elective franchise,
and helping to uphold the great fabric of the State! About
two-thirds of the American people are agriculturalists.
Agricultural labour especially is considered the most honourable of employments, and no means have been spared, both by
public journalists, by monthly and other periodicals, and by
the preceptors of youth, as well as by public lecturers, to impress this upon the minds of the juvenile population. Agriculture is considered the parent and nurse of the nation,-the
source of all that is most valuable; the leading men of the
country, therefore, from the earliest times, considered it of the
first importance to their commonwealth, as that which was absolutely necessary not only to its prosperity, but to its existence.
Hence it has ever had a precedence in the American mind over
useless arts and offices, and employments which contribute
nothing to the material wealth of the nation. As among the
ancients-the Assyrians, the Persians, Egyptians, and the
Romans,-it has ever been patronized by the Governors of the
respective States, as well as by Washington and others of the
leaders of the American Republic who practised it themselves, and
wrote the warmest recommendations of it to the people. Among




AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE.


329


other evidences of the actual interest of the Government itself
in the promotion of agriculture, may be mentioned the efforts
that are made and the money that is expended by Congress in
the collection and distribution of foreign seeds, grains, fruits,
and plants. By the express sanction of Congress, under the
supervision of the Patent Office, at Washington, a circular
is sent every year by the Secretary of State, instructing the
two hundred and fifty diplomatic, consular, and commercial
agents abroad, to make collections of the most valuable seeds
and grains grown in the countries where they reside. These
selections are, for the most part, made with great care, and
abundant quantities pour in during the autumn and winter seasons from every part of the world.  They are scrupulously
assorted at the Patent Office by practical, scientific agriculturalists, and divided into as many portions as there are members of
the Houses of Congress..Each member receives several thousand parcels, all carefully labelled, with directions for planting
and sowing; and through the members these seeds are distributed among all the leading agriculturalists, horticulturalists,
and cultivators of the soil in every portion of the Republic.
A full report, in a neatly bound volume, with illustrations and
explanations, is published every year; and this report has an
equally extensive distribution, generally from fifty to one hundred thousand copies. In these objects the Government of the
United States expends about half a million of dollars per annum.
A striking illustration of this fact is found in the circumstance,
that when the great discovery was made a short time since of
the immense deposit of mineral phosphate of lime in the
northern portion of the State of New York, a joint committee
of both houses of the legislature of this State made a report on
the subject, and disseminated the information over the entire
Union.   Thus, in connection with other collateral circumstances, all the population, except in the Southern States, are
productive labourers, while at the same time there is no waste of
labour. How different to the state of things existing in the tropical
colonies of Great Britain,-in Jamaica; and the same may be
said of the other West India Islands!  Where agricultural
labour has been performed by slaves, the cultivation of the soil
has been regarded only as the business of slaves, while it
attaches a disgrace to the most ordinary functions of toil; and
thus there is a degradation of labour generally, by which both the
white and coloured population, as well as a considerable portion




330


THE UNITED STATES.


of what are called the working classes, are excluded from almost
every department of productive industry. One of the minor
evils of slavery is, that it destroys all personal independence.
Probably one half of the population in Jamaica is unproductive;
hence poverty, with all its attendant circumstances-apathy,
idleness, and dependance. This debased spirit of servitude, the
natural offspring of slavery, exists almost universally where
slavery has existed. And hence, also, as in the Southern States
of America, has there been visible so little of the sterling spirit
of improvement, so little of material prosperity.
In the States there is an almost total absence of middle men
and absenteeism-a system, wherever existing, that would turn
a fruitful land into barrenness, and operate as a heavy, blighting
curse on its inhabitants.
In Jamaica, as in others of the British colonies, there is an
almost exclusive employment of agents, by which vast expenditure is involved, consequent improvidence in management, and
great indifference to improvement in saving labour. Almost all
the people of the States, especially those in the North-eastern
and Western parts, possess property in the soil-a circumstance
which, while it tends to render them peaceable and loyal subjects, also insures industry and appliances to improve its productiveness to the utmost,-insures on the part of each proprietor
personal, practical devotion to the management of his property,
which none but a lessee or owner feels. In Jamaica, and other
West India colonies, with some exceptions, everything is the
reverse.
There are no encumbered estates or farms in the United
States as in Jamaica,-a system    which sits as an incubus
upon industry and enterprise,-and consequently all buy in the
cheapest, and sell in the dearest market, thus escaping the
many heavy commissions to which obligation to the foreign
commission compels them to submit.
Proprietors have not, in the United States, to purchase credit
which mortgages have destroyed, and which, with other machinery or agencies that absenteeism involves, consumes all the
profits of the owner. Probably two-thirds of the estates and
properties in Jamaica are mortgaged, and subject to the legitimate
results of such a necessity or policy.
There is not in America, as in England, and her West India
colonies especially, a general ambition to accumulate real estate
in the hands of large proprietors, and to exterminate from the




SELF-RELIANCE.


331


soil all men of small capital. Nor are they infected with the
impression, that real estate is valuable in an inverse ratio to the
number of proprietors. As previously observed, almost every
man in New England, and in most of the Middle and Western
States, lives on his own grounds, and the lands, almost universally, are held in fee simple, and descend to his children in equal
shares, as the larger properties after the war of independence
were broken up into small portions.       But in Jamaica, the
magnitude of estates, and the absence of a small proprietary,
though it is now becoming more general, produces, among other
evils, an antagonism   between property and labour.     At the
same time it may be said that in America no vexatious
obstacles exist to the sale and partition of lands, and to the
culture of such produce as is in immediate demand. Every
man's labour is converted into capital by a home market for
the surplus of the land he cultivates himself; while there
are also such great facilities of conveyance,-bridges, roads,
canals, &c.,-that the transport of produce to market is rendered easy and comparatively inexpensive. Nor do the occupiers of land in America, small or great, confine themselves to
the cultivation of a few staples-they produce and manufacture
everything.
There is also greater domestic economy practised in America
than in England and Jamaica. Mr. Bigelow truly says, "People
in Jamaica, with less incomes than five hundred dollars a year,
will keep more servants than would be expected in the United
States from an annual income of ten thousand dollars, while
there is also an equal style of living."*
But one of the most important elements of the national
prosperity of the United States is the general self-reliance of
the people-reliance on their own industry and resources.t
From the first, the settlers of New England trusted for their
success to God and to their own right hands.    The woods soon
* Bigelow on Jamaica.
t Louis Philippe pointing to a picture in the Palais Royale, in which he
was represented giving lectures in geography for bread, said, ' That picture I
value more highly than all the splendid works in my gallery, for I have pride in
reflecting that I have struggled as a man with poverty, and it seems to say to me,
Louis Pbilippe, remember that there is no station in society dishonourable to
man, except that in which he prefers dependance to honest labour."
Napoleon I. also is reported to have said, " That no possible thing was impossible to well directed efforts, continued perseverance, and confidence in what was
attempted."




832


THE UNITED STATES.


rang with the cheerful sound of the axe, and the snowy desert
was soon changed into a fair scene of life and vegetation.
Everywhere to the present day there is manifested an utter
aversion to dependance,-an inherent hatred of pauperism, that
would endure any sacrifice rather than seek relief by courses
reputed disgraceful,-a dignified self-respect,-an acknowledgment of personal and relative responsibility.  Self-reliance,
indeed, has become an almost universal constituent of the
American character. This noble spirit was taught them as an
important lesson by the circumstances involved in the War of
Independence.
To a considerable degree it may be said that the first emigrants carried out this spirit of self-reliance with them. The
fostering hand of the parent Government had never been extended to them. Voluntary exiles from the land of their birth,
the objects of persecution, they had nothing to expect from the
king. On their very first landing they began to clear the interminable forest; they resisted the encroachments of the French,
-built up their villages,-extended their settlements,-erected
their fortifications,-established their religious institutions,-and
maintained the Government, not only without the aid of England,
but under many discouragements, and in the face of opposition.
The annals of colonization may be searched in vain for an
effort so distinguished for courage, industry, perseverance, frugality, and intelligence.*
The wants produced by this state of things, created by the
conflict with the Mother Country, stimulated the faculties, and
became the fertile source of arts and inventions, insuring general
national improvement. It placed a whole people in a situation
most favourable to the development of their individual energies,
awakened talent, aroused emulation, and stimulated every social
principle into a combination of activity that could not rest while
any obstacle remained to retard the progress of civilisation and
happiness.  It aroused every intelligence to acts of private
judgment,-changed a dependent, recipient people into a reflecting, enquiring people,-lifted each human being out of the cast
of the middle ages to endow him with individuality, and summoned him to stand forth as a man. "The world heaved with
the fervent conflict of opinion; the people and their guides
recognised the dignity of labour; the oppressed peasantry took


* Rule and Misrule, &c., by Haliburton.




SELF-RELIANCE.


333


up arms for physical liberty; then men began to reverence and
exercise the freedom of the soul."*
One of the immediate results of the war was a retrenchment
in the use of foreign articles, the encouragement of their own
manufactures, and the consequent reduction of importations
from England.
" Set a stout heart to a steep brae," says the Scottish proverb;
and over many a sore pinch, moral and physical, has the truth
that therein lies triumphantly borne our northern fellow-subjects
during their toilsome wayfaring from the barbarism and misery of
the first half of the eighteenth century, to the civilisation and
prosperity that at the present day distinguishes Scotland among
the nations.
Stout hearts did it all. So may it be said of America's
greatness: moral courage, perseverance, industry, and selfreliance, with God's blessing, did it all. They set their shoulders to the wheel, and did not whiningly call upon Hercules for
help. They found that the true source of success and happiness
lay in cheerful exertion, and a firm determination to adapt
themselves to their condition.
As in the United States a prudent, industrious man is sure
to obtain the reward of his industry, the very fact that he knows
that he has no poor rates to rely upon,-no parish to fly to for
support in sickness and old age, no resource but that supplied
by his own prudence and economy,-urges him to exercise these
very virtues. Hence the numerous friendly societies voluntarily
established by the working classes as provision for seasons of
sickness and infirmity.
"The whole tendency of institutional arrangements in
America," testifies Mr. Chambers, also, "is to create feelings
of self-reliance."
A contrary tendency still prevails to a large extent in Great
Britain, where, from causes it is unnecessary to recapitulate,
the humbler classes require to be ministered to, and to be
thought for, as if they were children. In America there is no
enervating patronage; the people do not require to be patronised;
you could scarcely insult them more than to propose it; they
feel and act upon the conviction, that their fortune and their
name, under Providence, are in their own hands. At the same
time it may be observed that there is a great tendency in


* Bancroft's History.




334


THE UNITED STATES.


America to despise what is termed luck, as well as patronage.
Nobody asks for it. A fair field and no favour is the national
wish. Go into any country town, and you will find, perhaps, a
few disappointed, discontented idlers, shrivelling into nothingness; but you will find the great majority engaged in a healthy,
active struggle with difficulties, and determined to overcome
them. As in no part of the world has the principle of selfreliance been so severely tested as in America, so nowhere have
there been exhibited such satisfactory results from its operation.
The people have owed their growth, their energy, chiefly to that
striving of the will which we call effort. A state of dependance
does not make robust minds,-does not give men a consciousness
of their own powers,-does not train them to endurance, to perseverance, to steady force of will,-that force without which all
other acquisitions avail nothing. The state of self-dependance
to which the American colonists were suddenly reduced was the
school in which they acquired energy of purpose and character,
-a vastly more important endowment than all the learning
they had acquired in their former schools.  Adversity they
found to be a hard master,-physical sufferings and want, the
power of fearful elements, and the vicissitudes of all human
things; while they found that these were stern teachers, they
also found that they did a work which their most compassionate,
indulgent friends could not have done for them, and true
wisdom blessed Providence for their sharp ministry.*
The peace, union, and prosperity of the country are greatly
promoted and have a guarantee for their maintenance by the
fact of the general possession of property by the masses,-in
the fact that almost every man has a freehold in fee simple, —a
stake in and a new motive of affection to his native or adopted
land, and thus, being a territorial proprietor, he naturally partakes of the common impulse to maintain the securities of
property. Law and order are as important to him who holds
land for the subsistence of his family, or who earns wages that
he may have land of his own to bequeath to his posterity, as to
any member of the Congress or the Senate; while he has as
deep an interest in the protection of property in general. In
relation to the poorer classes, the produce of their own grounds
is sufficient for the luxuries of life added to their subsistence;
and the high wages they receive are a sufficient inducement to


* Chanuing.




ECONOMY OF GOVERNMENT.


335


them or their families, or some part of them, to labour on the
farms of larger proprietors. Thus every farmer is surrounded
by a contented and happy peasantry. In a certain sense, however, no man in this country is contented with his present condition. Every body is struggling for something better. But
this is a kind of discontent which excites a man to rise in the
world by honest exertions. The meanest swineherd strives and
expects to be a territorial proprietor. The poorest mechanic
aims to become a master. At Lowell, some of the young women
hold stock in the mills in which they labour.*
The great economy of the Government throughout every
department, as has been already noticed, has doubtless been
one element of prosperity.  As the happiness or misery of
human life does not principally consist in great and sudden
vicissitudes of property or misfortune, but in the perpetual
recurrence of minor comforts or disquietudes, so it is remarkable
what important benefits are derived and conferred by the steady
and judicious application of small means and of slight resources
to the attainment of any particular end. The people of America
understood well that the theoretical constitution of Congress is
of importance only just so far as it bears upon the practical
issue of rendering their representation in the legislature the
jealous and effective guardians of the public purse. Economy
is their watchword. Whether the federal or democratic party
enjoy and dispense the patronage of the Republic is not so
much the question. They feel that the stability of the Republic,
the security of property, the national credit, and the very
existence of the poor, are ultimately involved in their system of
taxation and finance-in the all important subject of public
expenditure.
But one of the most remarkable features of America, and to
which she owes, perhaps, more of her material prosperity than
may be generally supposcd, is the sound judgment and foresight
displayed by her leading men, not only in the creation of
facilities of locomotion, and the use of the advantages afforded
by nature for the transmission of produce to market, and for the
migration of their home population, but also in the designs of
their national and other public works. In this respect they
manifested from the first of their independence a spirit of
patriotic enterprise never excelled. They laid out money on


I Chambers.




336


THE UNITED STATES.


public works,-in dockyards, and public establishments in
general,-from which they had but a distant prospect of seeing
a return; and this is seen also in their durability and
extent.
The great object of American enterprise has been, to connect
the great lakes and fertile valleys of the Middle and Western
States with the cities and States along the Atlantic sea-board,
to improve the navigation of the great rivers, and thus bring
into cultivation the valuable tracts of country along their
banks, and, as a part of this great work, to connect with each
other, by railways and canals, the towns and villages in the
more densely peopled and cultivated districts which lie along
the entire eastern frontier of the territory, from the State of
Maine to the Gulf of Florida, and now onwards through
the extent of their newly-acquired territory to the Pacific
Ocean.
All this the Government were enabled to accomplish through
the well-directed energies and hardihood of her citizens, whose
guiding rule of action has ever been to look and struggle
forward, while older nations have been content to loiter upon
the beaten track of mediocrity, and hesitate and count the cost
of every -step of progress beyond the prescribed limits.
American statesmen saw and predicted the future, and looked
mainly to the facilities of locomotion-railways, canals, and
navigation-for the encouragement of the commercial and
agricultural industry of the population; taking also a growing
interest in the advancement of those sciences that bear especially
upon agriculture, upon the means of subsistence, and the raw
materials of manufacture.
Many of the early settlers of New England and the Middle
States were men of letters. They carried with them a love of
learning to the wilderness. They considered education essential
to their progress and prosperity as a nation,-they considered it,
indeed, a paramount necessity of their condition, indispensable
to enable every free man to exercise the duties of citizenship
with credit to himself, and without danger to his neighbour,that it tended to insure their safety, the security of their property, and as necessary to the promotion of morality and religion. They therefore founded schools and colleges as a primary
duty.
Hardly had the ground been cleared in the neighbourhood of
Boston when the general court founded a college or University,




EDUCATION.


337


which they afterwards called Harvard.:           In this respect they
showed a far greater knowledge of the world, and of the proper
course of education, than the inhabitants of the present British
colonies.    They    first established   literary  institutions   of  a
superior order, and then educated downwards to the common
schools, as auxiliary seminaries, which were thus supplied with
competent teachers; while duly qualified professional men and
~ "The establishment of a college was not among the later, but among the
earliest thoughts of our ancestors.  They waited not for days of affluence, of
peace, or even of domestic concord. The first necessities of civilized man, food,
raiment, and shelter, had scarcely been provided; civil government and the worship of God had alone been instituted, when the great interests of education
engaged their attention. Their zeal was not repressed by the narrowness of their
territorial limits, not yet extending thirty miles on the sea-coast, nor twenty into
the interior; nor yet by the terror of a savage enemy, threatening the very existence of the settlement; nor by the claims on their scanty resources, which an
impending Indian war created; nor by the smallness of their numbers, certainly
not then exceeding five thousand families; nor yet by the most unhappy and
most ominous to their tranquility of all, the religious disputes in which they were
ever implicated. It was under a combination of disastrous and oppressive circumstances, any one of which would have deterred men of less moral courage and
intellectual vigour, from engaging in any such general design,-on the eve of a war
with the fiercest and most powerful of all the native tribes,-the Autinomian
controversy at its highest and most bitter excitement,-an unexplored wilderness
extending over their fragile dwellings its fear inspiring shades;-in the daytime,
the serpent gliding across their domestic hearths, or rattling its terrors in their
path: in the night their slumbers broken by the bowl of the wild beasts, by the
yell or warwhboop of the savage;-it was amidst a complex variety of dangers,
which at this day, the imagination can neither exaggerate nor conceive, that this
poor, this distressed, this discordant band of Pilgrims set about erecting a seminary of learning, and appropriated for its establishment, a sum ' equal to a year's
rate of the whole colony!' For a like spirit under like circumstances, history
will be searched in vain. The early records of the college indicate the universality of the will, at the same time that the nature of the gifts exhibit, in a
strong light, the simplicity, and the necessities of the period. ' When we read,'
says Pierce, the learned and laborious historian of the University, ' of a number
of sheep bequeathed by one man; of a quantity of cotton cloth, worth nine
shillings, presented by another; of a pewter flagon, worth ten huiiings, by a third;
of a fruit-dish; a sugar-spoon; a silver-tipt jug; one great, and one small
trencher-salt, by others; and of presents or legacies, amounting severally to
five shillings, one pound, two pounds, &c., all faithfully recorded with the names
of the donors, we are at first tempted to smile; but a little reflection will soon
change this disposition into a feeling of respect, and even of admiration.' How
just is the remark of this historian! How forcible, and full of noble example, is
the picture exhibited by these records!  The poor emigrant, struggling for
subsistence, almost houseless, in a manner defenceless, is seen selecting from the
few remnants of his former prosperity, plucked by him out of the flames of persecution, and rescued from the perils of the Atlantic, the valued pride of his table,
or the precious delight of his domestic hearth;-' his heart stirred and his spirit
willing,' to give according to his means, towards establishing for learning a restingplace, and for science a fixed habitation, on the borders of the wilderness!
Q




' T. -. 


338                  THE UNITED STATES.
legislators were simultaneously provided for the State.* Schools
soon multiplied, and colleges were established in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and New Jersey.     The fame of Harvard, Yale,
and Princeton, reached the mother country before the revolution, and these colleges found many benefactors in the British
Isles. In them many of the leaders of the revolution, and many
of the statesmen who framed the constitution, were educated,
and the fine moral principle and inflexible rectitude most of them
displayed in their public and private life supply no inconsiderable
evidence of their benefits. They have also furnished preachers
for the pulpit, professors for the chairs of the higher religious
seminaries, legislators for the halls of the national Congress,
and savans, historians, and teachers for literature and the arts.
"New England to the present day," says an earnest advocate
of these institutions, "stands throughout on these colleges as
its pillars. They are not ornaments merely, and foliated capitals
to its civilization; they are its sole and indispensable support,
as necessary to it as the. shaft of the obelisk to the statue on its
summit."
In all the products of New England mind around the world
at this hour is expressed the influence of the inspiration of her
colleges-they have given to the land its power, and to the
iation its celebrity.  They have given life to the common
schools,-have supplied them, directly or indirectly, with their
teachers and patrons, and have prepared for them their books.
They have fulfilled the same offices for academies and other
higher seminaries; and these would have been long since
extinguished if the colleges that supplied them with vital nutriment had ceased to exist,
The children of the early settlers, instructed in the rudiments
of literary and scientific knowledge, were gradually stimulated
to seek for themselves more extensive acquisitions.    And as
it is the property of knowledge, like light, to diffuse itself from
the centre to the circumference, it soon pervaded the masses,
and its beneficial influence was soon universally felt and recogThe inhabitants of the country contributing from their acres or their flocks, those
of the metropolis from their shops and stores, the clergyman from his library, and
the mechanic from his tools of trade. No rank, no order of men, is unrepresented, in this great crusade against ignorance and infidelity. None fails to
appear at this glorious clan-gathering in favour of learning and religion."-Quincy's
History of Harvard College.
* Rule and Misrule, &c.




HIGH ESTEEM FOR EDUCATION.


e  339


nised as one of the most important and essential elements of
the commonwealth, the greatest bulwark of the Government,
and, next to religion itself, the only security and hope of their
mighty empire.
While in their Constitution they recognise the principle that
their Government depends for its existence upon the will of the
people, they also maintain that the character of the Government
depends upon the character of the people, and that, therefore,
to preserve the Government pure and uncorrupted, they must
spread the means of intellectual, moral, and religious education;
a work which they did, and continue to do, by encouraging all
institutions whose object is the melioration of society and the
advancement of the human race. They knew that equality of
rank, political rights, and the infusion of the elective principle
into every institution, were insufficient of themselves to preserve
vitality for any length of time, and that general education
was the only sure basis on which their Government could be
founded.  Recognising the voice of the people as the only
true source of power, their first, their constant aim, was to
make the people understand and value their privileges, and
render themselves worthy of the high vocation to which they
were called. They knew that ignorance was the bane of society,
the greatest foe against which a nation has to contend. They
knew that unless they pursued a system of popular education
the political equality of which they boasted would be only an
insubstantial dream, a pleasing illusion. Knowledge is the true
equaliser, the true democratic element; and it equalises by
elevating, not by debasing its possessor.
Men of influence in the United States, like the ancient
Spartans, look upon the education of the youth of their country
as the most important of all national objects; and probably as
to the means they employ for its extension they may in some
instances be chargeable with impolicy.
Nor are their sentiments in regard to the importance and
benefits of popular instruction erroneous. "The character and
virtue of a people," says Bishop Bathurst, " is ever in proportion to the facility of their instruction, and it is this single
cause that has raised them from savages into men, from slaves
into citizens, and from all the grossness of sensual existence to
the dignified enjoyment of cultivated beings."
An uneducated and unemployed poor not only must be liable
to fall easily by a variety of temptations, but they will, at times,
Q2




340


THE UNITED STATES.


certainly prove restless, dissatisfied, perverse, and seditious.
Even the most useful and valuable qualities, for want of regular
and good habits, and a proper bias and discretion communicated
by early religious instruction, frequently become dangerous and
hurtful to society; patience degenerates into sullenness, perverseness into obstinacy, and strength and courage into brutal
ferocity.
"To neglect the education of our children," says the celebrated Saurin, "is to let loose madmen against the State,
instead of furnishing it with good subjects." And again, "The
most likely and hopeful reformation of the world," says Archbishop Tillotson, "must begin with children. Wholesome laws
and good sermons are but slow and late ways; the timely and
most compendious way is a good education."
In a word, men of learning and taste in the United States
patronise and cherish education because it is the only instrument which can bring into full action the boundless stores
of genius and of intellectual endowment which Providence has
scattered so profusely and impartially among every rank of
men. And christian philanthropists strive to advance it, because
it not only presents the means most effectual to ameliorate the
condition of mankind, to soften their manners, to refine their
pleasures, to multiply their comforts, and to exterminate their
most baneful and degrading vices, but also, next to the glorious
gospel of the blessed God, to qualify them  for the eternal
happiness of the future world.
Much importance also is attached to the quality of the education imparted. The Americans seem to have a more correct
apprehension than is generally found in-England of the real
meaning of the word education,-that it consists not'so much in
the communication of knowledge to the mind, as in drawing
out its own resources, and in the actual development of its-own -
powers. As already said, education there, is eminently practical,
moral, and religious. More generally, therefore, than in England, the child is encouraged to employ his observing faculties
and to examine the- things which he observes, to view the bearings of scientific discoveries on great natural phenomena, and
to advance from the consideration of nature to the contemplation of the Almighty Creator; thus developing the religious and
spiritual life in proportion to physical improvement.
As the natural sciences are now of such universal application
to the daily wants of life, a popular knowledge of these is con



PECULIAR VIEWS ON EDUCATION.


341


sidered indispensable. American youth are taught in particular
the-elements of botany, the leading principles of -geology,
chemistry as applicable to agriculture, mental arithmetic, mechanical drawing, the theory of the steam-engine and of electric
telegraphs, and the most useful foreign languages. Jurisprudence
also, as one of the most natural and efficient expedients for
educating men into good citizehs, is considered an essential
branch-a central subject of education, because law is regarded
as a system of practical ethics by which men are to conform
themselves in all their social life.
William Penn, in his legislation for Pennsylvania, with the
conviction that education had a direct bearing on the moral and
social state of the masses, enjoined that all parents and
guardians should instruct the children under their care not only
to read the Scriptures and to write when twelve years of age, but
that a copy of the laws should be used as a school book. Dr.
Warren urges that jurisprudence should be introduced into tlie
schools of England, not only for the effect on the scholar himself,
and for the moral training and intellectual discipline involved in
the study, but also for the reflex influence which such general
cultivation would exert upon the laws themselves. He justly
says, "There is no more certain way of improving the law, and
of finally purging it of all extraneous matter, than by lifting
upon it the light of an intelligent public opinion." These were
great facts which did not escape the far-seeing eye of the first
settlers in Massachusetts in particular.
"The New Englanders," says Mr. Fennimore Cooper, the
celebrated American novelist, "are the best educated and most
estimable portion of the American people. Here, also, it is,
that religion, order, and frugality, and even liberty, have taken
deepest root,-the results, doubtless, of their early moral and
religious training."
The same testimony is bore by another authority. "Education in the New England States, which contain a population of
little more than two millions, has been more widely extended
than in any others, and the results, as is universally allowed, are,
that the people of these States are distinguished above all other
Americans for industry, intelligence, morality, and religion."
The founders of the Republic-Franklin in particularfrom a singular and far-sighted appreciation of the advantages of knowledge in general, contemplating the benefits that
would result from the growth of mind, and the formation of the




3412


THE UNITED STATES.


character, in regulating the conduct of life,-established social
institutions in Philadelphia and elsewhere, to bring into connection men of different classes and pursuits, to promote the
free interchange of opinion for the correction of prejudice and
as a stimulus to the pursuit of literature,-fully aware of its
benefits in preventing a contracted and exclusive nationality,
narrowness of thought, and that exaggerated estimate of individual acquirements, which ignorance or a devotion to one exclusive object is apt to engender in those who possess but
little knowledge of books and of the world.
The benefits of education were so manifest as it progressed
among the masses in diminishing intemperance, pauperism, and
crime, and in promoting industry, intelligence, enterprise, morality, and religion, apart from its influence in increasing the
strength and wealth of the nation, that its universal diffusion
is at present one of the most popular subjects of the day. It is
widely believed that even now, but for schools and other institutions more or less connected with them, humanly speaking, the
country would soon be degraded to the same level with Mexico,
and the other republics of the southern continent. Hence, at
no former period of her history, did America employ so many
educational instrumentalities, besides public libraries and
mechanics' institutes, at all approaching in numbers and efficiency those pow in operation; whilst the sincerity and earnestness of this desire for social improvement is sufficiently attested
by the degree in which the States generally tax themselves for
its promotion.
The light of knowledge is abrohd,-has dispersed already
much of the mists and vapours of the night,-has chased away
much of the darkness which concealed deformities, and of the
indistinctness that gave greatness to self-seeking and meanness,
-while the effects of the diffusion of good principles and of
the harmonising influences of extended education and improved
literature daily become more visible, also, in the growing strength
and energy of the champions of truth-sure sources of peace
and happiness to bless the land for generations to come.
Everything in relation to religion and morals, as well as to
agriculture and commerce, is in a state of progression, —the
whole movement of the social system tends upwards, and this
growth of cultivation and improvement embraces all classes;
and every branch of activity extends to the most remote points,
and includes the most humble individuals.




EQUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE.


343


Education engrafts the desire of knowledge on the youthful
mind, and directs its acquisition. The labour of the student
successively applied in one direction, opens other avenues to
him still more profitable, and leads to the development of every
resource of human talent and ingenuity. Thus, whilst the accumulation of wealth tends to enfeeble the orders that possess it
in excess, the cultivation of science facilitates even in a more
rapid and extensive degree the exaltation of the industrious
portion of the people by giving them the knowledge which is
pover.
Not more, however, are the state and prospects of America
dependent upon the extent and character of her educational
institutions than upon other important circumstances connected
with them. They have no chartered and exclusive fountains of
learning in this country surrounded by restrictions inconsistent
with the wants and rights of the people, such as have prevailed
for ages at Oxford and Cambridge, and at similar institutions
in other countries of Europe. All old, withered forms were set
aside at the revolution for visible and tangible realities. All such
institutions have here a national character. Nothing in them is
intolerant, aristocratic, or sectarian. There is no such thing as
bartering conscience and principle for the sake of obtaining their
advantages. They are not degraded by being made subservient
to one portion of the people only;-they make no invidious and
injurious distinctions. Disentangled from the grasp of interested partisans, the genius of literature in the New World
vindicates her right to receive all who solicit her favours, of
whatever condition or creed.




CHAPTER XXVI.


PECULIARITY OP ORIGINAL EUROPEAN INHABITANTS.-Their character and previous crcumstances. General influence they exerted. Inauspicious and painful occurrences of their
first settlement. Their industry and skill. Habits of life. Their stern, unaffected piety.
Salutary influence in domestic and social life, in the local politics of the districts they inhabited, and subsequently in the councils of the nation.  General diffusion of Protesiant
Christianity over the land. The firm belief of the Pilgrim Fathers in the beneficent purposes
of the Almighty in their expatriation. The evident approval of God of their plans and efforts.
His continued blessing on the plans and enterprises of their successors. Influence of the belief
in the purpose and providence of God both in the discovery and settlement of the New World,
Prevalent conviction of the final evangelization of America, and that the vast influence it is
destined to exercise in the conversion of the world is the subject of ancient prediction.
The peculiarity of the origin of the European inhabitants of
the United States, and the decided religious influence that
they exerted on the character of the Republic, must ever be
reckoned among the chief causes of her moral and national
greatness.     No one can      calculate what has been the influence
of religion, as diffused by the first settlers in Massachusetts, in
raising America to all that she is in character, in happiness,
and in power. Every family was a centre both of civilisation
and of religion.       It is not valour in war, not policy in government, not genius in invention, not extent of dominion, not
rich mines of gold and silver, nor magazines, nor armies, nor
forts, nor councils, nor fleets, but "RIGHTEOUSNESS                 that exalteth a nation,"-that constitutes its honour, its safety, its renown.     While liberty is the security for order,-education and
religion are the supports and safeguards of liberty.
America was first settled to an extent sufficient to give a cast
to its character and institutions by that extraordinary race of
men-the English Puritans, to whom reference has been already
made. They were separatists from the Established Church;
some exiled      to  Leyden, and      called "Brownists," and         others
" Nonconformists," from England., The former landed at Plymouth, in December, 1620; the latter, in 1629, at Massachusetts
Bay, now Boston, about twenty-six miles distant, along the coast
to the south, in the reign of James the First. Brown returned




CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.


345


to the Established Church, and was succeeded as a leader of the
"Brownists " by Robinson. These had originally been driven
by persecution from England into Holland, but were urged
by various circumstances to remove to America, and at length
sailed from Delft Haven in the Mayflower. They were some
of the very best of England's sons. They were men who, while
they felt that there was no true domestic happiness where Christianity was not the law of the family, and no security against
perfidy and the breach of the social compact where the restraining influence of the Gospel was not acknowledged; felt, also,
that there was no political freedom worthy of the name where
the law of the land was not commensurate with the law of Christ.
They were men whose stern, uncompromising principles of freedom even David Hume, who cannot be suspected of bias in
their favour, confessed, secured the liberties of Great Britain
several centuries ago; —men of rigid conscientiousness, who
* " No one at this stage of our history denies that it was from the religious
spirit of the people that our liberties grew. Even David Hume, while he derides
the principles of the Puritans, admits that it was their unbending spirit that
achieved the triumph. Even he, astonished by the temper which broke forth
simultaneously from all parts of the country, is forced to acknowledge that it
brought with it to the contest some principles of singular energy. Even be, when
he sees it refusing to compromise the rights of conscience to Elizabeth,-sustaining without dismay the augmented authority of James,-braving without alarm
the thunders of Charles's prerogative, -and never swerving or faltering in
the course which it bad adopted,-even he is compelled to admit that there was
a virtue in this, whose sources he could not appreciate, but whose strength he
could not but admire. It was the spirit of religion which led our Fathers into
that great conflict, and sustained them in it; and it was this that nerved the arm
and supported the resolution of the great men who toiled through these anxious
days."-J. C. Colquhoun, M.P., Intro. Lee. delivered at Glasgow, in the Mechanics'
Institution.
Thus says Hume: "The precious spark of liberty had been kindled, and was
preserved by the Puritans alone, and it was to this sect that the English owed the
whole freedom of their constitution."  ' The evils which they chacked were great
and numerous, and the blnssings they secured for mankind of inexpressible value.
But the religious liberty for which they contended was still more important; and
the enduring firmness and holy heroism with which they resisted the attempted
encroachments of power upon the rights of conscience deserves to be commemo.
rated in the most grateful expressions of a richly-benefitted posterity. Religion
was the substance of their noble tree of liberty, bending with the fruits of domestic
comfort, public and private wealth, law, order, and devotion."
" The odious and iniquitous persecutions of the Puritans," says another author,
"resulted in a great benefit to the human race, and gave the first strong impulse
to that spirit of resistance which ultimately overthrew opposition. It caused also
the colonization of New England to be effected by a class of men far superior in
industry, energy, principle, and character, to those who usually left their English
homes to seek their fortunes in a new country."
Q 3




316


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spurned at all compromise of truth, all sacrifice to expediency,who believed in the Invisible Jehovah, and rested in that belief;
-men in whom the love of God and the love of the rights of
men were united into one firm, indomitable principle of action.
To summarise the constituents of their character, they may be
said to have been distinguished by tender benevolence, by
patience, the most blameless virtue, the most spiritual piety, the
strongest faith, the most entire devotedness. Religion was their
ruling principle, and liberty they valued next; and while these
great principles swelled their hearts with holy heroism, they
maintained the conflict against despotism under their old
Puritan banner, with its motto, "Ense petit placidam sub
libertate quietam."
The English Puritans were the men who saved to England,
not only her Constitution, but her Protestant ieligion,-who,
having excited in their own country the spirit which led to what
Englishmen are accustomed to call the "Glorious Revolution,"
sought a wider and more congenial home on this side the
waters. "Their names unknown till persecution dragged them
into fame."
Imprisoned, maimed, oppressed at home, they looked beyond
the Atlantic for a better world,-a world where it would not be
a civil offence to have a conscience. Their energetic passion was
nurtured by trust in the Divine protection; their power of will
was directed by their vigorous and holy creed; and under the
banner of the Gospel, withl that fervent and enduring love, and
that stem simplicity which distinguished the myriads who in
Europe adopted the creed of Calvin,-the heartfelt, unearthly
religion of the Bible,-they sacrificed their country and their
kindred, braving the dangers of the ocean and the wilderness.
They sailed far away from the tyranny which trampled upon
popular rights,-which aimed to govern by the Star Chamber
without Parliaments;-far away from the tortures, fines, and
dungeons,-the whole train of evils and disabilities that were
imposed by Elizabeth and the infatuated dynasty of the Stuarts;
-far away from Popery and Prelacy,-from the traditions of
the church,-from hereditary power,-from the sovereignty of
an earthly king,-from  all dominion but that of the Bible,
conscience, reason, and the principles of equity.
The ideas which had borne the New England emigrants to
this transatlantic world were thus polemic and republican in
their origin and their tendency. They asked for the freedom of




CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.                     347
the press, for vivd voce discussion, for the freedom of the pulpit,
for the free maintenance and diffusion of their principles;and these they at once adopted and maintained in their voluntary
exile as their natural right. And now have the centuries matured
the contest for mankind.*
They were not impelled to their expatriation to the New
World, as the Spaniard, by sordid ambition, by the lust of gain
or gold, nor for the sole sake of trade, commerce, or profitable
speculation. Their chief design was. to establish a community
which in a new country might perpetuate their religious, social,
civil, and political views; at the same time they sought a sanctuary where such a community might dwell in security and
peace.
The difficulties and discouragements which this pious and
devoted band-men who had been derided by a cold-hearted,
bigotted, inane multitude as visionary enthusiastst-had to
See Bancroft's Revolution.
t The Puritans have been stigmatized, traduced, and misrepresented by Butler
in his " Hudibras," by Halliburton in his " Rule and Misrule of the English," &c.,
by Hildreth in his " History of America," by the  Edinburgh Review," and by
others who were unequal to an accurate delineation of the finer and more ethereal
elements of their character. "n They have been held up to derision as unamiable,
contumacious, narrow-minded hypocrites, who veiled under their profession much
singularity and selfishness. Some such there were found among them doubtless;
but these were not the exponents of the religion of the great majority. All, too,
doubtless, had their infirmities as men, and such as arose from their circumstances
and the times in which they lived. But let justice be done to that more divine
life which has been in every age the prolific source of union and of human charity.
They had errors, which we should avoid; their faults were human, their virtues we may almost call divine. Among other errors, as recorded in the sketch
of Rhode Island, the Puritans, basing their theories of civil government too exclusively on Scripture, fell into the error of confounding sins against the Almighty
with crimes against society; and. animated with the best possible intentions, they
established laws essentially tryannical, and endeavoured to exclude from all civil
rights those who were only obnoxious to ecclesiastical censure or discipline: thus,
de facto, creating a Church and State establislhment of te  - own."
"' The first settlers of Massachusetts were strict Calvinists. There they planted
their churches, and founded their university, and laid their foundations, with the
hope of perpetuating these principles through all time. As they were pilgrims
and exiles for religious considerations, religion was with them the first and great
interest, and they founded a christian commonwealth, in which none could enjoy
the right of suffrage who were not communicants of the church. This was a mistake from which many sad consequences resulted. It led many to seek admission
to the church, in order to secure civil privileges, who were not converted; and it
arrayed against the church all who were not willing to purchase political position
by living in the sin of hypocrisy. They could not enjoy the privileges of freemen
save by turning hypocrites. The above law was repealed soon after the accession
of Charles II., but not until it had caused the seeds of discontent to be very
widely sown."-Eclectic Reriew.




348


THE UNITED STATES.


encounter in their first settlement were calculated to appal the
stoutest heart. They had to endure long days of most laborious
toil, followed by weary and solitary nights; sometimes famishing for lack of sustenance, or dying from thirst; struggling
against circumstances the most adverse and disheartening; in
constant danger from savage beasts and savage men.
Amidst all these, and numberless other difficulties and dangers,
had the Pilgrim Fathers to rely only upon the self-sustaining
power of their own minds. What exquisite mental anguish and
severe bodily sufferings must not these poor wayfarers have
experienced! What lassitude of spirit and unsatisfied longings!
Nothing could have enabled them to bear up against such
sufferings and dreariness of heart but the most powerful motives
for action. Such motives they possessed.
They were not afraid of poverty, but they disdained to be
slaves. Their desire was to worship God in the way of his
appointment, and to promote his glory in the salvation and
happiness,of their fellowmen: they thus persevered, trusting in
God.
The Pilgrim Fathers carried with them to the land of their
expatriation not only a love of civil liberty, but European arts
and sciences, and manufactures, with an inherent taste fordomestic cleanliness, economy, and industry; qualities which,
through this channel, have been so largely diffused through the
United States. "Many of them," said an historian of that day,
"were the ablest designers and manufacturers, the purest and
most industrious of citizens; with that mercantile energy which,
if it had not been impeded, would have made the then imbecile
navy of the country that drove them forth, powerful on every
sea.
They were men who, by the avowal of their enemies, " combined the qualities of the citizen, that is, respect for the law,
application to their work, attachment to their duties, and the
frugality of the poorer classes, with those of the christian, viz.,
a strong love of their religion, a manifest desire to conform
their conduct to their conscience, a constant fear of the.judgments of God."
The Pilgrim Fathers were men of whose enlightened benevolence America may well be proud, and whose virtuous and
religious example can never be lost,- they were men over
whose graves Liberty weeps amidst the unwithering garlands
which Christianity has strewn on their repose.




INFLUENCE OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS.


349


Without their heroic valour the Union would not have been
formed or successfully defended; nor would liberty have
triumphed.*      They fought for this at Louisburgh, at Quebec,
and on every battle-field of the revolution from Lexington to
York Town, and for this they have since borne the starry
banner over every sea. They not only planted the Puritan
Colony on Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island, and on the
shores of the St. Lawrence beside Niagara, but as far as the
St. Marie, among the wild Indians, by Lake Superior.              And
at James' River and other localities in Georgia and Virginia,
the noble and generous Oglethorpe, as well as Huguenots
* Some good men and others in England seem to deprecate the interference of christian men and ministers of the gospel with the politics of
a country. It was not so with the Pilgrim Fathers. Viewing the great
questions of legislative and executive government as affecting the spiritual
as well as temporal interests of man, and inferring that the government and situation of nations must he nearly related to the moral government of God and the
spread of His gospel, they felt it their duty to take an especial interest in political
affairs. They were, indeed, the founders of the present republican government,
and acted upon their rights as citizens from the very first of their settlement.
They did not, therefore, as some good men do at the present day, consider
there was any impropriety in their implicating themselves with the government of the country. On the contrary, knowing from bitter experience the deep
injury that might be inflicted on religion by a corrupt and tyrannical government,
and recognising the temporal happiness of mankind as an object of religious regard, they considered their duty with respect to it imperative. One of the main
causes of all the advantages, temporal and spiritual, that have been enumerated
as secured to the Government of the United States, was the influence which religious men exerted in the councils of their country. In the Mayflower they
formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and shaped the model which has given
form to their free institutions as proclaimed in the first general Congress after the
achievment of their independence. That at Rhode Island was framed by Roger
Williams and his friends.-Eclectic Review, vol. i., p. 102.
And this duty is recognised by Christian ministers as well as laymen at the
present day; well knowing that they in common with their brethren have duties
to discharge to man as well as to God, and that the form of government is as
much as ever of consequence to religion, they feel bound; as relig.ioua men, to see
to it that their liberties and the fundamental principles of the constitution are not
impaired. Ministers, especially, employ this agency of usefulness, because their
talents qualify them for a discharge of the duty, and because of the influence of
their example. Nor do those of our brethren in the United States at the present
day consider they have more important duties to discharge towards their fellowmen than those which devolve upon them as members of society in the various
capacities to which they may, to a greater or less extent, influence the government
of the country. Jealous, lest influences might arise from the rapid influx of
foreigners that would wantonly jeopardise these firmest pillars of the constitution,
and of religious liberty is the cause of the organization at present existing
denominated "The Knownothings."     Their democratic form of government.
indeed, owed its origin to the Puritans, not to the Revolution and to the great
statesmen who framed the federal constitution. A Republican Government " de




350


THE UNITED STATES.


and Hernhutters, sought out for persecuted Protestants a
home of freedom       in these far-off lands of the New         World
where poverty would not be opprobrium, and where true piety
could worship God in its own way.             Under the same high
and holy principle the chivalric Champlin exclaimed, —"I regard the salvation of a soul as more than the conquest of a
kingdom."
Nor was the courage of the Pilgrim Fathers that merely of the
warrior, which is often the effervescence of the moment,-the
natural impulse of-a soul-stirring profession, urging him to ride
forth to combat with his mind strained to the utmost degree of
facto" was founded at Plymouth in 1620, it may be said, in the Mayflower, before their debarkation, which subsisted in full force and vigour for more than half
a century. The Puritans never acknowledged the authority of the Parent State.
In 1630, ten years after landing in the Mayflower, the little State of Massachusetts was a federative body in itself. The town meeting was a little republic
subordinate to the central one at Boston. Above all, and controlling all, was the
metropolitan or federal administration of Boston. The Republican Government,
therefore, resulted as an almost inevitable consequence of the settlement of the
Puritans in New England, and the institutions they founded there. —Halliburton's
" Rule and Misrule."
On a part of the rock on which the Pilgrim Fathers landed, and which is enclosed within an iron railing in'the Town Square of Plymouth, are inscribed the
names of the illustrious forty-one who subscribed the compact on board the Mayflower, at Cape Cod llarbour, November 11th. 1620. This celebrated contract,
which was, probably, the first written instrument of the kind in the world, was as
tollows:"In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the
loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God,
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., having
undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith, and
honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern
parts of Virginia, Do, by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence
of God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil
body politic for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the end
aforesaid; and by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such just and 
equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall
be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto
which we promise all due submission and obedience.
" In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod,
the 1 th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King
James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of, Scotland, the
fifty-fourth, anno domiui, 1620."
The following are some of the names of the Pilgrims who subscribed to the
conpact:William Bradford.           Myles Standish.          Carver.
Edward Winslow.             Isaac Allerton.     John Winslow.
William Brewster, Ruling    John Bradford.      Constant Southworth.
Elder.                    Thomas Prince.      Thomas Southworth.
Vide Harper's Magazine, Dec. 1853.




THE PILGRIM FATHERS-TIIEIR ENTHUSIASM.


351


excitement by the gorgeous spectacle of the pomp of battle,
the ringing of steel and the clangour of armed squadrons,
the flapping of banners and the glittering of arms, the martial
bearing of the combatants and the maddening strain of the
martial music,-no, theirs was the moral courage that disdained
all adventitious aids; that dared calmly to uphold the principles
which they honestly believed; that dared steadfastly to oppose
the triumphant march of religious despotism; the moral courage
which exhibited amenity and grace towards men with ster
fidelity to God; the true virtue which cares not for reputation,
for the authority of public opinion, or even the opinion of good
men, still less for the benefit of being known and distinguished;
-theirs was a virtue which discarded all these considerations
absolutely, and which retired from them all to the single
internal purpose of pleasing God; a virtue that manifested its
genuineness and strength by an unflinching, simple, permanent,
obedience to divine authority.
But they were branded as enthusiasts. Yes, they were
enthusiasts! But the enthusiasm that impelled them to action
was a noble, energetic quality, producing results worthy of itself.
As true soldiers of Christ; the whole energies of their souls
nerved to their work; made of sterner stuff and animated by a
purer spirit than the world had ever seen before; filled with an
invincible hatred of the persecuting laws of the Mother Country;
they bore with them the stern resolve to perish or be free. It
was a generous, hardworking enthusiasm, which expressed itself
in deeds, not words,-an enthusiasm which brooked no control
but God's; and they were not without their reward. They had
been instigated by religious motives, and these amply supported
them in their hardest adversity.
Who shall spurn at the principle which animated these moral
heroes, for such they were, in all their perils and adversitis?
Noihing less than that high christian enthusiasm could have
kept them from failing in their p ath. Enhusiasm  Rather Faith
in their own high destiny and in God! Their perseverance
never flagged; for they were sustained throughout by belief in
the truths they were asserting, and in the Master whom they
served.
Theirs was not the enthusiasm of an hour, the fickle emotion
created by passion or example, the evanescent feeling that dies
away without producing one lasting impression, but an enthusiasm that was permanent in its effects.  They were not the




852


THE UNITED STATES.


worshippers of romance, of popery, of royalty, but of the true
God, and they exhibited their faith in stern virtue and works of
charity.
It was this enthusiasm,-this confidence in their cause, in
themselves, and in the God they worshipped, that carried them
on, and compelled all obstacles to give way before them.
Their women also, actuated by the same high impulse, threw
off the timidity of their sex; and emulating, nay, even equalling
man's physical force, undertook and succeeded in enterprises
before whose very name they might well have quailed. It carried
them into scenes the most unfitted to their natural or acquired
refinement, and taught them to despise and brave both suffering
and death. It bore them on through neglect and obscurity,they required not the stimulus of public applause.
"Ambitious now but little to be praised
Of men alone; ambitious most to be
Approved of God, the Judge of all, and have
Their name recorded in the Book of Life."
Thus Howard, in his untiring exertions, cheered by his enthusiasm  alone, ameliorated the prisons of Europe,-thus
Brindley and Fulton worked amidst a jeering world,-thus the
Scotch Covenanters suffered for freedom of faith and liberty of
conscience,-so it was that the Pilgrim Fathers were stimulated,
and that the noblest works of America have been achieved, and
her prosperity and glory have been created.
Enthusiasm is commended in the poet, in the naturalist, in
the politician, and in the patriot, and why should it be censured
in the christian because of his devotion to the cause of philanthropy and religion?
It is not a matter of surprise that from a parentage strong as
that of the Pilgrim Fathers should be derived a race destined
to become a great people. Other colonies more to the Souththe Cavaliers of James Town and others, whose morals were
more lax, and whose purpose of life was of a lower range-had
either died out or maintained merely a feeble existence amid
warfare with the natives, sufferings from the climate, and incessant conflict with surrounding difficulties.* The Puritans of


* Particularly at Virginia on James River. It was first settled by a small
number of settlers in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, after whom it was called.
Subsequently under James I., &c.




THE PILGRIM FATHERS-THEIR INFLUENCE.


353


New England, on the contrary, with their lofty aims, their
steadfast faith, and pure manners, became conquerors of the
desert, and the law-givers of the New World.
"Nor do I know any nation," says Miss Bremer, "which
ever had a nobler foundation or nobler founders. The whole of
humanity had taken a step onward with the Pilgrim Fathers in
the New World. The work which they had to do concerned
the whole human race. To them belongs the honour of that
new creation; and from them, even to this day, proceed the
creative ideas in the social life of the New World; and whether
willingly or unwillingly, widely differing people and religious
sects have received the impression of their spirit. Domestic
manners and social intercourse form themselves by it; the life
of the church government, of all religious bodies, reveal the
influence of the Puritan standard: 'Live conformable to conscience; let thy whole behaviour bear witness to thy religious
profession.' "
Thus that form of government which was originated by the
little company of the Mayflower, or rather by Roger Williams,
has become the vital principle in all the United States of
America, and is the same which now, on the coast of the Pacific
Ocean, controls and directs with power the wild free spirits of
California, educating them to self-government and obedience
to law.
The old colonies have sent out to all parts of the Union
crowds of pilgrims,-sons, and daughters,-and they constitute
at this time more than one-third of the population of the
United States of North America. They were nevertheless most
numerous in the north-east, and there they have left the
strongest impression of their spirit.  Thus, while much mray
be said of the vast and prolific territory of America, of her
havens full of shipping, of the scope for her arts and manufacures, of the material from which her wealth arises,-whatever
may he said of these as promoting her national and moral
greatness, there is another element still more precious-the
character of her people.
"When I contemplate this Puritan community," says a
celebrated author, "as it exists in our time, about two centuries
after its first establishment, it seems to me there are two main
springs within its impulsive heart;-the one is a tendency
towards the ideal of moral life, and the other impels it to conquer the earth, i. e., the material power and products of life."




354


THE UNITED STATES.


"The men of the New World, and preeminently the men of
New England (humorously called Yankees), have a passion for
acquisition, and for this object think nothing of labour,-even
the hardest,-and nothing of trouble; nay, to travel over the
world to do a good stroke of business is a very little thing.
The Viking element in the Yankee's nature compels him incessantly to work, to undertake, to accomplish something which
tends either to his own improvement or that of others; for
when he has improved himself he thinks, if not before, of
employing his pound for the public good. He gets money, but
only to spend. He puts it by, but not for selfish purposes.
Public spirit is the animating principle of his life; and he
prefers to leave behind him the name of an esteemed and
beloved citizen rather than that of a large proprietor."
When General Jackson was President of the United States,
and General Cass Secretary of War, they visited a portion of
New England together. In riding over that highly cultivated
country, General Jackson was much pleased with the appearance
of the people, and expressed his gratification to his companion.
"What fine manly countenances these men carry!" exclaimed
the President. " How robust and vigorous they are, and what
a spirit of enterprise and perseverance they manifest! Why,
with an army of such men I would undertake to face the
world."
"Do you know the cause of these characteristics that you
prize so highly?" rejoined the veteran Secretary.
"What is it?" asked the chief.
"Do you see the steeple of that meeting-house yonder on
the hill?"
"Yes," replied the President.
"And that low school-house near it?"
' I see them both," said General Jackson.
"Well," answered General Cass, himself a native of the
Granite State, "there is where New-Englandmen are made.
The instruction they receive in the school-house and meetinghouse give them the preeminence over others which you have
so justly described."
Every one knows the reply of the boy in one of the mountain
towns of New England to the enquiry of a passing stranger,
"What do you raise here?" He replied, "Our land is rough
and poor; we can raise but little produce, so we build schoolhouses and churches, and raise men."




DIFFUSION OF PURITAN INFLUENCE.


355


Nor is it in the school-house and meeting-house alone that
New-Englandmen are made. Every true Puritan family is the
nursery of the future church; and every parent is to his children
what his pastor is to him. They are placed under his care to
be trained up in the way they should go, "to be brought up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord."  Hence every family
becomes a house of prayer, a nursery of piety, a vestibule to
the church, a preparatory department in which the infant mind
is trained for a place in Zion; and every parent is a highpriest
over his family, a shepherd, spiritual guide, teacher, and
protector of the infant immortals intrusted to him.
" The enterprise, and intelligence, and undying liberty," says
an eloquent American writer, "the religious spirit, I may say,
of the population of our Puritan colonies, have spread themselves over the whole continent. And what is worthy of special
remark, these only prosper in our country. You look in vain
over the whole expanse of our territory to find thrift and prosperity, temporal or spiritual, except under the auspices of
Puritan influence."
"Wherever the sons and daughters of the Pilgrims find their
way," says another, "there are established homes, schools, and
churches, shops and legislative assemblies, the free press, hotels
for strangers, and asylums for the unfortunate or the orphan.
There is the prison converted into a reformatory institution,
into a new school for the ignorant and depraved children of
earth; wherever they come they acknowledge the name and
doctrine of the Master who is the way, the truth, and the life."*
"Who found our colleges and seminaries," exclaims a third,
"publish our books, teach our youth, sustain our benevolent
enterprizes, and go to Pagan lands to make wretchedness smile
and ignorance speak wisdom? Whose skill and industry rolls
the railroad-car over the length and breadth of the land, and
whitens the ocean with canvass? who, if not the sons of the
Pilgrims, nerved with th e sprit of the Pilg   Tell me in
what proportion, in any section of our country, the people are
leavened with the leaven imparted in the "Mayflower," and I
will tell you in what proportion they are an enterprising, prosperous, moral, and religious people. Time shall expire before
the immeasurable influences of Puritanism on the destinies of
our country and the world shall cease to act."t
* Homes of the New World.
t Reid's Hand of God in History.




356


THE UNITED STATES.


Well might Sir Thomas Brown exclaim, "The world does
not know its greatest men; for thus far it has chiefly discerned
the violent brood of battle, the armed men springing up from
the dragon's teeth, sown by hate, and cared but little for the
truly good men, children of love,-those Cromwells, guiltless of
their country's blood, whose steps on earth have been noiseless
as an angel's wing."
"The great battles of the heart and of principles were fought in
secret, and those conquests have now been achieved in all parts
of the earth, -forming as it were a moral stratum, upon which
the intelligent universe looks with interest and admiration."*
If the youth of Greece and Rome derived peculiar benefit by
being led to contemplate the varied history of their country,the history of those whose vices blotted the fairer records of
their times, or of those whose virtues were the guiding stars of
their successors in the paths of philosophy and patriotism, let
the youth of America still cherish the names and imitate the
stern virtues of the Pilgrim Fathers! If the names of Lycurgus,
Solon, and Socrates were universally proclaimed and revered on
the heights of Parnassus and the groves of Academus, let not
Americans forget the founders of their liberty-the men who
first settled on Rhode Island and Plymouth Rock.
The influence' of religion, as well as of civil liberty, but more
than all else, in subordination to evangelical piety, that of their
peculiar church polity, thus introduced by the Pilgrim Fathers,
has gone hand in hand with civilization, science, and law. Its
great principle of order, submission, and law, has been the
stability of the American Republic —the main bulwark of their
commonwealth. Its presence among them has been a savingark, a refuge, and a rock of shelter. It has formed amongst them
that true brotherhood of which other nations have only dreamed.
And religion, in connection with trade and commerce, is the
pioneer of civilisation throughout the whole of the Western
World, and every new State in the infancy of its settlement.
Thus the strength of this Republic lies not chiefly in her
commerce, nor even in her intellectual culture, but in her
respect and reverence for religion, for Scriptural Christianity
as embodied in the lives and enjoined by the authority of
Christ and his apostles.  "It is the Spirit of the world's
Redeemer that makes America, as England, the world's con

* Sumner's Peace Oration.




-., 


PREDOMINANCE OF THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT.        357
queror. This is the true Promethean spark-the vital element
of her unexampled progress. Religion in America has proved
itself the true salt of the earth, the vital force of the community,
the main-spring, and the only one, of all social as well as
political prosperity.
Much has been said and written of the character of the
Anglo-Saxons,-of their wonderful enterprise, perseverance,
and success,-of their wise and comprehensive plans,-and of
their indomitable vigour in execution; while to a want of this
Saxon element has been attributed the contrast presented by
the Republics in Central and South America-the state of
debasement, the decrepitude, and constant ferment which they
have exhibited from their first settlement: their whole history,
ever since their independence, presenting only a series of revolutionary struggles,-revolutionary cabals raised by the partisans
of ambitious generals who protest against despotism in order
that they may themselves be the despots.   But the whole
history of the United States, like that of England, will bear
out the assertion that it is their religion,-their Protestant
religion and church polity,-and not their Anglo-Saxonism,
not any inherent and organic distinction or superiority of race
that has been the source of the peculiar prosperity of America;
that to the uniform influence of Protestant principles and the
peculiar form of church government; or, rather, chiefly to the
entire independence of the Church and State patronage and
control: to these is to be attributed all that is great in the past
and present of her history; and that the failure of the Republics
of their Southern neighbours arises from the want of this great
and solid Protestant basis.
If an accurate estimate is made of European nations also,
the comparative purity or profligacy of their morals, and their
comparative social prosperity, will be found to correspond with
the religious systems to which they have been attached.
Howard, in his peramb1-ulations of charity, long since noiced
this, and affirmed, that while he found some of the Protestant
Cantons of Switzerland without one criminal detained in confinement for trial, the Popish Cantons had many; and, at the
same time, the prisons of Naples were full of culprits. And
how instructive is the comparison between the morals of Scotland and Ireland!
Protestantism, while it frees the religious faculties, enlarges
and guides the intellect, and promotes physical improvement.




358


THE UNITED STATES.


Steam navigation and locomotion, and the happy appliances
of steam in aid of human industry, had not their origin in
countries in which Popery is dominant. That system exerts a
benumbing, paralysing influence wherever it maintains a preponderating influence.
TheProtestant religion, by bringing all the awful realities of
eternity to bear upon the interests of time, in every view promotes the wellbeing of the people; for a religion which, while
it is at war with ignorance, with selfishness, with injustice, and
the whole family of- vices which these engender, supplies a
renovating energy which answers every demand of social obligation, ever must go hand-in hand with the progress of knowledge, and infuse its mild spirit of heavenly charity into all the
forms which belong to the civil economy of nations. The verities of Protestant Christianity; in their simple and naked majesty, were made to bear on the minds of the American
people from their earliest existence.
These principles entered into the elements and rudiments of
their civilisation,-their civil superstructure was built entirely
upon them; and the solidity of the edifice shows that true
religion is the most efficient instrument of civilisation, as it
teaches both how to mend old nations and how to construct
new ones. For, as all the evils which afflict society emanate
from man's heart, the spirit of a true vital Christianity-the
only power that can enter the recesses of the mind, purify its
pollutions, soften its stony selfishness, and inspire divine truth
and goodness in the breasts of men,-can alone turn them
from outward vice, render them strong against temptation,
and send out in their lives the resistless forces of righteousness
and love.,
The qualities described are considered by some as attributable
in an especial degree to the requirements and incidents of a
forest-home in the New World, and the privations consequent
upon it. While it is admitted that these circumstances had
their influence in producing them, it is maintained that they
did so only to an inconsiderable extent. Nor did the success
of the early colonists arise mainly from their Anglo-Saxon
origin, the cause to which it has been altogether attributed.
These elements, it is repeated, have not been without their
influence; but they have been as nothing compared with the
character of the men themselves,-their frugality, temperance,
purity of morals, simplicity of manners, respect for the authori



INFLUENCE OF THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT.


359


ties of their little States, both civil and religious, and similar
virtues, the result of stern, heart-felt religion.
Without this, their victories, their prosperity, their prodigious
resources, all might have been only the means of promoting
pride, and luxury, and sin, and oppression, and wrong. It is
Christianity which can alone solve the problem of their history;
their triumphs.are inexplicable if you ignore their religion.
And but for this, their greatness would have been an awful
evil, at once spreading the sources of wealth, and fostering
the dreams of ambition. From the very quality of the elements
of which their population is composed, it may be justly said of
them, as of England,-" More corrupted else,
And therefore more obnoxious at this hour
Than Sodom in her day had power to be,
For whom God heard his Abraham plead in vain."
But having this, with God's blessing, they are justly "great,
glorious, and free," while it impresses upon their prosperity the
seal of future permanence and progress.
"The American Colonists," said one of their best statesmen in
an address at Bunker's-Hill,-" the American Colonists brought
with them from the Old World a full portion of the riches of
the past in science, in art, in morals, religion, and literature.
The Bible came with them; and it is not to be doubted, that to
the free and universal use of the Bible in that age, men were
much indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is
the book of faith and a book of doctrine; but it is also a book
which teaches man his individual responsibility,-his own
dignity and equality with his fellow-man."
They brought with them the Bible and habits of labour
from Europe, and it may be said with justice, that to this day,
these, in conjunction with education and the press, as collateral
agents, are the great powers in the cultivation of the New
World.
Very truly said the Count D'Artois to one of the gentlemen about him at the French Revolution, "If America should
escape the general wreck of nations, she will owe her preservation to her religion."
The unexampled prosperity of religion in America, and the
influence it has attained there beyond what it enjoys in
England, is principally owing, doubtless, as is also the agricultural and commercial prosperity of the States, to its freedom




0 360


THE UNITED STATES.


from  governmental control,-together with its fieedom  from
the trammels of ecclesiastical organizations.  When the State
lays unhallowed hands upon religion, it not only secularises
her character, but also curbs and restrains her operations and
influence.
There is in the United States exactly, and to the greatest
possible extent, what the Rev. Mr. Osborne in his tracts has
stated as such a desideratum in the Established Church of
England, and which is the result of unrestricted religious as
well as civil freedom.  "They have in America, emphatically,
schools and places of worship on a broad and comprehensive
system. They have places of elementary learning in relation
not only to secular but to spiritual learning; schools for
humanizing; preaching-houses, where the teaching flows from
the lips of earnest men, dealing out plain truths adapted to
reach the very lowest condition of the intellect; schools in
which the mere elements of learning are inculcated, the mere
elements of decency and order,-not aiming at high attainment,
but seeking to get the lowest of their kind step by step out of
the depth of mere animal ignorance; preaching-houses of the
plainest possible construction, such as the ragged and filthy can
enter without rebukes from the very walls, much less from the.crowded presence of beings they regard as altogether of another
class from themselves."*
In America any man on any day, at any hour of the day, in
any place, is at perfect liberty to instruct or to preach to any
number of people who might think proper to avail themselves
of his instructions or to listen to his addresses, without the
smallest interruption from public authorities.  They fear not
the jealous eye of vigilant power,-they feel no alarm at the
pillory or the Star Chamber; and the functionaries of justice
are rather their security than dread. Christianity being here
entirely free, and conscious of her beauty and strength, she
goes forth, not as in countries where she is cramped and circumscribed, 'bright as the sun, fair as the moon, and triumphant
as an army with banners."
Much of the history of nations may be traced through the
foundation and progress of their colonies. Each particular era
has shown in the settlements of the time types of the several
mother countries, examples of their systems, and the results of


* Tracts for the Times. By the Rev. Mr, Osborne.




THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT IN THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 361
their exigencies. At one time this type is of an adventurous,
in another of a religious character; now formed by political,
again by social influences.  From the depth and durability of
the impress an estimate may be formed of the strength of the
first motives, and of the genius of the people from whom the
emigration flows.
"The ancient colonies of Asia Minor displayed the characteristics of the mother country long after her state had become
utterly changed. The Roman settlements in Italy raised upon
the ruins of the subjugated nations a fabric of civilisation and
power that can never be forgotten. The proud and adventurous,
but ruthless spirit that distinguished the Spanish nation at the
time of their wonderful conquest of the New World, is still
exhibited in the haughty tyranny of Cuba, and the sanguinary
struggles of the South American Republic.   The French
Canadian of to-day retains most or many of the natural senti
ments of those who crossed the Atlantic to extend the power of
France and of her proudest king.   And still in the great
Anglo-Saxon nation of the west, through the strife of aristocratic ambition, and amidst the toils and successes of an
enormous commerce, we trace the foundations, overgrown,
perhaps, but all unshaken, of that stern edifice of civil and
religious liberty which the Pilgrim Fathers raised with their
untiring labours and cemented with their blood."*
Mighty is the influence which the religious spirit has exerted
over the population of this great Republic during the last century.
Hence the enquiry is made in the report of the American Board
of Foreign Missions, "How long will it be before we establish a
synod on the shores of the Pacific Ocean? Already are our
missionaries scattered over the whole of the United States east
of the Mississippi, with the exception of one little valley of the
north-east. They have crossed that river and are now beginning
zealously to occupy ilat immense country which extends westward- of it, from the Mexican Gnlf to the British colonies on
the north.  Nay, more still; they have wandered over the
whole continent, and in that New World of the west have begun
to found a kingdom for God.    What will our progress be
ultimately? The spires of the churches along the shores of
the Atlantic are illuminated with the light of the morning sun.
Advancing over the country it shines upon them the whole day;
Conquest of Canada, by Major Warburtou.
R




362


THE UNITED STATES.


and when it sets, its last rays shall rest upon these as they rise
upwards along the shores of the Pacific Ocean."*
We have seen that it was the avowed principle of the Pilgrim
Fathers that they came not to found a kingdom, but to extend
the cause of Christ, so that America might, from its birth, have
been called Immanuel's land, consecrated expressly to his
service and glory.
It has been well said, that "when God would enlarge the
theatre on which to display the riches of his grace, he caused a
spirit of bold adventure to move upon the face of the stagnant
waters of Europe, and found no. rest till it brought forth a New
World."t For by the very time of its discovery,-by the circumstances and. manner of its first settlement,-by the character
of its first colonists,-as well as by geographical position and
capabilities, America was added to the domain of the world
to make more room for the Church, and to originate a new
fountain, from which should go forth streams of salvation to
the ends of the earth.  These were purposes having so much
moral grandeur, that in comparison of them   all political and
commercial advantages are insignificant, and only incidental
and subsidiary.
In the government of the great Disposer of events nothing
is done without a reason, and that the wisest. The reduction
of so vast a portion of the earth's surface under one sceptre,
in addition to the considerations named, can scarcely fail to
be regarded by every diligent interpreter of Scripture to be
amongst the most obvious providential means of extending
Christianity.
This appears to have been its destiny in the belief and hope of
the Pilgrim Fathers; and not less so in the eternal and efficient
purposes of Jehovah. Hence the mind naturally enquires as to
the probable religious influence which America will exert on
the world in future years.
As the first efforts of civilisation were originally made on the
banks of the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Persian Gulf,
where the'ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and Susa attest the early
Report of American Board of Foreign Missions, 1850.
t Reed's Hand of God in History.
t Thus in one of their own records: "It concerneth New England always
to remember that they were originally a plantation religious, not a plantation of
trade; and if any man make- religion as twelve, and the world as thirteen, such
an one has not the spirit of true New Englandmen."




FUTURE DESTINY OF AMERICA.


363


sway of mighty empires, who can tell but that Columbia, in the
spirit of her own institutions, may one day send forth her
genius to kindle up the light of liberty in Asia, from whence
the world was originally peopled, and to break the rayless night
of despotism which now broods over that portion of the globe?
Who shall say that it may not be her privilege again to plant
the Cross where the crescent has so long prevailed, and thus to
reflect back the light of revelation upon that region?
May we not discover in the prophecies of Scripture some
obscure glances cast at America from the mount of vision, as if
a dim consciousness existed in the minds of the prophets of the
future relationship between that undiscovered land and Asia?
For David says, "If I take the wings of-the morning, and dwell
in the uttermost parts of the WEST."*  And Malachi, "From
the rising of the sun even to the GOING DOWN OF THE SAME,
my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place
incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering."t
Moreover, since the Hebrews gave the name of islands to all
countries beyond the sea, it is not improbable that. to these
islands of the west the words of Isaiah may refer, " Surely THE
ISLES shall wait for me."f  And again, "'I will gather all
nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
And I will set a sign among them, and will send those that
escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud,
that draw the bow; to Tubal, and Javan, to THE ISLES afar
off, that have not heard my fame, neither have they seen my
glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles."
The sublime conception here indicated of the coming era
of universal righteousness and peace, when the sins and
sufferings that now afflict and alienate mankind, and the fierce
passions that now urge them to injustice, violence, and war, will
be known only in the histories of other times, is a subject which
no Christian can contemplate but with feelings of deep and
glowing interest. Already the horizon brightens with a light
fuller than the dawn,-already has the harbinger of a glorious
day appeared,-and although dark clouds may occasionally
obscure his brightness, the Sun of Righteousness will still hold
on his way until the whole earth be filled with his glory, and


* Psalm cxxxix. 9. " Of the west," so in the original.
t Mal. i. 11.
t Isaiah Ix. 9; lxvi. 19.
2




364.       THE UNITED STATES.
every heart with his love. " The zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this."
" Eternal Spirit I universal. God!
Power inaccessible to human thought,
Save by degrees and steps which thou hast deign'd
To furnishAccomplish thou their number; and conclude
Time's weary course! Or if, by thy decree,
The consummation that will come by stealth
Be yet far distant, let thy word prevail;
Oh, let thy word prevail, to take away
The sting of human nature. Spread the law
As it is written'in thy holy book
Throughout all lands: let every nation hear
The high behest, and every heart obey;
Both for the love of purity, and hope
Which it affords, to such as do thy will
And persevere in good, that they shall rise
To have a nearer view of Thee in heaven.,
Father of good! this prayer in bounty grant,
In mercy grant it to thy wretched sons.
Then, nor till then, shall-persecution cease,
And cruel wars expire. The way is mark'd,
The guide appointed, and the ransom paid."*
' Wordsworth.




CHAPTER XXVII.
CONCLUSION.
SEC. I. PROGRESS AND NATIONAL GREATNESS OP THB UNITED STATES UNPRECEDENTED
AND WONBBRPOL.-An exhibition of the mighty effects of industry and perseverance. Her
great and glorious future. Present danger to future prospects from the continuance of slavery.
Slavery an evident incubus on her progress. Great injustice as well as impolicy of the system.
Advancement of the United States, though vast, still infantile. Calculations of amount of
population at different prospective periods. Probable dense population of the whole valley of
the Mississippi, and North-West States, to the Rocky Mountains. Her vast magnitude and
power, when densely peopled throughout her whole extent to the Pacific Ocean. This result
not Utopian. Past and present progress confirmatory of its probable result. Prediction of 
'anti-republican politicians and others of the certain dissolution of the Union, from the fate
of the Ancient Republics and France. Great dissimilarity in the character and circumstances
of these governments, nations, and people, &c. Alleged danger from collision between the
Northern and Southern States on the slavery question. Daily diminishing probabilities of this
result. Evidences. Abolition of slavery inevitable. Enquiry as to the policy of the nation in
relation to this issue. Undoubted advantages of wise and just arrangements, because in
harmony with Divine providence. Example of the consequences of injustice in the failure of
'ambitious projects in Russia.
Sec. 11. The lessons of peace and amity past history and experience are designed to teach
both America and England. The cultivation of friendship and good understanding between
these two nations should be the constant aim of both. Promotion of concord among nations
the most important of social theories. Opinion of Montesquieu. Great impolicy as well as
inhumanity of war. Examples in both ancient and modern history. Uncertainty as to its
results. Duty of England and America in relation to each other. Improved sentiment of
each in regard to war.  Evidences of mutual desire for harmony of operation. Mutual
sympathy from obvious causes. Especial influence of religion in the promotion of charity and
good-will. Chief causes of international prejudices and hostile feeling. Best means of
counteracting and obviating them. Testimony of an English nobleman. Reflections.
SECTION     I.
When     we consider, as already          set forth    in  the.s  pages, the
originally different characters of the several States of America
whe    they were provinces of a more extended empire,-the
'causes which produced this variety of character,-the means
that were in operation to perpetuate this variety,-and the end
to which it was designed to be instrumental, it is a matter of
astonishment that such a social and religious, as well as such
a civil and political state exists in the United States, especially
when we consider the influence that is exerted by the vast tide
of emigration that is continually setting into them from almost
all parts of the world.




366


THE UNITED STATES.


America affords an astonishing proof of what industry and
perseverance, labour and talent, may effect in a short period of
time; while she has set to the world an admirable example of
how much may be accomplished by such knowledge, energy of
will, and utter self-devotion, as have been happily combined in
the persons of many of her citizens.
From whatever point we contemplate America, whether the
past, the present, or the future,-notwithstanding her slave system
and her oppression of her aborigines, which may possibly one day
prove a withering, blighting curse upon her progress,-" may
heaven forefend the blow,"-she furnishes one of the sublimest
objects that can attract the mind whether of a poet or of a
religious or political philanthropist,-a mighty representative
confederation, the abode of liberty, of enterprise, of knowledge,
of morality, and of religion!
In every direction, as we have shown, unmistakable evidences
appear of rapid progress and improvement. Where forests once
stood, cities are reared as by magic; where the stagnant morass
exhaled its baleful effluvia, the cultivated plain now smiles;
where pathless tracts once spread themselves around, roads are
now formed, bridges are constructed, and villages spring up.
Day by day her magnificent forests are falling beneath the axe
of the advancing pioneer of civilisation. Her vast inland seas,
and interminable rivers, and stupendous cataracts,-her yet
boundless prairies and untrodden forests,-her cities, with all
the tumult of busy life, on the very verge of solitudes over
which broods yet undisturbed the hush of ages,-and the mighty
tide of living energy which pours through the valleys and over
the uplands, crowded with the melancholy mounds where silently
dwell the dead generations of the Red Man; in a word, the
contrasts everywhere presented or suggested between a growing
civilisation and a civilisation extinct, and by a soil, one-half
of which is pervaded almost fearfully by a tumultuous rushing
of nations towards an unknown but mighty destiny, while the
other sits dark and lonely beneath the veil of a mysterious and
impenetrable past, are all elements of a poetry with which
England need not doubt that America will one day enrich the
language that is common to them both.
Everywhere in America there is seen the youth of an invincible spirit, which seems destined by. Providence to give,
for thousands of years, life and animation to the world. Such,
as we have seen, is the amazing increase of the population,




PROBABLE FUTURE POPULATION.


367


derived principally from natural increase, that, calculating at the
same ratio as during the last ten years, which has been thirty-five
per cent., the population in 1860 will amount to 32,000,000,
for it was 25,841,000 on the 1st of January, 1853; and on
a calculation generally admitted to be correct, the population,
doubles its amount every twenty-five years. It may therefore
be safely estimated, that in the year 1900 a hundred millions
of persons speaking the English language will inhabit these
fertile and highly-favoured regions! There is nothing to prevent the United States from being as populous as any other part
of the world; and supposing its population to reach the ratio
at present existing in Europe, of thirty to a square mile, there
would teem on her territories a population of two hundred and
twenty millions of human beings!
But even this is a calculation now obsolete, as it supposes the
States to be confined within the narrow limits of former days.
We now see them enlarging their borders, and pouring the tide
of population westward, year by year. M. de Tocqueville, speaking of the progressive settlement of America by the AngloSaxons, describes the latter as driven by the hand of God across
the western wilderness at the average rate of seventeen miles
per annum.
In the vast valley of the Mississippi alone, which is ten times
as extensive as the valley of the Nile, there is said to be room
for more than two hundred and seventy-five millions of people
to live-comfortably.
"Looking beyond to the very distant future," says Calhoun,
in his report to the Memphis Convention, &c., "when this
immense valley, containing within its limits 1,200,000 square
miles; lying in its whole extent in the temperate zone, and
occupying a position midway between the Atlantic and the
Pacific oceans; unequalled in the fertility and diversity of its
productions; intersected by the mighty stream, including its
tributaries, by which it is drained, and which supplies a continuous navigation of upwards of ten thousand miles, with a coast,
including both banks, of twice that length; when this immense
valley shall be crowded with population, and its resources fully
developed, imagination itself is taxed in the attempt to realise
the magnitude of its commerce."
The north-west States, which include Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Minnesota territory, have
an area of 375,259,000 square miles; and it is remarked of




368


THE UNITED STATES.


them by the writer of the Report to the Senate, Mr. J. D.
Andrews, —" When this last division shall become as densely
peopled as the Middle States now are, it will contain a population, directly tributary to the trade of the lakes, of twenty-two
millions of souls; and there is every reason to believe that the
increase of population will be as rapid until that result shall be
fully obtained as it has been since 1-800. How wonderful and
grand a spectacle will it then be to many, doubtless of those
now born, by whom, at the commencement of the twentieth
century, this lake country shall be seen supporting a population
of so many millions! And what will be the amount and value
of that trade, and the aggregate tonnage of that marine which
has sprung up, in less than forty years, from nothing to 200,000
tons of steam and shipping?
In years-to come the advancing industry of the population
will extend itself over the prairies, transform them into a new
paradise, and cause other and yet more beautiful flowers to spring
up. Even the Rocky Mountains, in a distant age, may, like
Switzerland, become the happy dwelling-place of a nation yet
unborn. What will America be then, when she will be peopled
from the Eastern Sea to the Mississippi, —from the northern
Minnesota to the tropics,-and throughout the whole western
country,-from the great Father of Waters to the Pacific Ocean!
And this is no Utopian vision. In the course of. half a
century the United States have actually quadrupled their
population, and more than doubled the number of their States
and the extent of their territory. Should the population progress
for one century more as it has done even during the two last,
and the Union continue unbroken, the number of its inhabitants
would exceed 500,000,000.  Such a people fronting on two
oceans, with a temperate climate and so vast an expanse of
country, must exert, under any circumstances, a mighty and
ever-increasing influence over the globe.
It is not being too sanguine to predict that within the compass of a century her shores will count a hundred populous
towns where senators will debate and poets sing; that every
nook of her coast will be visited by vessels and steamboats, and
connected by railroads, mail routes, and electric telegraphs; and
that the fisheries in their ports will become an object of as
much national importance as those now of Newfoundland.
The population doubling every twenty-five years, as it is
generally allowed to do, it would amount in one hundred years,




WILL THE UNION BE DISSOLVED?


369


after the same ratio of increase, to 288,000,000; or in one hundred and twenty-five years, to 570,000,000; in one hundred and
fifty years, to more than the present population of the globe.
In a word, to take the result of one hundred years, viz.:288,000,000, as the ultimatum of increase to which the resources
of their soil would allow the population to advance, how incalculable will be both their influence and their resources!
But a European of great credit has asserted that theresources
of the American continent, if fully developed, would afford
sustenance to 3,600,000,000 of inhabitants, or four times the
present population of the globe! The rising cloud appears no
bigger than a man's hand, which in another generation will be
sweeping over and. altering the face of the whole civilised
world.
As nations are not manufactured, but born of other nations,
and nurtured in those peculiar arrangements of God's providence which are expressly adapted to such a result, it is the
opinion of some that the prosperity of America will not be permanent; following the law which seems to govern both nations
and individuals, and under which the one as the other have
their struggling infancy,-their growth,-their heroic period,their iron age of hardship and utility,-their manhood,-their
silver age of luxury and refinement,-their golden age of art,
and science, and literature,-their acme,-their decline,-their
decay,-their final extinction, or else their dissolution into those
fragmentary organisms from which spring up again the elements
or seeds of future nationalities.
Others, again, aware of divisions and of frequent collisions
of interest between the Northern and Southern States, have
long predicted a dissolution of the Union, and the institution
of independent governments over the whole of the vast continent from Maine to California, or at least a division into North
and South. In addition to these elements of insecurity, the
immense agricultural interest now rapidly springing up in the
valley of the Mississippi is thought to be incompatible with the
manufacturing interest now so greatly increasing in the seaboard States, especially since the two appear to be separated by
that vast natural barrier-the chain of the Alleghanies, and
further westward by the Rocky Mountains.
Many regard the Government of the United States as an
aggregate of inharmonious parts, brought together by chance,
without any organised centre,-a confederacy founded on ptinR3




370


THE UNITED STATES.


ciples necessarily producing the wild convulsions of popular
fanaticism,-a mode of government deemed impracticable, in
the present imperfect state of human society, by many even of
its friends; and Americans are asked, suspiciously, if their institutions in their past workings afford a guarantee of the permanence and continued prosperity of the Government? While
others point to ancient republics as confirmatory of their hypothesis.
Let it be remembered that the Republic of America, as it
exists, is a union of several States for mutual advantage and
strength; each possessing the most ample and absolute power,
within itself to regulate every particular relating to mere local
necessities; and that no new State loses its distinctiveness, it
may be said, indeed, its nationality, by joining the Union, but
that, however weak the new-comer into the federal family, the
other States, for their own sake, protect its independence. Thus,
while all enjoy the benefit, no partiality exists; while each pays
but a mite, as it were, towards the general good, the good is
enjoyed in connmon. The interest-of each is therefore so interwoven with the prosperity of the Commonwealth, that none
would willingly attempt the injury of the smallest part. The
individuality of the States is the very life of the Union. If ever
this principle of admission to a perfect equality of privileges,
and to a complete participation of Government, is replaced by
the subjection of conquered or voluntarily annexed territories to
the whole federal Union, or to one particular State, or even by.the least subservience to the parent Republic, then, indeed,
serious danger would arise.
With regard to the ancient republics it must be observed,
that there is an important distinction between the material of
American strength and that of the commercial republics-Tyre,
Carthage, Venice, and Genoa; and this, not merely in extent of
territory, but especially in the diversity of its population. These
ancient republics, unlike America, had neither sufficient territory
nor large enough population to give them a permanent national
existence. With America, as also with England, it is far other-,wise.  While England and America have a manufacturing
population of many millions, they have a professional, a naval,
and a most powerful, healthy, and daily increasing agricultural
population. Of this last and most essential class to permanent
power the famous old commercial republics were wholly destitute, and they therefore fell.




WILL THE UNION BE DISSOLVED?


371


The most striking and characteristic contrast to be observed
between at least the external character of the ancient republics
and that of the United States, is to be found in the tendency
of society in the ancient world, even in republics, to personify
itself in great despotisms; whilst the tendency of society in
America has ever been decidedly towards the improvement of
the condition of the people, and the equality of rank and power
among all its members.
America possesses every element which is required to insure
a nation's greatness and stability.
Under the circumstances, therefore, at present existing,
scarcely a doubt can be entertained, that instead of a dissolution of the Union, the empire of the United States will extend
yet further; not, perhaps, by the force of armies, but by the
moral influence of attraction-perhaps by means less honourable.
Mexico, for instance, if not Cuba, longs to enjoy the peace and
stability that she sees so near her; and as this may be obtained
with perfect immunity to her independence by joining the Union,
what a motive to her availing herself of the advantage! But we
believe the destiny of this federation to lie yet further on; having
annexed Mexico it will not be too great an effort to traverse the
Isthmus, and by the same influence unite other nations.  Thus
empire upon empire, and federation upon federation will be
drawn together, until the New World, from north to south, has
yielded up her population, and the whole western hemisphere,
from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn, enjoys the liberty and
speaks the language of Great Britain.*,
There was a period, indeed, when disruption was seriously
apprehended, and it was prophesied that a separation was
inevitable; such, however, is the intercourse throughout the
whole length and breadth of the land by railroad communication,
rendering the population greatly dependent upon each other and
intimately interwoven, creating at the same time such an identity
of interests throughout, that a separation is now highly improbable; while it is evidently the desire of the Americans generally
* T There can be no doubt that many an ardent Republican looks forward not
only to Cuba but to the whole of North America. Nor, indeed, are the aspira.
tions of some of them thus limited. ' I am no supporter of the principles advocated
by young America,' said a Member of Congress, in Mr. Robinson's hearing, I but
still 1 am persuaded that in a few years the flag of the Union will wave over the
whole Continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Cape Horn to
Labrador.' "- Westminster Review, July, 1855.




372


THE UNITED STATES.


to preserve the Federal Union inviolate, at whatever sacrifice of
feeling or of local interest. The preservation of the Union in its
integrity is one of the strongest points of American nationality.
This, says Captain M'Kinnon,* renders the maintenance of the
present form of government for some time to come more certain
than that of any government on the face of the earth; and "no
one," says another authort of equal intelligence, and of still
more recent experience, "no one who has lived for any length.of time-in the United States, with leisure to study their life, can
fail to perceive that they are within themselves possessed of a
common creative principle of life which is vital in the highest
degree, and that this is their religious and civil consciousness."
It cannot be dissembled, however, that there is one seriously
disturbing element in their constitution which seriously menaces
their continued unity.
"Yonder, upon a throne made of the affections of the slavemaster, in the face of an indignant nation and of an offended
God, sits slavery, horrible as a hag of hell; her face is brass,her heart is stone,-her hand is iron; with that iron hand she
vwrings from the multiplied sufferings and labours of the hapless,
hopeless children of Africa the wealth by which she is clothed
in purple and fine linen, and fareth sumptuously every day;,.watching with unslumbering jealousy every ray that would enlighten the darkness of her kingdom, and frowning indignantly
on every finger that would disturb the stability of her throne."'
America has now, as is estimated, three and a half millions of
slaves, and four hundred and thirty-three thousand six hundred
-and 'forty-eight persons of colour nominally free,~ the latter
-also occupying a socially degraded position. The presence of
such an immense population, alien in blood and aspect, in the
midst of their Republic, or rather in the midst of three hundred
and fifty thousand of their immediate oppressors, in the southern
provinces, is an awkward and a dangerous feature in their
-condition.
Slavery exists in about fifteen States, while another or two
are sought to be added-the wild steppe lands of Nebraska and
*Tour in America.
t Miss Bremer.     4 Rev. Thomas M'Connell.
~ In 1855 there were about four millious of black and coloured persons in the
United States; about three and a half millions of these are slaves, and half a
million are free. There are now about three hundred thousand free coloured and
black persons in the slave States, and about two hundred thousand in the free
States.-De Bow's Census, p. 83.




PROBABLE ISSUE OF THE SLAVERY-STRUGGLE.       373
Kansas, a district of country where the western Missouri pours
its turbid waters along its perilous course, forming the eastern
boundary of the savage western land of the Indian tribes, and
extending eastward to the gigantic Mississippi, where heathendom still contends for dominion with Christianity.
" Slavery," says Lord Stanley, "cannot be permanent in the
United States; the reason is, it is unjustifiable,-contrary to
the universally accredited and honoured rules of morality, and
it must therefore come to an end, not only in America but in
Cuba, Brazils,-everywhere."
But what is to be done with the slaves if they are set at liberty,
despised and downtrodden. by almost the entire nation? Are
they to grow up as a powerful alien people in the commonwealth,
dangerous in their numbers, and doubly dangerous in their consciousness of wrong, and in the passions which might excite
them to acts of vengeance?* Every year this state of vassalage is
becoming more difficult to preserve. The public opinion of the
world is having its influence upon the north if not upon the south;
the slaves themselves, in spite of every effort to keep them back,
are becoming more enlightened, and therefore more difficult to
be kept in subjection; even the difference in race and colour-the
great bulwark of slavery-is gradually breaking down. Already,
as we have seen, the two races are being amalgamated, there
being, as stated by the census of 1850, at that time above four
hundred thousand (now five hundred thousand) mulattoes in the
Union, and who are increasing in a corresponding ratio from
year to year. Serious as is this question there is another still
more so. Are the slaves to go on increasing in a geometrical
ratio?-half a million on the first establishment of.the government; seven hundred thousand in 1790; three million two
hundred thousand in 1850; six millions in 1875; twelve
millions in 1900; and so on, doubling themselves every'quarter
of a century through an infinitude of years? Is the policy of
Congress wise?  Here is a canker at the root of the Republic
extending its ramifications south and west.
Connected with this question is yet another, hardly less important to America generally, yet more vitally so to the Southern
States:-what will become of them in the event of an indefinite


* According to the last census. 1850, the exact number of slave-holders is
347 525, one-fifth of whom own each a single slave; nearly one-half less than
five slaves; and less thau 80,000 more than 50 slaves.-De Bow's Census, p. 95.




374


THE UNITED STATES.


postponement of freedom to the slave? Already, as the natural
consequence of the violence and oppression inseparable from
that unnatural and iniquitous system, the whole Southern
frontier, from Maryland to Louisiana, indicates a social system in
the last stage of decrepitude,-a soil irrecoverably impoverished,
-and a proprietary fast verging towards bankruptcy. Already,
in Virginia, naturally rich and beautiful, there is a growing
impoverishment, notwithstanding that large sums are realised by
the individuals who rear human stock for the more southern
plantations. In the partially deteriorated state of that fine old
domain, and its apparent incapability of keeping pace with the
more prosperous communities of the north, it may be said to
approximate to the physical and moral condition which disfigured
Italy in the second century. And are both public and private
interest and honour powerless to destroy the fascination, or
to inflict the death-blow on the demon that thus preys on the
very vitals of the Republic? Or is the united power of the com-.monwealth too impotent to protect it against the danger of
annihilation? And is history to be an endless series of repetitions? Can not America decipher the hidden mystery of the
double fall of Italy, and learn to read the signs of the times, that
she may avoid the fate to which her errors have brought her; or
can it be possible that experience has read its lessons to her in
vain? What will America do to avert the danger? The highest intellects of Europe are looking with breathless wonder at
the anomalous position of the United States, and for the solution
of this problem. Amidst all the glowing anticipations of the
future we have painted, and in the face of her past great and
rapid progress as a nation, there sits the terrific spectre-human
slavery,-let us remind her that it was this Moloch that destroyed
the old civilisation of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and why not
that of America? Let not the American people be vaingloriously
dazzled at the vastness of their acquisitions, and at the rank to
which Providence has raised them, and thus be impelled into a
continued course of. action at once impolitic and unjust. No
longer let the advocates for the perpetuity of southern "domestic
institutions" make expediency their god; no longer let them
adhere to the policy of their country "right or wrong," nor
neglect all moral considerations while studying its aggrandisement; much less in relation to this important question let them
act as though they have "no faith in the right," nor in the
moral retribution of nations.




WARNINGS AND COUNSELS.


375


That God is a God of providence,-even in the minutest
circumstances of life directing and controlling the government
of the world,-few among them will deny; then let them not
forget that that Providence never permits the laws of nature to
be outraged with impunity, and that if they much longer delay
to put away the monster evil from amongst them nature will
surely vindicate her own laws and restore the credit of her own
wise and equitable administration, to the lasting ruin of the
nations that have abused her.
Let not America, in her pride and fancied security, disdain
these admonitions. Let her remember that often amongst the
elements of strength there is a principle at work which eventually
shrouds in darkness the brightest hopes of ambition; and that
after all, like her native aloe, that blooms not till the end of life,
she, too, may blossom but to die!
But great as has been the progress of America hitherto, she is
still, as it were, in an infantine and transitorial state of being.
Even society here is in childhood;-education in morals and politicsmaybe said to have onlyjust commenced;-two centuries only
have elapsed since all her dominions were a pathless wilderness.
She has still many a dark, silent, untrodden forest of unknown
extent where the hardy settler has never yet awoke the slumbering echoes with the ringing blow of the axe,-many a rolling
prairie whose virgin soil the ploughshare has never yet disturbed,-many woods and forests through which agricultural
produce has never yet been hurried on the railroad car,-and
many a lake where the waterfowl have never yet been startled
by the sails of commerce.  She has still vast deserts where
alternate deluge and drought are forming the basis of a future
region of fertile ground; forest-hidden rivers are still waiting
the hand of man to reduce them to practical uses, and which the
geological processes are daily materially altering and improving.
Her innate elements of strength and progress, as also the genius
of her people to turn them to profitable account, are comparatively undeveloped; while her long line of insular and continental coast, broken and penetrated by gulfs and bays, which
form harbours of every degree of capacity and security, from the
open roadstead to the land-locked port in which the navies of
the world might ride in safety, is still comparatively unoccupied.
Consider, also, the splendid climate of the United States,
adapted to every constitution, and which seems fitted for every
description of vegetation and of animal life,-its geographical




376


THE UNITED STATES.


position and extent,-its mighty appliances of steamboat navigation and railroad travelling —its already vast, and still rapidly
increasing population, placed under such circumstances of rapid
communication and centralisation as to be equal, perhaps, to half
as many more in any other kingdom; while growing civilisation
is combining many conflicting forces,-is still bringing out
beneficial issues,-the public mind advancing to a better understanding of the elements of national prosperity and the laws of
national life, and the increasing discovery, discussion, and propagation of true principles of all kinds, preparing the way for a
a still more happy condition of the masses,-all pointing out
America as destined to play an important part in the future
history of the world. And European power, in passing into her
hands, comes to one people; the hundreds of millions that must
one day inhabit her vast regions will be one, having one language,
one literature, one religion, and one common soul. This is a
unity which mere political divisions, should they unhappily
-occur, cannot destroy. That a people thus situated must exert
a dominant influence on the world is unavoidable.   Their
facilities for the acquisition of wealth; for intercourse with all
parts of the globe, and the restless enterprise of her population,
are all so many means by which America will be brought to
influence the character and destinies of other sections of the
world.
/ It is evident, therefore, that this country, from its physical
and local advantages, as well as from the character of its population and the nature of its institutions, must, in the common
course of events, have greater influence on the human family
than any other nation that has ever existed./
The contemplation of the striking picture which America
presents of vigorous and successful enterprise pervading every
department of commerce and industry, every pursuit and movement in which her population are engaged, can scarcely be dismissed without instituting a comparison between her and some
of the great European governments, particularly Russia.
Russia, with her sixty or eighty millions of population, and
vast extent of territory, capable of producing every commodity
requisite for ensuring the greatness of a nation, suggests itself
for comparison from the present eventful crisis of her history.
Had her government and landholders, instead of spending the
whole of her revenue and capital in barbaric pomp and wars of
aggression; in studding her shores and frontiers with fortresses




r


COMPARISON WITH RUSSIA.              377
and batteries,-had they but turned their attention to the improvement of her navigable rivers; to the construction of a system of railroads; had the appliances of science and machinery
been brought to aid in the cultivation of the soil, and in her
domestic manufactures; to what a height of greatness and
prosperity might she not have attained at the present moment,
instead of being what she has made herself, the plague and
pest of Europe! With every requisite for social and domestic
abundance and prosperity and wealth, she has had in her possession the means of forming a powerful mercantile marine, which
would, by this time, have been a vigorous competitor for the
commerce and the carrying trade of the world; whilst by an
improved system of roads and inland navigation, she might
have made herself the connecting link between Western Europe
and the interior of Asia. But Russia has preferred the path of
ambition.  She has aimed at grasping new territory, and
neglected the more peaceful and wiser policy of developing the
resources which she already possessed; and, as the result, her
fall from her high position among the nations was inevitable.
But while'America, in a general sense, contrasts so favourably
with her northern rival, there is one particular in which there is
a close resemblance, viz., in their both holding such vast realms
of fertile undeveloped land, and both having such a mania for
territorial aggrandisement.  Like Russia, the territorial idea
haunts the imagination of America, as it did also the nations of
antiquity, and as it did France under Napoleon I.; but as with the
war nations of old, and France, and more recently Russia, the
sword-won empire of the United States, should she ever obtain it,
would inevitably crumble into ruins, and a new and a better one
spring out of them, or she would fall away from the face of the
world, and only be a colossal power that grew too rapidly, and
died, like an overgrown giant, of sheer atrophy. Hence Mr.
Cass had the manliness and moral courage, in his place in the
Senate House, to urge the necessity of Congress confining
its efforts to the proper development of the national resources,
and opposing all projects of annexation and extension.
SECTION II.
And what are the lessons which these circumstances are
calculated to teach, especially to both America and England?
They all form so many urgent demands on both countries to




378


THE UNITED STATES.


promote, by every practicable expedient, the development of
their resources, amid unbroken peace, amity, and intercourse.
For it must not be forgotten, as a consideration of policy, that
the position of the United States, in addition to the well known
valour and enterprise of her sons, is such as to render her to
England either a valuable friend or a very dangerous enemy. At
the same time the interests of England and America, in relation
to trade and commerce, must be remembered in this question. It
appears that the value of our imports from America are nearly
thirty millions; while our exports somewhat exceed twenty-two
millions. This trade far surpasses that existing separately with
British India and Australia.; and is even more extensive than
that of England with the whole continent of Europe. The imports of large cotton alone in 1854 amounted to ~17,274,677.
The article of import next in value is wheat-meal, ~2,763,793;
after that maize, ~1,971,280; their corn, ~1,487,725.
The Union is our customer in return for iron to the value of
~7,000,000 and upwards; manufactured cottons, ~3,500,000
and upwards; woollens, upwards of ~3,000,000: slops nearly
~1,500,000; not to mention the traffic already existing and in
prospect between the United States and the West India Islands.
The consumption of sugar in the United States has been
amazing, and is daily increasing to a degree that will render
her entirely dependent upon these Islands, sugar and coffee
cultivation not being likely to succeed in her southern provinces.
During the past year about nine hundred, and fifty millions of
pounds were consumed, equal to four hundred and twenty-eight
thousand tons; averaging forty pounds for every man, woman,
and child in the Union.
It will thus be seen that while America grows cotton for
England, England manufactures her goods for America. While
America buys from six to seven millions worth of iron from
England, England expends an almost equal sum with America
in the purchase of the necessaries of life in flour, grain, salted
provisions, tobacco, and furs, proving the fallacy of the epigram
that " what is one man's gain is another man's loss." It may,
indeed, be said that America feeds England- as the Roman
daughter fed her parent. Fifteen hundred ships traverse the
ocean between England and America, measuring upwards of a
million of tons, exclusive of steamers; while two mail steamers
leave both countries every week, if not one every alternate day,
from New York and Boston, and Liverpool and Southampton.




UNION OF INTERESTS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 379


What immense interests in peace, on both sides of the Atlantic,
are represented by these figures and considerations! We have
whole populations in mutual dependence, bound up together for
weal or woe.
Many fond ties and sympathies also there must ever be
between the nations founded on ancient memories and a brotherhood of ages, which hours of passion are not lightly to dissolve;
and the personal pride of each in whatever the other shall
achieve that is great and glorious, is a motive of attachment
which neither of the two nations should be so covetous and
ambitious as to disregard.
There may indeed exist a rivalry between these two nations,incomparably the greatest in some respects that ever flourished
on our planet; but let it not be a rivalry on the battle field, but
a rivalry horourable and generous in spirit, noble in aim, and
peaceful in conduct; i competition in the arenas of science,
industry, and religion, resulting in profit and glory to both
competitors in' the amicable struggle, and conducing to the
general improvement of the whole human race.
Exclusive nationalities differ little from sects distinguished
for their bigotry; while true patriotism, like true religion, the
more faithful is its devotion to its great object of love and
worship, the more largely and freely does it breathe the spirit
of charity and goodwill to all mankind.
The cultivation and improvement of friendship and good
understanding between Great Britain and the United States
ought to form one of the most important duties of a Minister
Plenipotentiary to that country. While at no former period of
their history has the subsistence of friendly relations between
them been of more vital importance, it is gratifying to know
that at no time have those relations appeared to rest upon
a firmer foundation than at present.
There is nothing, perhaps, for which the present age is more
remarkable than for the rapidity with which international antipathies of the duration of centuries are disappearing before the
cosmopolitan and christian feeling that all men are brethren,
sprung from one common parent. This is a feeling that if
cultivated would do much towards bringing about that happy
period when the nations will learn war no more, and when
national animosity shall be as completely obliterated from the
world as lines traced upon the sand on the sea shore are effaced
by the rising of the tide. On the other hand, whatever may




380


THE UNITED STATES.


tend to militate against so truly laudable a spirit is highly
censurable, and it is the duty of all who call themselves
Christians to treat it with marked disapprobation. Every one
should attempt to efface in every mind that animosity between.,one people and another which frequently leads to war, and
-which is so opposite to the religious sentiment of the love of
~our neighbour, which recognises no limits either of race or
of country.
Multitudes of men of all nations are now sufficiently
enlightened and civilised to recognise the supremacy of the
moral faculties, and to despise an appeal to brute force for the
settlement of national quarrels, substituting, as more just and
rational means, grave and solemn arbitration, in accordance
with the ordinations of the great law of christian faith and
practice. In the present age there is no peace that is not
honourable; there is no war that is not dishonourable. The
true honour of a nation is to be found only in deeds of justice
and in the happiness of its people, all of which are inconsistent
with the principle, as with the wholesale waste and havoc
of war.
The promotion of concord among nations is the most important of our social theories. Even Montesquieu says, "The
princes of the earth who form among themselves so many
ephemeral, and frequently useless conventions, ought at length
to contract a pacific, durable alliance, which would be most
favourable to the wellbeing of all nations."
War does violence to all the sentiments of humanity; it has
constantly led to all the misfortunes and calamities that befal the
world, and has frequently caused the ruin and fall of empires.
Persia and Egypt sank into the tomb on which Greece built
her temple. The different States of Greece, after fighting great
battles, after having long torn each other to pieces, submitted to
the yoke of Philip and Alexander of Macedon, then succumbed
to the prowess of the Romans, and finally becoming a province
without a name, fell under the scimetar of the Turk.
Rome once aspired to the conquest of the world, calling herself its Queen, but she fell into gradual decay from the Republic
to the Empire,-becoming weak by continually extending herself,-grasping with her legions the world, which escaped her,until from being its mistress she became its slave,-and from
being the universal sovereign, was reduced to a giant corpse,
trampled under the feet of barbarians,-of barbarians who in




41   ~..SEQUENCES OF WAR AND AMBITION.          381
arn were finally vanquished by the civilisation of modern
Europe.
Poland has been rolled in the dust by a despotic power; but
the Emperor sitting at Petersburg can no more forbid the birth
of the yet unborn nation than the vulture perched upon the
fallen oak-trunk can forbid the oak from growing beneath
his feet.
" The march of eternal justice is sure."
England never had greater or nobler men guiding her destinies
than during the Commonwealth, yet the intolerance of some
and the ambition of others ruined the Republic.
Providence leaves not the innocent unprotected nor the
guilty unpunished. All injustice must sooner or'later terminate
in revolution.
In the late Mexican struggle with old Spain, the leaders,
though all of Spanish descent more or less pure, declared that
they were the avengers of the insults and injuries offered to
Montezuma,-a circumstance to be pondered by all advocates
of territorial aggrandisement.
Nature herself supplies testimonies against systematic oppression, and the fixed desire to break the chains of systematic
monopoly
" Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and speech in everything."
It may be instructive to refer also to the tragic end of almost
every conqueror. Call to mind that most of them, after having
filled the Old World with the terrible report of their names,
died without leaving a throne or a State; —Alaric, Timour,
Ghengis Khan, have passed over the earth like hurricanes, and
left no remains of their conquests, whilst Cyrus, Alexander,
and the first Caesars, have bequeathed but unknown ruins and
names more or less tarnished by the crimes they committed.
"Sic transit gloria mundi."
It may be said of each as of Charles XII., who fell before the
walls of Frederickshall," He left his name, at which the world turned pale,
To point a moral and adorn a tale."
The same truth is to be observed of the great Napoleon,that his career, originating out of the dictates of the merest
selfishness, and an utter disregard for all the principles




382                THE UNITED STATES. 
which lie at the foundation of human happiness and n._  A
progress, when these stood in the way of his designs,-came to
an unnatural end. This system of conquest, terrible as were its
immediate effects, was self-destructive and ruinous to its:
author. 
" Though more than half the world was his):
He died without a rood his own;
And borrowed from his enemies
Six feet of ground to lie upon."
Rapacious invaders were all these men who enslaved. nations
under the pretence of giving them freedom, and whilst loudly
proclaiming the rights of men, only allowed those rights to be
exercised according to their own theories or caprice!
One of the high lessons of history is to show how uncertain is.
the fate of arms. The-loss of a battle may lead to the loss of a
State; the nationality of a people may perish in. the combat,
of a day. Frequently fortuitous circumstances called chance
have alone settled the fate of battles. War impoverishes everything, even victory. Prolonged success ruins the conqueror;
reverses come, and the world always escapes the grasp, of the
invader. The lust of conquest often inflicts upon the victors,.
as well as upon the vanquished, a physical and a moral ruin.
The slavery to which the Spaniards reduced the Aztecs was
not more degrading than the barbarism with which they so
thoroughly imbued themselves.   While their bravery broke
down the spirit of their antagonists, their triumphs completely
destroyed all moral courage in themselves.
The listory of Spain records wondrous instances of valour
rising to almost superhuman daring,-of empires won, such,
as it had not entered into the imagination of the conquerors
to contemplate,-of wealth acquired which might have sated&
avarice itself,-andi of glories beside which all the victories of
modern warfare shrink into insignificance. How ends the career
thus gloriously opened.?  The withering hand of monopoly
falls upon the victors andvanquished alike. Spain declines the
moment she reaches the pinnacle of her greatness; the colonies
break away from their parent State, and the descendants of those
settlers who owed their broad lands to the valour of Cortes are
found tearing his mouldering bones from their sepulchre in
revenge for his having brought their native land under the
influence of Spanish tyranny. Let us then read in the history
of. Spain the great truth which winds up the annals of all con



PLEA FOR PEACE.                  383
que.,id sword-bought acquisitions.  Whenever past glory is
made an excuse for present wrong it is sure to lead to future
degradation.
Alas, how often has it happened that even while nations
have been congratulating themselves on the success of their
arms, they have made the unwelcome discovery that victory
has been more ruinous than defeat! It is not the war of arms
that profits in the long run; it is the peaceful struggle of rival
industry and commerce.   This alone will be always compensative. The periods in which industry is pursued under the
protecting shadow of repose,-and thought, and genius find
room for their illimitable expansiveness in a comfort and sense
of dignity unknown to times of political commotion and convulsion inspired by the lunacy of the hour-these are the
periods of true national prosperity and glory.
There is no judgment more heavy than that of the sword,
and no outward blessing more precious than that of civil peace.
There are no interests that appertain to human nature which do
not identify 'the people of every country, clime, and colour;
and naturally tend to their unity. As God is one, so, by the
constitution of his intelligent creation all his " offspring" ought
to be united in all the oneness of a single family, with one
feeling to prompt, and one principle to govern.
Let America and England especially unite in applying their
zeal and their efforts to extinguish national hatreds by rekindling everywhere the flame of christian virtues, to secure
the universal and permanent triumph of what may be called the
cause of God and of humanity,-the holy cause, in which are
involved all the wants of the world, the prosperity of every
people, and from henceforth the interests of all governments
and kings. Let them continue to offer the noble example of
two of the mightiest nations, of the earth united by indissoluble
ties of mutual love and confidence, maintaining inviolate the
basis of the public welfare-Order and Liberty.
There are two opposite descriptions of character under which
mankind may be generally classed,-the Heroic and the
Christian. The one possesses vigour, firmness, resolution; is
daring and active, quick in its sensibilities, jealous of its fame,
eager in its attachments, inflexible in its purpose, violent in its
resentments. The other is meek, yielding, forgiving, prompt
to act for the honour of God and the happiness of men, yet
willing to suffer; silent and gentle under rudeness and insult;




384


THE UNITED STATES.


suing for reconciliation where others would demand b- faction; giving way before impulsive aggression, conceding and
indulgent to the prejudices and intractability of those with
whom it has to deal.
The former of these characters has ever been the favourite of
the world.  It is characteristic of those whom the world is
pleased to designate great and noble.  There is a kind of
dignity in such attributes which almost universally commands
respect.  The latter is regarded as poor-spirited, tame, and
abject. Yet the latter is with the Great Founder of Christianity
the subject of his commendation, his precepts, his example;
while the former is so in no part of its composition. No two
things can be more opposite in their nature and tendencies than
these two descriptions of character. If the christian disposition
were universal, the world would be a society of friends; if the
heroic disposition were universal, it would produce a scene of
general contention, which would lead to the annihilation of
society and of the world.
As it is with individuals, so with nations.  The Heroic idea
reigns; and while this continues, little approximation will be
made towards a state of universal peace;' but let the christian
feeling be cultivated, and the prediction of prophecy, already
referred to, will soon become the chronicle of fact: " And they
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more."*
As already intimated, America, like England, is the depository
of the christian oracles and the guardian of the christian faith;
and their united flags, however glorious their past triumphs,
have yet a higher, a nobler prominence to attain. It is evidently
the high mission of England and America united to redeem and
elevate mankind, not only by showing that the spirit of. our
more christian times lives in the political institutions to which
they give birth,-not only by showing that the most illustrious
attribute of their unexampled sway is the principle of benevolence,-that knowledge goes forth with it,-that tyranny shrinks
before it,-that in its magnificent progress it abates the calamities of nature,-that it plants the desert,-that it civilises the
savage,-but chiefly, what England can already say, but not
America, that it "STRIKES THE FETTERS FROM THE SLAVE."
Isaiah ii. 4.  Micah iv. 3.




UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND.


385


Nor is this all which these two mighty nations seem destined
to accomplish in the purposes of Jehovah. While a community
of sentiments, a community of principles, and a community of
interests all combine with the great teachings of Christianity to
demonstrate that there is but one human family, of which
nations are severally the members, requiring, therefore, from
every man an earnest, active, and practical concern in the wellbeing of every other;-while both are rising thus rapidly into
greater and greater importance in regard to the transactions of
modem and future history, and necessarily in regard to all the
interests of the human race;-it is but natural to suppose that in
the present circumstances of the church it is part of the Divine
plan to assign a large portion of the instrumentality to our
transatlantic brethren. It would appear, indeed, from the very
composition of the States, as already noted, that America is
specially designed, in conjunction with England, for the development of a plan of Providence, fraught with mercy and
grace to future generations, and that God has given a call to both
to unite indissolubly for its accomplishment.
It is an encouraging sign of the times that whilst Rome is
putting forth great efforts, and summoning all her energies for
another great conflict with the true Gospel, God has given to
Protestant England and Protestant America such vast extension and power. Already Great Britain and the United States
possess nearly one quarter of the habitable earth, and govern
nearly two hundred millions of its inhabitants,-a fifth of the
human race. The colonial world is theirs; the commerce of
the world is chiefly in their hands. What can this indicate but
that God has not only a great work for them to do on behalf
of humanity, but a great part to perform in the upbuilding and
enlargement of His kingdom in the world. Their highest
mission is to unite their energies to carry liberty and salvation
to the prostrate millions inhabiting both hemispheres,-they
are God's instruments, destined, there is every reason to believe,
to spread the glad tidings of the Gospel to the uttermost ends of
the earth. United, then, in one destiny, may they never be
insensible to their lofty privileges, and never forfeit their high
estate.
" Together let them tread the ample field,
Try what the open what the covert yield."
And may the concluding lines of the same poem express the
modest sentiments of each,



386


THE UNITED STATES.


"And while along the stream of time thy name
Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame,
Say, shall my little barque attendant sail,
Pursue the triumph and partake the gale?"
The champions of peace and christian philanthropy will be
crowned with honour by posterity,-they will have a diadem
infinitely more glorious than the laurel that encircles the brow
of the hero and the conqueror; and these worthy sons, in
conjunction with her gift of freedom to her slaves, will reflect
upon America a glory yet wanting to her in the eyes of all the
civilised nations of the world.
We have said that the rulers of the most civilised portions of
the earth have at length begun to learn their true interest, and
to show a disposition to cultivate the virtues of peace and
amity; that they have begun to have improved ideas of each
other through more regular intercourse; that they have already
begun in some degree to decline from the worship of nationalities, and that the exercise of the amenities of civilised life has,
to a considerable extent, united their hearts'and harmonised their
interests. Among other pleasing evidences of harmony of cooperation in the accomplishment of the benevolent objects of
peace is this, that the government of the.United States has
fully carried out commercial reciprocity with England, and with
her has guaranteed the neutrality of the passage to the Pacific
by the Lake of Nicaragua, thus making it free to all nations.
We might also mention the generous conduct of Congress in
relation to Lieutenant Maury's important discoveries and
observations.
More recently, among other expressions of courtesy and
good will, the House of Representatives of the United States
adopted a bill for reducing the duty on imports, attaching to
it a civil and diplomatic appropriation bill, and passed it by
a large majority. By this new tariff about twenty articles that
have hitherto paid duty are now admitted duty free.
A committee was some time since appointed by Congress
to consider the subject of a prime meridian. This committee
courteously recommended that the Greenwich zero of London
should be preserved for the convenience of navigation; and that
the meridian of the National Observatory at Washington should
be adopted by the authority of Congress as its first meridian on
the American continent for defining accurately and permanently
the territorial limits; and for advancing the science of astronomy
in America.




SIGNS OF A GROWING SIYPATHY.


387


Nor must the recent Reciprocity Treaty between the United
States and Canada be forgotten among the evidences of a better
future understanding between the two nations,-a treaty by
which America is allowed the free navigation of the St. Lawrence and the canals, and an equal right to the fisheries, in
return for similar advantages to England. British vessels are
admitted into American cahals, and English subjects are permitted to fish in American waters to the thirtieth parallel of
north latitude.  This commences a new era in the history of
the relations of the United States with the British colonies,
infusing new vigour into the commercial intercourse with each
other.' The commerce with Canada being now almost as free
from embarrassment as that between neighbouring States of the
Union, forms a strong bond by which to secure future amicable
relations with the parent kingdom.
This reciprocity of commercial intercourse is another step of
progress in the right direction.  May such concessions be
abundantly multiplied; may they become general! Indeed,
let America adopt the same enlightened policy towards England
and all her colonies, not only for the moral advantages that
would thereby result, but also from motives of self-interest;
for it is shrewdly calculated that by still adhering to the
restrictive usages that have so long fettered the trading interests
of the world, she will lose at least seven million pounds sterling
per annum.4
'That a feeling of amity and hearty good-will toward America
exists generally in England admits not of a question, and that
this feeling is reciprocated by the wisest and best men in the
United States is equally evident. The unprincipled and reckless among the public journals in England do not represent the
mass of the population; still less do similar prints express the
public sentiment of America.) It was said by one of the most
popular journals in New York,- some years since, when a French
invasion of some portion of the British empire was thought
probable, "that the mere announcement of such an occurrence
stirred the heart of the great body of the American people.
They declared that in such an event, whether England asked it


* The Government of the United States imposes a heavy protective duty
on foreign importations, under the delusive plea of its being beneficial by
keeping money in the country.
t New Yoih Tribune.
s2




888


THE UNITED STATES.


or not, the waters around the British coasts would swarm with
clipper ships and ocean steamers, and America would cry out
for alliance, offensive and defensive, with the home of their
fathers. Once awakened, this would be the deepest, wildest
passion that has agitated this country since the war of independence." England is the parent and asylum of European
liberty, and there is not an American who is not bound by every
conceivable sympathy to the cause of the people. all over the
world. All instruction,-all historic association,-all patriotic
virtue,-all national pride and vanity,-all the influences of
every kind to which he is subject, from his cradle upwards,
combine to render the conception of political despotism wholly
monstrous in the eyes, and almost incredible to the understanding of an American.
There is no point in his mental structure on which sympathy
with the enemies of England could fasten, while every idea that
has ever been precious to the race, and every emotion that stirs
within their soul, is on the side of England.
There are thus deep philosophical as well as political reasons
why the closest bond should-exist between the English and the
American people, in their political equally with their civil and
religious relations. And England daily continues to people
large states in America, where, by a common language, commercial connections, and the multiplied reciprocities of affection,
the people maintain an essential, a perpetual union with the
parent country.
The sentiments expressed by the President of the United
States in reply to an address presented to him, in the year 1852,
by Her Majesty's plenipotentiary, Mr. J. F. Crumpton, on
delivering his credentials, are in perfect unison with the sentiments and feelings we advocate.
"Our forms of government," says the President, "differ;
but, as you have well said, we are kindred nations, acknowledging a common ancestry, speaking a common language, and have
a joint inheritance in those enduring monuments of literary
genius by which the noblest sentiments and wisest maxims of
law and liberty are indelibly stamped upon the minds of nations.
We, Sir, have inherited from Great Britain the principles of
' Magna Charta,' the Trial 'by Jury,' and the 'Habeas Corpus;'
and while we hope we have extended the principle of liberty, I
am free to admit that its germs are to be found in those great
principles of the British constitution. These great principles




MOTIVES FOR FRIENDSHIP.


389


are enjoyed in a higher degree by the subjects and citizens of our
respective countries than by those of any other in the world. I
trust that they may never be hazarded by another conflict; and
I am happy to assure you that nothing shall be wanting on my
part to maintain the most cordial relations with your own; and
in the performance of this duty, alike beneficial to both countries,
I am sure I shall have your cordial co-operation."
Thus the sympathy which binds the two nations is based on
a much broader foundation than mere political and commercial
interests. It takes its rise from something more ennobling.
While the coal and iron of England, and the cotton and other raw
materials of the United States are not to be underrated as instruments of wealth and promoters of civilisation at home and
abroad,-while the same blood flows in the veins of the people
of both countries,-while they speak the same language and
own the same descent, and have the same feelings, sentiments,
manners, fashions, and pursue the same social amusements, and
while thousands of American citizens cling to the sympathies,
to the feelings, and to the memories of the mother land, from
the sea-board to the frontier settlements, this is the noblest and
most spiritual bond of union, that they profess the same faith,
have the same institutions, are actuated by the same high impulses, and are woven into the same tissue by innumerable
private fiiendships and alliances.
This sympathy of race and religious feeling, quite irrespective
of their national greatness, should make an Englishman proud
of the American people, and induce him to regard them as an
object of study and of interest rather than of satire, of emulation rather than of envy.
Between these two great nations, peace and goodwill should
be preserved at the risk of everything but good faith and
national honour,-at the risk of everything, it should be said,
but the most precious national rights and liberties. And it is
gratifying to know that human skill and ingenuity are largely
contributing, amongst other agencies, to the permanent establishment of union. The greatest mechanical power of the age,
-an important agent in civilisation,-steam, by uniting the
distant portions of Europe and America, is consequently binding
in ties of friendship and friendly commerce the most distant
States, and will render them naturally desirous of peace, while
the terrible impetus it gives to the destructive power of armaments renders wars more unfrequent because more dreaded.




390


THE UNITED STATES.


It is deeply to be regretted that very recently grave differences
have arisen between the British and American cabinets. The
principal causes appear to be a desire on the part of America to
possess Cuba-the settlement by England of the Honduras
frontier-and the recent English enlistment for the Foreign
Legion. But as diplomacy has again proved itself of value, and
the nations themselves have not lost their reason, these differences
have Jappily been adjusted without an appeal to arms.  Both
nations are free, both are civilised, both are educated, both of
one race, and under governments which differ little from each
other. Neither is carried 'away by a lust of military glory;
and the enterprise of the one is the prosperity of the other.
Between such communities an armed conflict, always odious
and destructive, would be a thousand times more revolting
than between any other nations,-would be as unnatural as a
civil war,-as unnatural as it would be impolitic. It would be
a mutual fratricide, dividing the Anglo-Saxon race against
itself; while its practical results would be disastrous to both to
a degree which language cannot describe; it would be such a
calamity as might make "the angels weep," and would assuredly
provoke the just retribution of the Almighty.  At the same
time war between two such nations (as it is now between all
civilised States) would not be a war of conquest, but only a
species of violent arbitration, and would therefore be of no
advantage to the conqueror.
Let it never be said that the parent has devastated the fair
inheritance of the child, or that the child has destroyed the
property of the parent; but rather that the energy, enterprise,
and moral greatness which mark the character of both nations
will be used to build up and not to pull down the commercial
prosperity of each, and leave it as a lasting monument,-the
monument of the peace they have so well begun, to the perpetuation of their mutual renown.
Among the usual means of fostering international prejudices,
and keeping up a constant irritation between countries whose
truest interest it is to preserve amicable relations with each
other, none are more offensive or effectual than bitter national
songs and the satirical misrepresentations and caricatures of
interested or prejudiced tourists and public journalists.
Some men can discern nothing of interest or grandeur away
from the soil that gave them birth; but the true lover of his
country, grateful for, and rejoicing in her elevation, can frankly




NECESSARY CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP.


391


and cordially admire and delight in the progress and advancement
achieved by other nations,-can see the race of honour run by
her competitors without grudge or envy of the winner,-can feel
the thrill and glow of admiration in his- heart, whether it beat
for English or American success. Thousands of the best of
England's sons rejoice in bearing honest testimony and in doing
honour to the greatness of their kindred race; while thousands
more, in whose heart glows the same fire that burnt so brightly
in the bosoms of the Pilgrim Fathers, feel that the more faithful
they are to the great object of their love and worship, the more
freely must they cherish the spirit of charity and good-will for
all mankind.
So, while their mutual wants and mutual faith cement a mutual
affection, let the smile that plays on the countenance of friendship light up such a glow of benevolent sunshine, that the
traveller, in passing through these countries respectively, may
gratefully receive hospitalities ungrudgingly given, and with a
welcome that shows in the eye and the heart the existence of
an affectionate and cordial brotherhood!
It must not, however, be concealed, that while it is so highly
important and desirable that cordiality and good-will should
ever exist between Great Britain and the United States, yet,
until America abolishes her slavery, it is in vain to hope for an
intente cordiale. Let this plague-spot be wiped away,-this
almost only root of bitterness be destroyed,-and by such an
effort of self-sacrifice and patriotism as would be thus exhibited
not only would America be immediately placed in the highest
position among the nations of the earth,-not only would she
become, like England, the cherished abode of freedom, the centre
of civilisation, the nursery of benevolence, the Pharos of the world,
-not only would she become at once a refuge for the oppressed
and a terror to the oppressor, and successfully' achieve the
high' destiny designed her,-but then, also, an Anglo-Saxon
alliance would be formed, more powerful and more vital, because
more natural, than that now existing between England and
France. Then the sympathy, in action and in feeling, between
the two members of the great Anglo-Saxon family would be but
the prelude to the meeting of the nations,
"In the Parliament of man,-the Federation of the world;"then the British lion " shall roar for a defence around the tents
of Judah," while the eagle of America will arise and "flutter over
her, and spread abroad her wings."




392


THE UNITED STATES.


A rupture between the two countries would be the saddest
affliction which could befall our race in either hemisphere.
And our American brethren may collect from the most patriotic
and best organs of public opinion in England how much such
a collision would there be deplored.
This feeling does not arise from any low, sordid apprehension
of the consequences in a mere pecuniary point of view, but from 
a humane dread of the horrors and insanity which such a fratricidal war would evoke.
The most sensible and rational people in both countries
would be the first to raise their voices against an appeal to arms
until other means of settling the quarrel had been exhausted.
It seems certain, indeed, that whatever may be the vapouring
spirit indulged in by the filibustering section of the community,
and the supercilious banter of some of our English journals,
nothing that can possibly lead to a hostile conflict between
them will be permitted by the really patriotic and independent
portion of either nation.
To the European despots nothing, probably, would be more
satisfactory than to witness the two freest and greatest nations
on the globe,-the last asylums of liberty and equality,-shedding
their blood about some paltry point of etiquette or,some worthless portion of territory.
As the preservation and promotion of amity between the two
nations cannot but be the earnest wish of every lover of his
species, of order, of advancing civilisation, and of religion,
let it be the aim of all, in every possible way, to make their
fraternisation on both sides complete and cordial. Let both
nations see to it that they be indissolubly united. Let them
hope and pray that increasing communications will in the course
of a few years introduce the great body of the two peoples to
each other, and that such relationships will be established as
will secure peace against the accidents and asperities of fortune,
ambition, or caprice.
The newspapers and periodicals of Great Britain have been in
the habit of treating the Americans, their customs, habits,
laws, and proceedings generally, with discourtesy; and that
more so than the peculiarities that may with more reason be
judged censurable in other nations.  The American public
complain of this treatment, and denounce the attacks made on
them as ill-natured, unfair, and prejudiced, and at the same time
as ill-advised, impolitic, and dangerous in their practical results.




NECESSARY CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP.


393   0


c
It may be that the feeling of the majority of the population in
the United States is unfavourable to England; but abuse and
satire are not the means to secure their friendship and attachment. -While it is admitted that some of them are unfriendly,
they are not all averse.   There is a large 'and respectable
minority always existing, though not always composed of the
same elements, or acting in concert, which is decidedly friendly,
viz., the commercial and the religious portions of the population.
It is evidently the proper policy of the English press, assumed
as the representatives of the English people, to support and
strengthen this minority;-not as hitherto, with only a few exceptions, to confound the friendly and the unfriendly in the same
censures, and assail them with the same ridicule; not to confound all American men and things without distinction in an indiscriminate condemnation. It has been too much the practice
to regard all measures of questionable propriety, when emanating
from  the Government, as done by the whole of the American people, although such measures may probably have been
opposed and condemned in the most resolute way by nearly
one half of the representatives of the nation, and by a very
considerable number of the nation itself.
At the present time a society of native Americans has
started into full vitality under the title of "Know Nothings,"
or, as they call themselves, the Order of the United Americans.
Whatever may be its real objects, however impolitic or contrary
to the professed principles of complete religious liberty,
there is every reason to believe it originated in motives of the
purest patriotism, and that many of its developments are
decidedly favourable to England, yet it has been derided by
almost the entire English press,-a course of conduct which,
to say the least, is decidedly unwise and reprehensible.
Whatever we may deny the Americans, there is one thing we
cannot but appreciate, viz., their growing importance in the
material and political world; while they themselves know, individually and collectively, that Europeans can no longer afford
to regard them with indifference or contempt.*
X The Celts, who crossed the Atlantic because they could not get Ireland for
the I rish, find their ears deafened by the cry of " America for the Americans." The
vaunts of the Catholics of their progress in the exercise of priestly power, so repugnant to republican usages, such, for instance, as Cardinal Bellini forcing school
children to kneel before him,-the demand for a portion of the public funds for the
support of schools to be under their own direction and control,-and the exceps 3




394


THE UNITED STATES.


It is high time that all party feeling and petty prejudice and
jealousies be done away, and that men of intelligence in all
nations set an example of striving for the things that make for
peace and things whereby they may improve and edify each
other. And may God graciously vouchsafe to the nations of
the earth such wisdom that they may see it to be their own
best interest to prefer the solid advantages of peaceful enterprise
to the ambitious projects of territorial dominion!
C" Hush down the sound of quarrel, let party names alone,
Let brother join with brother, and duty claim his own;
In battle with the mammon host, join peasant, clerk, and lord,
Sweet Charity your banner-flag, and 'God for All' your word."
"The time is not come for me yet," says the Earl of Carlisle,
"if ever it should come, to make me feel myself warranted in
forming speculations upon far results, upon guarantees for
future endurance and stability.      All that I can now    do is to
look and to marvel at what is before my eyes.      I do not think
I am deficient in relish for antiquity and association. I know
that I am English, not in a pig-headed adhesion to everything
there, but in heart to its last throb. Yet I cannot be unmoved
or callous to the soarings of young America-in such legitimate
and laudable directions too; and I feel that it is already not the
least bright, and may be the most enduring title of my country
to the homage of mankind, that she has produced such a people.
May God employ both for his own high glory! "
To conclude: while men of commerce look at the mercantile
worth of the spices of the United States,-its jewels, grain,
sugar, cotton, indigo, tobacco, woods, drugs, and perfumes;
while the naturalist pores enamoured over its Fauna, its Flora,
and its mineralogy, the philosophic christian traces with delight
tional glat of the labour market this year in the sea-board cities, consequent on
commercial depression, have all given food for this new agitation. The principle
asserted in this society is that of nationality. The manifesto after-1st., disavowing all religious intolerance, is as follows:-2nd. Each member must be a
Protestant, born of Protestant parents, reared under Protestant influence; and if
he is united to a Roman Catholic wife he is not eligible to any office. The 3rd
Article defines the objects of the Church of Rome and other foreign influence, and
protects the institutions of the country by placing all offices in the gift of the
people, or by their appointment, none but native-born Protestant citizens. The
oaths are most solemn; every " know nothing" thereby binds himself to exclude
a large number of his fellow-citizens from all share in the administration,-exclusion from all share in the Government, &c.,-and the deprivation of the franchise
will be a natural consequence. —Westminster Review, July, 1855, p.p. 196, 4c.




CHRISTIAN ASPIRATIONS.              395
the power it has benignly swayed over the social state of a
great portion of mankind; the ways innumerable in which that
power is now pervading all civilised life; and the certainty
every day growing clearer that hence will spring changes, social
and religious, which, for the magnitude of the spheres affected,
the value of the benefits conferred, and the splendour of the
subsequent career ensured, will cause the United States to shine
without a parallel in the galaxy of nations.




t




CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.-Extent. History. Description of Havanna. Religion. Morals.
General character of inhabitants. Origin. Slavery. Piracy. Government. Present equivocal destiny of the island. Army and navy. Revenue.
"How enchanting to the senses, at least" says the Earl of
Carlisle, " were the three weeks I spent in Cuba!       How my
memory turns to its picturesque forms and balmy skies!" and
he thus poetically apostrophises the beautiful scenery of the
island:"Ye tropic forests of unfading green,
Where the palm tapers and the orange glows,
Where the light bamboo weaves her feathery screen,
And her tall shade the matchless ceyba throws:
"Ye cloudless ethers of unchanging blue,
Save, as its rich varieties give way,
To the clear sapphire of your midnight hue,
The burnished azure of your perfect day.
"Yet tell me not my native skies are bleak,
That, flushed with liquid wealth, no cane fields wave;
For virtue pines, and manhood dares not speak,
And nature's glories brighten round the slave."
CUBA, styled the " Queen of the Antilles," and the "Gem of
the American Seas," or "La Siempre Fiel Isla de Cuba," as it
is grandiloquently styled in all Spanish documents, was discovered by Columbus, October 28th, 1492, in his first voyage
to the west after discovering St. Salvador, one of the Lucayos
or Bahama Isles. Its figure is long and narrow, approaching
that of a crescent, with its convex side looking towards the
Arctic Pole; its west portion lying between Florida and the
peninsula of Yucatan-the north-east promontory of South




898


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


America. It is supposed to have been united to this part of the
continent of South America by an isthmus, but now two
entrances into the Gulf of Mexico are presented, formed by the
action of the waters of the Caribbean Sea;-the one to the
south betwedn Cape Catoche and Cape St. Antonio; and the
other to the north, between Bahia Honda and Florida.
Cuba is about ninety-five miles from the nearest point of
Jamaica; from Haiti fifty miles; about one hundred and twenty
miles from the coast of Tobasco and Yucatan in Mexico; and
one hundred and fifty miles from Florida, Like Jamaica, and
most of the other islands of the Archipelago generally, it is
intersected by a chain of mountains passing east and west;
which chain (called Montanus del Cobre, or Snake Mountains),
partaking of the curvature of the island, and sloping on each
side towards the coast, raises itself up in its highest elevation
about seven thousand two hundred feet above the level of
the sea.
It is situated in 23.9 north latitude, and 82.2 west longitude;
and is seven hundred and eighty miles in length, by about fiftytwo miles in medial breadth; containing a superficial area of fortythree thousand five hundred square miles, being nearly equal in
extent to all the other islands united. The largest and most
important island attached to Cuba is the Isle of Pines, called
by Columbus, who discovered it in 1494, Evangelista, situated
on the south. side of the island, about half the size of Long
Island in the United States. Cuba was originally, and is-at the
present time, though now almost the only one, the most
flourishing of the Spanish settlements in the New World, and
is the largest of those that constitute the Columbian Archipelago.
The earliest period at which anything was heard respecting
this island that particularly attracted the attention of Europe
was in 1518, when Cortez sailed from it with six hundred and
twenty men for his expedition to Mexico, under the direction of
Velasquez. The latter was one of the companions of Columbus,
and the first Deputy-Governor of Cuba, under Don Diego
Columbus; and it was by the authority of the latter that
Velasquez effected its conquest from the natives, who for a time
bravely defended their lovely isle under their celebrated cazique
or chief, Hatuay. The circumstances attending this invasion
were of great atrocity, especially in relation to this celebrated
Indian. Being taken prisoner, he was ordered by Velasquez to




HISTORY OF CUBA.


399


be burnt alive. When tied to the stake, and before the fatal
brand was thrown upon the pile that was to consume his body
to ashes, Hatuay listened to the exhortations of a priest, who
besought him to embrace Christianity.
"Are there any Spaniards in paradise?" enquired the doomed
chief.
"Without doubt there are some," replied the priest.
"Ah, then, Hatuay has no wish to go there. Fire the stake
and let me burn, for I have no desire to be seen where there are
Spaniards."*
The subjugation of the island was effected by a force of
about three hundred men, sent for this object fiom Hispaniola,
now Haiti, in or about the year 1511. It had been, however,
circumnavigated by Ocampo in 1508, three years previously,
till which time it was supposed by Columbus to have been a
continent.
The population of Cuba is estimated at the present time at
nearly 1,000,000 of all classes and colours, of whom upwards
of one-third are whites. According to statistics given by M.
Bellou, the number of the population of the whole island is as
follows:-Of whites, 603,000; of free coloured people, about
205,000; and of slaves, 442,000. But the number of slaves
here given is probably underrated, as Lord Aberdeen, writing to
Mr. Bulwer in December 1843, estimated them at that time, on
the authority of the most intelligent inhabitants of the island,
as between 800,000 and 900,000.t
According to Senor Torre the population is 1,500,000. Of
this, about 1,009,060 are comprised in the settled population of
the island. The proportions in 1853, which are derived from
the latest official census that has been published, is as follows:
-Whites, 501,988; free coloured, 176,647; slaves, 330,425:
total, 1,009,060. This is the fixed population; add to this the
transient, and the aggregate would be increased to 1,500,000.
Divided according to nationalities the whole population is
thus enumerated:-Natives of Spain, 90,620; of the Canary
Islands, 25,000; of France, 3,000; of England, 1,000; and
of America and other countries, 3,000; leaving more than


* A similar tragedy to the above was acted by Pizarro, in his conquest of
Mexico, towards the celebrated Inca Atabalipa.
t History of Cuba; or, Notes by a Traveller in the Tropics.  By M.
Bellou, Boston, 1854, p. 202.




400


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


400,000 natives of the island.  Among the latter are the
copper-coloured American race of Cuba still existing in very
small numbers, who are considered the true descendants of the
aborigines found on the island when first visited by Columbus.
The total number thus given, estimating the area of the
island in square leagues at 3,975, gives 254 to the square
league, or 29 to the square mile, and shows that the population
is more dense than that of the southern portion of the United
States, or of any one of the Spanish-American States, including
the whole of Brazil.*
On the authority of Mr. Pliny Miles, of Boston, in his
pamphlet on Ocean Steam    Navigation, I quote additional
statistics. They are as late as 1857:"The total number of estates on the island is not far from
14,000; which may be divided as follows:-coffee plantations,
1,862; sugar plantations, 1,442; tobacco plantations, 912;
grazing and fruits, 9,930. The annual products are valued at
600,000,000 dollars. Some of the principal are estimated as
follows:-sugar, 18,669,942 dollars; fruits, 14,839,050 dollars;
coffee, 6,000,000 dollars; molasses, 1,402,728 dollars; cigars,
4,267,496 dollars; leaf tobacco, 500,000 dollars. The annual
imports of the island amount to 30,000,000 dollars; the exports
about 28,000,000 dollars. Cuba sends exports to England
annually to the amount of about 1,500,000 dollars; and to the
United States, about 7,000,000 dollars. There are also already
constructed railroads measuring 397 miles."
Ethnologically considered, the races of inhabitants found at
present on the island, are the Caucasian, African, American,
and Mongolian. The latter are chiefly Chinese, introduced into
the island since 1847, amounting to about 6,000, and included
in the "transient" returns. Africans were introduced into Cuba
in 1524, but from causes that will hereafter appear, rather than
from climate, the multiplication of the race has never corresponded with what might have' been reasonably expected.
According to the clearest and most incontrovertible evidence
their numbers have been greatly diminished by merciless
oppression. It is well known that many thousands of Africans
have been brought into Cuba since 1850, and that now its slave
population is only little more than half a million.


* Compendi Geographia fisica, politica, estadistica y companda de la Isla de
Cuba.. Don Jose Maria de la Torre Real of the Economics of Havanna.




HAVANNA.


401


Havanna is now the capital city of Cuba. Formerly Baracoa
and St. Jago de Cuba, situated on the south side of the island,
claimed that distinction. Havanna is built on the north-western
coast, that situation being chosen because the channel between
Cuba and the main land of North America was found the most
convenient passage for merchant vessels bound to Europe from
Mexico. The last named cities are the more ancient, for they
were founded by the first Deputy-Governor. Havanna, however,
is not only the principal city, but has long been the greatest
commercial emporium of the western islands.  It stands, as
already said, on the north-west side of the island, distant from
Kingston 740 miles, the course being south of Jamaica and of
Cuba, round Capes Antonio and Corientes.
The shape of the town, like the harbour, is semicircular, the
diameter being formed by the shore. Like many other towns
within the tropics, it appears at a distance as if embosomed in
a wood of palm and other trees of great novelty and beauty of
form, to the European eye towering with proud pre-eminence
over all the other visible objects the city contains.  Its population is estimated at one hundred and twenty thousand.
It has been truly said that both the Old and the New World
meet in Cuba. Havanna seems like a piece of Spain that has
drifted into the Atlantic. Approaching this city from Europe
or America, the eye is rivetted by the variety and brilliancy of
the panorama. On one side are fortifications, resembling those
of Malta, hewn out of the dark grey rock, and along their
parapets may be seen lines of soldiers in white uniforms, with
the ancient Spanish banner, red and gold, waving in the passing
currents of the air. Below these, along the shore to the right
of the entrance to the harbour, towards the ramparts, spreads
the town; not sombre, like London, nor white, like Paris, but
party-coloured, like Damascus.  The houses are blue, pink,
scarlet, yellow, with masses of green palms gleaming above
them, and shading the streets and squares with their broad
feathery fronds; the whole city basking in the sun and resembling
an immense number of showy articles of porcelain and glass on a
stall of fancy wares.  In the harbour float old-fashioned
gondolas, not black, like those of Venice, but brilliant and
beautiful. Altogether Havanna has a peculiar character, and a
romantic life, unlike that of any other city either in Europe or
America.
The riches and magnificence of Havanna have frequently




402


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


excited the cupidity of invaders, and it has been, therefore,
repeatedly subject to attacks by hostile armaments.  It was
taken by a French pirate in 1563; afterwards by English and
French buccaneers, and subsequently by the British, under the
Duke of Albemarle and Admiral Pococke, in the reign of
George III., after a siege of twenty-nine days; its capture
involving a great sacrifice of lives, as well as producing a vast
amount of treasure to the captors. It was, however, restored
to Spain by England in the peace of 1763.
But the value and importance of the city, as also of the
whole island, was rated so high, as already hinted, not only on
account of the treasures it was found to contain, but still more
from great political and commercial considerations; as it was
the key of the Spanish possessions in South America, and the
harbour in which all the galleons and merchant vessels were
accustomed to assemble before they departed on their voyage to
Europe.
Since the loss to Spain of her South American colonies, this
island has become of especial importance to England and
America, whose mutual interest it is to secure its permanent
possession to Spain; or, on any disruption of the tie which
binds it to Europe, to recognize it as an independent state, as it
commands the Gulf of Mexico by the Straits of Yucatan and
Florida; the navigation of the windward passage and channel
of Bahamas; with all the maritime frontier south of Georgia, in
the north of the new hemisphere; and, therefore, by whichsoever
of these two great maritime powers it were possessed, the balance
of power would be destroyed, viz.:-that equilibrium of political
influence which the civilised world instinctively feels to be essential to the maintenance of order and the due development of all
resources, mental, moral, and physical, that are within its reach;
and the loss of which equilibrium, it may be feared, would involve the sacrifice of the peace and amity which have so long
subsisted between these nations. No one, especially who is an
inhabitant of the colonies of Great Britain in this hemisphere,
but must deprecate the attempts that are obviously made by
our neighbours of the United States to annex this valuable and
important island to their Republic, as the evils of such an accession, by perpetuating the slavery of its vassals, and by other
important results, would be deeply felt throughout this whole
archipelago, entailing mischiefs that can scarcely be conceived.
It has been too justly observed,-The Russians call the Crimea




SHALL CUBA BE ANNEXED?


403


their Italy. America sees an Italy in Cuba. She has an old
quarrel with the Government of Spain, and many of her people
desire to satisfy their wrongs by the annexation of this " isle of
beauty."
That this is the wish of many Americans is evident from their
published sentiments. "The masses among us," says a late
American author, "may not busy themselves with acquiring
Cuba; but the States where slavery exists, aware of the political
importance it has for them, do not slumber; and their prudence,
and their wise measures, and their enthusiasm in the cause, are
sure guarantees that the annexation will take place at an early
date."
The desire for the possession of Cuba has existed ever since the
days of Jefferson, who, in his letters to President Munro, in 1823,
says:-" I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the
most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system
of States. The control which, with Florida Point, this island
would give us over the Gulf of Mexico and the countries and
isthmus bordering it, would fill up the measure of our political
well-being." At the same time, as it is natural to suppose, there
is a desire on the part of Cubans themselves for annexation.
This is easily understood when the immense value it'would
impart at once to estates and landed property in general is considered. Thus, if there are 300,000 slaves in Cuba, worth
50,000,000 dollars, and their value should equalise with those
of the United States, the result would be 150,000,000 dollars in
favour of the owners for that item. It is also well known that
most of the influential men around the Spanish Government are
interested in this property, and that they have a secret desire for
its improvement in value.*
It is but justice, however, to say that there is a powerful
party in the United States opposed to annexing it, even by
purchase. A very popular writer in Massachusetts has lately
published a work, in which he argues that to conquer the island
would be a great crime, and to buy it an absurdity. He quotes
in his favour a noble maxim of Roman law,-" That a patriot
will value the good name of his country far more than the
treasures of the world."
Is it not time, it may be asked, that philanthropists everywhere should awake to the fearful condition of Cuba, and use


~ 1,000 negroes, in Cuba, are estimated by some authorities at f100,000.




40-1


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


every means to free her from her present state and impending
destiny? And is it not the duty of Jamaica, and the other
West India islands generally, to interest themselves in this
momentous question?
If Cuba became independent, a prosperous commerce might
be maintained between her and the mother country, resulting
from ancient associations, common language, and tastes, which
would be far more productive than the best contrived system of
colonial taxation.
Such, notoriously, has been the result to Great Britain of the
establishment of the independence of the United States.
The established religion of Havanna, and of the whole country,
is the Roman Catholic. Popery exists, it may be said, in all
its various and most intolerant forms. Here, as in most other
Spanish settlements, it admits of no compromise with other
forms and denominations of religion. Indeed, the toleration of
other religious opinions and practices is said to be contrary to
the Spanish constitution, and thus every resident foreigner is
compelled to yield allegiance to the Papal See.  Protestant
worship, it would appear, is not even tolerated in the house of
the British Consul. And it is stated, that although the port of
Havanna is visited by from twelve to fifteen thousand American
seamen annually, it is unsupplied with a chaplain, because thebigotted Popish Government of the island will not permit the
residence of a minister of the Gospel who will not swear himself
a good Catholic.
The state of morals among the inhabitants of Cuba generally,
may be inferred both from its political and its religious condition. Havanna has been described as a city of crime and
sorrow, of despair and gold,-a concentration of whatever can
impair the intellect, corrupt the imagination, and deprave the
heart. With many honourable exceptions doubtless, vice and
wickedness pervade the whole mass of the population. Sabbath
breaking, profane swearing, uncleanness, irreligion, and infidelity,
are awfully prevalent. Says a late writer:-" The people who
compose the lower orders are free blacks, slaves, and Spaniards;
all of them are very dissolute and unprincipled; and I believe
the city is the scene of more outrages and daring crimes than
any other of its size in the civilised world."
As some evidence of the licentiousness that prevails, illegitimacy is so prevalent that the proportion of illegitimate births
among the coloured people is more than sixty-six per cent.




STATE OF MORALS AND RELIGION.


405


The unchecked influence of Popery upon society is fearful.
There is nothing in it that purifies and elevates our nature. It
leaves the heart without life and the mind without light. It is
nearly all external. In the church there is no devotion,nothing to kindle up the soul. The cathedrals are great public
shows, to which the people go to be amused, not to be edified.
There is worship, but no religion,-rather there is hypocrisy,
but no religion; no religion in the hearts of the people; no
correct and holy example in the life.  They are practical
atheists,-some professing the outward form for the sake of
decorum, some from fashion, some from fear, some from
caprice. They observe days and months, and times, and years,
and groan under the irksome pressure of degrading rites and
costly ceremonials.  Their devotion is not the work of the
heart, the rising of the soul to God; the worship which only
can be acceptable to Him, because it is the simple and fervent
expression of true feelings and wants.
There is no Sabbath. The hallowed morn brings no relief
from toil or care.  Business is as urgent, the shops more
attractive, and the theatres more thronged on that sacred day
than on others.  In certain places markets are held, attended
by thousands of all classes. For the evening of this day the
most attractive pieces for theatrical representation are reserved;
the character and tendency of many of these are fearful,enough to weaken and destroy all the ties of virtue and morality
in any people. All the claims of religion cease at an early
hour. Everywhere the Sabbath is marked by worldliness. It
is either spent in business or pleasure; and drunkenness and
festivity everywhere abound.
No one can doubt that the influence of the priest is very
great over the minds of the female population. Females compose by far the greater part of his congregation; they attend
the numerous feasts in considerable numbers, and are nearly
the only visitors at the confessional. Infidelity is said to be
very rife among the other sex, especially in the higher circles.
Of true religion the Cubans have no conception, and Romanism
is only a deception-a fraud.
It answers the ends of the priesthood.  As an engine of
power it serves their purposes with the people. Beyond this,
numbers of the intelligent do not go; and should Romanism interfere with their liberty they would annihilate the
one to preserve the other.  Many of the most respectable




406


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


inhabitants do not scruple to manifest their predilection for
liberty of conscience. Free, however, to gratify themselves,
and unchecked by itsinfluence, they tolerate a system which in
heart they believe to be a great and grievous imposture. In
their hearts Popery and its mummeries are thoroughly hated.
Still there lingers some superstitious fear before which many
quail in moments of sickness or in the hour of death. They
are then frightened into prayer, but not melted into contrition;
they seek those consolations from external -forms and superstitious ceremonies which genuine religion alone can impart.
Like the parent state, Cuba has been vanquished and enslaved,
oppressed and almost lost through ecclesiastical intolerance.
Literature has been discouraged, and but for the vestiges that
remain among some of the older families, and the infusion of
liberal principles among her youth by England and America,
she would have sunk ere this into utter barbarism. Infidelity
has been imported principally from France, and the people,
submerged in ignorance, are carried away by a torrent of
licentiousness and unbelief.
Nor does acquaintance with the community in general tend
to elevate the notions of a reputable stranger as to their social
state. Not to notice the unbounded and unblushing licentiousness that prevails, there appears but little social intercourse
between the males and females of the same family. Their
habits at meals partake little of social elegance, and indicate,
even among the higher classes, an inferior state of civilisation.
Their domestic comforts are evidently few.  That state of
domestic union towards which nature leads the human species
by softening the heart to gentleness and humanity, is, in a
great degree unknown, and the married state is so unequal
as to establish a cruel distinction between the sexes; stimulating
the one to be harsh and unfeeling, and humbling the other to
servility and uncomplaining submission.
Upon the surface lie many things unfavourable in their
influence to domestic peace and social purity. Married women
appear degraded. They are not here presiding spirits in the
sanctuary of domestic life.  The early instruction of their
children,-the regulation of the domestics,-the entire policy
of the household, are not committed to them. While they are
by no means exempt from domestic cares, oftentimes those of
business are superadded. The sweet lovely bloom of matronly
modesty is wanting also in Cuba; the grace and affectionate




CONDITION OF WOMAN.


407


influence of matronly character is not seen. The social ties are
weakened, and domestic influence of the pure elevating kind is
not felt.
The men luxuriate in the caf6, or spend their evenings in
worse places of resort. It may be generally said that they pass
their mornings in business, their afternoons in melting lassitude at
some creole coffee-house, and their evenings in lounging on the
promenade, at the opera, or in the delicious suburbs; for Cuba
is a festal island, and its inhabitants are as much addicted to
gaiety as to repose. Home is only a place of rest, not of enjoyment; a place of retirement, not of loving and softening
influence. The marriage bond is loosely held. Not only is
domestic infidelity fearfully prevalent-even female virtuc is
but little csteemed. In the highest circles vice of this character
reigns almost unchecked, and its influence extends itself down
to the lowest ranks of society. Every class is more or less
tainted with the evil; both priests and people are alike. "The
whole head is sick." Popery does not meet this monstrous
evil. It cannot. It rather soothes and cherishes it,-weakening the motives to purity,-annihilating all the safeguards to
virtue; by its ruthless invasion and scrutiny of the female heart
it leaves it a prey to every passion, and fearful is the harvest of
immorality that' results from it.  Thus the moral condition
of the masses is deplorable, and their bigotry, superstition, and
vice are of no common kind.
No wonder that among the female portion of the community,
even among the best of them, there should be seen an inefficient
discharge of household duties.
Although, however, Spanish matrons are not generally remarkable for the social affections, nor celebrated for their
domestic economy and industry, yet these virtues and qualities
are not wholly unappreciated by the other sex. Hence the
familiar Spanish proverb:" The wife that expects to have a good name,
Is always at home as if she were lame;
And the maid that is honest-her cheerful delight
Is still to be doing from morning till night."
The state of things thus detailed, it is scarcely necessary to
observe, is, to a considerable degree, the effect of slavery, the
greatest moral pestilence that ever withered the happiness of
mankind. Like the poisonous upas, its dark shadows wither
everything within its baleful influence. It is as great a curso




408


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


to the enslaver as to the enslaved; it renders the one as cruel
and licentious as the other is degraded and miserable; it is a
crime which, if not annihilated by other means, will one day
find its destruction in its excesses. Anywhere and everywhere
slave-masters contract bad habits of almost every kind; they
become haughty, passionate, obdurate, vindictive, voluptuous,
cruel, and in general neglect all the moral virtues.* Providence
never permits the laws of nature to be outraged with impunity.
That violence should be done to the affections of the heart, or
that man should be made to serve as the instrument of vile ambition and avarice to his brother, without a just retribution, is
contrary to reason, and against the principles of God's moral
government of the world. This slavery-the foulest blot on
the escutcheon of Spain, and which has long given her such
unenviable notoriety among the nations-exists here in all its
horrors.
The annals of the colony are written in blood. Law in this
country is but a fiction, justice only a name. Nothing could
have been more erroneous than the impression once prevalent
that the consequences of slavery to its unhappy victims were
more mild and in all respects less revolting in Cuba than elsewhere.  It exists here to the present day with every circumstance of cruelty and horror incident to that accursed system.
The cruelties practised towards the slaves by their relentless
oppressors, like those inflicted by the ancestors of these men
on the amiable and unoffending Indians, and which resulted in
almost the complete annihilation of the latter, have never
perhaps been exceeded by civilised man.
The wretched vassals know of no respite from labour or
from  suffering.  They are made to work on an average
thirteen hours a day, and during the crop season for sixteen
hours a day.    Little relaxation or repose is given them.
Sunday is not even excepted, it is no day of recreation or rest
to them. Their sufferings and toils are thus brought to an early
close; they are soon literally worn to death; a very few years
is the utmost extent during which human endurance can sustain
life under such circumstances.
It is a well authenticated fact that the average life of a
Cuban slave is at the most of eight years' duration. A predial
slave is worked to death within this period, and is replaced by


" See Letters of Thomas Jefferson.




SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE.


409


continual importations of Africans, as also of Indians from
Yucatan in the southern continent, a fact which has been
recently ascertained. The slaves of Cuba are among the most
wretched beings that were ever beheld-the "iron has entered
into their souls."  Nothing but despotism  keeps the mass
together.
The Slave Trade is also carried on under the most atrocious
circumstances.  During a visit of the author to Havanna
some years since, perceiving considerable excitement in the city,
he enquired the cause, and found it was owing to a recent
contest between' a British vessel and a slaver at no great distance
from the harbour. The crew of the slaver, it seems, had been
dreadfully mangled by the man of war, but had arrived, notwithstanding, at Regla, a suburb of Havanna; to which medical
men had been sent from the city with the utmost dispatch, in
order to afford the necessary surgical assistance.  And this was
proclaimed in the public streets, and formed the common topic
of conversation at noonday, without any attempt at secrecy or
any indication of disapproval.
The slave trade is manifestly connived at by officers of the
Government, both high and low, in the most unblushing manner, and in spite of laws and treaties.
The Captain-General is said not only to patronise and concur
in the continuance of this abominable traffic, but to be deeply
interested in it.  More than this, it is affirmed that it is
actually encouraged by the Queen of Spain,-the modern
Catherine de Medicis,-Queen Maria Isabella II.; and that an
ounce of gold is received by the Governor for every slave that
is brought into the island; this, too, in defiance of the treaty
between Great Britain and Spain for its abolition,-in defiance
of the law making this traffic piracy.*
In May, 1820, the British   Government paid to Spain
~400,000 as a compensation for the losses sustained by the
captains of their slave ships, and the loss which Spanish
subjects would thereafter sustain by the abolition of the trade."
The number of slaves annually imported into Cuba and its
neighbourhood, is said by some authorities to be twentyfive thousand, but by others to be nearly double that number.
They consist also, almost entirely of men, and on some estates,
not a single woman is to be found. Natural increase is dis

* For the Treaty. vide Appendix.
T




C~  F  — ~ —  L I-.. a  -t~'


410              CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
regarded. As with oxen, the strongest animals are imported,
are worked up, and then succeeded by a fresh supply. And,
to the disgrace of America, nine-tenths of the vessels employed
in this trade are said to be built at Baltimore and New York,
and furnished both with American registers and American
colours. It is an astounding fact that two-thirds of the slaves
introduced into this island, having been imported since 1820,
together with their issue, amounting in all to upwards of five
hundred thousand souls, are, both by the treaty above-named,
and by the laws of Spain, entitled to their liberty!
At the same time, there are slaves in this island who have
been captured on the middle passage by our cruisers; these
have been brought of late before the mixed commission court,
at Havanna, and have been by that court legally freed and
ordered to be apprenticed to Cubans, who have in reality
enslaved them; so that there are many thousands emancipados,
as they are termed, wearing out their lives iti slavery, for
whose liberty the honour, not only of Spain, but of England
is pledged.
After years of fruitless representations, our Government have
at length succeeded in obtaining decrees for the registration
of these people and for their ultimate freedom.
M. Ballou attributes the connivance of the Spanish government in the slave trade not merely to individual selfishness,
but also to an idea on the part of the home government that it
is not advisable to stop the import of the raw material, out
of which might be manufactured on occasion "black recruits."
It is this intimation amongst other things, that has so greatly
excited the rage of the creole owners and of their American
sympathizers against the parent country.
The Captain-Generalship of Cuba has. been notoriously
sought and bestowed as the means of acquiring a fortune; and
in so short a space of time is this result secured, that four years
of office is reputed to be a tenure which no Governor, however
poverty-stricken or covetous, need desire to exceed.  It is
currently alleged that the annual perquisites of the office fall
little short of ~100,000, and that a Captain-General of Cuba,
after five years' absence, may reasonably expect to return to
Spain with his half million of realised gains.
It is asserted by a very recent writer, that the " gratification,"
so called, of half an ounce of gold, which was formerly received
by the Captains-General for every "sack of charcoal" (the nick



SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE.


411


name given by those who engage in this infamous traffic to the
African slaves brought over), has risen to the large sum of three
doubloons in gold. And this odious traffic, it is deeply to be
deplored, is greatly on the increase. A short time since, when
the band of Narcisco Lopez was attacked and defeated in the
streets of Cardenas by the Spanish troops, one thousand slaves
were landed in the island, which produced the Captain-General
three thousand ounces of gold, being three ounces for each
slave. It is asserted that upwards of ten thousand have been
landed during the last few months.
The attention of the British Government and people is now
being especially drawn to the shameful violation of the treaties
both by the Government of Spain and by that of Brazil. England
will surely demand their fulfilment without any further delay, in
justice to her own colonies, as well as for her own honour and
the sake of humanity. At present, England is in the anomalous
position of a man with one hand extended to annihilate the
slave trade, and with the other grasping a bonus from the produce of slavery. In other words, while the British Government
placed a preventive squadron on the slave-coast, simultaneously
it abolished the differential and protective duties, and thereby
put a premium on slave-labour, or on the contraband traffic in
slaves.
The abolition or suppression of the slave-trade is stated by a
manifesto of the Cubans themselves, as necessary to the political
existence of the country. They protest against the contraband
trade as compromising day by day the political existence of the
island, by swelling the numbers and strengthening the power of
the servile and alien race. This traffic is regarded as a stigma
on their civilisation,-a horrid abyss in which they bury their
security for future welfare,-the hydra which frightens capitalists
from the island.
Piracy is almost as openly recognised as the slave-trade.
Regla, a short time since, if not at the present time, might be
called the pandemonium of pirates-an organised society of
these desperadoes existing there under the cognomen of "Musselmen." They were so numerous and desperate that it was
supposed the public authorities either connived at their atrocities
or were afraid to interfere with them; while the trade of plunder
was so openly practised, that a woman apologised for the absence
of her husband by saying that he was " gone on a cruise with
the Musselmen." The atrocities of these men were designated
T2




412


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


by the name of "irregular sea practice;" and with a still further view to deceive, they designated themselves "Spanish
fishermen."
The government in Cuba is engrafted on that of old Spain.
Being thus an integral part of the monarchy, it is governed
like the provinces of the parent state, and divided into three
intendencias-Western, Central, and Eastern; or, as more commonly designated, the Oriental, the Central, and the Occidental,
under one Governor.
These grand divisions are subdivided into several governments, sub-governments, and colonies.  The Central and
Occidental departments form the civil province of Havanna;
and the Oriental, the civil province of Cuba. For ecclesiastical
purposes the island is divided into two dioceses: that of
Havanna, which includes all the Occidental department, and
the Central, with the exception of the sub-governments of
Puerto Principe and Nuevitas; and that of Cuba, which includes the Oriental department, and that portion of the Central
not in union with the diocese of Havanna.
For judicial purposes, the Occidental department forms the
Audiencia Real of Havanna; and the two other departments,
that of Puerto Principe.
The "Occidental Department" contains the governments of
Havanna and Matanzas, the sub-government of Alacranes,
Bahia Honda, Bejucal, Cardenas, Guanhacoa, San Julien de
Guines, Jaraco, Mariel, Nueva Felipina, Santa Maria del
Rosaria, San Antonio, San Christobal, and Santiago, and the
colony of La Raina Amalia, or Isla de Pinos.
The "Central Department" contains the governments of
Trinadad and Fernandina de Jagua, the sub-governments of
Cienfuegos, Puerto Principe, Nuevitas, San Juan de los
Remedios, Sagua la Grande, Santa Clara, Espurito Santo, and
the colony of San'Domingo.
The "Oriental Department" contains the government of
Santiago de Cuba, and the sub-governments of Baracoa, Bayamo,
Holguin, Jiguani las Tunas, Manzanillo, and Saltadero.
The island is presided over usually by one of the nobility
of old Spain, in whom are associated the double offices of
Cure-Governor and Captain-General. This officer resides in
Havanna.
There is, however, in Puerto Principe, an Audiencia or
Supreme Court, having jurisdiction over the Island of Puerto




GOVERNMENT AND REVENUES.


413


Rico, as well as that of Cuba, and which is said to be in some
respects independent of the local government.
The Government of Cuba, though, as already said, similar to
that of the parent state, is much more oppressive. It is a kind
of military despotism, or rather an oligarchy, in which the love
of dominion is carried to a species of fanaticism, and degraded
into meanness. As nothing is too large for its ambition, so
nothing is too small for its cupidity. Its appetite is insatiable,
and its digestion omnivorous. There are no limits to its rapacity.
Both the legislative, judicial, and executive power is almost
entirely in the hands of the Governor. Indeed, the power with
which he is invested is almost equal in extent to that granted
to governors of besieged towns.  Even the higher classes
may be said to have no civil rights,-neither those of personal
liberty, personal security, nor personal property,-immunities
declared by Blackstone as the inalienable birthright of every
man.
The taxation is said to exceed in variety and extent that of
any taxation imposed by any Government in any country of its
size upon earth: viz., upwards of twenty millions of dollars
collected by the order and for the uses of the Spanish Government alone, independently of those appropriated to the wants
of the country itself or for social purposes.
The revenue of the island in 1851 was reported to be
13,821,456 dollars, which is thought to be below the real
aggregate. Other estimates affirm that the taxation for that
year amounted to both the revenue and the expenses, viz.,
25,291,206 dollars. The 13,821,456 dollars went to Spain, and
the 11,969,150 was appropriated to the Governor and the army
of officials.*
The creole population are excluded from almost all influential
and lucrative offices and positions. The judges and most of
the officials are from Spain, and being without salaries, like so
many vultures they prey upon the unprotected within their
jurisdiction. There are no means dishonest, tyrannical, or cruel
which the Spanish authorities have left untried in their apparent
endeavours to ruin the colony. Bribery and corruption seem to
be recognised as necessary methods of their government. Some
of the officials plead the excuse of necessity, and that insufficient remuneration for their services obliges them to have


* Compendi, &c. Don Jose Maria de la Torre, &c.




414


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


recourse to every possible means of adding to their incomes.
Others whose position, and the amount of whose salaries ought
to place them far above such dishonest practices, satisfy their
consciences by alleging the custom of the island. Every man
has his price, from the Captain-General downwards to the
lowest grade of officials. The Governor even is handsomely
paid for breaking his country's plighted faith in permitting the
landing of Africans,-as are also all his accomplices, down to
the lowest unpaid official. The Government is composed of
dealers in ambition. The advocates of moderation to-day may
become, from  interested motives, the advocates of tyranny
to-morrow; while, to culminate misfortune, or rather misrule,
the public necessities are increasing, their impoverished treasury
rapidly presents greater needs, and disregarding the best known
and most appropriate financial measures, the rulers of the
colony have resorted to plans for annihilating the little commerce that remains, and to oppress the inhabitants with most
grievous and ill-calculated taxes.  The whole colonial policy
of Spain is nothing better than injustice, and all injustice will
sooner or later end in revolution. Sad, indeed, that this fair
isle should be at one and the same time the richest gem in the
crown of Spain and the foulest blot on her escutcheon!
Cuba thus without toleration, without civil liberty, without
liberty of conscience, how degraded!  What wonder at the
decay of its Government, or at the depravation of the national
character?
As in all the former colonies of old Spain, the laws are not
so objectionable as the manner in which they are executed or:evaded. The press of the country is under such servile censorship, that the very incidents of everyday life are often excluded
at the will and caprice of one individual, who is appointed to
scrutinise the most trifling article before it can be presented to
the public.  Hence the conventional, emphatic, hyperbolic
style of words found in the Cuban journals, and which none
but Cubans can understand. There are published in Havanna
four daily newspapers and one monthly periodical. The latter
is entitled the "Anales." There are also two semi-monthlies:
"La Revista de la Havanna," and "El Almandares."      At
Matanzas there is issued daily the "Aurora."  At St. Jago de
Cuba there are three publications; and one or more in each of
the principal towns: while there are also printed and circulated
in the island some literary and scientific publications, edited




TENDENCY TO RUIN.


415


principally by young men of the country who have voluntarily
devoted themselves to the cultivation of letters.
"The despotism and exclusiveness of the mother country,"
says the Earl of Carlisle,-alluding to the time of his personal
visit,-"were complete; everyone gave the same picture of the
corruption and demoralisation which pervaded every department
of the administration of justice," &c.
"The politics of the country," he continues, "are rather
delicate ground to tread on just now, and are likely to be continually shifting. It appeared to me that all the component
parts held each other in check, like the people who were all
prevented from killing each other in the farce of 'The Critic.' "*
Thus Cuba, after all, is neither prosperous nor happy. Heavy
interest on mortgage debts is breaking down the proprietary.
Her internal condition is anything but what it ought to be.
The despotism of the Government,-the prevailing venality and
thirst of gain,-the bitter dissatisfaction of the creoles,-the
state of the slaves,-the continuance of the slave-trade, which
annually peoples the island with thousands of wild Africans,the longing glances which the American Paris casts upon his
Atlantic Helen,-all forebode a stormy future, and, it may be,
a terrible and bloody crisis.
No wonder the Cuban proprietor is not happy,-no wonder
should the black be even more happy than the white,-the
crushed slave more happy than the master. For the latter no
palm trees wave their massy fronts with music in the bland air;
the delicious winds do not caress him; the mild blue heavens
shine not upon him. Between him and all the glory of nature
stands the bohea and the sugar mill, with the negro slaves who
dread him, and of whom he equally stands in dread. The mild
heavens of Cuba give the slave-owner no peace. He sees the
sword of Damocles hanging over his head, and the future is all
dark and portentous before him. His end, therefore, and his
only aim, is more than ever to augment his revenues with as
little delay as possible, and, by whatever means, that he may
leave Cuba for ever.
Her own patriots have said of her, "Were you to draw aside
the brilliant mask which hides the state of the country, a
lacerated and deformed skeleton would present itself."
Nor is she safe from foes within her citadels. Where the


* Lecture by the Earl of Carlisle.




416


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


genius of man is forced from its natural channel, it will rise,
like the waters of the fountain, to the level of its source in
another. Liberty brought to the frontiers of States soon finds
it way into the heart of the country, and then farewell to all the
false sentiment which would invest an ivy and moss-covered
ruin with the light and majesty of a noble modern temple,
and denies to modem people modern habits and necessities,
and imposes its chain on the welfare of every class of the community.
If the history of man,-if past experience and present appearances do not deceive us, it may be confidently predicted that
neither Cuba, Puerto Rico, nor Brazil, nor even the Southern
States of America, can continue many years in the state in
which they now exist.
There are signs of insecurity on the right hand and on the
left, and many thoughts will arise unbidden in the statesman's
mind while he muses on the prophecy of Berkeley,c" Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
The fifth shall close the drama with a day;
Times noblest offspring is the last."
Yes, let this measure of justice to the enslaved African race
be much longer deferred, and nature, provoked beyond further
endurance, may rise in her strength and vindicate her own
laws, and restore the credit of her own equal and just administration to the lasting punishment of those who have abused it.
Ominous and unsettled therefore as is the political horizon of
the West, and of Cuba in particular, there is no reason for christian philanthropists to be dismayed.  Moral and providential
changes are in progress which will silently effect what the madness' of revolutionists vainly attempt, and what tyrants and
bigots in vain impede.
Even the attack of some other Lopez may be renewed, while
the lust for territory, which unhappily the citizens of the
United States display, and which with them has become such an
absorbing passion, is too serious a trait in the character of a
powerful neighbouring people to be disregarded.
The future of this lovely island who can predict, or rather
who cannot foretell its destiny? It is talked of by American
citizens as "The Sick Man;" and Mr. Ballou, ardently sympathising with the creoles in their desire for more just and tolerant
government, enumerates a long list of their grievances-heavy




ARMY AND NAVY.


417


taxes, exclusion from office, censorship of the press, deprivation
of all political rights, absurd and noxious interference, together
with other acts equally oppressive and unjust, which he fears
will soon precipitate an issue.
At the present time, notwithstanding the preparations recently
made for the defence of Cuba, and which can only be regarded
as a paroxysm of the government, the pithy phrase of Sully is
equally applicable as in the time of its first utterance: " Spain
is one of those states which have strong arms, but a weak and
debilitated heart." Amidst the splendour of its court and the
pomposity of its language, her Government feels itself really
weak, and seeks to conceal its weakness by immobility.  Tired
of conflicts which resulted only in defeat, she has of late years
aspired solely to the security of peace, and devoted her utmost
care to avoid all questions and circumstances which would
impose upon her administration efforts of which they did not
feel themselves capable. Hence the recent conduct of America
towards her. Spain is " magni nominis umbra "-has enough
of name to shelter crime, but not enough vigour to repress it.
Under any circumstances Cuba will be free. The spirit of
liberty, as we have seen, is abroad among her people. The fire
is still smouldering within her citidel. A few who have dared
to "do or die," have fallen, and their blood still marks the spot
where they fell;" But freedom's battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft is always won."
Statistics of the Naval and Military force as existing in 1853,
given on official authority, inform us that Cuba has an army of
infantry seventeen thousand five hundred men; cavalry, one
thousand eight hundred and eight men; artillery, fifteen hundred men; sappers and miners, one hundred and thirty:-total,
twenty thousand.  This estimate does not include the civic
guard, which is also a part of the regular troops. In addition to
the above forces, there are on the island regiments of militia,
infantry, and cavalry, comprising altogether a land force of
twenty-four thousand four hundred and eighty-three troops,
which, added to the subsequent anrivals from Spain, make the
entire force since 1853, nearly twenty-five thousand men.
The naval force at the same period consisted of one frigate
of forty-four guns; seven brigantines, carrying one hundred and
four guns; eleven steam-vessels, with fifty-four guns; four
T3




418


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


schooners, with eleven guns; two gun-boats, with six guns;
and two transports; in all, twenty-five vessels, and two hundred
and nineteen guns, manned by three thousand men.    Two
steam-ships of war were still more recently added.
The personal and material commercial marine force of the
island is as follows: registered able men, two thousand and
fifty two; disabled, four hundred and eighty-seven; number not
in active service, four hundred and ninety-five.*
These united forces it is understood, having been considerably
augmented since 1853, or within the last three years, now
amount, as it is said, to upwards of thirty thousand men, well
paid and officered; together with the addition of an armed
squadron.
The number of men capable of bearing arms is estimated
at three hundred and ninety-three thousand; namely: creole
whites, one hundred and forty thousand; free coloured, forty
thousand; Spaniards, twenty thousand; Spanish troops, twentythree thousand; and slaves, one hundred and seventy thousand.
The military force, which is greatly efficient, being well
discipilined and well proved, is considered necessary, not less
as a security against the insurrection of the slaves than against
American aggression.


* Compendi de Geographia, &c.




CHAPTER XXIX.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.-Odious system of police surveillance. Streets of Havanna.
Houses. Furniture. Dress of inhabitants of both sexes. Personal appearance and social
characteristics of Spanish ladies and gentlemen. Managers of sugar estates. Peasants, &c.
Public vehicles and drivers. Agriculture, trade, and commerce.
The characteristics of the original white inhabitants of Cuba
(referring principally to those from old Spain) seem to have
been pride and ambition. Their descendants exhibit to a still
greater degree than their progenitors the Castilian sensitiveness
and high punctillio, but also preserve much of that high sense
of honour and integrity for which the Spanish character, among
its best representatives, has ever been distinguished, and from
which a singular taciturnity and hauteur would seem to have
been always inseparable.    The real Castilian and Andalusian
hidalgoes are a class of men of whom it may be said, that if they
have great pride, they have but little meanness. Their Cuban
descendants differ widely, however, in energy and in some other
respects from their ancestors, who, whatever may have been their
morals, were men of consummate enterprise and bravery.
As in every country cursed with- slavery, the principal inhabitants of Cuba are enervated by indolence and love of ease. An
effeminate luxury distinguishes the residents of Havanna, in
their houses, dress, pleasures, and occupations. Symptoms of
satiety, langour, and dull enjoyment are everywhere exhibited,the expiration of the spirit, if not of the breath of existence,a kind of settled melancholy, the invariable effect of inactivity,
especially of indolence coupled with vice. Like many others
of our race in other countries, they seem to have drunk so deep
in pleasure or voluptuousness, as to stir a sediment that renders
the draught unpalatable.
All are addicted to games of chance, such as cards and
lotteries, together with billiards and chess.  With the love of
bull-fights and cock-fights-those barbarous relics of a Vandal
and savage age-they seem to be infatuated.




420


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


Although the Spaniards are a grave, yet they are a pleasureseeking people. 'They may be said to be eminently a dancing
nation. This favourite national amusement in Cuba, as in old
Spain, is often enjoyed in the open air to the guitar and. tambourine, each dancer keeping time with the castanets fastened to
his hands or heels. In some shady sequestered thicket, or near
some shaded fountain or rivulet, where nature holds her holiday,
such groups are often to be found. The guitar or tambourine
on such occasions is seldom silent; and on moonlight evenings
these revelries are often protracted to a late hour, and to the
fancy of the traveller might call up the gay group of Comus,
or that described by the Roman bard,"Jam Cytheria choros ducat Venus eminente Luna
Junctaeque, Nymphae, Gratihque decentes
Alterno terrai quatiunt pede."
Balls are a very common and favourite amusement here, as in
all the West India islands; but, unlike the custom in English
colonies, no invitation is required to attend them-a genteel
dress is a sufficient introduction.
Music, also, is a favourite recreation; and musical instruments of various kinds and of extraordinary shapes and tones,
are indispensable appurtenances to the boudoir of a Cuban belle.
Guiltless of manual labour, in such trifling employments the
life of these imprisoned beauties, these ladies of fashion, glides
away with little variation; while that of the lower class is one
perpetual scene of labour and exposure. But even the downtrodden slave has his seasons of amusement, few and far between
as are the intervals of their recurrence; for even the broken
spirit will sometimes regain its elasticity. Yes, the slave also
has his concerts; but it must be confessed that no one with a
musical ear, or unless he has resided many years in the country,
and has discarded all European tastes and predilections, can be
captivated with, or even patiently endure their attempts at
harmony.
The more simple of the social amusements among the higher
classes are the soft, light, airy dance of the bayadere to the
cheerful sound of the castanets, the fandango, the sequidilla, or
the more graceful bolero of their father land. The guitar is the
favourite instrument of music with the ladies; and the pauses
and cadences with which the fair Cubanas so feelingly yet so
simply mark the more expressive parts of their plaintive airs,
are indescribably soft and soothing; especially when sitting in




- AMUSEMENTS.


421


their verandahs in the calm stillness of a moonlight evening,
-almost the only season of diversion and entertainment in the
torrid zone,-and when the music, accompanied by the dulcet
voice of the performer, is conveyed to a distance on the bland air.
In family concerts, which are common, with the accompaniments
of the tambourine and triangle, the rich notes swell upwards in
their strength and sink in soft cadence to tones of melting
harmony; now bursting forth in the full force of gladness,
now blending together in dreamy, mellow music, and suddenly
ceasing, or the soft but thrilling shake of one female voice
rising upon the air, and its plaintive beauty stirring the very
heart.
To a Cuban, or even to an European Spaniard, it scarcely
need be said the practice of smoking cigars is common. Smoking
would seem to a stranger to be a requisite of life to a Cuban;
being indulged in, with few exceptions, from the highest to the
lowest, at all hours, and in almost every place, at home and
abroad. It has been said of the population of Cuba, that onethird is occupied in the preparation of cigars, and that the other
two-thirds smoke them. It is a revolting practice when carried
to excess, and much cannot be said in its favour under any
circumstances; but when indulged in by ladies, it is intolerable.
It is, however, very common among the senoritas of Havanna,
both old and young. Those of the more respectable classes
smoke tobacco in small cigars or cigarritos of paper, or inclosed
in the leaves of maize called pachillos, and contained in a case
of gold or silver, which latter receptacle is usually suspended by
a chain or riband from the neck of the fair proprietor, and
deposited in the bosom, from which they supply themselves or
friends successively by a pair of tweezers of the same metal.
This practice is so habitual to some of the fair sex, that it constitutes the employment of almost every leisure moment. Groups
of them may be sometimes seen indulging this plebeian taste,
sitting at the unglazed, prison-like windows of their domiciles
at all hours of the day.
The propensity to gambling pervades all classes-the beggar
as the prince, the duenna as the don. Hence it is not only
exhibited in places of public resort and fashionable entertainment, but jugglers are to be seen in all parts of the city, seated
upon a mat, on which are exhibited cards, dice, cups, balls, &c.,
and urging sailors, loose Spaniards, and all passers by, with
considerable volubility of tongue and earnestness of gesture, to




422


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


try their fortunes; to which, whoever is beguiled, is so, almost
inevitably, to his serious disadvantage.  These are chiefly
Sabbath recreations, along with the bull-fights, which take place
once a month, or more or less frequently, on that sacred day.
And so deeply are the feelings of the populace wound up and
centered in this last-named Sabbath recreation, that to interdict
or even to control it would probably produce a revolution in the
island.
The respect and devotion with which the fair sex are treated
is especially remarkable, and is a Spanish characteristic which
both history, romance, and poetry have combined to celebrate.
A woman is regarded as a sacred object by a Cuban as by a
Spaniard, and a true hidalgo would shrink from committing the
slightest outrage on her person.
" White hands can never offend," is the universal consolation, even when feminine indiscretion becomes ungentle. The
Spanish drama is crowded with incidents and beautiful sentiments
founded on the extraordinary influence of women. The power
of beauty and the influence of kings are the two great subjects
of the Spanish stage.
Spanish courtesy or gallantry to a lady, indeed, is often, as
would be thought at least in England, carried to an extreme.
Hence, at an inn, or at a place of public entertainment, if in the
presence of gentlemen, ladies are seldom allowed to pay their
share of the charge, although the party may be strangers to
each other. It is sometimes even so in the fashionable bazaars:
one or more of the gentlemen present delicately signifies to the
waiter, by a private sign, in order that he may receive no
thanks, his intention to satisfy the demand, so that the waiter,
on a request by his fair purchaser for his account, politely replies
that the repast, or entertainment, or purchased article, of whatever kind, " costs nothing."
The inhabitants of Havanna, like those of almost all the
regions within the tropics, can scarcely be said to have any
literature. A few daily and weekly journals, added to European
intelligence, supply almost all the taste for letters that is found
in this metropolis of the West Indian archipelago. The arts
and sciences, and historical recollections and facts, seldom disturb the thoughts'of the enervated and avaricious population:
they divide their time between effeminate pleasure, amassing
wealth, and the gaming-table.
It has been questioned by some writers, but with no sufficient




NEGLECT OF EDUCATION.


423


reason, whether the physical influences of a tropical climate are
not such as almost to preclude the probability of high literary
efforts ever being made among a people subject to its enervating power. No doubt, however, but that some literary and
scientific men, wherever educated, are to be found, in both the
higher and middling classes of society.  To expect to find
literary attainment among the mass would be as unreasonable
as for one to expect to "reap where he had not sown, and to
gather where he had not strawed."
Out of a population of perhaps 500,000 free inhabitants, both
white and coloured, about 1,000 only receive the blessing of
lettered education of any kind; and more recently it has been
proved, that there are only 10,000 children out of about 100,000
under tuition —the remaining 90,000 being abandoned to ignorance and vice. With this indifference to education in general,
it is scarcely to be expected that the city is adorned by any of
those literary and benevolent institutions which add such a
lustre to the cities and towns of England and America, and
which diffuse around them an atmosphere of moral energy and
hope. No Bible, Tract, or Missionary societies, and but few,
if any, Orphan asylums, or associations for the aged, infirm,
and destitute, are to be found in Havanna any more than in
anti-christian, or even than in once pagan, Rome:
It can scarcely be said that a liberal education is anything
like universally diffused even among the higher classes, while
there is but little taste for reading among those who have
acquired the accomplishment. How the Cuban fair especially
contrive to pass away their time without the aid of books, or
the business engagements which occupy their sex in Protestant
countries, is a mystery that few strangers can unravel. As before
intimated, the church, the cigarretto, the guitar, and the siesta,
are almost the only daily pastimes;-the excitements of love
and convivial entertainments are left to the twilight and the midnight hour. These can occupy but a small portion of the day,
-how fill up the immense vacuum? How complete the dies
solidus without glancing into any book more interesting and
instructive than the "Rosario de la Virgin," or the "Horas
Castellanos,"-how eke it out in counting beads, though these
are still more in use than prayer-books?
If it is a truth that the order, the moral habits, the piety,
and the happiness of families are more emphatically under the
control of females than of the other sex,-if, apart from the




424


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


indirect control they exercise over their own immediate families,
they are entrusted with a moral power that hardly knows a
limit,-if the practical virtue of the world, the tone of piety in
the church, and the salvation of souls, are more affected, as is
affirmed, by the current maxims and amusements of the day
recognised by women than by the power or administration
of civil government,-if, in morals, in religion, and in everything with which morals and religion are connected, females
may do as much good or hurt as men ordinarily effect in the
politics and government of the world, then how pitiable the
condition, how degraded the character, and how awful the
responsibility of the females of Havanna!
Generally it may be said that the political and moral condition of a state depends upon the rank held in it, and the
religious character sustained by woman.
It is asserted, however, that the question of public instruction has of late years excited much interest among the creole
population of Cuba. The impetus to this seems to have been
given by the same liberal portion of the population as that
which originated the establishment of the Royal Sociedades
Economics of Havanna and St. Jago de Cuba.
At Havanna is the Royal University, with a rector and thirty
professors, as also a large edifice called the Royal College of
Havanna. There is a similar establishment at Puerto Principe;
while both at Havanna and at St. Jago de Cuba there is a
College in which the several branches of an ecclesiastical education are attended to, together with the humanities and
philosophy.  There are, besides, several private schools, but
none are accessible to the masses; they are available only to
the privileged few.
Among the few charitable institutions existing in Havanna,
are the Infirmary or Hospital of St. Layare, and the Caza de
Beneficia for Orphans; and it is somewhat remarkable that
they are established on more liberal and equitable principles
than similar institutions in the United States, in that their
benefits are applicable to all classes, without distinction of caste
or colour. But while the spirit of Christianity is exemplified
in the conduct of these establishments, it is awfully outraged in
other matters, particularly in the burial of the dead. In the
great Cemetery, "Campo Santo," the spirit of heathenism, or,
rather, of despotism, prevails. The bodies of the rich are interred
within the lofty walls of this place of the dead with pompous




POLICE REGULATIONS.


425


ceremonials and gilded inscriptions;-the poor are carried to
and deposited in their last resting-place without any token or
memorial, in some cases without even a green sod over them, or
a flower or a shrub to speak of life above the grave. In one
part of this public dormitory of the dead is the burial-place of
the negro slave, covered with heaped-up mounds of bones and
skulls. It is forbidden for a negro to be brought hither in a
coffin; the bodies are therefore thrown wholly or half-naked
into the ground, and quicklime, or some kind of earthy preparation which rapidly consumes the flesh, is thrown upon them.
In the course of from eight to fourteen days the bodies are disinterred to make room for other corpses, and the bones are cast
up in heaps to dry and whiten in the sun.
As previously intimated, the first impression that strikes an
Englishman on entering Havanna as repugnant to his sense of
liberty, is the military law and system of espionage, which
appears to govern everything, and to influence every department of the civil and social state. An air of despotism seems to
depress the whole population. Freedom exists only in imagination. Justice, equity, and integrity are discarded. The strong
hand of power uppermost rules all. As a natural consequence,
bribery and chicanery are tolerated and recognised, from the
highest functionary to the meanest official.  In all countries
where the servants of Government are underpaid there is a
temptation to resort to secret or open plunder as a means of
increasing their emoluments: thus in Cuba, as already stated,
the official guardians of law and order are the first to break
them.
No passengers can land without passports and fiadors. The
cost of the former is six dollars and a half. Not without these,
obtained at so exorbitant an expense, can you proceed to any
part of the country, or even to the environs of the city. At
every ferry, wharf, stair or stone for embarkation, in every street,
lane, alley, in every hole and corner you encounter the chaco
(a kind of military policeman), with his bright-barrelled musket,
linen coatee, yellow worsted epaulettes, and saffron visage.
Nor less striking to a stranger on first entering the city,
especially to a Briton, are the houses, shops, men, women,
costumes, animals, and carriages; all present a remarkable
contrast to any and everything either English or American.
The streets in Havanna are formed generally at right angles,
and are narrow, confined, irregular, unpaved and undrained,




426


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


shaded by heavy awnings, while here and there is seen a stonebuilt mansion, through the arched entrance to which is
visible an exquisite garden laid out with taste, and adorned
with beautiful flowers. Causeways line each side of the street,
but they are so narrow as scarcely to allow two persons to pass
on them. Many of the thoroughfares also are, in wet weather,
dirty and muddy, to the no small inconvenience of pedestrians,
especially on the passing and repassing of carriages.  Some of
the more public streets are paved, though very indifferently, and
the frequent rains, or rather cataracts, washing away the soil
and sand from between the huge stones, render the footing insecure, and therefore dangerous both for man and beast.
The massive houses, with their projecting parapets, as solid
and heavy as if each were designed to stand a siege, together
with the awnings, cast a constant shade over the narrow streets,
so that during the heat of the day any unnecessary exposure to
the sun may be avoided. The houses have no window-sashes,
nor jalousies, but iron or wooden bars, or gratings, with loose
curtains inside. By this arrangement and style of building, the
interior is necessarily made gloomy, even at midday, but at the
same time that the light is thus excluded, its inmates are
defended from the heat; an advantage which, in a tropical
climate, more than compensates for the inconveniences otherwise sustained. A current of air also passes through and ventilates the lofty rooms, but during rain, and when the shutters
are closed, the inmates are involved in almost total darkness.
The houses are plain in their architecture, and are after the
Moorish or Saracenic model,-they seldom exceed two stories
in height, and are usually painted blue, green, yellow, orange,
or some other bright or gaudy colour, frequently adorned with
fresco painting. They are said to be tinted to avoid the glare
of sunlight on the white walls, which is considered injurious
to the sight.*   The  buildings in general present a great
mixture of regularity and irregularity-of old and new-of
splendid and delapidated. Close beside an elegant arcade, with
its gaily painted walls, stands a half ruinous wall, the fresco
paintings of which are half obliterated or have peeled off with
the decayed mortar.


* The houses in Jamaica and other West India islands, excepting the Spanish,
are usually surrounded by jalousies or standing venetian blinds painted green,
thus obviating inconvenience to the sight.




HOUSES.


427


All residences of the best description are built upon one
unvarying plan-that of a hollow quadrangle. Flat roofs are
almost universal, and are much occupied in the evening. These
terraces are called azoteon, and are surrounded by a low parapet, ornamented with urns and other similar devices.  Utility
is principally studied in this arrangement of the houses, as it is
unquestionably the best for promoting a free circulation of air.
A lofty portal, with solid mahogany doors from fifteen to
twenty feet high, opens to the entrance hall, serving as a coachhouse for the volante, or as a store for merchandise. A small
square court filled with shrubs, plants, flowers, and creepers,
ornamented and rendered doubly attractive by a tiny "jet
d'eau," or larger fountain in the centre, which is considered
an almost necessary appendage to every respectable domicile,
because of the delightfully cool and agreeable appearance they
present.
The interior court is surrounded by galleries, attached to
which are the sitting, public, dining, and bed rooms, with the
general staircase leading to the whole; the servant's rooms
and offices occupy the basement story, and frequently shops of
mean appearance are seen opening to the street below a magnificent suite of apartments.  There is, however, a heavy
grandeur and an antique, almost vandal character about the
whole which cannot fail to strike the stranger; but with all this
magnificence, occasionally exhibited, there is a great deficiency
in comfort and convenience.
The floors of the houses in general are either of hardwood,
plank, terrace, or tiles. Some are in imitation of mosaics. A
few are flagged with marble, but this is by no means common.
A carpet is utterly unknown. The nearest approach to this
European luxury is a grass mat tastefully plaited, called an
" estera."
The iron bars in every window remind a stranger of a common
prison or a penitentiary. These gratings are the substitute for
glass, or standing venetian blinds, throughout even the inner
apartments, as well as in the exterior of the buildings, so that
the interior of the best houses partakes in appearance so much
more of a prison than an abode of innocence as to occasion
reflections as to the cause of this internal defence, this security
of the domestic retreat, this fortified place of refuge, as also
to suggest the obvious and natural conclusion, -Slavery!
pestilential slavery! fear of its consequences,-terror at the




428


CUBA AND THE CUBANS;


chance of an outbreak,-the still small voice that whispers of
deep wrong inflicted, and conjures up a phantom, a dim and
shadowy image, in the minds of the Spaniards, of their splendid
rooms converted into citadels, valuable for their strength, yet
yielding doubtful protection to the hard-hearted and oppressive
taskmasters.
The bedrooms have but little privacy; the principal apartments have often bare walls, or here and there exhibit gaudy
dull paintings, and are heavily, though in some instances,
elegantly furnished.  The furniture of others, whose tenants
are less wealthy than the most privileged orders, is inadequate
to the size of the rooms, and otherwise unattractive, except to
the lovers of the antique; some old-fashioned, high-backed,
hardwood chairs, covered with leather and gilt nails, as if
made at Grenada in the time of the Moorish kings, with a
profusion of tarnished gilding,-a table or two in the same
style, the seeming relics of the first importations of such conveniences from old Spain, with a long grass hammock slung
from the ceiling, intersecting the room diagonally and nearly
touching the floor.
In some of these establishments beds are never to be seen;
their place is supplied by stretchers, which are simply transverse
pieces of wood, covered with canvas;-these, with cots and
hammocks, that are folded and put aside during the day,
embrace almost all the furniture of the sleeping apartments.
In the hotels (those kept by Americans and some other
foreigners probably excepted) the sleeping places are cots
without mattresses or coverlets, in a room with red tiled floors,
without glazed windows, but, as in private houses, with ironbarred apertures in the wall for the admission of light and
air. The bill of fare, especially beyond the precincts of the
city, is usually not very tempting to a fastidious palate. It
consists of eggs, fried pork, and Castilian wines, with bread
and vegetables-the meals only twice a day.
The celebrated "olla podrida," composed of fowl, with a
proportion of beef, pork, garbanzos, onions, and other vegetables, with garlic, saffron, and pepper, may here be had in true
national perfection.
Havanna, as to house-rent, boarding, clothing, food, as to
almost everything, indeed, necessary to support life and promote its comfort, is said to be one of the most expensive places
in the world.




PERSONAL APPEARANCE.


420


In personal appearance the dons and hidalgoes of Cuba are
naturally assimilated toq their ancestors of old Spain; while
the character of the general population is extremely varied,
both as to physical features and costume,-circumstances which
add greatly to the picturesque effect of the whole scene,Spanish, French, American, Italian, Dutch, African, Creole,
Indian, Chinese, presenting every shade of colour and variety
of countenance that can be imagined. These, with their diversified costumes, combine to form a picture of living mortality
at Havanna which, to the same extent, and with equal power
of pictorial expression, is not perhaps equalled in any other
city in the world, not even excepting New Orleans.
The different styles of physiognomy among- the natives of
old Spain are also very evident in the population of the city.
One has refined features, an oval countenance, a proud and
often a gloomy expression-this distinguishes those of Castilian
descent. Another has a round countenance, flat, broad features,
and a jovial but plebeian expression-this marks the Catalonian.
The former is spare in form; the latter stout. The Castilian is
generally found among Government officials; the Catalonian
among merchants and tradespeople.
The ordinary dress of the whites, such as merchants and professional men, differ but little from that of the residents in other
West India Islands, except as to the prevalence of gingham
coats or coatees, with skirts flying in the breeze, and, to some
extent, white jean small-clothes, with white silk stockings.
Whiskered and mustachioed faces, shaded by huge broad-brimmed
panama hats, are not uncommon among the inhabitants of the
English Antilles. In general the clothing is light. Neckcloths
or stocks are uncommon, except at set parties. The necks of
shirts are in general adorned with gold buttons or clasps; the
collars are allowed to hang down loose after the manner of those
seen in the portraits of Lord Byron. Some, also, within doors,
wear a kind of black or white skull-cap, similar to those worn
by the French, while the hair is usually worn close cut to the
head. On particular occasions, however, the hidalgoes appear
in the costumes characteristic of the province of old Spain
that gave them birth.
The full dress of a mayoral or overseer of an estate is thus
described: —"A wide-rimmed straw hat; blue striped small
clothes fastened to the waist; a blue embroidered shirt hanging
loosely over them like a sack; a very large straight sword, with




430


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


a silver handle ornamented with precious stones; the shirt collar
and sleeves confined with gold buckles; an embroidered cambric
handkerchief tied loosely round the neck; pumps, cut quite
low, and adorned with heavy silver spurs."
Occasionally an European-Spaniard is to be seen, with an
open jacket of green velvet highly embroidered, with light
leggings of the same material, ornamented with a profusion of
silver buttons; his linen of the purest white; his high round
hat decked with beads, and carelessly or jauntily turned aside;
a second jacket also richly embroidered; with dark curls carefully arranged round a high-crowned, broad-brimmed hat; and
a countenance of manly beauty.
A Catalonian or an Andorran cavalier is seen in his vest of
blue velvet; his red silk sash and fine cotton stockings appearing over his hempen spartillas. Not unfrequently a peasant is
to be seen, with a red Montero cap, with his capa over his
shoulder, and with loose linen bragos or trousers. A Guigaro,
with his wild, dark eye, expressive gesture, and impurturbable
self-possession, is seen in a richly-worked shirt of fine linen,
worn on the outside, as is usual; a long and elegantlyembroidered cambric sash fastening to his side the silverhandled sword or machette; silver spurs and low slippers.
And sometimes Monteros or countrymen are seen galloping
through the streets, each with his high-crowned straw hat with
broad rim, his loose shirt over his other garments, its tail fluttering in the breeze, and his long sword lashed to his waist by a
handkerchief, and dangling at his back. The Creole-Spaniard
is sometimes dressed in a camisa of striped gingham, breeches
of ticking, and a chequita or sleeved tunic of the same material
as the camisa; half-boots or mocassins of untanned hide, a
sportsman's belt, a girdle furnished with a heavy hunting knife,
and a wide-flapped sombrero or hat of palm leaf, complete his
equipment. Of some of the Caballeros it may almost be said,
as was reported of some of the black slaves of Darien, that
their whole summer costume consists of a shirt collar and a
pair of spurs.
The large black eye, and raven hair escaping in endless
tresses,-the dark expressive glance,-the soft, blood-tinted
olive of the glowing complexion, make the unwilling Englishman confess the majesty and beauty of the Spanish female.
The Moorish eye is the most characteristic feature of the
Andalusian. This is very full, and reposes on a liquid some



-.


PERSONAL APPEARANCE.                431
what yellow bed; of an almond shape; black and lustrous.
Their eyes have been pleasantly compared to dormant lightnings,
terrible in wrath, and hiding liquid fires.
In dignity of mien and gait the fair Castilian and Andalusian
are allowed to be unrivalled.  Their deportment is dignified
and queen-like. Their every motion is instinct with grace. In
stature they are generally tall and well-proportioned; as also
erect in their figures, which are generally good, no efforts being
made to alter the natural shape. A finely-formed and diminutive
foot is highly estimated by the Spaniards in general among the
attributes of female beauty, and hence great attention is usually
paid by the Spanish ladies to this part of their persons on their
appearance in public.
"Excepting some rare instances of Irisbwomen of true
Milesian descent," says a well-known writer, "none but a
Spanish lady can walk. French, English, and Scotch only
stump, shuffle, and amble in comparison." In no other respect, however, are we willing to admit that the descendants
of ancient Hesperia are rivals of the fair daughters of Albion
and her colonies.
The variety of costumes which occasionally appear on the
public Alamedas, as on the Prado in Madrid, renders the scene
peculiarly attractive. The gentlemen in their capas mingled
with the ladies in their mantillas; the white-kilted Valencian
contrasts with the velveteen glittering Andalusian; the sableclad priest with the soldier; the peasant with the muleteer; all
meet on perfect equality as in church; and all conduct themselves with equal decorum, good breeding, and propriety.
Few Spaniards walk arm-in-arm, and still more rarely is this
good old English fashion followed by a Spanish lady and gentleman, married or single.  Also, in accordance with Cuban
etiquette, ladies are accustomed to bow to their acquaintance in
the street, but seldom make a courtesy. One of the most marked
characteristics of the Spaniards, both male and female, is their
love of dress. There is no self-denial to which all classes and
sexes will not cheerfully submit in order to preserve a respectable
external appearance. But Spaniards, even the most wealthy
only really dress when they go abroad on business or pleasure.
At home they are enveloped in a deshlabille which is far from
either costly or elegant. Those whose circumstances will not
admit of an expensive costume, seldom or ever leave their
domiciles, except at a very early hour of the day, when they are
less liable to recognition.




432


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


The full dress of the ladies, as seen on the Alamada and
some other public places, is remarkably costly and superb,-I
should rather say, elegant,-after the style of old Spain; beautifully embroidered; with lace mantillas or scarfs, the ends hanging down on each side, or crossing over the bosom; and in
their hand the never-failing, never-to-be-forgotten companion
of the Spanish lady-the expressive fan. Black is almost the
universal colour, and the robe is in general most tastefully
worked and vandyked.
The mantilla, used also as a veil, is usually of black silk or
lace, sometimes of white lace, thrown over the head, supported
by a high comb of a value in accordance with the circumstances
or pride of the individual, leaving the face uncovered, and displaying the flowers with which the wearer often adorns her dark
tresses; the ends of the mantilla either crossing over the bosom,
falling gracefully over the shoulders, or confined to the waist by
the arms, or by a richly worked and ornamented zone —la
centura;-a style of head-dress this which is said to create the
graceful and dignified mien and gait for which the. Spanish ladies
are so celebrated. Hence those who have never worn it are said
to be quite plebeian in their gait and figure in comparison.
Some wear no other head-dress than the hair variously
arranged and ornamented. The most usual is to plait or roll
it as a bandeau round the head, the crown of which is fastened
to a knot, surmounted by a comb, after the manner of the
ancient Romans. Some also wear a cap of fine linen, formed
like a mitre, called hamito, over which is thrown a veil-that
beautiful emblem of female modesty and elegance.  But the
most becoming ornament to the Spanish maiden is the trensaan arrangement of the hair in two long, dark, shining braids.
Some are seen with a pollera, or thin silk petticoat, and a
thin white jacket worn loose, or a short tunic when they go
abroad. The richness of their dress consists of the finest linen,
laces, and jewels, the latter so disposed as to occasion very
little inconvenience, and to produce the most ornamental effect.
In Cuba, as in old Spain, the prevalence of dark tints in costume is remarkable, black having always been the favourite
national colour.
In this detail of the full dress of the Spanish lady, the fan
is too characteristic to have no more than a passing notice.
Its use is universal; and its size or weight and splendour is
the pride of the fair proprietor. Some are of the value of from




COSTUME-CARRIAGES.


433


twenty-five to one hundred dollars each. The most costly are
of ivory set with gold, and ornamented with small oval mirrors
on the outer sides. The manneuvering with the fan is a regular
science, in which the Spanish lady comprehends the whole
language of signs, and by which she converses freely with the
friend of her heart.
The morning dress of the Spanish lady, or the principal
morning vestment, as already intimated, is either a loose flowing robe or a black or white silk kind of habit-skirt (basquira)
over a white under-garment, made full from the waist upwards,
plentifully adorned with frills and bows-the former appearing
as if suspended by small straps from the shoulder, and either
covering or supplying all minor defects and deficiences of attire.
Some of the middling class and the free blacks dress very
fantastically; in muslin gowns, scarlet mantillas, and light blue
or violet-coloured satin shoes. Many of these women are really
beautiful; and their jet-black hair, and clear, rich, olive complexions are often becomingly relieved by a gay-coloured silk
handkerchief, which the French and Spaniards, and West Indians
in general, know well how to arrange about their heads with
good effect.  Black females are occasionally seen in shining
calico frocks, with silk shoes worn slipshod, red shawls, the hair
arranged in fine braids, and with a bandanna or other handkerchief as a head-dress:" Black, but such as in esteem
Prince MIemnon's sister might beseem."
But there are other inhabitants of Havanna, and throughout
Cuba generally-down-trodden slaves-who appear in the streets
with scarcely a rag to cover their emaciated forms.
The carriages in use, and which stand in the great square
and in different parts of the city like the hackney coaches in
London, are called volantes. They are of the most grotesque
form and clumsy construction that can be imagined-a sort
of cabriolet, with four posts or uprights supporting a canopy
covered with leather, with a high dash-iron or splash-board in
front, and surrounded with curtains of blue or scarlet cloth,
that may be let down as rain or dust require.  The vehicle
is supported by massive, straight, columnar shafts and two
wheels, each of the wheels six feet in diameter, and placed
quite behind the centre of gravity, giving the vehicle a very
awkward appearance, but a very easy, agreeable motion. "They
look," says the Earl of Carlisle, " as if they had been intended
u




434


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


to carry Don Quixote." Of anything in the shape of a vehicle
for the accommodation of human kind it bears the nearest
resemblance perhaps to a sedan chair;-open in front and
partly on each side; suspended by springs on the cumbrous
shafts described; the body resting upon the springs between
the wheels and the horses, the latter being considerably in
advance of the carriage itself, which for the most part is supported by them. These vehicles are drawn by mules or small
horses, and driven by negro slaves a la postilion,-the drivers
ensconced in a grotesque livery, in one hand exhibiting a huge
thong of bullock's hide, and with the other guiding their steeds.
The harness of the animals is in perfect keeping with the habiliments of the drivers and the rest of the equipage.
Some of the private volantes are very elegant, though in the
same style, and the liveries exceedingly rich, corresponding
with the rank and wealth of the owner-such as an embroidered
coat, cocked hat, and large hussar boots with silver spurs, the
latter seeming to have been manufactured in the time of the
crusades, the rowel of them an inch or more in diameter. The
driver of one of these vehicles is called a calashero, and both
he and the horse are sometimes richly caparisoned with silver
to the value of several thousand dollars. Some of the mules
and horses for riding are arrayed in the same grotesque style,
with high demipique saddles, together with massive stirrups,
and bridles with huge mamaluke bits. The spectacle, altogether,
of man and beast, would form a study for a comic painter.
The cabriolets or bullock cars that are in common use in the
country, are as rude in their construction as those represented in
the illustrations of the "Georgics " of our oldest Virgils.
The trade of Havanna is immense. Upwards of one thousand vessels are supposed to enter it for purposes of commerce
in a year. Its revenue is twenty millions of dollars, and its
outward and inward trade sixty millions.
The principal products of the country-a very considerable
part of which are exported from this city-are sugar and tobacco.
The tobacco, as is well known, is of more exquisite flavour than
that of any part of America. The very best quality is said to
be the monopoly of royalty.
Among the lesser staples may be reckoned ginger, long
pepper, mastic, cocoa or chocolate, coffee, bees' wax, honey,
manioc, and aloes.
There are at present in Cuba 1650 sugar plantations, 5128




PRODUCE AND TRADE.


435


cattle farms, 13 chocolate plantations, 224 cotton plantations,
34,432 fruit and vegetable farms, 7979 tobacco plantations, and
2284 colmenaries or farms devoted exclusively to the production
of honey and wax.
The amount of the products of the island in 1852 was as
follows:Sugar................................. 29,165,238 arrobas............ 7,201,309 cwt.
Coffee................................. 1166,902.............  291,725,
Tobacco..............................  1,776,160,,............  444,040,,
Molasses............................  267,185 hhds.
Brandy..............................  39,411 pipes.
Honey................................  106,175 barrels.
Bees' Wax...........................  74,903 arrobas............  18725,,
The entire exports of Cuba in 1851 amounted to 31,341,683
dollars, and the entire imports to 32,311,430 dollars.
The quantity of copper ore exported from the island from
1841 to 1850 inclusive was as follows:1841............... 693,050 quintals.  1846............... 635,654 quintals.
1842...............  783,971,,    1847...............  565,495,
1843...............  768,650,,    1848...............  656,491,
1844............... 2,003,587,     1849.............. 583,300,,
1845............... 869,922,       1850............... 552,288,
The aggregate value of the imports and exports in 1850 are
thus reported:Ports.               Exports.            Imports.             Total.
dollars.            do                  dollars dollars.
Spanish..................... 3,071,084........... 8,640,625............  11,711,710
United States............ 8,359,252............ 6,653,360............ 15,012,613
French.................... 1,862,596............ 1,747,580............  3,610,176
English..................... 7,061,056............ 6,117,669............  13,178,726
Spanish America.........  578,237............ 2,001,664............  259,902
German.................. 1,871,620............ 2,107,293............ 3,978,913
Belgian.....................  963393............  318,881............ 1,282,274
Brazilian..............................  33,882............  33,882
Dutch.....................  554,450.....  190,479............  744,929
Danish.....................  279,937............  520,200...........  800,138
Russian..................  446,770.........................  446,770
Swiss.......................  11,262......................  11,262
Italian.....................  572,286............  13,297............  585,583
Mercantile deposits..................  638,291............  638,291
Total............... 25,630,943............28,983,227............ 54,614,170
In Spanish bottoms... 6,020,635..........18,455,072........... 24,474,675
In Foreign............... 19,610,308............10,528,155............ 30,139,495
Thus, of the whole exportation 31.77 per cent. went to
English ports, 28.09 to United States, 13.87 to Spanish, 7.60
to German, 5.41 to French, and the remainder to other ports;
and of the importations 29.18 per cent. were from Spanish
3~D                u 2




--         j
1,IA


436             CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
ports, 24.99 from'United States, 22.07 from English, 8.34 from
Spanish-American, 6.91 from German, 6.03 from French, and
the remainder from other ports.
The commerce of the United States with Cuba in 1850,
according to the returns of the Federal Treasury, was valued at
] 5,282,695 dollars, of which the exports amounted to 4,990,297
dollars, and the imports to 10,292,398 dollars. The shipping
employed in the trade consisted of " Shipping entered the United
States-American, 249,307 tons, and foreign, 33,030 tons;"
and of "Shipping cleared the United States-American, 254,018
tons, and foreign, 29,703 tons."
The revenue of Cuba for the ten years from 1841, has been
as follows:Year.      Maritime Revenue.  Internal Revenue.  Total Revenue.




1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850


dolars....7,266,464...... 7,383,346......9,987,017...... 7,160,631...... 5,370,748......6,232,967...... 7,494,330...... 7,396,726...... 6,429,160.....6,721,250..


dollars.... 4,650,835...4,731,496... 3,407,040.. 3,329,621... 3,629,252... 4,907,811.. 5,314,383... 6,038,715,.. 5,840,260...5,527,462.......................................................;..,.........................~............I............


dollars... 11,917,299.. 12,114,843.. 10,394,057... 10,490,252... 9,000,000... 11,140,779... 12,808,713... 13,435,441.. 12,269,420... 12,248,712


The above sums have been disbursed in about the following
proportions: Civil expenses of the island, 17 per cent.; Military, 45 per cent.; Naval, 13 per cent.; other expenses, 10 per
cent.; and 15 per cent. to the Spanish government in Europe.
The circulating medium is entirely metallic. The weights,
measures, and moneys are those of Spain, but the French
metrical system is about to be introduced.
The number of cattle on the island is 898,199: in the Occidental department, 267,033; in the Central, 458,166; and in
the Oriental, 173,000.
The following is a statement of the value of the principal
articles of Cuban produce in 1850:

Garden fruits...............
Sugar........................
Esculents and fodder...
Tobacco.....................
Coffee........................
Indian corn..............
Charcoal.....................
Cedar, mahogany, &c...
Molasses.....................
Other agric. products...


Dollars.
14,839,050
18,699,924
6,097,080
5,042,229
2,206,131
1,884,982
1,750,110
1,711,193
1,462,728
3,728,175 


Beef........................
Pork........................
Eggs.......................
Poultry.....................
Milk........................
Hides........................
Mutton....................
Total.................


Dollars.
3,605,780
1,346,055
1,166,880
1,074,216
325,040
180,289
120,000
59,791,462




PRODUCE AND TRADE.43


437


The quantities of the principal productions of Cuba, exported
from the island in the ten years ending with 1860, have been
as follows:
Year.   Sugar.   Rum.   Molasses.  Coffee.  Wax.  Tobacco.  Cigars.
arrobaa.*  pipas.4.  bocayes.5  arrobas.*  arrobas.*  arrobat.*  libras.
1841... 13,272,902...J 1,302...131,390... 1,235,006... 32,024...230,303... 850,856
1842..13,082,288... 10,227...119,138...1,998,846...33,384... 237,713... 751t,445
1843... 14,225,660... 13,810... 191,O093.-.1,630,782... 48,101... 230,303... 1289 985
1844...16,153,052... 6,326... 172,431... 1,240,032...34,276... 237,713... 792,525
1845... 7,604,580... 4,120..121,322... 559,322...39,251... 288,329...1,022.525
1846... 15,803,884... 9,032...203,597... 817,66-2... 41,716... 353,041... 766,782
1847...20,396,976... 19,432... 252,840... 932,154... 54,995...372,780..A1224 060
1848... 19,659,488... 16,339...228,726... 694,137... 50,11O... 251,025... 807,403
1849...17,598,I44...11,640...246,570-... 877,137... 35,691... 160,765..;' 618,600
1850... 19,993,808... 11,825...269,044... 520,134... 58,194... 319,125... 1.068,200
Notwithstanding the unsettled state of Cuba and her cloudy
future, internal improvements have been progressing.        Railroads have been constructed in several localities. There are at
present lines of railway- extending over three hundred and fiftyone miles, connecting some of the most important places.
They unite Havanna to Matanzas and Cardenas, and extend io
Botobano, St. FTillipe, Puerto Principe, &c.
The electric telegraph is also in operation in several parts
of Cuba. The wires in general follow the railroads, and may
be said to intersect the country, embracing east, west, and south,
to Botobano, Havanna, St. Jago de -Cuba, Matanzas., and
Cardenas.


* An arroba is 25 lbs.-the Spanish and American pound nearly equal.
tPipa, about 113 gallons.      t A bocay is equal to 36 gallons.


C)




CHAPTER XXX.
CLIMATB, SCBNEBY, &c.-Description of hurricane in the tropical seas. Vegetable
productions. Rivers. Mountains. Domestic and wild animals. General geological
formations. Mineral riches. Principal objects of attraction to a stranger. Architecture
and general description of churches. Cathedral. Church of San Domingo. Vice regal
c    palace. Chapel of Columbus. Statue of Ferdinand. Admiralty. Arsenal. Post office.
Inquisition. American hotel. Alamadas. Plazas. Royal tobacco manufactory. Convent at
Regla. Plaza del Toros or colosseum for bull fights. Reflections. Conclusion.
The climate of Cuba, especially in the suburbs of Havanna,
is considered the most salubrious of any of the West India
Islands, with the exception of Puerto Rico. It is impossible to
convey to those who have never been among the beautiful islands
of these tropical seas any idea of the fragrant delightfulness of
the early dawn. The exquisite freshness of the morning, and
the soft coolness of the breezy evening, when the very soul
seems refreshed and strengthened, and the pulse of life beats
fuller and clearer, produce sensations to be enjoyed only-never
to be described.
Havanna itself, however, is unhealthy, partly from a want of
drainage and general cleanliness, but principally from its being
situated near a wide-spreading morass, pregnant with malaria,
generating fever and the other pestilent diseases so fatal to
European strangers. The climate differs considerably from that
of Jamaica in temperature, although the difference of position
in the two islands does not exceed five degrees. In the cold
season the thermometer almost every year descends in Havanna
to 60~, and sometimes to 55~; whilst at Kingston and Spanish
Town it is seldom seen below 67~ or 68~. The meridian heat
in Havanna is 77~; that of July, the hottest month, 84~; and
Fhat of the coldest, 70~. Ice is sometimes formed at about three
hundred feet above the level of the sea; while in Jamaica, congelation does not take place but at an altitude of from seven
thousand to eight thousand feet. Snow, however, never, or but
very rarely, falls in Cuba, even on its highest mountains. The
changes of the temperature are also greater and more sudden in
Havanna than in Kingston and in Jamaica generally.




CLIMATE.


439


Cuba has thus the most temperate climate of all the West
Indies. At Ubajay, fifteen miles from Havanna, the thermometer
has been known to go down to zero. At times, however, the
heat is so excessive as to convert life into bare existence; and
the tempests are terrific, the clouds being surcharged through
the much greater absorption caused by a tropical sun.
The evenings are usually brilliant and beautiful, with soft,
blue skies, and a freshness only to be appreciated near the
equator, where the stillness of the atmosphere and the suffocating sultriness of the day wellnigh exhaust all the energies of
man's nature.
At the same time there is a great variety of temperature in
the mountains, occasioned by their different elevation above the
sea. Elevation above the level of the sea, or the general level
of a country, as is well known to the intelligent reader, causes
a regular variation of temperature. The first 300 feet usually
makes a difference of about one degree of Fahrenheit's thermometer. After ascending 300 feet, it is estimated that the
thermometer falls a degree in 295 feet, then in 277, 252, 223,
and 192 feet successively.
On these principles the limit of perpetual frost has been
calculated.  It is made a little more than 15,000 feet at the
equator, and from that to 13,000 feet between the tropics, and
from 9,000 to 4,000 feet between latitudes 40~ and 59~. It has
been found, however, that the above rule is subject to great
variations, owing probably to the course and superposition of
the atmospheric currents which prevail in different altitudes.
Colder currents are often found resting upon, or interposed
between, those of a higher temperature; and vice versa. On
the Himalaya Mountains in Asia, between the latitudes of 28~
and 34~ north, the region of vegetation has been found to
extend several thousand feet above the supposed line of congelation in those latitudes.
It is also remarkable that the line of perpetual snow is found
at a much greater altitude on the northern side of these
mountains than on the southern side in a lower latitude. From
this it may be inferred that the temperature in high regions, as
well as in lower situations, is greatly affected by the geographical
course and physical condition of the currents of atmosphere
which prevail in these regions; and the atmosphere of Cuba, it
is well known, is particularly affected by its contiguity to the
gulf stream.




440


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


From the great difference between the temperature of the day
and night in the mountain regions, owing to the-frequent calmness and stillness that prevail, added to the heat of the atmosphere and the cloudless skies, the deposition of dew is often so
abundant as almost to supply the want of rain, or at least to
preserve vegetation in a state of verdure, when in the plains
scarcely a blade of green grass is to be seen.
The splendour of the early dawn in Cuba, as in the tropical
islands in its vicinity, has been referred to. The whole sky is
often so resplendent that it is difficult to determine where the orb
of day will appear. Small fleecy clouds are often seen floating on
the north wind, and as they hover over the mountains and meet
the rays of the sun, are changed into liquid gold, and a hundred
intensely vivid dyes more splendid than the tints of the rainbow.
During the cooler months the mornings are delightful until
about ten o'clock, the air soon after dawn becoming agreeably
elastic, and so transparent that distant objects appear as if
delineated upon the bright surface of the air; the scenery
everywhere, especially when viewed from  an eminence, is
indescribably rich and glowing; the tops of the rising grounds
and the summits of the mountains are radiant with a flood of
light; while the vapour is seen creeping along the valleys, here
concealing the entrance to some beautiful glen, and there
wreathing itself fantastically around a tall spire or groves of
palm trees, that mark the site of a populous village.
The finest and most gorgeous sunsets occur in the West
Indian Archipelago during the rainy seasons. The sky is then
sublimely mantled with gigantic masses of cloud glowing with a
thousand gorgeous dyes, and seeming to collect at the close of
day as though to form a couch for the sun's repose. In these
he sinks, flooding them with glory; touching both heavens and
earth with gold and amber brightness long after he has flung
his beams across the other hemisphere, or perhaps half-revealing
himself through gauze-like clouds-a crimson sphere at once
rayless and of portentous size.
The azure arch, which by an optical illusion limits our view
on every side, seems here, and in the tropics generally, higher
than in England,-even higher than in Italy. Here is seen, in
a perfection compared to which even Italian heavens are vapid
and uninteresting, that pure serene, boundless sky,-that atmosphere of clear blue or vivid red, which so much contributes to
enrich the pencil of Claude Lorraine.




SCENERY-ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS.


441


When looking out towards the sea from a high mountainrange, the water and the firmament have appeared one scene
of deep and brilliant blue, reminding the student of the Bible
of the beautiful interrogation of Job, "Hast thou spread out
the sky strong as a molten looking-glass?" an allusion to the
ancient mirrors, which were not of glass but of polished steel,
and possessed, therefore, much of that brilliant, deep blue cast,
which is so characteristic and striking in an Arabian sky, of
whose depth of tint no one can form a correct idea who has not
been in equatorial regions.
The atmosphere of Cuba, as everywhere within the tropics,
except when the high winds prevail, is so unpolluted, so thin,
so elastic, so dry, so serene, and so almost inconceivably transparent and brilliant, that every object is distinct and clearly
defined as if cut out of the clear blue sky. All travellers agree
in praising the calm depths of the intensely blue and gloriously
bright skies of inter-tropical latitudes.
In the temperate zone, it is estimated that about 1,000 stars
are visible to the naked eye at one time; but here, from the
increased elevation and wider extent of the vault, owing to the
clearness of the atmosphere, especially as seen from a high
mountain-chain,* there is every reason to suppose that the
number is greatly augmented. If, however, these luminaries
are not seen here in greater numbers, they certainly shine with
greater brilliancy.
The different constellations are indeed so greatly magnified
as to give the impression that the power of the eye is considerably increased. Venus rises like a little moon, and in the
absence of the greater, casts a distinguishable shadow from the
larger buildings or trees; while the satellites of Jupiter are sometimes distinctly visible through a telescope of ordinary power.
By night, the Southern Cross, the glory of the Centaur
stars, and the magnificent star Canopus in the ship Argo,
so dear for its legendary associations, stand bright above
the horizon in the southern heavens,t while the planets shine
*Saussure has observed that the higher we ascend on mountains, the deeper and
blacker the sky becomes, so that the deepest blue ribbon is hardly deep enough
to represent it.
t The Constellation of the Cross, that beautiful and expressive symbol of the
Christian's faith, which, from its blessed associations and from its position, can
scarcely fail to draw his thoughts as well as his eyes, from earth to heaven, is thus
noticed by Baron Humboldt, when not far from Cuba:-" The lower regions of the
air were loaded with vapour for some days. We saw distinctly for the first time
u 3




442


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


forth with amazing magnitude and brilliancy; and the moon,
when she takes her place in the deepening blue of the sky,
bathes the whole hemisphere with an exquisite light which has
all the brilliancy of day without its glare.
It is even said that an occultation of Venus is not unfrequently visible in Cuba at noonday by the help of a pocket
telescope.
Stars are here also seen     that are not visible in an English
or an   European     sky.     There, the    northern   Polar star is
directly vertical, but here, the north and south poles are nearly
in the horizon; thus many of the constellations around the
arctic pole, that never set in Europe, here scarcely rise, but
in their stead, Orion through the north pursues the Pleiades;
Sirius, or the star in the leg of Bootes, is in the zenith; in the
south appears the Wolf, and the Great Bear is scarcely above
the horizon. Here, also, among many other splendid constellations unseen in an English sky, are the Ark, the Raven, or
Noah's Dove, the Altar, the Cross, the Centaur, the Serpent,
and the River Eridanus.
The Milky way, which in the temperate zone has the appearance of a luminous phosphorescent cloud, and, as is well-known,
derives its brightness from the diffused light of myriads of stars
condensed into so small a space that fifty thousand of them
are estimated to pass across the disc of the telescope in an hour,
the cross of the south, only in the night of the 4th and 5th of July, in the 16th
degree of latitude.  It was strongly inclined, and appeared from time to time
between the clouds, the centre of which, furrowed by uncondensed lightning,
reflected a silver light. The pleasure felt on discovering the southern cross was
warmly shared by such of the crew as had lived in the colonies. In the solitude
of the seas we bail a star as a friend from whom we have been long separated.
Among the Portuguese and the Spaniards, peculiar motives seem to increase this
feeling; a religious sentiment attaches them to a constellation, the form of which
recalls the sign of the faith, planted by their ancestors in the deserts of the New
World. The two great stars which mark the summit and the foot of the cross
having nearly the same right ascension, it follows the constellation is almost
vertical at the moment when it passes the meridian. This circumstance is known
to every nation that lives beyond the tropics, or in the southern hemisphere. It
-is known at what hour of the night, in different seasons, the southern cross is erect
or inclined.  It is a timepiece that advances very regularly nearly four minutes
a-day, and no other group of stars exhibits to the naked eye an observation of
time so easily made.  How often have we heard our guides exclaim, in the
savannahs of Venezuela, or in the desert extending from Lima to Truxillo,
Midnight is past, the cross begins to bend!' How often these words reminded
us of that affecting scene where Paul and Virginia, seated near the sources of
the river of Lataniers, conversed together for the last time; and when the old
man, at the sight of the southern cross, warns them that it is time to separate."




THE CUBAN HEAVENS.


443


is here seen divided into constellations, and the whole galaxy is
of so dazzling a whiteness as to make it resemble a pure flame
of silvery light thrown across the heavens, turning the atmosphere into a kind of green transparency. Besides this, there
are vast masses of stellar nebula of infinite diversity and formoval, oblate, elliptical, as well as of different degrees of density,
diffused over the firmament, and discoverable through a common
telescope, all novel to an inhabitant of temperate climes, and
recalling the exclamation of the Psalmist, "The heavens declare
the glory of God,... the firmament showeth forth his handy
work."
wor.                             "The stars
Are elder scripture, writ by God's own hand,
Scripture authentic, uncorrupt by man." *
An interesting phenomenon sometimes occurs here as in other
islands of the West Indies, which was long supposed to be seen
only in the eastern hemisphere. A short time before sunrise
or sunset, a flush of strong white light, like that of the
Aurora Borealis, extends from the horizon a considerable way
up the zenith, and so much resembles the dawn, as to prove
greatly deceptive to a stranger. As he watches the luminous
track, he sees it decrease instead of becoming more vivid, and
at length totally disappear, leaving the heavens nearly as dark
as previous to its appearance. This is the zodiacal light. The
real dawn takes place soon afterwards, but after a considerably
longer lapse of time than in northern regions.
The colour of the light varies according to the state of the
atmosphere, but it is in general of a pure rose tint. Its extent
~ It is thought by some to be more than poetically true that the stars are " elder
scripture." The original sphere was, according to some writers, a prediction of
the great events of the world immediately succeeding the deluge. Mr. Maurice
asserts that the whole of the southern constellations are a commentary on the
books of Moses, and decidedly prove their truth. On the ample and recorded
tablet of the skies, he says he has discovered Noah, his Altar and Sacrifice; the
Raven and the Dove sent forth from the ark; that Ark itself, and the emblem of
the Deity who preserved it; Nimrod, the mighty hunter, with the Dogs, pursuing
-his cruel vocation; and a variety of other objects referred to in the Old Testament
scriptures. Montgomery has an idea of a similar kind in his Pelican Island:" Through the calm sky alone, the ship of heaven
Came sailing from eternity; the dove
On silver pinions, urged its peaceful way;
There at the footstool of Jehovah's throne,
The altar kindled from his presence blazed;
And there all else excelling meekly shone,
The cross, the symbol of redeeming love.
The heavens declared the glory of the Lord,
The firmament displayed his handy work."




.444


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


from  the horizon to its vertex, varies from 45 to 120 degrees.
It has been conjectured that this is really a luminous atmosphere
of the sun reaching beyond the orbit of Mercury, and that it
derives its form-that of a long and narrow ellipse, only the
half of which is perceived-from its rapid revolution with the
sun on its axis. But the most'eminent astronomers differ in
opinion concerning it.*
To convey to the reader some idea of the highly electric state
of the atmosphere within the tropics at some seasons of the year,
and the terrific storms that so often result from this and conjunctive causes in these latitudes, it may be deemed neither
irrelevant nor uninteresting to attempt a description of a hurricane experienced by the author at sea, in the immediate
vicinity of this island, on a visit to its different ports.
On ascending to the deck of the vessel at an early hour of
the morning, after one of those serene and beautiful dawns so
often beheld within the tropics, I was struck with the appearance
of the sky; there was every indication of rain, thunder, and
wind. Conoid and filliform Cirri spread over the south-east
hemisphere; these clouds grew bigger and increased fast, forming high in the air, in thin, white trains like flocks of wool;
soon a general cloudiness covered the sky, and small black
fragments of clouds blew underneath; while in another part of
the heavens two currents of cloud were observable.
As the morning     advanced there was a haziness in the air
which dulled the sun's light, and made that orb whitish and
ill-defined. While thus absorbed, the captain, who, without my
observing him, had for some time stood near me, said, addressing himself to the mate, "Mr. -, I don't like this state of the
atmosphere, nor the look of that sky," pointing to the southeast.  "Do you see that fiery streak along the horizon? well,
Sir, as the sun gets nearer to that streak there'll be trouble,
or I'm no'judge of weather."
Meanwhile the sun      began   to be rapidly over-clouded;
* It is stated, that one of the results of the late expedition from the United,
States to Japan, is the discovery that the zodiacal light is a belt extending entirely round the earth, after the manner of Saturn's ring. This supposed discovery
has excited considerable interest among astronomers, some of the ablest of whom
are said to consider the fact established by the observations taken.-American
Almanac, 1857.
The light appears part of the year in the morning before sunrise, and part
after sunset.




HURRICANE AT SEA.


445


distant peals of thunder were heard, and thick sultry drops
of rain began to patter upon the deck.  The wind came on
gradually, but ominously, and the captain, with a countenance
betokening deep anxiety, and with his person encased in his
sou-wester, pea-jacket, a pair of high overall, or in nautical phrase, "main-to'-s'l-boots," appeared at his post, shouting
in a shrill, half-despairing, fretful tone of voice (though but.
indistinctly, and only at intervals, heard above the crackling of
the cordage and the howling of the sea), his eyes occasionally
directed to the quarter from which the storm came hurrying
on, "All hands ahoy! turn out, my lads! man the cleulines
and buntlines! cleu up and furl the top-gallant-sails, fore and
aft! haul in the weather-braces! clap on the rolling tackle!
It blows harder; take in your topsails! let go the hall-y'rds and
bowlines; square the yards; unroll the reefs! A gale of wind
I reckon; brail up the mizen! quick! man the clue garnets!
A hurricane as sure as a gun. I thought we should have it
here away,-ill luck to us. Bear up the helm a-weather! brace
up the foresail; down with the topsails! so,-steady; keep her
as she goes; now bear a hand on deck; clap on the main
hatch, and batten it well down! Steward! put up the deadlights, and all hands stand by and keep a sharp look out!"
These, or similar orders were given in quick succession, and
were echoed and re-echoed from mouth to mouth, the eyes
of the captain in giving them, frequently turning to the quarter
from whence the storm was approaching. And now the fell conflict of the elements began-the thunder, lightning, and wind.
The wind was ere long in full march over the sea; the
clouds were not sailing, but rushing through the sky in grey,
fleece-like racks. The watch turned their backs to the storm and
stood mute, as if watching the progress of a power to which they
knew no human ingenuity could apply a check. Not a word
was heard,-an awful stillness prevailed among all living creatures on board; all were involved in a deep, silent, and impressive gloom. Meanwhile, the twilight failed, and the tempest
blackened, narrowing its space, and coming down upon the
deep.  The lightnings blazed nearer and brighter, and the
thunder rolled louder and louder at every return, the electric
fluid rendering the face of heaven one moment light as day,
and leaving it the next black as night.
The sun had just gone down like a vast round shield of fire.
The wind then redoubled its fury, and the rain, taking a hori



446


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


zontal instead of a perpendicular direction, from the force of the
wind, fed the gale instead of lulling it; the sea foamed and
raged like a boiling cauldron —"deep called unto deep;" it
was a tempestuous sea of liquid mountains. The vessel was
now groaning, and pitching, and spouting the salt fluid from
her planks, while the water curled around her in a mass of
snowy foam; yet, being laden with wood, and that in scarcely
more than sufficient quantity to serve for ballast, she floated
like a cork or a feather upon the bosom of the liquid element.
The helmsman was commanded to luff up to the wind. Sea
and sky seemed now commingled, and a flash of lightning that
blended them for a time was followed by a peal of thunder so
close, that the timbers of the vessel shook with the vibration of
the air,-literally quivered from stem to stern. A second hostile
meeting of electricity took place immediately above us, and a
third, others following in swift and long succession, each more
dreadful than the former, in various forms-forked, zigzag, as a
globe of fire, or fire in streams; while at intervals a torrent of
fire fell perpendicularly from the blackness above, and was
instantly followed by an explosion of thunder that seemed to
expend itself in a red fierce sheet of flame; until the whole
hemisphere appeared one entire mass of fire, and we literally
floated alone amid a universal and incessant blaze enveloping
the skies.
What a long night of terror ensued! And sunrise brought
nothing with it but a clearer sky above head; for in the horizon
the aspect was still threatening and lowering, though splendid to
behold; clouds were rolled on clouds-glowing hues of mingled
light and shade-gold, sapphire, crimson, purple; some clouds
in the form of dark and terrible pillars whirling upon their
bases, while the blackened ocean curled, the wind tearing off
the snowy scalps of the tortured billows, and hurling them
high in air. And soon the black clouds advanced on either
side against the wind, throwing a dismal darkness over the
deep as they advanced.  The storm  came on, thus stooping
from the skies, furious, and as though after the pause, to renew
its assaults with greater violence; and the vessel was suffered
to drive before the gale, encountering all the fury of the wind
and sea, while at every plunge, the bowsprit and forecastle were
carried under water.
The steersman was now alone at the helm; the rest, both
passengers and crew, having abandoned the deck; reminding




HURRICANE AT SEA.


447


one of the scene described by Homer-of Ulysses during his
solitary voyage to the island of Calypso. There he stands,my thoughts recall the scene at this moment, with all its grand
and awful interest,-his tall bronzed figure on the high quarterdeck, enveloped in garments that so completely veil his person,
that it loses its identity with ~earthly forms, and seems a proper
inmate of the cloud and of the storm.
There was indeed no standing on deck because of the violence
of the wind. I"repeatedly attempted to maintain my footing by
clinging to some fixture near me, and could scarcely reach the
top of the companion-ladder before a part of my dress, though
secured by lanyards, was blown off into the sea-an occurrence
sufficiently indicative that my person would almost as quickly
have followed had I attempted to advance. The roar of the
wind was absolutely deafening, and the deck was swept, fore
and aft, with the force of a waterspout. The tempest mingled
earth and sky. Even the steersman now could no longer brave
the fury of the elements, and lashing the helm a-lee, he also
sought shelter below; while wave after wave dashing over us,
and forcing a part of their bulk through the battened skylight
and the widening seams of the deck and hull, rendered our
berth anything but agreeable. The wind howled, and whizzed,
and piped through the cordage, tearing some of the sails to
ribbons; while the masts and bulkheads croaked, and strained,
and groaned as if about to snap or break asunder. So awful
was our situation felt to be by all, that scarcely a word was
heard for hours from stem to stern, except the occasional moanings and irreverent, though not intentionally impious, exclamations of a half-frantic fellow-passenger. The cabin was dark,
wet, and comfortless. The water in the hold increased fast;
the bowsprit was every moment expected to be carried away;
and the mainmast already sprung, to go by the board. All hands
were melancholy and oppressed with fear, for death seemed
almost inevitable.
The gale lulled during the day, but the sun went down lurid
and angry as before, sublimely mantled with gigantic masses of
cloud, which were tinged with the glare of the descending
luminary, and seemed to be impatiently watching for his departure
in order to discharge their pent-up wrath again upon the bosom
of the night, while the moaning winds hushed him to repose.
Then the storm renewed its fury, raging fitfully for awhile in
alternate lulls and gusts, which succeeded each other, however,




448


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


more rapidly every moment, and ended at length in the same
tremendous hurricane which had prevailed during the day.
Another night of darkness and danger ensued, which seemed
as though it would never be succeeded by morning light, and
the horrors of which no language can describe; 'but this also
passed away at length, and the sun once more arose shining
in his strength.  The clouds, broken and scattered, were
chasing one another across the blue firmament, brightening and
darkening as they approached or receded from the sun's disc;
and even when they crossed it, instead of eclipsing, transmitting
his beams through their fleecy forms. At other times they rushed
in thick volumes to the centre of the vault above, and formed
a canopy of lurid and melancholy effulgence round his orb.
During this day the wind again abated.  The elemental
tumult had subsided, but not so the commotion of-the sea.
The wind having raged with so much violence for such a length
of time from one quarter, afterwards veered round to the opposite, and shifted, indeed, at intervals, to every point of the
compass, until at length it fixed itself steadily in the point
from which it first arose. The sea that was now raised was
tremendous,-it was as before described, like a boiling cauldron,
horrible yet sublime beyond description. At night I saw once
more the stars in the deep blue heavens, and the cold beams of
the newly-risen moon dancing in a long flickering wale of silver
light on the troubled, ever-heaving bosom of the ocean, while
the melancholy murmur of the surf, booming on the gentle
night wind, seemed as if breaking on some near unknown
shore.
Never before did I understand the full meaning of the words
of Holy Writ, "He maketh the deep to boil as a pot." It truly
seethed and foamed while it ran mountains high There was
still no guiding the vessel; she scudded before the wind under
bare poles. The steersman, however, resumed his post at the
helm; and the captain, literally terrified, held on the taffrail
beside him.
On stealing at intervals from my berth, into which I had thrown
myself during the storm, passing night and day with my clothes
on, and which with the whole cabin had been enveloped in
almost total darkness, I was so astounded at the magnificence of
the scene that met my gaze, that I involuntarily gave expression
to a loud exclamation, and I believe that neither pen of poet
nor pencil of the ablest painter could describe it with anything




HURRICANE AT SEA.


449


like the accuracy of truth.  I have seen Poussin's picture
of the "Deluge," with many another representations on canvass
of a storm at sea, and I have read the glowing descriptions
which poetry has drawn of the "welterings of the mighty
deep," but all came infinitely short of the reality as now
beheld.
There was much justice in the words of Lord Byron, though
sarcastically expressed, when he recommended to some of his
brother poets a trip across the Atlantic in order to give them
some new sensations.
There was now to be seen no flying spray topping the furious
waves, but a vast expanse of majestic rolling sea, each billow
massive, broad, and unbroken as a mountain-side, threatening
to engulf us at every surge, and still.foaming, raging. The
captain, with a countenance full of anxiety if not of anger,
shouted at intervals to the man at the helm, "Look out for
that sea! mind your starboard helm! ease her, man, ease her!"
She lurched,-down came the sea upon the deck in a full
broadside, pouring a deluge of water down the cabin stairs,
dashing myself headlong from the companion-ladder, and hurling
every loose spar and unfixed thing overboard. It seemed as
though the vessel were engulfed, and as if all was over for ever;
but the sea passed over the tidy bark, and up again she rose on
the crest of the waves and floated on them like a feather or a
sea-gull, and our ears were again saluted with the now familiar
jumble and rattling of hencoops, crockery ware, trunks, and tin
cans. I at length ventured on deck, determining there to remain,
and was lashed in a recumbent posture (or "moored," as the
rough sailor said who thus secured me to the companion on
the half-deck or poop), as there was still no standing or even
keeping one's position a moment on foot.
The sea was still dreadfully convulsed, but no longer boiling
and foaming; yet it appeared, if possible, even more magnificent
than before, the waves coming on in larger reaches, more
mountainous, or leaving immense hollows or troughs, that
seemed nearly half a mile in extent. One mountain succeeding
another came on continuously, as if Neptune were gathering up
the whole fathomless ocean from its foundations into a long,
heavy, rolling swell, and concentrating all his energy in one
vast effort to overwhelm us.  Sometimes we were half-buried
by the waves breaking over. our side, at others by their. sweeping
clear over us, the vessel apparently diving as if perpendicularly,




450


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


and with the velocity of an avalanche, into the yawning abyss,
throwing her keel high out above, or else falling on her beam
ends, or dropping astern, yet always rising again like a sea-bird
familiarly sporting with its native element.
At this juncture we hove to under a balanced main-sail,that is, one sail spread to keep the vessel more steady, and to
prevent her from rolling violently, by pressing her side down
to the water, as well as to turn her head towards the source of the
wind, so that the shock of the sea might fall more obliquely on
her planks than when she laid along the trough of the sea, or in
the interval between two waves.  While in this situation the
helm was fastened to leeward.
At length the sea became calm, the sky cloudless, the sun
shone forth once more, in all his former lustre; our broad banner,
the mainsail, was once more unfurled; our shattered masts, as
far as possible, repaired; the canvass and rigging collected,
patched, and spliced; all hands worked away at the pumps; and
nature once more rendered her aid to our transit, for we were
driving on with a steady breeze, and beneath a serene and
brilliant sky; reminded of the tempest only, by the last mutterings of the thunder upon the verge of the remote horizon.
The sun set that evening in cloudless majesty, the heavens
above him beaming with soft radiance as he gradually declined
into the bosom of the glowing western waters; then the pale
moon soon rising in a similarly broad, expansive form, silvered
over with her beams the surface of the placid deep, and all
nature seemed hushed to repose.
The appearance of the environs of Havanna and of the
island altogether-although inferior, in the opinion of many, to
Jamaica-is most picturesque and beautiful; gay, beyond the
power of language to express, in verdure and floral ornaments,
splendid forests, highly cultivated plains, and rich savannahs.
"O gorgeous land!
Where giant mountains as thy guardians stand,
Lifting their sunlit heads to yonder sky,
Where fairy clouds in softest beauty lie.
Land of delight! than which the rolling sun
A fairer, lovelier scene ne'er shines upon,Ne'er flings his beams to welcome brighter flowers
Than scent with fragrance all thy summer bowers."
The trees, which everywhere adorn the lower hills, crowd in
luxuriant confusion, variegated and bespangled with all the




LUXURIANT VEGETATION.


451


beauties of colour which the wealth of nature alone can exhibit,
-often canopied with fantastic wreaths of flowering foliage, as
may be said of the sweeping mimosa, the arbutus, and the agave;
while the cocoa-nut, the palma royal, the stately cedula, and a
thousand other beautiful trees and shrubs, make endless variety.
These forests have for their crowning glory those giants of the
vegetable kingdom nowhere to be seen but in tropical regions,
and exhibit vast, unexplored, exhaustless, and leafy solitudes,
covering with a glowing splendour of colour vast ranges of
mountains, whose summits mingle with the clouds.
As within the tropics are revealed the luminous worlds which
spangle the firmament from pole to pole, so also all the vegetable forms of the earth are here found, including more especially
the most beautiful productions of nature-palms, tree ferns,
bananas, arborescent grasses, and delicately-feathered mimosas,
of which the puny plants that represent them in Europe, pent
up in hot-houses, convey but a faint idea.
It is not only that beneath the glowing rays of a tropical sun
the noblest forms of vegetation are developed, but here it is that
they seem alone to flourish. In the cold north the bark of trees
is covered only with dry lichens and mosses, while beneath the
tropics the cymbedium and the fragrant vanilla adorn the trunks
of the anacardias and the gigantic fig-tree; and the beautiful octoblepharum album invests the stems of the cocoa-nut and other
palms. Mosses, though generally supposed to find appropriate
conditions only where constant humidity and intense severity of
temperature are combined, appear to have a wider geographical
distribution than any family of higher organisation.      The fresh
green of the pothus leaves, and of the dracontias, contrasts with
the many-coloured blossoms of the numerous orchids, climbing
bauhinias, passion flowers,*     bimonias, and    golden   flowered
* The passion-flower was discovered in the Brazils, and its wonders were soon
proclaimed to christian kingdoms, as representing the Passion of our Lord,
whence its present name. The leaves were said exactly to resemble the spear
that pierced our Saviour's side; the tendrills, the cords that bound his hands, or
the whips that scourged him; the ten petals, the Apostles, Judas having betrayed,
and Peter deserted; the pillar in the centre, was the cross or tree; the stamina,
the hammers; the styles, the nails; the inner circle about the centre pillar, the
crown of thorns; the radiance, the glory; the white in the flower, the emblem of
purity; and the blue, the type of heaven. On one of the species of the passionflower, even drops of blood were seen upon the cross or tree. The flower was
three days open and then disappeared, denoting the resurrection. At last this
wondrous flower was brought from the Brazils to Europe, and became a denizen
of our gardens in the year 1699. It is abundant in Cuba.




452


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


banisterias, which encircle every tree of the forest. The wild fig
is another curious parasite, but destitute of flower; it fixes its
roots a hundred feet high in the forks or branches of the ceiba,
and grows downwards, gradually strangling its patron and overgrowing his decaying corpse, converting him into his own
monument; there are also several species of arum, which
descend no less elegantly from the mighty forest trees, but turn
their extreme ends upwards when almost touching the ground.
Delicate blossoms unfold themselves from the root of the
theobroma, and from the thick rough bark of the cresentia
and gustavia. Amid the luxuriant abundance of flowers and
foliage, and amid this tangled web of creeping plants, it is often
difficult for the naturalist to recognize the stems to which the
various leaves and flowers belong. A single tree adorned with
paullinias, bignonias, and dendrobias, forms a group bf plants,
which, separated from each other, would cover a very considerable space-of ground. 
But the impenetrability of tropical forests is not exclusively
occasioned by the interlaced climbing or creeping plants, or
the abundant cryptogamic flora, as all these often constitute but
a small portion of the underwood. The chief obstacles to the
traveller are the shrub-like plants which fill up every space
between the trees, because here all vegetable forms have a
tendency to become aborescent.
Social plants (plants sociales), which give such uniformity to
European vegetation, are almost wholly unknown in _the
equatorial regions. The excessive variety of their rich sylvan
flora, renders it in vain to ask of what the primeval forests
consist.  Numberless families of plants are here crowded
together, and even in small places, plants of the same species
are rarely associated. Every day, and with every change of
place, new forms present themselves to the traveller's attention.
Trees almost twice as high as the English oak, here bloom
with flowers, as large as the most splendid of our lilies.
Colossal trees and monstrous ferns, closely allied, as would
seem, to the- specimens lately exhumed by the geologist from
the buried ruins of a former world, meet the eye in every direction. In short, no pen can convey the least idea of the wonderful luxuriance which in the tropics charms the eye at every
step. The rankest vegetation flourishes around.
There is a richness of colour also, and fatness of substance
in the foliage of every tree and shrub which are not seen in




LUXURIANT VEGETATION.


453


the temperate or northern regions. They are also larger, more
graceful, more beautiful, more poetically picturesque.  The
stately palm, with its smooth white stem glittering in the sunbeams like a column of burnished silver; the ceiba, shooting
aloft a strong and softly undulating stem, to a height exceeding
that of the palm, spreading its vast sinuous arms beyond the
circuit of a hundred yards, and its roots to twice that distance.
This latter fact, it may be said in passing, affords conclusive
evidence against the now exploded theory of botanists, that the
roots of trees merely extend to the limits of the branches, to
receive the nourishment imparted from the dew and rain which
drop from them; the waving bamboo (arundo maxima), a giant
grass, growing in clumps, and nodding in the gentle breeze, with
the graceful appearance of a gigantic ostrich plume; groups of
the mango, with its deep and dark foliage defying the sun's rays,
its fruits hanging in long racemes, several upon a stalk, in form
like colossal almonds,-the guava, growing at its feet like an
infant of another family; the mammel, or " abricot de St.
Domingue," with its rich green fruit hanging in clusters, and a
foliage rivalling the mango; together with the mamey colerado,
and mamey Santa Domingo, and Sapota, covered with dark
green leaves and russet fruit; the banana, called in tropical
flora, "musa paradaisica;" the dark feathery tamarind; the
light and graceful indigo; the slow-growing sago, with its palmy
and feathery leaves spreading like a rampart over its precious
root; the boundless fields of sugar-cane; acres of the luscious
pine apple; groves of banana and plantain; forests of cedar
and mahogany; flowers of every shade; and every jungle netted
over with the creeping convolvuli of all forms and tints; these,
and a thousand others, their names unknown, are continually
bursting on the eye with equal profusion and variety, bearing
lovely testimony to the richness of the soil and the genial warmth
of the climate. Some of the heights in the interior are covered
with a great number of tall and extraordinary plants, resembling
lofty green candelabra, with many pairs of arms; while the
forests are beautifully ornamented with, and chiefly composed of,
the varieties of juvia, rubiacete, myrtles, leguminose, and terebintaceEe. Some of these forest patriarchs, mossed with age,
encircled with creepers, or studded with parasites (bromelacious
and other plants), like stars, in all parts of trunk and branch,
seem coeval with Old Time, and supply such suggestions of
antiquity as the castelled ruins inspire in Europe.




454              CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
A voyager from Europe, an admirer of natural scenery, on
approaching the shores of Cuba, and for the first time in his
life gazing on a West Indian landscape, would almost imagine
it but lately sprung forth from the hand of the Almighty, and
prepared for the abode of some happy beings who owed their
existence to special divine favour; or fancy might deem it "a
spot for angels to alight upon-a kind of resting-place between
heaven and earth." It was to this lovely island Columbus
referred in his first communication to his royal patrons Ferdinand
and Isabella. " The loveliness of this new land," says he, "is
like that of Campina de Cordoba. The trees are all covered
with ever-verdant foliage, and perpetually laden with fruits and
flowers. The plants on the ground are tall and full of blossoms.
The breezes are like those of April in Castille. The nightingales
sing more sweetly than I can describe...   Once I came
into a deeply enclosed harbour, and saw high mountains which
no human eye had ever seen before, from which the lovely
waters (cindas aguas) streamed down.   The mountain was
covered with firs, pines, and other trees of very various forms,
and adorned with various flowers. Ascending the river, which
poured itself into the bay, I was astonished at the cool shade,
the crystal clear water, and the number of singing birds. It
seems to me as if I could never quit a spot so delightful,-as
if a thousand tongues would fail to describe it,-as if the spellbound hand would refuse to write."
Cuba is considered even more fertile than any of the other
islands, with the only exception, probably, of Trinadad. Sugarcane and tobacco being the staple productions, large establishments for the growth and manufacture of these articles are
scattered over the greater part of the island, forming some of
the most beautiful and picturesque features in the landscape.
The cultivated portion is not supposed to exceed oneseventieth of the uncultivated parts,- the latter of which contain
large prairies or savannas, in which it is estimated that upwards
of a million and a half of cattle are reared and pastured; but
the greater portion is overrun with large forest trees, some of
which supply excellent timber for all useful and ornamental
purposes.
Gardens in Cuba are common and extensive, but exhibit,
with some exceptions, a mixture of fruit trees, vegetables, and
corn patches, disposed without taste or arrangement, yet combining many pleasing elements of effect. Some of them in the




ANIMALS.


455


country are covered with a gorgeous carpeting of heliotropes,
verbenas, and scarlet salvias. Occasionally there is attached to
these rural homesteads a fruit and flower garden, ornamented
with groves of the lofty and graceful palta, or with avocado pear,
orange, lime, lemon, and citron trees, and the delicious granidillo, or fruit of the passion flower, which hangs over the boughs
in rich profusion. In the midst of this garden is perhaps a
jet-d'eau, the play of whose waters gives an inexpressible charm
of melody and freshness.
The gay luxuriant views that break upon the traveller as he
winds among the hills appear like scenes of fairy enchantment,
or those represented in the raptured visions of the poets. As
he advances, the scenery is always diversified and new, till at
length, between the receding heights, the eye catches a glimpse
of the distant waters of the ocean fading into the blue and
cloudless horizon.
The sacred writers often borrow images of abundance, beauty,
and majesty from the rich productions and magnificent scenery
of the lofty chain which formed the northern boundary of the
Holy Land. In the language of oriental metaphor, "Lebanon
bathes his foot in oil,-he is clothed with silk,-his arms are
laden with fruit,-and his head of snow, is wreathed with a
diadem of forests." To Cuba, and'to other islands of the
Caribbean Sea, these descriptions will almost equally apply.
Much of the coast of Cuba is of coral formation; and the
coral tower scarcely lifts its head above the waters before it
seems a basket of waving flowers. The most beautiful algae
and corals, together with the most exquisitely tinted shells and
flower-like weeds, are gathered on the sea-beach.
The domestic animals are the same as in Europe and the
British West Indies; whilst many of the wild species, indigenous
to the islands, still exist. The forests abound with wild cattle
and swine, which originated in their importation by the early
settlers; while very little difference exists between the inferior
quadrupeds and those of the other Antilles.   Among the
birds existing here which are not found in the other islands
are the canary and the linnet. The beautiful flamingo abounds
on the coasts, as also the parroquet.  The latter, when disturbed in their haunts, spring up suddenly in hundreds, and in
their flight flash in the sun like a shower of emeralds. Of all
the insect tribes, the butterflies of Cuba are the most beautiful.
The most splendid is the unaria-of a dark green colour, with




456


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


a gloss like velvet. Alligators and crocodiles infest the mangrove swamps; and other reptiles are numerous. Fresh fish are
found in the blue and gleaming waters in great abundance, in
rare varieties, and with all the hues of the prism;-the colours
are also of an indescribable clearness and distinctness-blue,
yellow, red, gold-tinted, and edged with gold and violet. In
some animals, as in the humming-bird, all these colours seem
combined.
No rivers of any magnitude or extent are found; but a considerable number of small streams, computed at two hundred,
issue from the mountains, watering the island on its northern
and southern sides. In some of these rivers or brooks, clear as
crystal, rushing from the mountains to the sea, are seen by the
traveller, as he passes into the country, numbers of black women
washing clothes. Sometimes many are grouped together with
the most picturesque effect; some standing in the middle of the
stream beating their linen upon the stones; others spreading
them on the sunny bank; the whole presenting a scene that
would deeply interest either a poet or a painter.
Salt ponds and springs of mineral water are also found in
Cuba. One of the springs contains 0.64 of sulphuretted hydrogen
gas, 10.5 of sulphate of lime, 1.0 of hydrochlorate of magnesia,
and one quarter of carbonate of magnesia,-properties which,
perhaps, it is almost superfluous to say, render it of peculiar
efficacy in cases of scrofula and other cutaneous diseases.
Although this island may be deficient of water, and of some
other valuable products, it has been considered richer than any
of the others in mineral productions.
Mines abounding in copper are found, which long supplied
the other Spanish colonies with their utensils, and have for
some years enriched the European market. Nor is loadstone
unknown.   Green rock crystal abounds in the Isle of Pines.
Gold is not unfrequent in the rivers. The hills in the neighbourhood of Havanna are of primitive formation, containing
pyrites-gold, copper,-and iron. Some veins of chalcedony have
been discovered among them in alluvial lands; as also coal,
marbles of various kinds, serpentine quartz, and mineral
bitumen.   Coal is found in the neighbourhood of Havanna,
as well as in other parts of the island; and with the produce of
Guanabacoa, in its immediate vicinity, steamships have always
been supplied. It is pronounced by the Spanish engineers to
be excellent in quality-superior to the best English. Analysis..




MINERAL WEALTH.


457


shows this coal to consist of the following parts:-Carbon,
71.74; oxygen, 6.32; hydrogen, 8.44; ashes, 13.50-100.00.
The railroad from the port to the mine is in rapid progress
towards completion. As the bed is believed to be very extensive, the enterprising proprietors anticipate handsome profits on
their outlay whenever the West India steamers shall regularly
call at Havanna for a supply of fuel. Sienite exists in large
quantities in different parts of the island; and in the west,
rocks of secondary formation are common, containing various
ores as well as organic remains.
On all the coasts of Cuba, but principally on the northern,
are found immense deposits of salt. Only a few months since
a rich mine of lead and silver was discovered, which promises a
rich reward to the proprietors.  Sulphur, granite, clay, flint,
and crystal abound in some districts.
The vegetable soil of the island is considered to rest almost
universally on one great mass of calcareous rock, of a porous
and unequal character. Comparatively little, however, is known
of the geological and mineralogical structure of the island,
owing to the thickness of the forests and the ruggedness of the
mountains; while it is a remarkable contrast which this island
presents to Jamaica, that limestone is said to be uncommon, as
also stony substances or earthy concretions in general, of any
magnitude.
In approaching Havanna from the sea, a chain of undulating
mountains runs from east to west, until lost in either horizon.
To the right are two mountains at some distance from each
other, apparently detatched from the grand ridge,. leaving
between them a kind of concave shore of bright and sparkling
sand. Declining from the mountains eastward, the land is
comparatively low, and thickly covered with tall and stately
looking trees. On either hand, as it approaches the harbour,
the land is again elevated, rising in a gentle acclivity from the
sea, and covered with an ever-verdant carpet of grass, scarcely
equalled by the finest English lawn.
Nearly on the summit of two hills, of gently sloping declivities, at unequal distances from the town, are two large forts,Fort Cabanas and Fort Principe,-leaving in their rear, to the
right and left, a landscape picturesquely studded with neat
villas, surrounded by gardens or green spots produced by
artificial irrigation, sometimes smiling with all the charms of
vegetation, amidst shrubs and flowers of mingled colours, at
x




458


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


others embosomed in clumps of orange, cocoa-nut, palma royal,
and other trees of diversified foliage and height Directly before
you is the town,-of imposing aspect and extensive dimensions;
adorned with trees of attractive forms, and buildings of respectable architecture. Above the whole several churches rear
their taper spires or rugged turrets, reflecting the light of the
sun, and casting long shadows on the neighbouring streets.
The whole landscape, including the spacious back-ground,
adorned with estates and villas, pens and mountain settlements,
and the shining shore, with its numerous white houses enclosed
in thickets of orange and cedar trees, aloes, and palmettos,
presents as fine a subject for a picture as could be desired by
the ablest artist.  Every element of nature contributes to the
joint effect-infinite affluence reigns everywhere.
And how enchanting the scene that presents itself from the
harbour! On one side stands the city of Havanna; on the
other, the town ofRegla. The latter is ornamented by some
large public buildings and a church. The church appears from
some points, as though situated on the brow of an inclining
eminence. The shore, on either side, is skirted with several
buildings that belong to the naval or other public departments.
The whole town seems to stand on rising ground; and the
church, situated on the part of the acclivity at a little distance
from the basin, is surrounded by the richest verdure. Sometimes you see it as through a green and gently sloping vista
reaching to the water's edge, and seeming as if cut through
houses and woods, and originally intended to form a peculiar
feature of the landscape.
When the eyes of the writer, now some years since, first looked
upon the scene, it was the last hour of that day's sun which
was shedding his level rays on the beautiful shore; they had
fallen upon the tall spire of the church as it lifted itself up
above the high trees which embosomed the dwellings, and were
pouring in a stream of soft and mellowed radiance upon the
gothic windows, at the same time tremulously floating through
the verdant branches of the woody enclosure in all the magic
glories of massive light and shade. The purple blue and glowing depth of shadow that we read of in an Alpine prospect had
already settled upon the distant mountains. The clouds blushed
with a thousand rich and varied splendours. The waters were
like a polished mirror, dark, and smooth, and beautiful,-melting away, as it were, in the reflected light of earth and sky.




HAVANNA FROM THE SEA.


459


A distant mist slowly crept in one direction along the horizon,
forming a striking contrast to the brilliancy above it, yet
apparently covered with prismatic colours. I would compare
the entire scene, in some respects at least, to the Temple Groves
so celebrated in ancient story; or to that Vale of Thessaly,
where all is beauty to the eye and fragrance to the sense.
But the sublimest and most beautiful features of this landscape acquired yet greater sublimity and interest from the reflection that it had been called forth from nothing by the hand of
Almighty power! This thought at once filled the mind with
the sentiment uttered by the immortal Milton, with a thrill of
holy aspiration and with adoring rapture overflowing in gratitude and admiration," These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty, Thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then!"
So the poet sang, and how I longed for his heaven-born gifts
while I gazed upon this scene! But in tropical regions there
are few poets.  Man here, it is said, lives in a poetry realised,
-he breathes the warmest air,-he gazes upon the most glowing light,-the earth around him is gorgeously attired in its
most magnificent flowers,-birds of the brightest hues flit
bodily before his eyes,-and the genius of poetry languishes,
because the imagination can add but little to the beautiful
where nature has already been so lavish.
The valleys in the distance, covered with sugar-canes and
fruit trees, add their charms to the landscape,-the latter producing an abundance and variety of fruits pleasing to the palate
as well as grateful to the eye.
"c The soil untilled
Pours forth spontaneous and abundant harvests;
The forests cast their fruits in husk or rind,
Yielding sweet kernels, or delicious pulp,
Smooth oil, cool milk, and unfermented wine,
In rich and exquisite variety."
The city and suburbs of Havanna, altogether, contain nine
parish churches, six others connected with military orders, five
chapels or hermitages, eleven convents, two colleges, a botanical garden, an anatomical museum with lecture rooms, an
academy of painting, a school of navigation, and several
ordinary schools for both sexes, although chiefly, if not
entirely, for children of the white inhabitants.
x2




460              CUBA AND THE CUBANS.
The principal objects of attraction to a transitory visitor, are
the Cathedral, the Church of San Domingo, the Vice-regal
Palace, the Square, Columbus's Chapel, the Admiralty, Arsenal,
Post Office, the Alumedas, the Royal Tobacco Manufactory,
the Convent in honour of the Black Virgin, and the Plaza
de Toros for the bull fights, the two latter situated at Regla.
The Cathedral is supposed by some to have been coeval with
the foundation of the city by Velasquez, but by others to have
been founded by the Jesuits about a century since, and only
on their banishment from the island to have been converted
into a cathedral. It exhibits some magnificence in its general
outline, and an elegance in its statuary and paintings far
exceeding what might have been anticipated; indeed, it displays
a rare and odd combination of gothic grandeur and ceremonial
frippery.  I think it must' be unique in its architecture.
Ovid, in describing the Palace of the Sun, informs us that the
workmanship exceeded the materials, but it is not so in relation
to the cathedral of Havanna; here the materials are good and
elegant, but the want of taste and genius in the architect is
strikingly contrasted.
There is an air of grandeur about some parts of the
interior of the building, with which other parts are not in
unison. Indeed, no architectural rule whatever appears to have
been observed either as to its interior or exterior. The buiding
is a mixtur of Gothic, Mexican, African, and Moresque; a
description which applies, more or less, to the other public
buildings of the city, none of them certainly exhibiting in form
or construction much of the genius of a Palladio.
It is ornamented with several pictures of superior merit,
and some mosaics; the altar is adorned with gold and silver
ornaments, and a few fine marble monuments, surmounted by
a statue of the Virgin. On the right of the latter an urn, containing the remains of Columbus, is inclosed in the wall,
behind a fine white marble tablet bearing the bust in "basso
relievo" of the Great Discoverer, of the size of life, under
which is the following inscription:" 0 restos d Imagen del grande Colon,
Mil signbs durad guardados in la urna,
Y'en la remembrancia de neustra a nacion."
Thus translated,"Oh, remains and image of the great Columbus,
For a thousand ages continue preserved in this urn,
And in the remembrance of our nation." 




TOMB OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.


4-61


Columbus died at Valadolid, in old Spain, on the 20th of
May, 1566, aged 70. His remains, together with the chains
with which he was loaded at Hispaniola, by Francis de Bovadilla, were deposited in a brass coffin, and buried in the Carthusian Convent of Santa Maria de las Cuenas, at Seville in
Andalusia. From thence, in accordance with an order contained
in his will, he was removed to the cathedral of Santa Domingo,
in Hispaniola, then the principal city of Spanish origin in the
New World. Subsequently, in 1796, when the southern part of
this last named island was ceded to the French, his descendants
directed the coffin with its contents to be removed to Havanna.
Arrived at this city,-the capital of that island which was the
first of his discoveries, and now almost the last of the splendid
possessions which he and his descendants secured to Spain,-his
remains with their appendages, appear first to have been
deposited on the site now occupied by the chapel that bears his
name, and finally transferred to the cathedral where they now
repose.
Opposite to the tomb of Columbus, there is a small but
beautiful painting, probably by Murillo, and said to represent
the pope and cardinal celebrating mass previous to the expedition
of Columbus.   One of the pictures represents the spirits in
purgatory; above the flames float the Madonna and Child
glancing down with compassionate eyes.  Some of the souls
becoming aware of them are captivated by their beauty, and
whilst they gaze upon them with involuntary prayer, they are
miraculously raised out of the flames. Another represents the
Virgin standing upon the globe, her eyes lifted to heaven and
her feet resting upon a serpent, which glides away over the
earth.
The Church of St. Domingo is the most magnif%-.   'Havanna, but that of San Francisco the most characterised by
a correct architectural taste.
The Governor's Palace is a large square structure, in the
lower part of which are several public offices, the gaol for
prisoners, and the prisons of the Inquisition.
The Square is formed partly by the house of the Governor
and the residences of the Intendante and the Great Admiralthe three dignitaries of the island thus occupying three sides
of the square; some public offices, Columbus's chapel, and a
row of private houses, one of which is an English and American
hotel, called the "Mansion House," complete the sides, leaving




462


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


a garden in the centre, which abounds in choice plants and
flowers, and is intersected by walks.  This garden is wholly
open to the public.  'v
Amidst the mass of beautiful flowers and shrubs which here
attracted my attention were the red and white camellias; the
pomme rosa tree, most beautiful and of exquisite fragrance; the
beautiful lacrymos cupido or cupid's tears; but these tears are
not the tears of sorrow, they are rather glowing tears gushing
from the fountains of an overflowing blissful heart-or they
are wept by nature and winged lovers, for the humming birds
pay daily court to them.
Although this beautiful basis, in the midst of the sultry city,
is uninclosed, and thus entirely exposed to all classes of
the inhabitants; yet so different are the people in their
habits and manners to those of England, that these delicate
plants from year to year receive no injury beyond what the
changes of the weather produce. Not a tree is barked, nor a
plant or flower in any way injured.  The trees and shrubs are
of great vegetable and floral magnificence, infinitely more
varied than in Europe. Numbers of them are such as are
trained and nursed in the hothouses of Europe, and but few of
them have been introduced into the conservatories of France
and England.
Columbus's' Chapel, called "El Templetre," erected and
named in honour of that great navigator, has something of
simplicity and symmetry about it that is attractive, but it is
by no means on a scale of magnificence commensurate with
the fame of that illustrious man. This is in some measure,
however, atoned for by its historical associations and deep moral
lessons.
It was built by Don Dionysius Vives, an obelisk having been
previously erected on the spot by governor Don Francisco
Cagigal, soon after the foundation of the city,-viz., in the year
1515, when it was inaugurated by the cognomen of St. Christopher, and grand mass was celebrated in order to commemorate
the landing of Columbus. The ceremony took place beneath
the branches of a gigantic silk-cotton tree (Bombay ceiba), at
the foot of which the ashes of Columbus were deposited, prior
to their being removed to the cathedral, where, as previously
noticed, they now repose. Arate informs us that this enormous
tree was in full bloom in 1755, which led him to conclude that
it must have been 400 years old at that period. At the close of




COLUMBUS S CHAPEL.


463


that year, however, this vegetable Methuselah showed symptoms
of approaching decay, so that the government gave orders to
have it removed, and the monument was erected in its place
which was eventually superseded by the present temple.
This was the very spot where the Salve Regina and other
vesper hymns were chaunted by the first conquerors of the
island; the very ground then skirted by the beautiful groves
that bordered the lovely shores. Here perhaps stood Columbus
when he first planted the royal standard of Spain in this lovely
island of the New World; here his followers prostrated themselves and embraced their mother earth; here the wonderstricken native chief endeavoured to propitiate the invaders by
asserting his belief of a God and of a future state.  How
interesting yet how solemn the reflection! Who could forbear,
on such a spot, and amid such associations, to look with interest
upon the scene, or to brand with infamy the pompous names of
conquest and enlarged dominion?   And what feelings but
those of indignation and. sorrow can any friend of his species
indulge, who traverses for the first time the fields where he is
assured the feet at least of the haughty Velasquez, Las Casas,
and Cortez, if not those of Columbus, have trodden, and, tracing
in the same dust the footsteps of Narvaez, and the whole herd
of barbarous conquerors, recollects, amidst the splendid palaces
that now rise around him, the groans and blood of the unoffending Indians?
There are two promenades;-one in the suburbs of the town,
called the Plaza de Tacon, or the-promenade "el Passeo de
Isabella Secunda," which extends upwards of three English
miles, between broad avenues of palm and other tropical trees,
beds of flowers, marble statues, and fountains, and which is the
finest promenade that can be imagined; the other is the Plaza
des Armes.   In the vicinity of the former is the governor's
villa, with its gardens laid out in the style of those of Versailles,
and presenting beautifully picturesque effects. The latter, which
is near the governor's palace, is the more favourite resort, being
more easy of access, and rendered more attractive by the
military band that plays from eight to nine o'clock on certain
evenings of the week. The centre of the latter also is ornamented with four small fountains, flanked by waving palm trees,
and adorned with a statue of Ferdinand VII., which, it must
be stated, to the discredit of the Cubans, is kept in good
preservation, whilst the monument of the great discoverer is




464


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


allowed to crumble into dust, and the tombstone of Velasquez,
the founder of the city, is said to form the steps that lead to an
humble dwelling in an obscure street of the city of St. Jago!
Sic transit gloria mundi.
There is besides an esplanade or lofty terrace at some distance from the city, called "La Cortine de Valdez," raised
along the harbour on the opposite side of the Morro. This
promenade is short, but commands a most beautiful view of the
environs of the city.
These promenades are much resorted to by the Cuban fair on
fine evenings, who, on such occasions, are dressed with much
taste and elegance; the costumes being similar to those of
the Prado, the mirror of Madrid, and the mantilla being worn
in all its national varieties. The surrounding scenery and the
climate are well calculated to dispose the spectator to view them
with an indolent complacency; for the balmy richness of the
evenings, the gorgeous magnificence of the sunsets, and the
breezes perfumed with orange scent, all enhance the pleasure;
while an animating succession of Carriages and crowds of gay
pedestrians give a gentle excitement to the gazer's mind.
The cigar manufactory, and other public buildings, including
the custom house (la aduana), which is a large sky-blue structure, surmounted by a tower, surrounded by iron railings, and
guarded at each entrance by mustacioed sentries, looking suspicious and fierce at every stranger, merit no particular description.
And the Blue Convent at Regla, is only deserving of notice
from the fact of its being devoted to the black Virgin Mary,
in whose special honour fetes are celebrated there. The scene
is thus described by a recent traveller, who represents himself
to have witnessed the ceremony of a public festival at Regla:"The representative of this sable virgin sits on a throne
above a lofty altar, holding an infant Jesus in her hands; a
formidable line of followers supports the sable queen, all supposed to be angels; some in short tunics, with helmets and
feathers, others decorated with plumes and flowers; the whole
gorgeously covered with tinfoil, copper hieroglyphics, and plated
ornaments, such as are seen on a coffin. Near the centre of
the church, is a figure larger than life of our Saviour on the
cross, in a flaxen wig with flowing curls, the blood oozing from
the wounds in his hands, feet, and side; while below stands
the virgin of a white complexion, a fat-faced, highly-rouged,




REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSION.


465


portly figure, with auburn tresses, purfumed and dressed in the
last mode; her clothing, a fashionable blue embroidered
gown, lace mantilla, white satin shoes, and in her hand the
characteristic fan. Large wax tears stand out in bold relief
under her eyes, and to represent the pain she is enduring, a
dagger appears in her left side, the hilt projecting from under
the breast!"
The Plaza del Toros is a circular building, open-roofed, with
successive tiers of seats, after the manner of the Roman
amphitheatre, surrounding the arena, in which the bull contests
are carried on, and capable of holding about 15,000 spectators.
This is the great seminary in which the Cubans from their early
youth imbibe their lessons of insensibility and cruelty; the
rendezvous (as was said of that last and noblest monument of
Roman grandeur and Roman crimes-the Colosseum) whither
the people resorted to receive the finishing touch of degradation
to their national character, and to conceal their fallen spirit
under the mask of a brutal ferocity, by witnessing spectacles
which for seven centuries corrupted and brutalized the Roman
manners. The same low heathenish pastimes, added to her
wanton wicked traffic in human flesh and blood, are now completing the degradation of Spain, and expose her whole population, from the monarch to his distant colonial subjects, to the
opprobrium and pity of the entire civilized world.
From the brief, account here given of Cuba and of its principal towns, the reader will gather abundant reasons for concluding that neither the island nor its population are in such a
prosperous condition as ought to belong to a people and a soil
so signally favoured of Heaven. The causes of this are also
manifest enough. Ruled by an effeminate, demoralized, and
altogether degenerate race; reared under the blighting influence
of slavery (an influence as disastrous, morally, to the slaveholding as to the enslaved); and having no religious or educational stimulus but such as an effete church and a depraved and
ignorant priesthood can supply, it is impossible that Cuban
society should be either vigorous in its habits or sound in its
moral principles. It has, and must have, under present circumstances, all the marks of a community in a state of decay.
Labour is neglected; commerce is languidly carried on; education is despised; literature can hardly be said to exist; the
manners and customs most in vogue are decidedly vicious; the
x3




466


CUBA AND THE CUBANS.


arts are cultivated by few, and such specimens of art as we have
noticed prove how wretchedly depraved is the public taste; the
amusements most delighted in are barbarous and cruel; the
whole white population are given up to an indolent luxuriousness that renders them both ignorant and oppressive; and it
cannot be wondered at if the poor untaught coloured people
follow as nearly as they can in the wake of their oppressors,
at least in abandoning themselves at all possible opportunities
to the lowest animal enjoyments.  Thus the most genial of
climates and the most fertile of soils are allowed by common
consent to lie comparatively waste.
That Cuba should be looked upon with eyes of longing desire
by the United States* will not be wondered at by those who
have attentively considered the foregoing statements. In the
hands of a less imbecile government she would prove a priceless
treasure. Her ports so favourably situated, and possessed of
such natural capabilities for carrying on an extensive commerce;
her mineral stores, already discovered to be rich, and only waiting for more industrious and diligent explorers to yield a tenfold product; above all, her climate and her soil, to which her
wonderful fertility is due, and which, like her mines, if well
improved, would bring unparalleled harvests of choice and
valuable fruits;-all these are special advantages which make
one lament that an indolent, luxurious, and immoral race should
exclusively possess them. And yet, until the great question of
Slavery shall be settled, one would dread to see this beautiful
and wealthy island in the hands of the United States. Let us
hope that by pursuing towards our American brethren a conciliatory and unselfish policy we shall aid in the solution of this
momentous question; and facilitate not merely the growth of
her material greatness, but her advance to that state of moral
excellence that will render her a blessing to the world.
For we cannot hide from ourselves the fact that the United
States must ultimately become a blessing or a curse to all the
nations of the earth. With a rapidity far beyond all historical
precedent she has been developing her resources and multiplying her population for half a century. And yet her course is
but just begun. In another fifty years she will be almost
indubitably the most powerful government on earth.  There
seems to be no limit'to her growth, and no possible hindrance
' See Appendix.




CONCLUSION.


467


to her taking this prominent and leading position except that of
internal dissensions. And with her strong commercial propensities, and her numerous fleets of ships passing rapidly to and
fio on every sea, it is impossible-whatever her statesmen may
say for the present of her being content with the power she has
at home-but that all nations should eventually feel her influence
for evil or for good.
Nor need Great Britain be jealous or envious at the prospect.
The triumphs of the United States are essentially her own.
And this, not merely because her own blood flows in the veins
of her transatlantic children, and whatever glories they achieve
they must in honesty attribute to the vigour they derived from
her; but, chiefly, because the lofty aims for which Britain has
been distinguished from the other peoples of the Eastern world
are cherished with a youthful energy and earnestness by the
best portion of her Western progeny.   There is no great
philanthropic idea, no noble moral aspirations which has ever
animated the hearts of the English, which has not been eagerly
adopted in the Northern and Eastern States. And, paralysing
and demoralising as the present influence of Slavery is, there
cannot be a doubt that the States will ultimately shake off this
loathsome and deadly incubus. From that moment they start
afresh, and who shall foretell their mighty destiny?  They
possess the same literature, the same customs, the same moral
qualities and ideas, above all. the same religion as the parent
state; and we have a right, therefore, to expect that whatever
Great Britain has already done to instruct and humanize mankind, and to raise the nations by her christian teaching, and
(let it be said, in spite of its many and acknowledged defects)
by her,hristian example too, the United States will be able
hereafter to accomplish on a far wider scale, and even to a more
perfect degree. Between Great Britain and the United States
the struggle ought henceforth to be one only of loving and
holy rivalry in self-improvement and in doing good. Indulging
these views the British people can only contemplate with proud
satisfaction and exulting hope the marvellous progress of their
American kindred, and will lose no opportunity of cheering
them onwards to great and noble deeds. So shall the whole
world be blessed in these two nations that are but one people,
and the blessing of the Most High will evidently fall on a race
whose common ambition and prayer it is to be permitted to
hasten the "latter-day glory."




iff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I
I
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




APPENDIX.
DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
The most illustrious document of uninspired composition of which
history furnishes any record is undoubtedly the Declaration of
American Independence. This memorable instrument we subjoin.
It is not by any means that this declaration is the greatest effort of
human-genius,-that it is the most eloquent or sublime of mental
productions;-nor is it alone for its bold and manly assertion of
human rights, and its defiant proclamation of the wrongs of a
tyrannical government, that it is so illustrious and memorable.
It is because it is connected with the successful struggle of a gallant
people in a desperate but justifiable warfare for freedom and independence,-because it is a truthful recital of the causes and wrongs
which led to and justified the most remarkable and eventful
revolution which the world has ever witnessed. Justice sanctified
rebellion, and success has immortalised its authors, its actors, and
their deeds. Had Britain triumphed in the war of the Revolution,
the names of Washington, Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, and their
compeers would have been scarcely more distinguished on the page
of history than those of Wallace, Monmouth, Argyle, Sidney,
Russell, or Kosciusco.  The document is as follows:
IN CONORESS, JULY 4, 1776.
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION          OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions
of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation.


9'i




470                           APPENDIX. 
We hold these truths to be self-evident:-That all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governed;-that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to
these ends, it is the rights of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a
new government, laying its foundation in such principles, and organizing.its
powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and
happiness. Prudence, indeed, will indicate that governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long train of abuse and usurpations pursuing invariably
the same object, evince a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is
their right, itis their duty to throw off such governments, and to provide new
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these
colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their
former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be
submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the
public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained;
and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. fe has
refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless
those people would relinquish the right of Pepresentati6n in the legislature-a
right inestimable to them, and formidable ti tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and
distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing
them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly
firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned
to the people at large for their exercise, the state remaining in the -meantiiie
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without atld convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these' states; for that puirpose
obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to
encourage their emigration hither, and raising the conditions of new apprbpriations
of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws
for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices,
and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to
harass our people and eat up their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent
of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil
power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of
pretended legislation: '




APPENDIX.                            471
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which
they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring province,
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as
to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
absolute rule into these colonies:
ftor taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering,
fundamentally, the form of our governments:.For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and
waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed
the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete
the works of death, desolation and tyranny already begun with circumstances of
cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the head of a civilised nation.
Hle has constrained our fellow-citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear
arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and
brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
lie has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavoured to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose knowledge of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and
conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the mos t
humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated
injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have
warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.  We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice
and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred
to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions
and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces
our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind-enemies in war,
in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general
Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, for the
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good
people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united
colonies are. and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they
are dissolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be,
totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they have full powers
to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do
all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.  And for the
support of this declara- tion, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine




472


APPENDIX,


Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our
sacred honour.
JOHN HANCOCK.


NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Josiah Bartlett.
William Whipple.
Matthew Thornton.
MASSACHUSETTS BAY.
Samuel Adams.
John Adams.
Ridley Treat Paine.
Eldridge Gerry.
RHODE ISLAND, &c.
Stephen Hopkins.
William Ellery.
CONNECTICUT.
Roger Sherman.
Samuel Huntingdon.
William Williams.
Oliver Walcott.
NEW YORK.
William Floyd.
Phillip Livingston.
Francis Lewis.
Lewis Morris.
NEW JERSEY.
Richard Stockton.
John Witherspoon.
Francis Hopkinson.
John Hart.
Abraham Clark.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Robert Morris.
Benjamin Bush.
Benjamin Franklin.
John Morton.
George Clymer.


James Smith.
George Taylor.
James Wilson.
George Ross.
DELAWARE.
Caesar Rodney.
George Read.
Thomas M'Kean.
MARYLAND.
Samuel Chase.
William Paca.
Thomas Stone.
Charles Carroll.
VIRGINIA.
George Wythe.
Richard Henry Lee.
Thomas Jefferson.
Benjamin Harrison.
Thomas Nelson, jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee.
Carter Braxton.
NORTH CAROLINA.
William Hooper.
Joseph Hewes.
John Penn.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
Edward Rutledge.
Thomas Ileywood, jr.
Thomas Lynch, jr.
Arthur Middleton.
GEORGIA.
Burton Winnett.
Lyman Hall.
George Waltou.




APPENDIX.


473


ANNEXATION OF CUBA TO THE UNITED STATES.
The following article from the Washington "Union," the official
organ of President Polk's administration, is curious and important,
expressing as it does the undisguised intentions of the democratic
party of the United States with respect to Cuba:The whole country, and doubtless the whole of Christendom, understands the
importance of the island of Cuba to the trade and commerce of the United States.
Leaving out of view the great fertility and vast productiveness of that island, and
considering its geographical position alone, no one can fail to perceive that the
government of the United States is compelled to look with a watchful eye upon
the possession of that colony. It is the key of the Gulf of Mexico. It is the
key of the mouth of the Mississippi. It is the key of the immense valley which
now contains more than six millions of inhabitants, drained as it is by the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is the most fertile portion of the globe. Its resources
are exhaustless. Not only cities, but States, spring up as if by magic, along
its waters and in its bosom; and the day is not far distant when it will contain a
population greater than the population of the whole continent at the present time.
The commerce of this vast and fertile region, stretching from the Alleghany to
the Rocky mountains, and from the northern lakes to the confines of Mexico, must
empty itself into the Gulf. But then it has not reached the markets of the world.
Even then it may be said to be landlocked and confined. The broad ocean must
be reached before it is free to spread its sails and direct its course without restraint.
In this point of view, the channel between the Florida reef and the coast of Cuba
may be termed the key, nay, the mouth of the Mississippi. And commanding
that " mouth of the Mississippi" is the island of Cuba, one of the most fertile
countries on the globe. The nation that holds that island is at peace with the
United States, and our vessels pass it freely and without fear. But this may not
be always the case. Transfer that island to some great maritime power, and in
case of war she will hold to a great extent, the keys of the Mississippi.
Spain has suffered from faction and intrigue. She is now comparatively poor
and impoverished, and her government is weighed down with indebtedness; and
from time to time rumours have come across the waters that other nations had fixed
their eyes upon Cuba. Even in the English Parliament the idea was broached of
seizing upon the northern coast of Cuba, and holding it as an indemnity for the
heavy debts which are alleged to be due from Spain to the subjects of Great
Britain. This question was deemed to be a matter of vast and vital interest to the
people of the United States. The attention of the late administration was naturally aroused to such movements; and it would have been criminally indifferent to
every call of duty and of patriotism, had it folded its arms and remained inactive
when the great danger threatened us of G reat Britain wresting from Spain the only
sufficient outlet of all the commerce, too great for human calculation, which must
soon float upon the Gulf of Mexico and along the Galf stream, to the markets of
the world. The American people would have said with one voice that this consummation should never be effected, and that a war with the Mistress of the seas
must be entered into, if it were the only means of warding off the impending blow.
We do not profess to know what were the instructions that were given to our
Minister at Madrid. But we can very easily conceive a situation of things in
which it would have become the duty of the United States to say to him that,
though we are perfectly content to leave Cuba in the possession of Spain,-though
we have not the slightest desire to interfere with her rights,-though we should




474


APPENDIX.


prefer it should remain in her hands, as it has hitherto done,-yet, if her necessities or her policy should prompt her to part with it to any other power,-if there
be any danger of its passing into other hands,-into the hands of any great maritime power, of Great Britain, for example, whose powerful squadrons might
control our western commerce through this island,-we should be willing to sound
Spain, and know upon what terms we could obtain the island. Had it then been
ascertained that there was any danger of the Spanish Government intending to
cede that island, immediately or eventually, to Great Britain, in payment the of
bonds which were due to the British Government, or to British subjects, or even
to exchange Cuba for Gibraltar, there can be no doubt but that the late administration should have made every effort to forestall Great Britain, and to sound
Spain about the purchase of Cuba. This is certainly no. new course for us to
adopt. It may be considered as the standing policy of our people; and, we may
add, our Government.   Witness the instructions which were given by Mr.
Forsyth, in 1840, as referred to by General Cass in his speech on Yucatan. There
was then a supposition that England was attempting to obtain the island, and it
was then that the Secretary of State addressed his instructions to our minister.
A similar rumour reached us last year; and without professing to know what
passed, we can very easily conceive that it might become the duty of the late
administration to ask the Spanish Government if they were determined to part
with the island, upon what terms we could obtain it. The administration could
scarcely have done less under the circumstances.
And we have all seen from the late official disclaimers of the Spanish minister
that they never considered a negotiation had taken place at all. If our administration bad failed in that duty, then would not the American people have arisen
like one man, to prevent England from obtaining a controlling influence over the
destinies of this continent? It has not only been the policy of our Government
in times past, but the desire of our people up to the present moment, to prevent,
at every hazard, any foreign nation from gaining such a footing in America as to
jeopard our interests. Europe and Asia may rule the Old World as they may see
fit to do, and our Government will never interfere. But then the United States
claims the right to guard its own destinies; and while avoiding entangling alliances with foreign nations, they will never, but in an evil hour, fail to exclude
foreign powers from obtaining such positions on our continent, or in its immediate
neighbourhood, as will enable them to cripple our commerce, and shape as they
please our future history.  That the British Government has entertained the
desire to bring Cuba under her dominion is sufficiently proved by the debates in
the British Parliament on the Spanish debt. Even Mr. Reynolds, the discarded
secretary of legation, does not deny it. On the contrary, he informs the country
that after examining in person the fortresses of Cuesta and Gibraltar, and after
obtaining other rare and valuable information, even he thought that the rumours
of an exchange of Gibraltar for Cuba should receive particular attention.
TREATY WITH SPAIN.
Signed at Madrid, 23rd September, 1817.
I. His Catb6holic Majesty engages that the Slave Trade shall be abolished
throughout the entire dominions of Spain on the 30th day of May, 1820, and
that from and after that period it shall not be lawful for any of the subjects of
the Crown of Spain to purchase Slaves, or to carry on the Slave Trade on any
part of the coast of Africa, upon any pretext whatever, provided, however, that
a term of five months from the date of the 30th May, 1820, shall be allowed to




APPENDIX.


475


complete the voyages of vessels which shall have cleared out lawfully previous to
the said 30th May.
If. It is hereby agreed that from and after the exchange of the ratification of
the present Treaty, it shall not be lawful for any of the subjects of the Crown of
Spain to purchase Slaves, or to carry on the Slave Trade on any part of the coast
of Africa to the north of the equator, upon any pretext whatever, provided,
however, that a term of six months from date of the exchange of the ratifications
of this Treaty shall be allowed for completing the voyages of vessels which shall
have cleared out from Spanish ports for the said coasts previously to the exchange
of the said ratifications.
III. His Britannic Majesty engages to pay in London, on the 20th of
February, 1818, the sum of ~400,000, to such person as his Catholic Majesty
shall appoint to receive the same.
IV. The said sum of ~400,000 is to be considered as a full compensation for
all losses sustained by the subjects of his Catholic Majesty engaged in this traffic,
on account of vessels captured previously to the exchange of the ratifications of
the present Treaty, as also for the losses which are a necessary consequence of the
abolition of the said traffic.
SLAVERY IN THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1853.
Five slavers deposited on the coast of Cuba their human cargoes, numbering a
total of 2,530 slaves, a portion of which were purchased by Don Antonio Parejo,
the agent, and on account of Queen Christiana. Up to the 10th of June in the
present year, the total number of African Slaves imported into Cuba, so far as
information can be obtained on so difficult a subject, amounted to within a trifle of
10,000 souls. Can any one acquit the Spanish Government of complicity in the
crime, or attempt any longer to beguile the British public with assurances of confidence in the promises of Spain, to suppress in future a traffic which she bound
herself by solemn treaty to put down thirty years ago?  We appeal to the people
of England, whose honour and humanity are deeply identified with the question,
to interpose between the minister and the thousands of miserable beings who are
destined to become the victims of their morbid credulity or criminal disregard of
official obligation. The people of England are doubtless identified with this question. They, by their Sovereign, are parties to a treaty by which immunity against
this revolting system of plunder is guaranteed to Africa on the part of Spain.
Four hundred thousand pounds were grasped by Spain as the consideration for
this promised immunity, and by*the treaty which conceded it England considers
herself morally the surety for Africa, that this immunity should be a real and not
a futitious one. For every African snatched from his home and consigned to an
unlawful slavery in the colonies of Spain, since the date of that treaty, England
is morally responsible, if any means within the power of her Government the
abduction and enslavement of that unhappy being could have been prevented.Standard and Despatch, January and July 4th, 1853.
There are hundreds of thousands of Slaves in Cuba who have been imported
into that island since 1820, and by the terms of that treaty, as well as the Spanish
law founded on it, are ipso facto free. This number is being augmented each
month by continuous traffic with the coast, and the people of England are compelled, by the commercial policy adopted in 1846, and the supineness of their
Government, to become daily participators in the crime. Will they, we repeat,
allow this to continue, or will they rise as one man and compel the Government
to cleanse them from all participation in this iniquity, by enforcing the treaties
perremptorily, at the cannon's mouth if necessary, not only in futoro but retru



476                           APPENDIX.
spectively, to the extent of declaring every slave free who has been imported
since 18201 If they be honest in their avowed hatred of slavery they have a
double motive for adopting such a course. Let them do it, and not only will the
slave trade cease for ever, but slavery itself will receive its death-blow.-Ibid.
There is an importation of slaves into Cuba to the extent of 20,000 a year.
The slave trade was fast declining under General Concha, but revived under
Conedo, who was sent to supersede the former. The price of connivance now
fixed in Cuba is reported to be twelve dollars for each slave-a sum which it is
believed is shared among the subordinate officers.
THE END.


J. HEATON AND SON, PRINTERS, 21, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.




NEW WORK ON JAMAICA.
THIRD THOUSAND.
In one handsome volume, post 8vo. beautifully illustrated, cloth, 8s. 6d.,
JAMAICA:
ITS PAST AND PRESENT STATE.
BY
J. M. PHILLIPPO,
SPANISH TOWN, JAMAICA; TWENTY YEARS A MISSIONARY IN THAT ISLAND.
"The several subjects of this book are treated in a manner that reflects
the highest credit on the writer, and which cannot fail to inspire the reader
with the spirit of his theme. The book abounds in beautiful narrative and
eloquent facts, clothed in chaste and appropriate language, suited to charm
and beguile, rather than to repel the reader. The information to be gleaned
from more voluminous writers is ably compressed, and the best authorities
obviously have been accurately and carefully consulted. The book abounds
in beautiful description, and furnishes abundant proof of the author's skill
in the fascinating art of delineation."-.Eclctio Review.
c The work before us is full in its details; not only as regards the
religious and social condition of the islanders, but with respect to the natural
capabilities, means of improving them, and the reasons which have led to
the present position of Jamaica. Had Mr. Phillippo been less honest, or
less observant, a residence of twenty years would have inevitably instilled
into the storehouse of his mind, a vast amount of the most practical inform.
ation; but being evidently gifted with mental powers of no ordinary mould,
we look upon his literary labours as eminently useful to the legislature as
well as to the absentee proprietors."-Fisher's Colonial Magazine.
" The account which this book gives of the present and the improving
condition of the black population is extremely gratifying.  Great moral
improvement is indeed visible among every class and complexion in
Jamaica."-Tait's Edinburgh Magazine.
"Mr. Phillippo has supplied a desideratum. His is a book of etchingsa series of outlines, illustrative of what that island was, is, and is likely to
be. Every sketch bears the impress of truthfulness upon it.  He is never
tedious-some of his pictures possess considerable animation. We have read
the volume with much gratification, and we commend it to the perusal of
our readers."_.-Nonconformist.
" The public generally, and the religious world in particular, are under
deep obligations to the respected author of this volume, for the lucid and
interesting details it affords relative to the past and present history of
Jamaica. His style is pleasing and perspicuous, and the numerous anecdotes
with which he has enriched the volume, will render it interesting to all




classes of readers. The author has performed his task throughout in a very
able and satisfactory manner. We strongly recommend the work to public
favour."-General Advertiser.
" This is the work of a careful judicious observer and a sensible writer. It
is presented to the public at the end of a long residence in Jamaica, amidst
events through which Mr. Phillippo and his coadjutors could not have passed
with a blamelessness of character which their most bitter opponents are
now ready to acknowledge, had they not been what they professed to be,
C men of God.'  The testimony of such tried men is certainly valuable for
its veracity; and by this quality the present production is distinguished as
well as by sound sense and powers of graphic description. Our author
writes as a man conscious of his integrity, and who has no party purposes to
serve by exaggerating, withholding, or perverting the truth. His style is
clear, manly, and sometimes animated, especially when his feelings are called
forth on the side of the oppressed."-Bristol Mercury.
cc We are not aware of the existence of any work on Jamaica, written on
Christian principles, upon so comprehensive a plan as the one which we now
introduce to our readers.  There is scarcely anything pertaining to the past
and present state of the island of Jamaica they would wish to know, which
is not here embodied in a clear and instructive manner. It is a desideratum
in our Missionary literature."-Evangelical Magazine.
" We have great pleasure in calling the attention of our friends to this
work, which is written with much spirit and ability. It deserves a wide
circulation among the friends of the abolition cause. We cordially recommend them to purchase it without delay."-Anti-Slavery Reporter.
" A volume of enchanting interest, which equals those of Williams and
Moffatt, presenting a most instructive and entertaining view of the state of
society in Jamaica, and written in a spirit which inspires implicit confidence
in the narrator."-Patriot.
" Thereis scarcely any question, which an intelligent enquirer would be
disposed to ask touching the past and present state of this important colony,
which is not fully and satisfactorily answered. We consider the estimable
author entitled to the thanks and encouragement of all classes of Christian
philanthropists, for so valuable an effort of his pen."-Christian Examiner.
"There is valuable information in this work. The most interesting
portion of the volume to the philanthropist, is the description of the new
villages which have been established by the free negroes." —The Athenlum.
" A book of deeper interest, of more rich and instructive detail, and pervaded throughout with a spirit of more fervent piety, will not be found
among the Missionary volumes of modern times. The theme is stirring;
and Mr. Phillippo evidently feels its influence. It is an admirable volume.
Mr. P. writes well, often eloquently."-Sunday School Teachers' Magazine.
"~ We cordially recommend this volume to the notice of our readers. It is
a work replete with richly interesting anecdotes and information, on a great
variety of important topics, which must excite thrilling interest in the heart
of every Christian reader. It does not possess the slightest tincture of
sectarianism; and we hail it as a most valuable addition to our Missionary
Literature."- Wesleyan Methodist Association Magazine.
<' To all who take an interest in Christian missions, and especially to those
who long to render some good to the Negro race, in return for the long,




continued injustice of Europe towards Africa, this volume cannot fail to be
acceptable. It is creditable to the ability and piety of the Author, and has a
just claim to a place on the ' Missionary Shelf' of every religious library."
-The Watchman.
" This is a book of great value, and may be consulted in preference to all
others on the subject of Jamaica. It bears an honourable testimony, not only
to the author's labours and judgment in collecting and arranging his
materials, but also to his intelligence and ability.  We do not know a publi.
cation so useful and meritorious, and which we could so strongly recommend
to public attention."-Annals of African Institute, Paris.
" Mr. Phillippo, in presenting this work to the public, has performed a
very seasonable and acceptable service. The subject itself is deeply interesting, and the manner in which the information is communicated, and the
various facts and events are arranged, is highly creditable to the author."Baptist Magazine.
" This is a most admirable work. Like his fellow-labourers in the great
work of evangelizing the world-Williams ard Moffatt-Mr. Phillippo has
succeeded in sending forth a volume full of varied and deeply interesting
information. A volume which, in the importance of its facts, in vividness of
narration, and facility of language, may well be placed in the same high
class with the productions of those able and devoted men. It is, in fact,
the most complete work on the subject of Jamaica that has ever issued from
the press."-Baptist Record.
"A very interesting book."-Missionary Repository.
" We have much pleasure in confirming the above statement (notice by
Antislavery Reporter), having had personal and intimate acquaintance with
the peasantry of Jamaica for a sufficient period to form a pretty accurate
opinion. The reverend and respected author of the work above-mentioned,
stands very high in the estimation of all parties of that island as a mild,
sensible, and judicious man.  Perhaps the peasantry of Jamaica are as
much indebted to him as to any individual or class of individuals, by
the diffusion of education, for their attainment of the high standard
which he has so glowingly described. This testimony, therefore, is worthy
of every credence, and we receive it as a faithful account and a valuable
addition to colonial literature."- Trinidad Gazette.
"Mr. Phillippo's work on the Past and Present State of Jamaica is
highly creditable to his industry and talents."-The late Rev. Wm. Jones,
A.M., author of the History of the Christian Church.
"C There is less of personal adventure in this book than in Williams's
South Seas, and perhaps the exhibition it contains of the civilizing power
of the gospel is less striking (though of this I am not quite certain), but in
real interest and in proof of the humanizing, ennobling, converting efficacy
of religion, it seems to me decidedly superior."-Rev. Dr. Angus.
" I have read Mr. Phillippo's book with no ordinary pleasure. To the abolitionist it will afford a great treat, because he will see in the conduct of the
emancipated slaves all that is praiseworthy beyond all his former ardent
expectations; and to the Christian it will afford a rich feast of joy whenever
he thinks on the subject."-Thomas Clarkson, Esq.


LONDON: JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW.




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A LIST OF NEW BOOKS
IN THE PRESS AND JUST PUBLISHED
BY
E. MARLBOROUGH & Co., AVE MARIA LANE,
LONDON.
IN THE PBESS.
THE YOUNG MIDDY,
A  Boy's Book of Nautical Adventures, with numerous Engravings, price 5s.
BELLA SANDFORD,
A Tale of Thrilling Interest, beautifully illustrated, price
3s. 6d.
JUST PUBLISED.
THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA.
By JArMs M. PHIIrPPO, Author of Jamaica: its Past and
Present State, kc. Post 8vo, price 8s. 6d.
" Every page is crammed with facts, and bristles with figures. It is a manual
of the United States, Geographical, Historical, Political, Commercial, and Social.
Containing, in a compendious form, abundant information on all these points, it
will be invaluable as a book of reference.
" We cordially thank Mr. Phillippo for his most instructive volume, and hope
that the sale will be commensurate with the immense labour its preparation must
have cost him."-Baptist Magazine, January, 1858.
" It is a thoroughly popular book, and the reader will obtain a better knowledge of the United States and of Cuba from a perusal of these pages, than from
labouring through any amount of Geographies or Travels."-Oritic, Feb.
15th, 1858.
JUST PUBLISHED.
THE FOUNTAIN SEALED:
A Memoir of MBf    Y M. M. ETHITEN, Author of The Morning
of Life.      By her MoTHER.     Small 8vo, with Steel engraved
Portrait, neat cloth, price 5s.
" The piety of Miss Methuen was of so high a type, that it would have been a
loss had her pure and beautiful example been allowed to pass away to heaven
without leaving some record here on earth. We entirely concur with Dr. James
Hamilton, who, in advsing the publication, says that he found its perusal 'a very
interesting and profitable employment.' We trust that his anticipations of good
to be effected by it will be widely realised."-Baptist Magazine.
" Most cordially do we recommend the volume to the careful and prayerful
perusal of our youthful readers."-British Mother' Journal.




2     BOOKS PUBLISHED BY E. MARLBOROUGH AND CO.,


SECOND EDITION.
THE WOLF BOY OF CHINA:
A. Chinese Story: being the Adventures of LYu-PAYo, among
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Wild and Civilized. By WILLIAM DALTON. Beautifully
illustrated and handsomely bound, price 5s.
"This little book we can cordially recommend, not only for young readers,
but for those of larger growth. The descriptions of the Celestial Empire are
fascinating; the adventures and 'scapes hair-breath, are exciting enough to
make everybody who reads it wish to go to China almost as earnestly as Robinson
Crusoe made him long for a Desert Island and a man Friday! The novelty
of the scenes, the strange manners and customs, and the spirited style in which
the adventures are related, make the book a choice present for the class of
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AN ELEGANT SERIES OF BOOKS.
ADMIRABLY ADAPTED FOR PRESENTS.
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BERTRAM NOEL. BY E. J. MAY.
A Tale for Youth. By the Author of The Sunshine of Greystone,
Louis' School-Days, &c., Second Edition. With Illustrations.
" Bertram Noel is an excellent story of its class."-Atheneaum, Feb. 13th, 1858.
THE SUNSHINE OF GREYSTONE. BY E. J. MAY.
A Story for the Young. Author of Louis' School-Days. Sixth
Edition. With Illustrations.
" The book is so absorbing we put it down with regret."-Bentley's Miscellany.
"A thoroughly serviceable book."-The Critic.
GRACE HAMILTON'S SCHOOL-DAYS;
A  Companion to Louis' School-Days, and The Sunshine of
Oreystone.   By the Author of Amy Wilton and Helen Bury.
With Illustrations.
MARIAN FALCONER;
Or, Stars in the Darkness. By E. H. W. A Brilliant Tale,
ably written, and abounding in passages of pathos and beauty,
admirably adapted for a present.    With Engraved Title and
Frontispiece.
SISTER KATE;
Or, the Power of Influence. A book for the daughters of
England.    By JULIA ADDISON, Author of Evelyn Lascelles,
&c., &c. With Engraved Title and Frontispiece.
This work has just been introduced as a Prize Book into Harrow School.
" For girls leaving school and just entering upon the duties and temptations,
the pleasures and disappointments, of the world, we can scarcely conceive any
more suitable books than these. Their tone is always excellent; the moral and
religious teaching is diffused throughout the whole, and not obtruded in any part,
whilst one or two of them possess literary merits of a very high order.
" Certainly the youngsters of the present generation ought to be happier,
wiser, and better than their ancestors were. If they are not, much money and
pains will have been wasted in the unsuccessful attempt to make them so. We
have rarely seen an array of volumes better adapted to this end than those now
before us."-Baptist Magazine, January, 1858.
A Cheap Edition of the above Series may be had in Plain Cloth
(uniform) without illustrations, at 3s. 6d. each.




AVE MARIA LANE, LONDON.


3


JUST PUBLISEID.
A MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. EUSTACE CAREY,
Missionary to India.    By Mrs. CAREY. Price 6s. 6d.
"Another charming piece of biography which does credit alike to the head
and heart of the amiable author, as well as to the memory of the excellent
Missionary, to whose advocacy the Baptist Missionary Society for many years
was under special obligations."-Baptist Messenger.
" It abounds in interesting facts, eminently calculated to nourish piety, and
to feed the fires of the Missionary enterprise."-Christian Witness.
"We shall hope to hear that the book has met with a wide and generous
reception, and confidently expect that it will promote in a good degree the
author's pious purpose of 'reviving' amongst us 'the missionary spirit."Freeman.
"We thank Mrs. Carey most earnestly for the volume, and trust that in
every Sunday School Library, and on every Family Bookshelf, where advice of
ours can have any influence, this MEMOIR will be found." —Juvenile Missionay
Herald.
THE PREACHER'S PORTFOLIO:
Containing Two Hundred and Fifty Outlines of Sermons by
Seventy eminent European and American Preachers of the
17th, 18th, andl.9th Centuries, many of them never before
published, several for the first time translated into English,
and others obtained from works either scarce or out of circulation.   Designed to assist the Minister of the Gospel in his
study. Price 3s. 6d.
OPINIONS OF THE WORK.-Extractsfrom letters received:
" In my opinion no terms of commendation would be excessive, in speaking of
the usefulness of the book you have issued. I shall gladly hail a second as soon
as it appears, for a Minister cannot be furnished with an over-abundance of texts,
with such thoughts upon them for occasional selection."-February 8th, 1858.
" I hope your second series will be enriched with the fruits of the editor's own
pen, which are decidedly worth all the others."-December 16th, 1857.
SECOND THOUSAND.
THE BEAUTY OF FLOWERS IN FIELD AND WOOD:
A   Simplified  Handbook of Field Botany.         Containing the
Natural Orders, or Families, of British Wild Plants, with their
Moral Teachings illustrated.    By JOHN THEODOBE BA           nAR
one of the contributors of Flowers to JWild Flowers and their
Teachings. With numerous attractive Coloured Engravings.
Beautifully bound in cloth, gilt edges, crown 8vo, coloured.
price 5s.
" Mr. Barker has provided the most pleasing British Floral Companion that
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"Barker's Beauty of Flowers in Field and Wood, a Simplified Handbook of
Botany, isfudl of healthy interest and pleasure."-Athemns,
SECOND EDITION.
THE UNSEEN       HAND;
Or, Episodes in an Eventful Life.    By a CLERGYMAN 0        THE
CHuRCH OF ENGI.ND.        Wiith beautiful Engraved Frontispiece
and Title. Small 8vo, handsomely bound, price 2s. 6d.
"The Work is brilliant, right-principled, and pervaded by an element of
true piety."-British Banner.




4      BOOKS PUBLISHED BY E. MARLBOROUGH AND CO.


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"Will, we doubt not, prove a treasure to many a youthful ornithologist;
and from the excellence of the plates and its elegant appearance, readily find and
keep a place on the drawing-room table. We like this sort of ' Science made
Easy.'"-Bentley's Review.
THE CHANGE;
Or, the   Passage from    Death unto    Life.    A  Memoir of
Lieut.-Col. Holcombe. By his Friend, J.. A-.     With Engraved
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THE
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Author of Ancient Egypt, her Testimony to the Truth; Israel
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Great expense has been incurred in producing this admirable work in a
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